Disclaimer: I'd be a little insulted if anyone actually thought I owned Harry Potter & Company, I mean I don't look anything like JKR, were not even the same sex.
Chapter 8
The weekend had been filled with mixed feelings for Harry. Saturday morning had found Harry in a large clearing surrounded by trees with Amelia and Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Rebecca Monroe, Tonks and Fawkes saying goodbye to Hedwig. They had buried her in the center of the clearing and then Harry and Fawkes had played follow the leader through the air for two hours. He tried his best to enjoy flying for her that morning and was helped by the comforting music from the phoenix.
After Fawkes took them all back to Tonks' flat Madam Bones told him that Fudge was planning to hold a full criminal trial two hours earlier than the hearing was scheduled for. He was about to get angry when she explained that this would be good for a couple of reasons. First it would give him an audience for his guilty plea; she conceded that this was mainly for her entertainment because she wanted to see how many heart attacks he could cause. The second reason was the more important one, the minister wasn't going to send out the change of time and venue until just fifteen minutes before the start, this would keep Dumbledore from knowing what time he would be there. Tonks told her that they would try to come up with something good for her boss' entertainment. He then thanked everyone for coming with them before they left. Tonks had asked Rebecca to stay behind and have tea with them so that they could ask her a question.
After they all had settled with their tea, Harry asked the healer if she would be his guardian, both magical and muggle. She had smiled then informed them that she had talked to the constables in Little Whinging the morning before. They were just waiting for the Dursley's to come back before they proceeded with the case. The constable had needed to know where Harry was staying, because he should have been processed into the system and sent to a foster home, the discussion had naturally turned to his permanent placement. The officer had suggested that if the friends that he was currently staying with couldn't keep him then she should consider it. She had done almost nothing else since then except think about it. Rebecca had been planning to ask him this morning if he would consider it. They discussed the arrangements and decided that while Harry was providing entertainment for Madam Bones, Tonks and she would get the magical guardianship papers pushed through. Amelia had assured them that the department head knew Harry's paperwork was coming and had not only her blessing but the blessing of the minister; she figured that if anyone actually asked Fudge he would be happy to say yes because it was a slap in the face of Dumbledore.
Rebecca then told them that she had met Remus Lupin the day before also. Bill had brought him and Ginny to the clinic so that they could find a good apparition point and Ginny could get used to the strange surroundings. While Bill and Remus went to find a spot she had shown the girl around the clinic and explained some of the machines. When two of them had returned they had talked for a bit, Remus had thanked her for helping Harry saying that he had figured it out. He didn't know who any of the others were but with Bill vouching for them it was good enough for him as long as Harry was safe. She then relayed what Bill and Ginny had told her about the headmaster's inquiries that morning, she had come away with the impression that he wasn't happy about not getting any answers to his questions.
After Rebecca had left, Tonks and Harry spent the rest of the weekend just relaxing and going through different scenarios for the trial. Tonks' ideas had him wondering about her sanity, but it was eventually decided that anything they planned would probably look rehearsed so he would just wing it but that if the opportunity came up he wouldn't even try to control his anger. Tonks figured that it would probably take a total of one minute for the Wizengamot to really piss him off; he gave himself a little more credit and said at least three minutes, there were the preliminaries of a trial that had to be observed after all.
The last meal Sunday night had both of the Bones', Hannah, and Rebecca all enjoying Tonks' idea of a feast fit for any condemned man, pizza. Harry was presented with arrest warrants for quite a few of the members of the Order being told that if they tried anything all of the warrants would be filed, and several people would lose their jobs. One of the warrants had him worried, so he asked if they could get rid of Mr. Weasley's, Harry didn't want to be responsible for him losing his job and getting arrested. Madam Bones told him they would hold that one for twenty four hours and just use it as a bargaining chip which he accepted.
After telling Amelia the plan for the trial she assured them that she knew a sufficiently strong shield charm that should protect her from any flying objects or exploding heads. She said that there was always a healer present for trials as a matter of course so any burst vessels would be taken care of. She was also going to convince Fudge to let Gerald Fenton take the presiding position, they now needed to protect the minister and she really didn't like Fenton so Harry could unload on him all he wanted.
Now Harry found himself in his new suit sitting in a chair in the middle of courtroom ten listening to the charges being read, looking at his watch the whole time. He had been able to get the proceedings started a little early because everyone was there. After exactly three minutes he stood.
"If I could…"
"The defendant will have the opportunity to speak in his defense now sit down and keep quiet."
"But if I…"
"You will sit down and keep your mouth…"
"Hey Putz! If you would just shut the hell up for a couple of minutes I can save everyone a bunch of time and effort this morning. Now listen up! Minister Fudge I believe the punishment for these offenses is the snapping of my wand and expulsion from Hogwarts, correct?"
