Chapter 067

Once he was gone up the stairs she looked about at all the silent housemates in the room and said, "Gee whiz; are you people stupid. Harry was right when he said he believed almost all witches and wizards where daft morons. Less than twenty minutes ago you people proved it."

Then she went and got changed, herself. She wanted to be out of the 'finery' she was wearing and into more comfortable... muggle... clothes.

Just after she ascended the stairs to the girls' dorms a large gaggle of Gryffindor students entered and began to tell the others there what they had witnessed Harry do to the large boulder on the edge of the lake.

That had quite a few rethinking any idea of approaching either of the two teens. It was well-known Harry would do so much more to someone who annoyed Hermione, than himself. And quite a few of those who were in the common room that had not seen what Harry had done to the boulder quickly made their way out of the tower and down to the grounds to see for themselves.

Within the hour everyone, including Filch, had learned of what Harry had done to the lakeside boulder because he was angry with his housemates. No one, any longer, doubted his power. And the same could be said for both the Durmstrang ship and Beauxbatons carriage occupants.

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That evening, Flitwick waited pretty much until all the students of Hogwarts had entered the Great Hall for dinner before he rose to stand on his seat.

"Students!" he called.

That had the Hall quiet down pretty quickly. There'd be very few there who did not know what he was likely to want to say.

Once the noise died right down he more quietly, but still with enough volume to reach the other end of the Hall, said, "Students... Many of you would be wondering what happened at today's trials. I'm sure you will be given a more in-depth analysis of them in tomorrow morning's Daily Prophet. However, I'm prepared at this time to give you an overview.

"The first trial of the day was of our Minister, Cornelius Fudge. Or, I should say now, our ex-Minister. Mister Fudge was found guilty of the crimes of abuse of authority as an officer of the Ministry, exceeding his authority as a Minister, and a few others. He was found guilty of all charges bar one. And that one they only gave a finding of no finding; meaning they did not find him either innocent or guilty of the charge. As punishment he was fined one hundred thousand galleons, stripped of his position as Minister, banned from ever holding a position within the Ministry ever again and sentenced to seven years imprisonment in the light security wing of Azkaban. As such, elections for a new Minister will soon be held.

"The second trial was of Madam Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary of Magic to the Minister. She was sent to Azkaban for ten years for her troubles.

"The third trial was a surprising one. When everyone expected the next trial to be that of Bartemius Crouch Senior, instead it was for Sirius Black who stepped forward."

As the noise in the Hall rose with shocked exclamations and quiet chattering among the students he fired a cannon blast charm in the air.

"Please, students; be quiet so I can get through this so the meal can begin. If you want to discuss what you've heard, do it after the meal has been served."

Again, the noise backed right off.

When he felt it was quiet enough he continued. "Evidence that immediately came to light in Lord Black's trial was that he never received a trial in the first place. He was summarily tossed into Azkaban without one. If they had given the man a trial back then, there is no doubt in the minds of anyone who attended he would never have been tossed into Azkaban in the first place. Instead, just as he was this time, he would have been found innocent of all charges.

"It was found that the real betrayer of the Potters and the true Secret Keeper was Peter Pettigrew. Further, it was also proven that Peter Pettigrew is still alive and is, currently, still at-large. An arrest warrant has been issued for his arrest and it is expected he will be stripped of his Order of Merlin, Third Class.