Chapter 14
Monday, 3 February 1997
Hogwarts, Scotland
"Leanne wants us to do it again this weekend," Katie told Harry as they climbed the stairs towards Gryffindor tower. Harry had met her on the first-floor landing following their last class. They usually met up before going back to Potter House. Harry thought it was a nice way to connect and share their days with each other.
"OK," Harry said. The two couples had met up each weekend after that first time on Saturday night, and swung.
"What's wrong?" Katie asked, hearing the strained reluctance in his tone.
"Nothing," Harry sighed.
"I thought Healer Droop told you to express yourself," Katie chided him.
"Fine," Harry said firmly, looking around. There was no one nearby. "I don't know what it is, but sex with them seems so… I dunno… distant?" He looked at her questioningly, like he wasn't sure that was the right word. "I mean, it's hot and all. I love watching you two kissing each other and… y'know, but Lee seems quite focused on you during, and Leanne as well. I guess I'm feeling a little left out, like an afterthought."
"I can see that," Katie nodded slowly. "I suppose I'd thought you were fine with how thing's've gone. Maybe I can talk to Leanne about it. Anything else?"
"There's little foreplay, no kissing… There's no oral, and she doesn't really touch me. She doesn't seem to want me to talk to her or do things to her other than shag. It seems like she's not into me, or maybe I'm just not into her," Harry said after a moment's contemplation. "It seems like all I do is stick my dick in her, then she comes, then we play with you." The subsequent outings had all been some sort of variation on their first time. "I'm just trying to work out where I fall in our foursome. She kisses you and Lee. Lee and I kiss you. She doesn't kiss me. Lee and I do oral to you. You and her do oral to Lee. Leanne doesn't do oral to me and vice a versa. While I shag her, it seems like the only person I'm intimate with is you, but I have to share that intimacy with two other people. I suppose I didn't think it'd be like this. I thought it'd be more like Hermione and Neville."
"Well, I know for a fact she likes your cock," Katie said, remembering. "It's all she bloody talks about. She seems happy with everything."
"You know how you and I talk about things?" Harry asked. "Determine boundaries, learn about what the other likes?"
"Yeah," Katie nodded, looking confused.
"Leanne and I don't do that," Harry said. "It sounds like she's getting what she wants from what we're doing, but I'm not having the best time."
"She doesn't want to talk about it," Katie restated, confirming his statement.
"She shut me down when I tried to talk about it," Harry clarified. "Or, it seemed to me she did. She was quite condescending with me when I asked what happened next, and told me to fuck and 'do what feels good.'"
"I'll definitely talk with her," Katie said firmly. She looked upset that Harry wasn't having as much fun as the rest of them. He glanced over and could see her thinking about things as they approached the portrait hole.
In the corner of his vision, a bit of movement caught his eye. It saved his life, and probably Katie's as well. A bright bolt of red shot towards them. Harry knocked Katie out of the way without a word and dodged. His wand shot into his hand and he was instantly casting as he rolled across the corridor.
There were four of them: Parkinson, Nott, Goyle, and Crabbe. Crabbe went down quickly to one of Harry's stunners.
"Damn it, Vinnie!" Parkinson shouted from the rear as she revived him. Harry's next stunner targeted her, but she sidestepped it. Katie had recovered from the abrupt push, and was also shooting stunners. Goyle got hit, only to be revived by Parkinson as well.
"No more stunners," Harry called to Katie, and he sent a bone-breaking curse towards the four Slytherins. He was rewarded with the sound of Crabbe's forearm snapping, and the large boy crying out."
"Potter's not playing anymore," Nott pointed out, upping his own arsenal to include the bone-breaking curse as well.
"Don't kill him!" Parkinson shrieked as she dodged another of Katie's spells. "The Dark Lord wants him alive."
"Broken bones don't kill people," Nott shot back, throwing up a shield to block a pair of bone-breakers from Harry.
Katie decided they needed something to break that shield and sent a blasting curse towards the Slytherins. The small explosion shattered the shield and knocked them down. Harry then tagged Nott with a bone-breaker in the leg, distracting him. Parkinson started to push herself back to her feet, and was momentarily distracted by Nott's cry of pain. Harry dashed forward while they were still collecting themselves, and hit Parkinson and Nott with stunners. Katie followed, finishing Crabbe and Goyle with stunners as well.
