Selene || Remus Lupin

Ch. 41 - Harry's Hearing

"You're late," Cornelius Fudge's voice rang out over the courtroom.

Selene winced as Harry made his way to the chair in the center of the room. She had been in these courtrooms as an Auror representing a case, but never on the side of the guilty party – or in Harry's case, the alleged guilty party.

"Sorry," Harry said, and Selene could hear the nervousness in his voice. "I-I didn't know the time had changed."

"That is not the Wizengamot's fault," Fudge said. "An owl was sent to you this morning. Take your seat."

When Remus had come to her home all those years ago to tell her that Sirius had been captured by the Ministry, she had expected to come down to one of these courtrooms to play that part. What a sight she would've been, too. At the time, she was a distraught, heavily pregnant woman literally hanging off of Remus because she was so beside herself with anger and sadness that she could barely stand on her own two feet. She wouldn't have been any help to Sirius, especially since she herself didn't even believe that he was innocent. Yet, she had always been surprised – and deep down, very angry – that he had never been given a trial.

In this case, however, she never expected Harry to be involved in one.

"Very well," Fudge said. "The accused being present – finally – let us begin. Are you ready?" he called down the row of seats in which he was currently sitting.

"Yes, sir," an eager voice that Selene recognized – with a hint of betrayal in her stomach – as Percy Weasley's.

"Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August," Fudge said clearly as Percy began to scribble on his long piece of parchment, "into offenses committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Secrecy by Harry James Potter, resident at number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

"Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Percy Ignatius Weasley –"

"– Witness for the defense, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," another voice interrupted.

Selene breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't like Dumbledore much, but she couldn't deny that the old headmaster was very smart and clever. He was well within his abilities to get Harry out of this mess.

Dumbledore strode across the courtroom in dark blue robes. He came up beside Harry and looked up at the Minister expectantly.

"Ah," Fudge said uncomfortably. He clearly hadn't expected Dumbledore to show up. "Dumbledore. Yes. You – er – got our – er – message that the time and – er – place of the hearing had been changed, then?"

"I must have missed it," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "However, due to a lucky mistake I arrived at the Ministry three hours early, so no harm done."

"Yes – well – I suppose we'll need another chair – I – Weasley, could you –?"

"Not to worry, not to worry," Dumbledore said, extracting his wand out of his robes and giving it a little flick. A comfy little purple armchair appeared next to Harry, in which Dumbledore promptly took his seat, looking up at Fudge interestedly as if eagerly waiting for his next order of business.

"Yes," Fudge said, shuffling his papers around. "Well, then. So. The charges. Yes."

He pulled out an official-looking piece of parchment, reading, "The charges against the accused are as follows: That he did knowingly, deliberately, and in full awareness of the illegality of actions, having received a previous written warning from the Ministry of Magic on a similar charge, produce a Patronus Charm in a Muggle-inhabited area, in the presence of a Muggle, on August the second at twenty-three minutes past nine, which constitutes an offense under paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, and also under section thirteen of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy.