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Chapter 9-- The Trial

Harry apparated into the Ministry of Magic, with Hermione by his side. He had stuck by his promise that Ginny was not coming with him to the trial of Igor Karkaroff and Peter Pettigrew. So, Ginnny was currently talking to Lily about ideas for the baby's nursery and details for the wedding.

Harry and Hermione walked into Courtroomn 10 and Hermione walked over to her seat in the first row of the jury section and Harry walked over to the witness section and sat down. Slowly, the rest of the Wizengamot, jury, and witnesses walked into the coutroom. Once everyone was settled in, Rufus Scrimegeour's voice boomed over the courtroom.

"May I have everyone's attention please? The Karkaroff/Pettigrew trial will now begin. Lead the men to their chairs, please."

As Scrimegeour said this, six men walked into the courtroom, through a door on the opposite side of the room. Four of them were dressed in purple wizards robes and two were dressed in black robes. Those people were Igor Karkaroff and Peter Pettigrew. Seeing them brought forth an intense rage within Harry. He bit down on his bottom lip to try to keep himself calm. Scrimegeour nooded his head and Hermione got up.

"My name is Hermione Granger and I am the head of the jury presiding this case. Both of these men are known Death Eaters. Both of these men have the Dark Mark on their arms. Both of these men have killed people. Both of these men, in my opinion, deserve life in Azkaban for these crimes. But, nevertheless, we have decided to provide them with a fair trial. We show these criminals more than they have shown us."

Harry could tell Hermione was getting extremely angry. Her brown eyes flashed angrily as she looked from Karkaroff to Pettigrew and back.

"Igor Karkaroff," Hermione began, "You are a known Death Eater, whom the Ministry has decided to let go after you turned in one of your fellow Death Eaters, yet we catch you attempting to murder Nymphadora Tonks in her own office. After the Ministry so graciously decided to not send you to Azkaban for life the first time, you seem to enjoy killing. What is your plea?"

"Not guilty," said Karkartoff with a steely smile.

"Why are you not guilty?"

"I ran away from the Dark Lord. I attempted to run out of the country. But, I was ambushed by the rest of the Death Eaters and was subjected to the Cruciatus Curse by the Dark Lord, who threatened to kill me if I did not rejoin him. As Bellatrix Lestrange did not successfully murder Tonks, I was sent to murder her. By doing so I would have been accepted by the Dark Lord once more and I would have been safe."

"So, what you're saying is, you only attempted to murder Nymphadora Tonks to save yourself?"

"Yes."

"Do we have any witnesses to this crime?"

Tonks raised her hand. She was sitting next to Harry and had turned her hair a violent shade of violet and her hands had been clasped so tightly, Harry had been afraid she was going to cut off her circulation.

"The jury calls Nymphadora Tonks to the stand," Hermione said, giving Tonks a look of appreciativeness.

"Tonks, what were you doing when Igor Karkaroff came into your office?" Hermione asked kindly.

"I was getting ready to go to the Kiersey residence to check on a tip off that the Auror Department had gotten, saying that they had found Augusta Longbottom."

"But, you never got there?"

"No, I never got there. Karkaroff showed up in my office just as I was getting ready to leave, performed a curse that I had never seen nor heard of before and tied me up. I pretended to be dead. As soon as he turned his back, I screamed as loud as I could and Kingsley Shacklebolt and Alastor Moody ran into the room, stuned Karkaroff and released me from the cords that were binding me and I was sent to St. Mungo's."

"I see. I have no more questions. Thank you, Tonks."

Tonks walked back to her seat by Harry and breathed a sigh of relief.

"The jury will now begin their deliberations. We will have the veridict in five minutes."

Five minutes later, Hermione stood up.

"Guilty," she said.

The pruple cloaked wizards walked over to Karkaroff, untied him from his chair and and led him out the door.

Hermione walked over to Pettigrew, giving him a look of utmost rage.

