Recess is Over, Roland

Jess was pleased to hear the anger in Khaat's voice as she reprimanded the imbeciles who had obviously kept their necks out of the political world for the past ten year - why else would the ex-Minister for Magic be sitting before them looking like some sort of skeletal criminal... Roland hadn't exactly been a spry youth when he'd been detained, but now he looked positively ancient.

He was, however, immensely irritated by the response Nemo afforded to Khaat - he may not have been feeling entirely appreciative of the power she was controlling (for this case that is) at that very moment, but he respected that she was acting fairly, and she was doing the right thing. He was merely happy that his position between Jack and Nemo, and Khaat probably shielded her from the little side-comment he'd given to Jack.

"Shall we start?" He asked Khaat, drawing out his quill and preparing to take his own notes (he wasn't going to risk exploding the feather by magically performing the task)

((I figure any late members of the Wizengamot can just say they've been here the whole time, yes?))

"By all means," Khaat replied to Jess. She looked at the members of the court. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a reminder that these proceedings were held over when this first date of trial was put into recess. For the record, the defendant, James Roland, was ordered held on remand by this court and was given maximum privileges during his incarceration. This court finds that clearly its orders were disobeyed, and the defendant has unduly suffered because of it. I am ordering a full investigation into Azkaban prison, the defendant's incarceration and treatment, and who are the persons responsible for being in contempt of court. I am ordering the Department of Law Enforcement to institute a full investigation and return the results to me within the next 2 calendar weeks.

"In the meantime, no one who has been caring for Mr. Roland will have any further contact with him. Since the defendant has not been found to be guilty as of this date, I motion that the court reassign him to accomodations in one of the Ministry safehouses with 24 hour guard so that his needs can be met. I will not tolerate this any further."

She looked at Roland, "Mr. Roland, the floor is yours. Please continue to mount your defense for the court." She was going to do her level best to be sure that Roland got a fair hearing. And, if he were convicted, she was certainly going to take his time served against his sentence to shorten it for him if she could. She also fully intended to be sure that whatever health needs he obviously suffered now were adequately addressed. Some things just were not right. And, guilty or not, James Roland deserved better than this.

James nodded, appreciating the gesture Lupin was making, but not quite understanding the motive. She was his enemy here, as far as he could tell, it was, after all, her father who he'd actively petitioned to be overthrown. Still, she was working to make his life, at least until sentencing, a little easier, which would make all the difference to how he had been treated in Azkaban.

"Thank you," he replied, his gaze locked on Khaat as he ignored the less organised members of the bench, fooling about as if they were on break.

"You know my arguments, I stated them during the last hearing before Ms. Lupin decided to ignore question raised by her colleagues," he explained, unable to resist the jab. "But I still fail to see exactly how I am guilty of the charges being brought against me. Yes, I worked with Gellert Grindelwald, however I was merely supporting a man I deemed more fit to rule the country than the incumbent, your father. Any politician could be standing where I stand at the moment for that very reason. Yes, Grindelwald's actions were illegal, there is no denying this, however mine were not," he argued, trying his best not to get worked up in his defence - maintaining a level head was of the essence here.

"Did I know the means Gellert would use to attain power?" He asked, "No, I did not. Had I known, I would doubtlessly abandoned him instantly in his attempts, however after he'd taken his position, I knew that it was my responsibility as a seasoned politician to remain in his good graces, for he needed assistance in running the country. Had I not aided him from that point onwards, the people of our great nation would have suffered all the more for my negligence."

This last part, at the very least, was the truth. Grindelwald had immediately gone off the rails after taking power in the Ministry, insisting on prosecuting everyone who criticised his regime, which, more or less, was everyone. He knew no bounds, whether it was a child or an adult working who simply made comment on something they did not like, he could immediately plan to destroy them. James had worked to keep this from happening, he'd worked to make sure that the statute of secrecy was maintained, and he'd insisted on keeping the school functioning.

ooc: i used the british code of law re: treason for this post. it is not the wizarding code, but rowling didn't specify everything. so, if i need to edit let me know.


Khaat resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. He was toying with her. She intended to allow him to speak until he was finished. He was full of crap, and she believed he knew it. She could not blame him for not wanting to be whisked off to Azkaban. It was a hell of a way to leave one's legacy.