"Yes that's correct."
Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand. "Well my uncle saved you the trouble with the wand." He threw it on the floor in front of Fenton. "Now do I have to sign anything for this expulsion or do you just bang your little hammer to make it happen?"
Fenton stared at him for a moment blinking.
"Hey old fart, I asked a question. The whole idea behind me speaking first is to speed things up, so can I have an answer?"
"We just have to pass sentence. Am I to understand that you are pleading guilty to all charges?"
"Slow one aren't you? Yes I'm pleading guilty, now can you say whatever you need to say so that I can get on with my life please?"
"This court accepts the defendant's plea of guilty." Fenton banged his gavel. "We sentence the accused Mr. Harry…"
The main door to the courtroom slammed open. "For the defense Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." And the aforementioned man strode into the courtroom.
"What?" about ten voices said.
"I am here as the representative for the defense." The headmaster said while striking a rather imposing pose.
"There is no defense." Gerald Fenton said while looking around for some confirmation.
"May I remind the court that every accused person is entitled to a defense representative?"
"What he means is that they've already passed a judgment of guilty so you're really not needed. But thanks for finally trying to defend me; you're only about thirteen and a half years too late."
"Harry I must ask you to remain quiet while I handle this. I'll have you out of here shortly."
"Are all of you hard of hearing or just incapable of understanding what's said? I DON'T NEED A DEFENSE BECAUSE I PLEAD GUILTY YOU MORON!" He turned back to Fenton. "Can we continue now, I would really like to get on with my life."
"I object, as the guardian for the accused I should have been here for the trial and demand a retrial immediately."
"I object to this idiot thinking that he's my guardian. If he is then why have I had to live with those people who call themselves my relatives?"
"I am your magical guardian Harry that means that I am responsible for you in the magical world. Now if…"
"Well this happened in the muggle world so you have no say do you?"
"The trial is being held in a courtroom in the ministry of magic, therefore I am responsible for you at this time."
"You responsible? Don't make me laugh. I wouldn't let you be responsible for watering and feeding a rock. Mr. Judge Guy, who made this waste of magic my guardian and can we verify it?"
"I don't see a reason that he would lie about this Mr. Potter."
"HE'S SENILE. The old man has lost his marbles, gone around the bend, and had his cheese slide off his cracker. I don't trust him and since he wants to change my plea I want to verify that he has the authority to, if this is too much trouble, can I borrow a wand, it shouldn't take but a minute or so to stun the decrepit has been and we can all catch an early brunch." Harry looked around for any offers of a wand while Dumbledore looked at him like he was the one who had lost his mind. "No one? Damn I really was looking forward to spending my day somewhere else. Madam Bones could I impose upon you to please verify this lunatics ramblings?"
"Mr. Fenton I think that in this case we really should verify the claims, if it's found out at a later time that his claim of guardianship is false then Mr. Potter will have grounds for a lawsuit."
"Very well, we'll have a fifteen minute recess to verify the claim."
Before he could strike the gavel Harry spoke again. "Could the court please instruct the deranged person to stay away from me while we're in recess?"
"Very well Mr. Potter, Albus Dumbledore you will keep a minimum of fifty feet between you and the defendant at all times during the recess. Is that understood?"
"I will not be able to comply with those instructions. It is clear that Harry is distressed by this trial and I ask that he be released into my custody and that a new hearing be scheduled at a time after we have determined that his state of mind has calmed."
"Then I want him removed from the room until you can show me that he is my guardian, either that or I want at least ten Aurors in here to make him follow the courts instructions."
Gerald Fenton was starting to look tired. "Mr. Dumbledore you will leave the courtroom and not return until we verify that you are in fact Mr. Potter's guardian. His request for verification has been granted so until you are determined to hold that position you will have no contact with him. You will leave now or you will be arrested for defying this court."
"May I tell Harry something private before I step out?"
"You may."
Dumbledore leaned in to Harry and whispered "The headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix is located at number 12 Grimmauld Place."
With that he left the room and Fenton called a fifteen minute recess. Harry just shook his head then went to sit in the chair in the middle of the room pulled a soda and candy bar from the inside pocket of his jacket and kicked back.
Ten minutes later Rebecca and Tonks came in the main door. Rebecca spoke. "Harry I thought you said this would only take a few minutes. Who's in charge here?"
"Hey Fenton! My guardian wants to know what the hell is taking so long. I mean it was supposed to be simple. I say guilty you hit your little hammer and done, so can we get on with it now?"
"Your guardian?"
