It was Sirius' turn on the stand and he had just finished explaining the events of New Year's Eve from his perspective.
"So it was the teens who acted first, not you?" Asked Director Bones.
Sirius gave a grin that stripped away the extra years Azkaban had added to his face. "Well, it was a party. I had been drinking and I was in the middle of a conversation with a rather charming woman. Also with everything Harry and to an extent,t Hermione have been through they have put considerable effort into cultivating some rather quick reactions. Luckily they did too. No way we could have kept everything contained if someone had managed to leave before they reacted."
Director Bones nodded. "Since it has been brought up in questions, the property you were at is owed by you correct?"
"Yes it is, I rent it out to the Granger family. Specifically to Hermione Granger, because she has legal standing in Gringotts. Though I do believe her parents are the source of the funds." Sirius answered.
"And there are wards on the property?" The Director asked.
"Some." Admitted Sirius.
"Why aren't there wards to prevent muggles from noticing magic?" The director asked.
"Because that would have been the most idiotic thing to add to the wards, making them effectively nothing but throwing money down the drain." Sirius had a little heat in his voice but not enough for anyone to interrupt. "Those wards are to protect people who are very quickly becoming family from cowardly, spineless, pathetic excuses of wizards who can only feel a sense of self-worth by killing people who can't fight back. People who have already targeted them in the past because the youngest member of the household is dating my godson. The wards are designed to protect them from a threat we have failed to prevent. Adding wards so that muggles don't notice magic would turn the house into a trap where the Grangers wouldn't be able to perceive they were under attack by magic until it was too late." Sirius wasn't happy with the state of affairs in the country and it showed.
"Also what magic would the grangers need to hide? For most of the year, the only people in the house are muggles. The only magicals are underage and can't cast magic while also being old enough to not have outbursts of accidental magic, or adults who are more than capable of using a few charms to conceal their magic use if they need to do something while visiting. The wards just weren't designed to deal with a wizard who should know better making the moronic choice to send a phoenix into the middle of a muggle party just to deliver a letter that could easily have been sent with an owl who would have known to look through the window first and wait until after the party." Sirius was glaring at Dumbledore as he spoke.
"No more questions, Chief Warlock." Director Bones said.
"Warlock Dumbledore do you have any questions for the witness?" Chief Warlock Longbottom asked from her seat.
Dumbledore looked like he hoped Sirius would spontaneously combust. It probably had something to do with Sirius calling him moron in open court right in front of a few reporters. "Yes, I do." Dumbledore stood up and looked directly at Sirius. "You claim that the standard wards to have muggles ignore magic were not needed on the property in question. But isn't it the truth that your stay in Azkaban has addled your mind so much that you simply forgot to add a ward that is so widely used it's considered standard? A ward so widely used that it's normally the first ward a witch or wizard adds when they move to a new home?" Dumbledore directed to Sirius.
Sirius had to grit his teeth for a second to keep his temper in check. If he had an emotional outburst here it could jeopardise the whole case and he was sure that was what Dumbledore wanted. So instead he took a calming breath and said. "You would know a lot about addled minds forgetting things. Surely that is why you forgot to give me a trial before my stay in Azkaban for a crime I didn't commit. However, I would point out a hole in your reasoning. While completely magical families will add a ward like that first, they are almost never included in the wards for mixed families. So the decision I made to not include that ward is rather normal under the circumstances." Sirius tore Dumbledore's argument apart.
The problem for Dumbledore was he had fucked up. He was so used to being flashy and over the top he had gone for the dramatic option out of pure habit. He hadn't thought the matter through and he had been responsible for what could easily have become a breach of international law. And with the I.C.W watching everything he couldn't use any of his usual tricks to avoid trouble.
That left him only with the rather pathetic argument that as it was a magical home the responsibility laid with the magical owner. The problem with that defence was that it was terrible and it relied more on Sirius being caught off guard and not having a defence for his accusations. Unfortunately for Dumbledore, Sirius had worked out a solid defence and hadn't flown off the handle to Dumbledore's prodding.
Dumbledore knew he had lost long before the verdict was handed down.
-ϟϟϟ-
"I can't believe Dumbledore got off so lightly. If I did what he did they would have taken my wand and snapped it." Hermione complained.
