Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
If You Can Help Her – Chapter 23 – The Trial of Sirius Black
Harry woke up on September 19th nervous and excited. Sirius Black might go free today! The party for after the trial had been arranged already. If things went well, then both Sirius and Hermione would get a message to go to Dumbledore's office, once everything was ready. Harry had been assured that only Dobby would help with the preparations, and would get a bonus. That way, no slave labor would be involved.
He walked downstairs with a package in his hands and saw Hermione sitting by herself. Ron was still snoring the last time Harry saw him, and apparently Ginny wasn't ready yet. "Happy birthday, Hermione," greeted Harry.
Hermione smiled at her best friend. "Thanks. Good morning."
"I got you this present. I hope you like it." He handed her the package. They decided that the best way to surprise Hermione would be to give her their gifts before the party. That way, she'd never expect one. Besides, they didn't have gifts for Sirius, so it wouldn't be polite to hand out presents to one guest of honor and not the other.
"You shouldn't have," she commented. "I know you've got to be worried about Sirius…"
"That doesn't mean my best friend doesn't deserve a birthday present."
She eagerly ripped the package open to find a muggle book on the history of slavery in different cultures, and the movements that ended it. She beamed at Harry. "Thank you, Harry!" she exclaimed, getting up and giving Harry a hug. "Maybe this will help me with C.A.R.E!"
"Hugging my boyfriend, are we?" asked Ginny with a smirk from the stairs.
Hermione, her face turning scarlet, let go of Harry immediately. "Er, I was just thanking him for my gift, Ginny. I promise I wasn't…"
"I'm kidding, Hermione!" assured Ginny, handing Hermione a small package, "Happy birthday."
"Thank you."
"You might want to open that in your room, though."
"Good morning, Love," greeted Harry, walking up to Ginny and giving her a quick kiss.
"Morning, Harry," responded Ginny.
At that moment, Ron came down and yawned loudly, not bothering to cover his mouth.
"Ronald Weasley, I know your mother taught you better manners than that," declared Hermione.
"Morning, 'Mione," replied Ron. "What's that you've got in your hands?"
"My birthday present from Ginny," answered Hermione, smiling.
"Birthday," exclaimed Ron, as a look of panic filled his face, "That's today? That means today's the trial, and I'll have to testify!"
"Of course it's today, you git," scolded Ginny. "Don't tell me you didn't remember your girlfriend's birthday!"
"It's all right," responded Hermione softly. Her head was tilted a bit downward and her expression wasn't as happy as before. "He probably just had the days confused is all."
"Er, yeah," agreed Ron.
"Why don't you give Hermione her gift," suggested Harry.
Ron looked really worried. He walked up to Harry and whispered into his ear, "I, er, didn't get her a gift yet. I thought it was next week. What'll I do?"
"Okay," Harry answered loudly, "I'll help you get the gift." They walked up to the boys' dorm, and as soon as they were in their room, Harry shouted, "You idiot! How could you not get her a gift! You already hurt Hermione's feelings by forgetting it was her birthday, and now you don't have anything to give her! I thought you'd treat her better than this when I set you up. I ought to march downstairs and tell her the truth! The only reason I'm not doing that is because I don't want her feelings hurt worse! What do you have that you can give her?"
"Nothing," answered Ron desperately. "What am I gonna do?"
"You mean besides lose your girlfriend, and make me mad at you?" Harry took a deep breath. "Fine. I have some perfume that I'd planned on giving Ginny next week. You can give Hermione that. I'll order more."
"What do you have perfume for? Ginny's birthday was in August, and Christmas isn't for ages."
Harry shook his head. "Is there something wrong with giving your girlfriend a gift without a special occasion? Don't answer that."
"Fine," grumbled Ron, "I'll take it. How much does it cost?"
"Er, five galleons," lied Harry. It actually cost twenty.
Ron reached into his trunk. "That's all the money I have, so she'd better like it."
Harry pulled the perfume out of his trunk, tapped it with his wand while muttering an incantation. Wrapping paper appeared on it. Harry handed it to Ron, who hurried down the stairs, followed by Harry. Ron handed it to Hermione and lied, "I misplaced it, and Harry helped me find it."
When Hermione opened it, her eyes bulged out. "Oh, thank you, Ron!" She immediately threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately.
