This marks the beginning of Harry's education concerning the Wizengamot.

Trial of Dolores Umbridge / 21 December

During breakfast on Thursday morning, , Harry read the Daily Prophet – the headlines screamed: 'Azkaban Sealed Up – Prisoners and Dementors Lost'

During the standard shift change for Auror guards at 11:00 AM, the only doors leading inside, and the small windows in each cell filled up with stone. With no way to get back inside, the warden sent a team of four Aurors up on brooms to survey the rock. They reported that every opening was sealed with stone the same colour as the surrounding rock. Even the landing pad on the top of the prison where Dementors launched and returned to the prison was gone – rough and steep rock covered the once flat pad.

Warden Gaugin Krouse led the four covens of Aurors back to the pier where the single boat began to ferry the Aurors back to the mainland (a trip of 40 minutes round trip) with seven passengers per trip (52 Aurors + 1 Warden =7 trips that took until almost 3:00 PM).

Warden Krouse apparated back to the Ministry and returned with Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour before noon. Scrimgeour and four aurors from his Security Coven travelled to the island and repeated the earlier search. With the additional personnel, the number of trips increased by one and left the last Aurors returning to the mainland at 4:00 PM.

Minister Fudge issued a statement that blamed the loss of Azkaban on some evil magic attempting to disrupt the peace Magical Britain.

Glancing toward the staff table where every professor read the newspaper or participated in an animated discussion with their neighbour, Harry believed the event had disrupted Magical Britain completely.

'And what will they think when they discover the current condition of Malfoy Manor,' Harry wondered. He blinked a few times, frowned, and decided that the elves were correct with their advice to not continue with his original plan of destroying the Ministry for Magic today.

'If I had continued with my original plan, I should be on my way to being a dark lord. But I'll wait and watch before taking that step. Maybe I can tear it down with gold rather than fill it up with stone.'

Folding the Daily Prophet and putting it away, Harry gave breakfast his full attention to ensure that his strength would last through the day. As he finished his meal, Harry noticed the arrival of Lead Auror Horace Makepeace and a coven of Aurors through the doors. The teenager glanced at the staff table where Dumbledore (and Snape) was missing.

Auror Makepeace approached the staff table under the eyes of the few students in the castle and the staff. The Auror bowed his head and addressed McGonagall, "Deputy Headmistress, I have here an order for a material witness who is required to attend the trial of High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge this morning."

"And who does the order name, Horace?"

"Lead Auror Makepeace!" hissed Pomona Sprout. "It's bad enough when Dumbledore embarrasses everyone by forgetting his manners and calls Mr Potter 'Harry' and 'my boy,' but for you to do the same with a veteran Auror is unforgiveable – Minerva!"

Blushing, Minerva begged the man's forgiveness and asked the question once again, "Lead Auror Makepeace, who is named as a material witness?"

"Mr Harry James Potter – ma'am," Horace replied stiffly. To be insulted by the head of Gryffindor house in front of his coven was an embarrassment.

"Impossible! Potter cannot leave the castle."

"Ma'am, I have the signed order in my hand that commands the young wizard's presence in the Wizengamot in the next thirty minutes.

But Minerva remained adamant, "Headmaster Dumbledore refused permission for Potter – Mr Potter – to leave for the winter break. He said there was no safer place than Hogwarts for the 'young wizard' this winter."

Lead Auror Makepeace blinked once, and then stated, "Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, when the minister issued this order this morning, the headmaster of this school was seated beside him in his office. Headmaster Dumbledore made no objection to the order."

"Still, I shall have to confer with the headmaster," Minerva replied to delay the man.

The Auror smiled. "That will be easily arranged after I will arrest you and transport you to the Ministry for Magic. There you can consult with Headmaster Dumbledore."

McGonagall pursed her lips before the Auror added, "Naturally the meeting will be when the headmaster has a moment of free time. And if I remember correctly, it was three days before Dumbledore came for Snape."

Growling, McGonagall replied, "Will you guarantee the boy's safety there and then return him to the castle?"

"I shall. My coven will protect Mr Potter there and back again."

"Then take him and begone."

Harry rose and followed Lead Auror Makepeace from the Great Hall, surrounded by the thirteen Aurors in Makepeace's coven. They hurried along the path and out the gate beyond the wards of Hogwarts.

CHANGE SCENE &&***

The Wizengamot

Upon arrival via side-apparition onto a landing pad in the DMLE offices, Harry thanked the Auror for standing up to McGonagall.

"You are welcome, Mr Potter," Horace Makepeace replied. "Professor McGonagall seemed tired this morning."

Leaning closer Harry confessed, "Our head of house has been short-tempered the whole of the first term. Before he died, her cousin, Alastor Moody, sent her a howler where he named her 'Judas Goat' for betraying him last year at Hogwarts. I believe the guilt weighs heavy on her heart and soul."

"Yes, the imposter who took Moody's place for all three terms using Polyjuice," Makepeace stated. "He was right – she had to have known that wasn't her cousin."

