Little Lightning DiNozzo

Dursley Trial

Vernon and Petunia sat in the jail holding cells for about a week before they would see their day in court. Due to Gringotts getting the money back that was stolen from Harry's inheritance they could not afford to hire their own lawyer so they had to have a government appointed defendant. They were cleaned up and brought to an interrogation room.

"Good Afternoon Mr. Dursley my name is David O'Hearn, I will be your government appointed defendant in your upcoming trial. Now these are some very serious crimes so I am going to need your side of things so we can defend you." David said he was a tall man at 6'1" with dark red hair, blue eyes, and freckles across his nose.

"Now see here. My family are good upstanding citizens and we did nothing wrong. That freak got the punishment he deserved for ruining my perfect son's breakfast." Vernon said, his face turning from red to purple as he got angry.

"Mr. Dursley, if you continue to speak like that you will not win in court. I can see we will not be able to have a civilized conversation today." David said, trying to calm down. He knew there was no way he would win this trial but he would still try his best to not give them freedom by claiming he didn't.

"He is no nephew of mine! He is a good for nothing freak who should have died with his parents!!" Vernon yelled. David decided that he would not get any further with him or his wife and so he would just have to fight in court.

It was a rainy Tuesday when the Dursleys were in court. The prosecutor, Gareth Greengrass, representing Harry and the defendant David O'Hearn were there while the jury settled. They all stood as the judge Marius Radu entered.

"We will begin with the trial for Mrs. Petunia Dursley nee Evans. Petunia Dursley is accused to child abuse, child neglect, and accessory to attempted murder." Judge Radu said. They laid out all the evidence to the jury and then called Petunia up to the stand. After she was sworn in Gareth started his questioning.

"When were you given custody of your nephew Harrison James Potter?" Gareth asked. (I am going to use the name they know him by to keep it safe for Harry. They cannot tell anyone where he is if they do not know his name).

"We found it on the doorstep when I went to pick up the milk on November 1st. There was a note with the baby that said we were his only family and so we had to take him in." Petunia replied.

"Were you provided with funding for the extra child?" Gareth asked. He of course knew they were.

"Of course we were. We would not have taken in the freak otherwise. We needed that money to raise our Diddykins up right." Petunia answered, as if the most normal thing to take the government funds and use them on someone else. The jury looked disgusted by this.

"And did you ever lay a hand on the boy?" Gareth asked.

"I did not want to touch the freak unless I needed to. Vernon was the one to discipline him. I taught him how to earn his keep." By this point the jury was angry at what she was saying.

"And my last question is why did you not bring him to an orphanage if you did not want him?" Gareth asked.

"The freaks told us that we would be safe if we kept him and I did not want to lose that," Petunia said. Most of the jury had no idea who the freaks are.

"Defense your witness," Judge Radu said. Gareth sat back down and started going over the questions for Vernon.

"Mrs. Durlsey, what did you provide for your nephew?" David said. He hoped that the question would put them in a good light after all they had to provide something.

"We gave him enough food to survive, the clothes when Dudley was done with them, we even gave him his own space in the house" Petunia said.

"I have no further questions," David said, realizing he was not going to paint them in a good light. The jury left to deliberate and about an hour later they came back

"We find Mrs. Petunia Dursley guilty of all charges." Judge Radu said, reading the jury's decision. "The sentence is as follows: 20 years in prison and then 10 years of probation. You can never have custody of your son again or any other child."

They took an hour break for lunch and to get ready for Vernon's trial. David was already not looking forward to this. There was a new jury selected for this trial because the other would no longer be partial and unbiased. The trial started much the same as Petunias did.

"Mr. Vernon Dursley is being charged with attempted murder, child abuse, child neglect, tax fraud/tax evasion. We will begin with the Evidence of Young Harry Potter's statement to the police." They read out Harry's statement and then showed the doctors notes and pictures taken of the little battered body. Many of the jury were crying for the little boy. They began with Detective Roberts calling up first where they questioned him about what they did and what they found. They then called up the doctor who primarily took care of Harry in the hospital. They finally called Vernon to the stand himself.

"Mr. Vernon Dursley, in your opinion what happened the day Harry ended up in the hospital?" Gareth asked.

"The stupid freak ruined my poor Dudley's breakfast and needed to be punished. I made sure to punish him well this time when he messed up. When he finally stopped screaming he ran away" Vernon said, lying about it.

"I would like to remind you it is illegal to lie on the stand. We have his evidence where he did not run away but instead woke up after you beat him unconscious." Gareth said.

"Okay, so what I got rid of the freak. I had thought it was finally dead. Goodbye to bad rubbish I say." Vernon said.

"What was the punishment you gave him?" Gareth asked.

"I just reminded him that us normal folk wouldn't tolerate the freaks' laziness. So when I beat him a bit, he ruined our perfectly good food. We took him out of the kindness of our hearts and put a roof over his head, gave him clothes, and fed him." At this point the Jury looked sick.

"I have no more questions. Defense can have the witness." Gareth said. David sat down and thought for a minute about any questions he could ask that would help in their defense.

"Mr. Dursley, you say you did not want him but had no choice, why is that?" David said.

"We woke up finding him on our doorstep like a bottle of milk and a note saying we had to take him. We also got money for keeping the freak. It was too good to pass up." Vernon said. He really was not helping his case at this point.

"I have no more questions your honor." David said. The jury once again left to discuss the outcome. They were back even faster than with Petunia. They handed the judge the results of the deliberation.

"We find Mr. Vernon Dursley guilty of all charges." Judge Radu said, reading the jury's decision. "The sentence is as follows: 50 years in prison with the possibility of parole in 35 years.. You can never have custody of your son again or any other child."

Both adult Dursleys were taken to separate prisons where they would serve out their term. Dudley was put into a group home until he can find a foster family willing to take him about Vernon's sister Marge was arrested for dog fighting.