"Am I speaking parseltongue or something? I can't tell when I am so it's possible. Yes, She, Is, My, Guardian. Now can we please get a move on, she's a healer and has appointments this afternoon. How would you like it if you went in to get your hearing worked on and were told that your appointment was rescheduled? Probably be pissed right?"
"Do you have proof that you are his guardian?"
"Oh, you were going to accept the senile old man's word but a respected healer is suspect."
"It's ok Harry. Yes I have the documentation right here." She handed him the paperwork and he looked it over.
"Well you are his guardian. Do you protest his guilty plea?"
"If I was going to fight for his innocence I would have been here from the beginning. I really do have appointments so could we please continue?"
"We can continue after we inform Dumbledore. Please show him in." After the old man was shown in Fenton said. "Your claim of guardianship has been found to be false."
"That's impossible, I demand that you produce proof that I am not."
"GODS, I think I understand why people plead innocent so much, it takes less time to have a full trial. I demand that you produce proof that you are my guardian. We want to get this over with so make it quick." When he just stood there looking at him Harry continued. "Well are you going to get the proof? What don't have any? Then what the Bloody Hell gives you the right to demand anything? You come in here interrupting a perfectly good guilty plea and you demand? I'm the one on trial here so just what the hell do you think you can get out of this? My trust? Sorry but you won't ever have that again. Now can you leave so that we can continue?"
Fenton spoke before Dumbledore could. "Mr. Potter is correct; we have evidence that satisfies the court, so until you can produce documents to the contrary we will be honoring that evidence. You will leave the courtroom now or you will be arrested." Dumbledore started to speak but was quickly interrupted by Gerald. "Madam Bones will you please call some of your Aurors to arrest the headmaster?"
"There's no need. I will of course bow to the ruling of the court. Good day to you all." With those words he left the courtroom.
"THANK YOU! Now can you please pass sentence? I believe that it was snapping the wand and expulsion."
"Mr. Potter you are sentenced to having your wand snapped and permanent expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He banged his gavel again.
"Mr. Potter, if I may make a suggestion? In the future please try to refrain from insulting members of the court."
"Sorry sir, and I hope to never have a next time." Turning he lead Rebecca and Tonks through the door.
"Tea's on me." Tonks said. "There's a little café around the corner from the visitors entrance that is mostly used by ministry workers so we can talk there." She looked at Harry. "Wouldn't have him be responsible to feed and water a rock?"
"It popped into my head and out of my mouth before I could think about it. It is true though."
"Amelia said that she would give us a copy of her memory, she plans on having one continually playing in her den. Apparently no one has ever insulted Dumbledore that much to his face in such a short amount of time." Rebecca had a huge smile.
Tonks looked at him again. "His cheese has slid off his cracker?"
They left the ministry laughing, turning the corner to go to the café. Harry heard shouting and everything went black.
XXXXXXXXX
"Harry sir wakes up Harry." Harry started to come around slowly opening his eyes. "Harry Po… Harry yous need leave here, you no want to be here."
"Dobby?"
"Yes Harry, Dobby be coming to get you."
"How did you find me?" He looked around the dark room that he was in.
"Dobby find you with the bond Harry." Before Harry could respond they were interrupted by shouting coming from the door.
"You bonded Dobby? How could you? You know that's slavery and its wrong. I expected better from you Harry. You free him right now."
"Hermione? What's going on, where are we?"
"Stop avoiding the subject, you bonded Dobby. I thought that he was your friend and you made him your slave. Now you free him before I get Mrs. Weasley."
"You think I made Dobby my slave?"
"That's what the house elf bond is Harry, slavery. Now free him."
"I thought you knew me better than that. I thought that we could… never mind. I must have been seeing things that weren't there." Keeping his eyes down he started to get out of the bed.
"What do you mean? You thought we could what?"
"I said never mind. Where are we?"
"Not until you free Dobby." Hermione crossed her arms across her chest.
"Where are my glasses?" Dobby handed them to him. "Thanks. Can you tell me where we are?"
"We's in the place where you doggy is Harry, but we must be leaving you not want to be here."
"We're in the headquarters for the Order?"
"Yes, now are you going to free Dobby?"
"Have you ever talked to a house elf Hermione? I mean really talked to them, not just preaching that they need to accept what you want?"
"I do not preach, I was trying to teach them about freedom and that they didn't have to be slaves. I thought that you were my friend and that you would respect my views enough not to start enslaving innocent creatures."
Harry took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Hermione, you should have taken the time to get to know me a little better. It is what friends do after all. Dobby how long does Winky have before she'll start to lose her magic?"