"Fucking hell," Harry cursed, looking at the aftermath. A quick repairo fixed some damaged stonework, but the two Slytherin boys would need a healer to fix their broken bones. "Are you alright?" he asked Katie.
"Yeah," Katie said looking down at herself. "You?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "Sorry about pushing you down."
"S'fine," Katie replied, looking at the four Slytherins. "We need to tell McGonagall."
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I'm glad you're safe." He reached out, took her hand, and kissed her. She wrapped him up in a hug and kissed him back.
"Thanks," she said softly as she pulled away. "You too."
-oooo-
"Crabbe and Goyle were the only ones willing to talk," Tonks said an hour later in the Headmistress' Office. Harry and Katie were sat there across from McGonagall, Sirius, and Professor Sinistra, who'd taken charge of Slytherin House the year before when Snape had resigned.
"Separately, they confirmed that they'd been asked by Pansy Parkinson to assist in the kidnapping of Harry," Tonks continued. "Each was also told by their fathers to help her. The plan was to stun him, bind him, disillusion him, and smuggle him out of the castle via the tunnels. Once beyond the wards, they were to portkey him to Voldemort."
"Parkinson was the leader?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Blaise told you she was out for blood after what happened with Malfoy," Katie pointed out.
"Apparently," Tonks said, answering Harry's question. "Both Parkinson and Nott refused to answer questions. Based on the conversations we had with Crabbe and Goyle, I can only imagine that Parkinson and Nott were not only the leadership, but also the brains behind the operations." Harry snorted at that. "We've arrested all of them for assault, conspiracy to commit assault, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and whatever else we can get to stick."
"Please keep us appraised of what's going on," Sirius said.
"That shouldn't be a problem," Tonks grinned. "I'm sure Bonesy'll keep you abreast of the situation. If she doesn't, I trust you'll ride her hard. Probe her…"
"Thank you, Auror Tonks," McGonagall cut her off dryly. Harry snorted, and Katie sported a wry grin. "Unless you have anything else for my students, I think that will be all."
"No," Tonks replied with a wide grin. "That's all."
"I would caution you to keep a watch on yourself, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said firmly. "I shall instruct the teachers and prefects to do the same."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, standing and taking Katie's hand as they left.
-oooo-
By the next morning, news of the attack was all over the school. By Wednesday, it was in the Prophet. Harry shook his head as he lowered the paper that morning.
"Bloody hell," he swore, passing it to Katie, who started reading with interest.
"I see they got that part right," she said, pointing to a passage about Katie's role.
"They got too bloody much right," Amelia said as she entered the room. Harry had taken to leaving the doors on the ground floor open, which also allowed voices to travel a bit. "We need to have a chat, if you're available."
"I have class in about an hour," Harry supplied.
"Katie too," Amelia added, looking pointedly at her. "You're a victim and a material witness, as well." Katie put the paper down, nodded, wiped her mouth with her napkin, and rose, pulling Harry up as well. Harry swiped a croissant off his plate, and followed, tearing off a bite as he went.
The couple followed the older woman into the drawing room. It was free of paintings, and far enough from the dining room that no one would overhear.
"I'm here to ensure you don't make any mistakes that could cost us a victory at trial," Amelia said bluntly as she closed the door behind them. She sat across from them on a comfortable couch. "If you were to say the wrong thing to the wrong person… well, it'd be bad."
"OK," Harry said slowly. "I wasn't planning on saying anything about it to anyone."
"People will ask," Amelia said simply. "When they do, the simplest thing to say is, 'I can't comment on that as I'm a material witness to the incident in question.' You could also say you've been directed not to speak about it by me."
"I was just going to tell them to bugger off," Harry said, shrugging. Katie snickered at that.
"It would probably be best if the press weren't angry with you for the next few weeks," Amelia sighed. "They're going to be unhappy enough that you won't answer their questions, but please don't make it worse by being rude, at least not until we've won."
"You will, right?" Harry asked, suddenly concerned.
"Of course," Amelia snorted. "Unless you start saying things like you tricked them into attacking you so you could get them locked up."
