Heading the School

Chapter Seventeen

For all the trainees, who were used to getting up about mid-day, they had only laid their heads on their pillows when they were getting up again. Puffy-eyed, barely awake, they put on their best black formal robes and shuffled down to Hogsmeade where they Apparated to the Atrium at the Ministry of Magic.

There, they found the other members of their class, who were still quite bleary-eyed, but there, awaiting instructions. Out of all over the country, witches and wizards Apparated, all in formal black robes. What was scary was how many of them were pure-blood, which meant that they were here for Bellatrix.

Lily tried to make herself scarce behind James, but Sirius took no shame in calling out to the witches and wizards that passed him by.

"Uncle Caleum!" he called, waving cheekily. "Remember me?"

The middle-aged wizard turned his head to stare at Sirius and then kept walking. Sirius was obviously having a good time, but he was the only one. Remus was tapping his foot slightly impatiently, checking his watch with the clock. Peter was caught between laughing and nervousness.

"Circinas!" and a weathered old witch glared at him.

"Traitor!" she squealed back.

Sirius' laughing immediately came to a stop when he saw his mother and younger brother walk through the door. His jovial expression turned into one of complete loathing as his aunt and uncle, Bellatrix's parents followed. Next came Bellatrix's older sister Narcissa, and her husband/boyfriend/whatever he was, Lucius Malfoy.

They all passed Sirius without a word and he was nearly growling at them. After they had left, Sirius seemed to have lost all interest in toying with the pure-bloods.

"Bah, I'm bored and angry now," he frowned.

"Shall I lock up the kids then?" came a sweet voice from behind him. Sirius turned around and a full grin appeared on his face.

"Andromeda!" he grinned. "What are you doing here?"

She cast an unfavorable glance to the courtroom. "She is my little sister after all."

"How's Nymphie?" Sirius asked. "And Ted? You didn't want to bring them?"

She snorted. "They might get lynched with this crowd. What are you doing here? I didn't know you'd finished at Hogwarts."

"Nah, we're part of an Auror training program," Sirius explained. "Get an early head start."

"Really?" Andromeda nodded. "And they let a troublemaker like you in?"

"Yes," Sirius huffed. "They don't have much choice, do they?"

Andromeda shook her head. "Did you hear about that Muggle family that was killed? Even the kids were..." she swallowed. "I don't think I could take it if Nymphie...or Ted...or you..."

"Hey, it's ok," Sirius said. "I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself. I fought off fifteen Death Eaters before holidays."

James decided to jump in behind him. "And then decided to spend said holidays at my house!"

"Still hanging around him, are you Potter?" Andromeda asked. "Who's your girlfriend?"

"Er..." James dropped his voice. "Lily Evans."

Andromeda stared at her. "Y-You're the one that..."

Lily nodded and looked around to see if anyone had heard. She was quite content sitting around without having anyone glare at her more than the rest of them.

"Are you here to testify?" Andromeda asked.

"No, I'm also a trainee. That's why she tried to...well, you know," Lily didn't want to speak ill of this woman's sister.

"It's ok, I think she's lost her mind," Andromeda said.

"She has lost her mind," James frowned. "And I hope she goes to Azkaban."

"I wouldn't go that far," Lily muttered. The three of them stared at her.

"She...!" Andromeda exclaimed, and then lowered her voice. "She tried to off you!"

"Yes, but...I don't know if I could live with myself if she went to Azkaban," Lily reasoned. "It's such a horrible place-"

"And she did a horrible thing," James reasoned. "She deserves to go."

"You haven't done anything wrong, so you shouldn't be worried about it," Sirius added. "Would you rather her be free and able to kill again?"

"No, but-"

"Don't worry about it Lily," James smiled. "She'll be less dangerous behind bars."

They had followed the rest of the Auror trainees into the courtroom and were now waiting for the Wizagamot to come in. Sirius and Andromeda were catching up on all that had been going on in each other's lives.

"Metamophagi?" Sirius grinned. "Little Nymphie?"

Andromeda nodded, glumly. "She's just now figured out how to completely mimic the other children on the playground when it's time to go home, so I can't find her."

Sirius snorted. "Takes a leaf out of my book, does she?"

"Oh Merlin, I hope not," Andromeda shook her head. "We don't need more of you around."

"I hope this thing gets started, lest your wonderful father postpone it again," Sirius snorted.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"This trial was supposed to happen in June, but my uncle decided that it was too soon, so they've been pushing back the trial date. They went along with it because it gave them more time to question Bellatrix."

"Question her about what?" Lily asked again, feeling dumb that she was asking all these questions.