"Dumbledore is still a heavy hitter. One you-know-who is afraid of. They want at least the chance that Dumbledore would swoop in and save them and keep them alive." Sirius told them his theory.
"Like Dumbledore would do something like that. He would wait until you win or lose and swoop in at the end after everything is done with." Harry said, sounding incredibly bitter.
They were currently sitting in a private room at the Three Broomsticks. They were late enough that they had missed dinner at Hogwarts and instead of imposing on the Hogwarts kitchens for a late meal Charlus had taken them out to eat. "Still, a ten thousand galleon fine, that's all." Harry grumbled.
"Don't forget his restraining order keeping him from having any contact with you." Charlus remined Harry. "And while the ten years in Azkaban may be a suspended sentence, with the restraining order if Dumbledore even speaks to you and you report it, he will be whisked off straight to Azkaban. So while it's not ideal we got everything we needed."
Harry shook his head. "No, we got what Dumbledore should have been doing all along and a financial slap on the wrist."
"Harry, ten thousand galleons is no joke. That's fifty thousand pounds. Most people in this country don't even earn that much in two years. That's more than a slap on the wrist."
That got Harry to pause. When had he gotten so used to the large numbers in his Gringotts vault that the equivalent of fifty thousand pounds didn't feel like a lot? No, fifty thousand pounds still felt like a lot, but ten thousand galleons didn't. That was weird. Maybe it had something to do with Harry still thinking of pounds as real money? "You're right. It is more than a slap on the wrist. It's just…"
"Just that you have gotten used to having so much gold that ten thousand galleons doesn't really seem like a lot to you?" Charlus prodded. "I suppose that's partly my fault. I got so caught up getting you what was rightly owed to you that I forgot to help keep things in perspective for you. We will work on it a little when we have time, okay?"
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let myself become like that." Harry sounded like he was being way harder on himself than the situation warranted.
Hermione, seeing where Harry's mind was going, gave Harry's leg a nudge with her foot and said. "Hey, no self-pity. You haven't done anything wrong. You just lost a bit of perspective. That is hardly something to feel guilty over. Now eat up. We need to get back to the castle and find out what lessons we missed today."
"And I need to talk to Greengrass about the result. There is a good chance this will be what he needs to kick Dumbledore out of the school without Fudge being able to do anything about it." Charlus agreed.
"How is Fudge still in office after everything that's happened? Surely he should have resigned in disgrace before now?" Harry asked.
"Basically policies. He has cosied up to a lot of people providing taxpayer funding for their pet projects. A lot of those people value filling their vaults more than they value keeping the country safe. Mostly because a significant percentage believe that Voldemort isn't an issue for themselves, their families or even their friends." Charlus explained
Sirius continued where Charlus left off. "And because you need a two-thirds majority to force out the Minister of Magic, he only needs to convince just over one-third to keep him. He knows he won't survive a re-election so Fudge is most likely using what time he has left to line his own pockets as much as possible and preparing to run to another country as soon as he has made all the necessary arrangements."
"That's so… corrupt." Exclaimed Hermione.
"That's politics." Charlus and Sirius said in unison.
-ϟϟϟ-
Charlus had taken Hermione and Harry back to their common room before going to the Headmaster's office and discussing the trial. Greengrass had been there of course as a member of the Wizengamot. So the conversation was more about what they were going to do about Dumbledore going forward.
"Honestly I'm of two minds. One wants to keep him locked up in a room in the dungeons so that I can unleash him on anything stupid enough to try and break in and get to the students. The other wants to use the fact that he is forbidden to be within a hundred yards of young Mr Potter to have him kicked out of a school he has no business being in with his record." Greengrass said as the two men shared a nightcap.
"Personally I'm all for throwing the old bastard out. The manipulative old git, has he returned to the castle yet?"
"Not yet. Amelia said she was keeping him till tomorrow afternoon at least. Sign parchment work, go over exactly what the sentence means for Dumbledore so he can't claim ignorance later, keep him out of our hair for an evening." Greengrass added that last one with a smirk.
"Update all the security personnel that Dumbledore isn't to be allowed back on the grounds?" Charlus added hopefully. "After all with all the security we now have in place we hardly need an old guard dog that is getting by more on the fact that people remember he used to have a decent bite. And it's not like Dumbledore is the only one to have ever duelled Voldemort to a draw now." Greengrass flinched at the mention of the name. "He has more to fear than just Dumbledore here."
