After the meeting, Lily, with the help of Andromeda, filed for separation. The hearing will be done in front of the entirety of the Wizengamot because the house Potter is a noble house.
As a muggle-born witch, Lily needed a noble house to support her claims, otherwise, she would not get a hearing even. This is where house Black comes in, as a most ancient and most noble house, they are of equal standing as the Potter house, and so can lay the claim.
The best part about this claim however is it gives an opportunity to attack James Potter and Albus Dumbledore. As Lily couldn't prove that she was under mental influence caused by James, she placed 'ONE' of the causes as 'Failure to preform marital duties'.
Needless to say, this caused a lot of talks about James's manhood, and much to James's horror, it wasn't in a good light. And so little by little the day of the trial came, and of course, there isn't such a thing as conflict of interests, so the presiding Judge is none other than Albus too many fucking names Dumb-ass-door.
---
As Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore entered the court, all noise died down. The man was dressed in the finest royal purple and hot red robs… it's an… acquired taste.
"order in the court" Dumbledore spoke as he sat down alongside two other background characters "now let's get this over with, shall we" he spoke in a 'tired' and 'disappointed' voice "would the Claimant please state why we are here?" he spoke lightly as if it's children's squabble
Lily was irritated that this was happening. She had been under James's control for years, and this old goat dares take this lightly.
Andromeda noticed Lily losing her temper, so she spoke quickly "my client, Lady Lily Potter nee Evans wishes to separate from her husband Lord James Fleamont Potter" Andromeda heard a groan from the defendant's seat as she said the name but ignored it
"And on what bases and what are the demands of your client?" he asked her
"my client believes that Lord James Fleamont Potter" another groan "has failed in preforming his martial duties" a sudden outburst from the Defendant seats 'startled' Andromeda as she completed "among other things"
Dumbledore didn't even warn James about his behaviour and instead sighed "and what do you say, my boy, about these claims?"
James Potter is a proud man, he would never accept being talked about in such manner, as such he chose to defend himself… go Gryffindor
James Potter stood quickly "I say they are false" James said as he was flaring his Gryffindor coloured robs "it is, in fact, Slander" he shouted, anger rising "I demand an apology"
"Prove it" Lily spoke in a clam and cold voice
"What?" asked James, looking dumbly at his wife
"I said, prove that you are actually… functional" she spoke louder this time, but her voice was just as cold
James was slightly taken aback "and how would I do that here?" he asked in a shocked voice
"*Snort* even if this was the bedroom you would still fail to prove anything but your failure" she taunted him again
"Grrr, watch it Lily, you're going too far with this game of yours" James spoke in a threatening manner
"And what are you going to do about it? No one would believe you no matter how much you deny it" she taunted again
James paused after hearing her words and smiled "I demand she is questioned under veritaserum (truth potion)" contrary to what many think James is not a complete idiot, he is simply prideful and reckless
Andromeda interjected "I'm afraid veritaserum cannot be forced on the opposite party in a civil court" she said smiling
James thought for a moment and then spoke "then I will take it" he said, much to the horror of Dumbledore
"Are you sure you want to do this James?" he asked while not so subtly motioning to not do this
James being… James chose to ignore the obvious signs "I am Lord Potter. I will not have my name tarnished like this any longer" what James failed to notice was the smirk Lily had on her lips
---
*Three drops of veritaserum later*
"You may begin Solicitor Tonks" Dumbledore allowed after stalling for a bit to waste the serum influence time 'if only the press aren't here, then I could've just thrown this whole thing out' he thought
"Thank you Chief Warlock" Andromeda began as she turned to Lord Potter "Lord Potter, is it true you married Lily Potter nee Evans as Lady Potter?"
"Yes" came James's answer
"Then would you like to explain why she is not wearing the Lady Potter ring?" she asked him
"Because it stops the effect of mind altering magic and potions" he spoke calmly
"…"
Silence filled the courtroom
"What type of mind altering Magic and Potions are we talking about? Start from the beginning" Andromeda asked
Albus tried to interfere but for some reason, he couldn't speak. It's as if a snake coiled around him and is waiting for one wrong move to swallow him whole.
"The first one was a weak love potion in third year. After that it was one dose every month till she got pregnant, and then I stopped" he explained as if talking about the weather
"Please continue" Andromeda told him "maybe after the death of he who must not be named? What did you do then?"
"I had to make sure Albus didn't have any distractions, so we had to get rid of Harry… we had to raise the boy-who-lived. Dumbledore said so" he spoke with conviction "but Lily didn't like that"
"And what did you do?" she asked him
"a few confusion charms and couple mind weakening potions, and the rest was easy. Because Harry was the oldest, he was the heir and not Albus, so I had to kick Harry from the family, but then it would ruin our reputation" James paused for a second "so I had his magic sealed and him taken to Lily's sister to live as a muggle" he concluded as a collective gasp flooded the court
Andromeda and Lily, smiled happily, they have played it perfectly. Andromeda used Lord Potter's full name to irritate him and then Lily taunted him further destabilising him. Add to it the mention of no one believing him, and boom, he thinks he came up with veritaserum as a solution. Dante's support also helped in speeding up James's conclusion, lengthening the duration of the serum's effective time and preventing Dumbledore from interfering with the questioning.
Casting children from the family was considered the harshest thing to be done to a child. And binding someone's magic is considered as cruel as murder. Luckily for James, it was not the same, in the eyes of the law.
In the laws placed in magical Brittan, the lord of a House, is King of said house and can go as far as to kill an heir, if it means protecting his legacy. So after a fine for using magic to rape a muggle born witch and completely ruined reputation of James Fleamont Potter, as well as Dumbledore as he suggested the discard of Harry Potter, brother of the Boy-Who-Lived, one can understand the amount of backlash he suffered… owning the Daily Prophet definitely had nothing with it…
All in all, it was a productive day
I’m on a roll and my mind is dyeing… I need sleep. Anyways, I saw a comment saying to publicly humiliate James and Dumbledore. So this is for you random citizen (=•ω<=)
Song of the chapter
Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day
I gotta go cause I got me a drop top
And if I hit the switch, I can make the ass drop
Peace