Ignoring the old man, Harry continued, "Next, he also demanded from Mister Potter the sword Mister Potter used to kill the basilisk. That sword was... is... the Sword of Gryffindor. As a goblin forged blade, the blade of the sword takes within itself that which makes it stronger. As the blade became coated in basilisk venom, the blade absorbed some of the venom. Albus would have easily been able to detect that as well as the blood of the basilisk, which was also on the blade at the time; and on Heir Potter's robes."
Knowing he couldn't argue with that level of logic, the old man kept silent, just scowled and looked away again.
"And finally, Albus's phoenix companion, Fawkes, was also in the Chamber of Secrets and aided Mister Potter in killing the basilisk by pecking out its eyes. Does Albus claim his phoenix companion is an unreliable source?"
Turning back to Dumbledore, he asked, "Well, Albus my boy? Again. Did I lie?"
Instead of answering, Dumbledore demanded, "How do you know all this?"
Ignoring the man and his question, Harry turned to Ogden. "Did you notice Albus completely avoided the question, this time, Chief Warlock? Instead of answering with a dissembled response, his usual method, this time he's chosen to ignore it completely."
Turning back to Dumbledore before Ogden could respond, Harry said, "I asked you a closed question, Albus my boy. It has only four possible responses: 'Yes', 'no', 'I don't know' and 'I'm sorry, but I do not understand the question'. There was nothing confusing about the question so that drops the fourth off the list of options. Because the question relates specifically to you and your actions that drops the third off. That leaves you with the options of answering either 'Yes' or 'No'. So, let's try again, shall we? Again, Albus my boy. Did... I... lie?"
"I do not answer to you," huffed the old man
"No, but you do answer to us," cut in Ogden. "'Yes' or 'No', Dumbledore. Did Lord Peverell lie?"
Dumbledore grumbled for a few moments before he snarled, "No."
Again, Members in the tiers of the Wizengamot voiced their displeasure.
Harry waited until Ogden got control of the chambers back and, before the man could say anything, he said, "So, you now know Mister Potter should have been put forward for the Order of Merlin back in June of 1993. You also now know Gilderoy Lockhart should not have been awarded the Order of Merlin, back when he was, because he did not accomplish the feats he claimed he did.
"Moving on!
"So far we have Peter Pettigrew being awarded the Order of Merlin, Third Class, though later it was correctly stripped from him. Relating to that original incident we have Cornelius Fudge being awarded the Order of Merlin for capturing the so-called right hand wizard of Voldemort, when he did not; and the man's Order of Merlin has still not been stripped from him. Next, we have a feat of heroism from Mister Potter in June 1993 for which he should have been awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class, or better; and he has not. And we have Gilderoy Lockhart being awarded the Order of Merlin, Third Class, for feats he didn't actually perform.
"Now I direct your attention to the night of the 31st of October, 1981... Yes, that night." As quite a few people, Members and visitors, squirmed in their seats a little, Harry ignored it. "This is the night that Harry Potter... according to practically everyone... killed Riddle the first time.
"Now, I might be wrong here, but the Minister was telling me earlier that when someone kills a recognised dark lord that's the immediate earning of an Order of Merlin, First Class. The Minister's answer to me as to why Mister Potter was not awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class... as everyone believed he was the one who killed the dark lord that night... was that it was blocked by... Albus Dumbledore.
"Now, if the Order of―"
"But Tom lived," interrupted Dumbledore.
With a sigh Harry said, "That night, Tom Riddle's body was reduced... by every account of the event I've read... to a pile of ash. All that was left of him was his robes and his wand." Turning to Stanwyck he asked, "Master Healer Stanwyck; if a person's body is reduced to ash... that is, no heartbeat, no brain activity, no nothing... would he be considered dead?"
"Yes. Certainly," the healer immediately replied. "That he managed to get himself another body and come back is irrelevant. He was dead until then."
After a nod to Stanwyck, Harry said, "That aside, with the apparent exception of old Albus, you all believed until June 1995 that the dark lord, Tom Riddle a.k.a. Lord Voldemort, was dead and that the infant Harry Potter killed him. Therefore, according to you, young Mister Harry Potter earned that night... irrespective of his age... an Order of Merlin, First Class. According to the laws... at least that's what Minister Bones tried to tell me this morning... it was, according to law, mandatory that young Mister Potter be awarded the Order. You did not do that. You did not award him the Order. "Minister Bones also told me this morning, that it was Albus Dumbledore that blocked Harry Potter from being awarded the Order. Albus Dumbledore supposedly used his authority as Mister Potter's magical guardian to block him from receiving it.
"Now, here's my problem with that. Firstly, as Sirius Black was Mister Potter's rightful magical guardian, Albus Dumbledore had no right to claim magical guardianship of the boy. He could claim legal guardianship, yes. However, it is magic which decides who holds magical guardianship, not the Chief Warlock, nor the Wizengamot at-large; and magic neverstripped it from Sirius Black. That was discovered by you in June 1996. As such, as Albus Dumbledore was not Mister Potter's magical guardian, he could not use magical guardianship status to refuse it on Mister Potter's behalf. "Secondly, 'Mandatory' means just that; as in, it will be awarded whether anyone likes it or not, including the magical guardian. You people... and by that I mean the Wizengamot as a body... broke international law by doing what Albus Dumbledore wanted and allowing him to block the awarding of the Order of Merlin, First Class, from Heir Potter for killing your dark lord for you.
"Shame on you! Shame on you all!" he glared at them. "What's now annoying the Minister is that, because you've now created a legal precedent where the Order of Merlin, First Class, can be refused when it is supposed to be awarded to someone who kills a lawfully recognised dark lord... it's put me in the position Ican now refuse one if you're hell-bent on awarding me one for killing Riddle."
When the Members and even some of the visitors got all up in wands about that, Harry just waited them out with a recalcitrant bearing and stern expression.
Finally, Ogden managed to reign all the noise back down and looked to Harry. "And if we decide to award it, anyway?"
"I'd still refuse it," said Harry. Then, before anyone could start yelling again, he continued, "Besides the previous incidences where Orders of Merlin were either falsely awarded and were not awarded when they should have been; there's still one Order of Merlin, falsely awarded, I want to see rectified first."
"And what would that be?" snarled one 'light' Member wizard of the Wizengamot before anyone else could get in first.
Harry smiled back and indicated Dumbledore. "Old Albus, here, was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, for killing Grindelwald... right?"
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