"Him. Where he is, what he's doing, why is he killing muggles at random..." Sirius said.

"But, she isn't talking, is she?" Lily said. "I mean, she didn't say anything other than ‘I won't betray my master' when Dumbledore questioned her."

"Dumbledore's too good to use the sort of ‘questioning' that other wizards use," Sirius said, glumly.

"You don't mean they're-!" Lily gasped.

Sirius was about to retort when the doors opened and the entire Wizagamot filed into their respective seats. There were fifty people on the Wizagamot, and the Chief Warlock was Professor Dumbledore. He took his seat first, and the others followed.

"Bring in the accused," he said, quietly, but no one was making a sound, so it echoed on the stone walls of the room.

Lily gasped and her hand reached out to hold James' her eyes wide. Bellatrix was a shadow of her former self. She was thin, and gaunt, and her eyes were now even more heavy-lidded than they were before. Though the pride that was so quintessential to her was still there, as she was holding her head tall.

James squeezed Lily's hand back and gave her a small smile. He knew that this was killing her to see her like this, even if she did try to kill her. It was one of the things that drove him up the wall, but he loved her for.

"Bellatrix Black, you stand accused of using the Trifalsus potion in an attempt to murder a fellow student at Hogwarts," Dumbledore continued with his quiet tone. "Witnesses for the defense include Arcturus Orion Black, Mr. Lucius Fitzwilliam Malfoy, and Mr. Rodolphus Millinous Lestrange."

"Witness for the prosecution are Ms. Poppy Pirinelle Pomfrey, Healer at Hogwarts School, and a previous testimony of Miss Lily Shea Evans, Head Girl at Hogwarts School, and Mr. James William Potter, Head Boy at Hogwarts School."

"Hold on, Albus," Sirius' father spoke up. "If the two are here, should we not allow them to repeat their testimonies?"

Dumbledore looked down the row at Sirius father and then sat back. "If that is what the Wizagamot wishes."

"I think it is rather shifty to have a testimony that was told over a month ago," Bellatrix's father agreed. "We should see if their tales stay the same."

"Very well then, we shall include the recent testimonies of Miss Lily Shea Evans and Mr. James William Potter today."

Lily looked to James, panic in her eyes. He tightened his hold on her, but did not look her way because Bellatrix's testimony was beginning.

It was apparent that Bellatrix cared not the outcome of this trial, but that she would be pleased if she got off. She told a complete lie, as smooth as you please, of the events that transpired. She told the Wizagamot that she thought Lily was making it up to get her expelled. When asked why she thought this, Bellatrix replied, simply, "How am I to know the way a Mudblood's mind works?"

"Miss Black, please refrain from using that word in the courtroom," came the stern voice of a woman down the road. Her face was pink, and Lily knew that she, herself, must have been a Muggle-born.

"Yes, ma'am," Bellatrix said, with a pseudo-sweet smile.

"Miss Black, is that all you have to say in your defense?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes sir," she said.

"Very well, Mr. Black?" he asked, and Bellatrix's own father stepped forwards. He told the tale about what a model student and daughter Bellatrix was and that she would never hurt a fly. Then, her brother-in-law, Lucius took the stand. Lily remembered that he was the one who shoved her to the side her first year in school. He told of how the Black family was the oldest and most noble family of all wizard families and that they held a standard and that standard had only been broken twice.

Sirius and Andromeda took this moment to exchange sniggers.

Finally, Rodolphus Lestrange took the stand next to his girlfriend, or, as he told the audience, his fiancé. This garnered him some congratulations from the pure-blooded side, which he thanked them for. He also told a tale of how Bellatrix would never do something as despicable of what she was being tried for, and that ‘Potter and his gang' had been harassing Bellatrix for years, simply because she was the cousin of his friend.

Throughout every testimony, Lily realized that they had a very convincing argument. When Lestrange was gushing about his blushing bride-to-be, she thought about the events that had happened. It was almost a year ago that she almost died, but did she remember exactly how it all happened? Or was her mind playing tricks on her? Did Bellatrix try to kill her? It could have been someone else!

"Miss Lily Shea Evans, please step forwards," Dumbledore asked her quietly. James gave her one final squeeze of the hand before letting go and allowing her to go to the center of the room.

"Mudblood," Bellatrix hissed under her breath so that no one could hear. Lily felt a surge of anger.

"In-bred," she muttered back.

"Miss Evans, you say that Bellatrix Black tried to kill you using the Trifalsus potion, is that correct?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir," Lily said.

"And how did you come to that conclusion, please?"

