The man in front of them turned to greet them and Harry smiled wider, greeting Dawson Shacklebolt politely and respectfully.
He actually liked the Lord Shacklebolt, as he had liked Kingsley, his nephew, too. It was just a shame that Kingsley was so close to Dumbledore in his Order and had stopped supporting him because he wouldn't support Dumbledore blindly like the rest of them. "Lord Potter-Black. You're looking very well, radiant even, would it perhaps have something to do with that ring on your finger?"
Harry looked automatically to his left hand and his smile morphed into a grin.
"Yes, I believe it does." Harry answered. "I got engaged on the first. I'm very happy."
"Who is the lucky one?" Dawson asked.
Harry smiled and looked left to Lucius and then right to Xerxes.
"Can I assume that it has something to do with your family, Lord Lestrange?"
"You can assume all you like, but whether you get the correct answer is yet to be seen." Xerxes replied stonily.
Dawson inclined his head respectfully and aware that he'd crossed a line, he turned back to face the front. Xerxes truly was in a foul mood today and Harry wondered why. He hoped that it had nothing to do with Rabastan. "What trial is this?" Harry asked quietly. "I thought we were supposed to receive all evidence before the trial."
"That's why we're here, Harry."
"But…" Harry cut himself off and thought about what he wanted to say first, instead of blurting everything out in a jumble of words. "I assumed that we'd be receiving the evidence in the meeting room and debating it there and that we'd only come to the actual courtroom to hear the accused's testimony."
"No, all proceedings of a trial have to be held in a courtroom." Lucius told him patiently, taking the time needed to actually teach him. "The evidence will go straight from this courtroom into a sealed evidence room at the end of this hallway and vice versa. The evidence isn't allowed to travel too far from the sealed room, there would be too much of an opportunity of tampering and then the evidence could be called into question and the trial might very well fall through and a criminal might walk free."
Harry nodded his understanding. It made a lot of sense to do things that way, to preserve as much of the evidence as possible without any hope of tampering with it.
"Is it Umbridge?" He asked tensely.
"No. You wouldn't be allowed to be involved in the trial as you'd be a witness." Lucius told him patiently. "I believe this is the bumbling drunkard who thought it a good idea to send off blasting hexes in muggle Kent. The one you voted to be brought before the full court and face Azkaban."
"Ah." Harry said. "I remember, he should face Azkaban for what he did. I wasn't expecting such a quick turnaround, especially when Umbridge hasn't had a trial yet. It's only been a month."
"She's still in a holding cell while Magical Law Enforcers gather the evidence against her." Xerxes told him. "Her offence was more grave than shouting out about the magical world, she injured children at a school. I wouldn't be surprised if it was another year before we were called to her trial. The MLEs are going to make sure that they have every single scrap of evidence they can gather before bringing her to court."
Harry nodded his understanding, just as they were called to order by the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Harry smiled sickly sweetly at him when he caught the Minister's eye and he watched as the man who had been trying to have him expelled and had, until very recently, tried to slander him in the media and tried to make him out to be a delusional little boy who liked attention went very, very pale.
Fudge blanched and quickly looked away from him. Harry chuckled and on either side of him, Xerxes and Lucius chuckled too, having caught the exchange. "The members of the esteemed Wizengamot have voted to have a matter brought to trial and today we will look at the evidence collected from the alleged crime committed." Fudge called out loudly as with a wave of his wand a hundred or so folders floated out and hovered in front of each member of the Council of Magical Law and the Wizengamot.
Lucius and Xerxes both turned to the first page, so Harry emulated them and did the same and he quietly read the first page, detailing the background of the offence, how Mr Dennis Jute had downed three glasses of vintage firewhiskey before glugging straight from the bottle before doing the same to a second bottle.
Harry read through the folder, rustling sheets of parchment as the report went on to detail how Dennis Jute had gone out into the muggle world and had started stumbling about, talking loudly about dragons, telling the muggles where the reserve in England was located even, before he started talking about magic and swaying along the streets and that was when he'd started firing off blasting hexes.
