The night before Harry's trail Remus had asked me if I could step up as Harry's temporary guardian again and accompany him to the ministry of magic. Which of course I did, I mean I was going to go with him one way or another. At least now I didn't have to worry about sneaking out of the house.
So, I got up early the next morning and got dressed as if I was going to court. Everybody always told me that I looked like my dad but as I looked in the mirror at my reflection with my hair pulled back into a neat bun and my makeup applied flawlessly thanks to glamour magic, I couldn't help but see Mum's face looking back at me. Which gave me the confidence to walk into the ministry like I owned in and make sure that Harry got off his trumped-up charges. I mean if Mum could get her PDH and doctorate while raising me on her own before Dad came back, I could support Harry and maybe help him get off the charges.
"Okay, let's get going," I said as I waked down the stairs met up with Harry and Mr. Weasley so we could leave.
"Elsa, what are you doing?" Harry asked me with a confused look on his face.
"Didn't anyone tell you, Harry? Elsa is acting as your temporary guardian while at the ministry," Mr. Weasley said as he smiled warmly at me.
"Just like old times," I laughed as I wrapped my arm around Harry's shoulder with difficulty. If he kept growing at the pace he was, it wouldn't be long until he towered over me. Not that would be hard.
"Elsa, dear, have something to eat before you leave, won't you," Mrs. Weasley said as she tried to usher me into the kitchen.
"I would love to Mrs. Weasley but I over slept and I don't want to make Harry late," I said as I looked up at the clock on the wall that said it was quarter past six.
I could tell that Mrs. Weasley was going to insist that I stay and eat but Mr. Weasley came to my rescue.
"She's right, Molly. Since we have to travel by muggle transport, we should really get going," Mr. Weasley told her as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
With a quick wave to Remus, Sirius and Tonks and a quick reminder from Mr. Weasley that I need to put on a coat so I didn't stand out on the cool, English summer morning, the three of us started out trip in to London.
When we got to the train station, Mr. Weasley could barely contain his excitement. Even thought it was packed with the morning rush of people going to work, he couldn't keep the smile off his face as he watched the muggles go about their daily lives.
"Simply fabulous!" Mr. Weasley whispered as he looked at the ticket machine, the only thing was it was out of order. "Wonderfully ingenuous!"
"Mr. Weasley, they're out of order," Harry said as he pointed to the sign on the machine.
"But even so..." Mr. Weasley said, voice full of wonder as he ran his hands over the machine and something caught my eye.
"Harry, can you go and get the tickets. I'll just be a second," I said as I walked over to a little girl who had been staring at me from behind her mother's legs.
"Hello, what's your name?" I asked the little girl as I knelt down on the ground.
"Mina," she told me as her mother smiled down at me. "Are you really Stargirl?"
"Yes, I am," I told her. "And you know what, you must be really special because you are the only person in this whole train station that noticed me."
"Really?" Mina said, her eyes wide with excitement.
"Really."
"I'm awfully sorry to ask because you have already taken the time to come over and say hello, but would you mind if I took a photo of the two of you," Mina's mothered asked me.
"Of course not! I mean, how could I say no to the smartest and prettiest girl I have ever met," I said, opening my arms to hug the little girl for the photo.
Not needing anymore encouragement, Mina ran in to my arms and wrapped her little arms around my neck. Her mother didn't take long taking the photo and after saying a quick goodbye to the little girl, I walked back over to Harry and Mr. Weasley, who was looking at me with a kind smile on his face.
"That was a very kind thing to do, Elsa," Mr. Weasley said, giving me a one-armed hug as we walked towards the ticket gates.
"We do that sort of thing all the time as Avengers. It's one of the many perks of being part of the team," I said as Mr. Weasley tried to get through the gates, but forgetting his ticket.
He kept trying to push open the barrier and had a baffled look on his face when it wouldn't open. Holding up the ticket to show Mr. Weasley, Harry put the ticket into the gate much to the amazement of Mr. Weasley who proceeded to walk through the gate backwards so he didn't miss a thing that the gates did.
Watching Mr. Weasley and his childlike amazement as he watched muggles go about their daily lives made the trip into London more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. You couldn't not smile as you watched Mr. Weasley bouncing on his seat as he watched the names of the stops appear on the screen that showed the underground map and the train station.
