Chapter 8: Harry Gets a New Home

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

It's a short one. More of an epilogue.

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Fudge came barreling in the office the next day like he had the right to be there. "You will release Draco Malfoy immediately," he declared, puffing up like he was important. He was in his usual green robes and pinstriped suit. He didn't even try to look muggle. How he got to the office dressed like that without drawing attention to himself was beyond them.

"No," Gibbs said, leaning back in his chair lacing his hands behind his head and effecting a casual attitude.

"I am the Minister of Magic, and you will do as I say," Cornilius stated, taking off his hat and slamming it on Gibbs's desk. His face was red and his forehead was drenched with sweat.

"It is not up to me, it is up to the judge. I can't do anything. The boy committed a crime," Gibbs stated, still relaxed in his chair, looking at the man like he was stupid. He sat forward and picked up his coffee cup and drank from it and then shrugged as if it were nothing.

"I am the ultimate judge of the land," the pompous man stated, puffing out his cheeks like a squirrel. He was getting very angry that he wasn't getting the respect he felt he deserved.

"No, you just said you're the Minister of Magic. You're not the judge of the land. You aren't the judge of anything. If anybody is the ultimate judge of the land, it would be the Wizengamot. It's my understanding that his arraignment will be sometime later today," the head cop said, looking at the calendar on his desk to check the time of the boy's court time. Not that he needed to know it, but he kept it on there just in case he needed to know it for this reason.

"I am the head of the Wizengamot," Fudge stated, looking edgy.

"No, that's Dumbledore," Gibbs said, tilting his head.

"No, boss, Dumbledore is simply a figurehead," Tony corrected him.

"That's right, he just holds ceremony," Jethro said, remembering that the Chief Warlock simply opened and closed the sessions and broke ties.

"So, who is the head of the Wizengamot?" Kate wanted to know. She really hadn't paid attention to these things. It wasn't part of her job to understand the working of the magical government.

"There really isn't a head of the body. It's a conglomerate of many people," Tony said. He knew because it fascinated him.

"Oh, I see," Kate said, nodding her head.

"So, you see, Fudge," Gibbs said, cutting off their conversation, "you are not the head judge, but he will be judged by the Wizengamot. However, since he's a minor, he'll probably just get a slap on the wrist. And he probably won't even be brought before that body. He'll probably be brought before a committee. A small panel of judges." He waved it away like it was a minor thing. The kid would more than likely get away with the night in jail.

"Now you see here, I'm the Minister of Magic and I say you let him go right now," Cornilius tried one more time. They had to listen to him. He was the most important man in the wizarding world.

"Get out of my office," Gibbs said, standing and leaning forward on his desk. His face was merely inches away from Fudge's.

"What?" Fudge said, backing away.

"Get out of my office right now. Tony, showed the minister out," Jethro stated, standing back up and dismissing the minister out of hand.

"You got it, boss," DiNozzo said, coming from around his desk and taking the rotund man by the elbow and leading him to the elevator.

"Now, see here," Fudge was saying as he was being led away.

"Just this way, Fudge," Tony was saying as he shoved the man in the lifts. It was blissfully quiet when the doors closed behind the loudmouthed man. Tony went with him to the ground floor to make sure he left the building.

"I really hate it when these blowhards come in here and try and throw their weight around," Gibbs said, picking up his coffee and draining the cup. He threw the empty cup in the bin and went back to work. He started to write some things down on some of the papers he had on his desk.

"I hear you, Gibbs," Todd said, not looking up from her computer screen.

"I'm going to go talk to Jen," he said, getting up and gathering up the papers he needed. "We need to know what to do about Sirius Black. Kate, give me everything you have on the Dursleys," he requested, going to her desk, after grabbing his jacket.

"Here you go, Gibbs," she said, handing him a folder with a few papers in it.

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"Jen, what can we do about Sirius Black? If he's innocent, can we really get him a trial?" Gibbs asked as he came into her office. He handed her a cup of coffee and sat in the chair in front of her desk.

"No, if he's innocent, he gets exonerated. He should never have been put in jail in the first place. He should have only been there fourteen days at the most since it was a terrorist act. At least it's that way on the muggle side," she said, gladly taking the coffee and taking a sip. She looked at the papers that he handed to her and then at the computer screen. She looked back at him and waited.

"So, Amelia trying to get him a trial is technically illegal?" he asked, tilting his head in wonderment. He knew that, in theory, but it sounded logical to him.

