SPARE THE LIES
"Minerva Catriona McGonagall-Riddle, you have been found guilty of all charges and you shall hereby spend the remainder of your days in one of the cells in Azkaban," said a Criminal Division judge out of the bench of five at the Wizarding Royal Courts of Justice.
Minerva McGonagall stood straight with her head held high, chin butted out and her wrists magically bound together behind her back. She was clad in a dark green prison attire and her hair was tied back into a loose bun, with a few locks framing her solemn face. It is, after all, rather difficult to keep oneself well-kept when one had spent weeks in a prison cell with Dementors floating mere feet away. Even if you are Minerva Badass McGonagall.
"Professor, you cannot allow this! You must appeal the decision!" A voice of none other than Hermione Granger rang loud throughout the courtroom, voicing what most were thinking. The Professor had only managed a sad glance towards Hermione before being escorted through heavy mahogany door, out of the courtroom and away from the prying eyes.
Many had come to see whether the rumours had been true, and some of them were now openly smiling as they watched Minerva McGonagall being escorted to her cell like some common criminal. The right hand of Albus Dumbledore, the most talented witch of her time, the renowned Transfiguration Mistress, the former leader of the Order of Phoenix who wore an air of primness and properness wherever she went had just been given a life sentence for committing murder. It was simply scandalous.
But aside from such few gleeful individuals, most were shocked into silence upon hearing the ruling. To them, the whole process had seemed like a bad comedy show whereupon someone would jump up and shout April's Fool! It is not, after all, every day that the bench calls for a closed trial. After the hearing had started, the judges quickly realised that the testimonies were too disturbing for the public to hear, had the courtroom vacated barring the essential participants and ordered a complete clamp down on information flowing from the courtroom. And so to hear the life sentence without any official justifications only bolstered the already disparaging and, at times, ridiculous assumptions of what could have brought the bench to sentence Minerva McGonagall to a life in prison.
"Clear the courtroom!", shouted the lead and visibly exasperated judge, and people slowly started standing up and shuffling out of the courtroom, whispering excitedly. The sole person to remain in the room was Hermione Granger who still stared at the heavy mahogany door through which the Professor had stepped through mere minutes ago.
A/N: A forewarning – this is not MM/HG! They have more of a mother/daughter relationship in this story.
The story takes place after the Final Battle. I would think that the Ministry would have wanted to deal with any remaining Death Eaters and other supporters of Voldemort as soon as possible after the war so as to draw a bold line behind it and start anew, so to speak. And one Minerva McGonagall happened to be implicated in one of the Death Eater's testimonies because he wanted to save his neck (unsuccessfully I might add).
This story is a re-write of one of my "ancient" ones. Please do let me know what you think and whether it is worth continuing with it. I do love constructive criticism.
Disclaimer: After checking my bank account, I am sorry to say that I am not a millionaire and therefore not JKR. What JKR created is only my sandpit.