I don't own Harry Potter or any of the series that may from time to time show up here. I apologize in advance if I use any OC's created by other fan fiction writers.
This story is my own, though it will be based on the crapilogue. The story begins with Harry being called into Shacklebolt's office and being sent on holiday.
The story takes the air date of Stargate SG-1 Secrets as Bane (21/08) as the day of the mission. I reversed the order of stories of Bane and Secrets for the purpose of my fan fiction.
In searching for an appropriate setting for the HQ of Potter Inc in the USA, I chose a 100 acre site in Cedar County near Stockton near St Louis. I hasten to add that I do not own the property, nor do I know the people who do and I have never been there. I am merely using the location for the purposes of this fan fiction.
The rescue mission for the US citizens held by Iran is fiction and does not imply any knowledge on my part. Likewise any interaction between real people/real events and this work of fan fiction is entirely that, fictional.
The officers of MACUSA refused to allow the intern to tell her parents exactly what had happened. Her family refused to let her tell anyone what her name was and had the clout to enforce that prohibition.
The Librarian was pleased to be pregnant. She'd long been told that she'd never have children; mostly by her obnoxious family who demanded more than she had and always had. That she was Librarian to the Congress of MACUSA was not enough. The post was highly prestigious. Her family wanted her elected to Congress. She knew that would not be enough for her family. She could share Harry Potter.
Harry Potter was preparing the case. Well, he was in theory. Hermione telling him that she wanted his child had knocked him back. He knew he was dense when it came to his feelings for her, but this revealed a whole other level to his density. Harry had wanted to try Kinsey, but that had been ruled out. He had the three wizards present. The road they had used had been built as a toll road before the locals had forced the state to take it on. They had the toll receipts going to the property and coming away from the property. They had eye witness statements placing the van outside the house and satellite footage showing them going into and coming out of the property. He had the evidence that Jack and Charlie were wizards. That was the really damning evidence, not counting the direct descent from President Potter. That alone was enough to ensure the death sentence. Jack was recalled to be sent off on his mission. A signed statement was all Harry had on his behalf – for evidence. Harry had to enter into the Court records, which meant the defenders got to read it.
Besides preparing the case, Harry spent time with the four women he had got pregnant. They were affectionate enough. Harry did some paperwork for Potter Inc. and Black Industries. He was also able to secure the estate on which his alternate family resided.
The trial came round and the three magical Britons wore their magical Britain robes over the robes worn in the Supreme US magical Court. The lead lawyer for the defendants was about to raise the issue of clothing. Harry, Neville and Daphne removed their outer layers, revealing the clothing that had to be worn in this Court.
Next up came the attempt to stop Harry from speaking. Neville provided chapter and verse for the Potter right to speak and deposited the relevant genealogical information. That information also showed Jack and Charlie O'Neill.
The charge sheet was read out. This took quite a long time. At the end the President of MACUSA asked Harry, if more people should be changed with these crimes.
"Vice -Presidential candidate Robert Kinsey should also be charged as one of the two men ordering the murder of wizard Charlie O'Neill. Unfortunately, the no-maj will not allow him to stand trial. Fortunately, we do have the presence of the man who gave the order to the wizards herein charged with murder. The President of MACUSA."
At that point, the three accused wizards drew wands that they should not have had and joined the President in attacking Harry Potter. Harry's co-prosecutors dropped behind their desk, out of sight. Harry sent a bombarda against the three wizards, whilst he duelled with the President. Harry was not subtle. He sent four reductos at said President. The man's shields buckled and he fell, mortally wounded. Harry fired reductos at the three wizards as they struggled to a firing position.
"Leave now. You have killed four wizards of MACUSA including our President," the now-Acting- President said.
"They were all guilty of the crime of murder and all attempted to murder me. You will answer how three accused had wands in the Court," Harry thundered. "iure victoriae," Harry said.
"We do not answer to you," the fine, almost, chiselled mahogany nose of the former vice-president of MACUSA flexed in anger. "You should not have the wand you bear."
"Are you truly so ignorant of your history?" Harry was contemptuous. "As a relative of President Potter I have the right to bear a wand in this place. As a relative of the Potter who was one of the first dozen Aurors in this land, for his service, I am permitted a wand. As the lead prosecutor in a case, I am permitted a wand. They chose trial by combat and lost. I claim the iure victoriae."