As soon as we were at our stop, Mr. Weasley jumped out of his seat and waited at the doors of the train for them to slide open. Harry had to practically grab hold of his arm to stop him from applauding when the doors finally opened. Mr. Weasley didn't even seem to mind when we were pushed out of the station by the crowds of people who were trying to get to work.
"Ingenious, absolutely wonderful," Mr. Weasley said as we walked out in to the brisk morning air.
"One day I'll take you on the New York trains. You will never stop being amazed about the things you see on it," I laughed as Mr. Weasley's face was lit up.
"Really! That would be wonderful!" Mr. Weasley said as he looked around the street. "Now, where are we? Ah, yes. This way you two."
I could tell by the look on Harry's face that for a split second he thought that Mr. Weasley had made us get off the train at the wrong stop. But thankfully, Mr. Weasley just needed to get his bearings and once he did, we were off and heading towards the disguised entrance to the Ministry of Magic.
"Here we are," Mr. Weasley said as we walked up to a red phone booth in a rather run-down part of the city. "After you, Elsa, Harry."
I looked at Harry and raised an eyebrow as we walked into the phone boot, unsure about what was going on. I had been to a lot of strange places, which had even stranger entrances as an Avenger but this had to be the strangest ones I had been to. When Mr. Weasley walked in after us, it became rather cramped as I was pressed up against one of the glass panels.
"Mr. Weasley, I think this might be out of order too," Harry said warily as he looked around the phone booth.
"No, no, I'm sure it's fine," Mr. Weasley said as he picked up the phone and held it above his head as he dialed a number. "Let's see, six...two...four...and another four...and another two..."
When Mr. Weasley finished dialing the number a woman's voice filled the phone booth, not the actual phone. The voice was so loud and clear it was almost as if the woman was in the phone booth with us.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Er...Arthur Weasley," Mr. Weasley said, unsure if he needed to speak into the phone or not, so he ended up holding the phone against his ear...the wrong way around. "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, here to escort Harry Potter and his, um, guardian, Elsa Rogers, to his disciplinary hearing."
"Thank you. Visitors, please take your badges and attach them to the front of your robes."
Following a click and a rattle, two silver badges dropped out of the coin return chute, shinning in the sunlight that was streaming through the glass panels. I picked both up as I was closest to the phone to see our names engraved on them. Harry's said Harry Potter, Disciplinary Hearing and mine said Elsa Rogers, Harry Potter's guardian. I handed Harry his badge and pinned mine to the front of my blazer's pocket, which was probably not has high as the ministry would want me to wear it but there was no way I was walking around with a name tag pinned to my chest like I worked in a fast-food place.
After I pined the badge on, I shoved my hands in my pockets to stop myself from nervously playing with bracelet as I waited for something, anything to happen. I looked over at Harry who was trying to pin his badge on with shaking hands, but failing each time he tried. Smiling at him, I gently took the badge from him and pinned it to the front of his jacket where it could be seen. The last thing I wanted for him was to be pulled up because he wasn't displaying his badge correctly. I honestly didn't care if they went off at me because of it but I didn't want anything more happening to Harry. As soon as I finished pinning the badge on to Harry's jacket, the woman's voice filled the phone booth once again.
"Visitors of the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration as the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
I could feel all the blood drain out of my face and it wasn't because of the phone booth shuddering and sinking into the ground. If the security in the ministry examined my wand, they would see that it wasn't made from any wood found on Midgard. How the hell was I going to explain that my wand was made from the wood of Yggdrasil, a mythical tree that many don't believe exists. After a very long minute of me worrying about if I was going to get found out once and for all, a golden light started to fill the phone booth as we were lowered into the Ministry.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day."
I couldn't help buy scoff a little when I heard the same voice from the phone booth talk to us one last time. This day was going to be a lot of things but I didn't think that pleasant was going to be one of them. But as soon as I waked out of the phone booth, every worrying thought left my mind as I looked around at the ministry which almost looked like it could have been part of Asgard.
The roof was peacock blue with golden symbols that changed like it was some sort of magical notice board, the sides of the hallway had a number of fire places that were connected to the floo network as witches and wizards appeared in them in puffs of green smoke, ready to start their day at work. Halfway down the hall was a massive golden fountain with a group of statues in the middle of it. Sitting in the middle of the circular pool of water was a tall and proud looking wizard with his wand pointed straight up into the air, standing around him in a scene of unity was a beautiful looking witch, a centaur standing on its back legs and holding a bow and arrow in its hands, a goblin and a house elf who was looking up with a look of admiration in it eyes. Sparkling jets of water flew out of both the witch and wizards' wands, out of the end of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblins hat and the tip of both ears of the house elf.
