Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

* Review response:
Armacryss, Kine X, sterata, jozs001, Naginator, raw666, ElementalMaster16, god of all, obsessivegirl73, wolfzmasterz, Reishin Amara, Goldrune09, jafr86, Awsomeness7, Alphawolfy28, Karou WindStalker, Fritter, x-marks-the-spot1974, Nagato Uzumaki, RE5 forever, Shin1gam1, Penny is wise, Kingdark, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Orchamus, read and see, what else can I say.
Tutenstein, Dericof Diname, who know how Dumbledore's mind works? Here he thinks that the wand is the key, plus with how Slytherin-ish Harry is... In some other universe, dunno, vault size could have been the criteria =).
loginanout, hehehe *tries to imitate evil laughter* *coughs* hehehe.
fragglemaster, just two? there was time when I managed to run five... looks like I'm getting old, though, as two is about my limit now.
twilightnemo, more or less. Though, his new status will take too much time to go to his head for him to be entire in character.
JPElles, um... wasn't it completed like half a year ago? Good story btw.
Super-Saiyan-3-Vegeta, Violet is more or less a trigger here - Amelia will be the one to tear stupid fool a new one.
Shadowwodahs, oh? Thank you.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter is not beta-read yet.

chapter 34: The trial

Frederick Gamp was in a good mood today. Why? Today was the day when the Potter brat will pay for stopping the Dark lord from giving the world to its rightful owners (purebloods). Sure, he was tried for a different reason, but did it matter? No. Not if he pays for his crimes against the owners of magic... And the lord Gamp was absolutely sure that the boy will not avoid the punishment.

The man himself was twenty four years of age, and was neither handsome, nor intelligent – looking a bit like a gorilla, and as clever as one – nor he had any outstanding talents. Of course, when he was within an earshot, everyone with half a brain praised him for his good looks, his intelligence and various magical talents... No one dared to displease the lord of the Most Noble house Gamp (and the future owner of the Malfoy fortunes through his marriage with the heiress of that house).

Anyway, Frederick was thinking about the upcoming trial of the Potter brat. In his opinion, it was too bad that the brat was charged only with fraud as in this case they wouldn't be able to sentence him to life-long imprisonment in Azkaban or a 'kiss'. But, maybe, if the right questions are asked during the interrogation, the list of his crimes will change... Yeah, it will good to finally remove that stain from the magical Britain's noble and pure society for good...

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Meanwhile, Harry Potter too was approaching the Wizengamot chambers. While he didn't knew about what was going to happen to him, his gut feeling was telling him that the 'invitation' he had received was definitely not for a tea-party. So, he came prepared to protect himself, both on his own, and with the help of ms. Bridget, who was walking just behind him...

The first true sign that this won't be a normal Wizengamot meeting was a couple of aurors stationed just outside the doors of the chamber. As the two approached them, the aurors stopped them and while one of them performed a body search on Harry, the other was arguing with Violet, telling her that by the minister's order, only Lords were allowed to attend today's session. And since the blond with was more than quite stubborn, they were arguing for several minutes, before Harry intervened and told her that for now he should be fine and, should something happen, he'll contact her (though Harry himself wasn't sure how at the moment). Ms. Bridget didn't seem to be willing to let him go in 'unprotected', but since he was her client, his word had a lot of weight, and she had to give in.

"I'll be in the cafeteria." Violet finally said, before turning around and walking away, moving deliberately slow, just in case the aurors dared to do something to he client... Once she was out of sight, Harry was let into the Wizengamot chambers, but as soon as he stepped through the doors, he was hit with a couple of stupefy charms to the back.

Some time later he was roughly woken by an enervate spell. Now he was seated in a stone chair in the middle of the chamber, facing all of the lords and ladies (plus the Minister for Magic, an unpleasant toad-like woman by his side that was the senior undersecretary and a scribe), while his arms and legs were bound by a set of magical chains and an entire troop of aurors was standing just behind him with their wands trained at him... Not a pleasant wake up.

"Not that everything in order, let us begin." The Minister said. "Trial hearing of nineteenth August 1993 into the offenses committed by Harry James Potter against the magical law in a form of a major case of Fraud." The portly man announced. "Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Dolores Jane Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the Minister; Amelia Susan Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the Chief Warlock of Wizengamot. Scribe: Julia Alice Runcorn." So, they were trying to remove him for good, Harry decided. Especially with how they forbid him to bring his barrister and weren't giving him one there... Not that he would accept a man he had never met before as one. Well, it was time for him to act and defend himself.

"Objection." Harry said, trying to sound much more confident than he actually was. "If I'm accused only in fraud, the chains are not to be used, as in accordance with the Wizengamot trial policies the chains can be used only on those accused with murder or other similar crimes." Amelia Bones sent an angry glare at the Minister, who had the decency to look abashed (at being caught).

