The Durmstrang Potter Twin

Harry's Hearing

Tara's POV

The next few days were a flurry of activity as Harry was prepped to appear at his hearing- told what to say and taught how to reply to certain questions. Sirius and I spent maybe a day and a half trying to convince Lily and James not to go to the ceremony because having them seen in public would put multiple targets on their backs. Eventually, we convinced them to at least go under the invisibility cloak with Sirius.

The day of the hearing, Harry came down with a relatively nice-looking pair of dress robes on and a green look on his face. Lily and Molly were instantly at his side, trying to flatten down his hair just enough for it to look formal while James and Sirius looked on with grins. I crossed my arms and looked him up and down before nodding.

"I look alright?" he asked when he walked into the kitchen, holding his arms out uncomfortably.

Sirius smiled at him, "Well, you're certainly your dad's son."

James bared his teeth playfully at him, "Oh, shut up."

"I never said it was a bad thing," Sirius said, innocently. "You just look a bit like a penguin in that."

"Whose is it again?" Lily asked.

"That's one of my old ones from one of the Christmas Balls my parents threw," James responded, wrapping his arm around Lily's waist as she came to stand next to him.

I sipped carefully at my tea and hummed, "You look uncomfortable. That's exactly what they want."

I stood up straight and handed my teacup to Sirius, who took a sip and instantly grimaced, muttering, "Firewhiskey in the morning. Ugh."

I placed my fingertips on his spine and pressed until he was standing up straighter, "Stand straight, chin high, give 'em a friendly smile from time to time. Look like you're confident in everything you say."

He grimaced at me, "You make that sound like it's easy."

"I've also been placed on trial seven times, so I know how to deal with it."

They all stared at me, "You've been on trial seven times?"

I shrugged, "Yeah. Twice in Bulgaria for running an illegal tattoo shop at school and for stealing the Headmaster's wand, once in Russia for reasons that should not be known, once in the U.S. for breaking into the Ministry, and three times here for various reasons including the murder of a Ministry official."

James's brows furrowed, "Did you actually kill him?"

I looked at him incredulously, "Of course I did. I just gave valid reasons for why it made sense to kill him and they dropped the case."

Hermione stared, "That seems rather counter-productive for a working government."

I hummed, "The government here isn't very effective. I use it to my advantage. Now, look at me, Harry."

He held himself straight-backed and turned to me, holding his chin high.

I tutted, "Eye contact, Harry. Eye contact is important. Thankfully, you won't have to lie about anything since you're innocent."

He still looked nervous and I sighed and put my hand on his shoulder, "Listen to me, Harry. You answer all the questions you can, okay? I'll make sure you end up back at school no matter what. I can raise hell in the courtroom if need be and so can Dumbledore. You will be just fine, I promise."

"You'll do fine, Harry. Frankly, I'm more curious as to what my sister was doing in Russia that warranted her getting put on trial. Isn't it practically impossible to get arrested there?" James cocked his head.