Chapter 65, everybody! Had a good run with this fic last Sunday, we got updates through to the start of March! :D
So Mrs. Malfoy's lawyer is an OC based on my Mom's lawyer, whom I've only ever heard stories of but the general gist is he was a very good lawyer. Also apparently you can hold the button on the elevator and that makes it not stop on other floors.
Slytherinsal, thanks for the review! Me too. XD
Gardengirl6, thanks for the reviews! Yeah when you have a second wizard present it makes the railroading pretty obvious.
Missy96, thanks for the review! Yes, yay Snips! :D
Harry Potter © 1997 J.K. Rowling
They spent the following week working on the Patronus Charm—most everyone was able to manage a fine mist by the time Harry's hearing came round.
"Remember," Ron said as Harry set everything out for the next day. "'Think happy thoughts—really happy thoughts.'"
"You're hearing that in your sleep, aren't you," Harry asked.
"I am and I wish it'd stop," Ron admitted. Which, fair, Harry was too and it made the dreams of the hall and door really weird.
The next day saw Harry and the three accompanying adults (Mrs. Malfoy had insisted) apparating to the designated spot behind the Leaky Cauldron before entering with the intent to meet the promised retainer.
"Mrs. Malfoy, always good to see you," he said, bowing. "And then—Sirius Black, saw the news, sorry you didn't hire me," he said, shaking Sirius' hand. "And I'm going on a limb and saying you're a Weasley."
"Arthur Weasley, Misuse of Muggle Artefacts," Mr. Weasley said, shaking his hand.
"Ah right, one of those cases crossed my desk. And this'll be my client—Mr. Potter, read much about you."
"Okay?" Harry noised, unsure how you were supposed to react to that.
"Yes indeed—your case will be a marvelous feather in my cap. Probably the only one you'll need too; good grades and clean school record work in your favor."
"This is Harold Rodriguez," Mrs. Malfoy introduced. "My cousin will be pleased to know that I chose him as my retainer due to his track record and not his pedigree."
"Oh it's the big one," Sirius said, staggering against the bar.
"I accepted based on the nature of the case," Mr. Rodriguez said. "It's not often divorce happens in the wizarding world."
"No?" Harry asked, surprised.
That little bit of interest carried them to the Ministry, Mr. Rodriguez filling him in on a basic overview of wizarding law and where and how it diverged from Muggle law. "Don't tell Mrs. Malfoy, but I have studied Muggle law," he told Harry in an aside. "It's fascinating to see how the inclusion of magic affects everything." Which, honestly, Harry agreed with.
"You're going into your OWL year, correct?" he asked Harry as they took the elevator into the Ministry. "Ever give any thought into going into law?"
"Er…no," Harry admitted. "I haven't really given any thought into what I'm going to do after school yet."
Mr. Rodriguez nodded like this was expected. "Well if you do, come to my office, I'm sure we can take you on as an apprentice."
"Nice feather in your cap?" Harry couldn't help but ask. Mr. Rodriguez laughed, though, so it felt like he had avoided being sassy.
"I'm going to have to get to work soon, but I can escort you to Madame Bones' office and you can go over everything one last time in her waiting room," Mr. Weasley said—looked over, rather startled at Percy fighting his way through the crowd to them. "Percy, what—"
"The meeting," Percy gasped. "Tried to contact you—Fudge changed the meeting time."
"What!? To when?" Sirius demanded.
"Right now," Percy said.
That caused everyone to bolt after Percy, who also had the bad news that the meeting location had been changed as well. "They want him in the Wizengamot chambers—it looks like they want to do a full trial—"
"For an underage magic hearing?" Mr. Rodriguez asked, appalled.
"I don't know—I got Weatherby stalling—come on, hurry!"
"Cissy, that means now," Sirius said, tugging Mrs. Malfoy along.
"I don't run," she protested.
"I suggest you learn before you miss the whole thing."
They all crowded into another elevator and rocketed down, Percy holding the lever so it wouldn't stop at the other floors. Blind panic was starting to eat at Harry's thoughts—look up, decided to focus on the little paper airplanes flying over their heads.
"Inter-office memos," Mr. Weasley explained when he pointed them out. "We used to use owls, but that turned out to be very messy."
The elevator eventually stopped at a hall that made Harry want to send the elevator back up, not be dragged down it and past several halls with dingy blue lighting and black doors. Nor did he like being parked in front of a very imposing set of doors, fussed over one last time and barely given a chance to ready himself before Percy pushed the doors open.
"And—see?" Weatherby asked, indicating them as they filed in. "Now I find it strange that they got Mr. Weasley's owl and not yours, Minister."
"They didn't get mine either," Percy groused at Weatherby under his breath. "I had to meet them at the landing. Come on, we're in the way."
