I certainly have no rights to Harry Potter, but this won't stop me writing this story. However, you probably already know this. As it is my specialty, and as in my other big stories, this shows how things go if something went different right at the beginning. Please note that I'm not a fan of bashing and also don't expect the two main pairings to differ from canon. However, the path to them certainly will be quite different. I also want to try and subvert certain plots and things that became common in the fandom over the years.
I do my normal rythm of publishing every second Saturday, until the fifth story year is complete. Then the story will go on hiatus again to give me time to write ahead so I can have a publishing schedule.
I'll try to answer all my reviews, since I do like the feedback for improvement. So please tell me your thoughts on the story in reviews. I would appreciate it. The more feedback I get, the more I can improve the story even further.
This story does have a TvTropes page. You can find the link in my bio. Feel free to visit and contribute to it.
Chapter 54: Trouble in Little Whinging
After almost three weeks of gathering information, Rita Skeeter was back in Umbridge's office, ready to show what she had found out and to get her reward for her hard work. She had compiled all of her findings into one binder she had put onto the desk, now waiting how Umbridge would react. She had prepared for possible problems as well, should things go sideways.
"So this binder contains everything you have found out?" Umbridge asked while looking at the thick binder that Skeeter had put onto her table.
"Yes, everything I managed to find out. It's quite a bit and shows how Black's life choices don't make him fit for a leading role in our society," Skeeter replied.
She didn't mention that of course she had not put Black under constant observation. She had tried to make her work easier so she only had to be present when she felt things would get interesting. That way she had observed Black being forced to sleep on the downstairs couch for several nights after what she imagined to be a serious marital spat.
Black had also frequently apparated away to parts unknown from his back yard, but no way she would have tried to ride along. That could have ended very badly for her, since secret side-along apparation, especially for a transformed animagus, could end very messy. Still, what she had found out was enough to satisfy her employer.
Ironically, she had never found out Harry Potter was living in the same neighborhood, because Sirius and Harry always met at another place - the very place Sirius was apparating to. She also had been so focused on Black, she had missed Dudley living right next door, though it helped that he was not in the house for most of the day. Three weeks and not once had she made the connection. For someone who prided herself for her observational skills, she was at times quite blind.
"Before I can open that, you surely want to be paid, don't you?" Umbridge asked.
"Yes. Money first or you won't take a look inside. You just have to trust me that what is in there is worth your money. Try to do so anyway and it will burst into flames." Skeeter knew from experience and had put an enchantment on the binder only she knew how to break.
"Smart of you. Anything else I need to know?" Umbridge asked while seemingly looking for the money in a drawer of her desk.
"Perhaps, but of course you understand if I stay silent about that." Skeeter was no idiot was saw that Umbridge was probing to find out about her other precaution.
"Oh, I do understand." She then looked up for a moment. "I see you are not touching the tea I'm offering you."
Skeeter barely held back a sigh. "You'll understand that I have certain doubts about certain kinds of tea."
Umbridge understood that was code for Skeeter guessing the tea was drugged. "A pity, but you have to do what you feel is right." Finally Umbridge had found what she was looking for.
All of a sudden Skeeter felt like she was glued to her seat and then she lost all feeling beneath her neck. "What... what is this?!"
"Oh, don't worry." Umbridge pulled up her hand to show a stone with a rune engraved into it. "I activated my small insurance to make sure you won't run away. After all, we do have things to discuss. Oh, and there indeed was nothing in the tea."
"Aha, so that's how you want to play it! Good luck, I won't tell you anything and as soon as you are forced to let me go, I'll destroy you!"
"Brave words... tsk tsk, did you honestly think I would be unprepared?" Umbridge then unlocked the office door and a man entered. "May I introduceto you Mr. Albert Stone? He works for the Obliviators."
Skeeter understood what Umbridge wanted to do. "Hah, making me forget about ever meeting you won't help you! You still will be unable to read the binder and should I not give a specific signal, several other people will automatically reveal things about you that are highly embarrassing."
"That's something I expected as well. Of course you would gather information about me. After all, I did the same on you. Now, it never hurts to be prepared." Umbridge then took a small bottle out of her drawer. "There are ways to make you spill the information I need."
"Veritaserum? How did you get that?!" Now Skeeter had an idea where this was going and she started to panic.
"Did you forget who I am? How bad for you. Now, you will take a nice drink and then reveal all I want to know. Once that is done Mr. Stone will relieve you of all those burdensome memories concerning ever meeting me or what you have done for me. He'll do the same with your... ahem 'friends' and destroy the evidence for me," Umbridge told her sweetly, like a grandmother talking to a young child.
Panicked, Skeeter looked to the Obliviator. "And you go along with it?! How do you know you aren't next next on her list?!"
Mr. Stone chuckled dryly. "I made an Unbreakable Vow to Madam Umbridge. Granted, it's inconvenient at times, but it also gives me an incredible job security."
"You should have been more mistrustful my dear. But don't worry, you won't be homeless. After all, proof of you misusing your highly illegal Animagus ability for years to spy on people will come to light. Azkaban always is eager for more inhabitants," Umbridge told her with false reassurance.
Skeeter knew there was no way she could escape her fate. "I hope whatever hell you end up in is especially painful!" she snarled in impotent anger.
It was to no avail. Shortly later the potion had been forced down her throat and she had spilled all the facts Umbridge needed to know. Mr. Stone then actually outright removed the memories from her head and discarded them before obliviating the knowledge that there had been something in the first place. After stunning her, he dumped her outside before giving the evidence about her to law enforcement.
While Mr. Stone was busy with getting rid of the evidence against Umbridge - and the holders remembering ever having it - Umbridge was looking through the binder after having defused it.
Very interesting insights into the private life of such a disgrace. It would be really bad if that becomes public knowledge. Yes, very bad, she thought in dark amusement.
She would create her plan carefully before she would pull the strings.
In the meantime she was assured of another fact: namely that Dumbledore would not be able to again fill the position of Defense professor without the input of the Ministry. It got the bureaucratic name 'Educational Decree 22' and had been enacted without the normal process - she had convinced Fudge of the need to use that right of the Minister.
Essentially, that decree stated that the Ministry had the first right to fill that position - something they would soon do. It spat into the face of the autonomy of Hogwarts from the Ministry, but Umbridge felt that was a good thing, since she felt it was about time for change in that matter. In her mind, control over Hogwarts had to be regained, feeling that the school was getting away with too much.
However, first she would have to go forward with her plans for Black. He needed to be cut down to size as soon as possible.
...at the same time, Little Whinging...
"Both of you seem to never run out of energy. I honestly at first didn't believe you when you said you do a five kilometer jog before I even arrive. On the other hand, I should have known better considering I know of your jogs around the castle," Daphne remarked while they walked through the streets of Little Whinging.
"No idea why that surprises you. Though I distinctly remember you trying yourself at sports in the past, only to quickly stop doing so," Millicent remembered.
"I didn't know that. What happened?" Dudley asked, having thought Daphne always had disliked doing sports beyond basic things.
"Millie, don't you dare!" Daphne warned her friend, but it was too late.
"She once tried herself at jogging, but she came home looking like death warmed over and then barfed onto the carpet. Her parents then suggested to her she should perhaps try something easy like casual tennis," Millicent told Dudley.
"Thanks... I should have never told you," Daphne grumbled.
