There was a moment of silence in the room as chaos erupted. Some of the witches and wizards fainted, most rose to their feet and began shouting. Hermione was on her feet shrieking as well. Dumbledore locked gazes with Harry, his eyes full of worry and concern. Harry simply sat numbly on the couch as the waves of noise washed over him. Though he saw the looks of triumph on the faces of Grimaldi and Fudge, the faces full of concern on Madame Bones, Dumbledore, and numerous other wizards and witches, and felt Hermioine's hand on his shoulder, none of it really registered. He was being accused of murder!
Fudge motioned to the side and two small doors opened up, releasing several Aurors who Harry didn't recognize. "Your trial will be scheduled for one week from today. In the meantime, Mr. Potter, you will be kept sedated to prevent any attempt at escape since you have already demonstrated for the Wizengamot some talent for wandless magic."
"Cornelius! How is he to organize his defense? He must be conscious and alert in order to speak with a lawyer and explain his story," burst out Dumbledore.
"We have already heard his defense. He has none. The ministry has a witness, an adult witness, that will put him at the scene of the crime and we have nearly three dozen murder victims that demand justice. I will personally see that they get it. There must be justice, Albus, even if the Boy-Who-Lived is involved."
"I must insist that he be allowed to…"
"Do I need to remind you that you are no longer at Hogwarts, Dumbledore?" sneered Fudge. "You have no authority here in the Ministry, and no power to insist on anything. I am the Minister of Magic and I convened this meeting of the Wizengamot. While you may preside over the Wizengamot, it is my responsibility as the Minister of Magic to look out for the best interests of the wizards and witches of Great Britain and I will do whatever I see fit to make sure that the accused harms no one else."
"I understand, Minister," replied Dumbledore in a soft voice. "I am sure we all want to see justice served. However, I would like to request that an additional guard from the Order of the Phoenix be placed with Mr. Potter to make sure that he does not escape."
"Denied. There is no need for additional guards. In fact, there is no longer any need for the Order, now that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been defeated and his heir apparent is in our custody."
"I was not asking you for permission, Minister. I was placing my request before the Wizengamot. And I call for an immediate vote."
Harry looked around, dazed, at the number of hands that voted in support of Dumbledore's measure. "Well, at least Fudge's Aurors won't murder me in my sleep."
"Stop thinking like that Harry. We'll figure a way out of this."
"I'm not so sure, Mione. I think they've got me trapped pretty good this time. Fudge would never have acted unless he was sure of the result. He's too big of a coward to do otherwise."
"Don't be silly, Harry. You can just teleport away and…"
"And what? Run and make it look like I'm guilty? Hide from the wizarding world for the rest of my life? Even if I did, you know they would come after you and the Weasleys and Dumbledore and everyone else that is close to me."
"Don't you dare give up on me Harry. We will get you out of this. We'll just have to find another witness besides me or something."
"I'm not giving up. But I…listen, Mione, there might be a way. There is something I need you to get. Get Dumbledore or Remus to retrieve it for you, it's much too dangerous for you to go after by yourself." Harry thought hard about what he needed to be done. "Do you understand? I can only hope that it wasn't destroyed and that it might actually have something useful on it. Otherwise I'm toast."
"Harry! I won't let them do anything to you, I promise."
"I know. And thanks, Mione. I love you."
"I love you too."
By then, the guards had arrived on each side of Harry and Hermione was forced to step back, to avoid accidentally bumping into one of them. Ignoring them, Harry stepped forward and pulled out his wand. Gaining a measure of satisfaction at the temporary fear he had seen in the eyes of Fudge and Grimaldi, he turned to Dumbledore and handed him the wand. In as steady a voice as he could manage, he said, "Take good care of that for me Professor, I'll be wanting it back in a week."
Clapping a hand to his shoulder, Dumbledore replied. "Do not worry Harry. I will take excellent care of it for you." He winked, but there was no twinkle in his eye.