"Guilty verdicts and the iure victoriae will be written against each defendant and the late President of MACUSA," the clerk of the Court announced. "Lord Potter, your government will be informed of exactly what you won."
Harry could not believe it. Forced to defend himself in Court, he was now being kicked out of the Country. Daphne put a hand on his wrist. She feared an outburst from Mount St. Potter.
"That is acceptable, Clerk of the Court. Our orders are to return to the Ministry immediately on conclusion of the case. We shall leave, immediately, in accordance with our instructions." Harry and co picked up their other robes and case files, cases and departed. Kingsley confirmed what Harry had said. He was very glad he had had Hermione follow them.
A short time later, the three were sitting in Kingsley's office.
"I confirmed what you said, Auror Potter. You've Hermione to thank for that," Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister for Magic, said. "Hermione has to stay in the Country until the potion is complete. I have sent instructions to our Embassy to provide her with accommodation. I've a mind to take it out of your pay Potter. What were you thinking? Your accidental magic was off the charts. You'd have blown that building to kingdom come, if Auror Greengrass had not been present."
"Getting attacked, when I am supposed to be safe is something I have learnt to deal with. Yes, I am grateful to both Hermione and Daphne. The defendants' deaths meant we could not show links between our Death Eaters and wizards and witches in MACUSA. Going back further, Grindelwald was active in MACUSA. The Knights of Walpurgis were there, but not active, generally. They did go through the Potters over there.
There were a dozen in direct descent in 1910, but in 1920, Lord Charlus Potter had to take over Potter Inc., a company founded 70 years earlier. All Potters in direct descent were dead. I've got my legal team from Potter Inc. recovering the rights to Skele-Gro that the American company never had the right to sell. The rights were always held in magical Britain; a fact I discovered on access to the Fleamont Vault of the Potters. Fleamont industries was formed out of a merger between Fleamont Potions and Potter Potions. I come from a family of Potioneers who invented the cure for Dragon Pox, and other wizarding diseases, yet I have four family members who apparently died from Dragon Pox. In addition, Snivellus attempted to destroy my potion talent. Something else to hate the man for.
I had a test done on the binding I have had since I was seven. I have yet to see a report, on your orders. I have removed the binding, of course. So, I cannot repeat the test. If the results of that test are not with me, in full and unredacted, by 5pm today, I shall quit the Ministry."
"You would doom the Ministry, if you did that. I've already removed Ron Weasley from the Ministry to make you happy," Kingsley said. He was trying to make Harry feel guilty.
"I've had my fill of being guilt-tripped, Kingsley and manipulated. After the purging potions I've taken, I am left with a visceral hatred for House Weasley and that is a problem for you. Whilst I was away, you've had a trial of Lucius Malfoy and just given him a fine. You've given him and Narcissa, who had the effrontery to say I owed the Malfoys a life-debt, Ministry jobs. I don't, but Draco does me. You made Arthur Weasley your Senior Undersecretary and gave jobs to Bill, Charlie, Percy and Molly. You've even made the imperiused Minister under Voldie, the head of the DMLE. Robards, the Head Auror is doing two jobs. I don't approve of Draco marrying Astoria Greengrass. I saw that headline in the Daily Prophet.
All these Weasleys, any idea, Kingsley, why I am so anti-Weasley?"
"No idea, Harry." Kingsley had a very good idea, but wasn't telling Harry Potter. "I'll get that report to you, today." Kingsley had not wanted to do that. He could not afford to lose Lord Potter. If Harry realised the leverage he had, Kingsley's life would become very difficult.
Harry returned to 12 Grimmauld Place, where Kreacher and Winky, his two personal house-elves, welcomed him. Harry ordered Winky to retrieve the original report of his testing. He had the report Kingsley had got to him by the end of the working day. Harry did not think it was complete. Harry knew for a fact that the binding had been placed on him by Dumbledore, after Vernon had nearly killed him, just before his seventh birthday for a report card that was again far superior to Dudley's. The report Kingsley had given him did not contain that information. Harry had secured the information from both Dumbledore's portrait and his ghost via the Resurrection Stone.
Harry compared the two reports. The one Winky had brought back was longer and a lot more detailed. Harry could not believe that Kinglsey had flat out lied to him. Harry penned two letters. One to Kingsley telling him that he resigned and the second to the Daily Prophet advising all muggleborn still living in magical Britain to find somewhere else to live.