Today Astoria was not present, and she would not be for some time, her parents having grounded her after she had done something stupid that Gabrielle had suggested to her in a letter. The poor Greengrass house-elf had dissolved into tears when seeing the condition of his kitchen and Astoria got grounded for two weeks. Mrs. Greengrass had also written to the Delacours, asking them to make it clear to Gabrielle to no longer give Astoria such hare-brained ideas.
Them spending as much time as they did with Dudley had helped to lessen the impact of the ice age between him and Vernon. Dudley spent most of the day outside of the house and thus doing so had mostly saved his summer from sucking completely. Of course he knew he was only delaying the inevitable, but there was no need to torment himself.
"Yeah, get him!"
"No way out now!"
"Oh crap, it's them," Dudley warned when hearing voices from the play park they were walking by.
Those were voices Dudley was all too familiar with, even though he had no more personal dealings with them. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm and Gordon had all taken a nasty turn in recent years. While the members of his former gang had lost him as their leader, Piers as the smartest of them had taken over and they had become a regular sight in Little Whinging during summers - for the wrong reasons.
In past years he had only heard rumors about them, considering he normally stayed away from where they hung out. This year however their behavior had worsened considerably, turning them into outright juvenile delinquents, who were vandalizing the play park, smoking on street corners and throwing rocks at passing cars and children. Neighborhood children had become afraid of them. He knew, if that continued they would soon land in serious trouble.
"I know we never met them, but after what you told us about them, I'm not eager for that to happen," Daphne said, having no wish to run into those hooligans. She after all got her share of having to live with such people at Hogwarts; no need to meet even more such people.
"Yes, but whatever they are doing doesn't sound good," Millicent said, listening to screams.
Dudley remembered hurting Harry during primary school, and his former 'friends' were now older and most certainly capable of more. "I honestly can't let them rough up a kid..." Dudley knew Piers and his gang were in the habit of threatening younger children in their neighborhood, but by the sound of it they were now going further.
"Yeah, hold him Dennis!"
"Aooough!"
"Yeah, take that, Evans!"
"Evans?" He only knew of one Evans in their neighborhood. "Shit, that's bad! Come quick!"
Running into the play park, they were confronted with a disgusting sight. Dennis and Gordon were holding Mark Evans while Piers was hitting him with his fist. Malcolm stood next to it and laughed the whole time, feeling sick amusement at Mark's pain. Those four, if anything, had become very nasty with age, but Dudley was not remotely afraid of them - not after the other crap he had went through at Hogwarts.
"You better let him go now, before you regret it!" Dudley snarled, knowing this was calling for being forceful.
"Dursley? Ha, piss off! You can't tell us what to do, you loser. Look at you, hanging out with girls," Piers laughed as if having read a particularly funny joke. His cronies laughed as well.
Millicent snorted when hearing that. "That's rich coming from you four jerks. I bet your wieners are shriveling up from disuse because no girl would be willing to give you that kind of attention."
"You damn Neanderthal bitch..." The boys didn't look amused at the insult and Malcolm had voiced their anger.
"For the last time, let him go. NOW!" Dudley growled.
Piers gave Dudley a dark look. "Why should we do that? You want to force us?"
"You guys clearly are not the sharpest tools in the shed," Daphne snorted, being highly unimpressed. "My friends are both big, strong and are practicing boxing. They know dozens of ways how to use their bare hands to... calm you down"
That made the boys shut up. Piers and Malcolm were neither bulky nor extra strong, relying on Dennis and Gordon for the dirty work. They realized Dudley and Millicent looked very capable of beating up all four of them without too much of a hassle. They particularly were not keen on being beaten up by a girl. They finally became aware of the seriousness of their situation.
Letting go of Mark, the bullies showed that at heart they were cowards and ran away.
"Pussies. All bark, but as soon as it gets serious they run away," Millicent spat when seeing the bullies run away.
"Ouch... I was minding my own business when they cornered me..." Mark groaned while Dudley helped him up. "Ah, the wizard that lives next to the Blacks." He then noticed Millicent and Daphne. "Eh..."
Dudley knew Mark of course knew of him, but clearly not enough. "Don't worry, they are both witches and go to Hogwarts."
"Yes, and we both come from purely magical families," Daphne added.
"You honestly don't look like it..." Mark said, though considering Harry's friends he did know better.
"What, you thought we would look like the witches in that storybook that Dudley showed us for kicks?" Millicent asked, remembering the laughs they had gotten from it. It was most likely coming from hags in older times.
Mark blushed a little. "It sounds stupid now that you spelled it out... Ow!" Mark felt the effect of the bruises now catch up with him.
"Eh, maybe it's better we get you home," Dudley suggested.
Mark grimaced, but knew there was no way around it. "I think that's better. Boy, Mum and Dad will be quite mad at them once they hear what happened."
The whole encounter had reminded Dudley of the fact that had he not been in that incident with the dementor, he most likely would have been part of that very gang, doing all those nasty things. It was an unpleasant reminded of the trajectory his life had been on before that point. He most likely would have become a horrible bully and delinquent.
Daphne and Millicent could see his inner distress, but stayed silent when he shook his head. he did not want to talk about it for the moment. They hoped he would open up about it later.
...July 19th...
Umbridge felt she had made a good plan to deal with the Black problem in a perfect way. What she was planning was something that others would call outright insane, but she felt you had to use every resource that was at your disposal. She honestly did not care about things like legality, since the rules could always be changed after the fact to make it legal.
She knew that Black was capable of defending himself, so there was a good chance that he would come out of this alive. Well, if he didn't, then the problem had solved itself right away, but if he did, then the next phase of her plan would come into effect. Getting Black to have a stay in Azkaban after all could result in a regretful accident.
It had not been too complicated to get what she needed after that idiot Fudge pretty much had given her carte blanche to do as she pleased as long as it would help him.
The way he's trusting me is downright bizarre. Not a single doubt. Not that I'm complaining, Umbridge thought in amusement.
Of course she already had prepared for the event of Black's survival, so that everything would be set into motion to pin it onto him. She of course would first go to Fudge and innocently suggest that a situation like that should not go to waste. Black after all was a known ally to Dumbledore, and Fudge had become obsessed with the idea that Dumbledore was after his position.
Honestly, she herself felt Fudge was being stupid about it. Why should Dumbledore want the position of Minister when he could be far more powerful by being the one standing behind the throne? Malfoy after all had seen the wisdom in that and Dumbledore was no idiot, despite his foolish standpoints. While Dumbledore was her enemy as well, it was for different reasons.
Thus, dealing with Black now would weaken Dumbledore - two birds with one stone.
o
As it had become the norm for Dudley, he only came home very late in the afternoon, which more was like early evening. The tactic had worked well so far, allowing his mother to set the covered dish in his room - she held the only spare key - and he would go there right away to avoid his father. Strangely, Vernon up to now had not said a single word about his behavior. That was strange, and since Vernon normally didn't do 'strange', it was concerning.
Walking down Privet Drive, Dudley stopped when looking to the Black home. The garage door was open and he saw Mr. Black taking care of his motorcycle - nothing unusual since he made no secret of how proud he was of his self-built motorcycle. The surprise was seeing Harry being present, helping his godfather with the task.
Dudley walked up the driveway. "Hey, Harry. Kind of weird to see you here, doing motorcycle maintenance."
Harry looked up when hearing his cousin. "Oh, hello Big D. I know it looks strange. It just happened; I needed to talk with Sirius, one thing led to another, and here we are now. To be honest, I had no idea how interesting doing this actually is."
That was actually the truth, even if Harry left out a lot of details.
