Chapter 5

It wasn't going to be long before I had my hearing at the Ministry for using underage magic, even though it was the clone that did the magic on the dementors. I wonder why my medallion clone is unable to do magic.

However boredom had already settled in so I was looking for something to do or read. It seemed that the Weasley's were a bunch of pack-rats when it came to saving things. Ron had a stack of Quidditch magazines chest high. Then again came the chuckles as the magazine were not free or inexpensive. Ginny had Harry Potter books and romance novels. Now she had the real thing wondering around, I bet she is finding that I am not living up to those ledgens. Mrs. Weasley had the Daily Profit going back for years, and that is not to mention her Lockhart books. So whenever I got to escape from Hermione wanting me to do homework and spilled my inner feelings, I had Ron always wanting to play chess. I think Mrs. Weasley had Ginny locked up somewhere so she didn't become a Scarlet woman. I read the Daily Profit from Molly's stash and the more I read the more I got pissed. I proceeded to become angered and the anger proceeded into irate. I was, according to the Daily Profit a lying, delusional, attention seeking pampered brat and possibly a Dark Lord deranged psychopath. The more I read the worse the articles got.

/Scene Break/

In all my training with Evelyn's group it did not make me Mr. Super Magic Guy. Of course I got wandless magic training but I also got trained in magical laws and ballroom dancing. Of course the dueling and defensive training was included along with a special kind of transportation. It still came down to I was not Mr. Super Magic Guy but I was well rounded in what training I had received. I was extremely powerful but it took time to learn and master spells through intent and a good amount of practice. That of course is what schools were meant for, learning and training.

The last Daily Profit accuses me of everything short of matricide and almost sent me ballistic but I decided on a little of, "get even". It was obvious that the Ministry was behind most of those articles. Quite a few statements came directly from the mouth of the Minister of Magic himself. Nowhere in the paper did I see anyone coming to my defence

I said, "Boss Evelyn". While my clone would kept the Weasley's occupied I transported to the offices of the Daily Profit to engage one of their reporters. Thank you TV cloud for a little background information.

"Yes Ms. Skeeter I just wanted to ensure that you use that beetle Animagus form of yours so you didn't miss out on my trial. I assure you that what I reveal will shake the very foundation of our magical world." Some of what I had seen on the TV cloud of the future was proving very useful and of course my general education from Jabba the Hutt didn't hurt. Hopefully this all did not explode in my face, I had a large prank to play.

I was not being nasty just because of some old newspapers articles. I had seen glimpses of the future and how I was probably going to be treated/handled and abused by just about everyone. Soooo… I figured, why not give them a little pay back. Besides I was thinking that if I twisted some of these people hard enough they would scream uncle. Shortly in big bold print I was going to be further called mad and a lunatic so maybe I would get it done my way rather than them just making it up out of thin air.

I transported back to the Burrow... And…

"I've been looking for you everywhere! You want to play a game of chess with me before Hermione dragged you off someplace to study out of some boring book?"

My response was cut off by the arrival of Hermione..."Harry! Where did you disappear to this time? We were not finished studying and those books are bound to be on our next set of tests. You just have to stop wondering off, we haven't even started with our homework assignments!" Apparently clone Harry had worked efficiently and had slipped out from under Hermione's grasp and had found an out of the way place to end his hour of existence.

/Scene Break/

Albus Dumbledore was worried as he sat in the courtroom while trying to mentally manipulate Harry's defense so Harry would be extremely grateful for all his help. Harry would be impressed by the way he handled Harry's defense and the last minute surprise witness. He was worried in part because of the two Dementors that had attacked Harry and his cousin in Little Whinging, that had not been part of his plans. Also there was Fudge now calling a full Wizengamot trial for simple case of under age magic. Further something was wrong as the entire court was assembled and ready to go an hour earlier than originally scheduled. The child would be totally lost and would not appear to be much more than what he Albus Dumbledore had so diligence planned him to be, dumb and easy to manipulate. Having Potter under his control at Hogwarts in a few days was essential for all his plans. Starting the court an hour before Harry arrived just ensured that whatever their plans were, well Harry would be grateful for getting him out of trouble. Suffering at his hands with better than in Harry suffering at there's.

To Dumbledore's shock Fudge started, "Where is the accused. It appears by his absence that he has submitted a guilty plea to all of the charges. I submit that expulsion from Hogwarts and that he be..."

The doors were flung open to reveal Harry Potter who appeared to be totally unimpressed as he's sauntered into the court.

"Well what are you waiting for, what are the charges? Let's get this farce of a trial over with so I can get on with my life." I figured if I made a good impression up front that they definitely weren't going to be happy with me nor how this trial would end. Hopefully they would be fuming by the time the public found out and demanded answers. Besides, Dumbledore wasn't about ready to let these jerks mess up his plans for the 'Greater Good' regardless of what troubles I caused.

Fudge had Weatherby were reading the charges followed by the normal amount of fuming and blustering from Fudge. Meanwhile Dumbledore started whispering his platitudes, "Harry My Boy you know I need to handle this..."

I laughed and slapped both my knees as I bent over to exaggerate my laughter and attempted to appear a bit deranged. When I had most of their attention I exclaimed loudly...

"Since Fudge is leading this disgusting party of irrelevant do-nothing and ineffective assembly, I must ask if anyone has ever heard of the statute protected under age magicals from danger and attacks. You fools did write that law did you not?"

Many the judges were yelling and Fudge was turning nice shade of purple as he started yelling over all the others, "You will turn over your wand and shut your mouth, you insolent brat! You are hereby..."