"Aurors, release him form the chains." The head of the DMLE ordered. A second later the chains fell on the floor with a loud clang.

"Ahem... Now then, let us continue." Cornelius Fudge said. "Potter, tell us what made you think that you can appropriate the fame and everything else rightfully belonging to the chosen one? Answer now!" The man shouted in the end.

"I will say that I'm innocent of the crime in question as I'm not the one who made everyone think that I was the chosen one." The young lord Potter-Slytherin replied. This, of course, made some members of Wizengamot – from the 'darkest' and the 'lightest' families – shout their objections to this statement... That was until madam Bones shut everyone up with a controlled burst of her magic, showing that she was not someone you wanted to mess with.

"Please explain, Mr. Potter." She said.

"How about we read the article about 'the true chosen one' which was printed in the 'Daily Prophet' on August 7th?" Harry asked, before continuing. "In that article, Albus Dumbledore says that he made a mistake when he proclaimed me to be the chosen one after that Halloween night 1981. If that was his mistake, why am I accused of Fraud?" Again there were some protests (from the 'light' side of the Wizangamot only this time), but a single glare from madam Bones was enough to restore order.

"Scribe?" Amelia asked. The witch flipped through a mass of papers on her desk, looking for that particular edition of the 'Daily Prophet'. Once she found it – though it was not clear, why it was already there – she scanned through the pages of the the newspaper, before finding the article in question.

"I-It is as Mr. Potter says." The witch said with slight fear in her voice. Madam Bones nodded, but before she could open her mouth, madam Umbridge asked a question:

"It may be so, Potter, but no one can say that you haven't bewitched Albus Dumbledore? Surely it is possible that you made him make you the chosen one." The toad-like woman asked in sickly-sweet voice. Harry frowned.

"And how that would be possible?" He asked back. "I was just fifteen months old at that time. Are you trying to tell me that a child, who is not capable of abstract thoughts, required to make any sorts of plans of that level; a child who is incapable of normal speech, managed to deceive Albus Dumbledore, who is a known master in both occlumency and legilimency?" He asked.

"Well, we can expect anything from someone who had defeated the Dark lord..." madam Umbridge said, before making a pause. "Scribe, add murder of a human magic user to the list of crimes. Aurors, chains!" She ordered then. ...And so Harry once again had his arms and kegs bound with chains. "What do you have to say about this, Potter?" She asked, once again using that sickly-sweet voice of hers.

"Even if it was done by me, it would fall under the self-defense category, thus I'd be legally allowed to use force proportional to the one used against me. And the Dark lord used lethal force." The green-eyed wizard replied. "But since it is physiologically impossible for a child under about eight year to produce a controlled magic, whatever happened during that night was not a product of my magic."

"Very well." Amelia Bone said. "It is clear that Mr. Potter is innocent of the murder. Aurors, release..." Dolores Umbridge chose this moment to interrupt:

"Surely, you don't believe that liar, madam Bones? If he could bewitch Albus Dumbledore, he is capable of a killing a pureblood wizard." The head of the DMLE stared at the senior undersecretary.

"That is circular reasoning, madam Umbridge. You can't use it as an argument." She said. "Aurors, release the chains." And Harry was 'free' again. "If nobody has anything to add..." Madam Bones announced.

Albus Dumbledore wanted to use the fact that Harry was a parsemouth – no, he had nothing personal against the Potter heir, but the chosen one needed money to fund the war that was to come, and Harry had the galleons Ronald Weasley lacked – but the oath he made when they were hunting the monster from the Chamber of Secrets prevented him from speaking. So he had remained silent...

"As nobody has anything to add, the court will now return a verdict." Amelia Bones said. "Mr. Harry James Potter is charged with the case of major fraud..."

"Suggested punishment, full confiscation of monies, properties and titles belonging to him in favor of the offended party, Mr. Ronald Bilius Weasley, and a year in Azkaban, followed by sealing of magic and any memories of it and exile into the muggle world." Inserted Cornelius Fudge. Madam Bones coughed, before continuing.

"...is charged with the case of major fraud. Those in favor of conviction, raise your wands." She said. Moments later roughly thirty percents of the Wizengamot members (the most 'dark' ones and those that were in Dumbledore's pocket, though the old wizard himself didn't vote against Harry) and Cornelius with his pet toad raised their wands. Once the scribe counted the wands and wrote down the result, the head of the DMLE continued: "And those in favor of dropping the charges, raise your wands." This time about sixty percents of the Wizengamot members, and Amelia herself, raised their wands. Once the results of the vote were written down, madam Bones continued: "The court returns its verdict: Mr. Harry James Potter is cleared of all charges."

Fifteen minutes later the young lord Potter-Slytherin entered the cafeteria and quickly located Violet, who was sitting in the back corner of the hall and drinking some tea.

"Mr. Potter?" She asked. "You were incommunicado for quite some time. What had happened?" Harry took a seat across the table from her.

