"Harry," Mrs. Weasley prodded gently, "it's time to get up. Your hearing is today."
"Thanks, Mrs—Molly," Harry said sleepily. "I'll be down in a minute."
Molly left the room as Harry sat up and stretched exhausted beyond belief. He and Sirius had stayed up late into the night talking about his parents and so he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. Harry dressed in the clothes Molly had set out for him and walked downstairs, trying desparately to not think about the hearing.
"Hey Harry," Sirius greeted, yawning at the table. "Ready for your hearing?"
"Maybe. I just hope it goes well." Harry said truthfully. Now that he had gotten people to stop treating him like an infant he felt as if he didn't have to keep things to himself as much. Sirius grinned at the response, knowing that Harry would not have been so truthful a month ago.
"It'll be fine, you'll be meeting with Amelia Bones and she's fair. Just stick to the facts, the law is on your side. And if things don't go right, well I'll take care of her for you," Sirius offered with a roguish grin.
Harry grinned at Sirius and although he felt much more reassured, he still could not bring himself to eat any of the food Mrs. Weasley had placed in front of him. Too soon Mr. Weasley stood up, "Ready to head off, Harry? I don't imagine it'll do us much good to be waiting around hear."
"Sure," Harry said, relieved to have something to do. He hadn't realized how much he relied on acting, and when it came time to wait, he was a nervous wreck.
At the Ministry, time of Hearing
"You're late."
"Sorry," said Harry nervously "I — I didn't know the time had been changed."
"That is not the Wizengamot's fault," said the voice. "An owl was sent to you this morning. Take your seat."
Harry dropped his gaze to the chair in the center of the room, the arms of which were covered in chains. He had seen those chains spring to life and bind whoever sat between them. His footsteps echoed loudly as he walked across the stone floor. When he sat gingerly on the edge of the chair the chains clinked threateningly, but did not bind him. Feeling rather sick, he looked up at the people seated at the bench above.
There were about fifty of them, all, as far as he could see, wearing plum-colored robes with an elaborately worked silver W on the left-hand side of the chest and all staring down their noses at him, some with very austere expressions, others looks of frank curiosity.
In the very middle of the front row sat Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Fudge was a portly man who often sported a lime-green bowler hat, though today he had dispensed with it; he had dispensed, too, with the indulgent smile he had once worn when he spoke to Harry. A broad, square-jawed witch with very short grey hair sat on Fudge's left; she wore a monocle and looked forbidding.
On Fudge's right was another witch, but she was sitting so far back on the bench that her face was in shadow.
"Very well," said Fudge. "The accused being present - finally - let us begin. Are you ready?" he called down the row.
"Yes, sir," said an eager voice Harry knew. Ron's brother Percy was sitting at the very end of the front bench. Harry looked at Percy, expecting some sign of recognition from him, but none came. Percy's eyes, behind his horn-rimmed glasses, were fixed on his parchment, a quill poised in his hand.
"Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August," said Fudge in a ringing voice, and Percy began taking notes at once, "into offences committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Secrecy by Harry James Potter, resident at number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.
"Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister.
Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley -"
"Witness for the defense, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," said a quiet voice from behind Harry, who turned his head so fast he cricked his neck.
Dumbledore was striding serenely across the room wearing long midnight-blue robes and a perfectly calm expression. His long silver beard and hair gleamed in the torchlight as he drew level with Harry and looked up at Fudge through the half-moon spectacles that rested halfway down his very crooked nose.
The members of the Wizengamot were muttering. All eyes were now on Dumbledore. Some looked annoyed, others slightly frightened; two elderly witches in the back row, however, raised their hands and waved in welcome.
A powerful emotion had risen in Harry's chest at the sight of Dumbledore, a fortified, hopeful feeling rather like that which phoenix song gave him. He wanted to catch Dumbledore's eye, but Dumbledore was not looking his way; he was continuing to look up at the obviously flustered Fudge.
"Ah," said Fudge, who looked thoroughly disconcerted. "Dumbledore. Yes. You - er - got our – er - message that the time and -er - place of the hearing had been changed, then?"
