Hermione Goes to Court
Harry Potter and Hermione Granger stand in the cobbled
courtyard of Hogwarts. The clouds are stitching together into a gloomy quilt
that stretches low over their heads.
“This weather looks ominous,” Hermione says. Harry nods his
head in agreement, though he has no clue what ‘ominous’ means.
Hermione bites her lip in frustration. “Where’s Ron? That idiot
told us to meet here as soon as Potions class got over!”
“Maybe he just got distracted,” Harry kindly points out. He
smiles at Hermione’s scathing look.
* * *
It’s just another day at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,
and Ron Weasley is bored. Advanced History of Magic class really is a snore. He
should never have let Hermione talk him into this. Professor Binns never closes
his pie hole, and barely even pauses for breath. Why can’t Ron take Potions
with Harry and Hermione? He doesn’t like the idea of those two together. Alone.
Without him. Ron spins his quill agitatedly between freckled fingers.
When class finally ends, he pushes his way past all the
first- and second-year students jamming the stairways. He trips on someone’s shoes–Bloody ‘ell!—and scrabbles against the
nearest wall to keep from falling down the endless stairs. Regaining his
balance, Ron notes a poster tacked to the wall with Magic Tape, which only
comes off with a secret spell.
It’s neon yellow and screams “BATTLE OF THE MAGIC BANDS! WIN
GLORY, FAME, AND EVEN A RARE AND MAGICAL PRIZE FROM DUMBLEDORE HIMSELF! ANY
BAND CAN JOIN!”
Ron has an idea. A grin spreads across his face as he runs
through the hallways.
* * *
Harry
spots Ron just as he rushes into the near-empty courtyard, red-faced and
smiling.
“There
you are, Ron!” Hermione exclaims, “It could rain on us any minute!”
“Blimey,
I’ve only just got out of class,” Ron says, looking entreatingly at Harry.
Harry
shrugs.
Ron
continues, “I’ve just had the best idea ever. I wanted to maybe sneak off and
play tricks on Draco, or something, but now I’ve got a bloody awesome plan!”
“This
better not be like your idea last week to steal into Snape’s office and take
some potions,” Hermione smiles. “That didn’t end up so well for you.”
Ron
rubs his backside ruefully, “Yeah, well, it’s not like that this time. I’m
thinking we should enter the Battle of the Bands. Guys, let’s start a bloody
band!”
Harry
looks surprised, “But Ron, none of us know how to play any instruments.”
“I
can play piano,” Hermione chimes in. Harry and Ron look at each other. They erupt
into guffaws.
“Well,
then how do you expect us to start a
band?” She jabs her finger into Ron’s chest.
“Ouch!”
Ron thinks for a moment. “I guess we could do what lots of Muggle bands are
doing, you know, that remixing stuff. It sounds cool.”
“Oh,
that? But no magical bands do that kind of music,” Harry objects.
“Exactly,”
Ron smirks, “that’s exactly why it’d make us the best band ever heard at
Hogwarts!”
Hermione
cocks an eyebrow. “You know, I think you have something here, Ron,” she says.
“How do we start, though?”
Ron,
Harry and Hermione discuss the idea, moving inside when raindrops begin to speckle
their black robes.
Eventually,
Harry comes up with an idea. “We could all go to a Muggle concert. That way we
could record what they play and just use it for our music.”
Ron
wonders how they would get to the different concerts.
Hermione
frowns. “We could just Apparate. We all know how to do that. At least, well
enough,” She snorts at Ron, who turns bright red and splutters about the evils
of Apparition.
“It’s
settled then,” says Harry, “now we just have to decide which concerts we want
to see, and when.”
Harry,
Ron, and Hermione decide to Apparate to the Seattle Music Festival in Seattle,
Washington, US. Some of the artists performing there will be Snoop Dog,
Deadmau5, Modest Mouse, and Empire of the Sun.
* * *
Harry, Ron, and Hermione Apparate right into the middle of a
raging crowd near the concert stage. The noises from Apparating are drowned out
by the sound of Deadmau5 performing, and no one in the wild crowd notices the
sudden appearance of three people.
“I love this song!” Ron shouts as he is jolted sideways by
the surging mosh-pit crowd.
