Authors Notes

This begins my third Harry Potter fan fiction. This one is going to take a bit as unlike the other stories I have uploaded, I have only this chapter completed. The second chapter is started however updates are going to be a few weeks apart. I wanted to forewarn you of this delay.

Summary

Was Hagrid the only wizard to have his wand taken away without a trial, and if not what about those that had their magic taken away from them. How would they feel about the Wizarding world? Would the seek revenge or try to reconcile with their lost world?

.1.

Banished

Elric Smyth. June 1982

The interview room could be described as stark at best. Elric was bound to a chair in front of a worn table with two empty chairs across from him. However, Elric was really not concerned about his surroundings; he was more worried about his wife and daughter.

Elric tried to fight back his anger as he thought about the events from earlier that evening. He had taken his family out for dinner. Afterwards they had decided to take a walk in a muggle park that was near the restaurant. There was no way for Elric to know how terribly wrong the evening would go.

The muggle thugs caught them by surprise, stunning Elric with a blow to the back of his head, the others grabbing his wife and his daughter. At first all the muggles were interested in was robbing them. However when they found that they had no muggle money on them they had become enraged. Things got much worse from there.

Elric could only remember bits and pieces, really just quick images. His wife being pushed down to the ground, and her clothes being torn. Men climbing on her, then they were beating her, all while forcing Elric to watch. When they finished with his wife they turned on his fourteen year old daughter. That was when Elric lost all control.

Elric still was not sure exactly what he had done. The end result was six dead muggles. When he asked all the Auror's would say is that the bodies of the muggles were in an indescribable condition. His wife was in a coma and not expected to live through the night, however had it not been for magical healing his daughter would have been killed. It appeared that the thugs had slashed her throat when they finished raping her, and that was what had set Elric off.

Elric knew he was going to be going to Azkaban, but he decide it was worth it, his daughter was still alive, and his wife did have a chance. Life in Azkaban was a fair trade.

Cornelius Fudge glared at Barty Crouch as he slammed the report down on the table.

"What the hell are you playing at?" he asked hotly.

Crouch just looked at Fudge calmly, "The report speaks for itself Cornelius."

"You are recommending we not prosecute?" Fudge asked, "You saw what he did to those muggles."

"Did you see what those animals did to his wife and daughter?" not hiding how much he disliked Cornelius Fudge.

Barty felt it was beneath him to have to explain himself to Fudge. However, Fudge had been the first to arrive on the scene of the incident, and fearing a scandal with the muggles, Fudge had contacted someone high up in the minister's office. Barty did not know how he had done it, but Fudge had convinced the minister's office that he could handle damage control for the incident with both the muggles and the wizarding community. Fudge convinced the minister's office that due to the nature of the attacks, damage control would be needed. The problem was that Fudge had done all of this without first finding out what had happened.

Fudge looked at Crouch with a blank expression.

Crouch continued. "Of course you didn't," Barty jabbed his finger at Fudge as he continued, "You were too busy showing the minister's office how you could help them with an embarrassing situation to get the facts."

Barty threw down the case file, the pictures of Elric's wife and daughter spilled out. Fudge drew back, shocked at what he saw. However he quickly recovered.

"Regardless, what he did to those muggles is…"

"Completely legal under magical law," Crouch interrupted before Fudge could continue "A wizard can use magic against muggles in cases of self defense or the defense of others. This is a case of self defense as well as defense of others."

"He tortured those muggles." Fudge replied hotly, "This goes well beyond self defense" Fudge shot back.

"If I had watched those men do to my wife and daughter what those animals did I would have made them hurt as much as I could too."

Fudge glared at Crouch as he finished but he did not say anything. Crouch continued.

"Given the condition of his wife and child we are not going to be able to get a conviction." Crouch pointed to the photos of Elric's wife and daughter, "All the defense needs to do is show those pictures to the Wizengamot."

Fudge knew Crouch was right. However he had already told his superiors he would personally see to it the Elric spent the rest of his life in Azkaban for what he had done to the muggles. He never considered that Elric might be justified in his actions. He could not now go back to his supervisors and tell them he had not looked into all the facts before making his recommendation. His career would be ruined if he did that. The same would be true now if he let the case go before the Wizengamot. Once the defense presented their case, it would be clear that Fudge had not fully investigated the case. This would not do.

