Blood Quill

"Mr. Potter," Madame Bones rebuked him. "Please refrain from making comments like that at this hearing. Minister Fudge is having a hard enough time keeping silent as it is."

Both Harry and Hermione looked over and saw the Minister was red faced and appeared to be biting his lips in order to keep from saying something he might regret.

"Yes ma'am," Harry nodded. He really didn't want to get the pompous little man started, even if he would enjoy seeing what Madame Bones did to him for breaking his promise. Then he asked something that had been puzzling him about Umbitch's behaviour. "What really surprises me, ma'am is that Umbridge is sitting there so calmly. I would have expected her to be foaming at the mouth in paranoia by now. How did you manage that?"

"She was given three calming draughts before the hearing began." Madame Bones told him. "The draughts don't interfere with her ability to mount a defence, but they have kept her hysterics down."

Harry smiled at the thought of Umbitch tranquillised like a patient in a mental ward.

Returning to the matter before them, Madame Bones asked. "Did you deliberately provide sub-standard teaching to the students at Hogwarts?"

"I think you will find from the records," Umbridge said proudly, "that year I taught saw a number of the students who got the highest scores ever in the history of Hogwarts on their Defence OWLs and NEWTs. I think that proves I was anything but an incompetent teacher. It also proves that I was not teaching sub-standard classes."

"Given that all you had them doing was reading out of books and no practical spellwork, how do you account for the high grades that the fifth and seventh year students received?" Madame Bones wanted to know.

Again looking smug, Umbridge said, "It just goes to show that with superior materials, a student can learn what is needed without having to practice the spells ahead of time. It also goes to show that a Ministry appointed teacher did far better than all the teachers chosen by Albus Dumbledore. I mean he hired a werewolf to teach the students, that just shows you the level of incompetence of the previous teachers."

As Hermione stared at the idiotic woman in disbelief, she heard loud snort from Harry.

"You disagree with Madame Umbridge's assessment of why you and your fellow students did so well on your OWLs, Mr. Potter?" The other elderly witch on the tribunal, Madame Amelia Postern asked.

"Yes ma'am I do." Harry told her. "First of all Remus Lupin was an excellent teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts. I did some checking and prior to my fifth year, the fifth and seventh year students he taught, all scored the best on their OWLs and NEWTs even if they did not have scores as high as we did. As for my fifth year, I have a list of the members of the Defence Association, a study group we formed because of Umbridge's incompetent teaching skills, and I'm willing to bet that if you check every single member of the DA is one of the students who scored high on either the Defence OWLs, NEWTs, or with their regular end of year defence exams.

Those who did poorly, which included most of the Slytherins, all relied on what they learned in Umbridge's classes. And other than exposure to her prejudice against half-breeds and other 'non-human' creatures,"

Harry made the gesture for quotes in the air when he said the words non-human, "I doubt that anybody learned anything useful from that woman. And I dread to think of what might have happened if that woman had managed to last more than a year as Defence teacher. Why in few years we might have had Aurors who couldn't fight their way out of paper bags." Then he was heard muttering, "not that they're much better now."

"And we all know your opinion of those in authority, don't we Mr. Potter?" Mr. Merkson spoke up quickly. "You have quite a history of detentions and rule breaking, don't you?"

"Mr. Potter isn't the one on trial, Merkson." Mr Boet pointed out. "He is the victim here, not Umbridge."

"How do we know that for sure? After all it is only his word against Madame Umbridge's on all of these charges and he does have a well-documented history of lying and rule breaking. He even admitted to this court just now that he had a study group in violation of Ministry edicts." Merkson retorted.

"Are you referring to the time when, at the Minister's instigation," Harry glared at Fudge as he said this, "the Daily Prophet was calling me a liar because I claimed that Voldemort had returned?" Harry shook his head as everyone but he, Granger, and Mr. Boet flinched again at the mention of the former Dark Lord's name. "Well we know who was telling the truth there now don't we? And it is not just my word on some of the more serious charges. You heard Miss Granger testify that Umbridge admitted to sending the Dementors after me."

"Gentlemen," Madame Bones interrupted. "Can we get back to the matter at hand? Mr. Merkson, Mr. Boet is quite correct. Mr. Potter is not the one on trial here, your client is. We still have several more charges that we need to get through. Mr. Potter, I would appreciate that list so we can check it."

Harry nodded and with a slight wave of his hand a paper flew from the table he was sitting at to land in front of Madame Bones.

"Next charge please, Miss Glendowling." Madame Bones instructed.

"It is charged," Glendowling read the next charge. "That Madame Umbridge brought into Hogwarts a forbidden Dark item known as a Blood Quill and used it on the students."

"As a Ministry employee, you know it is a capital offence to even have, let alone use a Blood Quill on another human being." Bones stared intently at the woman. "Did you bring a Blood Quill into Hogwarts and use it on the students?"

"I know very well what items are and are not allowed into Hogwarts and I brought no forbidden items into Hogwarts. Nor did I use them on any human beings" Umbridge told her.

"Interesting dance around the truth," Harry observed. "If a Blood Quill is not specifically listed as a forbidden item at Hogwarts, then you told the truth, but given that the Blood Quill has been a banned item in the wizarding community for almost two hundred years, you still possessed something you should not have had and violated the law by using it and if the back of my hand is not proof of that, then there are several other students, I'm sure could be brought in here to testify to your use of it on them."

"May we see you hand?" Martin Bellacote requested pulling out his wand.

Harry stepped up to the tribunal's table and presented his hand for their examination. The words 'I must not tell lies' were clearly visible as scars on the back of his hand.

The wizard touched his wand to the back of Harry's hand and muttered, "Suggero Malum Radix."

An image of a quill floated up high enough for everyone to see, and Hermione was pleased to see that Umbridge's face paled slightly.

"The scars on the back of Mr. Potter's hand were caused by a Blood Quill," Bellacote concluded. "You do know the law don't you Madame Umbridge? Because a Blood Quill is considered an instrument of torture, the penalty is an automatic twenty years in Azkaban for each time the Quill is used on a witch or wizard."

"It hasn't yet been proven that Madame Umbridge brought the Blood quill to Hogwarts let alone used it on any students there." Her solicitor pointed out.

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