Harry actually had stayed at the house after returning from his Occlumency lessons with Sirius and Remus at the Order headquarters. It had been decided after the revelations - and the long discussion after it - that while the Six were too young to yet take an active role in the Order, they needed to be prepared for when things would get so hot there was little choice but for them to become involved.
One of the things that were deemed a must was a better safety of their minds. Sirius was not an ideal teacher for Occlumency, but with the addition of Remus, the two of them were able to teach the Six this art of securing their minds. Granted, Ron and Ginny at times complained it was a bit boring, but all of them had come to appreciate the ways they had to find their inner center for those lessons, as it helped them in processing the events surrounding Voldemort and how those had impacted them.
It was like a peaceful meditation which helped, together with their families having an open ear for their fears, to slowly accept what had happened and move on, though a burden would remain. Also, the training would surely take more time, since when Dumbledore had tested them with his Legilimency last week, all of them had failed after several moments - Hermione having held out the longest.
Of course they were also doing other training, but not as much of that. The Headmaster had said that they would do so at the school to supplement the things that Snape would teach them. It honestly sounded interesting. What kind of magic would Dumbledore teach them?
"To be honest, I had not taken you for the mechanic type," Dudley commented when seeing grease strains on Harry's work shirt and the various tools on the floor.
"Surprised me as well, but I really like it. Uncle Sirius offered to show me more at a later time." Harry looked quite excited, clearly having not expected to enjoy himself like that.
"And I'll keep my promise," Sirius said while cleaning his hands with a rag. "Makes me wonder if you have a talent for it like Diane's father. He can discern many details of a motorcycle by just hearing its engine running."
"You know, I kind of envy you that you have such a cool relative like your godfather," Dudley said, then looked to his house, where he spotted the car in the driveway. "-sigh- Looks like Dad is already home. When Mum told me at the morning he is taking some days off and driving away, I had hoped it would mean him staying somewhere else."
"He already was back when we returned." Sirius know from Harry that things had gone south big time at the Dursleys - which was easy to guess however after he'd had to deal with Vernon's venom multiple times over the past months.
"Try to stay strong, Big D. Should things go south too far, we'll be there for you," Harry promised.
"Let's hope it won't come to that." While walking to his house, Dudley observed how empty the street felt. All of their nearby neighbors were on vacation for the summer and Privet Drive felt kind of eerie without their activity.
Let's rip off the band-aid. Maybe I can manage to slip upstairs without him noticing, Dudley thought while unlocking the front door.
Right off the bat Dudley knew something was very wrong when he saw suitcases stand next to the door. Granted, it could have been Vernon's suitcases, but that hope was slim at best. The feeling became way worse when he saw his mother appear from the kitchen, looking highly stressed. When seeing him, she was about to say something, but she never got the chance.
"Ah, there you are, boy!" Vernon boomed, his face holding an expression of sadistic malice when he appeared from the kitchen. "Better show good manners now!"
Then, to Dudley's horror, Aunt Marge appeared from the kitchen - looking older and even fatter than he remembered her. Granted, Ripper was not present, as he had heard from his mother that Marge had given him into the care of Colonel Fubster after the dog had become too old even for Marge to care for him properly, but that was little consolation. It looked like Vernon had simply invited Marge to stay with them without bothering to tell any of them and he seemed to enjoy each moment of it. It showed how far things had fallen apart.
Marge for her part looked delighted when spotting Dudley. "It has been WAY too long. Just look what a fine young man you have become. Though not as properly sized as your father, although that can change. Let me take a closer look!"
Dudley was horrified when seeing Marge approach. Vernon must have done that to make him miserable. Dudley was up and about to simply flee the house and take up Millicent on her family's offer, consequences be damned, when all of a sudden things changed dramatically.
All of them suddenly stopped whatever they were doing. It felt like all warmth had left, leaving nothing but biting coldness. Their surroundings seemed to have lost most of their color, looking bleak and depressing. When also noticing the growing feeling of how he was losing all happiness, Dudley realized in horror when the last time was he had felt like that.
"No..." he gasped, feeling this was a nightmare returning.
Outside on the street meanwhile, the change also had not gone unnoticed.
"Uncle Sirius!" Harry gasped when experiencing something he'd hoped he would never feel again.
"Get your wand out, Harry! Now!" Sirius warned Harry, dropping everything he held to take a hold of his own wand. It was not only them, Diane and the children were in the house and gods only knew how much they were suffering from this. "What the hell are they doing here?!"
"There!" Harry called while trying to fight the nasty feelings creeping up within him. He thanked all goodness that after what happened on the way home the adults had insisted on him always having his wand on his person.
Indeed, further down the street two dementors appeared, silently hovering towards them. These two monsters seemed to put all their attention onto them, which only made the whole thing more horrifying. An unnatural fog was surrounding the two monsters, causing the temperature to drop. They had no idea what was under the hood of a dementor, but there was no doubt they were looking directly at them in some way.
"Harry, your Patronus, now!" Sirius wasted little time doing so himself. After the last scare years ago, he had trained a lot and using the feelings of fulfillment that thoughts about his family were giving him, he was able to conjure a silvery dog with ease.
The dog was joined moments later by Harry's fox. The dementors stopped for a moment, looking unsure how to deal with this sudden obstacle, before deciding to advance further anyway. An error from their side, as seeing this Sirius and Harry right away commanded their protectors to attack these dark creatures.
"Oh, uh! Let's hope that is enough to make them leave!" Harry said, knowing that otherwise things would look bad.
"Don't say such things!" Sirius then watched his Patronus rip off part of one dementor's cloak, though what became visible made him wish that hadn't happened.
Sirius knew two Patronus alone would not be able to destroy these dementors. It would take several more to do so. Problem was, even though he could see Harry's guards approach to help, it was doubtful they knew the spell and thus would be impotent to truly help with this. They just had to ground their teeth together and hope it would be enough.
Finally, after long moments where the dementors got further damaged, it looked like these monsters decided to cut their losses. Their cloaks already smoking from the attacks, the dementors turned around and then fled, flying away at high speeds. With them gone, things thankfully returned to normal, the outer and inner warmth returning.
"How... why...?" Harry was trying to understand what had happened, not daring to dismiss his Patronus just yet.
Despite the Patronus to protect him, the influence of the dementors had still partially hit him. To Harry's horror it had forced him to re-live the recent confrontation with Voldemort. That this was what the terrible powers of a dementor - digging out the worst memories - did to him spoke volumes how terrifying Voldemort truly was.
Sirius also felt like he'd been put through the wringer, the dark memories of the death of Harry's parents having tormented him. He had never forgiven himself for his stupidity which had resulted in their deaths. "That... is a good question... You better tell your friends of what happened."
"I really don't want to imagine how they will react..." Harry knew that would be long letters, considering the danger he just had been in must have bled over to them due to their link.
Sirius was about to check on his family, when all of a sudden screaming and loud noise erupted from the Dursley home.
"YOU! YOU DID THIS! I KNOW IT!" Vernon screamed, looking like a raging bull.
Petunia and Dudley both looked horrified by the sight. Both of them had suffered terribly under the influence of the dementors - Dudley having been forced to re-live the terror of the basilisk while Petunia had been bombarded with the consequences of her bad life choices - but it had different effects on Vernon and Marge.
Marge must have seen something truly horrible - or at least horrible to her - because she had suffered some sort of attack, collapsing with a gasp. Vernon on the other hand had first suffered from terror as normal, but he had snapped as soon as the dementor influence was cut. It was like whatever he had seen had made him decide to drop all and any restraint.