Crouch watched and Fudge seemed to be struggling to come up with a way out of the mess he had created for himself. Crouch knew about those like Fudge. They were only concerned with advancing their careers. They had no interest in right or wrong, just what could be done to get that next promotion. Crouch was willing to bet that when Fudge had stumbled onto Elric, he had seen this as a chance to advance his career, and had quickly gone to the minister's office, presenting this incident as potentially harmful to Muggle-Wizard relations. Crouch knew that Fudge was now in a bit of a bind.

Fudge looked up at Crouch, smiling. Crouch did not like that smile.

"Well then, we are just going to have to find another way to deal with Elric now, aren't we?"

Crouch did not like the sound of this.

"What do you mean?" Crouch asked cautiously.

"Whether he is prosecuted or not does not matter, after what this man did, he is a threat to our world." Fudge stated.

Crouch gasped, shocked at what he just heard.

"How is this man a threat to our world?" He asked incredulously.

Fudge just looked at Crouch for a few seconds before he spoke.

"Just imagine what would happen once word got out about this. Wizards would be attacking muggles claiming they did it in self defense. We have to make and example of Elric."

"Cornelius," Crouch answered sound a bit exasperated, "Didn't we just go over this. There is no way the Wizengamot will convict him."

"Then we will just have to take the Wizengamot out of the equation." Fudge stated calmly. "I think we can come up with some form of Administrative punishment for Elric, don't you."

Crouch could not believe what he was hearing. To punish a man without a trial was a violation of several different laws. It was something he would not be willing to agree to.

"Oh come on Barty, I know you have done something like this before." Crouch stated this as it was a well known matter of fact. Crouch just stared at Fudge, his mind racing. There was no way Fudge could know about…

"You sent Sirius Black to Azkaban without a trial; surely you can see the similarities in this case to the Black case…

Elric was getting tired of waiting. It seemed like he had been sitting in the interview room for days. While he was waiting he kept replaying the events of this evening in his mind. The more he reviewed what had happened he became convinced he had no choice but to kill the muggles attacking his family.

It wasn't the fact that he killed the muggles that bothered him. It was the things he had done to the muggles before he killed them. He did not feel guilty about what he had done. The men were rapist, and they deserved far worse, and they were lucky they died or they would have gotten everything they deserved. Elric knew he was going to be sent to Azkaban. He just wanted this to be over, rather than to have to sit and wait for endless hours in this cell.

As Elric finished that thought the door to the interview room opened and Fudge walked in with a man he did not recognize. Fudge sat down and looked through a file for a minute before saying anything.

"We have more than enough evidence here to send you to Azkaban for life." Fudge looked up at Elric as he finished, "Do you have anything to say in your own defense?"

"They raped my wife and daughter and were going to kill them." Elric answered defiantly.

Fudge looked at Elric, and answered

"Granted there are extenuating circumstances, but the fact is you tortured those muggles to death. Had they not been tortured…"

Elric slumped in his chair. He knew Fudge was right. He had crossed the line when he subjected the muggles to several very painful curses. It was those curses that had caused the muggles deaths.

Fudge started to look through the file again. After a few minutes he looked up at Elric.

"You do have a clean record. Perhaps we can offer an alternative to Azkaban."

"An alternative?" Elric asked tentatively.

Over then next few minutes Fudge explained the alternative. Elric would surrender his wand and leave the magical community. The only issue Elric had with this was his wife and daughter. Fudge that under the terms of this agreement his wife and daughter would also surrender there wands and leave the magical community with him. This would leave no witnesses to what Elric had done. In the end Elric had no choice but to agree to Fudge's terms. The good news was he would not have to surrender his wealth. He would convert his substantial holdings to muggle money. They would be well off in the muggle world and he would not be in prison. Elric was never offered a barrister to review the terms of the deal, had he been offered one he would have known that he would never be convicted of a crime before the Wizengamot and never would have known how Fudge had deceived him to protect his career.

Maxwell Edison

8 months later.