Harry nodded and added, "I don't think they reconciled before he died in November."

"Well, now," Makepeace said. "Let's get you to the courtroom and find your seat."

Harry was guided inside the large chamber where there were risers and boxes with family crests on the boxes. On of the largest boxes bore the Black family crest and one smaller but also neat and well-placed bore the Potter family crest.

Of equal surprise was seeing Amos Diggory sitting in the box along with Elphias Doge, a wizard who had come to Grimmauld Place for a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix.

'Are they voting my seats?' Harry wondered. Neither man acknowledged the boy when he walked by headed for a seat just behind the Minister's seat. No one was seated in the Black box and while Harry watched, these absences seemed to be generating conversations among the members and spectators.

From the family rings on his hand, and family magic providing education, Harry identified the wizards, and few witches seated in voting seats. His attention paused when he identified Regent Augusta Longbottom with Neville seated beside her. Neville made no sign that he noticed Harry. And Harry spotted Susan Bones, dressed in formal robes, seated in her family's box. She kept glancing at Neville who blushed and smiled back at her.

With a start that made him blink, Harry muttered, "They don't have a quorum of voting members."

The eight members of the Crown Federation were present including Amelia Bones, and Lady Longbottom. Harry's two seats were considered part of this voting block by tradition and at Dumbledore's direction.

Seven of the eight members of the Conservative Alliance were missing. The teenager thought, 'Three are known dead and four are mysteriously absent this morning.'

None of the members for the Coalition of Neutral Families were present, and this worried Harry – were those wizards all hidden members of the Death Eaters? With only nine voting members in the chamber, the Wizengamot was neutered.

There had to be thirteen of the twenty-four voting members present to create a quorum. The quorum could present, discuss, and amend legislation. The nine members currently present could vote on guilt or innocence in a trial but nothing more. They couldn't even fire an employee of the ministry.

Finally, the doors of the courtroom opened to allow Minister Fudge, Chief Warlock Lady Griselda Marchbanks, and four members of her coalition to enter the Wizengamot Chamber. (Even when a witch was elected, the title remained 'Chief Warlock'.)

'Nice to see that Dumbledore isn't the only one who practices grand entrances,' Harry mused before he finally looked toward the headmaster. Albus was seated in a section set apart from the hereditary seats for those persons who held an Order of Merlin First Class. With that honour, Dumbledore had the right to address the Wizengamot on any issue open for discussion, could encourage or discourage how to vote, and could speak on behalf of criminals after conviction. But the Order of Merlin didn't give Albus a vote like a hereditary seat. At one time, he'd presented himself as a disinterested party and got himself elected Chief Warlock, a post he never relinquished until Fudge pried it loose this summer.

Apparently, the Potter family had two hereditary seats with votes. And the Black family had four hereditary seats with votes. He leaned back in his chair thinking, 'Six of the twenty-four seats will give Lord Potter-Black a powerful position.'

Then he stood to greet his patron for the day, Minister Cornelius Fudge as the minister glad-handed several members, nodded to others and ignored Dumbledore. His greeting for the Boy-Who-Lived was perfectly pureblood.

CHANGE SCENE &&***

The Trial

Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour introduced the case against Madam Dolores Umbridge. Harry noticed that the witch's current position at Hogwarts and her previous positions in the Ministry for Magic were not mentioned. It bothered him that the witch didn't have counsel.

The Auror described the crime – plotting the murder of multiple persons (two purebloods and one half-blood) by Dementor's kiss. The two purebloods kissed had died that night. The half-blood – one Harry James Potter – was protected by wards around his home.

The chief warlock inquired with the accused how she plead to the charges. With the silencing spell removed, Dolores screamed, "You can't do this to me! Cornelius! I know your secrets! I'll tell Dumbledore everything!"

Griselda frowned and repeated the question, "How does the accused plead?"

"Not guilty!" Dolores shouted. "The minister needed my help to shut Potter up and cause trouble for Dumbledore! The wizard and witch who were kissed were in the wrong place at the wrong time! That's not my fault!"

The silencing spell was applied once more to the accused and Rufus presented the work verified ministry order with the signature magically proven to be Umbridge's. To further verify the proof, the Chief Warlock called for a vote to force the use of Veritaserum.

Director Bones replied, "A vote isn't necessary Chief Warlock. Madam Umbridge is less than a half-blood. Her father was a squib from the extinct Clancy family and her mother was a muggle."

Harry noticed several faces changed from doubtful to convinced of the witch's guilt as soon as they learned she was not a pureblood as she had portrayed herself but truly muggleborn. The vote was unanimous for conviction despite a plea for leniency from Albus Dumbledore that lasted for fifteen minutes. The Chief Warlock announced that the usual punishment for this type of crime was the kiss or lifetime imprisonment in Azkaban but neither possible any longer.

