Chapter 7

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"I have a feeling that she was not the first person that was forced to go to prison without a trial."

The secretary wrapped her legs around Hagrid's. "Of course not, Mr. Potter." She managed to still keep her voice steady despite her lusty eyes. "There are many others before her, the most notably was probably Sirius Black, your godfather."

"WHAT?"

Harry turned sharply toward Dumbledore and gave him a 'you'd better explain this' kind of look.

Dumbledore looked at him sadly. "Harry.."

"Don't try to Obliviate me either!" Robot had spent a couple of hours in Hogwarts Library to find out what Obliviate was. Unbeknownst to Dumbledore, every page that Robot had taken a look had been recorded, digitised and indexed for later searches. It was like Harry was creating Google Books and Google Search for the school library, and by Harry's estimate, he would have the whole library in his server in a week.

The secretary's eyes were gleaming, at Hagrid's groin area. "Do you know a preventive or counter-measure to Obliviation, Mr. Potter?"

Harry almost chuckled. If Obliteration could be prevented or reversed, raping someone would be a lot riskier. Occlumancy was one way to prevent Obliviation, but this art was difficult to master, and even more difficult to maintain when unaware or in serious danger. "Ma'am, I do not intend to reveal the measures taken, or to be taken, since the revelation would weaken my security."

With a sigh, Dumbledore warned in a worried grandfatherly tone. "Harry.. the truth could be dangerous and should not be taken lightly. This truth in particular could rid you of happy childhood. Are you sure you would still like to hear it?"

Harry snorted. "I've never had an ordinary childhood anyway. I have businesses to run, research to do. So are you going to tell me, or do I need to make enquiries around?"

"Very well," Dumbledore said, "since this is public knowledge..."

Harry rolled his eyes. Okay, very good. So everyone but him in Magical Britain knew.

So the Headmaster told him of Lord Voldemort, of the night his parents died, of Sirius Black being the Potters' Secret-Keeper, of his murder of Peter Pettrigrew and twelve Muggles.

Harry listened intently without interrupting the Headmaster. The secretary, meanwhile, enjoyed running her hands and legs all over Hagrid, who stood stiffly. There was also a certain stiffness beneath the fabrics of Hagrid's trousers. Fawkes, on the other hand, gave the Minister a haircut - a durian style. Fudge was so scared of what this event could lead that he pee'd his pants.

"Thank you for the story, Headmaster. Now, Minister Fudge, answer me, how did the Ministry know that Mr. Black was indeed my parents' Secret-Keeper?"

"Ga-ga-ooh-la-la" Fudge didn't seem to be able to form a sensible answer.

"Harry, " Dumbledore explained. "Minister Fudge was not Minister of Magic at the time. He probably didn't go through the documents of cases before his term. But I can tell you this: your parents and Mr. Black himself admitted that Mr. Black was their Secret-Keeper, and they were not imposters or memory-charmed when they told me."

"Is it a public knowledge that Mr. Black was my parents' Secret-Keeper?"

"No, Harry," Dumbledore paused. "But it should be obvious to anyone that Mr. Black received the confidence of the Potters. After all, he was their best friend."

Harry crossed his arm. "Maybe they tried to be wise? Like secretly reassigning Mr. Pettigrew to be their Secret-Keeper, with Mr. Black as a decoy?"

"That..." Dumbledore worded carefully, "was a mere speculation, Harry, although it was a possibility."

"Honestly, why weren't people a bit smarter? If there is a box that can be opened only using a certain key, I would keep that key inside the box. So if Fidelius can really hide a house with its secret kept by the Secret-Keeper, the Secret-Keeper should also live in that house! And maybe, for a good measure, Obliviate the Secret-Keeper and everyone who knows or can make a guess as to who the Secret-Keeper is."

At this point, Jarvis displayed a text on Harry's glasses. "Off-topic, Master," which Harry acknowledged.

"Okay, so now, we are dealing with possibilities rather than facts. Got that. What about the murder of Mr. Pettigrew and twelve Muggles? Have you considered other possibilities besides Mr. Black was the killer?"

Everyone went silent. Of course, except the secretary, who moaned softly, and Fawkes, who bit Fudge's hair here and there.

"I mean..." Harry clarified, "is there evidence to conclude that Mr. Pettigrew, or any of the twelve Muggles, or someone else, was not the killer, and that it was not an accident?"

The teary girl, who had hidden under Fudge's desk earlier, cried out loud. It seemed that whatever charm that kept her silent had worn off.

"No, there isn't! Just like my case!" the girl shouted.

Almost everyone had forgotten that she existed.

"Fortunately, there is." Harry said, and everyone turned to him. But at the same time, the secretary fired off the stun pen while rubbing Hagrid's chest. The stun smoke diffused as Dumbledore cast Bubble-head Charm on everyone.

He forgot Fawkes.

So the bird fell to the floor with a heavy thud, snoring loudly... as if in a deep sleep.