"This way," Mr. Weasley said, drawing my attention away from the glittering statue.
We joined the masses that were heading to work and slowly made our way down the hallway. As we passed the fountain, I saw that there were a number of coins that had been tossed in like it was some sort of wishing well. Under the fountain in a small, smudged sign were the words; All proceeds from the Fountain of Magical Brethren will be given to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Just before we walked past the fountain completely, I pulled a couple of gallons out of my pocket and tossed them into the fountain which earned me a warm smile from Mr. Weasley.
"Come on you two, over here," Mr. Weasley said as he guided us over to a desk with a sign with the word's security written on it. I wizard in peacock blue robes sat behind the desk looking board as he read the Daily Prophet.
"I'm escorting some visitors," Mr. Weasley said as the wizard put the newspaper down.
"Step over here," the man sighed in a board voice.
I had to give Harry a little shove towards the security wizard who held a long golden thin rod in his hands which he proceeded to wave up and down the both of us like it was some sort of hand-held metal detector.
"Wand," he grunted at us when he had finished waving the strange rod over us.
Harry walked up first and dropped his wand onto a strange looking device which began to vibrate as soon as the wand touched it. After a few seconds a long, thin strip of parchment slid out of the machine like some sort of receipt.
"Eleven inches, phoenix feather core, been in use for four years. That correct," the man asked Harry.
"Yes," Harry said nervously as he stepped aside so I could place my wand on the machine.
I waited and watched nervously as the machine did whatever it needed to do and waited for it to print out the receipt.
"Nine and a half inches, unicorn hair in the variety of a sleipnir hair core, in use for six years. That correct," he asked me.
"Um, yeah," I said nervously as I looked around making sure that no one was listening.
"I keep these," the guard said as he took the receipts and stuck them on a brass spike. "You get these back."
As soon as the man held our wands out to us, I quickly snatched it out of his hand and placed it back into the inside pocket of my blazer, where no one could get to it again.
"Thanks," I said as I wrapped a protective arm around Harry's shoulders as I saw the look on the guard's face when he saw the name on Harry's badge.
"Hang on..." the guard said as I pulled Harry away from him.
"Thank you, Eric," Mr. Weasley said as he quickly ushers us through a set of golden gates and into the ministry itself.
After walking the winding halls of the ministry, Mr. Weasley ushered us in to a lift which was already half full with people who were heading to their offices. When a particularly tall wizard walked into the lift, I was forced to take a step back and unfortunately stepped on someone's toe.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," I said as I shuffled away from the man.
"Elsa?" the man said in an all too familiar voice.
"Hello, Mr. Diggory," I said coolly to the man who was the father of my boyfriend. The man who had been ignoring him for the past few months, not even bothering to find out if his son was safe. I waited and waited for the man to ask something, anything about his son but only grew angrier when he didn't say a word. "Cedric's fine, thanks for asking."
"I'm sure he is," Mr. Diggory snapped as the lift opened onto the level that his office was.
"You know you're missing out on an amazing son, Mr. Diggory. He's kind and caring and has the biggest heart of anyone I know. It's a shame that you can't see it," I called out as I watched his figure fade into the crowd of people.
Just before the gates to the lift's closed, Kingsley Shacklebolt squeezed into the lifts and whispered something into Mr. Weasley's ear, causing him to look at the auror in shock.
"Merlin's beard," Mr. Weasley muttered before looking back at the auror. "Thank you, Kingsley."
"What's going on, Mr. Weasley?" I asked him as soon as Kingsley got out on the next level.
"They've changed the time of the hearing," Mr. Weasley told us in a stressed tone.
"When is it?" Harry asked in a panic.
"In five minutes."
"Department of Mysteries," the same voice from the phone booth announced when we reached the bottom level of the ministry in the now empty lift.
The hallway that we walked out into was nothing like the ones on the levels above. Instead of glittering gold and peacock blue, the walls were rough stone and dark with only a few touches to light the way. Each door we passed was made from heavy wood and was sealed with iron bolts and locks. As I eyed the doors, I shuddered thinking about what was hidden behind them.
