Harry Potter, Sovereign - Chapter 23

Once everyone got seated, Harry simply standing next to the accused chair, Fudge ordered the start of the session.

“Disciplinary hearing of the 12th of August, into offences committed under the Decree of Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Secrecy, by Harry James Potter, resident at number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey” stated the minister. “Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Court Scribe, Percival Ignatus Weasley.The cha-”

“Advocate for the defense, Caitlyn Steeleglass” interrupted Caitlyn as she placed herself at the defendant stand. “It is supposed to be in your files.”

A little thrown of, Fudge was about to resume the proceedings when the pink clothed woman intervened. “Mr Potter, be seated on the accused chair” she ordered with poorly hidden condescendance.

“No” Harry simply replied, with some steel in his tone.

That made everyone look at him with incredulous or outraged faces.

“You! How dare a mere boy like you talk back to his better?” Umbridge nearly shouted.

“My better? You? You must be delusional.”

There were a few muffled snickers from the crowd. Before more could be said, Caitlyn intervened.

“Mr Fudge, Madam Umbridge, Madam Bones, my client is not required to sit on that chair.”

“First, all notices about a change of time and/or place of a hearing are to be sent at least an hour before the new time. We only had a 10min notice, and that was because we came to the ministry early. Second, all disciplinary hearings for underage witches and wizards are to take place within the DMLE offices. Third, hearing for cases such as underage magic do not require the presence of the wizengamot. The courtrooms are for criminal hearings.”

She paused to give a critical look to the the wizengamot members. There were a few whispers and nods of agreements.

“It was in this very room that the Death Eaters were tried 14 years ago, and they sat on the very chair you want my client to be seated in. Is the ministry trying to put my client on the same level as murderous terrorists by trying him here in front of the full wizengamot?”

She gave the 3 interrogators, and mostly the minister a piercing look. Her words also rattled some of the wizengamot members. The members of the dark faction glared at her, their previously confident demeanor gone. She completly broke the opposition’s momentum with her next sentence.

“What you are doing, minister Fudge, is in violation of the Wizengamot Charter of Rights. We are filing an official complaint against the ministry of magic, for your attempts to deny my clients his rights under the law.”

The noise level rose in the courtroom, and some veiled insults were heard. One thing Harry and his ladies noticed was the approval, and even some relief, in Amelia Bones expression. They had learned that she was a tough and fair woman, who wouldn’t be bribed. They were disappointed at first to see her alongside Fudge and Umbridge, but they quickly realised that she must have been hindered a lot by Fudge and his supporters.

The minister looked like he had been slapped with a fish, and his undersecretary was reddening, her already unpleasant face becoming hideous as it was scrunched in anger. The look she gave them was poisonous to the extrem.

The woman wanted him dead, Harry was certain of that fact, and he really didn’t appreciate it. He hadn’t known her long enough to actually be furious at her or hate her. He bypassed those. What he felt at that moment was pure enmity. He wanted her dead.

“The charges, please” asked the sniper.

“R-right” replied the minister, trying to keep face.

Before he could proceed further, the doors of the courtroom slamed open, and Albus Dumbledore, in his flamboyant robes, entered the room. He was about to present himself as Harry’s defense when his gaze landed on the unknown woman at the defendant stand. He also caught sight of 2 other women nearby, and he felt through his refined magical sense that they were quite powerful. Then, there was Harry, standing near the accused chair in pristine robes, with the Potter Family crest on it.

“Dumbledore!” Fudge nearly growled.

“Mr Minister, forgive my intrusion. As mr Potter is one of my students, I intended to be here for his defense. I was quite surprised when the time and place of the hearing were changed at the last minute, so I was in a bit of a hurry when I arrived here.”

When Harry disappeared, he though that at worst he could get ahold of him at the ministry for his hearing since there was no hints of him having been captured by Voldemort. He was convinced that Harry wouldn’t give up on magic, and that he could sway him back to his care by defending him. When he heard from his informants that the hearing was going to take place ahead of schedule, he panicked. He rushed, thinking that Harry wouldn’t know about it, be tried in abstencia and expelled. It would be disastrous for his plans.