"That's ridiculous," Harry said coolly. "I've had no contact with them since Malfoy got carted off."
"It's what Parkinson's barrister's telling everyone who'll listen," Amelia informed him. That matched what he'd read in the Prophet a few minutes earlier. He shrugged. "Don't worry about that, though. In a few days, you'll get a court summons. Not this Saturday, but next Saturday, you'll come down to the Ministry, and we'll put you in a waiting room until you're called to testify. You'll come into the courtroom, and sit in the witness box and the two barristers'll ask you questions. You tell the truth, and everything'll be fine. They will've already seen the memory evidence you provided, so most of the questions'll be about your intent. Then when the questions are done, you can leave."
"Can I take veritasserum?" Harry asked after a moment's thought. "I don't want anyone to think I'm lying. Or, I could swear a magical oath of some kind."
"It's not standard practise," Amelia said. "We can't force you to take it, but if you were to request veritasserum, we could provide it to you. I'll make sure some's available if you want it."
"We'll call both of you," Amelia said looking at each of the couple in turn. "Do either of you have any other questions about what I've asked of you and the process I've described?" Both of the teens shook their heads. "OK," Amelia said, smiling at last. "I'd best let you two get to class, and I have to get to work."
-oooo-
"That's mental," Ginny said as the team were walking back to the changing rooms after practice that evening. "How many were there?"
"At least five," Dean told his girlfriend.
"What'd Flitwick do?" Demelza asked.
"Cast a load of knockback jinxes at them," Dean grinned. "Knocked the lot of them back into the corridor, then used a neat little charm to shut the door right in their faces."
"Poor Harry," Katie said, snuggling up to the boy in question. "Did the mean, nasty reporters frighten you?"
"No, but I didn't want to make them mad at me," Harry said, recalling Amelia's instructions that morning. Then he smiled broadly. "Fortunately, Professor Flitwick took care of that for me quite nicely." The entire team laughed. Well, entire team, except Ron, who'd already departed for Weasleyshire and his own shower.
Harry quickly removed his clothes once they reached the changing rooms. Despite the troubles he was having when he and Katie played with Lee and Leanne, he had no such problems with the quidditch showers.
Still, as always, it seemed like Ginny and Dean were always much quicker than him, and he found himself following them into the showers. They started kissing as Dean turned the knobs starting the water. Hands wandered immediately thereafter as they waited for the water to warm up.
Harry started his own water, as well as Katie's, and watched the couple with casual interest while the rest of the team filtered in. He stepped under the spray and rinsed off the sweat he'd accumulated during practice. The hot water relaxed his muscles and returned his digits to room temperature after nearly freezing them off flying in winter. Katie slid over under his spray after rinsing herself.
"Hey there, stud," she said quietly, eyes dancing and a smile on her face.
"Hey, yourself," Harry replied, grinning back and sliding an arm around her. She leaned in and kissed him. The initial residual salty taste of her sweat was quickly washed away, leaving behind a distinct cherry flavour. "What's that taste?"
"It's my new lip gloss," Katie told him. "D'you like it?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "It's nice."
"Hermione told me about it," she said. "It's muggle. I think it'd be quite popular among witches, though." She kissed him again, deeper, this time.
"And wizards too," Harry agreed, dipping back in for another kiss, his tongue finding hers. His hand slid down her back to her bum, groping one of the cheeks. She, in turn, grabbed his cock in her fist. "So, this is going to be one of those showers?" Harry asked, a smile in his voice.
"Haven't they all been since the start of this year?" Katie countered in a wispy voice.
"I bloody love you," Harry said off-handedly, and went back to kissing her.
A minute later, Katie dropped to her knees and took his erection in her mouth. He had to abandon her breasts and arse, but Harry considered a blowjob to be as good a reason as any to have to give those up temporarily. As her lips and tongue massaged his dick, he threw his head back, closed his eyes, and groaned in his pleasure. He looked down and opened his eyes, seeing Katie staring up at him as she worked, eyes smiling. Harry caressed her hair and smiled back.
