Prisoners
Upon leaving the reading, James Potter was immediately arrested for the murder of Severus Snape, Kingsley Shacklebot took him in, he'd be in a Ministry holding cell until his trial. Kingsley then took a group of six of his best men to 4 Privet Drive; it was early evening when they arrived. Thank Merlin they didn't teach Muggle geography at Hogwarts, Harry's address having been in the Prophet that same morning, they could have arrived to find a lynch mob or the family already dead, their assailants long gone. As it was, the Dursley's were sat comfortably in front of their television before Kingsley burst through the front door. His squad quickly had the three bound and then gagged when Vernon started screaming about Bloody Freaks in his house, telling them to take the boy then to get on out.
Kingsley managed to keep his cool, Merlin knows how. He explained how Harry had committed suicide in their very home less than forty eight hours beforehand, and that his body had been taken back to Hogwarts within the hour, and that a National Funeral had been held for him that afternoon. They cared little. Kingsley set one Auror to guard them, before leaving the room he asked them if they knew the saying, "the walls have ears", they nodded yes, he told them that it actually came from the Magical World's saying "the walls have eyes and ears", and that they had come to see what these walls had seen and heard. The three Muggles weren't looking quite so good anymore. Kingsley then visited each room in the house with the rest of his team. Special attention was paid to the kitchen, Harry's cell like bedroom and the cupboard under the stairs. One of the Aurors noticed the garden shed whilst looking out of Harry's broken window, so he went down to check there too. In each room the visited they took out their magical recorders, small boxes that acted similarly to a Pensive, it could be instructed to find certain things from within the walls. These particular boxes were keyed to finding proof of abuse.
The bathroom recorded Harry's two visits per day and his emaciated state when he was allowed entry to wash, from the recordings that was once a fortnight.
Harry's bedroom for the last five years had so much proof of abuse, beatings, beltings, whippings cuttings and starvation, the bars on the window, the locks on the outside of the door, the cat flap for passing the daily slice of bread and the glass of water, the filthy mattress on the floor and the repulsive bucket in the corner, all was recorded, one of the hardened Aurors was crying, he'd looked to the bare floor and saw the congealed puddle of Harry's blood, which made him think of the Bastards downstairs, they hadn't checked in on Harry in the forty eight hours since his death, had he not already been dead, in that amount of time he'd have had no food and no water either, if he hadn't committed suicide, he'd be dead by now at their hands anyway, these people were monsters.
The kitchen recorded harry being physically forced to cook standing on a stool to reach the cooker at a very young age, it recorded his aunt forcing his hands onto the heated burners in punishment for having hard boiled the eggs instead of leaving them runny so that Dudley could dip his soldiers. It recorded Harry stealing one of those hard boiled eggs from the dustbin and eating it, only to be caught and beaten for stealing their good food from them. It recorded Harry daily cooking their meals, yet never eating with them, standing aside awaiting complaints and thrashings, or the dishes to clean if all was well with the meal; it recorded Harry leaving each time with an empty stomach.
The living room only had happy family memories, Dudley's birthdays and the mountains of presents he received, every Christmas celebration and Dudley's mountains of presents, a happy family sat on the sofa watching films eating popcorn or pizza, the one thing missing from this picture was of course Harry, he was never present for these family moments, in this room a happy family of three lived, Harry didn't exist in this world, the walls, tables and cupboards were weighted down with Muggle photos, no glimpse of Harry to be found, not one single photo. All of this was recorded.
The cupboard under the stairs was the last stop inside the house. There were padlocks on the outside of the door which Kingsley quickly bypassed. The cupboard was tiny, he had a hard time believing that harry had used this space as his room until he was eleven; but the walls confirmed Harry's words. The recorder took in the little slip of paper on which a child had badly written Harry's room, it took in the tiny worn baby blanket in the corner opposite the door, it took in the small child with green eyes being thrown in the cupboard battered and bruised and left there with no light and no sustenance, it witnessed the poor child in desperate need of the toilet, begging the family he could hear on the other side of the door to be let out, it heard the answering "shut up freak you have another two hours to wait". It saw the poor child soil himself, whimpering in the dark, knowing he'd receive a beating for not holding on. It saw the child stripped naked by his aunt, made to clean up his own mess, then harshly belted by the uncle for being a filthy little waste of space; it witnessed the child pushed back into the corner knees up to his chest trying to get some warmth, all the while staying silent, if he made a noise he'd be punished again, the child was surely no older than six. Kingsley didn't wait to record until Harry was eleven, there was no need, there was so much evidence against the aunt and uncle, as of yet there was nothing on the son.
The Auror who'd gone to the shed called Kingsley out of the house, Harry had spent a lot of time since he'd started Hogwarts locked in the tin roofed shed on the hottest days of summer, again with nothing to eat or drink. Here they found the evidence on the son, he either came to the shed to beat Harry himself, or he called out to his father saying that Harry had done something freaky again, meaning that he'd used magic, this always got Harry a severe beating, the son gloated over Harry while he passed out from the pain. This treatment happened at regular intervals throughout the years, the beatings from the son getting worse as he grew older, even inviting friends over to as he put it "kick the shit out of the freak".