“My client is thankful for your care headmaster Dumbledore” Caitlyn said, a sliver of her distaste slipping in her tone at the words ‘thankful’ and ‘care’. “However, I am already in charge of his defense. You can watch the rest of the proceeding from the visitors gallery.”

Harry’s face twitched at her words. He was NOT pleased to see the headmaster. Dumbledore’s face also twitched. He didn’t like the fact that some unknown person had been in contact with Harry, especially someone that seemed to have told him about his family standing, judging by the clothes he wore. And Harry didn’t seem to be particulary happy to see him. Not good.

“Harry James Potter” said Fudge, “You are charged with one account of underage magic usage, and one account of use of magic in front of a muggle, thereby breaking the International Statute of Secrecy. How do you plead?”

“My client plead innocent to both charges.”

“Impossible!” Fudge nearly shouted. “Mr Potter’s usage of the patronus charm was clearly detected by the ministry sensors in his neighborhood, a muggle neighborhood I might add!”

“”One account of use of magic in front of a muggle”, that is what you said. Do you have any witnesses?… Judging by your expression, obviously not. Were you there? No. The ministry sensors detect magic, not the people around it. How would you know there was a muggle nearby if you weren’t there? This is a baseless accusation mr Minister.”

Fudge was barely able to contain any sputtering, and the opinions of all those presents aside from supporters of Voldemort shifted further in favor of Harry.

“Mr Potter lives with his relatives. If you have forgotten, for all magical children living with non-magical relatives, said relatives are made aware of the existence of magic. Any magic performed in front of them doesn’t breach the Statute. The professors meeting the muggleborns would be in trouble if that wasn’t the case. Then, the Decree of Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery state that an underage witch or wizard can use magic in a life threatening situation. That is what happened to my client. He had to defend himself from the attack of 2 dementors.”

A lot of whispering and muttering was heard through the room, and Fudge and Umbridge vehemently denied the claims, while director Bones wanted more details.

But then again, Caitlyn reminded the minister and his undersecretary that they didn’t have any witnesses to deny their claims. She informed them that Harry was attacked by dementors twice in front of witnesses during his 3rd year at Hogwart, despite ministry assusrances that there would be no mishaps, so it wasn’t impossible.

“Tell me, mr Fudge” Harry started with a bit of sarcasm in his tone, “why would creatures supposedly under the control of the ministry suddenly find themselves in my neighborhood? Either you lost control of them, or somebody in your office gave the order. And seeing how you led a smear compaign against me since the end of the school year and broke protocols for this hearing, I can’t help but feel the second option is more likely” he finished coldly.

Silence descended in the courtrrom for a second, as they digested the fact that Harry mentioned what some of them thought this blattantly. And it wasn’t just any orphan saying that. It was the sole heir of an Ancient and Noble House. Harry didn’t have a proper control of his new magical might, so he unconsciously exerted some magical pressure. It have him a dominating aura that reinforced the weight of his words

During that second, Harry’s summons didn’t miss the reaction from Umbridge. It was a small facial change, but for an instant they saw the worry. Her complexion, previously red due to fury had paled. Caitlyn saw the flash of fear in her eyes. It was clear to them that she linked to the attaxk in some way.

The noise level rose again in the courtroom, with angry remarqus made to the interrogators. Too many suspicious points on the ministry part were revealed for Fudge and Umbridge to keep their accusations against Harry without suffering from severe backlash. They had wanted to thoroughly discredit him and render him defenceless, and instead they lost a fair bit of support.

Around 70% of the wizengamot voted him to be innocent on both charges, and Fudge and Umbridge couldn’t stop Bones from starting an investigation. She gave both Harry and Caitlyn a discreet nod. This scam of a trial unexpectedly gave her some breathing room from the moron in charge.

Harry thanked the members of the wizengamot with a small bow and started to leave, Caitlyn at his side, and Scathach and Xuanzang close behind.