The chapter you all have been waiting for…the trial!
I hope you all like it, I'm afraid it's not as ass kicking epic as I wanted it to be so I hope you aren't too disappointed. Enjoy!
Harry gasped as he looked around the courtroom. It was the same one he saw in Dumbledore's Pensieve.
"You're late" A cold male voice echoed through the room. Harry looked up to see the Minister Fudge sitting up high with a large council around him.
"Yeah we can see that." Tony replied dryly. "We would have been on time if you actually put in the effort of telling us about the change."
"That is not the Wizengamot's fault," The Minister said. "An owl was sent to you this morning."
Tony rolled his eyes, "Yes because Owls are so fast. You really need email, that way if you have a sudden meeting change everyone is notified in a timely manner. That being said, when you change the time to a few minutes after you send the notification, there will be some people who are late…it's pretty obvious."
"And who are you Sir?" A woman asked.
"Tony Stark, Harry Potter's father and representation in this so called trial."
"You are not allowed to be here Mr. Stark" Fudge said.
"And allow you to hold a formal trial with a minor? I don't think so." Tony motioned for Harry to sit in the chair that stood in the middle of the room. "You may start."
Fudge didn't look pleased but started anyway. "The accused being present – finally – are you ready?" He called down the row.
"Yes, sir" An eager voice replied. Harry looked to see Ron's brother, Percy sitting at the end of the bench, a quill poised over his parchment.
"Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August," Fudge said as Percy scribbled everything down, "into offenses committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Secrecy by Harry James Potter. Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley —"
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but can we get on with the hearing. We all have better places to be I'm sure." Tony said.
Harry looked around the room, a few members looked annoyed while the others looked amused.
"Yes, well" Fudge cleared his throat. "The charges. Yes." He lifted a piece of parchment from the neat pile in front of him and read, "The charges against the accused are as follows: That he did knowingly, deliberately, and in full awareness of the illegality of his actions, having received a previous written warning from the Ministry of Magic on a similar charge, produce a Patronus Charm in a Muggle-inhabited area, in the presence of a Muggle, on August the second at twenty-three minutes past nine, which constitutes an offense under paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, and also under section thirteen of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy."
He turned to look at Harry, "You are Harry James Potter correct? And you conjured a Patronus on the second of August?"
"Yes but –"
"Knowing that you were in an area full of Muggles?"
"Yes –"
"And then conjuring one while in close proximity of a Muggle"
"Yes" Harry hissed, "but I only did it to –"
A witch wearing a monocle tilted her head and cut Fudge off before he could continue.
"You produced a fully-fledged Patronus?"
"Yes," said Harry, "because —"
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"A — what?" Harry looked at his dad who shrugged.
"Your Patronus had a clearly defined form? I mean to say, it was more than vapor or smoke?"
"Yes," said Harry, feeling both impatient and slightly desperate, "it's a stag, it's always a stag."
"Always?" boomed Madam Bones. "You have produced a Patronus before now?"
"Yes," Harry nodded.
"And you are fifteen years old?"
"Yes, and —"
"You learned this at school?"
"Yes, Professor Lupin taught me in my third year, because of the —"
"Impressive," said Madam Bones, staring down at him, "a true Patronus at that age . . . very impressive indeed." Some of the wizards and witches around her were muttering again; a few nodded, but others were frowning and shaking their heads.
Tony rolled his eyes, "Can we allow Mr. Potter to actually finish a sentence during this hearing? Shouldn't we allow him to tell his side of the story before you all start accusing him of something?"
"We already know his side of the story Mr. Stark, we don't need to hear it." Fudge said.
Tony raised a brow, "Did I fall asleep or something because I don't remember Mr. Potter saying more than a few words at a time. When has he been able to tell his story?"
"He conjured a Patronus in the presence of a Muggle, what more does the Wizengamot need to know?"
Tony scoffed, "How about the part where Mr. Potter only used magic to protect himself and his younger brother."
"Protect himself from what?" Madam Bones asked.
"Dementors" Harry replied.
"Ah," said Fudge again, smirking unpleasantly as he looked around at the Wizengamot, as though inviting them to share the joke.
"Dementors in London?" Madam Bones said in tones of great surprise. "I don't understand —"
"Don't you, Amelia?" Fudge said, still smirking. "Let me explain. He's been thinking it through and decided dementors would make a very nice little cover story, very nice indeed. Muggles can't see dementors, can they, boy? Highly convenient, highly convenient…so it's just your word and no witnesses…"
"I saw them" Tony said.