Dumbledore grimaced but this ought to make a point. "As you can see here -"

Harry interrupted the Headmaster and offered his version of the 'truth'. "- the charm of Rubeus Hagrid's beauty can make people fall into a dreamlike state upon extensive exposure." But somehow, nobody paid him much attention.

The secretary giggled, whispering into Hagrid's ear. "I'll call you the Desirable Number One."

"Miss Brown?" The girl nodded at Dumbledore's mention. "Who did this to you?"

She pointed her finger at Fudge, with undiluted hatred and disgust on her face. Fudge looked horrified, and to everyone's surprise, he cried out loud like a baby.

-oOoOo-

Two hours ago...

"I'm just wondering... if Oblivation can delete memories and what the evil spirit did to Quirrell can transfer consciousness, then it is possible to alter or relive memories, right?" Harry was playing chess against himself in his underground lab, while Dudley was acting as a referee just in case any side was cheating.

"You're correct, Master." Jarvis replied. "So far Robot has scanned 120 out of 173 books on memory charms. We have a pretty good idea of how to delete, alter or relive memories, but we have yet to learn how the evil spirit did what it did to Quirrell."

Harry kicked the Black Knight's head with the White Queen, and for that Dudley gave him a yellow card. "Tell me more about reliving memories. Should that be able to serve as evidence in magical courts?"

"In theory, yes, Master. There is a rare and expensive apparatus called Pensieve that can display memories with vivid sounds and moving pictures to anyone, whether or not they participated in the memories themselves. There is a Pensieve here in Hogwarts and at least two in the Ministry. However, the Ministry's never bothered to use a Pensieve since politics and corruption prevail over justice anyway."

Harry grinned. "Check mate."

That was when Hagrid knocked the door, requesting entry. Watching Hagrid with lipstick kisses all over him, Harry fell off a chair and rolled on the floor laughing.

Dudley gave him a red card for laughing too loud.

-oOoOo-

Harry was amazed by this new cinema experience. Even the Muggle 3D technology couldn't match this. If he could upgrade a Pensieve, maybe he could give a new definition of role-playing games, where players could interact with anything in the Pensieve Universe, rather than being just a passive viewer.

Since Harry learned about the Sirius Black's case, he regarded Dumbledore as incompetent in sensible matters, so he took charge in escorting the Minister to Azkaban himself. No, he was not going to put Fudge there without a trial first. That would be hypocritical of him. But he needed Fudge as a key to enter Azkaban and, with Dumbledore's help, extract certain memories from Sirius Black to further investigate his case.

Harry was surprised to learn that Dementors affected everyone but not him. With or without a Patronus, he did not feel depressed at all while in the prison. He, however, felt very empathetic toward the prisoners. Ridding someone of happiness was a very inhuman thing to do. It was even worse than what the American government did to prisoners of the Terrorism War. Yes, Harry believed killing was more merciful than reliving painful memories with tenfold the sadness, if not more. Harry himself suffered from nightmares about causing Quirrell's death. He wished he would not have to relive that every second of the remaining of his life!

So when he first met his godfather, he didn't dare meet his eyes or introduce himself. He was not sure he could control himself when seeing family in distress. The Dursleys had been mean to him until Harry won a scientific award and sizable prize money, but still Harry loved them in a wicked way.

And now, with the truth coming out, Lavender Brown and Sirius Black were lifted of all charges. Even better, Fudge made a decree begrudgingly that all cases without trial and all future cases would be reviewed according to the new standards of justice (evidence over politics). Somehow, Fudge himself was not subject to a trial since the secretary confessed that she made up the story about Fudge getting involved in the whole thing. It was her who made all arrangements and spent all the bribe money from the Parkinsons on gambling and lost. Harry suspected that Fudge held some power over the secretary that she willingly sacrificed her future to protect him.

The quest was not over yet, Harry noted, as Fudge could overturn this decree at any time. The Purebloods were not happy, especially the Parkinsons. And it was highly speculated among the general public that the Purebloods held some sort of power over Fudge...

But for now... the Browns were so happy that they told him they had no idea how to thank him, to which Harry replied casually that he wanted them to be happy, that was all. However, he asked Dudley to 'slip' to the Browns that Harry had been looking for a Pensieve (As it turned out, all the Pensieves at the Ministry had been stolen, and they had to borrow Hogwarts's Pensieve for use according to their new justice system. Pensieve was a rare artefact that money could not buy.) One day, Harry received a Pensieve from the Browns, delivered by Fawkes. He guessed the Browns had one as a family treasure, and it took them quite a thought to part this valuable item to their daughter's saviour. But Harry couldn't care less about the history of this particular Pensieve, now that he got it. Harry grinned from ear to ear. He knew exactly what to do with it.

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Madam Malkin couldn't believe the sheer amount of traffics into her little shop. Harry had to impose an appointment system, and the soonest possible date to get an appointment with M&P was two months later. Two months!

In front of her shop, sculptures of Hagrid and McGonagall wore various, colourful summer robes. The sculptures were charmed to animate, posing several sexy postures to the customers. Deep inside the shop, there was a Pensieve with a pink sign that said:

'Get dressed with Hagrid.'

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A/N: ROFL!