Ginny looked at the perfume, at Ron, and then at Harry. She suggested, "Harry, why don't we go for a walk before breakfast starts and leave the happy couple alone?"
"Sure," agreed Harry, taking her hand.
They walked in silence until they were outside and alone. Ginny commented, "Ron didn't get her a gift, did he?"
Harry's ears turned red. "Er, I don't know…"
"Don't lie to me, Potter," she threatened. "He'd have never been able to afford that perfume. You must have given it to him."
"No, he paid…"
"A lot less than it cost you, I'll bet. Why did you have it, anyway? There's no special occasion coming up."
"Ron asked the same thing," responded Harry with a smirk. "The truth is that Pansy Parkinson's birthday…ouch"
She lightly slapped his arm and demanded, "The truth."
"I just felt like giving you something nice. Is that a crime? I'll order more for you. I couldn't let Ron ruin Hermione's birthday. Did you see how happy she was?"
Ginny put her arms around Harry's waist. "You are, without a doubt, the most wonderful guy in the world. Not just to your girlfriend, but even to your other friends. But you can't always bail Ron out of trouble with Hermione. He has to learn to treat Hermione right himself if he wants to keep her. She deserves a boyfriend that treats her the way you treat me."
"I know. I just saw how hurt she was by his forgetting it was her birthday, and I didn't want to see her hurt more today."
"I understand. I guess I should be glad that she's not your girlfriend. You knew her for nearly two years before you noticed me."
"I hope we don't have to go through that again," Harry declared, smiling. "You're my girlfriend, and I couldn't be happier. That's why I bought that perfume. To try to show you how happy you've made me."
She then stood on her toes and suggested, "Let me try to show you how happy you make me," and she proceeded to snog him senseless.
-IYCHH-
The quartet was sitting in the Great Hall, and had just finished eating breakfast when ten aurors in uniform walked into the room, wands out. All the students were watching them as they visually scanned the area. One of them sent a patronus in the form of a donkey, racing out the door they'd just entered. It opened again and three aurors walked in, followed immediately by Cornelius Fudge with an auror on either side of him, followed by five more aurors. Harry whispered to Ginny, "Dumbledore was exactly right. Twenty aurors." Ginny giggled.
Professor Dumbledore walked up to the podium as other ministry officials, as well as the entire Wizengamot, started coming in. "Hogwarts would like to welcome the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, who has come, along with other ministry officials, to oversee the trial of Sirius Black. Hogwarts is hosting this trial, because Sirius Black has requested sanctuary here until after it.
"I would appreciate it if anyone here who has not been requested to be a part of this trial would finish their breakfast as quickly as possible and vacate this hall so that we can make preparations. Lunch will be served in the house common rooms at eleven o'clock today, and the trial will begin at noon. Anyone wishing to witness the trial may return at that time. If you choose to attend the hearing, you must take a seat and sit quietly throughout the entire proceeding. If you don't consider yourself capable of that, then I suggest you find other activities to take up your time."
Within five minutes, all of the students except for Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were gone. Harry noticed Remus Lupin walk into the hall and got up to walk toward him. He was stopped by an auror, who explained, "The witnesses shall not converse until after the trial is over." He then noticed his friends being separated by other aurors.
One of the ministry officials stood behind the podium and announced, "All witnesses will be escorted to separate rooms to wait until they are called upon. After their testimony is given, they may remain for the rest of the trial, or leave quietly." After this announcement, the auror that had spoken to him earlier took him by the hand and practically dragged Harry to a nearby classroom. He ordered, "Sit."
After Harry complied, the auror closed the door. A few seconds later, he saw the door glow yellow for a second. Harry commented to no one, "I guess I'm locked in. At least Snape is, too. Too bad Hermione has to spend part of her birthday like this."
After about ten minutes, the door glowed and then opened, revealing the auror, followed by the ministry official who'd made the announcement earlier, who was carrying a clear glass sphere. She introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Madam Bones. This is called a thought sphere. Are you familiar with pensieves?"
Harry shook his head. "No, Madam Bones."
She sighed, "Well, both this and pensieves offer ways to watch people's memories. With your permission, we're going to watch your memory of the night you met Sirius Black, from the time you met him until you were finished speaking with him, presumably after Mr. Lupin went through his transformation. After we've watched those events, we'll call you into the court, I mean the Great Hall, to discuss them. Do we have your permission?"