"What the hell do you mean they won't press charges?" Barty crouch shouted at the Auror standing in front of his desk.

The Auror shuffled his feet nervously as he answered.

"They say they agreed when they paid the ransom there would be no Auror involvement." The Auror stated nervously.

Crouch glared at the man before them. He had been trying to nail Maxwell Edison for years. Maxwell Edison was nothing more than a vicious thug, preying on good wizards and witches. The number of crimes that could be attributed to Maxwell Edison was staggering. What was even more unbelievable was he always got away with them.

When he had heard the rumor that the children of a prominent ministry family had been kidnapped and were being ransomed, Crouch knew that Maxwell Edison was somehow involved. It had taken a couple days of hard work but Crouch was able to identify the Ministry official and have him followed.

They had arrested Maxwell Edison at the ransom exchange, rescuing the minister official's kidnapped children and having what Crouch thought, for the first time a rock solid case against Maxwell Edison. Crouch did not know how he had done it, but Maxwell Edison had gotten to the ministry official. Without the official pressing charges he could not charge Maxwell Edison with anything….

Maxwell Edison smiled to himself as he sat waiting for that blowhard Crouch to return. Even though he had been caught at the ransom drop, Maxwell Edison was not worried. He had made sure there was no way the children's father would press charges. He had a letter delivered to the wife of the official stating a curse had been placed on her children and if he ended up in Azkaban the children would suffer a great deal of pain before the died. There was no such curse of course, but the ministry official had now way of knowing that. Maxwell Edison knew that the man would not take a chance, and would agree not to send Maxwell Edison away. He looked forward to rubbing the fact that Crouch was not going to be able to do anything in his face. The bonus was he would also get to keep the 10,000 galleon ransom he was paid as well...Maxwell Edison smiled to himself, beating Crouch again was just an additional bonus.

Cornelius Fudge looked up as Barty Crouch slammed his office door shut. Fudge watched as Crouch paced his office angrily, however Crouch did not offer an explanation as to why he was so angry. Fudge sighed.

"So are you going to tell me why you have barged into my office, or am I going to have to use legilimency?"

Crouch glared at Fudge a minute before he finally spoke.

"You owe me Fudge." He stated.

Fudge looked at Crouch, he had no idea what the man was on about, but he did not like the implication in the statement.

"I have no idea what you're on about…"

"I am talking about the Smyth's case."

Fudge tried his best to hide his surprise at the answer. He had successfully bullied Elric Smyth into accepting banishment from the Wizarding world to avoid being sent to Azkaban for his so called crimes. The fact that Fudge would have never obtained a conviction in a clear cut case of self defense did not matter. Fudge had staked his career on the case before knowing all the facts. Granted he had to agree to let Smythe withdraw his considerable fortune from his vaults and Gringotts, rather than seizing them for the ministry and helping himself to some of the gold, but he avoided the embarrassment of losing a case he had told the minister was open and shut. Fudge never expected to ever hear that name again.

"That is in the past," Fudge answered sounding much calmer than he actually was, "Why bring it up now?"

Crouch threw a file down on his desk. Crouch continued to pace angrily as Fudge looked the file over. After a few minutes Fudge looked up.

"I don't see what the problem is. You have this man dead to rights for kidnapping." Fudge stated.

Crouch sighed heavily as he answered. "I have no complainant."

Fudge looked up at Crouch, surprised.

Crouch continued to explain.

"One of my Auror's was informed about a kidnapping of a family member of a ministry official. Once I heard Maxwell Edison was involved I had the Auror do some digging and was able to get the name of the official."

"You never contacted this official did you?" Fudge stated.

"No, I had him followed. We were able to follow him to the ransom drop, and place Maxwell Edison under arrest and rescue the child." Crouch paused before continuing, "The ministry official was furious at first, but he now thinks we were following Maxwell Edison and just stumbled onto the kidnapping."

Fudge had to admit, that was a brilliant cover, and it would be hard to dispute the claim considering that Maxwell Edison seemed to be the subject of several open investigations.

"So what's the problem?" Fudge asked.

"The ministry official will not press charges."