"I'm leaning towards getting rid of him too but surely you don't expect me to believe you would involve Harry in any fighting if you-know-who turned up here." Greengrass's tone said he didn't believe Charlus would allow that for a second.
"No I wouldn't, at least not if I could help it. That boy has a tendency to find his way into the most dangerous situations in the entire country. But vol…you-know-who is going to assume an attack on the castle would mean facing Harry and every time that seems to happen you-know-who ends up just that little bit more dead. I think he is more afraid of Harry at this point than he is Dumbledore." Charlus said as he mentally checked off every meeting Harry and Voldemort had.
Godric's hollow, Voldemort refused a body-less spirit. Philosopher's Stone: loses the body he was possessing, chamber of secrets: loses a Horcrux, end of the tournament: Harry kills Voldemort's new body only minutes after he makes it. Heck, the biggest break in the pattern was the Horcrux in the Locket and that was because they were using it to locate the other Horcruxes first.
There was a knock at the door interrupting them and when Greengrass called for whomever it was to enter and curse breaker Williams walked in, a wide grin on his face. "We are in."
Charlus jumped to his feet with hope on his face as he asked. "The seventh floor?"
Williams gained and nodded. "Yep."
"So you have located the artefact that's the source of the curse on the Defence position?" Greengrass asked.
"About that. The room we found wasn't some secret chamber of nefarious purpose. It looks like it's a Hogwarts junk drawer. Only it's been accumulating junk for a thousand years. It could take months to find the artifact there. We can't search quickly because the room has a lot of other dark magic coming from it. If we try to rush it then the likelihood is we will trip over something we miss noticing, and that could have any number of results. Very few of them are anything but bad."
"There is some good news however. While a lot of what is in there is lost clothes and broken furniture it looks like there are some valuable things in there as well. Some of it will need to be sent back to the people who own it but I think Hogwarts will come out of this with more than a pocket full of galleons." Williams explained. "So do we have your permission to begin cataloguing what's there, vanishing the junk and collecting the valuables?"
This wasn't quite the news Charlus had hoped for after hearing that they had gotten through to the secret of the seventh floor. He had hoped that it would be easy to grab and take out of the castle where it could be studied and then destroyed. But this was definitely progress in that direction.
Greengrass gave his permission for the curse breakers to continue and with that news the meetings were over for the evening.
-ϟϟϟ-
It wasn't until just before lunch in potions that Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the rest of the Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years learned what was going to happen with Dumbledore's position in the school.
Professor Potter, not being a fool who thought mixing fire, potions, and inexperienced teenagers with hardly being able to see was in any way a good idea, had moved the potions class to one above ground with big windows. Windows that could also be opened to let any fumes given off by the potions out of the room. In fact, Professor Potter's classroom always had at least one window open for this purpose. This had the side effect of letting sound in from the outside but normally everyone was in their own classes so this wasn't much of a problem.
One final quirk was that Professor Potter's classroom was rather close to the main entrance to the castle. Harry was just powdering some dragon teeth for the skele-gro potion he was brewing when there was a loud shout from outside the window.
"What do you mean I'm not allowed in? I am the High Protector! I was appointed by the Minister of Magic to protect this school!" The voice was obviously Dumbledore's.
After a few moments when Harry guessed the school's guards were talking, Dumbledore's voice came back again. "What do you mean the Headmaster has barred me from the castle? He can't do that and you need to remember you and your team answer to me. I'm in charge of the school's security! You do what I say, now stand aside!"
The whole classroom was focused on the argument now. Even Professor Potter was paying more attention to what was going on outside his classroom than in it.
"You can't do this to me!"
A different voice broke in and Harry recognised it as Auror Belmont. "Enough! You can't really believe you have any standing to get in here any more! You have a court order keeping you from being too close to someone who is a student here. Their right to an education is more important than stroking your ego. Now go before I am forced to arrest you!"
Less than a minute later Harry and the rest of the class caught a glimpse of Dumbledore stalking back down the path that led from the main castle to the gate in the wall that encircled the grounds. A few of the Slytherins were pointing and laughing at Dumbledore's disgrace. Normally Harry would feel bad for someone in that position, but for Dumbledore, he found he couldn't find it in himself to care. The man was in a situation of his own making, now he was just going to need to face the consequences.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry learned from Charlus later that evening about the curse breakers finally finding their way into the secret room on the seventh floor. Charlus hadn't told him much, only that the curse breakers were in but hadn't actually gotten to the Horcrux yet due to some obstacles in their way that would need to be cleared out first.