"I must have missed it," said Dumbledore cheerfully…"However, due to a lucky mistake I arrived at the Ministry three hours early, so no harm done."
"Yes - well - I suppose we'll need another chair - I - Weasley, could you -?"
"Not to worry, not to worry," said Dumbledore pleasantly; he took out his wand, gave it a little flick, and a squashy chintz armchair appeared out of nowhere next to Harry. Dumbledore sat down, put the tips of his long fingers together and surveyed Fudge over them with an expression of polite interest. The Wizengamot was still muttering and fidgeting restlessly; only when Fudge spoke again did they settle down.
"Yes," said Fudge again, shuffling his notes. "Well, then. So. The charges. Yes."
He extricated a piece of parchment from the pile before him, took a deep breath, and read out, "the charges against the accused are as follows: That he did knowingly, deliberately and in full awareness of the illegality of his actions, having received a previous written warning from the Ministry of Magic on a similar charge, produce a Patronus Charm in a Muggle-inhabited area, in the presence of a Muggle, on the second of August at twenty-three minutes past nine, which constitutes an offence under Paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, and also under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.
"You are Harry James Potter, of number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey?" Fudge said, glaring at Harry over the top of his parchment.
"Yes," Harry said.
"You received an official warning from the Ministry for using illegal magic three years ago, did you not?"
"Yes, but -"
"And yet you conjured a Patronus on the night of the second of August?" said Fudge.
"Yes," said Harry, "but -"
"Knowing that you are not permitted to use magic outside school while you are under the age of seventeen?"
"Yes, but -"
"Knowing that you were in an area full of Muggles?"
"Yes, but -"
"Fully aware that you were in close proximity to a Muggle at the time?"
"Yes," said Harry angrily, "but I only used it because we were -"
The witch with the monocle cut across him in a booming voice.
"You produced a fully-fledged Patronus?"
"Yes," said Harry, "because -"
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"A - what?" said Harry.
"Your Patronus had a clearly defined form? I mean to say, it was more than vapour or smoke?"
"Yes," said Harry, feeling both impatient and slightly desperate, "it's a stag, it's always a stag."
"Always?" boomed Madam Bones. "You have produced a Patronus before now?"
"Yes," said Harry, "I've been doing it for over a year."
"And you are fifteen years old?"
"Yes, and -"
"You learned this at school?"
"Yes, Professor Lupin taught me in my third year, because of the -"
"Impressive," said Madam Bones, staring down at him, "a true Patronus at his age… very impressive indeed."
Some of the wizards and witches around her were muttering again; a few nodded, but others were frowning and shaking their heads.
"It's not a question of how impressive the magic was," said Fudge in a testy voice, "in fact, the more impressive the worse it is, I would have thought, given that the boy did it in plain view of a Muggle!" (Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix)
"But my cousin knows about magic!" Harry cried out angrily. "And I wouldn't have had to do magic if it hadn't been for the dementors!"
"Dementors?" Mrs. Bones asked, surprised.
"Yes," Fudge said, "I thought we might have a story like this—"
"It's not a story," Harry yelled angrily. "Think about it, besides driving off dementors, what does a patronus even do? It can't hurt anybody and it's not like it has other uses, so why would I do the spell if there weren't any dementors?
Everyone looked at Harry surprised at his well-reasoned argument and Fudge had a floundering look on his face as it was obvious he had not been expecting Harry to stand up for himself. "This whole thing is totally out of proportion," Harry declared, deciding to take control of the farce of a trial. "There is a clause in the Reasonable Restriction for Underage Sorcery that allows underage students to use magic if there life is in danger. I think dementors are a danger, especially since I had to pry one off of my cousin because it was trying to kiss him! And this whole matter of whether or not I am lying is very easy to clear up. Use your veritaserum. I am willing to take it because I know I'm telling the truth. If you don't have any veritaserum, use a pensieve. My memories will prove me innocence."
The whole Wizengamot stared at Harry in shock and Fudge seemed horribly flustered before he blustered out, "We don't have time for this, I want this done today—"
"You don't have time to conduct a proper triasl?" Harry said, incredulous. "Then why on earth would you move the hearing up so much? I'm sure that my original meeting time with Madam Bones would have had enough time for me to actually say more than three words before my sentence is delivered."
