Chapter 3

Trial and Error

Harry slept in his office that night. He, Abraxas and John had stayed up into the wee hours going over every detail of the prosecution: physical evidence, eyewitness testimony, they even had character witnesses lined up to testify against Belvina. Harry had every facet of this case memorized. He'd had a sliver of doubt when he heard that Doxon would be representing the defense, but he awoke the morning of the trial feeling completely confident.

Mere moments after he woke up there was a knock at the door and Amanda announced that she had coffee. Harry gave a drowsy grunt and Amanda entered looking positively bright-eyed and bushy tailed. She had stayed until past midnight herself, though Harry didn't realize it until they had finally taken a break and noticed she was still sitting at the front desk just waiting for a potential task. Harry was initially jealous of her early morning energy, but was nothing but grateful when the coffee she brought was accompanied by a full breakfast. Harry and the aurors were so focused last night they had forgotten to eat dinner.

"Thanks, Amanda, you're a life saver." Amanda looked incredibly pleased as Harry attacked his breakfast with the vigor of starving man.

"Is there anything else I can do, Mr. Potter?"

"Yesh," Harry said, his mouth full of scrambled egg. He swallowed and continued, "Get me the first appointment you can with the tailor on the fifth floor and make sure he knows it's for me and that I have a trial today. I've left my Wizengamot robes at home and I'll need a set for this afternoon. Then, whenever Podmore and Nigellus arrive, tell them to come to my office. After that, you only have one task for the rest of the day: tell anyone who wants to talk to me that I'm too damn busy and whatever they want will have to wait until tomorrow. And thanks again for getting breakfast."

Amanda smiled again and left his office. Harry had barely had any sleep but, now that he was awake, he felt positively bursting with energy. He didn't go out and actually catch Dark wizards anymore but getting them convicted was the next best thing.

After finishing breakfast, he paced around his office. He made a brief attempt at re-reading their prosecution materials but quickly gave it up as a bad job – he had too much energy to focus and he had everything memorized anyway. Besides, he wasn't looking forward to this next conversation. After a half hour that felt like a lifetime, there was a knock at the door. "Aurors Podmore and Nigellus to see you, Mr. Potter!"

"Yes, send them in!" Harry sat down behind his desk, made one futile attempt to flatten his untidy hair, and took a deep breath. He wanted to get this over quickly. The two Aurors came in and Amanda left them alone. John opened his mouth to speak, but Harry spoke first: "I'm going to take the lead on the evidence presentation at the trial today."

There was a moment of silence where no one spoke. "Where's the punchline? Because you can't be serious." It was Abraxas and he did not look happy.

"I'm sorry, but I think it's what's best for – "

"You CANNOT be serious! This is our case! The arresting Aurors always present the evidence at trial. Always! We were there, we're the ones who collected it for Merlin's sake! We prepared all night specifically to do this!" Abraxas had gotten to his feet, an impressive move by a man his size. But Harry was far from intimidated.

"While I am impressed by your professional response here, I'm sorry to say that it hasn't changed my mind." Abraxas was sputtering in disbelief.

"John, you can't possibly agree with this." John had remained silent, but Harry knew he was just as unhappy as his more outspoken partner – John just liked to consider his words more carefully.

"Abraxas has a point. There is case precedent for treating evidence as less impactful when it is presented by someone other than a primary source for that evidence. Orion Doxon will certainly use this against us. You said yourself that we cannot afford a misstep in this trial. Why take this risk?" Abraxas, still on his feet, was gripping his chair so tightly that his knuckles were white.

Damn. John had a very good point. Unfortunately, Harry didn't care. He'd been on the sidelines too long; he was going to do something himself. "In our situation, it is best for our case if I present the evidence. I've matched up against Doxon before – I know his style and how he will try to poke holes in our case. I'm the best option to get a conviction. This is my final decision."

