"The man my parents specifically chose as my godfather, and the man also chosen by them to be my guardian if anything happened to them, that meant they could no longer care for me." Furore.
Both the assembled and the gallery erupted in shouting and yelled questions. Some were directed at Harry, some at Dumbledore, and some at the wizard leading the assembled with the gavel in his hand. Ackerman had returned to grinning back at Harry again.
Once the Chair managed to regain control, he turned to Harry and said, "Sirius Black is a wanted felon after having escaped Azkaban. There is a 'Kiss on Sight' order against him. He cannot be your rightful guardian."
"Objection!" declared Ackerman.
"Hippogriff dung!" Harry shot back, almost at the same time. "Sirius Black is NOT a wanted felon because the term, alone, implies he is a felon. As he was never convicted of the crime for which he was summarily... without even a trial, mind you... flung into Azkaban, means he is not a felon. Escaping from Azkaban is not a crime, either. Check your own laws.
"The crime, here, is that the Minister has ordered an innocent man to be 'Kissed on sight'. To me, the Minister is attempting to commit murder most vile of the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. And is hiding behind a lie to do it."
Further furore.
Looking back at him, again, Ackerman said, "Harry, don't go there."
Harry just shrugged back.
Once everyone calmed down after a long few moments, the Chair was about to speak again when who Harry recognised as Madam Amelia Bones spoke up. "Chief Interrogator, if I may?"
"Madam Bones," the Chair - Chief Interrogator - replied with a bit of a relieved sigh.
The stern grey haired witch turned her monocle to Harry and said, "Though this enquiry is specifically relating to the business concerning the matters raised in the Daily Prophet a couple days ago, if Mister Potter has verifiable evidence as to the innocence of Sirius Black, it behoves us to hear it."
"The boy is lying!" screeched Madam Umbridge. "This is not a podium for Mister Potter to spread his lies."
Harry swivelled his eyes to The Toad and snarled, "Do not call me a liar, bitch! Or, I will demand satisfaction!" Again, furore rose. But, not as much as previous. The Chief Interrogator was already banging his gavel as soon as the last word left Harry's mouth.
"Mister Potter!" he barked, once he regained control. "Please refrain from such remarks!"
"I see," Harry glared back. "Mister Potter must refrain from such remarks; but, that ugly pink toad in a cardigan can spew her bile as much as she wants."
"No!" the wizard snapped. "Madam Umbridge. You, too, will refrain from making such remarks or, unlike Mister Potter, you will be asked to leave these chambers."
The Toad silently snarled back at Harry for a second but simply nodded her head once back at the Chief Interrogator before settling back in her seat. "Mister Potter," called Madam Bones, trying to get things back on track. "Do you have verifiable evidence as to the innocence of Sirius Black?"
"I do," he replied. "Or, rather, you do."
"Explain," she demanded.
"Simply done," replied Harry. "First, I challenge you to present to this hearing the transcript of trial, the record of evidence, the transcript of interview, or anything else relating to the trial of Sirius Orion Black, other than the record of his incarceration in Azkaban. You will find nothing.
"Second..." he started to say.
"Hold it," Madam Bones cut in. Once she saw Harry had stopped speaking, she turned to the Chief Interrogator and said, "That's easily enough done. I can send an auror to collect those records from the Hall of Records."
The Chief nodded and Madam Bones gestured to one of her aurors, who was on the floor. "Do you know what we need?" she asked man.
When the auror nodded back she flicked her finger towards the door and commanded, "Go!"
She then turned back to Harry and said, "Please, continue."
With a slight nod back, Harry continued. "Second, I, along with Ronald Weasley, then Professor Remus Lupin and Hermione Granger... who is currently sitting in the visitors' gallery... met him and talked with him in Hogsmeade on or about the ninth of June, last year.
"At that time the four of us, including Professor Severus Snape, also properly met and talked to someone you all think dead... Peter Pettigrew... who had been hiding out..."
At that point the noise levels due to shouting and other noises, rose too high for Harry to hear himself think, much less be heard.
More gavel banging and relative silence returned.
"As I was saying," Harry cut in first. "We also met Peter Pettigrew out of his animagus form of a common brown rat, that night. He had been hiding as the pet of Ronald Weasley, and before him, his brother, Percy Weasley." Percy, where he had been diligently taking notes, suddenly looked up and exclaimed, "Scabbers?"
Harry turned his gaze on the young man and smirked. "Scabbers was not a real rat, Percy. He was Pettigrew hiding in his animagus form. He was missing the little toe on his left front paw, wasn't he? Just like Pettigrew cut off the little finger on his left hand. The loss of his finger carried over into his animagus form."
"That's rubbish!" Percy shot back. "I had that rat for eight years! I'd have known."
"Then Ron had him for about another three years," Harry firmly remarked. "That's eleven years, Percy. Rats only live for a maximum of about four years. That, in itself, proves that Scabbers was not a real rat."
Percy went white in shock and sat there utterly stunned.
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