Fudge turned a deep shade of puce before Harry continued, "First you try to keep me out of this altogether by changing the time and place of the hearing and not telling me until the last possible second, and then you also try to crowd Dumbledore out so that I won't have any sort of legal defense, and not only had my small meeting in Madam Bones office become a criminal trial, it's also in the same courtroom as the Death Eater trials!"
The entire Wizengamot shifted in their seats, obviously uncomfortable in being called out on their misdeeds.
"Is the Wizarding world really so different than the Muggle world that you also don't provide legal counsel for trials? Even more so the fact that I'm a minor which means you really shouldn't be allowed to even speak to me without my guardians being present. Did you even contact them? I sincerely doubt it and if you did not then I think your actions really should result in a mistrial."
"A what?" Fudge bellowed, furious at being upstaged by a fifteen year old boy.
"A mistrial. You have tried to manipulate my jury by intentionally causing me to look bad by changing the time and meeting place, you haven't given me a chance to present my case, you have deliberately ignored the several methods available in the Wizarding world that will guarantee the truth and you have failed to provide my with an attorney and also you tricked me into coming to a criminal trial without even telling me my charges. This was not a criminal trial, this was supposed to be a simple hearing and you have made a mockery of your entire justics system by creating this farce."
"Very well then, Mr. Potter," Madam Bones said, "You are entirely correct that if all of those allegations are true then the law has been made a mockery of and I intend to investigate to see if your claims about the Minister attempting to completely leave you out of this is true and if it is, then I will see to it that he is charged accordingly. What about those dementors you mentioned?"
Harry explained that night to the Wizengamot and when Fudge tried to deny that any dementors had ever been in Little Whinging Harry spoke up, cutting off Dumbledore who had stood up to defend Harry. "If you don't believe me Minister, there is a very simple way to check. I am entirely willing to take veritaserum in order to prove that I am telling the truth as long as you agree to limit your questions to that night. I have not hidden anything from you and if you really think I'm lying then you should be more than happy to take this opportunity to prove that I am making up stories."
"How very clever," Fudge sneered, "trying to show me up be challenging me when you know full well that it is illegal to use veritaserum on minors. Trying to make yourself look good—" But he was cut off again when Harry said, "Actually, I didn't know that. You seem to forget that I didn't grow up in the Wizarding world, there is a lot of things that you hold to be common knowledge that I have no idea about. I didn't know muggles couldn't see dementors. And given the way Snape has threatened me with veritaserum I had no idea that it was illegal to use on minors. But it's not like the Ministry has had much of a problem ignoring laws that protect minors, right? I mean, it was illegal for me to compete in that horrible tournament last year, but the Ministry didn't seem so fussed when they forced me into it anyway. And I'm pretty sure it's illegal for you to try me like this without either my guardian or a representative from social services to be here."
"Mr. Potter," Madam Bones said, "I think at the moment we should return to the matter at hand. I am both very interested and completely appalled at what you have been accusing the Ministry of and I think we need to have a meeting at a later date for us to formally accuse those responsible for their misdeeds. But, it is time for action. Mr. Potter had presented his defense, all those in favor of clearing of all charges?" The majority of the room raised their hands. "Those in favor of conviction?" Very few people raised their hands, "Very well. As the head of the DMLE I declare Harry James Potter cleared of all charges. I believe we are done here."
Fudge was a furious shade of red and all but stormed out of the courtroom, Harry hardly noticed though as Madam Bones approached him. "Mr. Potter, you have made some very dangerous accusations and if they are true I wish to do something about it. I would appreciate if we could meet sometime this summer so that you may make all of your accusations."
"I would love to, Madam Bones. I look forward to our meeting."
"Very well, how does the 27th of August sound?"
"Good. I'll see you then." Harry grinned, he knew that this meeting would turn the Wizarding world on its side. And Sirius will be free and people will finally get it through their thick heads that Voldemort is back! Yes, life was good.