“Let’s get out of here!” Hermione screams before she is
shoved and falls. Ron catches her deftly and pushes his way out of the pit. The
three find standing room beyond the moshers, breathing heavily.
Hermione straightens up and takes her wand from her purse.
“Hide me while I perform the spell,” she commands Harry and
Ron. Harry links arms with Ron, who looks insanely pleased to be doing such an
outrageously Muggle thing.
Hermione intones something beneath the thudding base of the
song, waving her wand in small, neat circles. She repeats the spell for the
duration of the concert, each artist getting his own incantation. When the
concert is over, exhausted Hermione and ecstatic Ron grab Harry’s arm, and they
vanish, unnoticed by the crowd.
* * *
“What spell did you use, Hermione?” Ron asks as they sit in
the Griffindor Common Room the next day.
“Oh, it was just a little incantation I found in the
library,” Hermione says, closing a large book she is reading, “Nothing too
complicated.”
Harry walks up and settles into a cushy armchair across from
Hermione.
“Capto musica,”
Hermione continues proudly, “Capture music.”
“Well, now that she’s had time to brag,” Ron says, “Let’s
get down to making this music.”
* *
*
Harry, Ron and Hermione spend the next few days arranging
the pieces of the songs Hermione captured in her wand. Each song, unravelling
from her wand like glittery, translucent banners, is a different glowing color
and has a different length. Together, the three cut and position pieces of the
songs to form new songs. Harry even discovers they can layer the songs.
Eventually, the three have created three songs they really like.
“This was fun,” Hermione says, eyes glittering with
excitement.
Harry laughs, “We actually did it! We have to win Battle of
the Magical Bands now!”
“But what’re we naming our band?” Ron asks.
* * *
Double H & R, a band new to the Battle competition this
year, debuts its first mini album Unicorn
Blood during the Battle of the Magical Bands. The three songs are a huge
hit, and Double H & R is crowned winner of the competition. The band members are awarded with three
passes to limitless Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.
Wizards and witches throughout Hogwarts can’t get enough of
Ron, Harry, and Hermione’s music. Harry, more familiar with technology than the
others, makes CD disks with the three songs from Unicorn Blood, and the Ron decides to sell them for £5 each.
“It’s just so different!” Harry hears Lavender Brown tell
Seamus in Potions one day.
The songs are such a hit they even spread to the Muggle
world. Ron, whose dad has just installed Wi-Fi at home, is able to put the
songs up on the Internet over Christmas holiday. Soon, they are number-one
hits, getting all sorts of publicity on numerous websites around the world.
* * *
One day, Hermione gets a message via owl.
“But you never get mail, Hermione!” Ron exclaims.
“Yeah, this is really strange,” Harry agrees.
“If you two would be quiet for a minute, I’d let you know
what it’s about,” Hermione says, examining the neat, official-looking letter.
“This is quite odd,” she says, looking perplexed, “it’s addressed from the
artist DeadMau5! That’s one of the artists we recorded.”
Harry and Ron glance excitedly at each other; sure that fame
in the Muggle world is soon to be theirs.
When Hermione closes the letter and puts her head in her
hands, the boys are alarmed.
“What is it?”
“Would you tell us what the bloody thing says already?”
Hermione looks dolefully at them between fingers. “It’s a
cease-and-desist letter, from Deadmau5. He says we have to stop using his music
or…or...” she begins to cry.
“Or what?” Ron asks, awkwardly patting Hermione’s back.
“Or he’ll take us to court and sue us!”
Harry and Ron’s mouths drop open.
Ron sputters, “Can they do that? Can they take wizards to
court? There must be something we can do.”
Hermione shakes her head, scattering tears on the table. “It
says, unless we stop making music and take down all of it off the Internet,
he’s going to sue us for copyright infringement.”
“Then we’re doomed,” Harry says. “We can’t possibly take
down our stuff from the web. It’s spread everywhere.”
Hermione says mournfully, “And Dumbledore can’t even help
us. He’s been gone on a trip and who knows how long he’ll be away.”
Harry, Ron, and Hermione share a despairing glance, unsure
of what to do.