Harry sent off his two letters and then went to see Andi. She'd virtually taken over as the carer of Teddy Lupin. Harry was not pleased about being usurped. He had intended and did intend to be involved in raising young Teddy, as his Godfather. He would not be absent as Sirius Black had been for him. He had a rather strained relationship with Andi, as Andromeda Tonks liked to call herself. She'd lost her husband and daughter to the second wizarding war. She'd been left with a grandson that had been left to his godfather. She'd been kicked out of the Black family for marrying her husband and Harry as the current Lord Black had not let her back in. That caused some friction. Andi was Harry's proxy in the Wizengamot. Even after 7 years in the wizarding world, he did not really understand Wizarding government. In his defence, he had had rather a lot on his plate. He still did not understand why the Sorting Hat had wanted to put him in Slytherin in response to his desire to prove himself academically. Ambition was about achieving X, Y and Z. It had nothing to do with desire.
Andi said she'd achieved the return of the Potters to the Sacred 28. Harry had never understood how an anonymous pamphlet had lead to the removal of the Potters from that number in the first place. Harry's family had been replaced by the Malfoys. Perhaps they'd spread their gold around. It would not have surprised Harry.
Andi told Harry that the Sacred 28 families of Avery, Carrow, Flint, Travers and Yaxley had become extinct. Lestrange, Rosier and Rowle families were ruled by a Matriarch, with inheritance unknown. Harry hadn't a clue what that meant. He had enough seats himself. He owned the Potter, Gaunt, Black and Crouch seats. Apparently, Neville was in line to inherit the Rosier seat thanks to his grandmother being born a Rosier. Harry was pleased for Neville. Andi liked the traditional cut and thrust of Wizengamot politics. Harry cared about getting Muggleborns elected to the Wizengamot and being able to rise to the top positions in the Ministry. Andi kept failing to do that. Harry had resigned so he could take over his own seats. Harry smiled for the first time that evening. Harry was still undecided what he was going to do.
Settling in his bed in 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry thought he could do better were he to go back to when he first met Hagrid.
Sadly, for Harry, but Death was eavesdropping. "Go back in time and do better. Okay, my Master, I shall let you do that. Pity you did not specify 'and keep the knowledge I have now'. I see Dumbles is trying to tilt that game. That means I can give you some assistance, young Potter. Nothing magical, of course. Death was uncertain how Lady Magic would react to his interference. The Department of Mysteries could also detect his involvement.
Death did not like Dumbledore. Thanks to his stunners only policy, wizards and witches who should have died in the first wizarding war had lived and killed other wizards and witches who ought not to have died. Death's schedules had been truly messed up. Dumbledore's use of Snape to set up those wizards and witches who opposed his stupid policy further incensed Death. Dumbledore saw Harry as a pig raised for slaughter. Harry was on His List as reaching 200 years old before death. Dumbledore was seriously interfering with that listing. Death was extremely aggrieved. This Harry, the Harry now who was 18, would not see 100. He had bindings on him that should have been lifted at age 11, at the latest. Worse, he did not even realize that he had them on him. Death could give Harry the education that Harry should have had. Why, one might ask, would Death bother about one solitary individual in the vast sea of humanity that was fated to come Death's way? Death had a soft spot for Ignotus Peverell and his descendants. He'd enjoyed the way Ignotus Peverell hid under the cloak every time Death came a calling. He'd kept tabs on the family ever since.
Harry fell asleep in 12 Grimmauld Place in 1998, he awoke 1st August 1991 as Rubeus Hagrid broke down the door of the house Vernon Dursley had hired on an island in the lake district of northern England. Hagrid introduced himself and went on to give quite a bit of information. It all felt extremely familiar to Harry. Hagrid is 11 feet tall. That makes him far too big to use regular transport. He did, however have a flying motorcycle. Harry seemed to remember on flying this before. It was night time. They flew down to London. Posh folks would have said they were going up to London. Harry wasn't posh and could not understand why going south ie down would suddenly become 'up'.
After about 4 hours of flight, Hagrid landed the motorcycle fairly close to Gringotts. Harry did not appreciate sleeping in the sidecar. Hagrid slept standing up against a tree. On the flight down, Harry reviewed what had been said. Vernon had said they'd tried to beat the magic out of Harry. That did not sound safe to Harry and they had damned near killed him. Harry had ben too stubborn to give in. He'd carried on excelling in his class work.