It was frustrating because the way Harry saw it every day to get to the Horcrux was a day that Voldemort and his followers ran free. And to people like that, every day free was just another opportunity to commit acts of total barbarism. Sure finding the room was progress, but Harry didn't think that would be much comfort to the muggle parents in Devon he had read about in this morning's paper, who came home to find their house with their two children and babysitter inside burning to the ground. The dark mark fluttered over their house like a beacon.
There was nothing Harry could do about it and it was driving him up the wall. He had tried to suggest to Hermione and Ron that they go and see if they could get past everything and get to the Horcrux once he was finished telling them about the curse breakers finally getting in only for Hermione to start lecturing him.
"Harry, no way in hell are you doing that. Why would you, a fifteen-year-old who hasn't even sat your OWLs yet, think you need to be the one to deal with something like that?" She demanded.
Harry shrugged. "Well, it's always been us who dealt with it in the past."
Hermione actually growled in frustration. "Only because we didn't have adults who would take responsibility for keeping everything safe. Now we have Uncle Charlus and Headmaster Greengrass. And not only are they organising proper security for the students, though I wish there was less of a learning curve, they are actually trying and when something happens they learn from it. Back to the point. There is a team of experienced curse breakers activity dealing with the problem. That means for once since we joined this school we can actually sit back knowing that the right people are handling everything."
Hermione of course had been completely right. Though it had taken Harry another ten minutes to admit it. It was also how they had ended up in their current state. Harry was lying on one of the more comfortable sofas in the common room while Hermione half laid next to him half laid on him wedged between him and the back of the sofa. She had a history of magic textbook open on his chest while she read the contents out loud. Harry's fingers idly playing with a lock of her hair.
Harry was sure at least part of the reason they were like this was so Hermione could be sure he wasn't going to sneak off and do something she would consider stupid. She needn't have worried, she had won the argument earlier not by making him give up but by actually convincing him he was being stupid. He leaned down a little and kissed the top of Hermione's head, getting her to look up from the book for a moment and smile at him. Hermione was right, Harry just needed to stay out of it for now.
-ϟϟϟ-
"Ah Draco, what is the report from your father?" Voldemort asked as the blond teenager walked into the room where they were staying and kneeled in front of where the Dark Lord was sitting pondering his plans.
"My Lord, procurement of the primary component is proceeding at pace. However, obtaining the magical components in sufficient quantities is proving more difficult. The British supplies are being monitored by the ministry after your use of them to free us from Azkaban. My father is arranging for some of our people to travel abroad and seek out what we need where there is less scrutiny. While he expects to have everything by the deadline you set, he does warn there may be a slight delay." Draco said the last part with only the slightest waver in his voice.
"Now now, little dragon. There is no need for you to fear my wrath, yet. I knew the Ministry would be monitoring those key ingredients for my next great working of power. There is no disgrace in recognition of the obstacles in your way. However, tell your father that no delay will be tolerated. I would also remind you little dragon that you have already failed twice. The first time I let you off, you did manage to stab Potter after all. The second you still delivered an effective message even if you failed to kill the mudblood so you were granted some leniency. I will not be so forgiving of a third failure." Voldemort said, sounding like he was discussing the weather, not that he was going to torture the teenager in front of him if he failed his assigned task.
Draco had to fight to keep from trembling. If the Dark Lord considered what he did to Draco for failing to kill that know-it-all bitch Granger as lenient then he truly didn't want to risk experiencing what his lord considered a normal punishment.
"It will be as you say my lord. If there is nothing else I will deliver your words to my father?" Draco was proud of himself that he managed to say the words without an audible tremble in his voice.
"You may go." Voldemort dismissed him and Draco hurried out of the room. He was going to need to find a way to get the materials his lord needed. The question was how. He couldn't just buy it and the people that grew and produced them were rather unlikely to share no matter how much he offered them. He would just need to find another way to motivate them to part with it. But he was a Slytherin, and a Slytherin just needed to find the right leverage and apply pressure.