Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office filling out paperwork. Quirrell had returned from his yearlong sabbatical, and while he pretended to be his usual self, Dumbledore felt that something was... off about the young professor. Dumbledore wasn't sure if it was because the sabbatical had helped the professor gain the experience he had been looking for, but Quirrell seemed to have changed somewhat. He'd even asked Dumbledore if he could teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Dumbledore had given it to him since the previous DADA professor had left. Severus wasn't happy once Dumbledore had told him about Quirrell getting the position, but Dumbledore felt that it was better if Severus continued to teach potions.

Knock

Knock

"Come in," Dumbledore said as he continued to fill out paperwork. The door swung open and Professor McGonagall walked into his office.

"Minerva, I thought that you had gone to talk to a new student and her family," Dumbledore said, "Why are yo-"

Professor McGonagall tossed a newspaper onto Dumbledore's desk.

"What's this?" Dumbledore asked as he looked at the newspaper that Professor McGonagall had thrown on his desk.

Pedophile Vernon Dursley caught at a zoo in Surrey!

The title of the newspaper immediately caught Dumbledore's eye, and he felt his mouth begin to dry.

"Minerva, where did you get this?" Dumbledore asked.

"When I went to the student's home, I found this on her front doorstep." Professor McGonagall said, "What was the last name of the family we left Harry Potter with?"

"It was Dursley." Dumbledore said as he looked at the man whose face was plastered on the front page of the newspaper.

"I thought so." Professor McGonagall said, "I've already read the article, I think you should read it as well."

Dumbledore turned the page on the newspaper and began to read.

United Kingdom, Surrey- It was a normal day for the visitors of the local surrey zoo, which is renowned for its 'Reptile House'. It would soon come to an end when a large boa constrictor escaped from the Reptile House, causing many of the visitors to flee for their lives. The Boa Constrictor was recaptured, and the zoo has publicly apologized for the incident. Normally, this would be where the story would end, but the boa constrictor's escape set the stage for the next act.

Just when everyone had been calmed, a young girl burst out of the Reptile House, screaming. One visitor who I interviewed clearly remembers her yelling, "Help! This pedophile's attacking me!"

Upon hearing her screams, the zoo's security guards rushed into the Reptile House and tackled the pedophile to the ground. The pedophile was held in the Reptile House for about an hour until the police arrived to take the man away.

Vernon Dursley(38) has been charged for attempted assault against a minor, and he is expected to be seen in court on the 25th of June. In addition, he and his wife are being charged for verbally and physically abusing his nephew, Harry Potter (10), and they are expected to be seen in court on the 26th of June. Depending on what the court decides, he may lose custody of his nephew...

"I knew that leaving Harry with the Dursley's was a bad idea Albus," Professor McGonagall said, "For the past ten years, we've left him in the care of abusers and pedophiles."

"It was necessary for Harry's survival," Dumbledore said, "How were we to know-"

"If you had watched them, you would have realized what kind of people they were!" Professor McGonagall shouted, "I watched them on the day we left Harry with them, and I could tell that they were never going to treat him right."

"Minerva-"

"You insisted that Harry should have stayed with those people, that it was 'the perfect place' for him." Professor McGonagall said, "But after what's happened..."

Dumbledore sighed and slumped in his chair; he felt his age begin to catch up with him. He'd been solely focused on making sure that Harry was safe, the protection he'd placed on their home would have stopped any wizard that wanted to harm Harry, and in case Voldemort had decided to come back the wards would have held him off long enough for Dumbledore to deal with him. But he should've known that Voldemort wasn't the only one who could harm Harry.

"...What do we do now Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked, "Should we send someone to bring Harry here?"

"...We will have to wait until the trial is over before we can do that." Dumbledore said, "I imagine that the muggles would go into a frenzy if Harry suddenly disappeared."

"We'll have to follow the rules that the muggles have set if we want to take Harry from them," Dumbledore said, "That means that they will look for public records, so the best person to get Harry would be..."

"Albus you can't think that Snape should get Harry," Professor McGonagall frowned, "He's the last person you should depend on, you know how he's like with children."

"I trust him Minerva," Dumbledore said, "Though he may not show it, out of all of us he is the one who cares the most about Harry."

"...Sometimes I don't understand you at all." Professor McGonagall said before she left Dumbledore's office in a huff.

Dumbledore sighed as he watched her go...

.

.

.

"Hermione are you sure that you want to do this?" Hermione's father said as they sat on a bench in the lobby of the Central London County Courthouse, "You know that you didn't have to testify in person, you could have-"

"It's already too late," Hermione said, "If I wanted to testify in an alternative way, we should've notified the court days ago."

"I know that, but..." Hermione's father sighed, "Dursley tried to attack you, you should be a bit nervous about having to see him in court."