Harry was surrounded by four Aurors with drawn wands. His hands were quickly tied behind his back, a silencing charm was placed on him, and then three Confundus charms were cast on him. Harry staggered, confused about what was going on around him, and one of the guards grabbed his arm roughly to hold him up and guide him to the door. Luckily nobody heard Hermione's muffled cries under the Invisibility Cloak.
When the doors to the courtroom were opened, flashes exploded and a dull roar enveloped the courtroom.
Dumbledore stood up angrily. "Have you no decency left at all?! I have seen many despicable and horrible acts, but I would have never suspected you to sink this low Cornelius. First you summoned him here, you summoned all of us here under false pretexts. You turned what was originally intended to be simply an information gathering council into a preliminary trial. Then upon indicting him, you order him sedated and then silenced and stunned with Confundus charms. And then to ensure his humiliation was complete, you invited the press to try and talk to him and take pictures when he has no way of defending himself. This is below you Cornelius, and it is below the Ministry of Magic. Harry Potter saved our world and your treatment of him…"
"Dumbledore, the people have a right to know. The boy has become a mass murderer. And we can't really afford him to be running around with a wand-he's much too dangerous. I really don't know what you expected to happen after he defeated You-Know-Who. Apparently the boy fell in love with the taste of power. Or the power of revenge. Either way, he will be punished for his crimes."
"He has not been convicted yet, Minister Fudge. And I do not appreciate being kept in the dark about either the events at Azkaban or these charges you are bringing against Mr. Potter," said Madame Bones angrily.
"Yes, well, I am the Minister of Magic and sometimes I simply have to do what needs to be done. Good day." He then left the astonished members of the Wizengamot and turned to speak with the press.
Minutes later Dumbledore finally found Arthur, who looked like he was in a state of shock, at the far edge of the crowd.
"Arthur. Arthur!" Mr. Weasley remained dazed for several moments before realizing Dumbledore was calling to him.
"Albus, it can't be true. It can't be. What is going on here? Have they all gone insane?"
"Apparently, some of them have indeed gone quite mad. The rest just love a good, juicy story. Now listen to me Arthur. I need you to accompany Harry. The Wizengamot has authorized members of the Order to provide an additional guard on Harry. It is imperative that you do not let him out of your sight. I will send someone else along soon to assist you and I will arrange schedules to watch over Harry day and night."
"Why? I don't understand…"
"They are going to sedate him until the trial next week."
"They wouldn't."
"They will. Fudge believes he has an airtight case against Harry. We need to find some holes in it. Have you seen Miss Granger?"
Hermione stepped out from behind a pillar. Her eyes were red and puffy, and there were tear stained tracks running down her face, but there was a look of determination in the set of her jaw.
"Good. Now go Arthur. We will head back to the Burrow now and let your family know. I will also send along someone from the Order to guard Harry with you as soon as I can. Go."
Arthur quickly walked over to the guards and after a brief, heated discussion, replaced the guard helping Harry to walk. Arthur looped Harry's arm around his shoulders, and talking soothingly to him, helped him walk as the other guards followed with their wands out. Meanwhile, flashes from wizarding cameras continued to go off and the reporters continued to barrage the Minister for additional details.
Placing his hand on Hermione's back, he guided her towards the lifts so they could leave. Hermione watched Harry until he and his guards turned a corner out of sight. Then she marched straight for the lifts. Dumbledore was a bit hard pressed to keep up with her quick pace. Several minutes later they were flooing back to the Burrow. Hermione stomped out of the fireplace and without a word marched right past the startled Weasleys and out the back door, letting it slam loudly. Dumbledore began explaining what had happened to the assembled Weasleys, whose faces cycled between disbelief and outrage as the story of the trial unfolded. When Dumbledore had finished, everyone noticed some odd noises coming from outside. Molly stood up and said, "I think I'll go check on Hermione. She must be very upset."
"It might be a good idea to give her a few more minutes by herself, Molly," suggested Dumbledore.
"Nonsense," she replied and headed into the kitchen. When Ron started to ask Dumbledore another question, the remaining Weasleys heard Molly shout "Oh, my!" and ran to see what had happened. Molly was frozen in place, watching something through the large kitchen window. They all moved closer and then stopped in shock.
