"Sirius Black, you have been found innocent. You have our deepest apologies for what has been done to you and are now free to go." Dumbledore said with a poorly concealed smile. Sirius, who was just getting over the effects of the Veritaserum, jumped out of his seat gave a victorious shout. The audience began to applaud the now free man and Sirius, ever the showman, leapt on top of the nearest table and took an exaggerated bow. Once again it took several minutes and many more bangs from Dumbledore's gavel before they were ready to proceed.
"Our last issue of the day concerns the inquiry into whether or not Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge was aware of Sirius Black's innocence before he was imprisoned." Dumbledore began. "The Wizengamot welcomes Minister Fudge and thanks him for his attendance. Minister, I believe you had an opening statement?" Fudge slowly made his way down to the podium again. Once there he began to look over his notes but quickly realized the rest of the day's revelations had rendered them useless. For an uncomfortably long period of time Fudge merely stood there silently as the crowd waited for him to begin.
"Thank you, Chief Warlock and the rest of the Wizengamot for this opportunity to vindicate myself." Fudge began. "I must once again state that I am innocent of all charges. If their is any evidence that suggests otherwise I would like to see it as well to determine what kind of trickery it is. I wish to also add that with the return of You-Know-Who, now is not the time to be making drastic changes in our political system. I will strongly oppose the Dark Lord and all those who support him, you have my word on that!" What Fudge seemed to not understand is that the audience remembered him denying that Voldemort had returned earlier in the day and that his word wasn't worth very much. Fudge's statement appeared to be over because he left the podium after that and sat down.
"Does the Wizengamot have any witnesses it wishes to call in the matter?" Dumbledore asked. As the Chief Warlock asked his question Fudge began to smile as if there was something he knew that no one else did.
"Yes, Chief Warlock." Amelia Bones, director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and member of the Wizengamot answered. "We call former Auror Wesley Harris." A few moments later a middle aged wizard walked into the room and towards the podium. As he did Minister Fudge jumped out of his seat as if he wished to object to something but in the end said nothing and sat back down looking very unhappy. His eyes darted up towards the Wizengamot and he began glaring angrily, but it was unclear who he was looking at.
"Mr Harris, I believe you have a memory you wish to share with us?" Dumbledore asked politely.
"Yes, sir." Harris answered. "I actually have two."
"The one concerning Sirius Black first if you don't mind." Dumbledore replied. Harris nodded and a modified pensieve was brought to him. It would allow the memory to be projected for everyone to see. Harris carefully drew the memory out and placed it in the pensieve. Moments later the memory began playing and it showed exactly what the Daily Prophet had reported it did. Fudge and Crouch Sr both knew that Sirius Black was innocent and conspired to send him to Azkaban anyway in order to protect their own political careers. When the short memory ended the crowd began to boo and jeer loudly at the Minister of Magic, who had the decency to lower his head a little in shame at his actions.
"Silence!" Dumbledore called out, ordering the audience to control themselves. "The second memory, please." Harris nodded and pulled out another memory which he carefully placed in the pensieve. Unlike the last time, no one knew what to expect from this memory as it began to play.
The memory showed Harris, looking almost identical to what he now did, sitting in a nondescript office. He appeared to be confused as to why he was there. Minutes later the door to the office opened and a short woman dressed entirely in pink walked in. The crowd gasped in surprise when they realized it was Delores Umbridge, the very same supporter of Minister Fudge and member of the Wizengamot who had already spoken out several times in today's session. The toad-like woman walked towards Harris as he looked up at her with a surprised look on his face.
"Who're you? Where's my guard?" Harris asked.
"Oh, that doesn't matter." Umbridge replied. "I'm here to talk about your filthy lies about Minister Fudge."
"They aren't lies." Harris insisted.
"Of course they are." Umbridge said. "You know, lying is a very bad thing. Bad for those who do it, and for their families."
"You bitch!" Harris shouted angrily, "How dare you threaten my family!"
"I don't remember ever threatening your family." Umbridge replied. "I am sure they will be just fine once we reach an agreement here today."
"What do you want?" Harris asked, still obviously seething in rage.
"To never hear from you again. You must not repeat those terrible lies about the Minister." Umbridge said haughtily. "There may even be some financial benefit, assuming you refuse to speak before the Wizengamot. But not until after."
"Fine." Harris answered. "Just leave me and my family alone."
"Excellent!" Umbridge responded. "Don't forget what you promised here, I won't." With that Umbridge left the room and the memory ended. The Wizengamot was left in an uproar with members yelling at Umbridge for her crimes while she professed her innocence. Aurors were forced to surround her for her own protection, although many of them were also hoping to be able to incarcerate her.
"Aurors, please take Madam Umbridge in to custody on charges of witness intimidation." Dumbledore said sadly. "We will schedule the trial itself at a later date. Now, back to the matter of Minister Fudge. Some of you have spoken out in favor of also arresting him, but I do not have the authority to arrest a sitting Minister of Magic."
"I call for a vote to remove Minister Fudge!" Elphias Doge, an old friend of Dumbledore and long time member of the Wizengamot, yelled. Several other shouted out their agreement towards the idea.
"The removal of the Minister of Magic would require a two thirds majority. Does the Wizengamot wish to proceed?" Dumbledore reminded them. Their approval was unmistakable. "In that case the vote will be cast. Minister Fudge, do you have anything to say before we vote?"
"I… uh… I was completely unaware of Madam Umbridge's actions and my next act as Minister of Magic will be to fire her from her position within the Ministry!" Fudge offered, but even he knew it was not enough.
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