Chapter: 1 Pre-trial conversation

As Harry nervously walked through the Ministry halls with Mr Weasley beside him he mulled over and over the various 'Cases for the Defence' scenarios he had and the strange events surrounding his return to Hogwarts from the graveyard of Little Hangleton in the West Country.

Soon he was sitting in Mr. Weasleys office desperately trying not to fidget whilst having a cuppa tea, as they sat killing time before heading over to Madame Bones office at ten for the standard formal hearing for the crime of being under age whilst using magic before a muggle.

'Ah well,' thought Harry. 'Interesting times are ahead of us now. I've just got to do what needs doing today.'

His thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Weasley once again asking Harry an irrelevant question. "Ah Harry what is a rubber duck used for?"

Harry stared at him blankly for a moment, his thoughts completely thrown off track before answering, "Sir it's a kids bath toy, usually with a built in whistle. It floats around on the water. When a kids big enough they learn to squeeze it to make it whistle and later to hold it under water till it fills with water and then how to squirt the water out. My cousin use to try and make a big puddle on the floor."

Harry suddenly had a brilliant idea. "Sir if you've no objection how about we go to Gringotts this afternoon on the way back and I'll get some muggle money and either this afternoon or on Saturday morning we'll quickly and quietly go to the local shops and I'll get one as well as some muggle lollies and toys to entertain the other kids." As Mr. Weasley opened his mouth to protest Harry went on, "Oh I know we'll need some other adults but if you can pick one or two muggle raised to come along that would be best. Subtle would be good and frankly most of the wizards and witches I've seen couldn't blend into a muggle crowd if their life depended upon it."

Mr Weasley paused thoughtfully before regretfully saying, "I'll think about it Harry. I'm pretty sure Dumbledore won't permit it however."

Harry almost exploded at that point, "Mr Weasley with all due respect, but what business is it of his what I do or don't do away from Hogwarts? My legal guardian is Sirius Black not Albus Dumbledore and frankly unless Dumbledore is a dark wizard I doubt he could've done a worse job."

At Mr. Weasley's dumbfounded look Harry went on, quieter, seemingly calmer but none the less with in an irate tone. "I want you to stop and think about this without talking to Dumbledore or your wife or anyone else. Just your brains and observations, your knowledge of the law and what you'd have done if you'd come home to find all of your family dead except for one of the boys who was still in nappy's and the knowledge that only one specific person you, Molly & Dumbledore trusted could've let your enemy through the wards!"

"Harry! I..."

"Mr. Weasley, stop and THINK! I'll give you some facts and you consider the ramifications:

Dumbledore certainly gives me the and every other student the impression he can read our minds whenever he wants without so much as an 'excuse me';

He apparently regularly mind rapes people around him; its part of how he gives the impression of omniscience, that and pre-empting your questions with some sort of fatuous explanation, often an incomplete and or misleading one. What family secrets do you think he ferreted out?

During the '80 to '81 period he knew there was a spy inside the Order leaking info which amongst other things resulted in the deaths of your brother-in-laws Gideon and Fabian. The leak had been narrowed down to the Marauders. You don't think Dumbles didn't mind rape all four?

He was the one who only months later cast the Fidelius charm and according to a charms book I read would've also had to've been the one to later change the secret keeper from Sirius to Peter Pettigrew;

He sent Hagrid alone to Godrics Hollow to fetch me that night. Hagrid to this day does NOT have wand rights. He sent him before Sirius or any of the muggle emergency services arrived. In fact I've been informed that Snape had only just arrived to report Voldemorts apparent demise when Hagrid was leaving Dumbledores office for Godrics Hollow;

Dumbledore ordered Hagrid to fetch me but NOT my parents; so HOW did Dumbledore already know my parents were dead? Or didn't he care if they were?

And a point of curiosity, how DID Hagrid transport himself to Godrics Hollow and how was he planning to return with me?

Sirius gave him his motorbike to use when he arrived after Hagrid had found me then refused to hand custody of me over to Sirius who was by then both my lawful guardian and the first auror on the scene – his stated reason for refusing to hand me over wasn't that Sirius was a traitor or death eater but that Dumbledore had told him to 'bring Harry back to me';

In effect Hagrid had unwittingly kidnapped me on Dumbledores orders!

Where was I for the following 27 or so hours? Hagrid rode off with me mid to late-evening on October 31st but there were NO sightings of me anywhere else the next day till Hagrid arrived at my aunts at midnight on the following night of the 1st and 2nd of November. Professor McGonagall had met Hagrid at Hogwarts that morning but I wasn't apparently at Hogwarts nor was I at St Mungos later that day. In fact when he turned up with me at Privet Drive he told Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall that I'd fallen asleep over Bristol on the way there – so where the heck was I all that day and what was done to me?