Hagrid had said he'd taken him out of Godric's Hollow and taken him to Hogwarts on the evening of Halloween 1981. He, Dumbledore and McGonnagal had left him on the doorstep over 1st – 2nd November 1981 with a letter. Hagrid had yelled at Vernon for suggesting Dumbledore was a jerk. Hagrid said that Dumbledore was a great man. Harry kinda agreed with Vernon.
Hagrid said he was the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Why had he hand delivered letter number 24 inviting Harry to Hogwarts? Firstly, shouldn't a teacher have come? Secondly, why had no-one come after the first letter had failed to reach him? Thirdly, what did being a Legacy student mean? Why did a letter need to be sent to him, if he were already down to attend Hogwarts?
He had learned that his parents names had been James Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans. He'd never seen their Wills. He hadn't seen those of his Evans' grandparents, either. Dudley had an education bequest that would pay for Smeltings. Given how Petunia had accused he parents of favouring Lily over her, he likely had an even larger bequest. Strange, the Dursleys had never mentioned it. Where were his parents' belongings? They were his now.
By noon he had drawn 200 galleons from his Vault and managed to persuade Hagrid to leave the Key with him. He had bought all the items on his list. Harry had thought the trunk less than ideal. Anyone could break into it. Harry did not like that idea, at all. Hagrid had retuned to get something out of a Vault for Dumbledore. Harry wondered why Dumbledore did not retrieve the item himself. Sending Hagrid who only had half a wand and should not be casting spells. Harry had thought giving Dudley a tail mean and nasty. Whilst Hagrid attended to that task, he went to the Leaky Cauldron and booked a room for August. He had a good lunch and read a spellbook, looking for one to help Dudley. Finite Incantatem looked just the one and Harry practised the movements. Then he took his wand with him to find Hagrid. He arrived first and was able to persuade Hagrid to let him find his own way home., when the older man joined him.
Harry wandered towards the Ministry. He saw people entering and moving towards somewhere. He asked what was going on. Some helpful soul told him they were going to Courtroom 10 to watch the Wizengamot session. Harry wandered into the Chamber jus whiskered wizard in a bright purple dress/cloak banged a gavel and invited all those who had business before the Wizengamot to approach. Harry did. He felt a little like that Oliver Twist. Whom he had portrayed in the school play that year. Harry activated the wizarding recording device. He had bought that novelty item on a whim.
"I have come to claim my seat in the Wizengamot." There was general laughter.
"Who are you?" the whiskered wizard asked.
"Is there a clerk to this body?" Harry asked.
"I am the Keeper of the Laws, young Master," a rather old and slow looking wizard replied. Harry estimated him as 60 or 70.
"I am Harry James Potter. Do I have seats in this place, Keeper?"
The Keeper consulted his notes.
"You do, young Master. You hold the Potter seat by inheritance, the Gaunt seat by conquest and the Black seat by virtue of being its Heir."
"Who currently sits in the them?"
"A Daedulus Diggle holds the Potter seat by proxy, Emmeline Vance holds the Gaunt seat by proxy and Sturgis Podmore holds the Black seat by proxy."
"Who appointed these proxies, because I certainly did not?" Harry asked, bemused.
"That would be me, Harry. I appointed them. The Wizengamot appointed me your magical guardian on your parents' deaths."
"In the first place, you don't have the right to call me Harry. Never do so, again. Second, my parents were murdered. Third, my father would have specified my magical guardian and regent who would have nominated proxies. So, who the fuck are you?" Harry swore.
"I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."
"Ah, I get it. The man with four jobs. I doubt you do any of them well. You did just ask who I was. Well, I have never seen you, at least not after the night of the 1st November 1981 and I don't remember that. You left me with a letter on the doorstep of my magic hating muggle relatives who beat me, damned near killed me trying to beat the magic out of me. You could not even speak to them to explain things. No, you just left a letter.
I want my seats, now. I want the Wills of my parents read, now. I want an explanation as to why I just received 24 Hogwarts Invitation letters. Why did you eventually send Hagrid? Don't you have any real teachers at this so called school of yours?"
"So you mean to say, Lord Potter that you have never set eyes on the man who claimed he'd made your magical guardian?" a lady with a monocle in her right eye asked.
"That's right, Lady."
"The Wizengamot sealed the Wills of your parents."
"Sure they did, Dumbledork, just so you could get your hands on me. I'll bet you didn't even tell my dad that he was Lord or he'd have appointed a Regent, who wasn't you."
"Your clothes are not suitable for this place," Dumbledore began.
