Chapter 18: Year 5 – The Charges are Stupid
It's not a question of how impressive the magic was," said Fudge in a testy voice, "in fact, the more impressive the worse it is, I would have thought, given that the boy did it in plain view of a Muggle!" Those who had been frowning now murmured in agreement, but it was the sight of Percy's sanctimonious little nod that goaded Harry into speech, but he quickly thought of what to say that would hopefully get them back on his side. "A Muggle who already knew about magic!" he said loudly. "The Muggle was my cousin – who I live with! He's known about magic since at least the day I got my first Hogwarts letter, as has my uncle! And as for my aunt, she's known since my mum got her first letter!"
The muttering of the courtroom dropped to stunned silence, before Dumbledore broke it. "If I recall, Cornelius, the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery states in Clause Three that if an underage witch or wizard is resident in the home of Muggle immediate relations or guardians, the witch or wizard cannot be prosecuted for magic performed in the view of any Muggles resident there, whether in the home or not, so long as there were no other Muggles present. And since it has been established there were not, no crime has been committed. Or is it your intention to also charge any Muggleborn who on returning home from Hogwarts, showed their families what they had learned?"
Fudge blustered for another few minutes, but eventually Harry left the courtroom smiling. "Cleared," he said to Mr Weasley, "of all charges!"
*Time skip*
"I knew it!" yelled Ron, punching the air. "You always get away with stuff!" "It's better than that," Harry grinned, "Dumbledore showed up and pointed out they couldn't charge me at all!" "What do you mean?" asked Hermione, no longer looking as anxious as she had when Harry walked in. "The law says you can't do magic in front of Muggles, but there's a great big exception – you can, IF you're immediately related to them or they're your guardians, you live with them, and there weren't any other Muggles to see you." Hermione's jaw dropped. "You mean," she said shakily, "all this time, I could have shown my parents?" "Yep." "But, but, the notes we get at the end of each school year, saying not to do magic over the holidays…" "Those are just a formality, Hermione," explained Sirius. "The Ministry doesn't have the manpower to check every single use of magic. If you live in a wizarding house, they can't tell if it was you or your parents. They can tell who it is if the magic happens in a Muggle area, but not who the Muggles around you actually are, so to be on the safe side, Hogwarts tells you to not do magic. Someone could see you through the window, after all."