Shacks and Amelia were desperate that news of horcruxes not leak from this trial, it would have been better waiting until after Voldemort was vanquished but the healers were reducing his life expectancy twice daily and she couldn't get any of them who could say with any conviction that the old goat would still be alive next week. They had never seen or even heard of a case like this, because of Dumbledore's age his magic had been a big part of keeping him alive but now he didn't have any his body was starting to shut down piece by piece.
Albus had been slipping in and out of the trial as he now found it incredibly hard to concentrate for prolonged periods but the chance of being the centre of attention again seemed to invigorate the old goat as he got his final chance to screw them all over, he was Albus Dumbledore and they should never have questioned his decisions.
Gone was the twinkle from his eyes and his voice was weak but the spoken words caused mayhem, "Madam Minister, members of the Wizengamot I realise my behaviour seems odd at best and in some cases extreme but you are not in possession of all the facts. Anything I have done has been for the greater good of the wizarding world because, as much as we would wish otherwise, Harry Potter has to die before Voldemort can be defeated as he has a part of the dark lord's soul in his head. It was involuntary placed there the night he received his famous scar."
Every pair of eyes in the chamber quickly shifted from Dumbledore to Harry with Ginny now sobbing for a different reason, only the group that knew the full story were aware it had been removed and Harry had a crying Joan to deal with as well.
"Madam Minister do you have anyway of testing these claims, please forgive me if I don't accept the word of a man who's lied to me my entire life." Harry passed Ginny over to Poppy as the three Potters made their way to the centre of the court chamber as Joan point blank refused to release the hold on her dad. Anyone wanting to kill her dad was going to have to kill her as well because she wasn't giving him up for anything, and from the way mum held on to both of them Joan knew she felt the same.
After about ten minutes where Hermione really struggled not to hex the smug expression off Dumbledore's wrinkled mug an unspeakable arrived with what looked like a silver tube and Amelia explained what was about to happen.
"This is a rare instrument that is used to determine that a person's soul has departed after they've been administered a dementors kiss. It will also show if more than one soul inhabits a body."
Harry kissed his daughter before putting her down and her mum whispered in her ear, "remember darling, nothing bad will ever happen to us as long as your dad's here."
The unspeakable activated the instrument and a silver cloud formed in front of Harry, as it split in two Dumbledore's shout of triumph was easily eclipsed by Ginny's scream of terror for her friend. The rest of the chamber collectively held their breath as one part of the cloud formed a miniature prongs while the other took the shape of an otter and swam around Hermione.
As the clouds faded Harry spoke to the unspeakable, "could you carry out the same test on the Lady Potter please?"
A quick affirmation from Amelia and the test was performed; the results were the same with miniature prongs galloping over to Harry while Hermione's otter seemed to enjoy playfully teasing Joan.
It was only when Hermione released her patronus and the silver otter glided through the chamber causing Joan to chuckle that light dawned on the unspeakable, "you're soul bound?"
"Yes my wife and I are soul bound and were shown our entry in the book of souls by the minister of magic. Were the results obtained conducive to those circumstances?"
The unspeakable's whole attitude changed, "yes lord Potter there is no sign whatsoever of any other soul present apart from your bond with lady Potter."
Joan sprang back into her dad's arms and had both arms wrapped tightly round his neck in relief while they headed back to their seats, as they walked passed a dumfounded Dumbledore Harry leaned in and whispered, "told you old man, three steps ahead of you at every turn."
As the Potters were walking away Albus shakily got to his feet and started screaming at them, "You insolent, ungrateful, ignorant little shit! I hope Voldemort kills you and your mudblood bitch…"
Dumbledore's complexion matched anything that Vernon Dursley had managed to achieve over the years but Vernon, though grossly overweight wasn't a one hundred and fifty year old former wizard. While Harry always thought his uncle Vernon would drop down dead as his temper pushed his blood pressure through the roof, the greatest wizard of the age being killed by a temper tantrum was just a bit much.
Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore had a blood vessel burst in his head, the puppet master collapsed like a marionette who'd just had his strings severed and died before the healers could do more than cast diagnostic scans. After today's hearing there would be no state funeral or crypt on the grounds of Hogwarts, considering his crimes and complete lack of finances he would receive a lonely pauper's cremation.
As the Potters left the chamber Harry unknowingly provided the headline for all tomorrows newspapers when he turned to Hermione and said, "one dark lord down, one more to go."
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