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"It was recently brought to my attention that a similar case involving a Nundu was brought forth in 1912. A field expedition of seventh year Hogwarts students being led by then Care of Magical Creatures Professor Barnaby Blackthorn. Upon coming across the creature, Professor Blackthorn instructed students to avoid it at all costs. One student ignored his warnings and approached, losing a limb in the process. Said student called for the Nundu to be hunted and killed, and the Wizengamot of the time voted against the act, saying that the incident was the fault of the student. All reasonable efforts had been taken to prevent injury, but approaching the creature was qualified as willful negligence on behalf of the student." Mr. Lovegood said. "It is my belief that the combination of that ruling, as well as the prior rulings on Hippogriff baiting, set a precedent that ignoring instruction and approaching a creature that is known to be dangerous would not be the fault of the creature."
A pause went over the court at that moment, before another question arose. "Is Rubeus Hagrid qualified to quantify the danger posed by a Hippogriff?" someone asked.
"Quite certainly. Rubeus Hagrid ranks as the United Kingdom's second highest honored Magical Creature caretaker by the International Magical Creature Association. His work in domestication of the Thestral was quite groundbreaking, and only Newt Scamander has achieved more awards. One would argue that in the U.K. only Newt would be more qualified, and knowing the man personally his opinion of Rubeus Hagrid is equally high. I have a statement from the International Magical Creature Association that vouches for Mr. Hagrid's competence." Mr. Lovegood said, providing the parchment to the Wizengamot.
"If there are no more questions or statements, I would like to put this to a vote." Amos Diggory said. "Given the circumstances, I am requiring Lucius Malfoy and Xenophilius Lovegood to abstain from voting. All others: if you wish to see Lucius Malfoy's request for the execution of the Hippogriff known as Buckbeak come to fruition. Please raise your wands." A significant number of wands went up, sending small streaks of light towards a ball in the center that counted them. "All opposed to the ruling of death for Buckbeak, raise your wands now." The earlier wands went down, and several wands went up, sending their own lights.
"By decree, in the case of Lucius Malfoy vs. Buckbeak the Hippogriff, the Wizengamot has voted in favor of pardoning the creature for his damages." Amos Diggory said, before his wand created a banging noise.
Harry, Padma, Parvati, Luna, and Hermione jumped up in excitement, giving each other hugs. They had done it! Buckbeak was free! Harry didn't feel as though he had contributed much to the endeavor, but he was happy for the others all the same. Seeing some gazes from the others in the viewing stands, they quickly sat back down to await the end of proceedings, which came a half-hour later.
The group was escorted back to Hogwarts, but not before Hagrid and Mr. Lovegood convinced the group's chaperone, one Minerva McGonagall, to allow them to go to Fortescue's Ice Cream shoppe as a treat for their hard work on this case. They chatted amicably about how well it had gone, and how happy they were that they managed to save the creature, and then they made a toast, to seeing justice done.
Harry thought justice tasted pretty sweet.
March brought along with it a return to the Dueling tournament for Harry, which was a cause for both excitement and anxiety. Harry did really enjoy the dueling tournaments. Alongside getting to see new places and meet new people, it was also a fun and relatively safe way for him to really let himself loose magically. Classes always required him to hold back, if not magically, than mentally, because he and the Sphinx Club were simply so far ahead of the curve on their studies. The Dueling tournaments, though, saw Harry's fast thinking and raw magical power as a boon, and celebrated it, which made him happy.
This year the dueling tournament was held in Paris, which Harry was admittedly a little disappointed at not being able to spend any real time exploring beforehand. He was sure he'd have a chance too some other time. Harry and Flitwick waited in line for registration, Harry nervously rocking on his heels a bit. Crowds were still something he wasn't a fan of, despite becoming used to the mobs of students that flooded the Hogwarts corridors on a daily basis. Harry idly wondered why that didn't bother him.
"Harry! Monsieur Flitwick! Hello!" came a french accented voice from the crowd. Harry turned to look and saw Fleur and her father coming towards them.
"Ah! The Delacours! Pleased to see you. I take it you are competing again Miss Fleur?" Flitwick asked, a smile on his face at seeing his former student and his daughter.
"Oh yes. I'm very excited. I don't know if you heard, but I topped ze Hippogriff cup last year. A shame zat ze Bulgarian boy that beat me the year before didn't compete though. I would have liked to have beaten him." She said, a smile on her face. "This is my first year in ze Manticore Cup. I hope I do well."
"I'm sure you'll do great Fleur! I'm in my first year of the Hippogriff Cup now. Here's hoping that I can beat Ivan Krum from last year. It'd be nice to see that I have improved." Harry said.
"It seems we both have a rivalry with the Krums then, since his older brother Viktor was my rival until last year. It seems he stopped dueling in favor of Quidditch." Fleur said, before rolling her eyes. "I never understood the appeal of the sport, but I suppose many say the same about Dueling."
"Come now Fleur, Quidditch is a fine game. Maybe I'll have to take you to the World Cup this year. I think it's being held in England." Jean-Paul said, and Flitwick nodded.