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The Brotherhood

A/N – This is the point where I give some long excuse as to why this is so late, like: I just started school again and my French class is impossible, and my History teacher assigned too much homework, and I've been busy with family junk, and all the other excuses that someone might use, but the truth is, I've just been lazy. Seriously, I spent over three hours yesterday building a tower out of those plastic tag thingies that come on store-bought bread (I collect them, because I'm weird like that) simply because I could! I even worked on some other stories, and not just a little bit. I wrote several chapters of them. So yell at me for being lazy about this fanfic if you want, but read the chapter first, because you've probably been anticipating it.

~~~ Chapter Forty Seven ~~~

"It was a Hogsmeade weekend," Ginny started, her voice strong, for the moment. "I was walking down to the village with Harry, Hermione Granger, and my brother, Ron. It was a relief to get out of the school and get some fresh air, and we were all in a giddy mood.

"We visited several shops, as was usual, but then Harry and Ron decided they wanted to go into the Quidditch shop. Hermione didn't want to visit it, and so went across the street to the bookshop.

"I went into the quidditch shop with the boys and we spent probably ten minutes in there before I dragged them out. As we left the store, we decided to go wait at a nearby bench for Hermione. Going to the bench involved passing an alley between the Quidditch shop and the store next to it.

"As I arrived at the bench, I noticed that Harry was missing. Ron and I went looking for him, first in the Quidditch shop, we thought he may have gone back in there, and then into the alley between the two shops.

"As we turned the corner and came to the space behind the Quidditch shop, we saw a horrible sight. Harry was on the ground, unconscious. Standing above him were two men, in deatheater masks. One of them had a glass of Polyjuice in his hand, and he was drinking it."

"You know what Polyjuice potion looks like?" Amelia asked.

Ginny paused. "No, but Ron did, because he whispered what it was and I heard,"

Harry, listening to the story, was suddenly glad that Hermione wasn't around to tell just why Ron knew about Polyjuice Potion. Surely brewing Polyjuice Potion in the girl's bathroom in his second year would count as just another law he broke. He really didn't need anything else piled onto his list.

"Anyway," Ginny continued, "The man holding the glass of Polyjuice Potion took off his mask, and I could see that he had transformed into Harry. I gasped and both men looked up.

"The one that didn't look like Harry raised his wand and blasted both of us backwards. I must had hit the wall, because my memory goes out there, and I can't remember further," Ginny ended.

The room was silent for a few moments as everyone contemplated the story. Surely, it had to be the truth. It had been told under veritaserum, after all.

"Is that what happened?" Amelia asked Harry.

He looked up at her. "As far as I know. The last thing I remember was starting to walk over to the bench, then everything went black," he answered.

Harry glanced over at Ginny, and for a moment, their eyes met. The veritaserum was wearing off and Harry could see a layer of emotion in her eyes.

"Does that prove his innocence to you?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Fudge politely.

"Now just wait a minute, Dumbledore," Fudge protested. "Potter arrested and taken in just shortly after he murdered Weasley. The potion would have worn off after an hour, and then we would have known it wasn't Potter."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "Unless, they were swapped without anyone realising. Which means," he paused, then looked up at a member of the watching crowd, "There must have been someone in the Ministry that day in on it."

Harry looked where Dumbledore was and saw Lucius Malfoy sitting there, glaring at Dumbledore.

"I do recall you were one of the few people who visited Harry while in was in that waiting cell," Dumbledore said, still watching Lucius intently.

Harry too watched Lucius. He had been able to get to know the older Malfoy fairly well over his time in the deatheater ranks, and he knew, by the almost hidden expression on the man's face, that he was clearly guilty.

"It is true, I did visit Potter, but I had nothing to do with the crime, or the men that did it. I do not associate with that crowd," Lucius said.

A snort of disbelief came through the crowd, and everyone's eyes turned to see that it was Sirius who had done it.

"Do you have something to add, Mr. Black?" Amelia asked.

Harry nearly smiled as he saw Remus impatiently elbow his friend in the stomach, and Sirius return an irritated look before answering, "No."

"What do you remember, after everything went black, Harry," Dumbledore asked Harry suddenly.

Harry had to think back. It had been so long before, and he had gone through so much since then. "I don't remember much. It is very hazy. Nothing was very clear until I actually woke up again, in that waiting cell," he murmured, biting his lip in thought.

"It was hazy, but you remember something don't you?" Dumbledore asked, probing.

Harry closed his eyes and the memory came back. "Yes. I remember walking through the ministry, except people couldn't see me, and I was fighting against it. I think it must have been the imperious curse, now that I think on it. I wasn't familiar with that curse then," Harry said, then stopped abruptly. He had just as good as admitted that he had used the imperious curse.

"He was taken into the Ministry, by someone," here Dumbledore gave Lucius a look as he spoke, "and switched with the man who really committed the crime, who was under the Polyjuice Potion.

"I think the real question here is, why did the man want to frame Harry? He wasn't expecting Mr. Weasley and his sister to walk around the corner, and that is the only thing he did before he was arrested," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

There was silence in the room again and Harry felt a headache starting. He had a feeling this was going to be a long trial.

A/N - Hopefully, the next chapter won't take so long to be written and posted.