Vernon then finally noticed Marge on the floor, and if anything it only made him more angry. "Marge... My sister! You brought all of the freakishness into the house! You did this to her! I should have thrown you out as soon as I knew!"
"Vernon, stop this!" Petunia knew something would have happened sooner or later anyway, but this didn't make it any less horrible for her.
"And you! You actually convinced me to let him stay! Look at the result!" Vernon screamed at her.
"Don't you dare..." It then happened all of a sudden. Vernon grabbed Petunia and threw her hard to the floor. -crac- "Ahhh!" Petunia's pained scream was accompanied by the sickening sound of bones breaking.
"Mum!" Dudley gasped in terror.
Vernon gave Dudley a look of utter disgust. "She can't help you now, boy! Today is the day were you went too far..."
Dudley didn't wait for him to finish and dashed out of the front door, knowing he was faster than his father, who was slowed down by his bulk. Seeing Sirius and Harry still being there, he sprinted towards them. "Help! He snapped, he snapped! He hurt Mum!"
"Oh fuck me..." Sirius cursed when seeing the raging Vernon appear from the front door.
He honestly had expected this to happen sooner or later, but the sight nonetheless was scary. He didn't even want to imagine how hurt Petunia was when seeing the sheer rage Vernon was radiating. One thing was sure, he couldn't just stun him, since him attacking someone non-magical with his magic was something certain people in these times would only wait for to happen. However, as a trained officer of the law he had other means to deal with the man.
He gave a quick look to the Order members who looked ready to interfere, making it clear to stay out of it, since them throwing around spells would only end with making things worse in the long run. He then put his entire attention on the angry Vernon, knowing this was bound to get ugly.
"Not one step further, Dursley, or you are going to regret it," Sirius warned, standing protectively between the raging man and the teenagers.
"Don't think you can scare me with your stick!" Vernon barked loudly, the sight of Harry's glowing fox only helping to get him more angry.
"I don't need my 'stick' to deal with someone like you. Think carefully before you attack an officer of the law, regardless that I'm currently not on duty," Sirius warned him. As expected however, Vernon did attack him anyway.
All right, you've asked for it! Sirius thought, evading a sloppy uppercut before starting to strike back with a hard gut punch.
"Crap, Dudley..." Harry saw how badly his cousin was trembling in terror and how pale he was - not from the dementor attack but because of his father. "What happened?!"
"Dad... he... he snapped. He... he had Aunt Marge over for a surprise visit to torment us. Then... Harry, one of those monsters was here...?" Dudley was a wreck right at the moment, barely taking notice of his father getting it from Sirius.
Harry grimaced at the reminder. "Two of them. We got rid of them, but then the screaming started in your house."
"It was horrible... Aunt Marge suffered some sort of attack and Dad snapped. He accused me of having done that... When Mum tried to stop him, he threw her to the floor... God, Harry, I heard her bones break!" Dudley had to fight the instinct to run back to his mother to see how bad it was.
"Oooww!" That was Vernon. Looking, both boys saw Vernon Dusley getting knocked out by Sirius, falling to the grass with a loud thud. Sirius sported some bruises as well, but his training had helped to get the upper hand on the elder Dursley.
"This whole situation is turning into a massive clusterfuck..." Sirius cursed, then saw the front door open.
Diane looked like death warmed over when walking out of the door, clearly she had seen something nasty under the dementor influence. "Sirius, what was that? I barely managed to get the children to calm down after it was over. I did... oh my goodness!"
She had seen the pale Dudley and the knocked-out Vernon. Sirius looked grim at what had happened. "Diane, call the station... Also call the hospital." Sirius then looked to Dudley. "Check on your mother... eh, and also your aunt."
This was turning out to be a bad day.
...a little later...
Thankfully, the whole situation now was much more under control.
Police and ambulances had arrived quickly and professionals had taken over the situation. After a serious case of assault on his wife as well as assaulting an - though off-duty - police officer and trying to do harm to his own son, Vernon Dursley was arrested. He had actually woken up partway through the procedure and put up considerable resistance, until one bobby had shown him his billy club and said he was not afraid to use it.
It was only when seeing how the bobby was working hard on staying professional that Vernon realized that attacking one of their own in the heat of his anger perhaps had not been a smart idea. Vernon thus found himself in a situation he thought he never would be - put under arrest by the police with serious charges against him, having a good chance to become one of the very people - a convict - which he had despised for most of his life.
It was the ambulances that held a more somber story. The first ambulance had already left with the still unresponsive Marge. From what the paramedics found out while stabilizing her, she seemed to have suffered a serious stroke, which they felt was little wonder considering how morbidly obese the woman was. There was a good chance she would have to be moved into a care facility after treatment.
Dudley was present while the paramedics were preparing to move his mother into the other ambulance. According to the paramedics, being thrown to the floor that harshly had resulted in multiple broken bones as well as serious bruising. From what he had heard, it could take months for all of that to heal properly.
"Mum... I had no idea Dad could be set off like that," Dudley told his mother while she was being wheeled to the ambulance.
"No, it's not your fault... I knew a nasty scene was bound to happen, but no one could have foreseen him to become this violent." Petunia still partially was in shock, trying to accept what had happened.
"I wish I could ride with you," Dudley said while watching her being loaded into the ambulance.
"Me as well. However, as long as you come to the hospital to visit me, it's enough. I only hope a good solution for you is found while I'm away." They then were separated when the doors were closed.
Watching the ambulance leave, Dudley still was trying to understand how his life had been turned on its head. Thing was, he had no idea what to do now. He after all hardly could make a decision while both of his parents were indisposed. Also, despite the emotional wringer he'd gone through, he was also already worrying about the future.
"Dudley?" Harry had walked over to him. "How are you feeling?"
"Horrible, to say the least. I honestly have no idea what to do for the moment, nor where to stay. I now can hardly take up Millicent on her offer to stay with her family after it's all official." If anything, Dudley right now looked quite lost.
Harry grimaced at the reminder. As far as Dudley had told him, his grandparents were all dead and he knew Dudley was relieved that thanks to Marge being out of the picture, she also would not be a factor. That only left relatives more distantly related. Thomas' parents would be unable to do the job, since Mr. Evans needed care after an accident 15 years ago that had crippled him.
"Ask my guardians. Uncle Tom after all is related to your mother," Harry offered.
Dudley honestly had not thought about that. "They would do that for me?"
"Maybe if you ask nicely and after they have talked with your mother once that's possible... huh?" Harry stopped when seeing an owl approach. Walking to the side of the house to not attract too much attention, the owl dropped a letter in front of him and left. He picked it up. "That's from the Ministry. What is that about now?"
Harry ripped the envelope open and read it, his expression darkening. "Excuse me..." He then made a beeline for Sirius, who was just done talking to one of his colleagues. "Uncle Sirius, read this!"
Sirius did that, after retreating a bit so they wouldn't be interrupted, and his eyes narrowed. "That's a huge pile of crap. That most certainly is highly illegal."
"They are telling me they will find me, snap my wand and throw me out of the school for daring to cast a spell in a non-magical neighborhood. What is that about?!" Harry most certainly know this was not normal.
"I know what this is about. That tosser Fudge and his toad Umbridge see me as their enemy, and they want to hurt me by hurting you..." Sirius then stopped when seeing someone approach whose inability to adapt his clothing style to his surroundings screamed 'wizard'. "Stay back, Harry."
The wizard for his part looked more confused than anything at his surroundings, but then spotted Sirius and walked over to him. "Sirius Black?"