Fudge now understood what this was all about. Crouch could not prosecute Maxwell Edison, but he did not want to set him free either. He wanted to do the same thing with Maxwell Edison that he did to Smyth. Looking at O Rourke's file, Fudge was not sure this was a good idea. Unlike Smyth, Maxwell Edison was a hardened criminal. Did he really want to set a man like Maxwell Edison loose on the muggles?

"You want to banish him?" Fudge stated this more as a fact than a question. Crouch nodded yes. Fudge continued, "I am not sure that is a good…"

Crouch interrupted him before he could finish.

"I backed you up with Smyth," Crouch jabbed his finger into Fudge's chest, "You owe me for that. Besides, unlike Smyth, this man is guilty of his crimes."

"That's what concerns me." Fudge answered back hotly, "What if…"

"He will not have his wand and will not be able to do any kind of magic." Crouch answered back, "He will not be a threat to the muggles. He is more of a threat in our world than he ever would be in the muggle world.

Fudge could see the logic in what Crouch was telling him, despite his misgivings, he agreed to have Maxwell Edison surrender his wand and be banished to the muggle world.

Once they agreed it did not take much to get Maxwell Edison to agree to banishment, and both men told themselves they were doing a good thing, ridding the wizarding world of a hardened criminal.

Once the two men were convinced what they had done was right, it was not long before other cases came up that could not be proven. For the greater good of the Wizarding world they banished these wizards as well. As head of the department of magical law enforcement Crouch soon made the banishment of those that were felt by the Auror's to be guilty of their crimes, but could not be proven were forced into surrendering their wands, and being banished to the muggle world. Once they left the Wizarding world they were not followed up on or tracked…

2 years later.

Will Bannon

Cornelius Fudge frowned as he listened to Will Bannon listed the reasons he felt Cornelius Fudge was a terrible choice for minister of magic. Over the last couple of years Fudge had risen through the ranks of the ministry. His sudden rise in the ranks had nothing to do with talent, but more that Fudge knew where the bodies were buried. In some cases literally. He was able to use his knowledge as leverage to get promotions he really did not deserve. It always seemed that Fudge had the dirt he needed to silence those that had stood in his way. That was on everyone except Will Bannon.

Bannon was a constant thorn in Fudge's side. Not only questioning how he had risen through the ranks of the ministry, but openly opposing some of his initiatives as well. Bannon questioned things such as Fudge's close association with Lucius Malfoy, a known death eater. Even though Malfoy had been cleared of those charges, for a small fee, Bannon would still argue that he was a death eater.

It was Fudge's association with the likes of Mr. Malfoy and other cleared death eaters that Bannon was using to argue against his being made minister of magic, and why Bannon would be a better choice for the post.

Unlike Fudge, Bannon's rise in the ministry was based on his talent and successes as a Barrister for the Dept of Magical Law. Bannon was known to defend the rights of those not able to fight for themselves. Bannon had argued for, and almost won reforms for muggleborns, allowing them to work in the ministry. He also argued for and lost for better relations with other magical creatures.

And now Bannon was arguing against Fudge being made Minister of Magic. It appeared to Fudge that Bannon had the votes he needed to block his being made Minister of Magic, but he was short of the votes he needed to make himself minister of magic. Fudge knew that if he was going to be elected Minister of Magic he would need more than the dirt he had on many of the members of the Wizengamot, he would need to have take care of Will Bannon, before he gained the support of Albus Dumbledore. If Bannon was able to secure Dumbledore's support, then it would be over. Fudge already knew Dumbledore would not support him for Minister of Magic, however so far Dumbldore had remained neutral as he promised he would. Fudge knew that would probably not last. He wished he had something he could use against Bannon.

Will Bannon felt his heart pounding as he raced down the hall to the spell damage ward, he was not sure what was going on all he was told is that his son and his girlfriend were brought to St. Mungo's after some kind of accident. The owl he received from his wife gave him no details, just that he needed to get to the hospital as fast as he could.

He quickly scanned the faces of the waiting room, looking for the familiar face of his wife. He did not see her at first because she was hidden behind Cornelius Fudge and his crony Barty Crouch. What the hell is Fudge doing here, he asked himself as he approached the three of them. As he approached he over heard Crouch asking his wife.

