If you like what you see and what more, please drop a few power stones, or leave a comment, and a nice review would mean the world to me!
Also you can find advance chapters, commission art, and more bonus content on my Pa/ treon page at https://www.pa /treon.com/Mark_Ward Your support would go a long way in helping a small time author, thanks!
-------------------------------------
The next person to be dragged in or more like the image of them- was a wizard by the name of Antonin Dolohov. Antonin of House Dolohov, a Count Family who were always near and dear to the Dark Side.
His family was a very close supporter of Voldemort during those dark days as they provided plenty of soldiers, gold, and support. Though they did pay the ultimate price in the end with Antonin Dolohov being the last of his line as nearly all of them died in the line of duty in one form or the other. And today that line would be snuffed out, forever.
Though Harry guessed it was only fair after all the man had done in the name of his Dark Lord.
The war took a heavy toll on either side whether it be Light or Dark; to be honest, it never was worth it from the very start. Everyone was in the process of licking their wounds from the earth shattering war Global wizarding war that Grindelwald brought.
Then to face a second one, Magical Britain and Europe as a whole took a very heavy blow thanks to it.
Staring down at the man as he was seated and magical chains sprung up to wrap around him. Harry could make some of his features out, Antonin had dark brown hair which was matted, pale skin that looked it hasn't been under the sun for ages, deep sunken eyes, a thin gaunt face as if he hadn't been getting enough to eat, and long tall figures.
Antonin Dolohov was a Dark Wizard and one of the Death Eaters of Lord Voldemort. Dolohov was a powerful wizard, and among all the Death Eaters, only a few could equal to him in magical might. He fought in the Wizarding War that plagued Magical Britain and through most parts of Magical Europe, during which he tortured many Muggles, and wizards and witches who were not supporters of his Dark Lord and master. Along with other Death Eaters, he participated in the murders of two people of great note - Fabian Prewett and Gideon Prewett. Mrs. Molly Wealey's very own brothers, causing her maiden family to go extinct.
Dolohov was caught, convicted of his crimes, and sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban.
There was more outcry for harsher punishments to be carried out since the man and his Death Eater friends did end one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight or the Earls of Magical Britain. But thanks to Dumbledore who believed in second chances, forgiveness, and all that other bullshit plus some other Dark Families making some secret maneuvers, he only got a life sentence to Azkaban.
More than anything though it was the first time Harry heard that Mrs. Molly came from such a powerful and old bloodline, and it did get him wondering why she and her family still lived abject poverty.
He could understand why in some cases people can't claim Lordships over a certain family since they are either Matriarch like the Bones family or a Patriarch like the Nott family and such, but in most cases they are Egalitarian like his family were the oldest inherent.
Still all that didn't matter since in the end if you are the last of your line wouldn't it be your duty and your right to restore your family.
There must be a story behind why Ms. Molly never did take over the Prewett and left it to decline over the years.
"Antonin Dolohov," Madam Longbottom called out as she turned her gaze down on the Death Eater who sat still on his seat. "You stand here today facing a retrial for all the crimes you have committed which are just too numerous and gruesome to list off one by one. But to make a brief summary, you have tortured, killed, and raped countless innocent souls in the name of your Dark Lord who is all but gone."
At the mention of his master, Harry could feel the man twitch, but was quickly able to control himself.
"Most importantly, you have killed Fabian Prewett and Gideon Prewett, the last scions of House Prewett."
Talk about giving more importance to two people over dozens if not hundreds of people. It was just the way things were, kill a muggle in broad day light, and expect a light sentence of a few years or months in Azkaban. Kill a pure-blood and a noble one at that, then you just raised all hell yourself.
Harry could feel a whole lot of Lords and Ladies stir at the mention of the old Earl family now nearly extinct family.
In today's Magical Britain families like his - the Potters, the Blacks, the Bones, the Longbottoms, the Mort, the Notts, the Greengrass, the Lestrange, the Rosier, the Parkinson, the Diggory, and all the other families that made up the Sacred Twenty-Eight which where the highest powers that be in all this land.
The Marquis families long ago stepped back from the political field; the Dukes, the Arch-Duke, and Royal family had long ago gone extinct so they weren't something to consider for a long time.
That left all the power in the hands of the Earl families, they are the ones now who lead this country and hold great authority.
To have one of them snuffed out was a deep blow to all Great House and Magical Britain itself.
The Dark Side might think this is a great blow to the Light since one of their number went down, but really all this did was diminish the pool of powerful bloodlines that could be married
"Do you deny any of these crimes?" Madam Longbottom asked sitting back in her high back chair which looked near enough to a throne but wasn't so no one could raise any questions about it.