"They're hand me downs from my whale of a cousin. My relatives say new clothes are not for freaks like me. I was told by them that my parents were lazy unemployed drunks who died in a car crash. What do your clothes say about you? That you're some cross-dressing transvestite wannabe who likes terrorizing young boys." Harry had remembered the barbs Vernon liked to throw around.
Augusta Longbottom got in on the act. "The Lord Potter has filed a motion to take his seats in this place. I second the motion." The motion carried. Podmore, Vance and Diggle were lead away. Harry settled into his seats. Well, one of them anyway.
Once more, Augusta Longbottom rose and declared that she seconded a motion of Harry's to have the Wills of his parents read. The motion passed. The Wills were read. It turned out that Dumbledore was not the Executor. Sirius Black was the Executor and Harry's magical guardian. The Wills noted that Sirius Black was not the Potters Secret Keeper. Pandemonium broke out. Augusta Longbottom then moved that Albus Dumbledore be removed as Wizengamot choice as Harry's magical guardian. Amelia Bones seconded. That motion passed. Dumbledore's attempts to close the meeting resulted in Augusta Longbottom taking over as Acting Chief Warlock.
Sirius Black was brought to the Wizengamot. It turned out that Sirius Black was not a Death Eater. He was not the Secret Keeper. Pettigrew had survived by cutting off his own finger and then becoming a common brown rat. Sirius Black had not been arrested. Sirius Black was released from Azkaban and paid a significant amount in back wages. Cornelius Fudge resigned taking Dolores Jane Umbridge with him. Amos Diggory was elected acting Minister with Arthur Weasley as Senior Undersecretary.
Peter Pettigrew's Order of Merlin was then voted down. The Dark faction then made their move. The Order of Merlin, Lord Nott had said could only be awarded to British magicals for acts of heroism performed on magical British soil. Dumbledore's victory over Grindelwald had not taken place on magical British soil and, therefore, should not have been award the Order of Merlin. That was struck down. Next, they targeted his position as magical Britain's representative to the ICW. He lost that. They moved to strip him of the proxy seats he held voting rights for. That passed. In the space of 30 minutes, Dumbledore had lost his positions as Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock. He no longer had a seat on the Wizengamot. Amelia Bones ordered Dumbledore arrested for Line Theft. Dumbledore adopted the 'pose' and called for Fawkes. Fawkes appeared and flamed out, taking Dumbledore with him.
Lucius Malfoy noted with grim satisfaction that this time tomorrow the Board of Governors would have removed Dumbledore as Headmaster of Hogwarts. Then time changed. Dumbledore had used his time turner to remind Hagrid to take Harry home. Harry arrived back at 4 Privet Drive around 5pm. He found his recording device was still on. He turned it off. He'd play it back later.
As the Dursley's were still not back, Harry went into the attic, equipped with a torch. He found the trunk of his parents. His mothers had emergency supplies -a half dozen 11 sickle packs for use on the Knight Bus and £50. She included details of their solicitor in Godric's Hollow and four spells to use at the house there. A letter Harry read spoke of her wish for him to meet her parents.
His father included information about his parents and great uncle. More importantly, the spells he included were for the feather light charm and the spells to shrink the trunks and unshrink them. Harry cast spells on the trunk to make lightweight and shrink them. He took them down to his room and unshrank them.
The phone rang. Harry answered it. Vernon was on the other end. He told Harry that they would be back for breakfast, so Harry had better have it ready. Harry told him that he had a spell that should end Dudley's predicament. Vernon was non-committal.
Harry reviewed his recording device. It played a meeting in the Ministry of the Wizengamot. This meeting had not happened, as far as Harry remembered. He noted a few of the salient facts down. He didn't watch it all.
Harry decided that he would firebomb the houses of Dudley's Harry-Hunting gang. They'd kicked and punched him, breaking bones. If they were in with their families, Harry did not care if they all burnt to death. The Dursleys told everyone he would be off to St Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys come September. He'd take advantage of their lies. Harry was done being a victim. Earlier in the year, he had agonized over the morality of killing and had decided against making the attacks. Now, he was defending himself. He was preventing them from ever attacking him again. As far as Harry was concerned, they had tried to kill him; he was merely returning the favour. That night, wearing one of Dudley's anoraks, a pair of his gloves and carrying his Smeltings stick to break the front windows and 4 Molotov cocktails, Harry moved to attack.
