A/N: Thank you to everyone's kind (and occasionally pushy) encouragement to keep posting. I have been amazingly stuck on both this and Black Prince recently. I hate to admit it but another story has been lodged in my head and refused to leave. I don't want to start really working on it until I at least have this one done…damn. So anyhow, entirely too much of my time has been taken up thinking about this other story and that coupled with my lack of inspiration has led to the embarrassingly long posting delay. Thanks for sticking with me.
Absolutely no attempt made to use proper court language for either the US or England. I'm lazy and I figured things could be different since if was for Magical Britain not Real World Britain.
Obviously, this does not match up very well with the court scene from the movie. I wrote it before the movie came out and didn't feel inclined to change it too much.
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Chapter 58It was the third day of the trial…the day that the Dursleys would finally take the stand. Remus sat in the back of the courtroom anxiously twisting his hat in his hands. Today he would find out some truths he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
The first two days had been…well, not easy but certainly bearable compared to what was to come. He had listened patiently while the coroner gave her report and the staff working in the morgue spoke of the mysterious man who had given them Harry's will. He had listened to Mrs. Figg speak about what she had observed while living near the Dursleys.
Now it was time to face the truth though, and he was scared.
"On behalf of Harry James Potter whose interests are represented by the members of the Wizengamot, we wish to call to the floor Petunia Evans Dursley."
Petunia stood up slowly, visibly shaking. She knew that they were all going to be condemned, it was simply a matter of waiting for the precise sentence.
When she had entered their prison she had heard whispers about the Boy Who Lived. She knew they worshiped the freak.
She walked slowly out to the small area of the floor that had been cordoned off. The guards had told her that it was layered with spells that would prevent her escape and would encourage her to tell the truth, even without truth potions.
Those would come later.
She shuddered as she entered the floor but looked up to the imposing wizards and witches as bravely as she could. She could not make out any faces, merely dark shadows. One of the spells on the floor evidently prevented her from seeing her interrogators. Her defiant look faltered.
"Are you Petunia Evans Dursley?"
"I am."
"Were you the guardian of one Harry James Potter, son of your sister, Lily Evans Potter?"
"I was."
The judges all shifted in their seats, getting ready for the real questions. This was only the first round but it was still very important. It was possible, though unlikely, that she would be able to acquit herself and not need to endure a second round of questioning under the influence of a truth serum.
"Were you aware what Vernon Dursley was abusing your ward?"
Petunia paused. "I was."
"Were you aware that he had raped him?" someone asked, having already been made familiar with the coroner's findings. They as yet had no idea of any extended sexual abuse.
"…I was."
"When did this abuse begin?"
"Vernon took the freak—"
The restless muttering pulled her up short.
"—he took Harry in hand almost from the beginning. The boy cried too much so Vernon needed to deal with him appropriately. I stayed out of it. Best to let him deal with the boy, anyhow. I was busy with my Dudley."
"You willingly allowed your husband to abuse and molest your sister's son because you were too busy?" a faceless witch asked incredulously.
"Well, perhaps not busy. I…What was I to do?" she asked desperately. "Look at that man! How could I possibly interfere? Why would I ever risk something that dangerous for that boy?"
"That 'boy' was your nephew, someone that you took in with a vow to treat him as your own."
Petunia stood silent.
"Well madam?" a man asked impatiently.
"A woman would do anything to protect her son," she said weakly. "I did what I had to do to protect my Dudley."
"Some protection. The boy is obese to the point that he is a risk to himself and our reports show him to be a bully and a thug, not to mention unable to achieve even passing marks in his classes without resorting to bribery and threats," someone remarked acidly, paging through the files.
"Don't you see?" she asked them desperately, trying to see their faces. "Don't you understand? I knew what my husband was almost from the first. I found the magazines and I knew…I knew I could never risk having my own children. Two weeks later I discovered I was already pregnant. I had to protect Dudley. I had to save him!"
"Look at what you have turned him in to!"