Hermione was in the back yard launching spells at what appeared to be a large wooden head sitting on top of a thin body.
"Is that the face…" started Fred.
"of Minister Fudge?" finished George.
"I think it started out that way," offered Ron.
A flash of purple and the statue had two heads. A flash of green and one of the ears fell off, completely severed from one of the heads. A flash of yellow, and one of the eyes began smoking. A flash of red and one of the noses simply exploded. A flash of orange and wooden teeth exploded out of one of the mouths. A flash of blueish-green struck one of the faces, and huge boils erupted on the cheeks and forehead. A shower of silvery sparks then struck the other face, leaving smoldering craters. A golden rope shot out of her wand and wrapped itself around one of the necks and started squeezing until the wood started cracking. A stream of white light split in two and struck one of the faces, and two horns emerged where the light had hit the forehead. Another flash of green and one of the horns was sliced off at the base. As it fell, Hermione pointed her wand and it stopped falling, simply hovering on the ground. She slowly swung her wand to the side and back behind her head, and the horn flew softly towards her. When it had almost reached her, she then snapped her wand forward again, aiming right at one of the heads. The horn zipped back towards the face, turning quickly end over end. The horn tip buried itself about three inches into the forehead, and rocked the entire wooden statue back and forth from the force of the blow.
With a graceful motion, Hermione slipped her wand into her back pocket and slowly walked towards the battered wooden statue. She then seemed to touch something on the side of her hip.
"What is she doing now? Hasn't she already done enough to that poor statue?" muttered Ron quietly.
Hermione seemed to freeze for just a moment, and then exploded into action. Though the Weasleys would discuss it later, they never could figure out exactly what she had done after she had put the wand in her pocket. Only Dumbledore guessed the truth, not because he saw more, but because he knew more. Hermione seemed to reach forward and swing her right arm from her left hip diagonally in front of her, finally raising her right arm high above her head. They thought they saw a glint of silver, but nothing more as Hermione's body blurred into motion once more. She seemed to pivot around her left foot, swinging her right arm straight across her body at shoulder level and when her arm swung towards the second head, her arm angled up again, and then swung quickly back down to her left hip. In less than half of a second, she had spun a complete circle, waving her arm for no obvious reason, and had returned to the same position she had held a split second before. A heartbeat later, half of each wooden head in front of her slid to the ground. They had been sliced cleanly, not a splinter was evident on the smooth surface where they had been cut.
Hermione stepped back and studied the remains of the wooden statue. In the blink of an eye, she had her wand back in her hand and cast a final spell. The wooden statue transformed itself back into a picnic bench. However, the benches on either side were broken, there was a clean slice going through the center board of both, and each half fell to the center. Instead of making a straight line for people to sit on, each bench was v-shaped. The Weasleys and Dumbledore could tell she tried to cast the spell again, but the benches remained broken. When she replaced her wand in her pocket, Ginny's voice broke the silence.
"Get away from the windows now! Act like we're getting lunch ready." Everyone quickly moved away from the window and began bumping into each other, trying to look busy as Hermione walked back towards the house.
When she opened the door, Molly bravely put on a smile and asked, "Are you feeling any better, dear?"
Hermione cheerfully replied, "Much better thank you. What are the lot of you doing here in the kitchen?"
Mumbled replies of nothing and getting lunch met her ear. "Oh, what an excellent idea. I am getting rather hungry. I expect Dumbledore has told you about our morning at the Ministry?" This time, only silence. She looked at the Weasleys oddly until Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"Yes, Miss Granger. I have informed them of Harry's predicament. I…"
"Excellent. Then I won't have to go over that again. Now I've been thinking about a few ways we might be able to help-we've only got a week, you know-so we're on a bit of a tight schedule. Of course, if you're able to help. I mean I shouldn't presume that…"
Molly stepped forward. "Hermione, you don't even need to ask. Of course we'll do anything to help Harry. Don't be silly." Affirmative shouts surrounded her, making the kitchen ring with noise.
Hermione suddenly burst into tears and wrapped her arms around Molly. "Thank you so much, Molly. It really means a lot right now. It's been a rough day."