"I'm a bit nervous, but if it means that he'll go to prison then I'll do whatever it takes," Hermione said, "Besides, I'm not just doing this for my sake."

"You're doing it for that boy too?" Hermione's father asked.

"Do you know that they made him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs?" Hermione asked, "They forced him in there whenever he did something 'wrong'."

"And Harry didn't see anything wrong with that, he thought it was normal." Hermione continued, "And when the social workers arrived, they gave him a room as way to stop him from talking, just to save themselves from going to prison."

"Hermione you-"

"Excuse me, Ms. Granger?" A bailiff opened the door to the courtroom and called out to Hermione, "Are you ready to testify?"

"Yes, I'm ready," Hermione said as she stood up and followed the bailiff into the courtroom. Once she walked into the courtroom, everyone in the jury turned to look at her as she made her way to the witness stand. The prosecutor that Hermione's parents had hired smiled at her as she took the stand, and she saw Dursley sitting with his defense attorney at the table across from the prosecutor's. Dursley glowered at her as the Judge cleared his throat.

"If you were fourteen, we would have had you sworn in," The Judge said, "Because you are only eleven years old, we will not have you make a commitment, please testify your experience to the court."

Hermione testified about how she had stayed behind in the Reptile House once the Boa Constrictor had escaped, how she witnessed Dursley attempt to strike Harry while he had thought that they were alone, how he had tried to grab her when he noticed her taking the photo...

Throughout her testimony, she could see Dursley tightly grip the table as his expression became stormy.

"Thank you for testifying," the Judge said, "The defense can now begin its cross-examination."

Vernon's defense attorney stood up from the table and walked over to Hermione.

"Ms. Granger, I can't help but notice that you left out the part where you called my client a pedophile," the defense attorney said, "Is there a reason for this?"

"It was the only thing I could think to say," Hermione said, "I was so scared that I thought that yelling that would get people's attention."

"So, you admit that my client is not a pedophile then?" The defense attorney said, "Young lady, you realize that the newspapers have been labeling my client a pedophile because of what you yelled, ruining his reputation."

"Well when he tried to grab me, he touched a bad place." Hermione said.

"Oh? And where did he touch you?" The defense attorney asked.

"I-I'd rather not say..."

"Why not? You said that you wanted to testify, so you should tell this court about everything that happened." The defense attorney said, "So tell us, where did he touch you?"

"I-"

"It's a simple question Ms. Granger," The defense attorney continued, "Where did he touch you? Did he even touch you at all?"

"Objection!" The prosecutor shouted, "Your Honor, the defense is badgering the witness!"

"Sustained." The judge said, "Defense, move onto another line of questioning."

The defense attorney frowned and asked Hermione another question, "Ms. Granger, why did you stay in the Reptile House when the snake escaped?"

"Someone bumped into me and I dropped my camera," Hermione said, "I wanted to get it before I left, and that's when I saw Mr. Dursley trying to attack his nephew."

"You prioritized finding your camera over escaping?" The defense attorney asked, "That wasn't wise, what if the snake attacked you?"

"Boa Constrictors don't attack unless they are provoked, and the Boa Constrictor that had escaped went outside." Hermione explained.

"Well you seem to be well versed with snakes." The defense attorney frowned, "For my last question, I want to know why you felt it was appropriate to take a photo of my client."

"He was attacking his nephew in a place where there weren't any people or cameras," Hermione said, "If I hadn't taken that picture, he would have found a way to cover up what he had done."

"Why would you worry about that?" The defense attorney said, "You should have gotten an adult, you shouldn't have tried to solve the problem by yourself."

"I couldn't just stand there and do nothing though," Hermione argued, "If I'd left without taking the photo, people would have believed whatever Dursley said instead of listening to me."

"You're quite self-righteous..." The defense attorney said under his breath before he cleared his throat and called out to the Judge, "Your Honor, I'm done cross-examining the witness."

"Alright, we'll have a ten-minute recess, and then the jury will pass their judgment." The judge slammed his gavel, and the courtroom began to empty...

"You did a great job out there Hermione," Hermione's father said as she entered the lobby, "I'm glad that you didn't breakdown when that attorney started to question you."

"Thank you," Hermione said, "Do you think that they'll give Dursley a guilty verdict?"

"After all that testimony and evidence stacked against him, I doubt that they'll let him off with a slap on the wrist." Hermione's father said, "And with how his attorney was acting, I don't think they'll be on Dursley's side."

"Hopefully nothing goes wrong," Hermione said, "If he gets a guilty verdict today, then he'll get a guilty verdict tomorrow too."

"That's what will probably happen." Hermione's father said, "So now we'll just have to wait until they hand out a verdict..."

A/N- Made some edits for some mistakes I made, I'm not one to ask for reviews, if you like this story you can review or favorite or follow it, but if you notice something wrong or something you like, don't hesitate to point it out.