Why weren't my alternative guardians notified to collect me for surely there is or was a list of alternatives – after all they were aurors in a time of war and knew they and I were being specifically targeted. Many of their friends like the Longbottoms were aurors actively opposing not just the Death Eaters but any and all dark wizards as well;

So why did Dumbledores ignore my parents will and deliberately and with malice aforethought abandon me on my aunts' doorstep?

How was he able to get away with overriding my parents wishes?

Dumbledore had plenty of time to write a letter saying my parents were dead and we'll be back in 10 years and to stand chatting outside with Professor McGonagall but he didn't even bother going inside to inform my aunt that her sister and brother in law were dead or inform her of the funeral arrangements or to say 'congratulations you've now got Irish twins.'

Mr Weasley looked a Harry with wide-eyed confusion and worry, "Irish twins?" he queried curious at the term he'd never heard before.

"Oh, it's a muggle term; obviously you know what twins are. When a muggle couple has two children born in the same year, but from different pregnancies they're referred to as Irish twins for some reason. Apparently it doesn't happen often but it does happen," explained Harry. "Anyway my cousin Dudley is only 5-6 weeks older than me and is and was spoilt rotten; suddenly without a word of warning or apparently any remuneration my aunt is suddenly stuck looking after both her 17 month old son and a nearly nude, very unwelcomed 15 month old nephew." Harry paused for thought and said aloud, "I wonder if Dudley has that attention deficit thingie that they talk about on the idiot box sometimes? Anyway on with my points:

How would you feel if Bill had been the only Weasley survivor of a DE raid and Dumbledore said, 'it's all for the greater good' and literally dumped Bill on Muriel's or your squib cousins doorstep before he apparated away regardless of whatever instructions were left in your will?

Why didn't Dumbledore as the Chief Warlock fight for Sirius's right for a trial? He was arrested at the scene of a crime obviously needing medical care and illegally dumped in Azkaban followed by a highly effective smear campaign but NOT legally questioned, tried, convicted and sentenced to Azkaban.

If he was actually an honest person who's a self-declared Light wizard surely he would've ordered a trial as he knew Sirius was innocent of betraying my parents even if he was uncertain if Sirius was guilty of killing Pettigrew and the muggle bystanders. Instead Dumbledore actively participated in the railroading of Sirius into Azkaban and after his escape is effectively now imprisoning him at his hated family home;

My aunt and uncle were and are NOT happy with my presence in their lives and Dumbledore knew it as he had Mrs Figg move in up the street to spy on us within weeks of abandoning me on a doorstep. Surely she reported my physical health – bruises, broken bones, semi-starvation, being forced to wear Dudleys rags whilst he wore brand new tailored clothing etc. Yet nothing was done about my injuries or my living in the cupboard under the stairs or being the Dursleys house slave or the malnutrition or outright verbal abuse I received and still do receive nor the on-going slander the locals are told about myself;

When I turned 11 my first letter was addressed to 'the cupboard under the stairs'; he also deliberately and illegally sent Hagrid to collect me? Why not a Head of House or senior teacher as per the law?

I was NOT given any of the pre-Hogwarts required reading material for the muggleborns or muggle raised students nor was I told HOW to identify and traverse the barrier at Kings Cross Station. Instead, purely by coincidence a red headed pureblood family with old fashioned school trunks and owls was there in the muggle side of Kings Cross Station with the mother breaking the statute of secrecy by speaking loudly of muggles and catching the Express for which she received some very strange looks from the muggles trying to get past them.

Also why did I only get rescued from the Dursleys home when YOUR sons decided to fetch me? Please bear in mind they literally had to rip the bars off my bedroom window with your car in order to get me out whilst my uncle had to unlock the five or six padlocks keeping me locked in Dudleys 2nd bedroom;

Also how come in almost 10 years plus the summer holidays how come not one single individual noticed the blatant signs of at the least neglect or child abuse at worst? Why didn't Mrs Figg report on me to either Child Protection Services, the local police or the DMLE in addition to her regular reports to Dumbledore?

Please Mr. Weasley THINK about what I've just said."

After a long pause to give a very perturbed man some thinking time I went on, "Mr. Weasley I also need to get to Diagon Alley before we get our book lists without Ron or your wife being present."

"Without Molly? Why?" he said sounding slightly offended.

"Several reasons sir; First I need to buy a completely new wardrobe as I'm sick and tired of wearing Dudleys hand me downs, even his old grundies. Most of the local op shops would've binned them as rags even before I was required to wear them. The only 'good' outfits I have are my school clothes which I've pretty much outgrown. Second I need the advice of other teenagers on what's considered appropriate or 'in' for my age and status as I'm pretty sure your wife would try and override my choices. Third I'm fourteen, almost fifteen, so old enough to make my own choices without being browbeaten by her over those choices. Fourth I need to overhaul or replace all my old equipment and I have the money to do so and I don't want to inflame Ron's jealousy by doing so in front of him. Fifth I'll be meeting some other friends that don't live at the Place. None of this is the business of your wife or Dumbledore though I do need Sirius to approve it as he is my legal guardian."