The was allowed to speak as he was unmuzzled, taking in everyone as his sunken eyes ran throughout the chamber, he finally spoke. "The only thing I am saddened about is that I didn't get the chance to kill more of you Light forsaken sad excuses of Noble pure-bloods," he chuckled as his eyes landed on each and every Light Side member like Amos Diggory, Marshall Fawley, Amelia Bones, Ahmed Shafiq, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Harold Macmillan, then Augusta Longbottom.
The only person he did not stare at who was part of the Light Side was Harry, who he of course thought couldn't be here among the crowd.
"Fine last words indeed," Madam Longbottom chuckled, not being fazed in the least bit.
Then turning to the gathering of Lords and Ladies, she uttered, "Let's put it to the vote. All those in favor of the motion, say Aye!"
A flurry of ayes were heard to show how adamantly they with this including Harry and a bunch of other people.
"All those against the motion, say Nay!" the old woman called out, but it was only a show of going through the motions since at this point as the scoreboard indicated that the Ayes had.
Once all the votes were counted up, Augusta smiled sweetly like a kind old lady, but what came out of her mouth wasn't so. "Administer the Dementor's Kiss!"
-----------------------------------
The retrials felt like they went on for days, without interruption or gaps people were just non stop brought in. It was like a long precession was going on from here all the way to Azkaban itself as new decisions were made about their crimes.
At the height of Voldermort's power, he had thousands of followers throughout the country and many armies from Great families that supported him. It was said more would have followed him from the lowest pureblood with nothing to his name, the whole of the Grey Side, and even some of the Light Side members.
Nobody really likes where this country is going; there are great ideological battles being wages and the identity of this very nation beeing decided. It would be more accurate to say that there was an existential crisis going on, not just here in Magical Britain but in the whole Wizarding community.
Two wars were fought, because of the future and were wizarding kind as a whole would go down.
However in the end, Voldermort was just too brutal and cruel so he wasn't able to tap into all the sectors he could and only had fanatical and Dark Side members. Unlike Grindelwald who affected the whole world on a grand stage with his ideology, Voldemort mostly stayed here in the Magical Isles and in parts of Europe, never leaving this continent.
Still even within Voldermort minuscule pool of followers compared to Grindelwald, there was a whole variety of them. And just as there was a great difference in them so was there in their crimes.
Most, of course, where the most vile lot who committed horrible crimes against everyone and this nation as well.
People like Gibbon who started up a whole Human Trafficking ring where he could steal muggle girls or even muggle-born witches for those with finer tastes, and in some cases boys from their homes and put them into prostitution to be passed around by Death Eaters.
There were also people like Selwyn a mad man who experimented on himself as he had an extra head sticking out of his neck so that he could dual cast. He went on to not only experiment on himself but others as his laboratories with countless corpses were found.
Or a man named Manson who started a little cult within the Deat Eater camp worshiping Voldermort as the God-king. That in if itself wouldn't have been too bad, but he lead monthly ritual mass slaughter where they would offer the hearts to the big old Snakey.
And there was another person who took the title Death Eater a bit too literal as he could cannibalize his victims that he killed.
Plus one Dark Noble who used the Imperius Curse to really good effect as he had a massive harem of beautiful women all under mind control. Harry could understand why the fella had to go down that route when Harry saw his ugly mug, talk about Ugly Bastards! He really had the icing on the cake.
Then there were two mass murders that their kill count was just mind boggling. One of them started a plague that wiped out dozens of countryside villages. And the other raised up hell as he had countless undead running around during the war causing all sorts of chaos and dragging more souls down.
Or one who would burn his victims alive in their homes and listened to as he put it, 'their beautiful screams!'
And the list just kept going on and on and on of endless horrible things. Harry just couldn't believe that humans could do all those things to themselves.
Voldermort really did gather the worst of the worst that Magical Britain had to offer. It made Harry wonder what that said about the man who had such repugnant company.
Or about the man who let them all go off easy.
Harry shook his head, and his will firmed up. Getting rid of those two men would be such a grand duty to not just himself but all.
One retrial that raised his hackles up a wizard by the name of Pyrites a personal servant of Lord Voldemort at around the time of the war. What got Harry's attention more than anything was the fact that he accompanied Voldemort to Godric's Hollow on the night he murdered his parents.
The man said nothing of course, keeping his lips shut tight and deciding it remain silent all the way until his soul was sucked out and only a husk of a man was left.
Besides those vile lot, there were those who only committed minor crimes like lotting, or arson, or hate speech. In the end though, they did not really harm anyone or kill for that matter, but they were bundled in with all the other criminals.
Finally, there were the poor, poor fools who just jumped on the bandwagon which was Voldermort's train, foolishly thinking it would just be some fun.
Dumbledore bunched them all together and Harry couldn't blame him, there really wasn't anything besides spending some time in Azkaban or getting the Dementor's Kiss.