"That's right."

"I wonder if she knows that."

"It might be different on the magical side."

"Knowing Fudge, he's going to do everything he can to get in her way. He was just in here trying to throw his weight around, getting Draco Malfoy out of jail," he groused, though there was a wicked smile on his face as he remembered throwing the man out of his office.

"Oh, I would have liked to see that," she said, matching his smile. She loved seeing Gibbs get all alpha male on pompous politicians.

"It didn't work for him," Gibbs smirked. He then handed her the folder that Todd had given him. "Here's what Kate has dug up on the Dursleys. So far, they're pretty clean. There's been a couple of petty charges of bullying on the cousin. Nothing that has been substantiated that would hold him in jail. All the witnesses bowed out before any charges could be brought. He's got them scared good and proper." He had been hoping for something, but they were law biding citizens. Bar the child abuse.

"Nothing on the parents?" she asked, thumbing through the papers, looking for something she could use. Nobody was that clean. There wasn't even a traffic ticket. The kid was a criminal, but she wanted the adults.

"No, they're clean. They want to be seen as good, normal people," Gibbs said, with a slump of his shoulders.

"Normal people don't lock children in boot cupboards," she said in disgust. She tossed the folder down and sighed. "Didn't Kate get them to confess to that at least?" she asked, hoping for something.

"There's that. And no, they were tightlipped about their nephew. As far as they are concerned, he barely exists," Gibbs stated, going over the interview Todd had done with the Dursleys. "There isn't even any embezzlement on the uncle's side." He had hoped the man had dipped into the company funds. They could have thrown the book at him.

"Darn, I was hoping there would be. They didn't even claim him to the government?" she asked, once more looking in the folder. Not even that.

"No. He wasn't getting any money for the kid at all," Gibbs confirmed.

"Damn. Well, we can't get him on those charges. But we can get Black off on the muggle side. All we have to do is tell the Prime Minister that he is innocent. We have witnesses that the man he supposedly murdered is alive, and that he never had a trial. If we can get Potter to sign a statement that he saw Pettigrew alive and well. And that Lupin character too. You can tell him there was no trial. It should wrap it up on this side," she said, tapping her finger on the desk. There were judges and other people she could call to get this all done within record time.

"So technically he's innocent due to a technicality?" Gibbs said, wanting to make sure he got that right.

"Yep."

"You know the PM isn't gonna like that."

"Too bad."

"I wonder if we can get the Prime Minister to pressure the Minister of Magic. I mean, isn't he technically his boss?" the head cop said, thinking of how that conversation would go. He'd pay to be a fly on the wall for that one.

"Basically, but from what I understand, Fudge doesn't listen to him anyway. He hates all things muggle. I don't think he even listens to the Queen. Still, you're right, he has to pay attention to the PM," Jen said, pulling up some things on her computer. She read some items and smiled. This was just what she was looking for.

"There's got to be some way for the Prime Minister to pressure him," he said, liking that look on her face.

"I think, we can try and go that route," she said, giving him a winning grin.

"See what you can do," he said, getting up and leaving her to it.

"I'll make some phone calls," she said, already dialing the phone.

"All right, Jen, keep me informed," he said, going out the door.

She just waved him out. He went back to the bullpen feeling better about their outcome than he had when he went in.

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Two days later Amelia came in and went up to Jethro and said, "I don't know what you did, but Sirius Black is now free." She flopped down in a chair and looked very putout.

"This is good news. Why are you upset?" he asked, sitting up from his reclined position. He had been relaxing for a moment. They were between cases, so he was chilling.

"Because it would have been better if he had had a trial. Because now the public is going to think he bought his way to freedom," she bit out. She didn't like that outcome. She felt that the man would always be looked down upon now. He would be treated like a criminal from now on.

"You can't try an innocent man. At least that's my understanding, according to our lawyer," Gibbs stated, giving her a pointed look. He didn't care if it made the man look bad. It was the law.

"This is not going to look good in the press," she lamented. Fudge was beyond angry.

"What does it matter? The man is free and now we can get Harry Potter out of his house. That's what we wanted in the first place," Jethro pointed out. "We can't get the Dursley's for anything, so we get the kid out of the house." He was very upset over that fact, but sometimes kids just fell through the cracks, and you did your best to help them. Like this time.