"Yes…" she faltered. "Yes, he does have a few problems that need to be worked on. Don't you understand though? I had to encourage him to be tough. I had to encourage him to overeat. When it was necessary, I had to force feed the boy myself!" she said hysterically.
"And what exactly did you accomplish by this?"
"What the hell is the point of this?" another wizard muttered, getting impatient.
"I saved him. I saved him from Vernon. I knew if I could just make him big enough, Vernon wouldn't touch him. When Vernon turned to the fr—boy, I knew we were safe. He never wanted Dudley because he had the boy."
"So you willingly and knowingly sacrificed one son for another?"
"That freak is not my son!" Petunia screamed, grasping the rails in front of her.
A wizard leaned in close enough that she could see his face and she drew back in fear at the hatred and malice that was written in his eyes. "When you accepted your sister's son as yours he became your son in all but blood. You not only betrayed your sister's memory and your nephew's trust but you betrayed humanity itself. No human being could possibly be that callous."
Silence filled the courtroom for a few brief moments as everyone calmed down again.
A quiet voice sounded from the end of the long line of wizards and witches. "If you had not sacrificed Harry—"
The other members of the Wizengamot grumbled angrily at her choice of words.
"If you had not sacrificed Harry," she repeated more loudly, "would that creature have turned his attentions on yourself and your son?"
"Yes."
"That doesn't forgive it!" a man disagreed loudly.
"I don't mean to imply that it does in any way," the faceless witch said calmly. "I just wanted to understand what this woman was truly thinking, how it ever became possible for her to give up her child like that."
"I did what I had to do," Petunia said weakly.
"You did what was easy," someone countered.
"What would you have done? Saddled with the freak of a boy and my pedophile husband…I did what I had to do to protect my Dudley. I am a good mother," she finished, her voice shaking in emotion.
The Wizengamot was unmoved by her claims.
"Take her away. We will commence her secondary questioning under Veritaserum tomorrow at ten a.m."
Petunia was led away, still trying to entreat the court for mercy.
The lights were raised in the courtroom again and Remus looked around himself, completely unseeing.
He felt a warm presence next to him and he looked over.
"There, there," Molly said softly. "We'll get through this yet."
"How did he manage to live with them?" he asked her softly, his heart breaking.
Molly set up a quick silencing charm although there were already a plethora of silencing spells on every individual aisle in the courtroom. The Ministry was well aware of how volatile the emotions could be that were brought up in abuse trials and had fitted a courtroom specifically for such situations that allowed each member of the carefully selected and invited audience some measure of privacy. "Remus, dear, maybe you shouldn't be here."
"I have to be," Remus said resolutely. "As his godfather I have a right to be here and I have a duty to represent him, to make sure that justice is served."
Molly paused. "He may not wish for you to be here."
"I am aware of that. Someone needs to be. I know he made you and Arthur promise to leave during the second round of questions. He hasn't yet approached me. Either he has forgotten that the court has granted me permission to be present or else he doesn't mind me hearing it."
"Perhaps you are right. Maybe he needs someone to hear it. I am sure Severus is going mad being kept away from it."
Remus snorted. "The man practically tears every detail out of me the second I arrive. He's barely sleeping anymore since he uses the night hours to hear as much as he can from me and then studying the information I have given him."
Molly nodded sadly and patted his hand once more.
No one was sleeping anymore.
SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD
Remus took a deep breath as he braced himself for Hermione's initial questioning. As Harry Potter's best friend it was assumed that she knew quite a bit that was worth testifying about. He knew that this was where the world would really be shaken because this testimony would introduce the Dumbledore factor.
He watched as a pale faced and serious Hermione was led onto the floor. She stood there proudly, looking up into the stands evenly and without fear.
"Are you Hermione Jane Granger?"
"Yes."
"When did you first meet Harry Potter?"
"We met on the Hogwarts Express our first year. We shared a compartment for a bit. When we were sorted into the same house we eventually became fast friends."
"Did Mr. Potter confide in you about his home life?"