The room went quiet as they all stared at him in surprise. "Excuse me?" Fudge sputtered.
"I saw them." Tony repeated. "Large figures covered in wispy black cloaks. Magic doesn't seem to work on them except for a Patronus. They also make you feel like you'll never be happy again. They also chill the atmosphere, which is saying something because that day was the hottest day of the summer."
"You have no right to speak here Mr. Stark, this is Ministry business and we have no time to listen to your prattling." Fudge glared at Tony.
Tony smirked, "If I remember correctly, and I always do, the accused has the right to present witnesses for his or her case under the Wizengamot Charter of Rights. Am I right Madam Bones?"
"You are correct Mr. Stark" Madam Bones replied.
Fudge looked like he swallowed a lemon, "Oh very well. Let's hear it."
Tony put on his best media smile and stepped forward. "On the day of the attack, Mr. Potter took his younger brother to a park near our penthouse. They were there for a few hours before the weather changed drastically so Mr. Potter decided to come home. They were walking through a tunnel when two dementors attacked them. Mr. Potter was able to chase them off using his Patronus. That is when my husband and I arrived."
"So you were not present during the supposed attack." A witch who resembled a toad said.
"We arrived at the end, when my youngest son distracted them so Harry could get to his wand."
"You came at the end, meaning you aren't a real witness. The only true witness is your son and I don't see him here." Fudge said.
"I don't know about that, he seemed to identify the dementors accurately enough." Madam Bones said.
"But dementors wandering about Muggle London and just happening to run into a wizard? It's preposterous. Mr. Stark is obviously making up stories just so he can weasel his son out of his rightful punishment." Fudge hissed.
"What if the dementors weren't there by coincidence?" Tony asked.
Everyone in the room turned to him, "And what do you mean by that?" An elderly witch asked.
"You all may deny it, but Voldemort is back and maybe he just so happens to have the dementor's allegiance. I don't know about you, but they were probably sent specifically to Harry."
"You-Know-Who is not back!" Fudge exclaimed. "The dementors take orders from the Ministry and that is all."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Then how do you explain the attack?"
In the complete silence that greeted these words, the witch to the right of Fudge leaned forward, it was the toad woman from before. Her voice was sickly sweet, Harry was almost expecting her to croak.
"I'm sure I must have misunderstood you, Mr. Stark," she said with a simper that left her big, round eyes as cold as ever. "So silly of me. But it sounded for a teensy moment as though you were suggesting that the Ministry of Magic had ordered an attack on this boy!"
She gave a silvery laugh that made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand up. A few other members of the Wizengamot laughed with her. Though Harry could tell that several members were forcing their laughter.
"If it is true that the dementors are taking orders only from the Ministry of Magic, and it is also true that two dementors attacked Harry and his brother a few weeks ago, then it follows logically that somebody at the Ministry ordered the attacks," Tony said politely. "Of course, these particular dementors may have been outside Ministry control —"
"There are no dementors outside Ministry control!" snapped Fudge, who had turned brick red.
Tony inclined his head. "Then I'm sure the Ministry will be making a full inquiry as to why two dementors were so far from Azkaban and why they attacked without authorization."
"It is not for you to decide what the Ministry of Magic does or does not do, Mr. Stark! You forget, you are just a Muggle and have no business here." snapped Fudge, now a shade of magenta of which Uncle Vernon would have been proud.
"Of course not," Tony replied dryly. "I was merely expressing my confidence that this matter will not go uninvestigated." He glanced at Madam Bones, who readjusted her monocle and stared back at him, frowning slightly. "As for why I am here, I am representing my son in his trial, which I thought would be fair but apparently Wizards are more behind the times than I originally thought."
Fudge ignored him in favor of addressing the rest of the Wizengamot, "I would remind everybody that the behavior of these dementors, if indeed they are not figments of this boy's imagination, is not the subject of this hearing!" Fudge said. "We are here to examine Harry Potter's offenses under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery!"
"Right, back on topic." Tony said. He began a slow circle around the room, looking at every wizard in attendance. "Clause seven of the Decree states that magic may be used before Muggles in exceptional circumstances, and as those exceptional circumstances include situations that threaten the life of the wizard or witch himself, or witches, wizards, or Muggles present at the time of the —"
"We are familiar with clause seven, thank you very much!" snarled Fudge.