"So you have no idea where your son would have learned this spell?"

Bannon did not like Crouch's tone, it almost sounded like he was accusing her of something. He cleared his throat and the three of them turned to face him. His wife looked relieved Crouch and Fudge looked like a couple of wolves that had just been set loose on a flock of sheep.

Ignoring Fudge and Crouch he addressed his wife, sounding calmer than he actually felt he asked "What happened?"

"There was an accident during Quidditch practice." His wife answered carefully, "From what I have heard he and Nance collided when they tried to avoid a bludger. They both fell about 30 feet, Jonathan broke his leg and Nance…"

Nance was Jonathan's girlfriend. They were dating for the last two years, and more than likely they were going to get married after they finished with Hogwarts later this year. Recognizing this, Bannon and his wife had gotten close to the young woman.

Barty Crouch finished for his wife.

"Nance Warren broke her neck when she fell."

Bannon looked at Crouch, doing his best to hide his surprise.

"I am a little confused. Nance was killed in a Quidditch accident. Why would the Head of Magical Law enforcement and the Deputy Minister of Magic need to be involved?"

Crouch did not answer the question, he just looked at Fudge nervously. Fudge answered.

"Nance Warren was not killed in the accident Mr. Bannon."

Will looked a bit confused. The kind of accident that was described to him would normally be fatal. Even if the victim survived the fall, they would be killed when their spinal cord was severed from the broken neck. Will barely heard the rest of what Fudge was saying.

"We are here because Ms. Warren was not killed by her fall." Fudge finished smugly.

Will looked at Fudge, still not sure what the issue was.

"The fact that Ms. Warren survived is great news. I still fail to see why that would involve you and Mr. Crouch. Cornelius." He tried to hide how nervous he was as he asked.

Fudge raised his eyebrows, before Fudge could answer, Crouch interjected,

"The fact that Miss Warrne survive the accident is not why we are here. We are here because of the reason she survived." Crouch looked at Fudge before continuing, "Mr. Bannon, by all rights Miss Warren should be in the morgue, however she is not, would you have any idea why that would be the case?"

Bannon felt his blood go cold as Crouch finished his question. He did in fact know how Nance could have been kept alive, but Jonathan would not be that stupid would he. He would be risking his own life if something went wrong, or heaven forbid Nance could not have been saved. He did his best to hide his shock from the two men standing before him and shook his head.

"Perhaps we should move to a more private place before we continue this," Fudge suggested quietly, "This is something bet discussed in private."

Bannon let his wife know he would be right back, and followed Fudge and Crouch into a small conference room, Crouch did not wait for Bannon to sit down before starting to question him.

"Have you ever heard of a Life Binding charm?"

Bannon did no trust himself to answer out loud. Of course he knew what a Life Binding spell was. It was an old form of Life Magic that would bind a dying person life force to the spell caster. The spell was used to keep a gravely injured person alive until they could be treated by a healer. The hope would be the healer would be able to heal the mortal wounds. Once the wounds were healed the spell would be released. Bannon knew that Life Magic had not been practiced by the Wizarding World in several generations. The practice had been banned by the Ministry of Magic as dark magic over a century ago. Bannon's family had been asked back then to preserve the knowledge of Life Magic by one of the great healers of that time. You see Life Magic was actually neither light or dark magic, how the magic was used determined its nature. When used to heal Life Magic was no more dark magic than a simple sewing charm, however when used to Harm, there was no darker magic than Life Magic. One of the many Dark Wizards in the history of the Wizarding world had been a practitioner of Life Magic, using it's harmful effects effectively. Since then Life Magic had always been considered very dark magic.

Bannon just shook his head negatively, in answer to Crouch's question. His heart was racing, because the Life Binding Charm could very well be fatal to the caster if too much of his life force would be used to keep the recipient of the spell alive, Bannon could not help but to worry if his son was still alive. However if he asked about his sons condition then Crouch would know he was aware of what was a forbidden charm. So he bit his tongue and listened as Crouch continued.

"Miss Warren is still alive because someone used the Life Binding charm on her." Crouch paused, "Would you know of anyone that would be able to use this charm?"