When we reached the room where Harry's trial was going to be held, we saw Lucius Malfoy standing and talking to the Cornelius Fudge himself. As soon as the pair saw us, they both stopped talking as Malfoy narrowed his eyes as he looked me. But I held his glare, not giving in to the death eater. Whether or not he was still working with Hydra didn't matter to me, he has at one point of time or another and had passed on information to them that could have ended the world as we knew it. One day I was going to out the man for the monster that he was and when that happened the world would be a better place with him behind bars.
With a flick of his robes, Lucius Malfoy took off walking down the dark hallway but not before giving me one last smirk, which only made me roll my eyes. As soon as he was out of sigh, Fudge walked into the room and left Mr. Weasley alone with Harry and me.
"Remember, during the hearing, speak only when spoken to," Mr. Weasley told Harry. "Keep calm. You've done nothing wrong. As the muggles say, truth will out. Yes?"
"It always does. Trust me, I know," I said as I gave Mr. Weasley a small smile.
"I'm not allowed in, I'm afraid but Elsa will be with the whole time. Good luck, Harry."
As we walked into the room, Harry grabbed hold of my hand like a child grasping the hand of their mother. I didn't let go of his hand as we walked further into the room and looked around. The walls were made out of a dark marble and wooden benches where at least fifty witches and wizards sat in plum-coloured robes who Mr. Weasley informed me were called the Wizengamot. In the middle of them all, on a seat that was raised higher than the rest was Cornelius Fudge.
There was a seat in the middle of the large room where a stern looking witch with a monocle instructed Harry to sit. There was a second chair not too far away from Harry's where the witch instructed me to sit. Giving Harry's hand one last squeeze to let him know I would be there for him no matter what, I walked over to the chair and sat down as I waited for the hearing to begin.
"Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August," Fudge said in a voice that echoed around his room as Percy Weasley, who I had just noticed was in the room, started to take notes. "Into offenses committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Secrecy by Harry James Potter, resident of four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging.
"Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic, Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister; Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley. We also have Elsa Margret Rogers who is the temporary guardian for the accused..."
Fudge never got to finish his sentence, which judging by the rising red in his face, angered him greatly. The doors to the hearing room were thrown open as somebody made a dramatic entrance. As I turned around to see who it was, I half expected to see Loki come striding in with is cape bellowing out behind him because it was just the type of thing he would do. Instead, I saw Dumbledore stride into the room without even looking at Harry for a single second.
"Witness for the defense; Albus Percival Wulfric Dumbledore."
Dumbledore had a look of complete calm on his face as he stopped in front of the Wizengamot who were all looking at him and whispering to each other. The looks on their faces ranged from annoyed to frightful too happy in the case of two witches who sat in the back row who waved at him.
"Ah, Dumbledore," Fudge said, slightly flustered as he looked down at Dumbledore. "Yes. You, er, got our message that the time and er, place of the hearing had been changed then."
"I must have missed it," Dumbledore said in a surprisingly cheerful voice. "However, due to a lucky mistake I arrived at the Ministry three hours early, so no harm done."
Harry looked over his shoulder at me with a shocked look on his face as Fudge and Dumbledore started talking about getting him a chair, which was resolved by Dumbledore conjuring a armchair next to Harry's chair. I just shrugged my shoulders at him, just as confused about what was going on as he was.
"Yes. Well then, the charges," Fudge said as he picked up a piece of parchment from the pile in front of his and began to read from it. "The charges against the accused are as following; The he did knowingly, deliberately, and in full awareness of the illegality of his 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, 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."
"If I may, Minister," I said as I stood up and walked over to Harry's side. "I would like to point out for the consideration for the Wizengamot, that while it is important to have such rules in place to protect our secrecy. Such rules must be broken in times of dire needs. I, myself, have faced similar situations as an Avenger. While it may not be the same as the Ministry rules, the ones that I have been forced to break have been over looked due to the outstanding situation that I was placed in and I believe that the Ministry should do the same with Harry."
Fudge glared at me the entire time I was talking, but it wasn't him I was addressing. It was those on the Wizengamot who were still undecided on Harry's guilt. If I could change just one of their minds that could mean the difference of Harry being kicked out of Hogwarts or not.
