Legal Battles and Revelations

It was the 10th February and Harry had got a call to be witness for the trial against the Dursleys. It would be held in a muggle court, so he donned one of the suits he had got in London before starting Hogwarts. While he was a bit nervous, he knew that Sirius had got one of the top muggle barristers at law to represent Harry's case. The man was a squib that had been financed in his studies by his family contrary to the behaviour most pureblood families showed. So he knew why Harry had been abused and knew how to circumvent anything the Dursleys could try to pull.

Harry took a portkey to the barrister's office and from there they drove to the court. Sirius would meet them there. Healer Ickings had sent the report and pictures of Harry's back before it was treated for the scars to Mr McDougal, Harry's barrister, to have evidence against the Dursleys. Witnesses for the accusation were Mr Miller, Mrs Jannison and Mrs Fletcher, the deputy headmistress of Harry's primary school. Harry was led inside through a side door to avoid the confrontation with the Dursleys as long as possible.

"Okay, Harry. Remember, let me talk and only answer what you are asked. I'll make sure that everything goes well. If we are lucky, you won't have to go into detail about what they did to you. The medical report from Healer Ickings is condemning. Together with Mr Miller and Mrs Jannison we should be able to get them convicted before you have to give your statement. But normally their barrister at law will try to make you look like a liar. Just keep your calm." Mr McDougal said.

Harry nodded. Then it was time. They met Sirius in a side-room and he encouraged Harry and told him he would be in the audience. If they needed him to give his statement, he would be called inside. Until then he would stay with a social worker in the side-room. Mr McDougal and Sirius left the room and Harry took out a book to distract himself. He had taken a french novel to read. It took forty-five minutes until he was called. Harry put a bookmark where he had stopped and left the book behind. He took a deep breath and followed the court assistant into the courtroom. He was shown the way to the seat for witnesses. The first one to question him was the barrister of the Dursleys. Harry was reminded to tell the truth and then the questioning started.

"Mr Potter, you were given into the care of the Dursleys when you were about fifteen months old; that is correct?" The barrister asked.

"As far as I was informed, yes." Harry said.

"And they took you in and cared for your needs all the ten years you lived with them?" He added.

"No." Harry said, surprising the barrister.

"Why would you say that, Mr Potter? They could have left you at an orphanage and not taken you into their family." The barrister said.

"If you think that the definition of taking care of a child is making said child do all the work around the house from the age of four, letting said child sleep in the cupboard under the stairs while having four bedrooms upstairs, one being their bedroom, one their son's, one a guestroom and one for the broken toys of their son, telling lies about said child in the neighbourhood and forcing the child to pretend being stupid in school just to have their son looking better, then yes, they took care of me. But I don't think that being physically punished regularly counts as taking proper care of a child." Harry stated, being not the least bit intimidated by the barrister.

"Liar." Petunia shouted.

"Prove it." Harry said icily.

The adults were shocked. None would have expected that kind of voice from an eleven year old boy. In that voice they heard pure hatred.

"Prove that you spent the money you got from my parents' estate to take care of me on me. Prove that I wasn't kept in the cupboard under the stairs. Prove that I wasn't malnourished before Mr Miller took it upon himself to help me. Prove that I didn't have to earn the money for my contacts by working in the library. Prove that I got one proper birthday or Christmas present." Harry listed making the adults shiver and glare heatedly at the Dursleys.

The barrister of the Dursleys was at a loss. He had planned to ask the boy if he had been beaten, hoping the boy wouldn't admit it, but it seemed Harry Potter was very different from what he had been told. He turned back and left the witness to McDougal. There was nothing he could get from the boy to win the case. Only the opposite. Now Mr McDougal stood.

"As Mr Potter said, we have the bank statements of the Potter estate that five hundred pounds have been transferred each month to the account of the Dursley family to take care of the needs of Mr Potter. Yet Mr Potter has never been taken to any doctor for the regular examinations and vaccinations every child needs to get. More, he didn't get to eat properly. One look at the Dursley family proves that they didn't suffer a lack of food. So the statement of witness Carlton Miller that Harry Potter was severely underweight when he was eight years old and joined the Stonewall Primary School football team, is proof that they didn't take proper care of Mr Potter. The report and statement of Dr Ickings also prove that Mr Potter was physically abused by the Dursleys.

"Mrs Fletcher told us that Mr Potter had a very sudden increase in the quality of his schoolwork. She said it was like he had been holding back all the time before and had decided to just stop it. From there on Mr Potter remained top of his class and also excelled at the football team where Mr Miller made sure he finally reached a healthy weight and height for a boy his age after one and a half years. Mr Miller sent recommendations to the Dursleys to take Mr Potter to a doctor to help him medically, which hasn't been done. Officers Thornston and Vasparion reported about the lack of possessions of Mr Potter, which they found out when they went to Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey to get Mr Potter's things after he had been removed from the Dursley's care.

"While many of the neighbours reported Mr Potter being a delinquent, their reports were based on stories the Dursleys told them. His school teachers, the place where he spent most of his free time, reported Mr Potter to be a very polite, studious boy who was neglected by his family. We can prove by statements of witnesses that all of the incidents that were said Mr Potter caused, couldn't have been caused by him, because he was either training with his football team, working or reading in the school's library, or reading in the village's library after he had read all the books that interested him in the school library. We also have the statements of the librarian of the village library for that." Mr McDougal presented the facts.

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