Looking up, Harry saw Dean and Ginny were fucking like rabbits. Dean had Ginny on her back, legs over his shoulders as he thrust into her with abandon. On the other side of the shower, the four younger students had again upped the ante. To seemingly everyone's pleasure, the two couples had swapped. Jimmy and Natalie were shagging in the missionary position, both of them watching as Demelza rode Richie cowgirl. Richie's hand was between Demelza's legs working hard on her button, while Jimmy was stimulating Natalie's right nipple with his one free hand. Across from Harry and Katie, Fay was watching everyone with a look of longing and desperation in her eyes, her hand between her legs, frigging furiously.
Katie's tongue brought Harry back to the matter at hand, and suddenly, practically without warning, he was coming, gushing into Katie's mouth. She'd felt his cock begin to spasm, and adjusted to accept his seed before disaster struck. Instead, she drank it down. When she'd finished, she wiped her mouth, released his shrinking cock, and smiled up at him. He, in turn, smiled back, and reached down to pull her to her feet. He kissed her without hesitation.
"Harry!" Fay called from her shower. "Is that offer still open?" Harry glanced at Fay in surprise, noticing an urgent and lusty look in her eye, before looking back at Katie. They shared a brief but silent conversation before Katie answered for him.
"It sure is," she called back, not moving her eyes from Harry. Quieter, she added, "Go get her."
Harry leaned in and captured Katie's lips with his. The kiss didn't break for some time, but when it did, Harry spoke from the heart.
"I love you, so much," he said, squeezing her firmly.
"I love you too," she replied, squeezing back before slapping him on the rear. "Now, go shag her. I want to watch."
Almost reluctantly, Harry left Katie's arms and walked across the shower room. He could practically feel the eyes of the rest of the team on him. He stopped in front of Fay.
"May I?" he asked, extending his arms. She merely nodded, and he wrapped her up in a hug that left their faces inches apart. "You're sure about this?" Again, she nodded. Under his hands, he could feel her skin was covered in goosepimples. "You don't have to be nervous," he said as his hands began to move.
"Easy for you to say," she laughed very quietly. "You're not about to lose your virginity."
"No," he replied. "But I am about to have sex with a friend for the first time. May I kiss you?" She nodded, shaking, but sure. Harry leaned in and placed his lips on hers. It was tentative at first, but quickly became more heated. As Harry's hand dropped down to her bum, he heard some cheers from some of his other teammates, none louder than Katie. He grinned into Fay's mouth and pulled back slightly. "Sorry about that," he practically whispered.
"It's fine," Fay said meekly. "I expected it. Now what?"
"Whatever you want," Harry replied.
"Can you… use your mouth on me?" she asked, hesitantly. Harry smiled, nodded, and kissed her again. He trailed kisses across her cheek and down her neck to where it met her collarbone. She shuddered and moaned when he hit that spot. By the time he got to her breast, he'd completely recovered from the blowjob Katie had given him, and his erection was poking Fay's hip. She didn't seem to notice or care, as she was lost in the feelings he was giving her. When he glanced up at her, she was watching the younger four intently, her mouth slightly open and her eyes barely focused.
Without further ado, Harry dropped to his knees and snaked his tongue between her womanly folds. He quickly found her clit and began driving his tongue over it. The oral assault caused Fay to nearly fall over as her legs acted as though they'd been hit with a jelly-legs jinx. She leaned into Harry to steady herself, which drove Harry's tongue deeper between her legs. She shuddered, and held his head tightly.
Fay had already been extremely aroused by the goings on in the shower, and from playing with herself earlier, so she was panting out Harry's name in record time as her body shook and she orgasmed. Harry wasn't done, though. Retreating from her cunny, Harry reached up and pulled the sated witch down to the shower floor, laying her gently on the wet tile. He looked over at Katie as he climbed on top of Fay, to find her sitting against the wall of the shower, playing with herself languidly as she watched them. Harry looked back at Fay, and saw her looking up at him.
"Are you ready?" he asked. She nodded, eyes wide, but clear. Harry leaned down and kissed her, then lined himself up with her opening, and eased in slowly. The look on Fay's face, one of awed astonishment, never changed until he was fully seated within her. Then, she sighed a contented sight. "What?"
"I thought it'd hurt," she replied softly. "It doesn't. It feels amazing."
