chapter 4

Harry felt a surge of annoyance. Madam Bones had said that he should not be facing a trial by Wizengamot for his crime. The Minister's earlier question proved that the man had been hoping to make Harry look bad by changing the time and the place of the hearing without letting Harry know in enough time. And now they expected him to sit in that chair.

Harry stood resolute and asked "And if I refuse to accept being treated like a murdering Death Eater?"

The murmur of many voices talking at once began again, and became louder than it had been when he first entered the courtroom.

Someone began banging a gavel, causing Harry to wonder just when the British Ministry had taken to mimicking the Muggle courts of the United States, as Muggle judges in England did not make use of such things, and never had; despite what films and television shows claimed (he knew this thanks to a lecture from Hermione in his second year.) Nevertheless, the action served its purpose; the members of the Wizengamot quietened down and Madam Bones spoke "I appreciate your concern, Mr Potter, but you have my assurances that the spells on the chains of that particular chair have been removed."

Harry eyed the Wizengamot with a doubtful look for a moment longer before making his way over to the chair and sitting in it. The black chains seemed to twitch, almost as if threatening him, but true to Madam Bones' word, he wasn't bound to the chair as the Death Eaters had been.

Upon entering the room, Harry had felt slightly sick. Now he felt a little more self-confident. The thing he had to remember, to focus on was that Madam Bones was the head of Magical Law Enforcement and she was on his side… at least in so far as being disapproving of the way his hearing was being carried out anyway.

"Very well," said Minister Fudge, a portly man who usually wore a lime green bowler hat (though today he appeared to have dispensed with it) "With the accused now present, let us begin. Are you ready?" he called down to where Percy Weasley was sitting, parchment and quill poised for writing.

"Yes, Minister." Percy called back.

In a ringing voice, Fudge began "Disciplinary hearing on the twelfth of August into offences committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the Statute of Secrecy by one Harry James Potter, of Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. Interrogators; Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; and Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic."

Harry frowned in confusion and thought 'Senior what to the Minister?" He knew that some businesses liked to create job titles out of thin air or pad them out to make the position sound more important than it actually was but bloody hell, that one just about took the biscuit! Come to that why was a secretary going to decide his fate? Shouldn't she be doing Percy's job while someone like Mafalda Hopkirk sat in the seat she was currently occupying? Harry noticed that she hadn't come down here with him and Madam Bones, and it was her office he was in trouble with!

Oblivious to Harry's internal rant, Minister Fudge continued on "Court Scribe Percival Ignatius Weasley…"

On and on the list of names went, with Harry fairly certain that there had been a "half-sister to the lady who cleans the canteen on a Thursday afternoon" in there somewhere, but nowhere was there a mention of someone who might be on Harry's side. He was fairly certain he was entitled to a solicitor or something like that to speak in his defence here. Come to think of it, where was Dumbledore? Harry was certain that in amongst that man's many titles there was a 'Chief Something to the Wizengamot.' So where was he now, because from the sounds of it every member of the Wizengamot was present, along with every member of their respective families.

And the neighbour's dog!

Finally the long and boring list of names and pointless titles was ended and Fudge got on with the actual proceedings "So, we all know the charges," Harry wasn't entirely sure anymore but wasn't about to interrupt again; he was bored enough already. Fudge continued to tell them all anyway "The accused did knowingly, deliberately and in full awareness of the illegality of his actions, having received a previous warning from the Ministry of Magic, produce a Patronus Charm in a Muggle-inhabited area, in the presence of a Muggle, on the second of August at twenty-three minutes past nine in the evening, which constitutes an offence under Paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, and also under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy, 1692."

Fudge looked up from the sheet of parchment before him, from which he had read the charges, and turned his gaze upon Harry.

"You are Harry James Potter of Number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey?"

"Yes." Harry said.

"You received an official warning from the Ministry for using illegal magic three years ago, did you not?"

"Yes, but-"

"And yet you conjured a Patronus on the night of the second of August?"

"Yes," replied Harry "but-"

"Knowing that you are not permitted to use magic outside of school while you are under the age of seventeen?"

"Yes, but-"

"Knowing that you were in an area filled with Muggles?"

"Yes, but-"

"Fully aware that you were in close proximity to a Muggle at the time?"

"Yes," said Harry angrily "but I only used it because we were-"

It was Madam Bones who cut across him this time "You produced a fully-fledged Patronus?"

"Yes," said Harry "because-"

"A corporeal Patronus?"

"A – what?" asked Harry.

"Your patronus had a clearly defined form? Was it more than mere vapour?"

"Yes, it's a stag. Always a stag." replied Harry who, quite frankly, was getting fed up with this questioning. They weren't letting him answer the key question of why he cast the Patronus in the first place.

"Always?" asked Madam Bones "You've produced a Patronus before now?"

"Yes," replied Harry "I've had to do it before."

"Had to?"

"Yes," said Harry "I thought that the Ministry was aware of that."

"And why would we be?" asked Madam Bones.

"Well in my third year, the Ministry of Magic ordered that a group of Dementors be stationed around the school for the safety of the students. After one attacked me on the Hogwarts Express and a whole lot of them attacked my in the middle of a Quidditch match, causing me to fall from a height of over a hundred feet, the Defence Professor volunteered his time to teach me."

Harry looked directly at the Minister, who looked slightly uncomfortable at his words. Harry chose to drive his point home. "Surely you remember, Minister. The Dementors attacking me at the Quidditch match was why the Headmaster refused them any further access to the grounds, no matter how much you insisted."

Fudge was now turning a shade of purple that would have done Harry's Uncle Vernon proud "Be that as it may, it does not exempt you from the fact that you performed the spell in the presence of a Muggle."

The Wizengamot began murmuring again. On seeing Percy give a sanctimonious little nod, Harry was driven to speak.

"I did it because we were being attacked by Dementors." he said loudly, before anyone else could interrupt him."

Harry had expected the response to that statement to be more muttering. What he got was silence.

Finally the quiet was broken by laughter coming from Fudge "Ah, yes," he said "Yes, I was wondering when we'd be hearing some cock-and-bull story like this one."

"Cornelius," said Madam Bones, and Harry was pleased to note that there was a tone on warning in her voice.

She turned to Harry and asked "What do you mean by that last statement?"

"It's simple," replied Harry "my cousin and I were walking along an alleyway that would lead us back home when we were attacked by two Dementors."

"Poppycock!" Fudge burst out "The Ministry has no records for there being two Dementors in Little Whinging on that evening or any other. Why would they be?"

"I don't know," replied Harry "Perhaps they were two wild Dementors."

"There are no wild Dementors in the British Isles." replied Fudge.

"Then it follows that the Ministry's records are wrong." said Harry.

"Or that you are a liar." commented the woman sitting next to Fudge. Harry had quite forgotten her name, along with her self-important job title, but noticed for the first time that she was dressed all in pink, and looked rather like a toad.

"I am not a liar," replied Harry "Is it possible that two of your Dementors went rogue?"

"The Ministry does not lose control of its Dementors." replied Fudge.

Harry leaned back in his chair and tilted his head back to look up at the ceiling, he could think of at least two incidents where the Ministry had lost control of its Dementors. Actually he could think of a third, but bringing that one up would only cause trouble for a lot of people. His problem now was how to convince the Wizengamot that he was telling the truth.