She waited until he was finished speaking.

"Mr. Roland," she spoke calmly, "You used to know these codes. For the record, however, perhaps we should read the actual section of the code with which you have been charged of violating--so that we all know where we stand." An aide handed her a scroll from the code of law and she unrolled it and read part of the subsections of treason. "These are the subsections that Mr. Roland has been charged with," she said. "The charge is that prior to the takeover of Gellert Grindelwald, you participated in and/or was guilty of.....adhering to the Ministry's enemies, giving them aid and comfort, in the realm or elsewhere to levy war against the Ministry in order by force or constraint to compel it to change it measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon or in order to intimidate or overawe it, or to move or stir any foreigner to invade the United Kingdom or any other country belonging to the British Wizarding Ministry.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," she addressed the court, "you will find that Mr. Roland was in the employment of the Ministry at the time of the offenses with which he has been charged and was participating in that role in the propaganda office when the specific writings were published. His personnel files are in the record in front of you. The employment procedures are very clear on acting in such dissention during the execution of his duties at the Ministry.

"Mr. Roland, it is not the fact that you prefer not to back the current Minister. That is, of course, your right. The problem becomes when you consider the fact that you were in the employ of that Ministry when you supported the overthrow of the authority and supported someone who was not at all in the employment of the Ministry. There is a file in front of every member of this court with copies of your writings that show that you were acting in your capacity at the Ministry to back someone who already had a notorious reputation for death, dark arts practice, cruelty, and ruthlessness. Or shall we dredge up some of the death photos of some of his victims prior to his demise? Or perhaps some photos of his torture victims from Nuremgard before he came back with that alleged horcrux? We can surely bring those photos and enter them into the record if it would help to refresh your memory. His reputation for barbaric behavior did greatly preceed him. I find it unlikely that you would not have remembered some the most basic facts from your magical history classes and decided that this was a kinder, gentler evil wizard who honestly did have the common good as his top priority.

"My apologies, but with someone of your intellect and experience, I simply do not believe you," she said.

Thaor entered the ministry for the first time since Grindlewald took power, his appearance wasn't what it used to be, his hair had greyed, and several scars were visable on his neck, and arms. He was wearing his favorite emerald green cloak, which usually would have matched his eyes, but they were now a slight grey color. He had lost weight, and it was obvious, he had seen his better days.

He entered the courtroom just as James started his defense, but stayed in the doorway, unseen, until Khaat was done speaking. He took a seat near the back, and kept quiet. He glanced one by one to each Wizengamot member, smiling as he looked to Jack, and Khaat.

Khaat was glad to see Thaor back. Actually, though, he looked like hell. She was glad to see him back, though. From what she knew of Thaor, she knew that during whatever time he took alone, it usually involved the barest of survival for one reason or another. She never questioned it. If he ever intended to tell anyone what had happened, she figured it would be her father. Some things were just better left between the two of them and no one else.

She gave him a slight smile, her current duties keeping her from showing more that she was glad to see he was back. She saw him take a seat in the back of the courtroom close to the area where her father would tend to sit if he chose to observe.

Robert had not chosen to appear at Roland's hearing. It was more appropriate for him not to be there. As she was looking at Thaor, she noticed her husband, Brian, slip into the courtroom and take a seat near the door. She was always glad when he could attend a hearing simply because things had been known to go wrong in this courtroom before. She didn't expect it today, but then again, she hadn't expected it any time something had gone wrong. She awaited responses from the other court members and from Roland.

Jack listened, trying to ignore the pressing feeling that she did not belong in a courtroom in oversized Wizengamot robes, and that she could be selling Weasleys products or fixing a werewolf up with a job. This was not her thing. Jack barely understood the concept of justice and now she was being asked to defend it? She still could not believe she had gotten herself into this mess. She looked up as the door opened and a huge grin spread out on her face. She quickly adjusted that, remembering she was still mad at Thaor for discluding her from his plans, and nodded her head at him before looking back at Roland.

James opened his mouth to reply, preparing to launch an almost identical defence to the one he'd given several weeks before, when the door cracked opened. Quietly, but not quietly enough, he recognised the face that entered the room and slunk to the backbenches of the court.

