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Chapter 37 - Justice part 2

"Warlocks of the Wizengamot, now that we have dealt with the matter of my illegal incarnation we must deal with the actions of Albus Dumbledore in regards to my Godson and Heir. I'm afraid that these charges can't really be separated into nice, neat bundles easily, so I will need to beg the Wizengamot's indulgence if some pieces of evidence are repeated or given without context until later." Sirius was once again in front of the Wizengamot, with Harry seated next to him in the Heir's seat, even more uncomfortable because now they were going to be talking about him.

"We begin with the kidnapping of Harry James Potter, Warlock of the House of Potter, on 1st of November 1981. I call Rubeus Hagrid to answer questions." Harry didn't know how he missed the man in the crowd of spectators, but when Hagrid stood up he towered over the people sitting around him. "Can you please tell us in your own words your experience around the events on that Halloween, up until you delivered Harry to his relatives home?"

"Uh sure. Ah mean, it's been a right few years since then but I'll give it me best… less see, well it all started on tha' Halloween, Professor Dumbledore came to me an said that an alarm had gone off at the Potters and I were to go there an take everyone to a safe house. He had his phoenix teleport me to just outside Godric's Hollow." Hagrid recounted. "It wa 'orrible, I could see the smoke and dust as I ran through the village and when I got to the house half of the roof and one of the walls were gone." Hagrid was now openly crying as he remembered the scene, tears the size of gumballs splashing against the man's fury coat "I had to check for survivors, so I went inside an' found James. He was just laying there like he were asleep, but he was gone. I looked around the ground floor but didn't find anyone, then ah went upstairs…and there was Lily lying dead on the floor, an' little Harry with blood pouring down his face was pulling on her crying and begging 'er to get up. Saddest thing I ever saw."

Hagrid wasn't the only one with tears in his eyes, at this point there were a good number of people reacting to Hagrid's emotional retelling. "I picked little Harry up, and I work with some rough animals at Hogwarts so I always keep a bit o' dittany oil on me, so I splashed a bit on da boy's forehead ta stop the bleeding and gave his face a bit of a clean in the bathroom, and then I left ta take Harry to the safe house. Only as I left I ran into you Sirius... ah I mean, Warlock Black. Sorry." That little slip got a few chuckles from the doom but it was more from desperation to move away from the emotions that Hagrid's tale was leaving them in. "You tried to take Harry from me, but I had orders to take the Potters to a safe place an' I wasn't gonna let that go. You argued a little bit, but then you agreed for me to take him for a little while and gave me your motorbike to get Harry there safely, as I had intended to side with Lily or James and didn't have a portkey.

"I took Harry to the safe house and we waited there for most of the day until I got a letter from Dumbledore telling me that Harry was to go to Lily's muggle sister, that Peter Pettigrew was dead, and that Sirius had been sent to Azkaban for killing Peter. I waited until it was dark so as to move around without alerting the muggles and made my way there. I gave Harry to Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall so that they could deliver him to his family." Hagrid finished. Harry felt sorry for Hagrid; even if he had been the one to deliver Harry to the Dursleys, he had just thought he was taking Harry to his aunt nothing more, and it was easy to see just how much retelling what he had seen of Harry's parents had affected him.

Now Sirius was going to ask some questions. "Mr Hagrid, you said that you were the one to deliver Harry to his aunt and uncle's house, can you please confirm the date you did that?"

"November 1st... well, it was late enough that it could have been the 2nd by then, but it was tha' night."

"Were you aware that James and Lily had a will where it stated that Harry was not to be placed with that family under any circumstances?"

"Uh I don't know about stuff like tha', most of it goes over me head to be honest, but I don't think I knew then."

"Were you at least aware that the Potters had chosen that Harry should go to Frank and Alice Longbottom if anything happened to them, as Alice Longbottom is Harry's godmother."

"I think I might o' heard something about that, I think I remember James saying who the godparents were at one point."

"Then why didn't you take Harry's to the Longbottoms?"