Abraxas turned abruptly and left Harry's office without another word, slamming the door on his way out. John got out of his chair slowly, looking at Harry with a frown. "Very well. Anything else, Mr. Potter?"

"That'll be all. See you at the trial."

The rest of the morning crawled by. Harry was fitted for and received his new Wizengamot robes, confirmed the plan for the prosecution with Kingsley, and made contact with the key witnesses they expected to take the stand today – and it was still two hours until the trial. Unable to wait in his office any longer, Harry decided to just head to the courtroom early. Unlike his office there might be people to talk to there.

Harry left his office and headed to the lift, his security team trailing behind like four grey shadows. Today's security team was four entirely different wizards than the bathroom boys from yesterday. His security was rotated frequently so that potential assassins would have a more difficult time gaining leverage over one of them. At first Harry had tried talking and joking with his security wizards, but these days he didn't even bother learning their names.

"Good luck today, Mr. Potter!" Amanda called and Harry gave her a wave without slowing down. Harry walked briskly to the lifts, now that he'd decided to go to the courtroom he wanted to be there as soon as possible. The lift's golden grilles opened up and Harry did double take. The lift already had one occupant: a tall, slim man with sleek blonde hair. He was handsome, despite the disgusted look now making its way across his face. Harry entered and stood next to him as the grilles shut. Both men faced forward, not looking at each other.

"Malfoy."

"Potter."

"Been a long time."

"Yes, and yet nothing seems to have changed. You were always the golden boy then, Dumbledore's favorite pet. Now you're just the Minister's golden boy – or is it golden man, now? Either way, forgive me if I don't bow or ask for your autograph."

Harry smiled. "No, things haven't changed. I seem to remember saving your life in the Battle of Hogwarts. I also seem remember testifying on your behalf afterwards, keeping you out of Azkaban. You didn't say 'thank you' then, and I'm sure you won't say it now. A petty person would say that you owe me one – a big one, at that. All I'm looking for is a little gratitude. But, you know what they say", Harry said thumping Malfoy on the back, "'once a git, always a git.'"

Malfoy turned to face him and opened his mouth to speak, but Harry interjected first, "Ah, ah, ah! Think carefully on what you're about to say. If any one of these four strapping security wizards think you've threatened me…well, things wouldn't go so well for you."

"And you said I abused my power when I was just a prefect at school", Malfoy said shaking his head. "But you've really taken that up a notch. Such ambition, maybe you should have been in Slytherin. So ambitious in fact, I hear they've made you the leader of some kind of wizard army? Makes sense, you had been in charge of only half the Ministry, not nearly enough people for you to boss around."

"The National Reserve?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow. "I'd hardly call them an army. Besides, I hardly ever use them." At this Malfoy burst out into laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Just you making this way too easy", Malfoy said still chuckling. "These soldiers of yours in the National Reserve, a lot of people have begun referring to them as 'Potter's Privates'. So when you say that you 'hardly ever use them', well the jokes just write themselves", Malfoy finished with a malicious grin.

Harry and Draco stood in silence for a few moments. The lift stopped on two other floors but, while no other people got on, the lift did pick up several interdepartmental memos – paper airplanes bewitched to fly from one floor to the other. Several of them circled above their heads when Harry broke the silence. "Your wife – she's a Greengrass, isn't she? Is she related to Belvina?"

Draco stiffened, but he nodded. "Her aunt. I suppose you've grown tired of trying to throw my biological family in Azkaban and have decided to move on to my in-laws?"

"Draco, I'm sorry", Harry said solemnly. "I'm sure this is a very tough time for your family right now, but I have to uphold the law. I have –"

"Don't, Potter!" Malfoy snarled, suddenly angry. He took a few deep breaths, then turned back to stare at the front of the lift, his anger fading away just as quickly as it came. "Just don't. If you don't mind, I'd prefer to spend the rest of this miserable lift ride in silence."

