The Hearing

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harry pov

All summer I'd been having the strangest of dreams. Some nights it would be of Cedric dying, others, a long hallway leading to some doors.

I didn't mention this to anyone, but in the back of my mind, I wondered if this was happening to Florence as well. However, she hasn't mentioned anything to me about it, so I'm assuming it's just me on this one.

I woke up drenched in sweat, like usual. I slid out of bed. Today was my Ministry hearing. Mr Weasley was taking me early in the morning, so I began getting ready.

Mrs Weasley left a white shirt and an ancient looking tie for me to wear. I changed into the clothes and grabbed the tie. I tried to tie it multiple times but it just wouldn't work.

I tried once more to tie it, fumbling around with it. I heard a soft laugh from behind me. I turned to see Florence standing against the door frame.

"Struggling, are we?"

"Well in my defence, I've never had to tie a ninety year old tie like this before." I defended, walking up to her.

"Well it's about time you learn." She laughed as she began to tie it for me.

"I have the best girlfriend." I grinned.

"Oh girlfriend?" A voice from the door asked. Sirius was standing behind Florence with a grin across his face. "I knew it would happen eventually. It was just a matter of time before Harry found his inner James and asked."

"Took him long enough." Florence smirked as she nudged my playfully.

"Indeed it did. Make sure to send me an invite to the wedding." Sirius winked before walking off.

We glanced to each other and both blushed a deep shade of red. She finished tying my tie and moved closer to me.

I wrapped my arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around my neck, looking up to me.

"Please get unexpelled. I'll go mad if I'm left alone to deal with Ron and Mione on my own." She said, as she ran her fingers through my hair.

"Hmm. I don't know that'd be pretty funny-"

She hit my chest.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Of course I'll try. I promise, carrot top."

She laughed. "Carrot top? Stop making fun of my hair colour!"

I tucked her hair behind her ears. "I love your hair. I'd never make fun of it."

She smiled. The adorable smile where one side of her mouth is slightly higher than the other.

"Ready to go Harry?" Mr Weasley asked from down the steps.

"Coming." I yelled down, as I kissed Florence's head before making my way to Mr Weasley.

He held out his arm to apparate. I grabbed on and felt a spinning feeling all around. We landed in the middle of what looked like a muggle subway.

Mr Weasley looked around in awe. "Trains? Underground? Ingenious these muggles." He said as we walked up to the machines to swipe our subway cards.

He looked in amazement as the little doors opened for us when I swiped my card.

"Ah, thank you Harry." He beamed.

"No problem."

We walked out of the subway and onto the busy streets of London. I had to keep an eye on Mr Weasley as he tends to get distracted by the muggles. We stopped at a telephone booth and he stepped inside.

"Here we are. I've never used the visitors entrance before. Should be fun."

I walked in after him. It was very cramped.

He dialled a few numbers on the telephone and the phone booth began dropping down like an elevator.

We sunk two stories before arriving at the Ministry. Mr Weasley guided me through a large, crowded hall filled with smartly dressed witched and wizards. Some of them gave me dirty looks as I passed. Probably because of the shitty Daily Prophet articles.

There were fireplaces lined along the sides of the hall with floo powder stations next to them. We walked into a elevator with a few other Ministry workers.

"Morning Arthur." Each of them chimed.

He smiled and greeted them all one by one.

The elevator went down a few floors, clearing out the rest of the Ministry workers. When we got to our floor, the doors opened and we walked out.

Department of Mysterious

The elevator announced.

I froze almost instantly and looked around in shock. This was the hall from the dreams I'd been having.

"Keep up Harry!" Mr Weasley called.

"Uh-yeh sorry." I stuttered as I sped up beside him.

Further down the hall, I noticed Lucius Malfoy was talking to Fudge, in a very suspicious manor too. It was now I wish I had brought my invisibility cloak.

Mr Weasley pulled me down a different hallway and we stopped outside the door. "Remember, during the hearting, speak only when you're spoken to. Keep calm. You've done nothing wrong." He said. "As the muggles say, truth will out. Yes?"

I nodded.

"I'm not allowed in, I'm afraid. Good luck, Harry."

I pushed open the doors and entered a large circular room with a chair in the middle.

The court room.

I slowly walked over to the chair and sat down. I looked around nervously at the room in front of me.

There were lots of witches and wizards around me. All of them had on dark robes and were staring curiously at me.

I adjusted my collar and gulped.

Fudge, who sat in the largest chair in the room, hit a gavel on the desk three times. "Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August into offences permitted by Harry James Potter, in Little Whinging, Surrey. Interrogators Cornelius Fudge, Minister-"

"Witness for defence! Albus Percival Wolfrick Brian Dumbledore." Dumbledore announced, cutting him off.

"You-you got our message that the time and place of the hearing had been changed did you?" Fudge asked, sounding annoyed.

He obviously wasn't pleased to have Dumbledore here.

"I must have missed it, but by a happy mistake, I arrived at the Ministry three hours early." Dumbledore said. "Charges?"

"The charges against the accused are as followed: that he did knowingly and in full awareness of the illegality of his actions, produce a patronus charm in the presence of a muggle." Fudge stated. "Do you deny producing said patronus charm?" He asked me.

"No, but-"

"And you were aware that you were forbidden to use magic outside of school while under the age of seventeen?"