Dobby lowered his gaze. "Winky already losing magic, it be gone soon. Winky not bond soon enough, Winky lose magic fast because she drinking the butterbeer. The other house elves couldn't help." Large tears were falling to the floor near Dobby's feet.
"I'm sorry Dobby, is there anything I can do?"
"Harry a good friend, it too late for Winky. The other house elves bury Winky when she gone."
Harry looked at Hermione who was just staring at Dobby. "This is what being free costs a house elf. They need the bond with a wizard to live. I never would have thought that you could think that badly of me. I guess that I really was just imagining it."
"Oh Harry I'm sorry."
"Save it. Dobby I think I need to stay here and talk to some people. Where are Tonks and Rebecca?"
"Tonks quit the Order, I don't know a Rebecca. Harry I'm sorry I thought…"
"They're not here? What'd they do just leave them in the street? Dobby would you do me a favor? Can you check on Tonks and Rebecca for me and make sure they're ok?"
"Yes Harry I check on them." Dobby popped out of the room."
"I need to find the so called Adults here. I need to warn them about the…SHITE." He turned back to Hermione. "Is Ginny here?"
Hermione was now looking at the floor and answered in a small voice. "Yes, she's been yelling and screaming since they brought you here. She's saying that she can't be near you, that it's dangerous."
"She's right. How long have I been here?"
"About two hours. How can she be right what did you do?"
Harry just looked at her for a moment then shook his head. "Did you always think the worst of me before getting my side of the story or is this something new?"
"I'm not thinking the worst, but the way she's yelling about how dangerous it is for you to be near her, well it sounds like you did something. She says she can't talk about it just that you can't be close to her."
"And this leads you to think that I did something horrible? Did she tell anyone to get Bill?"
"Yes, but Dumbledore said that wasn't necessary until she could tell him what the problem was."
"Shite, is he trying to kill her. She's under a bloody oath. Where the hell are they?"
"Almost everyone is in the kitchen."
They stood there for a moment. "Well, could you show me where it is? Or should I just wander around until I find it?"
"Harry why are you being this way? I said that I was sorry."
Harry just turned and left the room heading down the stair to the first floor where found the kitchen. When he walked in everything stopped until Ginny jumped up and ran to him.
"They're trying to get me to break my oath and they won't get Bill. Harry how much time do you think we have left?"
"I don't know Gin, they never said how long for sure just a few hours so we should be ok for right now." He turned to the others in the room. "Can one of you send a messenger spell to Bill; he needs to be here to explain some of this."
Dumbledore was the first to speak. "Harry my boy, there is no danger to you being here with Miss Weasley, now why don't we go to another room and have a talk."
Harry looked around the room. "Does anyone know how to do the messenger spell?" When nobody said anything he turned to the side. "Dobby." The small elf popped in front of him. "I hate to ask this but I need another favor. Can you find Bill Weasley and tell him that he needs to get here as quick as possible?"
"Dobby does this for Harry. Harry's missus Tonksy and Becca is ok." He popped back out.
"Harry I must insist that we go to another room to talk about this."
"I don't give a damn what you insist. You're trying to kill Ginny by forcing her to break an oath; do you really think that I'm going anywhere alone with you?"
Molly Weasley spoke. "This really is part of the oath that you took."
"I've been telling everyone that it is. None of you will listen to me."
Dobby and Bill popped into the room and Ginny ran into her brothers arms.
"Thank you Dobby, what's going on? Harry you shouldn't be here" Bill asked as Dobby left.
"These idiots ambushed Rebecca, Tonks and me and left the ladies lying in the street." He turned back to the headmaster. "I should tell you that there are now arrest warrants for Hestia Jones, Emmeline Vance, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alastor Moody, Mundugas Fletcher, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, and of course you. Mrs. Weasley I was only able to get them to hold the one for Mr. Weasley for twenty four hours." The noise level rose as Emmeline Mad Eye and Molly all started talking at once. Molly's voice finally rose above the rest.
"Why would they arrest Arthur, he hasn't done anything wrong."
"I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley they wrote the warrants for people known to be in the Order. They were going to file them if something happened to me and I asked them to get rid of the one for Mr. Weasley. They said that they'd wait for twenty four hours after the others were filed, if I get back then it won't be filed. I just found out about them last night."
"He'll lose his job, we'll lose everything." She was sobbing.
Harry turned to Bill. "I'm sorry I tried."
"It's not your fault Harry; they're just looking out for you. We'll get you back and it won't have to happen."
"I'm afraid that Harry will be staying here until the start of term he needs to be kept safe and this is the safest place for him." Dumbledore said as he stood up and walked towards Harry.