"Er, yes. What do I do?"
"I'll put my wand to your head, and you start thinking about everything that happened from the time you entered the so-called 'Shrieking Shack.'"
She then proceeded, and Harry concentrated on how the truth had come out, and made sure not to think of anything that happened afterward. When he reached the end, he told her, "That's it," and she put the long silver string of thought into the crystal.
She left, saying, "Thank you." The guard followed and resealed the door.
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, during which Harry paced the room, sat down, ate lunch that appeared in front of him, and paced the room again, the door opened and the auror instructed, "Come," and grabbed Harry's hand and nearly pulled him into the Great Hall, having him sit in a chair facing everyone from the ministry, with Fudge in the middle. He'd noticed that Dumbledore, Lupin, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were already in the room.
Cornelius spoke. "Mr. Harry Potter, you will now be given veritaserum to insure that you tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth during these proceedings. Do you accept that?"
"Yes, sir," agreed Harry.
After an auror handed him a vial, and he drank it, Harry didn't feel any differently, except that he knew he had to be completely honest.
Fudge asked, "We have watched your recollections of the events of the night you met Sirius Black. Isn't it true you were confunded during those events?"
"No, sir," replied Harry. "Professor Snape claimed that Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, and myself had all been confounded, because we disagreed with what he said. You believed him instead of the four of us. You planned on having the Dementor's kiss performed on Sirius Black before you even waited for Professor Lupin's testimony."
"That's quite enough insolence out of you," snapped Fudge. "I think that…"
Amelia Bones interrupted him, "Harry Potter is simply explaining what happened. What he said is a matter of public record that has already been established by testimony from his three classmates, Professor Dumbledore, as well as Madam Pomfrey, who witnessed the conversation. You did dismiss the testimony of four people in favor of one person who, as a matter of public record, used to be a Death Eater before turning spy.
"Harry Potter, on the other hand, is a hero to our world, and Hermione Granger is the top student of her year. The Weasley siblings are members of a highly respected family. Their father is, in fact, the head of a ministry department. You were going to give a man a fate worse than death while refusing to hear a word in his defense. He hadn't even had a trial to begin with. You could have at least delayed the kiss until after the children could be tested for any sign of bewitchment, as well as given time for Mr. Lupin to give his version of events."
A lot of whispering began among the Wizengamot, as Fudge's face went from red to purple. He finally asked, "Did you actually see the rat known as Scabbers transform into Peter Pettigrew, and then see Pettigrew escape?"
"Yes sir," answered Harry.
"How many fingers did Pettigrew have?" asked Fudge quickly.
"Nine, sir. He was missing one. As a rat he was also missing a toe."
"Why did you attack a teacher?" asked Fudge.
"Because Professor Snape wanted Black to receive the Dementor's kiss without getting a chance to explain himself."
"Given the chance, would you have attacked me the same way?" demanded Fudge with venom in his eyes.
"Yes, sir," replied Harry, looking Fudge in the eyes.
"So you think you're more fit to judge right and wrong than me?"
"Sir, you showed me that you have absolutely no interest in justice by refusing to listen to anyone who disagreed with you. You were willing to have Sirius' soul sucked out before he ever had a trial! All that you're interested in is looking like a 'good leader' to the public by catching Sirius! You didn't even care whether he was innocent or guilty! Since you don't give a damn about right and wrong, I am more fit to judge it than you, sir," yelled Harry, earning more whispering from the ministry officials.
"We have no further questions. You may step down," yelled Fudge, while Amelia Bones was smiling. She winked at Harry before he got up.
Harry got up and walked over to Ginny, sitting down next to her. She whispered, "You're not the only one who's insulted Fudge's handling of that affair. All of us, including Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey have brought up how he refused to listen to anyone who disagreed with him."
Harry smiled at her but said nothing as Snape's memories, showing three minutes of spying, as well as how he absolutely refused to listen to an explanation from anyone, and how he'd intended on calling the Dementors to Black instead of taking him to the castle, which caused the students to attack him. Then, it showed him in the hospital wing declaring how the four should have been thanking him on bended knee while he claimed they were bewitched.