"Well Dumbledore said Harry was going to the muggles, and he is the Chief Warlock so if anyone would know what was decided it was him. And weren't the Longbottoms in St Mungo's?" Hagrid answered as best he could.

"Thank you, Mr. Hagrid, that's all," Sirius nodded to Hagrid. "In answer to Hagrid's question, I would like to call on the Regent of House Longbottom. Chief Warlock Longbottom, would you please tell us the date your son and daughter-in-law were attacked, please?"

Madam Longbottom stood up and said clearly, "My Frank and his wife weren't attacked until the 6th, almost a week later, so Alice would have been considered young Mr. Potter's legal guardian when he was placed with the muggle relatives of Lily Potter."

Sirius thanked Neville's grandmother and she sat back down in what was until recently Dumbledore's seat. "I would also like the Wizengamot to consider two more pieces of evidence; Chief Warlock Longbottom, they should be on your desk already," Sirius nodded to Madam Longbottom. Harry noticed that Dumbledore looked angry and was glaring at the Chief Warlock's desk. Did he already know what evidence was? "It's the authenticated copy of the will of James and Lily Potter and the Ministry record."

There was a bit of shuffling of parchment as Madam Longbottom searched through the paperwork until she found what she was looking for and she nodded to Sirius to continue. "Thank you, Chief Warlock Longbottom. There is a section of the will that has been highlighted, can you please indulge me for a moment and read that out to the Wizengamot?" He asked with one of his roguish smiles to the witch. That the witch was old enough to be his mother and didn't even bat an eye didn't seem to matter to him. Harry was watching Dumbledore and saw the flash of anger again, and realised it was because Sirius was calling Madam Longbottom 'Chief Warlock'.

Chief Warlock Longbottom got out a pair of reading glasses and read out the section. "The will reads:

Order of custody for Harry James Potter, if one of his parents is not still alive around to take care of him. First, Alice Longbottom, sworn godmother to Harry by unbreakable vow. Second, Sirius Orion Black, sworn godfather to Harry by unbreakable vow. Third, Minerva McGonagall, family friend and ally. Fourth, Appoline and Sebastian Delacour of France, family friends and invested in Harry's safety. Fifth, Remus Lupin, we know the law says you can't, but if the laws change you have our full trust to do what is best for Harry.

Should these choices be unable to raise Harry, he is to be placed with a family only after they take an unbreakable vow to never work with or for Voldemort. That psycho is way too interested in our son.

Under no circumstances is Harry to be placed with Lily's sister Petunia, both of us fear for the safety of any magical child left in their care.'

End of the reading of the will of Lily and James Potter"

Sirius nodded to Madam Longbottom before he addressed the Wizengamot. "'We fear for the safety of any magical child left in their care.' That is something to note not just here as the reason that Lily gave to keep her son away from her sister, but also for some of the other charges later." Sirius turned back to the Chief Warlock's desk and asked, "Can you please now read out the Ministry record, Chief Warlock Longbottom?"

"Dated November the 1st 1981. 'The last will and testimony of Lily and James Potter, of the House of Potter, are to be sealed until release by the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.' And the document is signed by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Yes, he used his full name," she said exasperatedly, causing a few people to chuckle.

Sirius continued making his point. "So we have the Chief Warlock abusing the position of power that he has to prevent the arrangements that the Potters had prepared in the event of their deaths, meaning that the magical guardianship of the Boy-Who-Lived would pass to him as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, who has default magical guardianship of all magical children who don't otherwise have an adult to represent their interests in the magical world. He then proceeds to place my godson in an unsuitable environment, and instead of passing off the magical guardianship to Harry's Head of Hogwarts House as is normally the case, he kept it for himself. How else can we take this but as someone using every power they have to have control of a child that he had no right to? What is that but kidnapping of a Warlock of one of Britain's oldest magical Houses?" Sirius finished and sat down.

