Harry Potter And The Betrayal

"Are you really that anxious to die, madam?" Dantes countered seriously. "I am a master dueller. I have fought multiple Death Eaters before and come out alive while they wound up dead or in prison. You would not defeat me in a regular wizard's duel. When I fight, I fight to win and you madam would either wind up seriously injured or dead if we fought a normal duel."

Molly stared at him and could tell he was deadly serious.

When she remained silent Dantes asked, "Are my terms now acceptable, or do you really wish to leave your children without a mother? All of my previous duels with the exception of the ones I fought in school have been to the death, and that is how I will approach this one and I won't need Unforgivables either."

Arthur stepped up before Molly could say anything further and told him, "They are."

"Now that the floor show is over, can we get back to the reason we are here?" Lord Perrivor requested. "It is time for the Defender to present her case."

...

Fudge ran his fingers nervously along the collar of his lime green robes as he walked slowly toward the witness chair.

Harry had to fight to keep himself from laughing. The fool was giving the appearance of a condemned man walking the last mile in one of those old non-magical movies he'd watched over the summer. "Let's not take all day about this, Fudgie. And stop trying to milk the crowd for sympathy. I think the only one in this room who might give a damn about whether you feel like you are the injured party here is Umbitch and that's only because she sees you as her way out of Azkaban. The rest of us all know how you deliberately endangered us."

Fudge glared at Potter, unwilling to say anything that would put the Councillors more firmly against him. He'd been playing the political game long enough to know when to tread very carefully. He was fairly certain the Councillors would side with one of their own over him even though a couple of them also sat on the Wizengamot a panel he had largely controlled for the last few years.

Once he was seated, Bones got to her feet and asked her first question. "Minister Fudge, did you take monies from known Deatheaters and then appoint them to positions of power within the Ministry of Magic?"

"Of course not!" Fudge declared indignantly. "I never would've taken money from known Deatheaters."

"What about those who were accused but not convicted of being Deatheaters, during the Dark Lord's first Reign of Terror that was ended by Mr Potter in 1980?" Delacour inquired.

Fudge looked slightly worried for a moment before saying, "I only took contributions to some of my favourite charities from those who had been cleared of being Deatheaters."

"And what charities did they contribute the monies to at your request?" Perrivor wanted to know.

"The Improve Wizard and Muggle Relations Trust." Fudge told them. "It was created by a group of concerned witches and wizards after they thought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was gone for good, to try and help those muggles who were hurt by Deatheaters and those in the magical community who were also harmed by them. I thought it a suitable charity to direct them to, since they had inadvertently done a great deal of harm while under the Imperious curse and this was a way for them to make amends."

"Odd," Lord Altren commented. "I have never heard of this charitable trust before. I gave to a number of the charities that were helping both the magical and muggle worlds rebuild after the Dark Lord's supposed demise. Just who ran the charity?"

"I have no idea." Fudge mumbled. "The contributions and finances were handled by the goblins at Gringotts and you know how they honour their obligations."

Lord Altren looked over at the Defender. "Madame Bones, once this hearing is over, would you please arrange to have someone investigate this trust?"

"Certainly, my Lord," Bones agreed, noting the sudden pallor on Fudge's face. She turned her attention back to the charges. "Minister Fudge, did you appoint these cleared Deatheaters to positions of power or influence in the Ministry?"

"Not directly, I made recommendations to Department Heads that they might be good for this job or that one. And they were." Fudge added in his own defence as he played with the collar of his robe again.

"Do we have any copies of the letters of recommendation that Fudge gave to the relevant Department heads?" Lord Kieran wanted to know.

Delacour's assistant checked the pile of scrolls in front of them and then shook his head.

After a moment's consultation with the other members of the High Council, Lord Kieran announced, "We will let the claim of indirect influence stand, though it would be a given that if the Minister made a recommendation to the Head of a Department and that Department Head wanted to keep their job they would have hired that Deatheater, no matter whether they were competent at their job or not. Though Madame Bones, if any of those former Deatheaters were placed in your Department based on the Minister's recommendation, prior to you taking over, we would like to see a copy of the letter the previous department head was sent."

"Of course my lords," Bones nodded. She would be going through her department with a fine-toothed comb to see if any Deatheater or someone they had recommended had gotten a job in her Department and if so they were going to be put to the question even if they had no Dark Mark. "Minister Fudge, Let us move on for now to the day Rubeus Hagrid was arrested for supposedly opening the Chamber of Secrets, a task we all now know he could not have accomplished since it requires a parselmouth to open it. Why, Minister, did you feel it necessary to go to Hogwarts yourself and arrest Hagrid?"

"I decided that we in the Ministry needed to get a handle on this situation before it got out of control." Fudge told them. "I knew it wouldn't be too much longer before someone remembered that Hagrid had been thought to be the culprit the first time and I thought they might attack him. I simply took him into protective custody."

Fudge sat straighter in the chair trying to look brave and dignified, but Harry personally thought he looked like that arrogant rooster Dudley used to watch in that American cartoon show. What was he called…? Harry thought for a moment, trying to remember the name because at the time, he'd thought the rooster reminded him a lot of Uncle Vernon. Then it came to him…. Foghorn Leghorn. Now that he thought about it that Rooster was a perfect match for Fudge or any other politician on the face of the planet… whether magical or muggle.

"I discussed the issue with one of my top advisors," Fudge continued. "And they agreed it was best to place Hagrid in protective custody, that way if he was guilty we had him where he couldn't do any harm and if he wasn't, then he would be safe from those who might wish to do him harm."

....

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