They did just that. The grilles finally opened on the bottom floor and a cool female voice said, "Level Nine – Department of Mysteries". The courtrooms were on level 10, just one floor below, but were only accessible by stairs. Draco left the lift at once and walked over to a dark-haired woman waving at him. Astoria Greengass – well, Astoria Malfoy now. Draco's wife and niece of the woman about to go on trial for four murders.

Slightly shaken, Harry took the stairs down to level 10. He wondered how bad it would be if one of Ginny's relatives – now Harry's in-laws – turned out to be a deranged murderer. The Weasleys were Harry's favorite people in the world. They were his family – always in spirit, but now by marriage too. Harry emerged on level 10 feeling bad for Malfoy when he saw a woman crying outside the courtrooms. Middle aged, curly brown hair just starting to grey – he recognized her, had spoken to her the day before. Lisa Fawcett. Mother of Phoebe, the 12-year-old girl that had been kidnapped and held captive by Belvina Greengrass for 10 days. She wouldn't be the only mother of a victim. Four people had been murdered and their loved ones would be coming to court today. Harry was going to bring this woman to justice, Malfoy would just have to deal with it.

Harry stood just outside the courtroom doors so he could see everyone as they entered. He arranged his security to stand in front of him so he could see out but others would have a hard time seeing him – or at least recognizing him. After twenty minutes of watching some early birds enter the courtroom, the man he'd been waiting for approached. Orion Doxon looked impressive – a few inches over six feet tall with a lean, muscular build. Harry knew he was nearing 50 now, but he certainly didn't look it. His neatly trimmed beard did have a few wayward greys in it, but his slicked back hair was as black as ever. He wore the traditional trial robes of wizard lawmen – black with a thick vertical band of steel grey down the middle. Harry noticed that he'd added a cape to this ensemble. On most people the cape would have looked ridiculous, but Orion made it look natural.

Orion's grey eyes locked onto to Harry's green ones before Harry could move. "Harry, is that you?"

"Eyes are still sharp as a hawk, Orion", Harry said squeezing past his security wizards. "With senses like that maybe you should still be an Auror."

Orion smiled and shook Harry's hand. "I'm afraid those days are behind me, Harry. I've only been in law for a few years and already my time as an Auror feels like a different lifetime."

"Well you've certainly done well for yourself as a lawman, no one can deny that. But surely you must miss it sometimes – the thrill of the chase, the adrenaline rush of a fight, that 'aha!' moment when the evidence falls into place and you solve a case."

Orion shrugged, "I think about it sometimes, but I prefer my work now. Besides, I've found that daydreaming about being an Auror is much better than actually being an Auror." He raised one eyebrow slightly, "And I think that's a feeling you're familiar with."

Harry had no desire to talk about his current job satisfaction, so he got straight to the point. "Why are you defending her, Doxon? She did it. You have to know that. You've always prosecuted criminals and defended the innocent. Why are you doing this?"

Orion's friendly demeanor vanished at once. "Mr. Potter, you know I cannot answer that. I can divulge the obvious – Miss Greengrass contacted me, we spoke, and I decided to take her case. Anything beyond that is privileged information that I am barred from revealing." His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "If you're attempting to leverage our previous working relationship to obtain confidential information on this case outside of the trial itself – that would be a flagrant violation of magical law."

Harry exhaled, "Doxon, I-"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter, I won't be questioned in this casual manner. If you have anything else you want to say to me, you can do so in front of the Wizengamot." And with that, Orion Doxon turned away and entered the courtroom.

Harry let out a sigh of frustration. Lawmen, impossible to talk to. Harry had been on a number of Auror missions with Doxon – he'd always been friendly and funny, if not overly forthcoming. But ever since he left the Auror's office for the law office, talking to him was like talking to a sphynx – nothing but secrets and riddles.

Harry remained outside the courtroom for the next half hour. Chatting briefly with a few people who entered and ducking behind his security team to hide from a few others. John and Abraxas arrived and it was clear they recognized Harry's security immediately. But they walked in without so much as a second glance in Harry's direction (although Abraxas' jaw was clenched so tight Harry worried he might crack a tooth).

