All in the Family

Chapter 103: The Hearing

There was just no winning, as James finally had room to breathe, and the reward for that was getting steps in the back. Again.

They all sat up with general winces and grimaces once more, and looking carefully at each other to see a flash of recognition come over somebody. It didn't seem likely to happen as they all got wearily to their feet, and no one proclaimed where they were this time.

Alice found she was the only one on the ground to take in the room as you should from the doors directly behind her, and the book sitting on a smooth chair, with chains set in place. She took an automatic step away from such a thing, lest they come to life and strap her in, that book sitting innocently in place wasn't fooling her. The room was only lit by torches set high up in the walls, casting the very ceiling into darkness with no telling how high it was, and leaving everything underneath bathed in shadows. Even the first tire of stone benches rose high above her head and could hold hundreds.

Frank swung himself down beside her in the next instant and took her hand, both relaxing at the physical contact and breathing a bit easier when still no danger presented itself. Swallowing one last time to brace herself, she decided to summon the book to her just to be on the safe side and it soared to her hand. They'd both swear the chains clinked menacingly, but did nothing else.

Letting out a rather pitiful sigh in relief, really they'd been through worse, they still took refuge by the doors behind the chair just to be safe as she cracked the book open and began. "The Hearing," was self-explanatory at least, though the fact it was taking place in this room was still beyond odd. The very first sentence only sent another set of chills through everyone though.

There was just no mistaking the intent of Fudge, holding Harry's hearing in the very courtroom where so many had once been sentenced to Azkaban. Sirius climbed up to the very highest tier and had to fight back the urge to change forms once more at the suddenly vivid mental image of himself strapped into that thing; or worse, as his future self had once informed, it had sat empty while others had just decided to leave him to rot while he'd already been inside.

Alice licked her lips and had to fight the urge to apologize to someone for even speaking of this, but ultimately kept going with just a touch softer tone, like she was trying to gently let them all down as easily as possible how horribly this was going to go.

Lily began playing with her hair uncomfortably at the mention of so many people being in attendance. She'd been looking into affairs at Ministry trials lately in her off time, studying by-laws in the library had become a fallback interest recently since even fiddling with potions lately weren't always a safe topic between her and Sev anymore. Guests weren't usually welcome to these sorts of things though, but surely she just wasn't fully grasping the whole concept here yet. It sounded like they were holding a whole Wizengamot Trial to deal with Harry's underage magic.

Remus was certain his wasn't the only sigh of relief in the room when Dumbledore entered, but it was the most audible. Between Percy not even acknowledging Harry and Fudge attacking him so publicly, Dumbledore seemed like the only person left with any influence in the Ministry to get Harry out of this mess.

This hearing certainly wasn't going well regardless of who was in attendance, as Harry was interrupted, sidelined, and even dismissed for his impressive corporeal patronus without being able to get a word in through the majority of it all. It wasn't until Harry shouted about the dementors that he even got anyone's attention, and still Fudge tried to dismiss him as a story! It was infuriating to listen to, Sirius Black even went over to the seat Fudge would be in and lit all the paperwork on fire and nobody stopped him.

Alice's voice was getting harder, an edge of anger none of them had heard before except in regards to how Snape treated Neville, but hearing of how the Ministry was treating this was unprecedented. Dumbledore alone seemed to be keeping his head and manners when Fudge certainly wasn't as he had to remind the very government itself Arabella Figg was allowed in to add testimony for Harry.

Despite the bumpy start, at least her account was accurate and seemed to get the job done, and Madam Bones at least found her credible, so it wasn't all an uphill battle anymore.

Dumbledore's cool use of logic to back up Harry's story and the inconsistencies Fudge tried to throw back finally gave them all a bit of breathing room again, a feat this place had been trying to deny them since the entry. Even as some random woman named Umbridge tried to retaliate, that surely Dumbledore wasn't implying the dementors were sent by them, Dumbledore shot back her own fallacy. If the Ministry had control of all dementors, then how did they wind up near Harry?

When Fudge still tried to dismiss their very involvement as a lie on Harry's part and again was overruled by Madam Bones saying the witness had been plenty reliable, the Minister even tried to go beyond the immediate scope, of the previous warning he'd been sent, and all the trouble he got up to at school-

Though Dumbledore kindly corrected Harry's schooling was not of the Ministry's concern.

Now Remus's laugh echoed a bit in the room, and he definitely wasn't the only one doing so this time. Things were pretty much done from there, as Fudge was schooled on his own laws. After the looming fear of being stuck in a place like Grimmauld for any more foreseeable future, the news Harry was definitely going back to school soon couldn't have sounded any better! Aside from Dumbledore's rather odd behavior there at the end, he didn't so much as look at Harry during the entire thing nor acknowledge him the moment Harry was cleared of all charges, none of them could bring themselves to care right then as Alice announced she was on the last sentence.