AN: Hi! As always, thanks for everyon's support.

This chapter actually surprised even myself. I had intended to write it in a slight different direction but Arabella Figg decided that it was her time to shine and once she started talking, she didn't want to stop.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and, as always, feel free to give me your opinions on it or ideas for future chapters.

Enjoy!

''If you don't like being a doormat, then get off the floor.''

– Al Anon

Previously:

After she deemed enough time had passed, Florence turned in Amelia's direction and simply stated.

''Madam Bones, I would like to call Mrs. Arabella Figg to the stand.''

CHAPTER 14

''Certainly, Lady Peverell,'' the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and current Acting Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot swiftly conceded with a nod, her face only one of the few that had remained impassive after that awful memory.

Once more, the lateral door which had opened previously let in the aforementioned woman, whose demeanour could not be more different from the last person who had passed through that same door.

Mrs. Figg stepped in the courtroom visibly hesitant and nervous by the situation and her current surroundings. Her head was lowered as if she was carefully looking where she was putting her feet with each unsure step and thus successfully and entirely avoiding everything around her.

In that moment, Florence could not be more grateful for Amelia's support with this trial. All the letters sent by her – officially in the name of the Ministry and the Wizengamot – summoning certain people, had had a confidentiality spell implanted in them, forbidding the corresponding receivers of mentioning their content in any way to other people. She was sure that if they hadn't done that, Dumbledore would have been aware very quickly of her plans and ensured that they could not be followed at any cost. This way, the old man was completely unaware of what was coming and in no position of strategically fighting back Florence's advances.

After slowly making her way, the old woman finally reached the stand and nervously took her seat, always avoiding eye contact with everyone. Florence conceded that it was actually a good thing, as Dumbledore was currently trying his best in glaring the Squib to death with a permanent furious expression on his old face.

''Hello, Mrs. Figg. Thank you for coming here today,'' Florence started politely, even though they knew that she was not a willing witness in that courtroom; each and every one of the letters sent by Amelia Bones were mandatory summons to this trial. ''I assume that you know the reason for your presence in this trial?''

''Yes,'' the woman answered uneasily albeit clearly without looking up, her hands wringing each other nervously.

The woman's blatant anxiety was plain to everyone in that room. Independently of her reasons for the way she had acted in the past concerning Harry Potter – whether she had behaved in that fashion on her own free will or she had been told or forced to do it – everyone would agree that Mrs. Figg did not seem very proud of it at that moment. It remained to be seen, however, if what she was feeling was remorse, shame, or other emotion altogether.

When she was younger, Florence had never really understood the Mrs. Figg from her own world. Just like Harry, she had been treated in a detached and casual way and any sign alerting anyone that there was something amiss in her life with the Dursley's was promptly and firmly ignored. Only years later, after searching deeply in the past for answers to some questions that had plagued her for so long, had Florence found out that her old babysitter was actually rather jealous and resentful of her magic and standing in the Wizarding World.

Arabella Figg, née Buckley, had been born a normal magical child amidst an average magical neutral family. However, not long after she had celebrated her eighth birthday, one of her youngest cousins and his parents had been visiting the Buckley family and, in an incident that up until now was still not completely understood, the young boy, at the time no older than five years old, with a very powerful accidental magic outburst had blown up the children's playroom and almost killed Arabella in the process. Thankfully, Arabella survived the explosion with minimal injuries but lost her magic fighting for her life.

Despite being neutral, the Buckley's quickly decided that they could not raise a Squib as their oldest daughter and heiress and sent her to a couple of distant cousins in London that happened to be Squib as well. Thus Arabella's bitter and distant personality was born, despite being treated with care and love by her new family. She had never forgiven her parents for abandoning her – despite that they had never cut all contact with their first-born and they sent her material gifts through the years until she was an adult – and her young cousin for robbing so violently her magic, even though he was only a small child at the time and had begged for her forgiveness years later, when he was informed by his parents about that terrible day.

What shocked Florence the most was discover that the young boy in question had been her grandfather's younger brother, Henry Potter, and just like many other instances in Florence's – and Harry's – life, she had been the target of misplaced hatred and rancour from an adult that they barely knew due to one of her family's past actions without having any blame in the matter whatsoever.

Shoving her musings behind the tightly protected walls of her mind, Florence turned her attention to the interrogation at hand.