"SAFE? You call being ambushed safe. I was doing perfectly well with out you. Not one spell was fired at me until YOU fired them. Then you try to force Ginny to break her oath knowing full well that it will kill her. What part of being anywhere near you is SAFE?"
There was no mistaking the anger coming from Bill as he growled. "You tried to break her oath? You tried to kill my sister?" What happened next left everyone stunned. Bill's fist making contact with the headmasters jaw left the old man on the floor and everyone else looking like they had been hit with a body bind. "If you so much as look in Princesses direction again I will kill you myself. As soon as I get back to Gringotts I will have them put out the order for your arrest. If you ever show your face in any branch again you will be arrested. I told you that you were dealing with goblin law when I told you about the oaths."
Harry was the first to regain his senses when he saw Dumbledore's hand reach into his robes. He stomped on it hearing not only the crack of a breaking wand but of several bones as well. "I don't think so old man."
Dumbledore looked at his wand. "Harry you have no idea how much you've harm you've done to the war effort. I had hoped that we could work together so that you would be ready to face Voldemort."
"Why the hell would I want to face that psycho again? He's nearly killed me every time you forced me into his path. If you want me dead then grow some balls and do it yourself you bastard. I'm not going after Voldemort. My whole reason for getting away from you is so that I can live longer."
Ron finally spoke up. "You're running from him? You're a coward. We're all trying to fight him and you're running away." Bill was still growling when he answered for Harry.
"He's done more in the past week to kill You Know Who than the entire Order has since he came back and considering he's the only one in this room who spoke up against the attempts to break Ginny's oath I wouldn't be calling him a coward. He's the one who suggested that Rebecca check Ginny. He's the reason that I knew to have the goblins check her and the reason that she's getting help that she should have had two years ago. He's the reason that Ginny's here at all. I've seen the memories of the Chamber and the one thing that you can not call Harry is a coward." He turned back to Dumbledore. "How did you not figure out what that diary was? There's no way it could have brought him back without a fragment being in it."
"That information needs to be kept secret it can not get out or I will not be able to find them."
Bill's voice took on a dangerous tone. "You knew about them? The only way to kill him and you're keeping it a secret from the people fighting him? You've had one sitting under your nose this whole time and you've done nothing about it."
"There is nothing that I can do about the one in Harry. It can only be removed with his death and the only one who can kill him is Voldemort. It's his destiny."
"You really are trying to kill him. The goblins can get it out of him without him killing him you idiot. The one I was talking about is at Hogwarts right now, that's what I was going to talk to you about this afternoon. I have a team of goblins who are ready to go get it."
"We have no way of knowing how many he made only that it was more than one. To think that we can defeat him without all of the knowledge would be foolhardy."
"He made six, the maximum number he can make. We have all of them except the Hogwarts one. We'll be going in to get that one with or without you tomorrow."
Arthur Weasley came running into the room. "The ministry has arrested Kingsley and Hestia. They're sending Aurors to Hogwarts to arrest you and Professors McGonagall and Snape." Harry noticed that the kitchen had become crowded while his attention was on the headmaster. The twins, Remus and Sirius were standing near the door now. Mrs. Weasley rushed into her husbands arms.
"Oh Arthur, they're going to arrest you to. You'll lose your job."
Ron spoke next. "Harry is doing this." Before he could continue Bill spoke again.
"Didn't you hear what he said? The only reason Dad wasn't arrested with the others is because Harry told them not to. He's trying to protect this family. The only reason anyone was arrested is because Harry was kidnapped and two ladies were attacked by the Order. One of those ladies is the person who is trying to help your sister so you should direct your anger at the old man over here." He turned back to Dumbledore. "Tomorrow we're going to Hogwarts and getting the last one. If you interfere the goblins will arrest you."
"You mean if the ministry doesn't do it first. From what Madam Bones said Fudge had a pretty evil grin when he signed the warrant for him."
"Dad get the family together, you can't stay here anymore. I'm taking Harry back to the ministry then I'll come to the burrow and start reinforcing the wards. I'll see if I can't get the goblins to add a few tomorrow." He looked at his sister. "I'll see if Rebecca is ok and if she can see you today but I think we may have to wait until tomorrow for you to start your counseling. Remus will have to take you. The good news is that the experts will be here in another couple of days so we can get rid of the residue in you, ok?"
"Thank you." She gave her oldest brother a hug.
"No problem Princess. Now why don't you go pack up and I'll take Harry back." After another hug from Ginny he turned to Harry. "You ready?"
"Yeah, I want to make sure Tonks and Rebecca are ok." Without another word to anyone they walked out of the kitchen and the house ignoring the cry of "Harry" from Hermione and Sirius.