There was a few minutes of muttering before it was handed to Dumbledore to give his defence. "Esteemed colleagues, Warlock Black indeed paints a daunting picture, but he seems to have forgotten that he himself was believed to have a hand in the Potters' attack, and no one knew where to find the Longbottoms as they were in hiding. As for the next person on the list, I call on Minerva McGonagall to answer some questions." That surprised both Harry and Sirius, and judging by her expression it also surprised the Transfiguration professor, but she stood up anyway.

"Madam McGonagall, is it not true as we just witnessed that you were next in line to take young Harry?"

"Yes it is. Bu-"

Dumbledore cut her off before she could say anything else. "And is it not true that you spent the entire next day after the unfortunate passing of James and Lily evaluating young Mr. Potter's family before the boy was left with them?"

"Yes I did. Howev-"

Dumbledore cut her off again. "And is this an accurate retelling of our conversation? You said in regards to Mr Potter: 'He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!'

To which I said: 'Exactly. It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?'

And you replied: 'Yes - yes, you're right, of course.' Agreeing with me that the boy should be left with his aunt and uncle?

Professor McGonagall looked livid. "That's completely out of context."

"Did you or did you not agree to leave the boy with his family after having watched them for the day?

"Yes. But-"

"Thank you." Dumbledore's words cut off anything else Professor McGonagall had to say. "You may return to your seat." Professor McGonagall was furious, but the protocol of the Wizengamot was clear: unless you were a Warlock, you could only speak when asked. Harry leaned over and whispered to Sirius. "When it's open for questions, ask Professor McGonagall what else she wanted to say. She had no clue she was listed in the will until I showed her." Sirius nodded but looked grim. Harry understood Dumbledore may have manipulated her into saying it, definitely so if he took the precaution of memorising the words, but Professor McGonagall was the person who would have the right to decide (as Sirius and the Longbottoms were unable), and she had said yes to his placement.

Dumbledore rested his defence, and the floor was opened to questions from everyone. Sirius asked Professor McGonagall what she wanted to say when Dumbledore kept cutting her off. "Albus had told me he planned to place Warlock Potter with Lily's sister, so I went to check them out. The chance was low that they were Imperiused by Death Eaters as they are muggles, but such things had happened in the war so I wanted to be sure. I owed that to James and Lily, so I watched them as a cat all day. I saw a normal muggle family, but not a good or happy one. When Albus arrived that night, I told him I didn't think that they were a suitable family, but Albus pointed out what Harry would go through growing up in our world. I didn't know that I was listed as a guardian, and had I known I could have dealt with all the problems Dumbledore raised. In the ignorance that Dumbledore left me in, I didn't know I had any say in the matter and thought it was Dumbledore's decision to make, so I let him talk me around."

After Professor McGonagall sat down there were a few more questions from the Wizengamot. At one point Dumbledore was asked why he didn't tell Professor McGonagall about being on Harry's list of guardians, and he replied, "I didn't believe I needed to, because I don't believe that Lily and James would have added someone to their will as a guardian for their son without telling them." That answer was the death blow for their charge of kidnapping, two thirds of the Wizengamot found him innocent of that charge. Harry knew that Professor McGonagall didn't know he had seen the surprise on her face when he showed her the will. Maybe his parents hadn't had the opportunity to say anything, there was a war on after all and there was a traitor in their friend group, maybe they needed to be careful who they said anything around.

There was no break this time around, and they reached the charge that Harry was dreading because now he was going to need to talk about life with the Dursleys. He really wasn't looking forward to this. Sirius stood up and addressed the Wizengamot. "I'm not going to give a fancy speech here, we all know what the House of Black is charging Warlock Dumbledore of, and while we may have concluded that Dumbledore didn't gain his position illegally, it cannot be denied that he was Heir Black's magical guardian, so I call Warlock Potter to answer some questions." Harry stood up and he felt every eye in the room turn to him. He took a deep breath and stood up straighter, he didn't want to do this but he wasn't going to back down.

"Thank you, Warlock Potter. First, can you please tell me about your first impression of Warlock Dumbledore?"