"How do you know where I live?" Sirius felt being blunt and direct was needed right now.
"That is unimportant right now." The man then handed over a letter. "You are accused of breaking wizarding law by casting a spell in the open in a Muggle neighborhood and thus breaking the Statute of Secrecy." The man then noticed Harry. "Ah, Harry Potter, that means I have a wand to snap right now."
Seeing that this indeed had to be foul play, Sirius held the man by his collar and pulled him close. "Oh no, you won't! I know for one thing that what you are planning to do is highly illegal. Also, you shouldn't have known about that letter to Harry. Now the truth, who sent you? Fudge or Umbridge?!"
The man now paled, clearly not having expected such a reaction. "It... it is a legal matter..."
"Don't try that shit with me," Sirius warned him.
Realizing he should better talk, the man spilled it. "It's the Minister! He gave me the order, said Madam Bones does not need to know!"
Sirius let go of him. "Well, then you can tell him that I will not let him trample over me like that. He better prepare himself for the hell I will rise for this stunt. Oh yes, we will see ourselves in court, but under my terms. Now get lost."
The wizard fled as fast as he could.
"How did they know where I live? The Ministry never learned about my address." Sirius barely managed not to crumple the letter in his hand. "All of this must be foul play. I have to alert Dumbledore... and my lawyer.
Dudley, who had approached them while Sirius had been busy, looked to Harry after having seen Sirius vanish into the house. "Man, I honestly pity the guy who pisses off your godfather enough for him to get like that."
"Yeah..." Harry was more preoccupied with the fact that things were about to get ugly.
...the next day, Little Whinging hospital...
Yesterday in the hospital had been a whirlwind of her injuries being treated, so Petunia had honestly not expected any visitors then. But now that she was awake in her hospital room, she had become aware of the extent of her injuries. After the hospital staff had checked on her, someone form the police had arrived to ask her how that had happened.
While she hardly could have talked about the presence of a magical monster outside the house - yes, her sister had mentioned those and she did remember - she was very truthful about how Vernon had brought over Marge for an unwanted surprise visit, how Marge suffered health problems and how that set Vernon off, resulting in him injuring her and then wanting to hurt their son. It was difficult, but she knew lying would get her nowhere.
The policeman had told her before leaving, that it didn't look good for Vernon and that she should prepare herself for the fallout of what had happened.
Being confined to a bed left her with little else but to think about the consequences of yesterday's events. As much part of her wanted to deny it, what happened would inevitably lead to a hard break in her life in more than just one way. After all, Vernon losing it like that and assaulting her would have serious legal consequences for him; not to speak of how she had heard he had also chased their son and had attacked Mr. Black.
Considering her injuries alone she knew Vernon would most likely get a prison sentence. That opened another can of worms. It for sure would mean Vernon losing his job, since Grunnings would hardly want to have a convicted felon in a leading position, meaning no more income. It also meant that her marriage to Vernon was at its end and a divorce was upcoming. After what had happened, it if anything was for the security of Dudley and herself.
Of course, since the house was in Vernon's name only - he had insisted on that when purchasing it - it also meant Dudley and her would soon enough be homeless and with little way to get an income. Well, it was more her who would suffer from that, since Dudley after all had financial reserves of his own that would sustain him until he could enter the workforce.
-toc toc toc- Someone knocking on the door pulled her out of her depressing thoughts. "Eh, yes?"
The door opened. Dudley she had expected, knowing he could wait to see for himself how she was faring. However, she had not expected Thomas to accompany him. They'd not held a real conversation in years, so seeing him here was unexpected.
"Mum, I..." Dudley stopped when seeing the extent of her injuries. "Oh no."
"Dudley, I have three broken bones and severe bruising, but I'm not dying," Petunia told her son, then looked to Thomas. "I can harbor a guess that you are the nearest relative that shelters my son while I'm indisposed."
"Yes, but I mainly do it because he asked very politely." Thomas did remember Dudley's past, but could see the boy had changed a lot since then. "It's been years since we last talked. No offense, but the last time we did that you were really obnoxious."
"I guess you are surprised how someone can change once they gain perspective." She could not blame Thomas for his opinion after he had experienced her bad behavior for so long.
"You could say so. I guess better late than never that you gained some perspective," Thomas said, feeling a bit awkward with the whole situation.
Dudley, knowing there was lots of history, decided to get to the point. "Mum, did they tell you how long you have to be here? And what after that?"
"They say two weeks, but added that it will be more like two months before my injuries are healed. Until then I'm forbidden to do anything that would even resemble my normal work." Petunia then looked troubled. "After that... things will get really difficult. I have no income and I don't think I can stay in the house after divorcing Vernon. It's in his name alone after all."
Dudley clearly had not thought that far and now looked troubled as well. "I had not thought about that. What does that mean for us?"
"A lot will change and we can only hope for the best..."
Dudley and his mother talked for some time before Dudley excused himself for a moment. Once he was out of the room, Petunia looked to Thomas. "I honestly wondered if you would take him in while I'm out of the picture. Thanks for not holding our history against him."
Thomas took the opportunity to make some things clear. "Don't get me wrong. While I appreciate your improved behavior, I can hardly forget what happened before. I don't know exactly what happened to make you question yourself, but I can guess it was getting interested in your son's school life and your husband alienating himself from both of you."
Petunia knew without those two factors she probably would still be a shrew caught up in bigotry. "I don't expect us to become friends. Just please take care of my son while I can't."
"You don't need to worry about that. Harry himself vouched that Dudley is nothling like he used to be," Thomas told Petunia, knowing he would have never given shelter to the Dudley of old.
"I'm just glad that the worst will only happen while he is away at school. I don't want him to be around when it gets ugly."
Thomas knew that meant the legal consequences of yesterday's events as well as Petunia's legal battle in divorcing Vernon. However, they were unable to talk more about it when Dudley returned. Both of them didn't want to burden the teenager with the fallout of all of it. After all, he already had his own problems to deal with.
Life was after all difficult enough as it was.
...July 21st, the Burrow...
The sky over the Burrow had become cloudy and dark, the weather having taken a turn to the worse since last night. It was strangely symbolic on how the mood had shifted as well ever since the near disaster of the dementor attack on Harry and Sirius. That one had most certainly caused many of them to get scared when realizing that the normal security measures would not suffice. That went double for Sirius and his family due to what had happened yesterday.
Ron and Ginny meanwhile were sitting downstairs, watching Bill and Arthur being busy with setting up magical defenses outside. After the scare each home was being warded to hell and back to ensure no disaster would happen, but the Weasleys did have their pride and it was being kept in the family. Thankfully, Bill was an expert in such things and Arthur, despite what other people might think, actually had excelled at Charms and Runes in school.
The Weasleys had gotten a live demostration that the bond between the Six did work when Ron and Ginny out of nowhere had almost pissed themselves in fear and then shouted that Harry was in grave danger. After all was over, both of them had expressed their hope for a less extreme reaction in the future.
"If they continue like that, our home will be more secure than the Ministry," Ginny remarked while watching with interest how another stone engraved with runes was being set into the ground.
"Can you blame them? Harry and Sirius almost got their souls sucked out. That would scare anyone." Ron then looked to the kitchen table, where today's Daily Prophet laid. "Though I can't blame Sirius being extra paranoid, considering what happened after that."
Ginny knew what her brother was talking about. "Couldn't have been Death Eaters. They would have opted to try and kill Sirius. No, that smells of the Ministry. After the other things that happened, it fits."