"They tried to use some dirty tricks to sentence me for 'major case of fraud'. But they failed." He replied. "Now then, I have a new task for you." Ms. Bridget nodded and prepared to write down the specifics of her new task. "I want you file a suit against the Ministry for not following their own trial regulations – they did not let me have anyone but myself as my defense – and for ignoring the presumption of innocence."

"I see what I can do about this." The blond witch replied. "The trial records are open for the public, so I will be able to get the transcription of your trial, but knowing the bureaucrats that sit in the Ministry, the suit will not be resolved any time soon." She said. Harry nodded.

"Do what you can." He told her. "Also, I think that it is possible, that the Ministry cronies will not let me be just yet, so, please, prepare a defense against the media attacks for me." Violet nodded and wrote that down on her parchment.

"Something else?" She asked then. The green-eyed wizard shook his head.

"No, nothing I can think of right now." He said. "If there will be something, I will owl you." Ms. Bridget nodded and, after placing encryption charms on it, placed the parchment into the folder she had with her.

"Well, then our business here is concluded." She said. "Shall we have a lunch before heading home?" Violet asked, knowing that right now her client needed someone he thought of as a friend next to him – he did go through a very unpleasant experience of standing a trial all on his own, after all. Harry just nodded in response.

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Harry didn't have to wait long for the media attacks. On the next day after the trial, the 'Daily Prophet' had already printed the story about how he was a Fraud who was denying the 'chosen one' what should be his, and how he had bought his way out of the just punishment... And with how sloppy and self-contradictory even the article was, it was clear that it was written by the ministry bureaucrats and then forced it onto the newspaper.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the wizarding world would believe anything you tell them, as hundreds of howlers assaulted Harry's residence. The wards, though, had defused every last one of them, turning the angry-red shouting letters into normal ones... Of course, the young lord Potter-Slytherin didn't bother to open even one of those letters, and burnt them all with the flame lance spell, till there weren't even ashes left from them.

Violet's response to the situation too was fast, as in the early afternoon a letter from the blond witch arrived. In this letter, she was writing that she had already filed a suit against both the 'Daily Prophet' and the 'Wizarding Wireless' for character slander against the member of a Noble house and using false information in their rendering of the trial events.

And even though on the paper it all looked good, Harry wasn't stupid enough to think that he will get the reparations right away: the hold of the Ministry on the media was far too strong for that. But since the head of DMLE was one of those who voted for his innocence during the trial, it was quite possible that Violet will win this case for him... So, for now, he would let her do her work.

As it turned out, madam Bones was far from happy with what the Ministry was trying to do in their anti-Potter campaign, so the head of the DMLE personally oversaw the enquiry into the lawsuit filed by Violet. This meant that no little no-name bureaucrat dared to bury it under the tons of other paperwork, and everything was done as fast as possible, and by August 25th Amelia Bones had both this suit, and the one Harry had filed for the violations made during his trial, satisfied.

This meant that both the 'Daily Prophet' and the 'Wizarding Wireless' were paying the young lord Potter fifty thousands galleons each, and were making a public apologies, while getting a warning for publishing the false information. The situation with the lawsuit against the Ministry wasn't as good as, at least at this point, madam Bones lacked the power to sue either the Minister or his senior undersecretary (they were the ones that tried to orchestrate the trial), but even a strict warning from the head of the DMLE was enough to keep both in line, at least for now – madam Bones was quite a fearsome woman, when she was displeased...

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Wizards and witches of the Great Britain, as we all know, the recent Azkaban escapee Sirius Black (life sentence for being a Death Eater and killing thirteen humans) is still at large, and it is believed that he may be heading to Hogwarts to finish what he had started twelve years ago. But you should not worry about the safety of your children, while they are attending the school: not only the wards of Hogwarts were strengthened, but on the orders from the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, a group of Azkaban guards will be stationed around Hogsmeade and Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. "Not even a mice will be able to get in or out unchecked. Black has no chances." Our illustrious Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, said in his interview to our newspaper. "Of course, the search for Black will continue, and once he is captured, we will have him kissed for the crimes he had committed against our society."

From here on, the article in the 'Daily Prophet' from the August 29th descended into singing praises to Cornelius Fudge, whose reputation had taken a blow from the lawsuit Harry had filed against the Ministry, following his trial. Of course, a lot of the article was still about the promises of the Minister to keep the children at Hogwarts, especially the chosen one (Ron Weasley) safe from the evil that was Sirius Black...

While Harry really hoped that those Azkaban guards the article was talking about were just aurors, he was too much of a realist to believe that someone in the ministry would not have a bright idea of stationing dementors around the school filled with emotional children... So, hoping for the best, he was preparing for worse, though there was pretty much nothing he could do to prepare to face a dementor: as pretty much the only thing to protect one from the effects of their aura was the patronus charm, and mastering it in three days was just impossible.

That's all, folks!
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