Finally, the two people he'd most wanted to see arrived. Hermione looked just as she did yesterday. Bushy brown hair, medium height, and brown eyes. Ron hadn't changed much since Hogwarts either: tall, red-haired and freckled, but he was much more solid than the gangly boy Harry shared a dormitory with for so many years.

"Blimey, Harry!" Ron said in a whisper that nevertheless carried throughout the corridor. "Where have you been? We went straight to your office and you weren't there! I thought we were going to practice my testimony!"

"Relax, Ron. You won't be giving testimony today, we can rehearse after the trial."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. A trial like this will last several days, maybe even weeks. The first day is scheduled out pretty tightly. The prosecutor will read out the charges, both sides will make an opening statement and then we'll move on to the presentation of physical evidence. We'll only hear testimony from one or two witnesses today and, as a circumstantial witness that saw a victim before the crime but has no knowledge of the accused herself, you'll be one of the last to go."

Ron gave a sigh of relief and Hermione squeezed his hand. "Harry, I heard that Orion Doxon is defending her. Is that true?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded and she continued. "Are you worried? He's really an incredible attorney. He's never lost a case on the defense! And he's such an incredible writer too, his latest paper on Goblin's Rights in Wizarding Society was the best dissertation I've read in years. He –"

"Hermione!" Ron interjected. "Not helping."

Hermione did stop talking but she looked like she could've gone on at length about Doxon's legal prowess. "I told you, Hermione – our case is airtight. No one, not even Doxon, will be able to get her out of this. Kingsley is presiding over the trial himself. Let's go inside and get seats, the trial should begin soon."

They entered the courtroom with Harry feeling distinctly squeamish about Doxon presenting the defense. It was really his fault that Doxon could take on this case at all. One of the first things Harry had done as Head of the Auror's Office, was to secure a high-ranking seat on the Wizengamot and push Kingsley to pass new legislation requiring all defendants to have an attorney. No one could be prosecuted without legal representation. Harry had been on trial in this very courtroom 12 years before. A 15-year-old boy with absolutely no knowledge of wizarding law, called before the entire Wizengamot to answer for his crime. His "crime" had been conjuring a Patronus charm to save both himself and his cousin Dudley from a dementor attack. Fortunately for Harry, Albus Dumbledore had shown up, defended Harry, brought a witness (which Harry hadn't known was allowed), and ultimately got Harry cleared of all charges. Had Dumbledore not shown up, Harry was certain he would've been expelled or even sent to Azkaban.

The year before Harry's own trial experience, he had seen several trials that took place during the First Wizarding War by way of Dumbledore's pensieve. The accused in these trials were brought in by dementors, chained to a chair and subjected to interrogation. The majority of these people were bona fide Death Eaters, so Harry didn't feel much sympathy for them, but they certainly hadn't gotten a fair trial. Only one man from the trials Harry watched in Dumbledore's memory was actually found innocent, and it wasn't on the basis of his legal maneuvering. Ludo Bagman was certainly not an honest man, but Harry was just as certain that he was no Death Eater. He was dragged before the Wizengamot and interrogated like the rest. The judge for the trial, Barty Crouch Sr., was hell-bent on convicting Bagman but was outvoted by the rest of the Wizengamot. Bagman, a professional quidditch player, was extremely popular and had just led England to a World Cup win.

Harry didn't want to be part of a system where only professional quidditch players and personal friends of Albus Dumbledore got fair trials. So, as inconvenient as it was to have Doxon on the defense, Harry still preferred it to the sham trials of the past.

