Author's Note: The Tenebrous Plot Bunnies are on a very long vacation if you were wondering, and so are the Rose/Scorpius bunnies. ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own HP.
Dozens of people milled about, all anxiously waiting for the event to begin. Hermione Granger looked at the lot in disgust, at their easy allowance for it to take place.
"There's nothing you can do," Ginevra Weasley said calmly, addressing Hermione. She sighed.
"I know," Hermione said, "but-" silence cut her off.
A procession had walked onto the makeshift, wooden stage. In the front and back of the straight line were two stocky men, black masks shielding their identities. In between the two were another three people, skinnier than the average fair, dark circles underneath their defeated eyes, and stubble on the chin of one.
Hermione frowned at the sight. Ginny squeezed her friend's hand for comfort. A child in the crowd began to cry.
There were three posts with a piece of rope attached to each. The masked men knotted the rope around the other people's necks then walked to their respective sides along the platform.
"Each of these three persons has committed a crime with the penalty of a death sentence," intoned the monotonous voice of the Minister. "Margaret Penrose. A- age nine. Guilty of providing nourishment to a prisoner of Ward Eight." The floor came out underneath the girl and then she was hanging by her necklace of rope, swaying like a pendulum in the breeze. She tried to breath but, of course, she couldn't. Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over her cheeks, but she remained silent, her small hands curled into fists.
They uncurled limply in a matter of minutes.
Several members of the crowd were muttering- either disapproving or commending the execution of a child- and a little boy who was younger than Margaret and dressed in rags stood next to Hermione, trying not to cry. He looked like the dead girl. His parents were nowhere in sight.
The Minister cleared his throat then resumed speaking. "Alice McGonagall. Age fifteen. Guilty of association with the Resistance." The floorboards disappeared under Alice' feet as the girl opened her mouth weakly, as if to say something, but the only sound that came out was a horrid rasp of the dying. Hermione turned away and Ginny sucked in a breath.
The dreadful sound echoed in Hermione's ears even after it stopped, fifteen minutes later.
One person left.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at the last person to be hung. He was the only male, the one with the stubble. His eyes were empty and staring at the sky, and his shoulders curled forwards defeatedly.
"Draco Malfoy."
"Name's Henry. Henry Stoddam."
"Age twenty-seven."
"I probably graduated the year before your First."
"Guilty of the murder of Blaise Zabini-"
"What? This stain? Oh, I was just at the butcher's recently and one of the workers there thought it'd be funny if I looked like a serial killer."
"-the attempted murder of Jon Farley-"
"You look horrible, like you just tried to murder someone."
"I'm tired is all."
"-and direct association with the Resistance."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Draco's eyes met Hermione's suddenly, but they didn't beg for forgiveness. They didn't even look sad. All they seemed to say was, "Now you know."
Hermione refused to cry as the floor gave out beneath the blond-haired man and his eyes rolled back in his head.
End Notes: Should I write a prequel to this? And Prof. McGonagall had two siblings, as said in Pottermore, if you were wondering about Alice.