"Then we are in agreement that Harry's use of the Patronus Charm in these circumstances falls precisely into the category of exceptional circumstances it describes?"
"If there were dementors, which I doubt —" Fudge grumbled.
"You have heard our story, you have heard our descriptions. Would you like to see a picture? Maybe a video of what happened." Tony glared at the Minister. "You have a truth serum do you not? Why not use that and end this pointless trial right now. I am a busy man Minister and you and your questionable sense of justice are wasting mine and everybody else's time."
Harry watched as Fudge's face turned an array of colors and his mouth opened and closed like a fish. "W-we will stay here until Mr. Potter is rightfully punished for breaking a law."
"A law that states an underage wizard is allowed to use magic to defend themselves." Tony replied.
"Laws can be changed." Fudge hissed.
"I can see that. You've probably done a lot of changes in the last few weeks. In the last book that I read, nowhere did it say that it had become the practice to hold a full criminal trial to deal with a simple matter of underage magic."
Harry could see a few wizards shift uncomfortably.
"Now, you have heard our story and I can get you evidence if you need it. The Dementors attacked my sons on their way home from the park. That is the truth and I don't care if you believe me or not. If you move to expel my son then you bet your magical ass that I will have all of Stark Industries legal department in here and will be fighting this with everything they have. And they haven't lost a case yet." Tony said to Fudge.
Fudge's face had returned to its purple hue. The rest of the room was silent.
"I think it's about time to wrap this up wouldn't you all agree? I have a board meeting in half an hour and my CEO would kill me if I were late." Tony said calmly as he checked his watch.
Harry didn't know if it was a good idea for his dad to tell the Wizengamot they needed to hurry up after basically threatening them, but he looked calm as he watched the entire Wizengamot fall into urgent, whispered conversations.
What felt like forever to Harry was only a few minutes. When the whispering finally stopped, Harry couldn't lift his head to look at everyone, too afraid of what their decision would be.
"Those in favor of clearing the accused of all charges?" Madam Bones said. Harry's head jerked upward. There were hands in the air, many of them…more than half! Breathing very fast, he tried to count, but before he could finish Madam Bones had said, "And those in favor of conviction?" Fudge raised his hand; so did half a dozen others, including the witch on his right.
Fudge glanced around at them all, looking as though there was something large stuck in his throat, then lowered his own hand. He took two deep breaths and then said, in a voice distorted by suppressed rage, "Very well, very well . . . cleared of all charges."
"Excellent," Tony clapped, smiling widely. "Well, we must be getting along. Good day to you all. I hope we never have to meet again." And with that, Tony dragged Harry out of the courtroom.
Once outside, Harry sighed in relief and sagged against the nearest wall.
"I swear Harry, why you would want to be a wizard is beyond me. Those people actually follow that fool? And I thought Hammer was bad."
"You are starting to sound like Papa, calling people fools." Harry snickered.
Tony smirked and put his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Still sure you don't want Loki to take over? He would be a lot better than that guy."
Harry rolled his eyes, "There will be no take over. We are already in a war with someone who wants to rule the world."
Tony chuckled, "I guess."
At the end of the corridor was Dumbledore, talking to Mr. Weasley.
"Ah, Mr. Stark." Dumbledore smiled, "I see you have won your trial."
"Yes, I suppose we have you to thank for setting it up." Tony replied.
Dumbledore nodded, "I was going to attend but owls are so slow these days. I'm afraid I got the schedule change too late."
Tony snorted, "Yeah, us as well."
"Everything is as it should be now. I'll let you go. Good day." The Headmaster turned and, without even a glance in Harry's direction, walked away.
Harry watched as Dumbledore walked away, confused why the man didn't greet him, didn't even acknowledge him.
"Congratulations Harry!" Mr. Weasley cheered. "I knew you would win – of course – but I couldn't help worrying."
"Thank you Mr. Weasley." Harry replied.
They started walking back towards the stairs. "I hear the entire Wizengamot was at your trial. That is very unusual."
"It's also against the law." Tony said. "Something minor like Underage Magic should not have been a full trail. It's obvious that someone was trying to get Harry expelled." Tony said.
Harry didn't want to think about that, he was just glad he won and was able to return to school.