Kingsley entered the house again ready to take the three away, he hadn't stopped the recorder, it went into action in the hallway, seeing Harry returning from Hogwarts his trunk trailing behind him, it saw the uncle throwing the trunk into the cupboard under the stairs, with the promise that Harry's freaky shit would stay there till he went back to his school for degenerates; Harry pleading to at least have his summer homework, was threatened with the burning of all his possessions and the death of that bloody owl of his if he didn't shut up his whining. This scene was repeated for each of Harry's years at Hogwarts.
Kingsley and his group of six Aurors needed to leave, they had to get the Muggles out of there, but they were faced with a dilema. Not one of them wished to touch such human filth, so side long apparating them was out of the question. Portkeying them out was the same, they didn't know how to use the things, so they'd have to be held onto. Flooing was no better, they'd have to go by two's, one Muggle with one Auror to be sure of arriving at the right destination, and being squeezed into a tight space with these people was out of the question. Kingsley finally stunned the Muggles who were still bound and gagged, then sent his Aurors back to their office in the Ministry to await them. Under cover of the night, he floated them out of the house, down to the edge of the pavement where he called for the Knight Bus. The three were severely battered and bruised by the time they arrived at the Ministry, Kingsley asked Stan to take the long way round, they stopped off in Wales, then in Cornwall, they then went to Hogsmead, before going once again to Cornwall, Wales again then finally the Ministry in London, Kingsley felt a bit green himself, but Merlin, they were nicely battered up as the couldn't protect themselves from the falls still being bound, he'd have no problems from his boss for the mess they were in, he hadn't roughed them up.
The next morning the Wizengamot would be judging James Potter for murder and rape, then the Dursley's for abusing a Wizarding World's child. James was quickly convicted of involuntary manslaughter, he'd killed Severus with an Unforgivable in front of witnesses, but he hadn't planned on killing him, it had all happened so fast; he'd just found out that his eldest son had committed suicide, that his son had been a homosexual, that his old school nemesis had been his sons lover, and that his wife's letter to their son had been the cause of his suicide, for a split second he hadn't mastered himself, he committed an act that in normal circumstances he never would have. He couldn't be convicted for rape, as Lily was the only witness and now catatonic in St Mungos, the charges were dropped. James was sentenced to ten years in a minimum security cell at Azkaban; he wouldn't be visited by the Dementors.
The Wizengamot took Samuel and Ethan Potter into care, they were to go to a Magical Orphanage as their father was imprisoned and their mother was in the long term mental illness ward at St Mungos, the boys became wards of court.
The overwhelming evidence against the Dursley's had many crying in the courtroom as the sounds and images were projected onto a wall for all to see, witnessing Harry's torture at his family's hands had been too much for many witches and wizards in the public boxes, they left either crying or holding their hands clasped over their mouths desperately trying not to vomit. Vernon just sat there smiling smugly, muttering loudly enough for many to hear "good riddance to the fucking little freak" or "you're all a bunch of freaks, you can't do this to me, you gave us the brat, we could do as we pleased, and if you cared so damned much, how come you never once checked up on him, except for when he was already dead? He was a perversion of nature, like all of you, freaks, and abominations; go to hell the lot of you."
The Weasley's who had gone to the public trial couldn't stay; they knew enough, they didn't want to remember Harry that way. They were making their way towards an exit when they bumped into Samuel and Ethan who were being led away too Floo out of the Ministry, towards their new home; a state run orphanage. Molly couldn't let that happen to Harry's brothers, she held them back from leaving, and then took over, frog marching them up to the Adoption section of the Birth and Death Registration Department, her five sons desperately trying to keep up, Molly was on a mission nothing would get in her way. She entered the office like a whirlwind proclaiming that she wanted to become the boys' legal and Magical guardian in the absence of their parents, that she had the means to do it, that Harry would have wanted her to do it, they could go and check with Griphook if they didn't believe her. Everyone knew that what she said was true, Harry wouldn't have wanted his brothers in an orphanage, if only she would stop ranting! Molly was asked to fill out the relevant paperwork then to wait, she was lucky that the Wizengamot was in session today, she'd have the decision in no time.
Back in the courtroom things were drawing to a close, the abuse was still being projected, but no one wanted to see any more, they'd seen more than enough to give them nightmares for years and they hadn't seen the half of it. The projection was stopped, even if the evidence was not shown in court, it would stay on public record. A ten minute pause was called for before the verdict and sentencing. During the pause, a clerk came in with Molly's paperwork in hand. The chief prosecutor asked the Wizengamot for an audience, quickly handing over Molly's request, the interruption was allowed. The Chief Warlock called for order in the court, the silence was immediate, many thought the deliberations over already, they were of course, but this was for something lighter, they all needed a break after what they had witnessed.
Molly's request for Legal and Magical guardianship was read aloud in the courtroom. Molly waited on baited breath when the Chief Warlock asked for a "Yea" or a "Nay". The whole courtroom echoed the shouted "Yea".
The Chief Warlock had to tap his gavel a number of times before he once again had order. This time he made himself very clear, "Wizengamot what say you, Yea or Nay?"
A resounding "Yea" was again heard, this time only the Wizengamot had answered.
This brief interlude had lifted the spirits of many, Harry Potter's brothers wouldn't live in the orphanage as the Wizengamot had previously ordained, having no other choice at the time, they now had a home; their guardian was well known for having helped Harry when she could, her youngest son had been his best friend. They would be looked after.