Chapter - 5 : Fate Part - 5
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Harry recognised the dungeon-like that room he was now in. He had seen it before. He had been in it before… well, kind of. He had seen it in a memory in a pensive. It was where the Ministry had carried out Death Eater trials at the end of the last war with Lord Voldemort. Were they treating him as if he were a Death Eater?
Benches lined all the walls, but the ones to either side of him were empty. In front of him, however, in the highest benches of all, there sat many shadowy figures. They had all been talking in a low murmur, but as the door behind Harry swung shut, an ominous silence fell.
A cold male voice rang out "You got our owl with the message that the time and place of the hearing had been changed?"
"No." replied Harry "I arrived early and met with Madam Bones. She told me." He had no idea what games the Minister was planning on playing, but Harry had no intention of going along with them
"Very well," said the male voice "Take your seat."
Harry looked to the middle of the room where a very uncomfortable looking wooden chair sat. There were black metal chains attached to the arms. It was the kind of chair used to keep the worst of the Death Eaters seated as they were sentenced to life in Azkaban, the wizarding prison.
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.
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If you're eager to delve deeper into the story, consider joining my Patreon for exclusive content and early access to new chapters
50+Advanced Chapters there.
(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)
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