"Well, it was the same as a lot of people. I first saw him on the first of September three and a half years ago, when I walked into the Great Hall for my sorting. Warlock Dumbledore was sitting in the headmaster's chair watching everything, he did say something weird and I remember asking one of the Gryffindor prefects if he was mad. But he just seemed aloof and unapproachable," Harry answered Sirius.

"Thank you, Warlock Potter, but I meant the first time you heard of Dumbledore."

"Oh, the first time I heard of him was on my eleventh birthday when I was told about Hogwarts and magic. But that was just that he was the Headmaster of the school I would be going to, I didn't know he was the Chief Warlock or the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW."

"For clarity's sake, you didn't know that Dumbledore was your magical guardian until then?"

"No, I didn't know he was my magical guardian until then. I didn't know that a magical guardian was a thing until I was speaking with Chief Warlock Longbottom during the last summer holidays, and I had no clue that Warlock Dumbledore was anything more than my Headmaster until after Halloween when I met my betrothed. We went to Gringotts to confirm that the betrothal was real, and while there I found my parents will. I showed it to Rita Skeeter because there was evidence that my godfather was innocent, and I didn't want anyone to think he was guilty if we were able to get him out of Azkaban, and she was the one who discovered that Dumbledore was my magical guardian. I found out the same way most people did, I read it in the Prophet."

"Then what was the name of the witch or wizard that did your mandatory welfare inspections?

"There weren't any inspections. The Dursleys treated me like a slave, I slept in a cupboard under the stairs until my Hogwarts letter came. The letter was addressed to my cupboard, so my aunt and uncle thought that someone was watching them and only then gave me a proper bedroom. If there were inspections then they would never have treated me that way." There were a load of murmurs from everyone listening to Harry speak.

Sirius asked the question Harry knew was coming next. "Please, can you describe a typical day while you lived with your relatives."

Harry did, hating every moment of it. He told the Wizengamot about waking up in the cupboard, cooking a full English for his uncle and cousin, going to school and hiding from his cousin and his friends, and then returning home to do a list of chores that often included making dinner. At Sirius's request, he described a good day as being left with Mrs. Figg while the Dursleys went out somewhere, and a bad day as being locked in his cupboard for a week, let out only once a day to use the bathroom and get a drink of water. Once Harry had finished, Sirius produced the report that Directer Bones had generated when she had investigated the Dursleys, and to Harry's shame read out relevant parts. When Sirius had Director Bones stand to speak, one thing she said stuck with everyone in the room.

"Whoever is responsible for placing the boy there is lucky that they didn't expose our world. Should Warlock Potter's magic have acted to defend him from his relatives, it is entirely possible that we could have faced a massive breach to the Statute of Secrecy. As it stands, Warlock Potter's accidental magic was contained in the home or easily dismissed. It did, however, leave his uncle with a broken and dislocated arm, his uncle's sister needed the skin on her back regrown, and her dog died after being thrown into a wall. If that outburst (which was entirely justified in the given situation, I might add) had happened in the view of the public, say when they were out shopping, there is a possibility the Obliviator would never have found them all. That is why I changed Mr. Potter's guardianship over a year ago, and since then there hasn't been even one risk to the secrecy that protects our world."

Dumbledore's repeated incidence that he trusted Petunia Dursley to look after her nephew, and that he found it hard to believe anyone would that a child in such a way, wasn't enough to sway the vote to his side. Two thirds of the Wizengamot declared him guilty of child neglect, causing an uproar among some of the Wizengamot, mostly Dumbledore's allies, though a lot of them were in stunned silence. It took almost five minutes before Chief Warlock Longbottom was able to call order and get the meeting moving forward. Dumbledore had been found guilty of not giving Sirius his right of trial and of neglecting his responsibility to Harry, but now they needed to determine what exactly was to be done about it. The Wizengamot could do anything, from giving an Azkaban sentence down to a fine or even just letting the man go. Just letting Dumbledore go was discounted almost immediately, however, as families against Dumbledore or who had been moved by Harry and Sirius's stories would never vote for it, and Azkaban soon followed as Dumbledore, while currently suffering from the metaphorical bloody nose, still was in the game and had friends and allies he had cultivated over the decades.