"Yes, I was, but-"

"Witches and wizards of the wizenagamot-"

"I was only doing it because of the dementors!" I burst out.

Gasps filled the room.

"Dementors? In Little Whinging?" A women I recognised to be Susan Bones mother asked.

"That's quite clever. Muggles can't see dementors can they boy? Highly convenient." Fudge said.

"I'm not lying. There were two of them, and if I hadn't-"

"Enough. I'm sorry to interrupt what I'm sure would have been a very well rehearsed story, but since you can produce no witnesses of this event-"

"Pardon me Minister. But as it happens, we can." Dumbledore spoke once again.

It was true. When I was sent to the Dursley's, he had sent a women there to watch over me and keep me safe. She was there when the dementors attacked.

The women stood up from out of the audience and walked over to stand by Dumbledore and I.

"Please describe the attack. What did they look like?" Mrs Bones asked.

"Well, one of them was very large, and the other one rather skinny." The woman answered.

"Not the boys, the dementors." Fudge said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, right right. Well, um....big, cloaked. The everything went cold as though all the happiness had gone from the world."

"Now look here. Dementors don't just wander into a muggle suburb and happen across a wizard. The odds are astronomical."

"I don't think anyone would believe that the dementors were there by coincidence, Minister." Dumbledore said.

A women sitting slightly behind Fudge cleared her throat. "I'm sure I must have misunderstood you, Professor. Dementors are, after all, under control of the Ministry of Magic. It's so silly of me, but it sounded for a moment as though you were suggesting that the Ministry had ordered the attack on this boy." She questioned, in a high pitchy voice.

"That would be disturbing indeed, Madam Undersecretary. Which is why I'm sure the Ministry will be mounting a full scale inquiry into why two dementors were so very far from Azkaban, and why they mounted an attack without authorisation. Of course, there is someone who might be behind this attack." Dumbledore walked up to the judge pedestal and lowered his voice slightly. "Cornelius, I implore you see reason. The evidence that the dark lord has returned is incontrovertible."

Voldemort knows about Florence and I, and how close we are. I had only just thought about this now. What if he sent those dementors to me? What if his next move is to attack her?

"He's not back." Fudge hissed.

Dumbledore sighed and walked back towards me. "In the matter of Harry Potter, the law clearly states that magic may be used before muggles in life threatening situations."

"Laws can be changed if necessary Dumbledore."

"Clearly, it's become practise to hold a full scale criminal trial to deal with a simple matter of underage magic."

There were mumbles and murmurs coming from the audience and judges.

"Those in favour of conviction?" Mrs Bones asked.

Only a few raised their hands, including Fudge and that irritating lady with the squeaky voice from earlier.

"Those in favour of clearing the accused of all charges?"

Almost everyone raised their hands. I let out a long sigh of relief.

"Cleared of all charges." Fudge sighed, as he banged the gavel once more.

----

I walked through Kings Cross with Moody and Tonks. They insisted that they would walk me to platform 9 3/4 to make sure I got there safely.

A big black dog ran up beside me.

"Padfoot." Moody whispered. "Are you barking mad? You'll blow the entire operation."

Sirius ran into an empty waiting room and Moody nodded for me to follow him. I entered the room to see Sirius back in his human form.

"Sirius, what are you doing here? If somebody sees you-"

"I had to see you off, didn't I? What's life without a little risk?" He asked with a smile, as I sat down next to him.

"I don't want you to see you get shut back up in Azkaban."

"Oh, don't worry about me." He pulled something out his pocket. "Anyway, I wanted you to have these." He said, as he handed me three pictures.

The first photo was a large group of people all standing in headquarters.

"Original Order of the Phoenix. That's Marlene McKinnon." He said, pointing to a girl in the photo. "She was killed two weeks after this was taken. Voldemort wiped out her entire family. That's Frank and Alice Longbottom there." He pointed to two more people.

"Neville's parents."

"They suffered a fate worse than death if you ask me. It's been fourteen years and still a day doesn't go by I don't miss your dad."

My mum and dad were stood next to Moony and him in the photo. All with wide, happy smiles.

"Do you really think there's going to be a war, Sirius?" I asked.

He nodded slowly. "It feels like it did before."

I turned to the other photo. It was a picture of a younger Sirius holding a baby girl, one I had never seen before.

"Who's this?" I asked.

"Little baby Florence and I." He smiled warmly at the photo. "It's the only photo I ever got with her before she was forced to go to the Malfoy's."

I looked at him curiously. "What were her parents like when she was born?"

"Well Tom, her father, I knew he had a plan for her. He wanted her to grow up and become a deatheater and join him." Sirius looked to the ground. "And Bellatrix, she agreed with every word that came out of his mouth. They still had that plan for her. The only thing that stopped them, was you."

I gulped. Maybe this year would be harder than I thought for Florence and I.

I moved onto the last picture and smiled.

It was a polaroid of Sirius and I.

"That was the first day I met you. Your mother took that picture." Sirius said, smiling.

I smiled back. Then went to hand them back to him.

"You keep it. Give Florence her one too."

"Oh no, I can't keep these."

"Please, I want you both to have them. Hang them above your bed so you'll remember that I'm always watching for when you and Flo-"

"Okay! Okay!" I said, laughing. I already knew where he was going with that.

I hugged Sirius goodbye as I headed back outside to Moody and Tonks.

I took a deep breath and followed after them into platform 9 3/4.


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