"Well, I'll show you back to the exit and then I have to get back to work. Apparently the pranksters we have been searching for have struck —"
Mr. Weasley broke off in mid-sentence. They had just reached the ninth-level corridor, and Cornelius Fudge was standing a few feet away from them, talking quietly to a tall man with sleek blond hair and a pointed, pale face.
The second man turned at the sound of their footsteps. He too broke off in mid-conversation, his cold gray eyes narrowed and fixed upon Harry's face. "Well, well, well…Patronus Potter," said Lucius Malfoy coolly.
Harry felt winded, as though he had just walked into something heavy. He had last seen those cool gray eyes through slits in a Death Eater's hood, and last heard that man's voice jeering in a dark graveyard while Lord Voldemort tortured him. He could not believe that Lucius Malfoy dared look him in the face; he could not believe that he was here, in the Ministry of Magic, or that Cornelius Fudge was talking to him, when Harry had told Fudge that Malfoy was a Death Eater. "The Minister was just telling me about your lucky escape, Potter," drawled Mr. Malfoy. "Quite astonishing, the way you continue to wriggle out of very tight holes…Snakelike, in fact…"
Tony squeezed Harry's shoulder.
"He's a Stark in everything but blood." Tony said proudly, "When there isn't an exit, we make one." He sent a sharp look towards Malfoy.
Malfoy sneered, "I'm surprised to see you here," He said "I believe we met at the Quidditch World Cup."
"Yes, strange sport. Kind of like football in the air, or maybe like lacrosse…yeah, more like lacrosse."
"Quidditch isn't anything like football." Harry said.
"American football Harry, not British."
Harry rolled his eyes, "You don't even use your feet in that sport, why is it called football?"
"Don't know, don't care" Tony replied.
"American football is named because –" Jarvis' voice came from Tony's pocket.
"Mute Jarvis" Tony said.
"What in the world was that?" Fudge asked.
"He's my butler." Tony said. "Muggle technology is so much better than Wizards', I don't know how you've survived for so long."
"Muggle technology doesn't work in our world." Fudge said. "It's impossible"
"Making the impossible possible is my day job." Tony smirked. "Now, it's been fun really, but we have to go. Unlike some people," he smirked at Malfoy and Fudge, "I actually run an international multi-billion dollar company and I have work to do. If you need me, you can call me any time. I'll put you on hold – I like to watch the light blink." With an overly dramatic wink, he walked away.
"What is Malfoy even doing here?" Harry hissed when they were out of hearing-range.
"He's probably here to learn about your trial." Mr. Weasley said. "I'll tell Dumbledore that Malfoy has been talking to Fudge again."
"He talks to the Minister a lot?" Harry asked.
Mr. Weasley nodded, "Malfoy's been giving generously to all sorts of things for years…Gets him in with the right people…then he can ask favors…delay laws he doesn't want passed…Oh, he's very well connected, Lucius Malfoy."
"Politicians, the same in every country." Tony muttered. "Businessmen too."
As they returned to the entry to the Ministry, Tony stopped at the fountain and looked at it. "What are you doing Dad?" Harry asked.
Tony smirked and snapped his fingers, a wave of light blue magic surrounded them. "What did you do?" Mr. Weasley asked, looking around.
"Just an invisibility spell while I change this fountain. It really is an eyesore." Tony waved his hand toward the fountain. The witch and wizard statue melted and transformed into perfect copies of Tony and Loki while the centaur, goblin, and house-elf statues changed positions so they now held Stark phones and tablets. Displays appeared showing off the technology and where to buy it. At the bottom of the fountain was the Stark Industries logo.
Harry burst out laughing, "Bloody hell, that's amazing."
Tony chuckled and got out his phone, "Come on now, everyone gather 'round. We have to show this glorious thing off." He pulled Harry and Mr. Weasley close to him and the three of them took a picture in front of the new fountain.
As they walked back to the visitor's entrance, Tony waved his hand again and Harry heard several gasps and screams. "Who needs a marketing team?" Tony smiled proudly.
"I shall see you back at the house Harry." Mr. Weasley said as Harry and Tony got into the phone booth. "Mr. Stark it was a pleasure seeing you again."
"Likewise Arthur, please keep me up to date on the news about your new fountain." He winked.
Mr. Weasley nodded and stepped back as the phone booth returned to the surface.
Well, there it is. Hope it wasn't too bad. I really liked the statue though, I can just picture it in my mind and it seemed like something Tony would do.