''Mrs. Figg, you babysat young Harry several times along the years when the Dursley's wanted to go on holydays with their only son. Is that correct?'', Florence started her questions in a calm and even tone.

''Yes.''

''In all those times that you had Harry in your house, did you ever noticed something out of normal about him?'', Florence asked even though it was quite clear after that memory that the woman was quite aware of Harry's upbringing. Nonetheless, she wished to have all the details covered.

''Yes'', the Squib confirmed again, her voice shaking slightly. She didn't know that everyone in the room was now aware of her inactions to Harry's ill-treatment by his relatives, though she seemed to sense that somehow they knew anyway.

''Then if you noticed that something was amiss, why did you never said or done something to correct the situation?'', Florence pressed relentlessly; she wanted to know the answer to that question very much.

Arabella fidgeted under all the attention as she seemed to think hard about what to say. As she chanced a look upward, she finally locked eyes with Dumbledore – who at the moment was behind and to the left of Florence and was too busy glaring the Squib into silence and submission to be discreet enough about his actions. She flinched perceptively under the old man's fury and quickly looked down again.

For long moments, the woman kept silent seemingly deep in thought, never stopping her hands from wringing themselves in her lap. Florence had seen the brief exchange between the two of them but decided to not interfere; she wanted to see if the woman had the courage to admit the truth by herself and implicate Albus Dumbledore on this or if she would be fabricating some far-fetched story and making herself completely innocent.

''Mrs. Figg, please answer my question'', Florence said when she had finally had enough, making the Squib almost jump in her seat. ''Why did you never did anything to stop the abuse on an innocent child?''

''I…'', Arabella started before swallowing heavily and trying again. It was clear that she knew that there was no escaping that question and the longer she took to respond, the more the people in the courtroom would believe in her culpability in Harry's abuse. ''The first time I noticed that Harry was not… well-treated by his family,'' she continued, this time her voice was stronger and it seemed that she had finally made up her mind and was ready to tell her part in the story, though she was careful to continue staring at her hands in her lap, ''I contacted Albus Dumbledore and told him that the boy did not seem happy or very healthy.''

If she was still her young counterpart, Florence would have shouted her glee or fist-pumped or something childish like that when Arabella chose to reveal the actual true and blame the esteemed Headmaster. However, she was not reckless nor wore her emotions in her face anymore and the only sign of her delight at that answer was a fleeting uplifting of her lips in a smug smirk. She was beyond pleased that the woman's loyalty to Dumbledore was not as strong as she had believed. Clearly, Arabella wished to save her own skin and had no compunction in laying most of the blame at the old man's feet.

''Oh?'', she asked, outwardly surprised by that answer after she turned slightly towards the audience, wanting to see and hear the people's reactions to this latest bombshell.

Dumbledore had turned several different colours in a matter of a few seconds, reminding Florence strongly of Vernon Dursley's habitual expression before the muggle man started his rant and physical violence on her niece. As it was becoming a pattern, the five older male Weasley's were appalled at this revelation at the same time the rest of their group shoot unthinking murderous glares at the Squib. The public and Wizengamot in general was silently shocked for a second before starting whispering furiously among them; what they were really thinking in that moment was anyone's guess, Florence supposed. They could believe her words as easily as deem that she was shamelessly shoving the blame at the old man to simply save her own skin.

''What was Mr. Dumbledore response to your information?'', Florence asked nonchalantly, pacing slowly in the centre of the courtroom without looking at Mrs. Figg. Actually, her eyes had fixed themselves in Dumbledore's face as she spoke, internally delighted that the old man seemed to be on the verge of opening his mouth and worsen his precarious situation. She mentally and enthusiastically urged him to dig his own grave further. ''Surely Harry's magical guardian would step in and at least verify your account on the matter, no?''

''No… he said that everything was fine and there was no need for concern,'' Arabella was quick in deny, her voice growing stronger with her resolve and backbone. ''He said that I surely was exaggerating and 'boys will be boys' and things like that. He further ordered that I should stay silent about my opinions and not put my nose where it did not belong as there was absolutely nothing to worry about.''

''So, Mr. Dumbledore never went to see if there was actually something wrong happening in the Dursley's house?'', Florence pressed as her gaze never wavered from the Dumbledore, catching every changing expression on the old man's face as he struggled against his mounting fury.

