Elizabeth O'Dowd entered the dungeons deep within the bowels of Whitehall, where the Ministry of Magic had their headquarters, and the Wizengamot held their trials. She had been in this room once before, but this time it was different. Instead of an open space occupied by a single chair there was a large, metal cage adorned with spiked protrusions aimed both inside and outside. She knew that tonight the men and women put up for trial would be ones convicted of being Death Eaters and she supposed this was to prevent them from leaving as well as allow for an immediate transport straight into the hell of Azkaban. As she walked in and looked around the circular room, seats that would shortly all be occupied lined the walls, the nervousness she had felt the entire night increased tenfold. She felt sick to her stomach and wanted to sit down as quickly as possible but her desire to not attract any attention made her walk slowly and act like she belonged there. She was not a member of the Wizengamot. She had no relatives who were. She did not even have a place of authority within the Ministry. By all means she should not have been here. If it wasn't for her being invited she wouldn't have been.
As she walked slowly in the small room, through the rows of seats as to stay far away from the uninviting metal cage, she spotted him - Bartemius Crouch Jr., the man who had sent her the invitation. He sat directly behind his father and had been watching her since she entered the room. They made eye contact briefly and she felt her stomach give a dangerous lurch. She had been in all sorts of situations before in which she could not allow her fear to show, and she had managed to hide it flawlessly, but she was afraid she was doing a terrible job at it this time. At least in those other situations there were not so many people around to see her and if there were she knew how to handle them, but here she was too exposed and wouldn't be able to defend herself. As an onlooker to the trials she had to forfeit her wand at the check-in several levels above the dungeon floor. She didn't want to be here but given who the invitation she received had come from she was in no position to turn it down. The invitation had arrived at her door only that morning and it filled her with panic that was only getting worse. The worst thing about the whole situation was she had no idea what the reason behind the invitation was. She thought about it all day, making wild assumptions with her heart racing and her thoughts turning towards ways to go into hiding, but she eventually settled on two possibilities: either he was going to condemn her or he was trying to show her something to prove some sort of point. As the son of the judge himself Barty surely knew who was to be on trial tonight, she figured, which only made her worry. This was either a trap or a warning.
She broke eye contact with him and headed farther up the rows. She did not want to sit all the way at the top, she would have stood out up there, so she picked a spot three rows away from the back and sat in the middle. The Crouch's were sat far enough to her right that once the rest of the council and onlookers arrived she would be hidden from them and blend in with the rest of the crowd but if she wanted to she could still peer through the people and keep a wary eye on Barty while being comforted by the fact that he couldn't watch her without attracting attention on himself for constantly looking over his shoulder to find her.
The clock on the wall ticked away and the closer it got to midnight the more people started arriving in groups rather than a slow trickle. As the room filled up around her she began to feel closed in and the sense of being trapped only increased. Her left forearm itched and she clenched her jaw so tightly trying to prevent her from allowing her right hand from reaching over to rub it and ease the feeling that she could have sworn she was going to break her teeth. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. She had to calm herself.
When she opened her eyes she saw another familiar face. Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts Headmaster. He had been, indirectly, her teacher and mentor. She hadn't seen him in three years but here he was again. He seemed to have noticed her too, because she could have sworn they made eye contact briefly before she looked away in shame. His appearance had always invoked guilt within her.
Finally the attendees had all arrived and the trials were about to begin. Barty Crouch Sr. rose and addressed the people of the room, both council and onlookers. "I thank you all for coming, this evening," he began, "tonight will be the beginning of the trails for those accused of having been Death Eaters, followers of the now defeated Voldemort!" Cheers erupted from several of the non-council attendees. Their joy at having the dark lord vanquished obviously trumping their sense to be professional. Crouch raised his voice and continued over the sudden uproar, "The men and women presented tonight are highly dangerous. We have taken extreme measures to contain them, but we must ask you all to stay where you are seated. Do not interrupt the proceedings, and do not approach the containment cell you see before you. The information that is presented to us, the council, tonight may or may not lead to a conviction - many cases may be reviewed at a later time - but those that are convicted will be immediately sent to Azkaban. Again, I thank you all for being here and I ask for your full cooperation. The trials shall now begin.
Crouch sat down and there was a clanking noise emitting from the center of the room. After only a few seconds a man appeared inside the cage. He wore prison robes and shackles around his hands. A sneer seemed to be permanently etched into his face. Elizabeth recognized him.
"Mr. Antonin Dolohov. Known follower of Voldemort. Eye witness accounts place him at the crime scenes of multiple muggle-born murders as well as the murder scene of a half-blood witch. Inside sources have reported that Mr. Dolohov has been an ally of Voldemort since their days together at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy." Crouch read off a sheet of paper he held between both hands as if it was dangerous, explosive. "Do you have anything to say, Dolohov?"
The man in the cage stared intensely at Crouch, the sneer never leaving his face. He was silent. Elizabeth knew he would never deflect, never claim to be anything but a loyal follower of the Dark Lord. While some believed the Dark Lord was dead and gone there were those who did not believe it was possible - they were the most dangerous Death Eaters, they would never give up the path of life they had chosen even if it meant sure imprisonment or suffering the Dementor's Kiss.
After a few moments of silence Crouch realized Dolohov was going to remain silent. "Antonin Dolohov, you are sentenced to life in Azkaban for your crimes. You have had your chance to defend yourself and you have not taken it. If you wish to lessen your sentence you have now and only now to offer up names of your cohorts."
Dolohov grinned, "Go to Hell, Crouch," and spat. Immediately the floor beneath the man's feet gave way and he was sucked down out of the cage and undoubtedly deposited directly into an Azkaban cell.