"You've got Minister Fudge all up in arms. He's raging around the ministry like a Centaur in a crystal ball store," she said, cringing and smiling at the same time. It was good to see someone stand up to the man. While she never let Fudge interfere with her cases, others did, and it stymied her in many ways. That and he cut her budget all the time.

"I don't really care what Fudge is up to," Jethro said, waving the statement away like a gnat. "That man's stepped on my last nerves."

"He can make problems for you," she warned, knowing that Fudge could cut the budget for this project too. It would be harder, because they had already invested so much into it, but he'd try.

"Whatever happened to Malfoy Jr.?" Gibbs asked, hoping the kid would be sent back to school. He didn't really like seeing non-felons in jail. Sure, the kid was a jerk, but he wasn't a murderer.

"He got a slap on the wrist, just like you said he would," she confirmed.

"That's what I figured. Did his father have to buy him freedom or did they just see reason?" he asked, wondering if the Wizengamot was crooked. He didn't know the workings of them that well.

"They saw reason. Though his father did throw his weight around," she said with a wrinkle of her nose. That neither confirmed nor denied his suspicions.

"I'm sure it was unnecessary. I'll bet it was a sight to see anyway," he said, chuckling slightly.

"Hey, boss?" Tony said, coming up to them with a folder in his hands.

"Yes, DiNozzo?"

"Do you want me to give her what I dug up on the Death Eaters?" the other man asked, holding up the folder.

"You might as well, since we're not going to use it," Gibbs said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Here you go, Madam Bones," Tony said, handing it over. "This is what I dug up on the activities of the Death Eaters. They seem to be pretty active in non-magical areas. They also seem to be stalking the Department of Mysteries." It was quite a large folder with prints and photos.

"Do you have any idea what they're doing in the Department of Mysteries?" she asked, looking at the men and women sneaking around the Ministry and the DoM.

"I think they're after a prophecy. You might want to keep a good eye down there because it seems the Order of the Phoenix is down there too," he said, pointing to a photo of Arthur Weasley standing around the hallway doing nothing.

"How do you know all this?" Kate asked, coming and looking over Amelia's shoulder.

"I know people," Tony said, giving her a sly smile and a wink.

"You can't know this many people. You're new here," Kate said exasperated. She just didn't get how he could know so many people when they had been here the same amount of time.

"What can I say? I get around," Tony said with a casual shrug of his shoulder. He winked at Amelia who blushed and went back to looking at the photos in the folder.

"I don't want to know your sleeping habits," Todd stated, blushing as well.

"Then don't ask," DiNozzo deadpanned. He then smiled that secret smile that all men get when they know they scored.

"Back to the subject at hand, is that all you have? If not hand it all over. It's out of our hands now. We've done our job," Gibbs said, looking at both Tony and Kate.

"That's right, the Potter kid is now out of his house. Sirius Black is now free. We figured out who killed Umbridge. Our case is closed," DiNozzo said, putting his hands behind his head in a 'job well done' manner.

"Good job, everybody." Gibbs said, raising his coffee cup to his crew.

"I wouldn't count your phoenixes before they're hatched. You did such a good job on this one, you might be in line for the next one," Bones said, closing the folder and looking at the three of them with a sharp look.

"Oh, and what would that be?" Gibbs asked, narrowing his eyes.

"You might have to take down these terrorists," she said, holding up the folder.

"We don't take down terrorists, we solve murders. Besides, we were brought here to train your Aurors, and to solve murders, not take down terrorists," Jethro stated, not that he wasn't willing to do that, but he had to set parameters.

"Which you still have to do," she pointed out. They hadn't done much training as of yet.

"And we will do it," he said, leaning back in his chair. "When the next murder comes up, we'll do our very best to solve it too, and until then, bring your Aurors around and we'll train them to the best of our ability. If you want us to hunt down your terrorist, you'd better take it up with the brass," he stated. He wasn't doing anything like that without orders from the higher-ups.

"Well, you did a good job on this one. Keep your ears open and let me know what you find out about Riddle," she compromised. She would take it up with the 'brass'.

"If he comes across any of the cases that we open, will do," Gibbs said, willing to compromise as well.

"That's all I can ask," Amelia said, taking up the folder and leaving the room.

"All right, everybody, let's wrap this up," Gibbs said, grabbing his jacket and going to the lifts.

"You got it, boss."

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Thus ends this tale. Not exactly a Happily Ever After, but it got there in the end.