Harry paused for a moment reliving the terror he'd felt that night. "I then got a letter telling me someone was coming by to destroy my wand because I'd been expelled from Hogwarts and that I would face a disciplinary hearing at 9 am on August 12. Then I got another letter saying they weren't going to destroy my wand but I still had to attend the hearing. Arthur Weasley took me to the Ministry early intending to show me around a little and it was a good thing he did, because we found out that the time of the hearing had been changed to 8 am, but I was never notified, nor was anyone else who could've helped in my defence. We also found out that the location of the hearing had been changed to courtroom 10, instead of in the Improper Use of Magic office. We just barely made it to the hearing room in time and I found I was going to have to defend myself in front of the whole Wizaengamot."
"You mean to tell me that not only was the time and place of the hearing was changed, but that they failed to notify you or anyone else of the change?" Lord Altren sounded incensed. "And you had no defender to walk you through the proceedings? That is a violation of the law. A defender should have spoken with you well before the hearing to get an idea of what had happened so a defence could be prepared."
"That's right," Harry agreed. "And then Fudge made it sound like it was my fault I was a couple of minutes late, even though I'd only found out about the change in the hearing time ten minutes before and we had to go all the way down to courtroom ten from where the hearing should have been in the Improper Use of Magic Offices. Fudge then attempted to control the hearing from beginning to end but he got a rather rude surprise when Dumbledore appeared in Courtroom 10 and brought with him Arabella Figg the squib who he'd placed in the neighbourhood to keep any eye on me"
"I gather that the hearing went in your favour since you returned to Hogwarts for your fifth year." Lord Perrivor commented.
"Yes it did," Harry agreed then muttered to himself, "but I'm not so sure that was a good thing. Fudge basically ended the hearing when he realised he wasn't going to be able to get me expelled and he didn't want other things coming to light."
"Lord Potter, after the hearing ended, did you have any further contact with the Minister prior to you going to the Department of Mysteries at the end of your fifth year?" Delacour asked.
"If you mean direct contact, then no." Harry answered after a few moments thought. "I did have indirect contact through all those educational decrees he and Umbridge cooked up that basically turned Hogwarts into a Concentration camp."
"Come now Lord Potter. Isn't that a bit extreme? I can hardly imagine how Hogwarts could be compared to a Nazi Concentration camp." Bones commented. "After all no one died there, and they certainly did in those muggle concentration camps."
"Maybe no one died, but people were certainly tortured under Umbridge's reign at Hogwarts. That's why she's now enjoying all that quality time at the Azkaban spa remember?" Harry countered, then conceded. "Okay, maybe a concentration camp is a bit extreme. One of the old Soviet re-education camps might be nearer to the mark. There were more than a dozen educational decrees created during my fifth year to control what kind of groups could be created within the houses, insuring that our mail was censored so that nothing got out that Umbridge and Fudge didn't want getting out, governing what we were allowed to read and what our teachers could teach us. Umbridge created an Inquisitorial Squad solely out of fifth to seventh year members of Slytherin house and the majority of them were the children of now known Deatheaters. Umbridge brought a Blood Quill into school and used it to torture students who refused to go along with the party line that Moldyshorts wasn't back. And while there were no deaths, we certainly were not allowed the freedom of expression we as British subjects had previously enjoyed."
"Lord Potter," Delacour wanted to finish up Potter's questioning. "What can you tell us about Minister Fudge's involvement in your trial for the murder of Neville Longbottom?"
"Not much, I'm afraid." Harry admitted. "There were Dementors around my cell day and night and when I was dragged into the courtroom in chains I was still trying to recover from the effects of them, so I couldn't put on a very good defence."
"What do you mean you couldn't put on a very good defence?" Lord Altren demanded. "Surely you were provided with a defender to speak for you?"
"No sir, I was not," Harry told them. "Or if I was then Fudge probably tried the change of hearing time trick again. I certainly don't remember speaking to anyone about my defence. Nor do I remember anyone speaking up on my behalf. I wasn't even given Veritaserum, which would've cleared me."
Lord Perrivor looked over at Fudge. "It looks as though we may have another charge to add: Interfering with a court case to insure that Lord Potter did not receive the fair trial he was entitled to under British magical law."
Fudge paled slightly.
"Is there anything else you would like to add to the evidence you have presented today, Lord Potter?" Delacour asked.
Harry shrugged. "Not much, except to say that Fudge should never have been elected to the Office of Minister of Magic. I realise it is foolish to expect a politician not to be a self-serving git, but Fudge carries it to the extreme. I mean what kind of idiot would be willing to risk the entire future of the magical world on the hope that I was lying about Voldemort."
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