"No." Bannon answered softly.

Crouch referred back to his parchment.

"Your son was near death when he was bough in for treatment," Crouch stated. Bannon was now sure that Jonathan was still alive, "Surprisingly, once Miss Warren had been stabilized and no longer in danger of dying, you son started to recover."

Crouch was trying to lay down a trap for Bannon. Will would not give him the satisfaction of walking into the trap so he just remained silent as Crouch continued.

"After examining both patients, the healers were able to find traces of a charm they did not recognize at first. Luckily one of the Residents was studying ancient dark magic and recognized the charm as a Life Binding charm. That is when my department was called."

Crouch explained.

Fudge spoke for the first time since they entered the conference room.

"We did a Prior Incantato on your son's wand and found that your son cast the charm."

Bannon sighed heavily. Jonathan was in a bit of a bind. However he knew that they would be able to use the fact that the charm saved Nance's life to defend his sons actions. It seemed that Fudge read his mind.

"Under normal circumstances the fact that Miss Warren's life was saved could be used to defend your sons actions. However, with the current climate…"

Will knew that Fudge meant with the disappearance of the Dark Lord, anything that could be considered dark magic was dealt with very harshly. His son could be facing time in Azkaban. Will was so deep in thought he almost did no hear Fudge's next question.

"The most important thing we need to know is where would your son have learned something like this. You wouldn't happen to help shed some light on that would you?" Fudge asked.

Bannon looked at Fudge, and by the way Fudge was looking at him, he knew that he already knew the answer to the question. Will started teaching Jonathan Life Magic once he started his fifth year at Hogwarts. Life Magic was passed from generation to generation in his family, starting when the children turned fifteen.

Fudge saved Bannon from the trouble of answering the question.

"A scandal such as this would destroy the ministry." Fudge whispered hotly. "A high ranking member of the ministry practicing the darkest form of magic there is."

Bannon could not stop himself, he answered back angrily.

"This is no more dark magic than a healing spell."

Bannon could tell fudge was trying to hide his smile. Fudge had him, and he knew it. Fudge looked at Crouch.

"My god! Did you hear that Barty, this man just compared Necromancy to healing spells." Fudge looked at Bannon as he continued, "If the scandal of this nature would not hurt the ministry so badly I would have the whole lot of you Bannon's thrown into Azkaban."

Bannon smiled. "The only one you could possibly charge would be my son. Considering the spell saved the life of the daughter of a prominent families only daughter as mitigating circumstances I am sure he would be acquitted."

The look Fudge gave him reminded him of that of a cat that was finished playing with its food.

"I would agree with you," Fudge paused, "If we were going to charge your son with casting the Life Binding spell." Fudge handed Bannon a parchment as he continued, "However we are not charging your son for that. We are charging you as well as the rest of your family with practicing Dark Magic and Necromancy. The penalty of which is…"

Bannon quickly looked over the document. It appeared that Crouch had already interviewed his son under Viritaserum and had already been informed of the lessons he had been giving him. It also named not just him and his son but his wife and daughter as well. This was an application for a warrant, no warrant had been issued yet.

"I can have this warrant squashed." Bannon stated as he glared at Fudge, "You know you cannot interview a minor without his parents being present or consent."

Fudge laughed as he produced another form, signed by his wife giving the ministry permission to question Jonathan. The form did not allow the use of Viritaserum but that was a moot point. Bannon felt his throat tighten as Fudge continued.

"Look Will, No one here wants to have a trial. The scandal would destroy the ministry."

"I doubt your going to just simply forget about this." Will stated bitterly.

"I wish we could," Fudge stated, "however there are too many witnesses to just simple let the matter drop. We will eventually have to file a report on this. Once the report is filed…"

Will knew where Fudge was going. Once the report was filed his family would be rounded up and tried. Will was not naïve enough to believe Fudge was going to just let the matter go. He posed too much of a threat to Fudge's ambition to be minister of magic. Bannon sighed as he said "I get it Cornelius, What do you want."

Fudge smiled and answered.

"I think it would be best if you and your family simply disappeared from the Wizarding world…"

The other school of Magic.