The stern looking woman with the monocle, who I recognised as Madam Bones who was Amanda's aunt, was looking me with a small smile on her face the entire time, making me hope that she may be on Harry's side. But it was the woman on Fudge's right that seemed to have a problem with me. I hadn't noticed her at first because she was sitting in the shadows, but when he lent forward to watch me as I spoke, I finally got a good look at her. She was a short and squat looking which who closely resembled a toad. Her face was broad and flabby and she had practically no neck at all.
"While that may be well and true in the muggle world, but things are quite different here at the Ministry," the woman said in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. "Now, I suggest that you sit back down, Miss Rogers or I will have you removed from this hearing."
I wanted more than anything to snap back at the woman but I knew better. I walked back over to the seat and glared at her as I sat down. She clearly had it out for Harry but I had no idea why.
"Now, if we don't have any more interruptions. Let's begin this hearing," Fudge said as he glared at Dumbledore and me. "You are Harry James Potter, of number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey?"
"Yes."
"You receive an official warning letter from the Ministry for using illegal magic three years ago, did you not?"
"Yes, but..."
"And yet you conjured a Patronus on the night of the second of August?"
"Yes, but..."
"Knowing that you are not permitted to use magic outside school while you are under the age of seventeen?"
"Yes, but..."
"Knowing that you were in an area full of Muggles?"
"Yes, but..."
"Fully aware that you were in close proximity to a muggle at the time?"
"Yes, but I only used it because we were..."
Fudge and Harry's little one side interrogation ended when Madam Bones interrupted in a bombing voice.
"You produced a fully-fledged Patronus?" she asked with curiosity filling her voice.
"Yes, because...," Harry said desperately trying to prove his point but ended up getting cut off again but this time by the woman again, not Fudge.
"A corporeal Patronus?"
"A what?" Harry asked in a confused voice as I sighed and shook my head. He clearly hadn't been paying attention to Remus properly when he was explaining how a Patronus worked, otherwise he would have known what a corporeal Patronus was.
"You Patronus has a clearly defined form? I mean to say, it was more than a vapor or smoke?" she explained patiently.
"Yes, it's a stag. It's always a stag."
"Always?" she asked him sounding shocked. "You have produced a Patronus before now?"
"Yes, I've been doing it for over a year," Harry said sounding more than a little frustrated.
"And you are fifteen years old?"
"Yes, and..."
"You learned this at school?"
"Yes, Professor Lupin taught me and Elsa when I was in my third year, because of..."
"Impressive," she said quietly as she nodded her head. "A true Patronus at that age, very impressive indeed."
"It's not a question of how impressive the magic was," Fudge said in an annoyed voice. "In fact, the more impressive the worse it is, I would have thought, given that the boy did it in plain view of a muggle!"
I almost lost control and froze the entire hearing room over when I saw Percy nod in agreement with Fudge. He had known Harry since he was eleven years old and knew he wouldn't have done it unless he had a good reason. But apparently having a high paying job in the Ministry was more important to him than his family.
"I did it because of the dementors!" Harry shouted before anyone could cut him off or say anything else.
"Dementors?" Madam Bones asked, sounding shocked. "What do you mean boy?"
"I mean there was two dementors down that alleyway and they went for me and my cousin," Harry said desperately, hoping someone would believe him.
"Ah," Fudge said smugly as he looked around the room at the members of the Wizengamot. "Yes. Yes, I thought we'd be hearing something like this."
"Seriously!" I yelled without thinking. "You thought you would be hearing something like that! How could you have possibly thought Harry would say something like that! You just want a reason to expel Harry!"
"OUT!" Fudge roared as he looked at me with a crazy look on his face. "Get out now, Miss Rogers!"
I glared at Fudge as I walked out of the room. He knew as well as I did, the only reason he wanted Harry out of Hogwarts was so he didn't have to deal with him and Voldemort being back. I could feel the temperature drop as I stalked out of the room and I honestly didn't care, part of me hoped that Fudge froze to that stupid high seat of his for what he was doing to Harry.
But when I walked out into the hallway, it hit me how quiet it was as Mr. Weasley smiled at me, not looking surprised at all that Fudge kicked me out. There was an eerie feeling that seemed to fill the hallway as the locked doors that lined it seemed to gain a sinister feel to them. All I could think as I looked up and down the hallway was, I was glad Mr. Weasley was with me otherwise it would have been a long, long wait.