There really was something that needed to be done about the legal system, there shouldn't be just two forms of punishments that were really only for the worst criminals.
However, that was something else for another time.
One retrial that drew his attention was of Augustus Rookwood was a Dark wizard and a Death Eater loyal to Lord Voldemort. During the war he was a spy who worked as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries. After the height of the first war he was named by his comrade Igor Karkaroff, and thanks to that he was arrested and imprisoned in Azkaban.
Harry sort of felt bad for him, he was so self reassured in his safety thinking he could get away with everything he did, but his friend.. or he guessed his ally since Death Eaters don't have friends betrayed him and sold him out to buy his freedom.
Once he was seated his eyes darted around looking around like a trapped animal, and who could blame him this was his first time in a long time out of that hellhole and meeting people besides those who scream madly in their cells.
The court crier listed his crimes which were mostly state espionage and whatnot.
"Retrial for what," the man asked once he was allowed to speak.
"To decide if you are deserving of the Dementor's Kiss, or will just be thrown back in prison" Madam Longbottom simply answered.
"Wait, y-you... you can't do that," that man stuttered as he looked around within the crowd for help, but all he got was blank stares.
"There is a new Chief Warlock and with it comes changes in policies and decisions," Madam Longbottom replied. "Now," she continued, "who here believes that Augustus Rookwood deserves the Dem-..."
"WAIT," the spy shouted interpreting Madam Longbottom mid-sentence.
Giving him a pointed stare, "you best have a good reason why you decided to interpret me, Mr. Rookwood. I don't take kind with your kind cutting me off on top of all you have done."
"I-I can give you some names. Isn't that the same deal you made with Igor Karkaroff. I was a top-ranking Spy for the Dark Lord, not many people would betray the Department of Mysteries and could report from inside," he said as he licked his lips.
Rolling her eyes, the old lady said, "All you care telling me is that you are a treacherous snake. Nothing more."
"What I am trying to say is that I was divulged many secrets and I knew the faces of many Dark Nobles. Yeah," he said when he saw the shock on a lot of faces, "and I could prove to you that they were working independently no matter what they say about being under an Imperius Curse."
"And who could you name?" Madam Longbottom asked as she leaned in.
"Madam," Lucius warned in a false tone as if he had the best intentions at heart for her. "You shouldn't listen to this criminal all he speaks is lies."
"Shh," the old woman said, not putting up with his bullshit for a single second.
"Go ahead, name them, and I might reconsider about giving you the Dementor's Kiss."
Seeing the evident relief on his face, he saved his head at the silvery blond haired man, "Well, Lucius is one for sure. He was a great provider of wealth. Then there was Hunter Flint, Rory Rosier, Corban Yaxley, and Tobias Nott."
"Lies, all lies," a shrill voice called out as Harry turned around to see Lord Rosier up form his seat with his cane pointed at the spy.
"Those are just the most high ranking I know," the man continued speaking over the rising noise. "There are plenty more lower ranking Death Eaters I can name."
"And you say you can prove all this?" Madam Longbottom asked focusing in on the man.
"Yes," the man quickly nodded his head.
Harry felt like laughing out loud, he guessed when a man's life was at risk forget all previous loyalties, he was willing to spill anything to preserve his life.
That was just inner human nature at work.
What made Augustus Rookwood admittance so good was that he named 3 Dark Side families of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, make that 4 but Tobias was already going away for a long time. Plus Lucius Malfoy basically held the same authority as an Earl even though he wasn't - which was all thanks in part to his backers, the main branch of Malfoys in France.
Looking at the four named individuals, Harry saw how white Lucius's face was and how sick Lord Flint looked, Lord Rosier was near hysteria, the one odd individual was Lord Yaxley who had a calculating look on his face.
Ignoring that for now, Harry grinned from ear to ear, in the last war nothing was ever able to stick to these men. They all had an army of solicitors lined up and the best defenses set up, but now that was all going away.
"Madam Longbottom," Lord Yaxley said as he spoke up in a cool calm voice as if he had nothing to hide. "Why don't we come back to this later. There are three more people left who might take up your attention," he said, and Harry could feel the old woman freeze up.
Harry knew very well who the Earl was talking about, the ones that attack on Frank and Alice Longbottom and drove them made.
Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, and Bellatrix Lestrange, plus Bartemius Crouch Junior who was not here of course.
"Yes, why don't we come back to this later," the elderly woman said as her could feel her eyes blazing over. This was after all what she was here for all day and saved them for last, revenge, sweet sweet revenge!
With a wave of her hand, she dismissed Augustus Rookwood who was dragged out screaming, "No, NO, NOOOOO. Y-you.. you don't understand. You can't do this. I-I will be dead. You hear me, I WILL BE DEAD!!!"
However, the Chief Warlock wasn't really listening to him as three individuals were brought in.