Lily panicked a bit. How did she come to that conclusion?!

"Let me rephrase that," Dumbledore smiled gently. "Are you sure that Miss Black administered all three parts to the potion?"

"Yes sir," Lily nodded. "First, in the library the day before, she was wearing a godawful perfume that would have been the diluted Swelling Solution, then, that evening, I had a salad for dinner, and she stopped by, which was when she switched out the iceburg lettuce leaves with the Alihosty. Finally, she dropped the Drought of the Living Dead on the back of my neck the next morning, which was when James found me and brought me to Madame Pomfrey."

"All of this is speculation, though, is it not?" Sirius' father spoke up. "You have no evidence that there was actually a Shrinking Solution or an Alihotsy or the Drought, do you?"

"Yes, we do," Dumbledore said, conjuring up the items. "All with Miss Black's fingerprints, which I can attest to were there when they were confiscated. Were they not, Miss Evans?"

"Yes, sir, they were on there."

"Is that the entirety of your testimony, Miss Evans, for I have no further questions," Dumbledore said. No one else spoke up, so Lily walked back to where James was sitting, but he didn't stay there for long because Dumbledore called him up.

He told basically the same story as Lily, but added in the declaration of her alliance to Voldemort, which caused a stir.

"You lying boy!" Sirius' father exclaimed. "How dare you insinuate such a thing!?"

"I don't insinuate, I remember her saying it," James said, defiantly. "Professor Dumbledore?"

"I can also attest of her declaration," he nodded.

"So why did Miss Evans not include that in her testimony?" Sirius' father exclaimed.

"Because you didn't ask her about it," James said to him.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter, that will be all," Dumbledore said, quietly.

James sat back down next to Lily and she took his hand, smiling slightly. Madame Pomfrey came next and testified that Lily responded to the antidote that she whipped up for the Trifalsus potion and that, when James brought her in, she was struggling for breath, and was in a deep trance, the symptoms of the Trifalsus Potion.

"Very well, all who vote innocent?" he asked, looking down the row. Sirius' father and two others put their hands up.

"Those who vote guilty?" Dumbledore asked, raising his hand. The rest of the Wizagamot raised their hands.

"Bellatrix Black, you are hereby condemned to 50 years in Azkaban Prison on the charges of attempted murder by the Trifalsus potion."

A cry of outrage came out of the pure-blooded side and two guards stepped forward to take her. She went quietly, as did her father and the rest of her group, which set Lily the wrong way. They seemed actually to be more pleased that she had been found guilty. Both Rodolphus and Lucius had disappeared, and Bellatrix' father wasted no time in disappearing, but did not look displeased.

James and Lily followed the herd of the crowd out of the courtroom, arm in arm, and, though there was an unsettled feeling in Lily's stomach, she attributed to the fact that Bellatrix was going to spend the rest of her life in Azkaban.

"I didn't like the way they left the courtroom," Moody grumbled, coming out after them. "Too calm."

"I-I noticed it too," Lily admitted quietly. "It doesn't feel right. They should have protested more."

Moody looked at her and a grizzled grin appeared on his face. "You're a person-watcher, aren't you? ‘S a good thing, with Potter as blind as he is sometimes. You make a good match," he said, simply, and hobbled on.

Lily didn't know whether to be amused or disgusted. Had Moody just told her that he thought her and James were....a good couple?!

He did have a point, as James was busy with Sirius flicking paper wads at pure-bloods that passed in front of them. It was a game; 10 points for the back of the head, 30 for an ear, and 50 points if they hit an eye.

She smiled slightly, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach was not abated. Just something about her own father, her own father, just laid back and took her sentence without a word. She put her head on James' shoulder as they entered the Atrium.

"Shall we say that the trial took longer than expected and go get us something to eat?" Sirius grinned.

"That won't work," Remus shook his head. "Dumbledore'll know."

"Yes, but our two star witnesses were so good!" Sirius reached over and pinched James' cheeks. "I liked how you told off my dad like that."

"Anytime, Padfoot, anytime," James said, sliding his hand down to rest on Lily's waist.

"Not thinking about skipping, are you?" came Frank's voice from behind them. He was standing in pretty much the same position with Alice as James was with Lily.

"Ug, marriage central," Dorcas made a face behind them.

"Dare we singles taint this glorious picture of true love?" Sirius chimed in.

Lily rolled her eyes and James gave him a playful shove. He was about to retort when a woman screamed on the far side of the Atrium. The group looked over and their breaths caught in their throats.

Coming towards them, hexing as they went, was a line of no less than 50 Death Eaters.