"Ah. Good luck, Mr. Potter."
Harry felt very much like he was going to need it—they were in a circular arena and sharing space with a chair he felt no compulsion to sit in, surrounded on all sides by high chairs with severe-looking witches and wizards in them. If the desired effect was to make him feel like a bug under a magnifying glass, it succeeded.
"Oh hey I remember this," Sirius said, kicking the chair as Mr. Weasley headed to sit by Percy—some of the chains on the chair rattled menacingly. "What is this, Fudge, scare them straight?"
"Mr. Black, your presence is not required," Fudge said, glaring.
"Seeing as how Mr. Black is Mr. Potter's legal guardian, his presence is required," Mr. Rodriguez said, already pulling a file out.
"And who are you?"
"Harold Rodriguez, esquire—I'm here to represent Mr. Potter during his hearing."
"And why does he need a lawyer?"
"I wondered that myself until I realized we started trying cases of underage magic in front of a full Wizengamot trial," Mr. Rodriguez said, looking around.
Fudge glowered. "And Mrs. Malfoy, your reason for being here?"
"I was in the area and witness to the events immediately after the Dementor attack," she said, causing several intakes of breath. "I know what the aftereffects of Dementor exposure looks like, and can assure you that Mr. Potter's use of the Patronus charm was justified."
"You cast a Patronus," a woman near Fudge asked, looking over her spectacles at Harry.
"Er, yes?" Harry noised, figuring he ought to answer.
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"I'm not sure what that is."
"Prongs," Sirius told Harry in an aside. "It's the difference between the mist and an actual thing."
"Oh. Then yes, I did."
The woman perked up, as did several others. "At your age? Can we see?"
"That is not the reason we're here," Fudge snapped—
"As I understand it, the reason we're here is because Mr. Potter cast a Patronus charm and did so outside of any wizarding habitation," Mr. Rodriguez said. "That is the charge. Would it not behoove you to check that he could cast the spell before wasting everyone's time further?"
"That—"
"Cornelius, stuff it," the woman that Harry was starting to really like said. "Mr. Potter."
Personally, the fresh memory of the minister being told to stuff it was a nice enough memory, and within moments there was a glowing white stag cantering around the room. Scattered applause sounded, quickly silenced by angry glares.
"Well there you have it," Mr. Rodriguez said when the stag finally faded. "Mr. Potter can indeed cast the spell, the charge of underage magic stands, now we can go into whether or not it was justified."
Fudge was starting to turn an interesting shade of purple Harry had often seen on Vernon, deepened as the door behind them opened again.
"Ah, I hope I didn't miss too much," Dumbledore said, coming in. "I thought I had arrived early, but I suppose that's what I get for thinking to have mastery over time."
"Dumbledore," Fudge said flatly.
"Ah," Mr. Rodriguez noised, apparently getting more puzzled by the proceedings the longer they went on. "Professor Dumbledore, not to be blunt, but why are you down here?"
"Oh, Cornelius thought to aid me in my quest for spare time by relieving me of my duties as Chief Warlock," Dumbledore told him. "Unfortunately, this backfired, as now I have even less time."
"Can we move on," Fudge ground out.
"Yes," the one woman said. "Mr. Potter, can you explain the events of the night in question?"
Harry had been coached in how to do this, no spending time building up, just that after a day with his friends they had been heading home for the evening, that he had wanted to walk his one friend Luna Lovegood home since she lived a bit farther and would have been walking by herself, and the four of them (himself, Luna, Ron and Draco, he clarified when prompted) had been beset upon by Dementors. Harry had been the one to summon the corporeal Patronus to drive them off, while Ron had been able to produce enough of a mist to keep them at bay and off the others.
There was a funny sort of cough when he finished, and some toad-looking woman with a little black bow leaned forward.
"Perhaps I misheard," she said, in a sickly-sweet voice that made Sirius growl beside him. "It sounded as though you said that Dementors were near three wizarding abodes."
"And near a Muggle village, yeah," Harry said.
"But now, my dear, that is simply impossible. The Dementors are in service to the Ministry—they wouldn't leave Azkaban."
"Unless prompted," Sirius pointed out, ignoring Mrs. Malfoy's pointed look. "I mean, you know there's someone out there who'd be happy to hire them."
"Oh not this nonsense again!" Fudge exclaimed. "You-Know-Who is not back!"
"Actually I was pointing out that the Ministry was just as culpable. Careful, Fudge—saying that it wasn't Moldy-Voldy is saying that someone at the Ministry did it instead."
Fudge stood angrily. "I will not have this nonsense—"
"Then why did you make it nonsense to begin with?" the one woman demanded. "This should have been a hearing between myself, Mr. Potter and his legal guardian!"
"Madame Bones, that's quite enough."
"No it isn't, there's no grounds for all this."