Ginny had good reason to say that besides that Ministry official showing up with accusations against Sirius and Harry - something Harry had told them about. Yesterday, the Daily Prophet had been extremely sensationalist in reporting a highly distorted recount of the events - which no doubt had been dictated by the Ministry - and readily accused Sirius of being a criminal that needed to be thrown into Azkaban. It was a clear attempt to declare him guilty via the press and sully his reputation.
The truly disturbing thing however was, that details about Sirius' private life, including his family situation, his place of living and his job, were part of said articles as well. The privacy of Sirius and his family, as well as their security by anonymity, got utterly destroyed by that dick move. No one knew how they learned of those things and today more stuff had been printed.
The Ministry was also going against Harry, but in a different way. He never was the center-piece of articles, and the threat of snapping his wand had been kept silent, but when Harry was mentioned it tended to imply rather blatantly that Harry was a glory-hound who had sought out those dangerous situations over the years to keep himself in the news. That clearly was Fudge's jealously speaking.
Needless to say Harry's opinion of the Ministry had become even worse than it already was.
"No idea what's going on with the crap written in that toilet paper, but I don't like it." After being smeared by Skeeter repeatedly, Ron knew how horrible something like that was.
"By the way, I saw you exchanging letters with Hermione. Something I need to know?" Ginny wondered, playing at the unclear situation between those two.
"Get your mind out of the gutter. I was only asking her what's happening on her side. Would you believe me that Dumbledore and McGonagall personally secured their house and workplace?" Ron asked his sister.
Ginny whistled. "Them personally? I guess Hermione's parents can be quite intimidating if they want to be."
-brooommmmm-mm-m- "Sounds like there's a thunderstorm coming up," Ginny commented when hearing approaching thunder.
Minutes later it indeed started to rain and lightning bolts illuminated the sky. Bill and Arthur made haste to get inside. "Good thing we were done just before this started," Bill said, looking at how it now was pouring outside.
"Ah, Bill, you've got a letter while you were busy," Ginny told her oldest brother, pointing to the envelope on the table. "Judging by the handwriting on it, it has to be from Fleur."
"Oh, really?" Bill looked excited while taking the envelope.
"I honestly don't understand why she's writing you a letter when you work together at the same place. You see her most days," Ron wondered, being a bit puzzled by that behavior.
Ginny sighed, rolling her eyes. "Ron, a love letter is something special. Even I know that, and I'm very much not the romantic type."
"Have you written one to Harry?" Ron had only said that jokingly, but then saw his sister blush. "Wait, you did? Can't wait to see his reaction."
Truth to be told, Harry and her had gotten little opportunity to explore what that new step in their relationship meant. There always was something to do whenever both of them were together. It really looked like they had to wait until they were back at school before they could do something about that, which was a bit backwards.
"I've not sent it yet! It's a very personal thing!" Ginny snapped at Ron, trying to hide how she felt about it. "Don't make fun of me about that while you are incapable of writing one to Hermione."
Now Ron felt attacked. "Leave her out of this!"
Arthur sighed while watching the sibling spat. "They got along so well that it was only a matter of time before they again would have a spat."
"Dad, you know they will make up after a short time," Bill reminded his father while pocketing Fleur's love letter, deciding to read it in peace later.
"Yes, that's why I don't do anything..." That moment the sibling spat stopped when someone knocked on the front door. "A visitor during this weather?"
He did open the door and was greeted with the sight of Luna wearing a rain jacket, her long hair completely soaked by the rain and her glasses practically being unusable due to all the moisture on them. "Hello, can I come in?" she asked, completely ignoring how her head looked like she had dunked it into a rain barrel.
"Luna, what the...?" Ginny walked over to her friend, helping her take off the soaked jacket. "Why didn't you take an umbrella along? You must have known it would rain."
"Oh, I did know," Luna said, looking unconcerned. "I wanted to enjoy the rain. You should try it as well; it's quite relaxing."
In the background Ron rolled his eyes at the reminder that Luna, despite having changed a lot since her earlier years, still at times did things that made them scratch their heads. Ginny didn't question it while giving Luna a towel that her father had gotten in the meantime. "Did something happen that you come over in the rain?"
Luna now showed she looked a bit exhausted. "Mum and Dad are putting a lot of attention on the upcoming due date. It... it felt a bit too much."
Indeed, the birth of Luna's sibling would happen soon and while Luna had gotten a better grasp on what she felt about it, her parents putting so much attention on it must have made the girl uncomfortable. Ginny knew Luna needed some quality time. "Come, let's get upstairs into my room..."
Watching them leave, Ron looked over to Bill. "I was too young for it, but did any of you feel like that?"
"Not me, but that's because I didn't know it any different than having younger siblings." Bill then excused himself, wanting to read the letter in peace before he would return to his flat in London.
"I feel a bit old seeing how Bill is starting to have a serious relationship," Arthur said more to himself while looking to where Bill had walked up the stairs.
"Dad, you aren't that old," Ron told his father.
"Thanks, son, but I know I shouldn't lie to myself. My bald spot is growing, I would have white hairs in my beard if not for me shaving daily and I'm not as spry as I used to be. Yes, perhaps I'm not 'that old' yet, but I have to get comfortable with no longer being in my youth." Arthur said all that without resentment.
"I honestly can't imagine myself being at your age," Ron admitted, his imagination failing.
Arthur chuckled at that admission. "When I was your age, I couldn't do so, either. It's not as dramatic as some imagine and yet you will be surprised once you actually reach that age in which ways you have changed... and in which you have not."
I better not tell Dad of that dream where Hermione and me were married and I imagined us... And no way I ever tell Hermione, Ron thought, fighting down a blush at remembering some specific parts of that dream.
...July 25th, Ministry of Magic...
"All right, they want a fight, they can get one. They want to fight dirty? I'm no rookie at smelling that ten miles against the wind," Sirius said while he and Harry entered the Ministry.
"You are really intense, Uncle Sirius," Harry remarked.
Security quickly let them pass after the bare minimum checks, looking scared shitless of Sirius' presence and aura of anger.
Sirius knew Harry had seen him like that only a handful of times. "It's how Diane says it, that's how you deal with bullies: discipline. Always stand your ground and never give them an inch. Mr. Shark reassured me that everything is prepared. Also trust me, I'm not naive. After all, otherwise we would have stepped into those traps they've set up."
"Good thing you had Mr. Weasley keep an eye on what's going on, otherwise them using the big courtroom and silently moving the starting time would have caught us unprepared," Harry admitted, remembering Arthur telling them of that two hours ago.
After all, they had expected foul play after determining that two dementors suddenly appearing in Privet Drive and being intent on harming them could only have come from within the Ministry. It was not Voldemort's style after all. After some discussion everyone had determined that while Fudge was an opportunistic bastard, actually sending dementors was more in line with a sociopath like Umbridge.
After all, only someone with enough influence could do something like that, and Umbridge with her vendetta against Sirius was very much the top suspect. Of course there was no way to prove it, but that alone had made them wary there would be more foul play from the Ministry. Harry had no illusions about the fact that him getting tangled up in this mess was just a bonus for Umbridge.
Not to speak of Sirius' private life being dragged into the public, forcing him to put absurd security measures onto his home and family and still worry it was not enough. That was purest Umbridge, though they still were puzzled how they had gotten all that information in the first place.
"Fudge is an idiot and Umbridge is overconfident. Did they honestly expect me to not find out how they are trying to make a big production of this? Alone using the courtroom that was used for Death Eater trials shows their hand. Not to speak of the fact that they honestly are pulling the highest court in Magical Britain into what are two mere misdemeanors," Sirius explained to Harry while they were taking the lift down.