There were a few persons in the spectators who were unaware of the destruction (restoration) of the prison the previous day. Lady Marchbanks spoke briefly about the island prison being destroyed with loss of every prisoner and the Dementors but the survival of the Auror guards.

"Magic herself moved during the shift change when the covens of Aurors were outside the prison," Marchbanks reported. "The front door and every window were sealed up with stone and no one could return to the interior."

Without any delay, the Wizengamot sentenced Dolores to be thrown into the Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries. Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour and his coven of security Aurors levitated the bound and screaming witch from the well of the Wizengamot. They walked down the single staircase to the Department of Mysteries where Madam Umbridge was tossed through the shadowy curtain. Her last scream was cutoff abruptly.

Scrimgeour and his Aurors hurried to climb the stairs back to the Wizengamot chamber – Rufus worried that something might be discussed or happen that he needed to know.

CHANGE SCENE &&***

Changes to Seats

Undersecretary Micheal Hemphill, Ministry for Magic Liaison for Gringotts asked to speak. He announced, "The rules of the Wizengamot allow for a representative of Gringotts to address this body with important news that affects matters of wealth and inheritances. This day, Sowsbreath, Black Vault Manager will provide an important report to the Wizengamot."

Harry noticed that several members frowned and several people in the gallery stood up and left rather than listen to a goblin. But Harry paid close attention to the goblin who managed the most important source of cash for business loans in Magical Britain.

Bowing formally to the Chief Warlock, Sowsbreath addressed his remarks to the witch, but his voice was heard by everyone. "Lady Marchbanks, Gringotts felt it necessary to present this list to the gathered members. This past Wednesday the 20th of December, just over hundred wizards, witches and their children died within three seconds of each other. The magic at Gringotts registered these deaths at 6:47 PM."

The goblin provided a parchment that was passed to Lady Marchbanks. She took a moment to read it, frowned and then cast a spell that sent a copy of the report to every seat holder and significant personage in the chamber (but not the spectators). Harry received his copy and ignored the angry eyes of the pureblood wizard seated beside him. He recognized several names including Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Greg Avery, Thomas Mulciber, Evan Rosier, Severus Snape, Peter Pettigrew, and Tom Marvolo Riddle, Jnr.

Harry paused for a moment when he read the names of his classmates – Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Theodore Nott from fifth year, and other Slytherins from sixth and seventh year. There were three of the older Ravenclaw students listed but none from Hufflepuff or Gryffindor.

Questions asked but not answered included: "How did…What killed all these wizards and witches in such a short time?"

"Why did they have a muggle with them?"

"Muggle? The Riddle fellow, that's not the name of any magical family and no one in Magical Britain would give their son the muggle suffix of Jnr."

"Is that a strange name?"

"No," explained Albus Dumbledore. "In muggles, the suffix Jnr means the son was named for his father and used the same name."

"But why don't they use the proper nomenclature of 'II'?" asked Grievous Smartfellow, a member of the Coalition of Neutral Families.

"Because they're muddy muggles!" shouted out a wizard from the gallery. Harry noticed that no one chided the man for his language in the Wizengamot chamber.

CHANGE SCENE %%***

A Quorum

"This list of deaths includes many members of this body!" declared Chief Warlock Marchbanks. She grimaced and admitted that three members of her group were listed among the dead. Four members of the conservatives and their families' names were listed.

Minister Fudge rose and addressed the Wizengamot. Cornelius had learned how to speak at moments of crisis – and lay the blame on others. Waving a copy of the Gringotts parchment listing the dead, he said, "This terrible event must be investigated immediately. Director Bones, I command you to dispatch covens of Aurors to the homes of these individuals and determine how they died. If malingering wizards or muggles are in the vicinity, arrest them for questioning! We must determine what has happened to so many members of our society – something killed a hundred witches, children and wizards at one time."

Nodding in agreement with the minister for once, Amelia and Rufus spoke for a moment before he left with his security coven. Director Bones remained in the chamber and returned to her seat beside her niece. The minister frowned and chided the woman, "Bones! Why aren't you following my orders?"

"Minister Fudge, I have implemented your orders. Even as we speak, Head Auror Scrimgeour is dispatching four covens of Aurors to search the homes of individuals listed," Bones answered. "Rufus doesn't need me to hold his wand this morning."

"Entire covens? Not teams of two or three?" asked the minister. "Wouldn't that be faster? Cover the number of sites quicker?"

The witch pursed her lips and replied, "Cornelius, something or someone killed a hundred magical persons in less than one minute. I place a high value on the life of every Auror – as does Head Auror Scrimgeour. A coven apparating into a dangerous situation will shield and fight their way out of most settings. Then we will know what happened."

"Teams of two, three or even four Aurors can be overwhelmed and killed," she concluded as though lecturing a raw recruit.

"Excellent planning! A marvellous strategy Director Bones!" Cornelius said, attempting to save face.

CHANGE SCENE &&***

Next chapter deals with extinct houses, goblin manipulations, and stretching the tether holding the Evans temper.