Harry Potter's Holly and Phoenix wand appeared in his hand, and then, to everyone's shock, Harry snapped his wand in half and tossed it on the floor of the now silent room.

Dumbledore thought he was going to have a heart attack as that wand was a duplicate for the one Voldemort had. Dumbledore had been told by a seer of the confrontation between Harry and Voldemort and had ensured that they had brother wands. As Dumbledore sat there frozen in horror and disbelief Harry started on a tirade.

"I am your worst nightmare," I taunted the room. "I'm someone who doesn't give a rat's arse about any one of you who have the power, ancestry, and money to back up your position. At some point, even the Death Eater Malfoy's money won't be able to cover up when Voldemort comes back. At that point, you'll all come to kiss my arse and I'll tell you to go to hell. Find me if you can you stupid jerks but until then you'll have to fight Voldemort on your own. Oh! and have Dumbledore tell you the prophecy so you all know that I am the only one who can defeat Voldemort who is prophesied to return by the end of next year." At that point I disappeared amidst a tower of flames. That flaming was a bit of theatrics that should make the front page of the Daily Profit along with my picture, it did. I wasn't worried as Dumbledore would do what he needed too to keep his golden boy's fat out of the fire and in Hogwarts.

Oh you should have seen the fun they were having running around in circles looking for the lunatic that looked like Harry Potter. I had given the code words and all the glamour charms Evelyn had given me had fallen off. The phony glasses were in my pocket and I was back to normal in appearance. My hair was straight and shoulder length and of course all the exercise and training I had received were now quite obvious. Harry Potter, who? Where?

The Ministry wanted me to be locked up in Azkaban while the Order of the Phoenix wanted me locked up in Hogwarts. It was not that I was of any importance but, The Beetle, had been present and had connected me, Voldemort and the prophecy in The Daily Profit. Suddenly the question was being asked, what prophecy? Was it true that Voldemort could be returning? Was the boy who lived really a lunatic or was he telling us what is going to happen? How many former Death Eaters were currently in Wizengamot to alow our hero to be vilified? Why was our young hero being persecuted for defending himself?

Fudge of course denying any prophecy existed. Dumbledore however had stated earlier that only I or Voldemort could release the contents of any prophecies. That's when the public uproar and interest made their feelings known, how many prophecies where there what were their contents?. Evelyn had give me four options and I would be a fool to run but the magical community didn't know that, did they? I figured Dumbledore would handle it sooner or later. Meanwhile the prank was on.

The rumors had me in country, out of country, and around country, but in actuality I was under their nose in Hogsmeade village. Without the clone Harry Potter glamour charm and a baseball cap over my barely visible scar and I was good to go anywhere I liked. I was still laughing to myself over what had transpired in the last few days since I was picked up at Privet drive by the Order of the Phoenix.

What was funny were the different factions. Dumbledore is attempting to have everything thrown out and that Harry be sent back to Hogwarts. Fudge wanted me thrown into Azkaban prison. The Wizengamot members were doing interviews on everything from no Death Eaters being members of their esteemed organization to pompous blustering. There were actually a few that confirmed that there was a law stating that the use of underage magic was authorized in certain life-threatening events. Basically Harry Potter trial was not fading into the sunset as many wished.

Since everyone wanted Harry Potter, who was I not to concede to their demands? A little bit of "Boss Evelyn" in an Diagon alley alleyway had the Aurors arresting Harry Potter as he stepped out of the alley, they immediately threw him into a Ministry cell awaiting trial. The Daily Profit already had that in print as the Minister wasted no time in making the public announcement. An hour later, he was explaining to anyone who would listen of Harry Potter's humanitarian release... The dropping of all charges had to make print as clone Harry of course had disappeared from in the Ministry's cell. The Minister had to save face rather than explaining an escaped prisoner by the name of Harry Potter.

I pity the clone that was found in Ottery St Catchpole by the Weasley family. I could imagine the clone being yelled at until Dumbledore's arrival to hand out his sage advice and to profundicate his extreme disappointment in Harry Potter's actions.

Whether I picked up my father's pranking gene or whether I just enjoyed it, pranking would continue.

/Scene Break/

The Village of Hogsmeade was designed for catering to the students of Hogwarts. Further down the main street is where a lot of the workers and owners of businesses resided in their houses or apartments. And if there was a galleon to be made the goblins were there also. It was a smaller bank just a bit further down from Madame Puddifoot's. Actually calling it only a bank is a bit misleading as the goblins lived in their caverns burrowed deep into the ground under their small marble bank. Of course it was common knowledge that the goblins lived like animals in their filthy caves as very few wizards ever got to visit a goblin home.

"Hi, how can Scrinshaft's help you?" Asked the cute girl behind the counter.

"I need a ream of parchment, a bottled of black ink and three quills please." I never would've thought that was a pickup line and that it would work. I also didn't think I had it in me to make the move on such a pretty girl. The next thing I knew I had a date.

That evening, on our not so romantic date at the Three Broomsticks, "So Ava, if you don't mind me asking, why aren't you in school?"

"Home schooling, as my parents can't afford a regular schools and especially not Hogwarts. That's another reason why dad has me working in the store. In the store I can read up on different spells, charms and of course theory for my OWLs. At night and weekend mom teaches me other household charms and spells."

"So you work during the day and study by night?"

"Pretty much but what about you James? Do you go to school or are you home schooled also.

"It's kind of a really long story. My parents are dead and I don't have a job. I'm considering schooling in another country."

I wasn't sure that I had made complete fool of myself but I got another date the next evening as I walked her home.