"Yes, and wanting to snap my wand right away... I remember you telling me it still created a paper trail, despite how illegal it is what they wanted to do," Harry added, patting his pocket protectively where his wand was stored.
Sirius snorted at the reminder. "That has to be Fudge with his jealously of you. Incredibly petty of him to be jealous of a teenager."
Harry honestly had no answer to that. However, whatever Fudge and Umbridge were planning, they had come prepared, especially in case of more dirty tricks. Granted, there had been certain... difficulties, but in the end he at least knew they had prepared well. Somehow Mr. Shark had managed to ensure the whole thing would be done in one go, since it boiled down to both of them having been in the same situation.
Not to speak of me having to explain the entire thing to Mr. Morden... Sirius meanwhile thought.
Mr. Morden from MI-X had contacted Sirius shortly after the whole mess and asked him what the hell had really happened. After being told all about it, the man had cursed before saying that if someone inside the Ministry is willing to send death squads for such reasons, then the Ministry wouldn't be for much longer.
The frightening thing was, Sirius fully agreed with that conclusion and wondered what would then come next.
Finally reaching the big doors to the courtroom, they saw Mr. Shark waiting for them. "You are early, thus you have gotten word of them moving the trial down here and changing the time."
"We are well-informed." Sirius saw that Mr. Shark looked calm. "They've already messed up?"
"More than you think. Considering how annoyed Mr. Dumbledore looks and the dirty looks Madam Bones is giving the Minister, they know so as well. Leave the beginning to me. They have already violated a number of rules and I will ensure to remind them of that," Mr. Shark explained the situation.
"You think they will be surprised when it comes to the evidence?" Sirius asked.
"Most certainly. You were right to be careful about that and I honestly wonder what kind of evidence they want to present," Mr. Shark replied.
They then entered through the doors.
The courtroom was just like Sirius remembered it, though for some reason the lights over the spectator ranks were dimmed - most likely to scare them. Nonetheless it was clear the room was packed. He could only see the first two rows, but that was enough to, besides the members of the Wizengamont, spot the usual suspects - chiefly Fudge, Umbridge and Malfoy. Thankfully at least some people seemed to have kept their brains, as instead of those chairs with chains, on their level there was a table with three normal chairs.
Harry, who had never seen this place before, was more nervous, but Sirius' hand on his shoulder felt reassuring. Looking to where he saw the members of the court sit, he saw Dumbledore but knew the man had to act imparital in his position. Besides some other people he then saw the judge herself - a woman wearing a monocle. That had to be Amelia Bones.
"You are early," Madam Bones remarked when seeing the three of them enter.
"My clients are of the opinion that coming early to an important appointment is always good. Which is well, since they had not been notified in advance about the change in room and time," Mr. Shark told her calmly.
Bones frowned when hearing that. "Very strange. I was not told that this was a sudden change."
Seeing Fudge and Umbridge grimace, Harry knew the first shorts had already been fired. Yes, it was a cheap trick, but that they resort to such does show they want to play dirty.
Sitting at the table, Mr. Shark was preparing everything, clearly waiting for Madam Bones to start the proceedings. When she finally had done so, he stood up to address her. "My Lady, before we start about the matter itself, I have some questions about the proceedings themselves."
"Please go ahead, Mr. Shark." It looked like Bones also wanted to hear what that was about.
"Thank you very much." Mr. Shark then took a look around. "My question basically boils down to why the highest court in all of Magical Britain was told to come together to judge over two minor misdemeanors which normally would be done with by handing out a minor fine to the party in question. It strikes me that all the effort put into this is not proportional to the accusation."
He was not outright saying that this smelled of a political move - not even hinting this was being done because Fudge and Black were political opponents. However, the unspoken implication was clearly heard and caused quite some discussion among the spectators. Also, the members of the Wizengamont looked displeased, perhaps only now being told what this actually was about.
"With all respect, Mr. Shark, but it is the job of this court of justice to determine that," Madam Bones reminded him. Though there were obvious signs that she had significant doubts as well.
"Certainly, my Lady, and we would be glad to hear what crimes my clients are actually accused of having committed," Mr. Shark replied.
"Good, then we can begin." She then looked up a document. "Sirius Orion Black and Harry James Potter are both accused of the following by the prosecution: reckless usage of magic in a Muggle neighborhood and blatantly breaking the Statute of Secrecy. Also Sirius Orion Black alone is accused of attacking a Muggle with his magic as well as a Ministry official while Harry James Potter alone is accused of breaking the rules of underage magic."
"Those are the points of accusation?" Mr. Shark asked.
"Yes, and now the prosecution is speaking," Bones announced.
The man representing the prosecution walked downstairs and started his spiel. He presented the Ministry official that had appeared at Sirius' home as a witness who told an overblown version of what happened. He also presented the prosecution's evidence - official-looking Ministry papers. It took a bit before he was done.
They are really sparing no effort, Harry thought, but then saw how calm Sirius and Mr. Shark looked. They are calm, so they have expected all of this.
"Mr. Shark, now that the prosecution is done, how are your clients going to defend themselves?" It was noticeable that Bones again glanced to the Minister, clearly not wanting any interference. It was obvious something had happened they didn't know about.
"My Lady, my clients can disprove or rebut every single point and piece of evidence the prosecution has brought forward. We have collected evidence and a witness," Mr. Shark said.
"I have to object!" That was the man representing the prosecution. "Evidence is only admissible if it was verified to not be tampered with. I hardly see you being able to present us with such."
"That indeed is a concern, Mr. Shark," Bones agreed.
"I would be surprised if it weren't a concern. However, everything has been done according to regulation, as these documents can prove." Mr. Shark took out some documents and handed them over to Madam Bones - with the help of a levitation charm due to her sitting so much higher.
Reading though them carefully, Bones looked up once being done. "According to those, everything is in order."
"Impossible!" That was Minister Fudge, who clearly had lost his nerve when hearing that. "The Ministry has no knowledge of evidence being tested and approved."
Take that, you tossers, Sirius thought.
Sirius had guessed that the Ministry would try to use the verification process to make their evidence disappear or declare it invalid for stupid reasons and leave them with nothing but their word. It was a gross miscarry of justice and thankfully Sirius and Mr. Shark had expected it, thus their measures to counter such a hurdle.
"Ahem..." Mr. Shark looked to the Minister. "Minister, the Ministry most certainly does know. What you probably mean is, that you and a circle around you didn't hear of it. Can you honestly claim that you know everything that is going on in the Ministry?"
While Fudge was trying to find a face-saving answer, Sirius barely hid a smirk. While the Ministry was infested with crappy people, there still were enough upstanding ones. They had been told to do everything by the book and they did - only to make sure it would not make waves and ask the right people. Dumbledore's personal connections to a few Unspeakables and the Order having people in the Aurors - and Scrimgeour just signing off on it due to disliking Umbridge - helped a lot.
Clearly Umbridge is not as smart as she thinks she is once it comes to more than just backstabbing and sucking up, Sirius thought with amusement.
"All right, now that this is over. Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, this court wants to hear from both of you your side of the events that have taken place in Privet Drive," Madam Bones decided.
Both of them did exactly that, though they were of course careful to leave out anything connecting them to the Order, which was easy since it had nothing to do with the events in question. Once they were done, the representative of the prosecution spoke up. "This does not match with our accounts. How ridiculous can you be to claim you fended off dementors? Especially with a Patronous."