* * *
Studying up on copyright and piracy, Hermione becomes
increasingly alarmed by the complexity of copyright law. Countless hours in the
Muggle library and on the computer are spent to discover just what she is in
trouble for. Finally, she finds a website for teaching Muggle copyright to
kids, called www.teachingcopyright.org,
created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Although Hermione really doesn’t need
copyright law to be simplified for her, she finds the site is a great place for
beginners. It is a good supplement to the website for the Intellectual Property
Office, www.ipo.gov.uk, and the UK
copyright law website, www.copyrightservice.co.uk.
Hermione reads up on everything from the public domain to
fair use, taking copious notes for her court case, during which she knows she
will be asked to defend herself. Secretly, she doesn’t really trust her
family’s attorney, who trembles when he talks and always wipes spittle from his
mouth with a spotted handkerchief. He seems a nervous sort of fellow.
She realizes exactly how the plaintiff’s attorneys will try
to convince the jury of her guilt.
The Teaching Copyright site states that copyright “is a form
of legal protection automatically provided to the authors of “original works of
authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works” (EFF).
Fair use, Hermione learns, is decided by courts on a case-by-case basis”
according to the UK’s copyright laws (Copyright Services, UK). One of the
restricted acts according to UK copyright law is “adaptation,” which, Hermione
realizes, is exactly what she, Ron, and Harry have done. They adapted
Deadmau5’s music and even sold it for a profit to other students.
According to the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act of 1988,
Hermione is guilty of a number of criminal offenses. One offense was
“distributing otherwise than in the course of a business to such an extent as
it affects prejudicially the owner of copyright” (107)(1)(e). The only way she
could fight this one is by showing how Deadmau5’s music sales were not
negatively affected by Double H&R’s music—in fact, their music made sales
go up. She has her attorney research the numbers (he seemed impressed by her
suggestion to do so).
The next offense would be “infringing copyright in a work by
communicating the work to the public…to such an extent as to affect prejudicially
the owner of copyright” (107(2A)). Again, if her attorney can prove Unicorn Blood is not hurting Deadmau5’s
sales, she might be able to get past this one, too.
Another offense Hermione is sure will be brought against her
would be “committing an offence without sufficient consent” (Bullocks, Hermione thinks, We didn’t ask Deadmau5 if it was ok to use
his music!). This section explicitly states she can be found guilty if she
“imports into the United Kingdom otherwise than for her private and domestic
use” (198(1)(a)+(b)).
Dismayed, Hermione finds other offenses like this one. She
calls her attorney with her fears, but he hums and hedges, and Hermione hangs
up feeling depressed; she can’t think of any way to get around these types of
offenses without having a flawless alibi claiming she had no knowledge of
infringement. Damn. If only I could claim
I went to a School for Magic instead of a Muggle school, Hermione thinks. I hope Wright will come up with something
clever.
* * *
Hermione sits in a European Muggle courtroom, wearing her
nicest Muggle clothes. She fidgets in her chair, more unsure of herself than
she’s ever been before. Convincing Ron and Harry she should go to court (because she knows what to do) was not
difficult. If anyone should go, after all, it was her. However, Ron and Harry
don’t know that she plans to take the blame of all of this herself, if anything
goes wrong. She knows she needs to do it—Harry and Ron need to stay in
school—but she’s not sure what will happen to her if she loses this case. How
could she possibly win a case against an artist with millions of dollars?
The older judge rattles off words, perhaps something
important, but Hermione can’t focus. Her attorney, hired for her by her
parents, sits next to her. The man, Mr. Wright, perpetually looks a few shades
too pale. He offered to do this for her parents to repay a debt he owed them.
Although skeptical of his capability, Hermione is grateful; without his gift,
the Grangers would currently be bankrupt.
She concedes Mr. Wright probably feels as overwhelmed by
this case as she does.
* * *
“Would the defendant Miss Granger
please step to the podium,” the judge asks her. She notices he has a small
smile on his face, perhaps meant to encourage her.
Hermione, shaking from
nervousness, keeps her chin high as she stands behind the podium. She feels so
small. But her eyes glint with determination. She won’t let Ron and Harry down!