''No, after he left Harry at the Dursley's doorsteps after Rubeus Hagrid retrieved him from the ruins of Godric's Hollow , he never returned to Privet Drive, not even once,'' the old woman strongly stated, finally having courage to raise her head and looking directly at her interrogator. It seemed that Arabella had finally decided that the esteemed Headmaster was not worth her fear and lies.

Florence jumped in joy inside her head. This questioning was becoming better and better by the minute. The woman was relaying precious information without even being prompted and she was looking forward to the old man's fall from grace as she could hear the commentaries all around raising in volume and outrage as the time passed.

''Mrs. Figg, are you saying that Mr. Dumbledore never once visited Harry for the ten years he lived with his muggles relatives? That he never once performed his duties as his magical guardian – even though the position was taken illegally – and made sure that Harry was informed of his place and importance in the wizarding world?'', the Lady Peverell asked, her voice horror-stricken, as she enumerated point after failing point on the old man's responsibility. ''That Mr. Dumbledore never once informed Harry about his parents' deaths or the legacy and money which they had left for their only son?''

''Yes, Dumbledore never stepped foot in Privet Drive and we only talked through the Floo System or by Owl Post,'' Arabella confirmed without hesitation with a nod of her head for good measure. ''Harry was told that his parents were good-for-nothing drunks who had died in a car crash. The boy didn't even know his own name, for goodness' sake! The first time he stayed at my house he was three and when I called him Harry, he actually looked at me oddly before looking around as if searching for someone else. When I told him that his name was Harry, he shook his head and said that his name was Freak or Boy!''

At that last sentence, the whole courtroom seemed to gasp collectively in shock. Understandably, hearing that the famous Boy-Who-Lived didn't even know his own name was something akin to sacrilege. Young and old children alike all around Britain and perhaps even the world at large were told night stories about the small young wizard who saved them all from the Dark Lord Voldemort and the boy himself lived in completely ignorance and didn't even know his own name believing that his name was Freak! That was something very outrageous to everyone, independently of their beliefs and sides on the war.

''Previously you mentioned that Mr. Dumbledore left baby Harry on the doorstep of the Dursley's house,'' Florence stated in a very cool and collected fashion, redirecting the questions, feeling that this last point had been made and not wanting to insist too much on it. She wanted the people to think for themselves and repeating the point for too long was not the way, she considered. It would not do to make it seem like she was forcing them to believe on the matter without any kind of opinion on their part. ''Surely, you were saying that figuratively. No one in their right mind would leave a toddler alone in the middle of night, not to mention the cold temperature that no doubt the month of November always carries.''

''Oh I say it literally all right,'' Arabella said heatedly, her previous hesitation nowhere to be seen. ''Dumbledore, Hagrid and McGonagall left the boy wrapped in a blanket inside his basket with only a letter to explain what happened to the muggles right there on the front step of the Dursley's door and then without ringing the door's bell, went on their merry way to celebrate the fall of You-Know-Who without ever looking back.''

The courtroom gasped again in unison. Severus Snape was directing his most deadly glare at Dumbledore's head, his expression one of the most cold fury that even Florence had witnessed only a few times in her life was a student. Remus Lupin and the disguised Sirius Black seemed on the edge of completely collapsing in their despair and shamelessly crying their eyes out at these latest facts.

Dumbledore turned a sudden white colour resembling more a ghost than a living being, clearly caught by surprise (again) and Florence fought to maintain her composure before she started applauding Arabella Figg. She was sure that, apart from the three that were there that night, no one knew the way the old man had quite literally abandoned Harry Potter to his fate in the dead of the night. She was quite surprised that the Squib even knew that much, although if the past interactions with Hagrid were anything to go by, she supposed that it wasn't that hard to make the half-giant spill the truth if one knew exactly what they should ask to reach the intended information.

Florence was quite aware of what Arabella Figg was really doing. She was not revealing all she knew about Harry's dreadful childhood from the goodness of her heart, even if she played it that way. No, Florence knew that the Squib was trying to shift the focus of the people's outrage concerning Harry from her person in someone else. And who better than the Great Albus Dumbledore to point her accusing finger at and take on the blame for what had happened in the past? Even better yet, she didn't even have to spout a single lie as it was all actually true.

Even knowing all this, Florence didn't really care that much about the woman's reasons. The most important point was that Dumbledore was under scrutiny for his past inexcusable actions, right there where she wanted him. Figg would not leave this matter completely unscathed, as she was not totally blameless either; however Florence would take advantage of her sudden talkative disposition while it lasted and make the better of it.