"There, there, Hermione. Everything will work out fine. You'll see," soothed Molly, as she hugged Hermione and patted her back softly.
Wiping her eyes, Hermione stood back. "Right then. No time for that." Turning around, she saw Dumbledore. "How long are you going to be here?"
"I have to contact a few people, but I plan on being here the rest of the day, Miss Granger."
"Good. I'll need to talk to you later." If he appeared surprised at her directness, he hid it well.
Then she spun and stared at the twins. "You two. Meet me outside in two minutes. I have to go get a few things and then I need to talk to the both of you." She then spun on her heel and left the kitchen. When they heard her stepping on the stairs, Ron turned and hissed at the twins.
"Do whatever she says and do not make any jokes. I'm warning you…"
"Do we look like complete idiots, Ron?" snapped Fred.
"Or did you miss the entire fireworks display outside?" asked George.
"I didn't even recognize half of those curses she used," added Fred.
"That is probably because most of them were from the Restricted Section of the library," noted Dumbledore dryly.
"Shh! Here she comes," yelped Ron in a panicky voice.
Hermione was carrying a bag on one shoulder and stopped to look at the twins. "I thought I told you two to meet me outside?" Fred and George nearly tripped over each other trying to get through the back door first. Ginny covered her mouth to stifle a giggle and Dumbledore's eyes regained some of their twinkle. Hermione moved to follow them, and then paused at the doorway to turn and look at Molly. "Umm, Molly, I believe I owe you a new picnic bench. Your old one-well, it had a bit of accident I'm afraid. Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it at all, Hermione. Accidents happen dear."
Hermione closed the kitchen door and went out back to talk to the twins. Dumbledore and the remaining Weasleys watched for a few moments to make sure the twins survived the initial three minutes with Hermione, but her wand remained in her pocket as the three became immersed in a deep conversation.
"Well, now that she has blown off some steam, I think Hermione will be feeling much better. Molly, if I may borrow your fireplace, I need to arrange for some additional help for Arthur and speak with the other members of the Order," said Dumbledore.
"Of course, of course. Do you really think she will be all right Albus?"
"I hope so Molly. And it is much better for her to be actively doing something for Harry, than sitting around doing nothing. I really think it is for the best. And try not to worry about Harry. We will do everything in our power to help him." He then left the kitchen.
Looking out the window, Ron said, "Maybe I should go out and offer to help with whatever it is they're planning." Before Molly could speak, Ginny grabbed his arm.
"I wouldn't do that right now if I were you Ron," she warned.
"But I'm her best friend. I know…"
"And you're also the one most likely to set her off. If she wants your help, she'll come and ask you for it. But don't go butting in right now and whatever you do, try and keep your mouth shut around her for the next week."
"Ginny!" shouted her mother and Ron at the same time, but she held her ground and returned their angry stares with equal determination.
"Ron, you know I'm right. I know you mean well, but you have a tendency to push Hermione's buttons, even when you don't mean to do it. And if I know Hermione, she's going to be wound up tighter than a spring for the next week or so. So unless you want to end up like our picnic table, I would lay low for the next week if I were you."
Ron's mouth opened several times but no words came out. Then he stomped angrily from the kitchen and slammed the kitchen door. Molly and Ginny could hear his feet pounding on the stairs as he climbed to his room and slammed the door.
"Ginny, was that really necessary? I can't believe how mean you were to your brother just now. Ron has had a terrible week. His girlfriend was murdered, one of his best friends was put in a coma during the same attack, and now his other best friend is being sent to Azkaban. That's a lot for anyone to have to deal with."
"I know, Mom, but trust me. He needed to hear it. Look, I know Hermione as well if not better than Ron. You saw what she was like just ten minutes ago. Dumbledore may think she's feeling better after her little vent, but I'm telling you that she is barely holding it together right now. And it doesn't take much from Ron to set her off, even on her best days. Harry's always been the calming influence between those two-without him, well, I don't think I need to draw you a picture."