Looking at the slightly offended man who'd always been so nice he said, "Sir don't get me wrong, I do deeply appreciate her help and guidance but with Dumbledores subtle encouragement and her own desperate desire to wrap I and the others in swaddling clothes to supposedly protect us from the big bad world what she is in fact doing is tying us up and laying us on the tracks in front of Voldemort and his Death Eater Express and virtually saying 'here come and get them; they can't run or fight back now so just use them for target practise'."

At Mr. Weasleys horrified look Harry dryly went on, "three out of four of our DADA teachers personally selected by Dumbledore have deliberately tried to murder me in particular and as collateral damage Hermione and amongst others your kids have all been incapacitated or hurt because of both theirs and Dumbledores deliberately chosen actions and inactions and the fourth one inadvertently tried to kill us when he was distracted and forgot to take his wolvesbane potion."

"For some reason that Dumbledore apparently alone knows I've been targeted since I was a baby yet he has done nothing to make me aware and fighting fit? What he has done in fact, is to arrange matters so that I'm continually placed in an abusive environment where chronic malnutrition has resulted in physically stunted growth with poor bone structure etc. I've been forced to exist in a house that's never been a home yet where I'm required to do all the household cleaning and repairs as well as prepare and cook and if I'm lucky I'll be fed the table scraps like some sort of maltreated house elf.

"When I got to Hogwarts he has done nothing and or not permitted anyone else from correcting any of these detrimental medical conditions or even told me my options. I have been given mostly incompetent and or murderous DADA professors and I and my friends have been repeatedly placed in life or death situations that he almost exclusively arranged or took advantage of. I've received no special training, or fitness regime, neither mental counselling nor physical health care; if anything I've consistently received the opposite."

A confused and almost afraid Mr. Weasley half asked, half said, "Counselling Harry?"

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself. "Near on ten years of physical and mental abuse then Hogwarts. First year: fought a 12' mountain troll rescuing the 'damsel in distress', was nearly thrown off my broom whilst several hundred feet in the air and was in various life threatening situations originating from Dumbledore and a Voldemort possessed DADA teacher who died literally at my hands. Second year: a house elf tried to 'protect' me by closing the platform entry at Kings Cross, getting a bludger to chase after me during a quidditch match, feral schoolmates, acromantulas, upset centaurs, fought and killed a 60' basilisk armed only with Gryffindors sword, Fawkes and the sorting hat, rescued Ginny with Rons help while Dumbledore did bugger all."

"Language Harry," Arthur responded automatically in 'parental mode'.

Harry went on as though he hadn't heard the remonstration but he didn't swear again either. "Third year: dementors, finding out about Sirius – the public BS and then the truth, more dementors and the ministry moron. Fourth year being illegally forced to contend in the TriWizard Tournament whilst under age by Dumbledore and his murderous ministry minions, yet again having the whole school turn on me including Ron, watching as Cedric was murdered by Pettigrew, captured by Pettigrew, my blood taken by Pettigrew to resurrect Voldemort, crucio'd by Voldemort, forced to duel him then escaping with Cedrics body to Hogwarts only to have Fudge murder Barty Crouch junior to cover it all up and now only weeks later having to defeat two more dementors and then been tried for it. Counselling is when someone, usually a doctor trained to deal with mental issues helps you through the trauma of bad events. They talk you through your anger and grief and attempt to ensure you don't go on a destructive rampage. Sort of what you would've arranged for Ginny after her being possessed by Voldemort for 10 months during her 1st year. The closest I've come to that is Hermione talking with me before I was abandoned yet again to merciless scum that Dumbledore keeps pretending are my 'loving' family and with little to no contact with anyone kind also at Dumbledores direct orders. Being 'sent to Coventry' is listed as a form of psychological and emotional abuse and or torture by the muggles and is grounds for..."

Arthur sat back in shock as he assimilated Harry's comments; he was struggling to come up with any coherent response until a stranger walked into Mr. Weasleys office and began speaking over Harry, so Harry stopped talking.

"Arthur, what are you still doing here? Fudges upgraded the boys hearing to a full Wizengamot trial in courtroom ten and it's already well underway!"

"What!" seconds after his horrified question Mr. Weasley was on his feet and ushering Harry out and down the hallway to the lifts.

Harry followed the panting Mr. Weasley along the hallway of level 10 to the courtroom door where they finally stopped. "I'm sorry Harry I can't go in there with you but I'll be here to escort you when you depart."

"That's alright Mr. Weasley; thanks for your efforts and please take the time to think about what I said while you wait."

Note: 1 the original edition of this chapter was deleted from BunyipBudgie to be correctly reposted under BunyipBudgie2 with my other stories…

Note: 2 following some reviews I have corrected a few errors and added a little…