Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns most of the characters in this stroy, some however are most certainly mine!
Chapter 1
Is this a good day or a bad day?
She had been staring at the file on her desk for how long now? Well not that long really, just an hour or so. Maybe she should just open it, that way it might at least look like she wasn't miles away, but actually at work. On the other hand, the office was strangely empty for this time of the day, probably due to the fact that summer holidays were starting and people were off, picking up their children, going home with them to catch up. Looking around she came to the conclusion that technically, they had left her all alone to run the office, maybe even the entire Department. This made her just a little bit proud of herself. She had only been in training for a year now, but already it seemed that she was a full member of the core team of the Department of Magical Rehabilitation, getting bigger and bigger assignments every day. Which she liked, at least until that dreadful file had appeared on her desk.
Another look and she was sure it hadn't gone anywhere since she had drifted off, deep in thought. Her first Level 1 assignment, she really should be seriously excited! She had been waiting for an opportunity like this, since day one. And now the day had come and she couldn't help to wonder whether she would be ready. Whether she could really handle and streamline the return of a Level 1 criminal subject into Wizarding society. Which was a truly ridiculous thought. She, Lucinda Shacklebolt, could handle anything thrown at her, as long as she put her mind to it!
She had been the smartest witch at Hogwarts since Hermione Granger and had finished school with perfect NEWT grades and a bag full of job offers in her pocket. She could have worked anywhere, but finally decided to take this job, because she truly believed in what the new Ministry had been trying to do since the war had been over and wanted to contribute to a fair and respectful Wizarding society for all its members. And in her opinion the best way to do so was to make sure that those who once strayed from the right path would never do so again. The Department of Magical Rehabilitation handled all kinds of cases, from small, one time thugs, to the more troublesome serial offenders, which had landed themselves a minor stint at Azkaban. Lucinda would help them get back on track afterwards and make sure they fulfilled all set government requirements after their release and made sure they would go home with something useful to do in their lives. She talked, she tutored, and she planned. She even sometimes got angry at the right persons, when someone's past got in the way of their future.
Even though Wizarding society at whole seemed to be much more tolerant these days, the difference between the winners and the losers of the final battle was still quite present. After the final battle society had been swept clean from all that had associated with the Dark Lord and just punishments were distributed. Wand records were produced, events were reconstructed and memories were extracted in order to come to a fair conclusion of everyone's role in the war. Azkaban had been filled up to its full capacity shortly after the war, but by now, 5 years later, had started to empty out again. Only the presence of the Dark Mark or a combination of major offences would lead to a sentence of 5 years or more, effectively leaving Azkaban to the Dark Lords followers and his most inner circle these days. The system was quite fair she thought and had worked at least most of the time in a favourable way. But even the best justice system in the world had its faults and one of them was lying on her desk right now.
His trial had been long awaited and if it had been up to the spectators, he would have ended up in Azkaban for life no matter what, joining every single member of his family for the hideous crimes he had supposedly committed. The truth in the end had not entirely been what the masses had expected. On one account they had been right however, there had been a Dark Mark on his forearm and therefore he had made himself eligible for a lifelong sentence in Azkaban right away.
The story of how that Dark Mark had gotten on there however, made all the difference. It had not been taken voluntarily but under great resistance. The memories of all Death Eaters present at his initiation had been scourged to find evidence to the contrary, but in the end they had only collected more evidence of one of the biggest acts of defiance the Dark Lord had ever encountered. To everyone cleared to see these memories, it had been quite clear that for a very long time death had been the preferred choice over taking the Dark Mark and the only thing that had made him waver was the fact that they had taken his mother and put her under the Cruciatus curse for several long, heart wrenching, periods, which were only interrupted to giver her time to beg her son to please do as he was told and take the Dark Mark. Senior Aurors had left the room half way through the display and even Mad Eye Moody had looked away at least once during the entire episode.
In the end it had taken 6 Death Eaters to hold him down after a horrifying Cruciatus, while the Dark Lord burned the Mark into his forearm, sending him on his way to make his first kill in order to finalise his initiation. Unfortunately for the prosecution, the kill took never place, leaving the defence with a clear case of an unfinished initiation and an uncommonly and rather unexpectedly clean wand record. Because even after extensive research it turned out that not a single hex, dark spell or Unforgivable had been ushered by his wand, at least not as long as it had stayed in the hands of its true owner. In the end however none of that had mattered. After a lot of commotion and a lot of pressure from the Wizarding community and the associated Wizarding Press, the jury had caved and decided to placate the masses.
He had been tried as a fully initiated Death Eater and was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment in Azkaban. 5 Years to pay for not raising his wand at innocent people, 5 years for defying a direct order of the Dark Lord, 5 years for being at the wrong time at the wrong place while belonging to the wrong sort of family, 5 years for still caring enough for said family, in order to not let them die at the business end of the Dark Lord's wand.
The general public was not necessarily appeased by this concession. They had expected more and the uproar didn't die down for a long time. In the end however, they were delighted. Shamefully delighted that someone had to pay for crimes he did not commit. She could remember the happy faces outside of the courtrooms, the comments people made about there finally being justice. But whenever she thought about them, she also remembered Hermione Granger directly after the trial and Rita Skeeter asking her for her opinion about the outcome of the trial. Her answer had come out in a calm and quiet voice, rather unremarkable, but had made its way forward and back through the entire Wizarding society within 24 hours.
" Sometimes, people can surprise you. They surprise you in a good way or a bad way. During these last few days Wizarding Britain definitely surprised me when it showed its true face. Today might have been a good day for those seeking retribution, but it certainly was a bad day for those seeking justice!"
With that she had left behind a confused crowd behind, which couldn't shake off the feeling that they had just been insulted to the bone by one of their own beloved war heroes.