"Madam Warlock," he began, "You surely will not presume to understand the inner workings of my mind, do you? Yes, I aided Mr. Grindelwald in his rise, however I had no knowledge of his full plans. I believed he would take a democratic approach to his uprising, and would wait his time, that is why I used my paper to gain public support of Grindelwald," he explained, a wry smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"As I have already explained, I continued to work in the Ministry following Grindelwald's takeover, however this was because at that stage the Ministry was sorely lacking in able-bodied politicians. The charges against me though, apply only to the takeover of Grindelwald, not to anything that may have taken place during his rule, so you will have to forgive me for digressing," James shrugged, knowing full well where he did and did not stand in relation to his charges, and pressing that advantage.

"I may have been implicated in the aid of Grindelwald, but I am no mind reader," he continued, deciding to keep his considerable skills in legilimens to himself for the time being, for that was his business and no one else's. "I cannot be charged for treason because my activities did not involve aiding Grindelwald to violently overthrow the Ministry, they involved aiding him to rise to a position where he could make moves to join in the next election which, I might add, your father never held upon his return to politics. Had I known that an illegitimate takeover was underway I would have done my duty as a citizen of these United Kingdoms and reported his actions immediately to the Ministry," he concluded, knowing he was laying it on a little thick. He'd always enjoyed the dramatic flair.

He had one more card up his sleeve though, one that he full intended to bring up in the likely event that his current defence did not hold up under the close examination of the Minister's daughter.

ooc: again, if i need to edit, say so.

"We are not here to discuss what you did or did not do after Grindelwald decided to take office," Khaat said with a slight tone of sharpness to her tone. "It is irrelevant. On that we do agree. I do not presume to know the workings of your mind, nor do I actually want to. However, in the face of common sense facts, most of our first years at Hogwarts would have surely known better than to back that particular horse!"

She spoke in a soft tone to a clerk who rushed out of the room and, a moment later brought in a file and a book and handed it to her. She opened the file and flicked her wand at them. Photographs of some of Grindelwald's victims from Nuremgard during his first reign of terror enlarged themselves and plastered themselves all around the courtroom on the walls. They were horrifying and revolting but had been long part of the case files of the victims of the prison. Then she opened the textbook and enlarged it and plastered it, with an open page to the courtroom wall.

"The photos were well known in their time," she said. "Some of the less graphic ones were either detailed or published in the Daily Prophet. I can send for newspaper archives if you like. But perhaps you have forgotten. The text is a copy of the History of Magic being used at Hogwarts that covers some of the basics of some of his crimes against our world in his 'first' lifetime. Expelled from Durmstrangs in 1900, at age 16, for sadism, Defeated during his first bid for power in 1945 by Albus Dumbledore because of the very public outcry against Grindelwald's viciousness against untold legions of witches and wizards all across the wizarding world, and then he was imprisoned in his own hellhole until his death in 1998 at the hands of Voldemort.

"I am not presuming to be in your head, because I seriously doubt I would want to be in there, but again, I choose not to believe you could forget such standard facts of our history and believe that he would surely be even considering a more--what did you call it?--democratic approach? I am sorry, Mr. Roland, but the I-didn't-know defense is not very believable for me. I do not have the slightest clue what the other members of the Wizengamot feel, but you have yet to pursuede me that you were clueless. If you have additional evidence or support, then I suggest you bring it to the floor.

"Whether you believe you should be, rightfully, charged with treason or not was not your decision to make. The fact remains that the charges have been brought forward. Please stick to the charges at hand and stop your efforts to try to send this court down a rabbit trail. It is wearing thin."

Thaor watched as James mounted his defense, and Khaat countered. It wasn't his place, but he had to speak up.
Madam Warlock, if I may interject. Thaor said, waiting a slight second as if to wait for permission before he continued. The burden of guilt, is upon the Wizengamot, it is not Mr. Rolands burden to prove he is innocent. I would be willing to testify on his behalf if he so chooses, as to the take over of Grindlewald, no one would know what happened better than I. I believe the court already knows of my undercover involvement in this matter? Thaor said, sinking back into his chair.

He glanced around the room, his eyes landing on Roland. Roland was the last person on earth Thaor would want to save, but if he didn't stand up for justice in every case, then there would be no true justice.