The talk soon turned to fines, and it seemed that the Wizengamot was almost definitely going to issue one as talk almost immediately turned from "if" to "how much" the bearded old man should pay. However, while Albus was being paid three full time salaries that definitely weren't entry level jobs, he was apparently terrible at managing his money. Dumbledore had apparently brought bank statements with him from Gringotts that said that his personal vault and his family vault had very little money in them compared to the fines the Wizengamot were talking about. Harry wondered where all the old man's money went, as between his jobs the man must be pulling in thirty to forty thousand galleons a year, or between one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand and two-hundred-thousand pounds a year. Dumbledore also lived at Hogwarts, which also covered all his room and board. Either the man was squealing away his gold somewhere for his retirement, or the man never planned on retiring.

In the end, after about an hour of debate, the fine was settled at ten thousand galleons for each Harry and Sirius. However, as Dumbledore didn't have that gold, his wages would be garnished at twenty percent so that Harry and Sirius would be paid off over the next few years. Neither Harry or Sirius were happy with this. Sirius had been hoping for more, not more money personally but something else, but Dumbledore's allies had been opposed to anything that Sirius had thought was appropriate. That was, until Chief Warlock Longbottom stood up."I believe I see all members of the Hogwarts Board of Governors here today, and I ask that you stand and be recognised." There was some shuffling and Harry saw six more people stand up. Madam Longbottom continued. "As we all just saw, the man we have in charge of running our school and keeping the students safe was just found guilty of negligence in the care of a minor. I for one feel that this is an unacceptable thing for any member of staff of a school to have on their record." She paused for a moment. "Given this, I recommend the immediate termination of one Albus Dumbledore from not only his Headmaster position, but any position at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore cut in. "Madam Longbottom, first this is a Hogwarts matter, not a Wizengamot matter. It is completely inappropriate for us to have this discussion here in front of all these people. Secondly, due to the rules of the Triwizard Tournament, I am bound as the headmaster and judge of the tournament until its closure. Any failure in this regard would cost me and possibly the Hogwarts champions their magic. In my case, due to my age this would be fatal, and do you really want to be the one to write to the parents of Mr. Diggory, Mr. Flint, and Mr. Davies and tell them that you're the reason that their children have lost their magic and the education for the past seven years has been thrown away?"

One of the other governors, one whom Harry didn't know, started speaking. "Where we choose to hold the meeting matters not. It is completely up to the discretion of the Board whether or not there is to be witnesses to the discussion. As to the binding contract from the Goblet of Fire, I recommend that we fire him at the end of the school year. It would be most difficult to organise for someone else to take the position in the middle of the school year anyway, however that doesn't mean we can't start looking for someone."

One of the other men who were standing up stated, "I agree and second the proposal by Warlock Parkinson. While I doubt that the Goblet would enact a penalty on the champions for the problems of the headmaster, I would rather not tempt fate with the lives of some of Britain's most upstanding families' children. However, there is no reason we can't vote now that we will have a new headteacher in charge of the school in September. All in favour?"

The look on Dumbledore's face as six of the seven governors voted that this was his last year at Hogwarts was priceless. Harry was shocked, the idea that Dumbledore would actually be removed from Hogwarts wasn't something he had thought about. And in front of the press as well, there went Harry's last slim hope that this wouldn't be front page news.

A/N

And here is something I had planned when I first decided that McGonagall's name would be third on the list of guardians. Also I said it before but it was so long ago that it's probably worth repeating here. I know most fics have Sirius as the first choice for Harry's guardian if anything happened to Lily and James, but in my opinion a couple of parents would choose the godparent who is already a mother rather than the bachelor as their first choice. I am not knocking Sirius here, I just think experience counts for something.