She answers every question
Deadmau5’s attorneys ask her during the cross-examination, keeping in mind all
she knows from her studies. Still, Hermione can tell they are asking her all
the right questions. She begins to fear that despite everything, she will lose
the case.
Eventually, Mr. Wright stands up,
handkerchief in clammy hand, and gives Hermione’s testimony. He claims the
defendant did not know copyright laws, due to poor homeschooling (Oh, clever man! Hermione thinks), and thus
did not willingly commit infringement. He also shares the data about Deadmau5’s
sales she asked him to look into, although it is a far shakier premise than she
had hoped for.
Deadmau5’s attorneys rebut with
numbers of their own, which sound researched and scientific and show how sales
have dropped, by .5%. Hermione can’t believe her ears.
Can they fake evidence? She wonders. Perhaps Deadmau5 has enough money to fabricate the research, or pay
someone to, or something. She lets out an exasperated huff.
The trial continues far into the
afternoon.
* * *
“Miss Hermione Granger has been found guilty of criminal
Intellectual Property rights infringement according to the World Intellectual
Property Organization Copyright Treaty…”
Hermione’s heart pounds in her chest. The judge continues to
pronounce her sentence, his resigned expression stealing away her remaining
hope. A fine of £50,000, the maximum penalty for willful copyright
infringement. Jail time, six months.
Hermione is stunned. Deadmau5 has won. His attorneys are
better and have deeper pockets, and they convinced the jury that she knowingly
pirated Deadmau5’s music for commercial gain. She knows exactly how they did
it, too—they focused on the fact that Unicorn
Blood was sold for money, and that the songs used in the adaptation were
knowingly copied from a concert. The jury didn’t swallow the homeschool alibi
at all.
All her hours of studying didn’t save her. Tears slip from
her eyes as she contemplates her future. An image of Ron flashes through her
mind and she hopes she can see him before her jail time. She wonders if she will be able to continue
her studies in a Muggle jail.
Suddenly, a sharp cry echoes faintly through the courtroom.
The judge trails off into silence. Hermione perks up. She swears she’s heard
that noise before—
“Bombarda Maxima!”
CRASH.
A top corner of the courtroom explodes inward, raining
debris onto everyone. Hermione screams. As she screams, a huge shape swoops
into the room with a deafening screech.
“Ascendio!” a
voice shouts through the ringing in Hermione’s ears, and she shoots up into the
air, her screams increasing in pitch.
“Obliviate” another
voice yells.
Unexpectedly, Hermione lands on something soft, warm and
muscular. Two arms encircle her, holding her tight. She clutches the fabric
before her as the muscular shape beneath her legs heaves upwards and soars
through the hole in the ceiling, out into blue sky.
Hermione hears laughter. Ron’s
laughter. Shocked, she swivels around to see that Ron is behind her, holding
her to him. His red hair streams wildly in the wind.
“Woo, that was fun!” shouts the person in front of her, who,
to her astonishment, is Harry. She looks down to see powerful, grey-feathered
wings beating the air.
“Buckbeak? Ron, Harry? Wait, what-what just happened?”
Hermione stutters.
“We’ll explain it all later,” Harry shouts over his
shoulder. Hermione settles against Ron, in for a long ride, heart still
furiously pounding.
* * *
“…So then we blew a hole in that bloody courtroom, flew
right in and saved the day,” Ron explains over lunch.
“Ron did the Ascendio
and Bombarda-Maximo spells, and I Obliviated
everyone’s memory in the room,” Harry clarified. “That way, no one would
remember what happened. I think my Obliviate
spell was a pretty powerful one, I’m afraid.”
Ron smiles, “I don’t think you’ll be getting anymore stupid copyright
letters for a while, Hermione.”
“You saved me!” Hermione beams. “You two are the greatest,
did you know that?”
Harry and Ron smile back, “Yeah, we knew that.”
“No more music sampling for Double H & R, though, sorry
to say,” Hermione continues.
Ron looks disgusted. “There must be a way we can mess with
those idiotic laws, isn’t there?”
Harry laughs, “I think we’d be better off fighting
You-Know-Who.”
Hermione smiles, “You know, I think you’re right.”