"Peter Pettigew, you are being sentenced for 15 counts of murder, 1 count of evasion from the law, and 1 count of being an unregistered Animagus, 1 count of blackmail, and 1 count of association and/or being a Death Eater. Do you deny it?"

"No," squeaked Pettigrew.

"Then, you're saying you're guilty?" asked Hermione, sounding surprised,

"Yes."

"Very well. We have two witnesses in this case. Harry Potter, son of the two people that this man betrayed, and Remus Lupin, an old friend of Pettigew, Black, and both Potters. Who would like to go first?"

Lupin looked at Harry and Harry leaned over to him.

"Can I go first?" he asked.

"Of couse," answered Lupin.

Harry got up and walked over to the witness stand. He resisted the urge to kick Pettigrew as hard as he could.He sat down at the witness stand and looked up at Hermione and was sure that she understood exactly what he felt like doing. She smiled before she started talking.

"Harry, we met Pettigrew backin our third year at Hogwarts. He had been our friend's rat for the twelve years leading up to this encounter.Can you tell the rest of the jury what we found out that night?"

"We found out that Pettigrew had betrayed my parents, Lily and James Potter, to Voldemort. It wasn't Sirius Black, like everyone had thought for thirteen years. Pettigew had blown up the street behind him and killed twelve muggles and a wizard. Then he transformed into a rat and sped down into the sewer with the other rats.Our friend, Ronald Weasley, had gotten Pettigrew when his brother, Percy, who had owned Pettigrew beforehand, got an owl as a present for becoming a prefect. Percy had seen Pettigrew sitting on the window sill and took him in. So that explains how he got into the Weasley family."

"I have no more questions. Harry, you may sit down. I would now like to call Remus Lupin to the stamd."

Lupin got up and smiled at Harry, who gave him a quick reassuring smile in return. Lupin sat down at the witness stand and Hermione began questioning him.

"Remus, when did you first realize that Pettigrew was alive?"

"I saw him on a map of Hogwarts that James, Sirius, Peter, and I had made back in our sixth year. The Maurader's Map never lies. Pettigrew was indeed alive. So, I tracked him down after seeing Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew on the map. Ithe map led me past the Whomping Willow and into the Shrieking Shack. Once there, I met Harry, Hermione, Ron, Sirius, and Pettigrew, and soon Severus Snape joined us. After the three children Stunned Snape after he tried to attack me and Sirius, we performed a charm on Pettigrew to make him reveal his true self to us. Indeed, the rat, Scabbers, was Pettigrew. So, we all headed to the castle to turn Pettigrew in and proclaim Sirius's innocence. But, things didn't go according to plan. I transformed into a werewolf, as in was full moon, and I hadn't taken the Wolfsbane Potion before I left the castle. Ihave no idea what happened next exactly, but Harry, Hermione, and Ron tell me that Pettigrew transformed back into a rat and ran out into the woods and rejoined Voldemort."

"Can you describe your relationship with Pettigrew in school?"

'Pettigrew was a bumbling, good natured fellow in school, even though the Dark Arts always seemed to lure him a little bit. We were all Gryffindors and I will say that I thought that that was rather strange-- a Gryffindor reading up on the Dark Arts outside of Defense Agaiinst the Dark Arts class. Pettigrew seemed paricularly interested in James. James was an extemely talented young wizard and was also Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Anytime James would do something, Pettigrew would alsway clap his hands and act excited about it. None of us ever though Pettigrew would be the one that would betray James. It was so far from our minds, that it was ridiculous. Pettigrew didn't just betray James on October 31st, 1981. He betrayed all of us."

Hermione looked a bit teary. "Thank you, Remus," she said, "The jury will now begin their deliberations. We will have the verdict within five minutes."

The wait this time was only two minutes long.

"We ahve reached a verdict," she announced,"Guilty. We will find a Dementor to perform the Dementor's Kiss at noon tomorrow."

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