He'd injured two innocent muggles, destroyed six cars, numerous buildings and even the very road that he'd been staggering down, which had been left with a massive crater that had burst a main water pipe that had flooded nearby houses.
The senior Obliviator on the scene that day had given a statement of what she had seen and the damage that had been done and the work and highly stressed environment her team had been put in and she called for the person responsible to be held accountable. It was noted at the end of her report that she would be one of the witnesses against the accused.
The next sheaf of parchment was from the healer in charge of the two terrified muggles who'd had to be taken to St Mungo's to be healed and it documented the extent of the damage done to them both, how that damage had been healed and how long it had taken, perhaps the worst though had been the lingering psychological trauma that had been left behind in both muggles who'd been attacked. They'd been Obliviated as soon as they'd been healed and released, but the healer had warned that they would have psychological triggers relating to the event and that they wouldn't even know the cause of those triggers because of the powerful memory charm. Their quality of life had been significantly reduced because of this trauma and if their triggers were engaged, then they would possibly be spending the rest of their lives in a muggle mental hospital to treat the damage with no apparent cause. It was utterly galling.
Harry turned to the next sheaf of parchment and read the account of the first Magical Law Enforcer on the scene, who detailed the utter destruction done to the several streets that Mr Jute had managed to wander and the statement from one of the first to apprehend Mr Jute, who had claimed in his drunken state that he was 'cleansing' the world for future generations of magical children.
On the next page, Harry was surprised to find a complete, full statement, which had been made by himself, in the Wizengamot meeting hall a month ago, outlining his view on the matter and the punishment that he believed fit the crime that had been committed. A note at the bottom of his statement clinically specified that the Wizengamot members had declared in favour of Lord Harry James Potter-Black's proposed punishment by forty-one members to a mere eleven who opposed him.
The last page was an overview, detailing the laws that had been broken, how serious a breach of the Statute of Secrecy there had been and where the law stood on the breaking of said laws and statutes…if Mr Dennis Jute was found guilty, he would be going to Azkaban for his crimes. He, Harry, would have sent someone to those soul-sucking monsters.
Harry took a deep breath and calmed himself. Dennis Jute was guilty. He had done those terrible things to those who could neither defend themselves nor had any clue what was going on or what they were seeing and, as he'd said in the Wizengamot meeting, he would not allow inebriation to become an excuse for a witch or wizard's actions. Mr Jute should have had more sense than to guzzle two bottles of vintage firewhiskey, which was an incredibly potent drink from what Rabastan had told him when Harry had shared his Wizengamot meeting with him. A wizard who had that little sense had no business running amok in the muggle world and he needed to pay for his crimes. In the meantime, Harry would work on his proposal for the permanent removal of the Dementors. It couldn't be rushed, he had to present it in such a way that the other members of the Wizengamot started to believe the same as he did. It had to be planned down to the letter, right down to the very tone of voice he used while outlining his proposal. He had to get fifty or so other people to believe that the Dementors were a serious danger to them and their world, as well as to the muggles too. He had to get them behind him and his way of thinking and that was going to be difficult enough without rushing it and overlooking something important that could be used against him in a debate and ruin his entire proposal. He had to think of every single angle himself and that was proving almost impossible as no one else, not even his family, was taking him or his concerns, not even his cold, factual research, seriously and, as a result, they weren't any sort of help to him. He was on his own with his idea and his plans, so he had to go that much slower.
Once everyone had finished reading the folder and had closed it on their laps to show that they had finished, Fudge once again spoke to them. "Members of the court that serve the wizarding public, the Wizengamot have voted on this crime and have declared the accused fit for Azkaban. I have reviewed this matter myself and all material included and I suggest a ten-year sentence to Azkaban for the accused, Mister Dennis Jute, with a chance of parole after serving a minimum of six years."
"Yes, he suggests. He should be giving you more credit, Lucius." Xerxes whispered under his breath. Harry could only hear him because he was sitting right between the two men, though he pretended not to have heard a thing.
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