She shouldn't have been here. She could have cursed Barty right there and then for trapping her into showing up to these trials. What happened if one of them saw her? If they weren't sentenced to Azkaban would they then come after her and accuse her of ratting them out? Seeing Barty there would serve as no shock to them, but her? What happened if one of them actually named her to save themselves? No, she should absolutely not have been here.
It was only a few minutes before the cage was filled once again and again the room was filled with the sounds of rattling chains. This time it was a witch she did not recognize. Crouch read off a list of accusations and the witch, who was crying, begged and pleaded with the judge saying she had nothing to do with Voldemort or his followers. Her case ended with her being acquitted of all charges. Still the floor opened beneath her and she disappeared. Someone, somewhere, must have been controlling the destinations - perhaps by some tweaked Floo Powder method.
A wizard came after her. Again, no one Elizabeth had ever seen before. The man was small, frail-looking, and obviously scared. He wasn't acquitted, however, instead he was sentenced to constant monitoring and had his wand indefinitely revoked. He nodded his head as the sentence was read as if to say, 'Well, at least it's not Azkaban'.
The last two cases went by smoothly. They were time consuming and put Elizabeth at ease. She was just beginning to calm down as the hope that the rest of the trials would proceed with witches and wizards she had never seen before. Her hope was short-lived, however, as the next wizard who appeared in the cage was very familiar indeed.
He was so far the youngest of all the accused. His long, blonde hair was knotted and choppy looking as if he had been grabbed by it, roughly, and pulled along by someone incredibly strong. His eyes looked hollow and dark circles under them showed he hadn't slept in days. He was pale, paler than normal anyway, and looked thinner than the last time she'd seen him. His presence reminded her that this was very real, very dangerous, and that regardless of their young age (being only in their early twenties) they were not safe from brutal tortures.
"Lucius Malfoy. Accused of involvement with Death Eaters and the practicing of Dark Magic." Crouch announced to the room.
"Please." Lucius started, "Please Mr. Crouch. Please believe me. I didn't do it on purpose. I was under the imperious curse. I couldn't stop myself! I saw what was happening and I couldn't stop! I wanted to! But I couldn't!" He started crying. "Please. I didn't mean any of it. It wasn't my fault! It wasn't my fault!" The crying turned into full-blown sobbing and he dropped to his knees. "I deserve it. I wasn't strong enough to break out of the curse! I should be condemned! Those innocent people I was forced to hurt! How could I ever live with myself? Please Mr. Crouch. Please get rid of these horrible things that occurred at the forcing of my hand! Please!"
Crocodile tears. Still, they were highly effective. The council played into his sob story in exactly the way he wanted them to. They acquitted him of charges. Of course they would. The Malfoy's were one of the richest wizarding families on this side of the world and undoubtedly the council was payed off if they did suspect his story of being under the Imperious Curse false. Elizabeth saw through his act immediately because she knew better, but she wondered how many of those among the council truly believed and how many of them only cared about the pay they were about to receive for letting him go. Either way it didn't really matter. Lucius Malfoy walked free only moments later.
As if seeing Lucius was not bad enough there was still time for one more trail. One more witch or wizard who could see her and rat her out or make her life hell and just because Lucius hadn't made any notion that he had not seen her doesn't mean anything. For all she knew he saw her as his eyes surveyed the crowd and could at this very moment be plotting some plot against her, or turning her name in to any one of the officials on the upper floors. No, of course that couldn't have been bad enough.
The sound of rattling chains filled the room yet again. This time seeing the wizard who appeared inside the cage made her want to scream. Instinctively she reached for her wand, which was no longer at her side but rather many floors above her, and went to stand up. She wanted - needed - to do something, anything, but she couldn't. She could only sit there and watch as the man she loved was put on trial for his crimes.
Like Lucius his complexion was paler than usual and his black hair was disheveled. Granted his hair always looked a mess, but it usually didn't give off the impression that it was being used to pull around the person, at least it hadn't since he had been a very young child. He did not break down and cry, like Lucius had, and Elizabeth knew that he wouldn't. He never showed his emotions to people that weren't her. Emotions were weakness. She also knew he couldn't pay his way out, also like Lucius. From where Elizabeth sat things looked pretty bleak. She almost started crying, her eyes stung and her throat burned, but she had to keep it inside. If anyone saw her weeping for a man convicted of being a Death Eater they would surely know she was involved as well. It was then she realized that this was the reason why Barty had invited her. He knew how much she cared about this man, knew that this would be the way to really get to her.
"Severus Snape..." Barty began. Elizabeth didn't hear a word he said, it was all irrelevant. She knew what he did, why he did it, and she knew that if the council knew then he would be sent to Azkaban without another word about it.
Severus' eyes scanned the room. He saw her. Their eyes locked for a brief moment, only long enough for Elizabeth to be sure he was looking directly at her and not anywhere else, before he turned his attention back to Crouch.
Crouch had finished reading off the list of charges and Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet. "Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater. I have met with him several months ago. He has deflected. Since our meeting he has turned spy against Voldemort. He had been assisting me in my goal of stopping Voldemort. Without him and his highly valuable knowledge I would not have been able to get very far. Of course, in the end, it was the child, Harry Potter, son of Lily and James Potter, who defeated Voldemort and survived the Killing Curse, but without Severus I would never have even known the family was in need of protection - protection that unfortunately was unsuccessful. It is with thanks to Severus, however, that they were able to live longer than they would have had he not come to me. Severus will not be sentenced to Azkaban." There were some outcries of disagreement but Dumbledore continued, "Severus will continue to assist me, as I do not yet believe Voldemort to be truly gone. I trust him completely – I trust him with my life." He sat back down once he finished.
"Severus Snape is acquitted of all charges on account of Albus Dumbledore's testimony." Crouch announced and Severus was whisked out of the room like the others before him had been.