"Do not be so hasty. I did read the file of Mr. Potter, and I know that he was capable of conjuring a corporeal Patronus during the Greyback crisis." Madam Bones then looked down. "Is there anything to add?"
"No, my Lady, but that is why we do have evidence. Would you please start the procedures for proper presentation for evidence of the defense? We also need the big pensive for that," Mr. Shark told Bones.
Since everything was done according to regulation, she did agree. Soon enough two Unspeakables had wheeled in the pensive. Harry barely held down a gasp when seeing that one of the two Aurors handling the evidence was Dora. It must not have been seen as a conflict of interest, despite Dora being part of the Blacks. Harry found that a bit odd.
I don't think that would have flown in a normal court of justice. Yikes, looks like some people up there are unhappy with it, Harry thought, seeing how Umbridge especially was looking displeased. Thank all goodness Dora and Uncle Remus are discreet enough that no one knows, or she would lose her job for sure.
The memories were from Sirius alone, but since he had been with Harry all the time, that was enough. It were copies of two memories. The first memory showed Harry and Sirius minding their own business when suddenly the dementors arrived, causing some gasps from the audience. They were shown fighting them off and then Dudley running out of the house and Sirius taking care of Vernon. The other memory started with Harry giving him the letter and Sirius reading it, before confronting the Ministry official that had come by at that moment.
"As the memory proves, both my clients were well-justified in defending themselves from such a threat and all charges connected to that issue should be dropped. Mr. Black also never attacked a Muggle with his magic and only acted in self-defense. He also had every right to stop a Ministry official from doing a clearly illegal act by snapping the wand of his godson," Mr. Shark explained his standpoint.
"This already is very strong evidence, indeed," Madam Bones acknowledged.
"Additionally, verified by the forensic department there is the original letter in which Harry Potter is told that his wand is to be snapped," Mr. Shark said, pulling out the letter, which was verified with a seal of the Auror department.
Madam Bones read it. "It's checked and proven to be a real Ministry letter. It contains exactly what the defendants are claiming it contains."
There was discussion in the audience by that point. Many wondered how those two dementors had even appeared in that place. Also, snapping the wand of a minor over something like that put the Ministry in a bad light. Not to speak of the fact that the official had admitted to be sent by Fudge. Fudge did realize things were not going well when seeing how Madam Bones had to force herself not to send him dark looks for doing that behind her back.
Madam Bones had to call for order. The prosecution however was now clinging on a final hope. "There still is breaking the Statute of Secrecy. Keeping up that Patronus in front of a Muggle is still a serious offense. Why was nothing done about that?"
"That is what our witness is for. He has been waiting the entire time. May I call him inside?" Mr. Shark asked.
He got the OK. A door opened and in walked... Dudley. Harry knew of that of course, Dudley having admitted that he felt very nervous but was willing to do this if it meant helping Harry to get out of a fix.
"What is that Muggle doing here?!" The prosecution demanded, clearly being not too pleased.
Dudley tried to ignore that while standing next to the Aurors. The lead Auror, a tall, black man who reminded Dudley a bit of Samuel L. Jackson, talked carefully. "Please state your identity and... ahem... clear up the confusion."
Dudley looked the man into the eyes. "My name is Dudley Dursley and at the end of this summer I am going to start my fifth year at Hogwarts." As if to prove that, Dudley also showed his wand.
That caused everyone - apart from those few who did recognize him - to go silent. The Auror then looked to Dumbledore, who had stayed silent the entire time. "Chief Warlock, in your capacity as Headmaster of Hogwarts... it may be too much to ask, but can you verify that claim?"
"Indeed, I can verify it," Dumbledore said, staying surprisingly formal. "Mr. Dursley is one of my students; a member of House Slytherin. He does get along well with his peers and is a diligent student."
Mr. Shark then spoke up. "Mr. Dursley here being a wizard means his family is in the know about those things. Therefore the Statute of Secrecy was not violated."
From that point on things became sad for the prosecution and by the end of it, Madam Bones acquitted them of all charges after the Wizengamont voted with overwhelming majority to do so, having realized the farce this all was and the political reasons behind it. Interestingly, the Minister had left before the final verdict, most likely not wanting to see that.
"Thank you again, Mr. Shark. You have proven to be invaluable to me over the years," Sirius thanked the man while they left the courtroom.
Mr. Shark looked quite humble about it. "Only the best for you, Mr. Black. Though, the serious questions that the incident raises make me wonder about the Ministry. In the current political and social climate, with all that insecurity over what could happen, I start to wonder..."
Meanwhile, Dudley looked to Harry. "Mate, that was one nerve-wrecking moment."
Harry knew why Dudley felt that nervous. "I know, it felt like walking into Circus Maximus, am I right? But think about it, once your father ends up in court, you'll most likely be called as a witness."
"Don't reminded me, that will wreck me for sure," Dudley was not looking forward to that at all. "However, that black guy was really reassuring. He handled things so well."
"The bloke's name is Kingsley Shacklebolt. I've heard he's one of the best Aurors in the force," Sirius commented, Mr. Shark having left, leaving unsaid that the man also was part of the Order and it couldn't have been a coincidence that he'd been partnered up with Dora for this trial.
Sirius watched both boys, again reminding himself how much things have changed since their early childhood days. Then however he noticed unwelcome company. "Lucius... what gives me the 'honor'?"
"Well, we both can agree, Black, that this was a quite clumsy attempt by the Minister. Would have never happened to me. Startled a number of people once they thought about the implications." Malfoy was a bit unnerving with how little emotion he showed - quite a difference to earlier years but Sirius had a good idea why that was the case.
"What do you mean to imply with that?" Sirius asked, fishing for a reaction.
"Oh, nothing at all," Malfoy deflected. "However, now I have to make haste. The Minister surely wants to make up for this disappointment by discussing with me my... donations for the new wing of St. Mungo's."
"Man, that bloke is as slick as an eel. Wait a minute, now I remember. Isn't that Malfoy's old man? I remember him from that scene he made in the medical wing after the chamber thing," Dudley asked.
"You remember right. And if you remember how he treated Dobby, you already know what kind of tosser he is," Harry told Dudley.
A tosser that's also a Death Eater serving a murdering psychopath, Sirius thought, knowing Malfoy had already become a serious problem and it was bound to get worse.
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"Ugly Surprise in Pink"
Notes:
Here the notes.
I bet you already knew Umbridge would backstab Rita. What I bet you didn't see coming was the particular way in which she does so.
Sucks for Mark that he still gets beaten up, but I think you also didn't expect it's Dudley who actually comes to his rescue. Talk about playing with canon events. I just couldn't resist in this case.
Now we get to the main events. Of course Umbridge again sends dementors, only this time Sirius is her actual target and that Harry was present was more of an unforeseen bonus. However, they right away, though sloppily, try to capitalize on this as well. With Sirius present, Harry does a lot better as well.
Yikes. I hope I showed in a realistic way how the situation with the Dursleys went down the toilet. I won't comment much on that here, and more wait for your reactions. I feel it's also realistic that Thomas can't forget all those years of Petunia being a bitch.
I originally hadn't planned the scene at the Burrow, but then realized I needed to show some reactions to said events. It also gave me the opportunity for some character development.
And finally the scene at the Ministry. This is not like the canon at all. Apart from the fact that Fudge is already seen as a highly divisivy figue by the public, Sirius made sure they prepare well. I tried to stay away from courtroom antics and have the whole thing go by in an orderly fashion. I hope the work paid off.