"Can I keep going?" he asked. She nodded, and he started thrusting. They shagged in silence for almost a minute, as Fay adapted to the sensations she was feeling for the first time. "Are the reserves still shagging like there's no tomorrow?" he asked, without bothering to look over. Fay shifted her gaze and nodded.
"Yeah," she panted. "They've switched back, though. Jimmy and Demelza and Richie and Natalie."
"How?"
"Richie's got Natalie in doggie style. I can't really see Jimmy and Demelza, but Demelza's on top," Fay reported.
"If you want to try something different, just let me know," Harry told her. "I can go for a while, though you feel damn good. You wouldn't want to make this a regular thing, would you?" He grinned at her.
"Maybe," she replied breathily. It was clear to Harry that Fay was one of those girls who could ride the feeling from one orgasm to another fairly rapidly. Her eyes were already starting to go unfocused, and she was starting to have trouble concentrating. Harry increased his speed, moved a hand to her clit, and lowered his head to her breasts, sucking a nipple. He was rewarded with a gurgling noise from Fay, then a squeak, and finally a deep, satisfied moan as her body convulsed.
Harry stopped. He hadn't come yet, but it was clear Fay was done. Her body was limp, and she had a wide smile plastered on her face.
"That was fan-fucking-tastic," she sighed, looking at him with glassy eyes.
"Glad you enjoyed it," Harry said with a grin. "Now, however, I must leave you, and see to my girlfriend."
"Sure," Fay said as he pulled out. "Whatever you need to do."
Harry stood, leaving her on the floor under the warm spray, and crossed back to his own shower. Sitting on the floor in front of Katie, he pulled her legs on top of his and pulled her close so they were sitting face-to-face.
"I need you," he said simply. She smiled and scooted forward, until his cock was touching her cunny. She reached down, and angled it so it lined up, then she scooted forward some more, impaling herself. They'd never had sex facing each other seated before, and both of them had some trouble figuring out how they were supposed to move. Finally, Katie gave up, and pushed Harry onto his back. She shifted so she was kneeling over him in cowgirl position, and started bobbing up and down. Harry's hand instinctively went between her legs to her clit, while his other hand played with a nipple. Harry, having shagged Fay for about five minutes, was fairly close to orgasm. Katie wasn't far behind. When Harry's orgasm came, the feel of him spurting into her set her off, and she shuddered atop him. Once they'd recovered, she leaned down and kissed him.
"That was bloody hot," she whispered to him.
"It was, he agreed quietly. When they got up, the rest of the team was looking at them, and Fay.
"That was bloody hot," Ginny said, unknowingly echoing Katie a moment earlier.
"Yeah!" Richie agreed. Several other teammates were nodding along.
"Well," Katie said nonchalantly. "Maybe you'll see more of that in the future."
"If you'll let me, they'll definitely see more of that in the future," Fay told Katie with an exhausted grin from her spot leaning against the shower wall. "I don't think I can stand up on my own." A moment later, Richie was standing next to her with a hand out. She took it and pulled herself to her feet. "Thanks."
-oooo-
"You're having trouble concentrating this morning," Healer Droop observed calmly that Saturday morning. Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his tousled hair.
"Yeah," he admitted.
"Is it the trial?" Healer Droop asked. It had been the first thing they'd talked about. The news had been impossible to ignore, and she'd wanted to ensure that he was alright psychologically speaking.
"Partly," Harry told her. "I've got a lot on my mind."
"What else, besides the trial?"
"It's… embarrassing," Harry prefaced. Healer Droop waited out a brief silence while Harry collected his thoughts. "I'm having some confusion in my relationship."
"Why don't you tell me about it?" she urged kindly. Harry searched but could find no malice or humour in her eyes, only care.
"Katie's been encouraging me to have sex with other girls, and she's had sex with other boys," Harry said. "It started out relatively small, but it's grown this past year. I've enjoyed it for the most part, but recently, I've had some… not bad experiences, but confusing experiences, I suppose."
"In what way are they confusing?" Healer Droop wanted to know.