Harry was soon back home putting Dudley's stuff away. Let him try talk his way out of that. It had not taken him long to complete his attacks. Harry felt elated, though indifferent to the results. It was not like he planned on staying around. He slept and awoke in time to prepare breakfast.
Harry got to try out his spell on Dudley. The Finite worked. Dudley no longer had a tail. Harry went up to his room, picked out two of the sickle packs and made the trunks lightweight and shrank them. He went outside and summoned the Knight Bus. The trip to Cokeworth was unpleasant. It was just as well that Harry had not had much to eat. He entered six solicitors before he found the right one.
"Mr Potter, do you accept the transfer of a £60000 education fund to your solicitors in Godric's Hollow?"
"Yes, I do," Harry said.
"Finally, we can close the file. Thank you, Mr Potter."
Harry left and was able to get to The Leaky Cauldron in time for breakfast. Harry apologised to Tom for having to sort out some affairs. Fortunately, people did that to Tom all the time. As long as he had their money, he did not mind, too much. Once in his rooms, Harry unshrunk the trunks. Harry wanted to exchange his trunk. He wanted a much better telescope. His cauldron was not of the highest quality. He did not the first thing about caring for owls. The owl got named Hedwig. Harry wanted to visit his house in Godric's Hollow and visit the family solicitors. He had to figure out what the recoding of events that had not happened meant. Harry assumed that muggleborn and muggle- raised got welcome packs. His should still be at Flourish and Blotts. Hagrid had warned him about going into Knockturn Alley. That meant he might find something there that would help him. Harry also needed decent clothes.
First things first. First Harry would pick up his introductory pack and then he'd go improve his trunk. So that is what he did. He entered Diagon Alley and made his way to F & B. He picked the Introductory Pack up: There were three items. The Hogwarts Charter; An Introduction to the Wizarding World and The Wizengamot Working for You. There was no charge. Harry liked that price.
At the trunk place. Twilfitt and Tattings was the name of the place, Harry was sure. Imagine his surprise when he found it full of top-of-the-line wizarding clothing. Wiseacre Wizarding Equipment was the place for trunks. Harry traded his in and purchased for an extra 50 galleons a 4-compartment trunk. One part was for his hanging clothes. Drawers were for socks and the like. There was a section for personal hygiene within his drawer section. There was a bookshelf or three for his books and places to store his essays, quills, parchment and ink. It came with feather light and could be shrunk when not expanded and unshrunk. It needed Harry's blood and a password entered before he could get into it. Harry's final trip of the morning was into Knockturn Alley and a book store in which he found a book on the Sacred 28 written in 1884 with a copy of the pamphlet removing the Potters from the Sacred 28. That set Harry back the rest of his galleons. 50 of them. He took his haul back to the Leaky Cauldron. When he came back down, Tom was ready for the lunch time rush. Tom had Harry cook. His regular chef was off. Harry loved cooking. He earned 5 galleons in tips for it. That was an unheard of amount. After Tom had eaten the meal, he understood just how good it was. He handed Harry his tips. Harry realised that he had not brought his stash from his cupboard. He'd have to go back.
Another trip on the Knight Bus. Harry quickly gained entry using a back door key he'd hidden in the garden. He gained access to the cupboard and retried his cache/stash. He closed up behind and left. He replaced the key in its hiding place. He did not see Petunia watching him leave. He got back to The Leaky Cauldron in time for tea. Back in his room he settled in for a few hours of making sense of everything.
A/N
If you are wondering, Death did the switch of the recording of the Wizengamot with Harry present and the one had bought before Hagrid took him back to 4 Privet Drive.
A note to remind myself of the central plot of this story
The memory changes whilst he'd been in the hands of the NID had been performed by a wizard named Howard N Bumfree who'd had a partner, who had not been identified. Bumfree had cast the Imperius on Charlie to cause him to blow his brains out. Harry knew that the NID Operations leader had been a Gerald D Maguire, a Captain who'd had a personal beef with O'Neill. There had been 9 members of the NID team, with two outside in the van and three wizards. Out of the twelve people present, Harry could only identify two. Obviously Jack and Charlie had been there as victims, but Harry did not know from what he'd seen whether Jack's wife Sara had been present. Her memory had been modified, but she'd clearly had an imperative to leave Jack. It was as though the NID had wanted Jack to be suicidal and alone for that mission he'd done with a nuclear warhead. That meant they already knew things about the 'Gate'; information that had not been shared with those unlocking its secrets before the mission.