"Mr. Potter has a tendency to show disregard for the rules, in times past," the toad-woman said. "Not to mention the rumors."
"You mean the ministry-sponsored tripe from the Prophet?" Sirius asked.
"Sirius, calm down," Mrs. Malfoy hissed at him.
"You're out of order, Black!" Fudge said, pointing the gavel at him.
"Point of order," Mr. Rodriguez said, flipping through his file. "I've looked through Mr. Potter's school files—aside from a couple of detentions he seems to be a model student." He looked at Dumbledore for clarification.
"I nor any of the other members of the staff have had any concerns or complaints regarding Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, temporarily throwing Harry—had he ever referred to him by last name? "I believe the last complaint was by our caretaker, Mr. Filch, regarding tracking snow in during the winter, but that is a common complaint as door mats can only catch so much."
"What about the Triwizard Tournament?" Fudge asked.
"That I didn't enter," Harry said.
"And—point of order," Weatherby said, standing. "And which, once entered against his will, he happily forfeited his position in once we were able to find a legal out for him."
"Because he realized what was being expected of him—" Fudge started.
"As I recall, Mr. Potter was quite adamant from the beginning that he had been entered into the Tournament against his will," Dumbledore said. "Granted, I am an old man and my memory isn't what it used to be, but I'm certain there are others who would verify that."
"Yeah, me, Remus, Percy," Sirius listed.
"Blowing up his aunt?" Fudge said.
"As I recall, you were happy to wave that off as an accident," Dumbledore said.
"Talking to snakes."
"As it turns out Animagi and Quick-Quotes Quills can understand them too," Harry said. "So it's not as special as you think it is."
Fudge looked like he was winding up for something else—was cut off by Madame Bones. "Okay that's enough," she announced, tugging her glasses off and looking at Harry. "Mr. Potter, seeing as how your use of magic was self-defense, it was justified and therefore nothing to charge you with. Your case is dismissed, we need to move on to the issue of Dementors where they're not supposed to be."
"You can't just dismiss a case when the rest of the Wizengamot is here," Fudge protested.
"Fine. All those in favor of dismissing the charges against Mr. Potter?" The majority raised their hands. "All opposed?" A few raised their hands. "There. The Wizengamot finds Mr. Potter not guilty, case dismissed."
"I knew there was a reason I liked her in school," Sirius mused.
They dispersed quickly after that, Dumbledore citing other business that needed attending to and Percy and Mr. Weasley having to get back to work—the rest of them had no desire to linger after that.
"I sat in that chair before," Sirius said as they headed for the elevators. "Trust me, you were smart to keep standing."
"At least Madame Bones had the sense to put a stop to all that," Mr. Weasley said, looking over his shoulder. "A full trial for something that simple!"
"And we gave them something else to chew on, there's that."
"You laugh, but Umbridge looked like she was ready to start chewing on you."
"Who?" Harry asked.
"The toad-lady," Sirius told him. "She's terrible about anyone she doesn't deem a pure-blooded wizard—makes Cissy here look like an amateur."
Mrs. Malfoy looked like she was about to comment—stiffened upon spotting something else, making Harry follow her line of sight—grimaced himself when he saw Mr. Malfoy over talking to Fudge.
Mr. Malfoy saw them as well, stayed where he was when Fudge left—they really had to go by him to get to the elevators—Harry bracing himself for something as they neared—
Mr. Rodriguez inserted himself between the Malfoys before anything could be said.
"I'm sorry, but as per the previous meeting, you are not to speak to or otherwise contact Mrs. Malfoy without both myself and your own lawyer present," Mr. Rodriguez told him. "You understand the scandal that would result otherwise."
They were in the elevator before anything else could happen, Mrs. Malfoy sagging against the wall as they went up.
"Are you all right?" Mr. Weasley asked her.
She nodded, eyes closed. "Still angry."
"Well," Mr. Rodriguez said after an awkwardly silent ride up. "I must say, Mr. Potter, this certainly ended up being the event to go with the name."
"Er, what?" Harry asked.
"What I mean is, when I heard it was you I was intrigued, but the event attached was a simple underage magic charge. I wasn't expecting today to go quite like it did."
"Neither did I—it just keeps happening."
"Oh?" Mr. Rodriguez said—handed him a card. "Well, if anything like this happens again, you just send me an owl. Mrs. Malfoy, since I have you in London, would you care to come to my office and knock out a few particulars?"
"That would be fine," she said, following the lawyer through the crowd.
"Uh—hey wait—thanks!" Harry called after them. "Both of you."
Mrs. Malfoy looked a little startled, but Mr. Rodriguez smiled and waved before they were both lost in the crowd.
"So that was a surprisingly decent fellow," Mr. Weasley said.
"Until we get his bill," Sirius decided.