"Katie and I were playing with another couple," Harry related. "I felt… ignored by everyone but Katie. Meanwhile, they were lavishing her with attention. This happened several times. When I talked to her about it, she went and talked with them, and… look, it was our friends Lee and Leanne. When Katie talked to Leanne, Leanne acted like there wasn't a problem. I didn't get the whole story, but Katie got a little upset on my behalf, and now, they're not really talking anymore."
"I see," Healer Droop said, tapping the end of her pen to her lips. "Are you confused because things didn't work out like you expected?"
"I don't know what I expected," Harry admitted. "I mean, I knew we'd have sex together, and I assumed it'd be like the other experiences I've had. They were also with friends, and I guess I thought there'd be excitement and mutual encouragement like we'd done before. Katie's stressed the importance of communication between partners before, and while I had that before, I didn't have that with Leanne."
"Have you had rewarding sex with other partners since then?" she asked.
"I have, but Katie hasn't," Harry revealed.
"And this isn't you feeling ignored because Katie had sex with another man?" she wanted to know.
"No," Harry shook his head. "I've seen her have sex with other guys before, even when it was me and one other guy with no other girls. I'm not jealous of the guy here, I just… have a certain expectation of intimacy and communication with my sex partners, I guess."
"That's not an unreasonable expectation," Healer Droop pointed out. There was a moment of silence. "If it helps, I don't think you've done anything wrong. You identified a problem in a relationship and communicated it to your girlfriend. Whether she handled it correctly, I can't say. Were you and Leanne friends before you were Katie's boyfriend?"
"No," Harry shook his head. "We hadn't really talked before the start of last year."
"Do you consider her a friend?" the older woman asked.
"I thought so," Harry said, looking at the floor. "I mean, we've spent quite a bit of time together the last two years, though never really alone. She's always there at parties and such, but she usually hangs out with the Weasley twins, their girlfriends, and Lee."
"So, she's around, but you haven't interacted much with her," Healer Droop restated.
"I think I actually spend more time at parties with my Slytherin friends than her," Harry realised after consideration.
"Is it safe to say the basis of the attraction between you is physical?" she wondered.
"Yeah," Harry nodded quickly. "She calls me the Quidditch God." He laughed. "I don't know if she's gotten the time to get to know me, y'know?"
"Is that true with her relationship with Katie as well?" Healer Droop asked.
"I don't think so," Harry replied. "Leanne seems focused on Katie and Lee when we're all together like that, and when Lee and Katie are together, after we're done, Leanne goes and plays with both of them. She kisses both of them, but not me."
"That doesn't sound like a healthy balanced relationship with mutual respect," Healer Droop pointed out. "I'd advise against continuing the sexual aspect of your and Katie's relationship with Lee and Leanne, at least until you can all discuss what you've told me."
"I don't think that'll be a problem," Harry grunted with dark amusement. "Leanne's not talking to Katie right now, and Lee's not at school." Healer Droop was just about to respond when there was a knock at the door. "Yes?" Katie opened the door.
"Sorry to interrupt, but it's almost time to leave for the trial," she informed him.
"That's my cue to leave," Healer Droop said lightly. "We can continue this next Saturday, Harry," she said as she moved to the door. "I think you've got a handle on it enough to leave it for today. Ta!" With a quick pat on Katie's shoulder the old healer disappeared towards the entry.
-oooo-
Thirty minutes later, Harry was seated in an anteroom off the Wizengamot chambers. He was there as a witness, not as a justice. He was not a part of the judicial staff; he had an exemption because he was still in school. Not that it would've mattered. As the victim, he was ineligible to serve as a justice in this case, anyway.
The door opened, revealing an auror.
"It's time," the auror said, motioning him to follow.
Harry rose, and entered the Wizengamot chamber. In the first row of seats was the five-member panel. He recognized Remus, Lord Greengrass, and Mr. Weasley. He thought the other two were Elphias Doge and Mr. Bulstrode, but he couldn't be certain, as he'd never met either wizard socially. Across from them were Amelia at the prosecutor's bench, and Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott, and two older men whom Harry presumed to be barristers, at the defence's bench. The auror led Harry to the witness chair, which was directly next to where Percy Weasley was acting as the court scribe. Harry moved in front of the chair, and the auror withdrew.