A gong sounded throughout the courtroom and everyone, Harry, Ron, and Hermione included, stood up. "All rise for the judge of this case: Minister for Magic and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Kingsley Shacklebolt!" The same cool female voice that narrated the lifts was now magically projected throughout the courtroom. Kingsley entered the room flanked by six security wizards in steel grey robes. He walked past the table where the defendant would sit (the chairs notably devoid of chains) and sat in the center of the front row of the courtroom, though his security remained standing around him. As Kingsley sat so did the rest of the courtroom.

Kingsley's booming voice echoed throughout the dark room "Bring in the accused!" The courtroom doors were flung wide open. Orion Doxon and Belvina Greengrass were at the center of no less than twelve aurors. The courtroom immediately burst into excited whispering. The aurors led the pair to the table at the center of the courtroom. Belvina was no longer restrained or gagged, but she wore the same elegant dress from the day before. If she was scared she sure did a great job of hiding it. Her pretty face was serious but unafraid. Belvina and Doxon found their seats and their auror escort spread out to form a larger circle around them

"Let us begin." Harry had seen some wizards magically magnify their voices when speaking to large crowds. Kingsley Shacklebolt needed no such assistance. "Criminal hearing on April 12th into offenses committed against Magical Law by Belvina Samantha Greengrass of Number 41 Vauxhall Road, London." Kingsley looked up from the scroll he'd been reading from and addressed the accused. "Are you Belvina Samantha Greengrass of Number 41 Vauxhall Road, London?"

"I am." Belvina's calm response revived the whispers throughout the court.

"The accused is present. Witness for the Defense: Orion Doxon, Order of Merlin First Class. Prosecutors: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic and Harry James Potter, Head of the Auror's Office." At this pronouncement the whispers increased in volume and several members of the court clamored to get a look at Harry. Kingsley raised his wand, and the incredibly loud gong sounded once again, restoring peace.

An assistant in dark blue robes handed Kingsley a second scroll of parchment. This would be the charges brought against the accused. As soon as Kingsley finished reading that, the accused would plead 'not guilty' and then Harry was up. Harry wasn't sure if it was nerves or excitement, but he had to actively focus to stop tapping his foot.

"You are being charged with the following crimes: murder in the first degree by way of the Killing Curse for the death of Tina Thomas, which carries a mandatory life sentence in Azkaban. Murder in the first degree…"

Kinglsey had to read out every single charge, Harry really wished he'd hurry up. Four murders, two instances of the Imperius Curse, five uses of the Cruciatus Curse and one kidnapping. Quite the rap sheet. Harry thought the biggest crime of all was making him wait here so long listening to them. He had so much energy – he thought he might literally jump out of his seat when Kingsley called on him.

"Lastly, you are charged with the kidnapping of Phoebe Fawcett…"

Come on, come on!

"Which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in Azkaban." Kingsley finally lowered his scroll and looked to the center of the room. "Do you understand these charges as I have read them to you?"

Orion Doxon stood up. "Yes, Minister, we do."

"How do you plead?"

"Guilty. To all charges."

"Very well, Mr. Po –" Kingsley had started to look at Harry but his head jerked back to Doxon. "What!?"

"My client pleads guilty to all charges."

The courtroom positively erupted in chatter. People were standing up, trying to get closer to the courtroom floor, certain they had misheard. But not Harry. He sat rooted to the spot. Mouth agape, all nervous energy evaporated.

Kingsley rose to his feet. "You understand that a guilty plea will result in your client serving 11 consecutive life sentences in Azkaban. The results of this trial cannot possibly increase her maximum sentence." The crowd noise dropped to near silent as they waited for Doxon's response.

"We do understand, Your Honor. We understand the charges, the sentences they carry, and the potential results of this trial. My client pleads guilty to all charges."

"Very well. Aurors! Take her to Azkaban!" The courtroom was a cacophony. Everyone was on their feet, most talking to their neighbors but others shouting jeers down at Belvina. The twelve aurors surrounded Belvina, clapped her wrists in manacles and dragged her away.

Harry finally turned his head to look at Ron.

"What the bloody hell was that!?"