Molly's eyes looked sad, and Ginny felt terrible for having hurt her mother's feelings. "Mom, I'm sorry. I know you love the idea of the three of them being best friends and everything. I know. But they're different now, or at least Harry and Hermione are, especially since the final battle against Voldemort. I'm afraid that if Ron doesn't start growing up, he may lose one or both of them as friends."
"What do you mean, Ginny?"
Ginny sighed, wondering how much she should tell her mother. "If Ron doesn't stop getting jealous about being in Harry's shadow, or stop being upset that Hermione fell in love with Harry instead of him, he'll end up pushing away both of them."
"Do you really think so, Ginny?"
"I don't know for sure Mum. I hope not. But I don't think Ron can keep going like this if he really wants to keep both of them as friends."
Molly sat at the table, chin in hands, deep in thought while Ginny glanced out the window at Hermione and the twins. Then she saw George coming back to the house with a strange look on his face.
--
When Hermione got the twins alone outside, she began talking quickly with them.
"Before they took Harry away, he showed me something he had been working on with the two of you a couple of months ago that he thought might be of some help. It was like a magical video camera."
"A magical what?"
"It could take a series of pictures of something that actually happened, and then replay them, like with the Omnioculars at the Quidditch World Cup."
"Oh, the Eye of Sauron."
"The what?"
"Eye of Sauron."
"Extremely evil wizard."
"tried to conquer the world,"
"rule all the races,"
"destroy all who opposed him,"
"bit off his rocker, actually"
"like most dark wizards."
"Tried to use a magic ring of all things,"
"Why not a sword?"
"Or a club?"
"Or a spear?"
"Or a really big axe?"
"Anyways, a great bedtime story,"
"Surely you've heard of him?"
"Do you mean Sauron from Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien?" broke in Hermione finally.
"Of course, who else would it be?"
"Smashing great wizard, too, that Tolkien,"
"Heard he was friends with Dumbledore way back,"
"Well, that figures,"
Hermoine simply shook her head in disbelief. This was something she would have to sort out later. "OK, back to the Eye of Sauron. Look, I just want to know if it works."
"Well of course it works," replied Fred indignantly. "We made it after all."
"But we weren't going to send them to Hogwarts, if that is what you're afraid of Hermione. Honestly," explained George.
"We developed them for possible use in the war against Voldemort," finished Fred.
"Why would you send them to Hogwarts?" Hermione looked puzzled for a moment. "Never mind. So they work. Tell me how they work." Hermione listened intently for several minutes and then asked several more questions.
"How well do they work? How long will they go on recording?"
"They worked perfectly in all of the tests we came up with. And believe me, Harry thought up some good ones. We designed them to last over a year, but they might last longer."
"And how good is the image? Does it record sound as well?"
"Yes, yes. With the tests we ran on it, Harry said the images were about as clear as those from a Pensieve."
Hermione chewed her lip as she thought. "Right then. I don't know the item well enough and I can't risk damaging it in any way, so I'll need one of you to come with me. The other one can stay here and work with Ron. So which will it be?" she asked, looking at the twins excitedly.
"Uhh…Hermione? What are you talking about?" ventured Fred.
"What do you want us to do with Ron?" asked George.
She looked at them as if astounded that they couldn't read her mind. "Well one of you will work on a plan with Ron to break Harry out of Azkaban if none of our other options pan out. I'm sure Dumbledore and the others will be trying all the legal and bureaucratic methods that might be able to get Harry out of this. But I want a plan just in case nothing else works. I'm not going to let them throw Harry in Azkaban for the rest of his life!"
"But Hermione," protested George until he felt the full effect of Hermione's angry glare. He gulped and changed his thought. "What about Ginny? She's pretty clever, too. Should we ask her for some input?"
"She might help you later. I've got something else for her to work on right now."
Looking skeptically at his twin, George offered to work on The Jail Break Plan with Ron.
"Good then. Off to work now," commanded Hermione.
As George headed into the house, Fred looked uneasily at Hermione and asked with great trepidation. "Uhh, and what are we going to do, Hermione?"
"We, dear Fred," began Hermione as she linked her arm in his and began leading him back to the house, "are off to Azkaban."
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