"Please swear a magical vow that everything you say here will be the truth," Mr. Weasley said with a small smile to Harry. Harry did so. "Please be seated." When he'd done so, Mr. Weasley turned to Amelia. "You may begin."
"Lord Potter," Amelia said, standing. "I'm going to present you with a memory supplied by Miss Katie Bell. When it's done, I'd like to ask you some questions about it. Is that alright with you?"
"Of course," Harry nodded. Amelia deposited Katie's memory into the court pensieve and began projecting the memory above the bowl. The memory began as Harry and Katie were arriving at the Fat Lady's portrait. Harry didn't need to watch it long to know it was accurate, but he did so anyway, just to be certain. When it was finished, Amelia stepped in front of him again.
"Lord Potter, do you believe that memory was an accurate depiction of what occurred that Monday?" she asked.
"Yes," Harry nodded. "So far as I'm aware, that memory was accurate. What happened in the memory is what I recall happened."
"Did any of the four assailants we saw in the memory have reason to attack you?" she asked.
"If you're asking whether I angered them, then yes," Harry smiled. "If you're asking if I offered violence before they attacked me that day, then the answer is no."
"What did you do to anger them?" Amelia pressed.
"I was the key victim in an attack that resulted in the arrest and conviction of Miss Parkinson's boyfriend, Draco Malfoy, though he's currently at large, and, I assume she could reach him if she wished," Harry elaborated. "Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, and Mr. Nott, I have no idea what I've done to them directly, but I can only assume it has something to do with either the aforementioned Draco Malfoy incident or Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort, who it's no secret I've been fighting against, and who acts as master to their fathers if not them."
"You haven't antagonized the boys personally?" Amelia clarified.
"I hadn't traded spells with them prior to Monday, and other than some schoolyard taunts, I haven't conversed with any of them," Harry shrugged. "Though if they hadn't said things to me, I never would've spoken to them. Come to think of it, I don't recall ever speaking to Crabbe or Goyle. Nott, I have traded barbs with very occasionally. Parkinson I only talked to if she said something first, though I might've insulted her to prod Malfoy."
"And who started these insults?" Amelia asked.
"Malfoy, when we he introduced himself on the Hogwarts Express just before first year," Harry related. "He tried to convince me to befriend him by insulting my friends, so I declined his offer, which he took offense to. We've been adversaries ever since, and he wasn't slow in bringing Crabbe and Goyle into the mix either. Parkinson followed along later first year. I'd thought Nott was above such things, but recently he's joined Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle."
"And you responded with…?" Amelia led.
"Verbal taunts mostly," Harry replied. "Occasionally, Fred and George Weasley would prank them on my behalf, once my friend Hermione Granger punched Malfoy in the face, and fourth year Barty Crouch Jr., who was impersonating Alastor Moody, transfigured Malfoy into a ferret when he caught him trying to curse me in the back."
"You never attacked any of them?" Amelia asked.
"Not that I can recall at this time," Harry replied.
"No further questions," Amelia said, sitting.
"Mr. Lampman," Mr. Weasley said, turning to the defence, "You may cross-examine the witness." The older man stood, and turned to Harry.
"Have you ever killed anyone, Lord Potter?" the man asked.
"Yes," Harry replied.
"More than one person?" the barrister pressed.
"Yes," Harry said, guessing where this was going.
"How many?" the defence continued.
"Let's see," Harry said, pausing to consider it. "The first was Quirinus Quirrell, my first year defence professor, who grabbed me around the neck and tried to strangle me. Touching me burned him badly, as he had the spirit of Voldemort residing in the back of his head, and my mother's sacrifice protected me from Voldemort, and transferred to Professor Quirrell. He died trying to murder me.
"Then, there was the attack on the Hogwarts Express at the end of June," Harry related. "After evacuating the train successfully, I remained behind to protect the arrival point for the Aurors. During that time, three Death Eaters were moving from compartment to compartment in my carriage. I attacked them, and killed them in a short fight."
"Did they attack you first?" the man asked, voice dripping with contempt.