When it was over, Snape was escorted to the stand and drank veritaserum. Fudge asked, "Professor Snape, we have watched your recollections, which included four students attacking you."
"Yes, minister. Those students, who shouldn't have been out of bounds anyway, should have received the Dementor's kiss."
"Didn't you claim they were confunded?" demanded Madam Bones, earning a glare from Fudge.
"Yes, but that was to convince the stupid minister to ignore them," revealed Snape, sneering. "I convinced that imbecile that they were confunded simply because they said Sirius Black was innocent, and that Pettigrew was guilty," explained Snape. Fudge was hiding his face.
Bones then asked, "Isn't it true that you had a history of animosity with Sirius Black, and that could have biased you against him?"
"Of course it is!" answered Snape. "I've always hated Black and Lupin, but James Potter was the worst! I'm glad Potter's dead, but now I have to put up with his son! I've known Pettigrew was the traitor from before I became a spy. I just wanted Black to get the kiss because of a joke he played on me when we were students!"
Fudge's and Dumbledore's, as well as several others' eyebrows raised at this statement. Harry felt Ginny put her hand on his shoulder, as if to stop him from getting up right now and attacking Snape.
"Do you mean that you've known that an innocent man was being held in Azkaban for twelve years without doing anything about it?" asked Fudge.
"Actually, I've laughed when I've thought about it, so you can't say I did nothing," countered Snape.
"I-I-er, think we've heard quite enough testimony from you, Snape," said Fudge, who looked ill.
"I believe it would be prudent for an auror to escort Professor Snape to Azkaban. He may try to make a break for it when the veritaserum wears off, but I believe that we'll want to try him for obstruction of justice when these proceedings are over," suggested Madam Bones.
Harry had a hard time not laughing when an auror bound Snape and led him away.
They then watched Sirius' discussion with James about making Pettigrew Secret-Keeper, as well as his confrontation the day after the Potters' death. He also showed the same meeting in the Shrieking Shack that the court had witnessed several times before. When Sirius finally emerged and was given Veritaserum, Madam Bones, instead of Fudge, stated, "We have seen your memories, which indicate that Peter Pettigrew was the Potters' Secret-Keeper, and that he betrayed them to you-know-who, and then killed all those muggles, framing you for it. Is that true?"
"Yes," affirmed Sirius.
Bones continued, "After the testimony we've already heard, I believe we can have a vote right now, if it's all right with the minister." Fudge, whose face was turning blue, nodded. "All right, all who believe that Sirius Black is innocent of all charges and should therefore be immediately released, raise your hand." Every hand went up, including Fudge's and a woman who resembled a toad, although those two seemed reluctant to vote.
Bones continued, "Carried. All who believe that Sirius Black should be rewarded one hundred thousand Galleons, along with an apology for the serious miscarriage of justice that has been done to him, raise your hand." All but Fudge and the toad-woman voted in favor. "Carried. Now, all who believe that Severus Snape should be tried for obstruction of justice, raise your hand." All hands went up.
"Carried. Now ,all who believe that Minister Fudge should be removed from office because of his serious miscarriage of justice and therefore wish to give him a vote of no-confidence, raise your hands." All but five hands went up.
Fudge shouted, "You can't do this to me," until an auror pointed his wand at the former minister.
Amelia Bones continued, "All who believe that Cornelius Fudge should be tried for obstruction of justice and misconduct by ignoring the legal system and sentencing a man who'd never had a trial to the Dementor's kiss, raise your hand." Every hand that still had a vote (which now didn't include Fudge) went up. "Carried."
The auror who'd pointed his wand at Fudge was now making him get up. "I believe it would be prudent for this counsel to immediately appoint a temporary Minister of Magic until a public vote can be arranged. Does any member of the Wizengamot have a suggestion?"
"Why not yourself, Madam Bones?" suggested Professor Dumbledore. There was much muttering of ascent.
Her ears turned pink. "If you wish, I will, of course, abstain from voting. All in favor of my becoming acting Minister of Magic, raise your hand." About two-thirds voted yes. Her face turned pink. "Er, well, that's a vast majority. I thank you for the confidence you've shown in me, and I'll do my best to fill in until we can arrange a popular vote. For now, this meeting is adjourned."
-IYCHH-
Chapter end