Hermione paused for a moment, visibly collecting her thoughts. "He was incredibly hesitant to say anything at all about the Dursleys for quite a long time. We had all seen the signs though and knew that things were not well. An unexpected touch could spark a panic attack. A loud word or raised hand would make him cower. He showered more than anyone else ever did…he very clearly had some issues with his home situation, and very particularly with men."
"When did he tell you the truth?"
Hermione paused once more, knowing that she needed to step lightly here to avoid mentioning the tattoos and their new magic. "In our third year he told us that he needed help defending himself, although he made up a reason for the need. It wasn't until after the first task in the TriWizard Tournament in our fourth year that he told us some of the truth. The evidence was always there though, if we had only looked."
"Why did you not go to an adult when you knew what was going on?"
"We tried," Hermione said firmly, her temper finally beginning to show. "First we approached our Head of House but she brushed us aside and said it was all nonsense. Then we approached Poppy Pomfrey, the school mediwitch. She told us that she had some knowledge of what happened at Harry's home but that she could not reveal it to anyone.
"Ron and I finally turned to his parents in hopes that they could help us. They had already been spelled silent on the matter though and were helpless to do anything. At the request of Harry and in despair of resolving the situation without a media bloodbath, we let it go. We didn't then know how bad it really was."
"You say that someone spelled Arthur and Molly Weasley silent?"
"Yes. Albus Dumbledore placed spells on them and on Poppy Pomfrey to prevent them from speaking of the abuse to anyone."
The court broke into chaos at the mention of Dumbledore's name, silence only returning after the head of the questioning fired sparks in the air to get their attention. "Silence! We will have silence while the witness is still on the floor!" she demanded. Once they were fully quiet again she continued. "Now young lady, why do you say that Albus Dumbledore prevented them from speaking?"
"Because they were still able to reveal to us who cast the spell, although they could not reveal the spell itself so we couldn't undo it."
"This is ludicrous!" a man yelled out.
"Are you so blind to think that he had nothing to do with all of this?" Hermione asked acidly. "The man personally placed Harry in that home. He refused Harry's requests to stay at school each summer. He denied him assistance in protecting himself and even stood in his way when Harry tried to seek his own protection. He prevented Madam Pomfrey from releasing her photographic evidence to the Aurors when Harry first came to Hogwarts. If you believe Dumbledore to be innocent in this then you are either blind or in severe denial."
"Excuse me!" a man interrupted her. "Are you saying that this went on when Mr. Potter was eleven?"
Hermione nodded slowly, her anger cooling for a moment. "As far as I can tell it had started a few years before that sir."
"I still don't understand what Dumbledore has to do with this!" a woman yelled.
"Deny it then but you're a fool!" Hermione snapped back. "Call Poppy up here to question her. Look through his medical file. Call Molly and Arthur up here. Damn it! Check them all for evidence of compulsions and you'll see! It is all right there—the evidence is staring you in the face and yet you still you ignore it!"
"These are very serious allegations young lady," a woman said gravely. "You do realize that you are accusing your own Headmaster of what amounts to no less than aiding and abetting child abuse and sexual molestation?"
"Oh yes, I am very aware," Hermione said firmly, still furious with the Wizengamot. "He knew every single thing that happened in that house and he willfully forced Harry back into it at the end of every school year. The man is either insane of more sadistic than Voldemort."
A ripple of unease went through the courtroom at her use of the Dark Lord's name but no one reprimanded her.
"These allegations bear further research," the head of the interrogations announced. "I hereby delay the questioning of Ronald Weasley in favor of questioning the Mediwitch Poppy Pomfrey tomorrow. Are there any objections?"
Although the question had been aimed to the others who sat on the Wizengamot Hermione spoke up. "And what of Dumbledore? Will you leave him to walk free?"
The Wizengamot shifted uncomfortably, each member uncertain as to how to proceed. Finally the head spoke again. "He will be given a containment potion and will be given containment cuffs to bar his use of magic. I will not arrest him based only on one young woman's testimony."
Hermione nodded in satisfaction. At least they recognized that he was a danger.
"This court will recess until nine a.m. tomorrow."