"No, but considering they had stopped the train, were in full Death Eater regalia, and I am not only a Wizengamot member, but the member who exposed the existence of Tom Riddle to the British public, it wasn't hard to deduce what they'd do if they found me. Also, I'd like to remind you that as a Wizengamot member, I'm a member of the government, and I've sworn an oath not to aid Tom Riddle or his followers. I count allowing his followers to continue un-impeded in my presence, when I have the ability to impede them, aiding and abetting their cause. They're under an automatic death sentence, regardless."
That actually brought the barrister up short. He paused a moment. He decided that that wasn't a rabbit hole he wanted to go down.
"Perhaps you'd care to have a go at the other usual aspects that people harp on?" Harry asked, when the barrister tried to gather his thoughts. "Would you like to ask about how I'm possibly the heir of Slytherin? I'd be happy to tell you how I had to kill a thousand-year-old basilisk at the age of twelve to save a friend because Lucius Malfoy thought it'd be fun to kill muggleborns at Hogwarts by proxy. Or, how about we talk about how my godfather's a vicious murdering traitor? Except, it's been proven several times over he's not, but not until after Dementors nearly sucked the souls out of several people I care about and I had to learn to defend myself from those monsters. Maybe you'd like to talk about how I was roped into a contest for adults against my will, but managed to win anyway, while simultaneously managing not to be killed by Voldemort, all because an old man with too much to do couldn't be bothered to stop a man impersonating his own defence professor or listen to a fourteen-year-old. Or maybe, you'd rather talk about last year, when I was tortured by a bigoted and hate-filled government employee who was working for a Minister who was so deep in the pockets of terrorists and traitors that he was unwilling to admit what was right in front of his face despite mountains of evidence."
"You certainly are an angry young man, Lord Potter," the barrister said as Harry wound down.
"If you'd lived my life, you would be too," Harry sighed. "I'm not so much angry as fed up."
"Fed up with what?" the barrister wondered.
"People who are willing to look away," Harry said, looking the man dead in the eyes. "People who are more concerned with making money than doing what's right. People who look at other people who're different than them and see something less than a person. People who don't treat sentient beings as if they matter, regardless of species. People who are so… blind…" He trailed off. "When did common courtesy, dignity, hard work, intelligence, and honourable treatment of strangers get chucked? Look at me: I'm a muggle-raised half-blooded teenager. If I wasn't Lord Harry Potter, the boy who lived, I couldn't get the time of day from half the purebloods in Britain. It was that way for some of my friends for years. It's started to change, but…" He sighed again, and let his thought die. The barrister had the good sense to look embarrassed.
"Do you have any other questions of me?" Harry asked, at last. "There's no sense asking about my life or character. The whole world knows about that thanks to the press. I can tell you in detail what happened that day, but there's really no point. The memory you saw was accurate. Your clients attacked me. Katie Bell and I defended ourselves."
"I have no further questions for this witness," Mr. Lampman said after considering Harry for several heartbeats. He sat.
"The witness is excused," Mr. Weasley told Harry. Harry nodded, and rose, feeling morose. He walked off back into the anteroom and left. He waited in Amelia's office for about thirty minutes, passing the time reading through random documents on her desk. What he saw wasn't inspiring, but then, a collection of crime reports rarely is. Eventually, Amelia opened the door.
"They were both convicted," she told him, collapsing into one of her visitors' chairs. "Two years in Azkaban."
"Hopefully when they get out, their parents' master won't be around anymore, and they'll be reformed," Harry said hopefully.
"I'm with you on that one," Amelia agreed. "It shouldn't be too much longer. His horcruxes are gone. His money's getting cut off. We're whittling down and constraining his followers. I think he had more freedom as a wraith."
"He certainly travelled more," Harry chuckled. "I just wish we could find him."
"We'll get him, Harry," Amelia consoled him. Just then, the door opened and Katie walked in.
"Is this where you've been hiding?" she asked. "I was looking for you for twenty minutes!"
"Sorry," Harry shrugged, standing. "Didn't mean to hide. I just didn't know where else to go after. I wanted to know what happened."
"Well?" she asked, crossing to give him a kiss.
"Both convicted," Harry relayed. "Two years in Azkaban each."
"That's what you get when you attack my boyfriend," Katie said happily. "Now, it's almost lunchtime. I want to go to that pub in Traveller's Rest. I'm craving some chips."
Harry laughed and let his girlfriend lead him from the room.