A/N: Just wrote this on a whim. Probably won't be updated on a regular basis, as I like to write beginnings but get writer's block in the middle. Also, I know nothing about how courts work in the US or the UK, but I was too lazy to properly research them. Sorry. Let me know what you think! Love reviews. No copyright infringement intended.
6/12/11 - edit: I finally decided I was so embarrassed by my utter lack of proof-reading on this one that I had to go back and at least correct some typos.
6/28/14 – edit: needed to tweak some of this chapter (names, mostly) so that I can continue writing this story.
The Trial of Severus Snape
The young woman raised her head; her dark hair, thick and lustrous, cascaded down her back. Even in the dim light, the judge recognized her immediately. The ethereal, perpetually grim and serious bastard daughter - Alice Black legally and Alice Malfoy by birth. The small jury to his right murmured, in shock or confusion, he couldn't tell. In the corner of the room, several writers, including the irksome Rita Skeeter, were poised to begin writing - though Skeeter's QuikNotes Quill was already jotting down some notes as she whispered to it, raptly. Judge Iyengar scooted forward in his seat, waiting for soon-to-be-ex-Auror Kingsley to begin. This would be a long trial, and Ms. Black's testimony was likely to span over several days. As Kingsley talked to the Potter boy, the defendant, he watched her, taking careful note of her natural movements.
Her pale skin was more sallow than pictures in recent memory showed. He looked down at one of the pictures given to him by the prosecutor, showing her walking down a London alley in Muggle clothing with Snape; both were smiling and talking animatedly. At present, she looked decidedly disinterested, gazing down dissatisfactorily at the snaking chains that bound her arms to the chair. Her robes were plain black, and she wore a small golden ring on a chain around her neck, the common symbol for Circe. Ipsa duce non fatigaris, he mused. She was obviously pretty, not as beautiful as her mother or father, but he could tell she came from an aristocratic line. Pity she had fallen into the same trap as so many others of that part of society had.
After the Battle of Hogwarts, the Ministry had been in a torrent of change. It was like it was seventeen years ago, worse even. The Ministry was eating itself from the inside out; more and more people being discovered, accused, and admitting to being a follower of You-Know-Who. People had to be tried. Justice must be served. Many known first generation Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy, McNair, and the Carrows were already in a cell in Azkaban. Others, the younger Malfoy and the Nott boy, had escaped extensive incrimination by providing pertinent information in other trials. Narcissa Malfoy used the last of her fortune to escape prison life. Alice Black's trial had yet to begin; it was slated to start the sixth of August. She had actually appeared at the front desk of the Ministry a week after ending battle of the Great War, clutching a Daily Prophet article torn from the front page. Former Hogwarts Headmaster, Severus Snape, To Be Tried Posthumously; Potter Seeks to Clear Name.
It was the most publicized trial of Ivengar's career. The press was obsessed with Alice, Snape's apparent protege, the public craved the details of the mysterious Severus Snape's life as spy, and perhaps double agent, and most importantly, there was an air of tragedy to the case that attracted attention. Potter vs the Ministry of Magic sought to overturn the evidence piled against Severus Snape. Mr. Potter, continuously sleep-deprived and too busy to stay in any one place for more than a few hours, kept spouting a tale of love and loyalty. The Ministry, and Ivengar, believed the case to be much more complicated than that. The details of Potter's tale had yet to come out, but he was ordered to testify in the upcoming week.
Ivengar blinked at the sudden flash of a camera taking a picture and slammed the gavel down on the hard oak of the table. "Order, order," he cleared his throat, wishing he had asked a page to get him a glass of water. "Mr. Kingsley, Mr. Potter, are you both sufficiently prepared?" It was less a question than a curtesy. "Good." He paused, reading once more the ordinance given to him this morning by Kingsley. "Ms. Black, you are aware that you are currently in custody as a suspected You-Know-Who supporter." He gazed at her left arm, wondering the small trace of black he saw on her forearm was a shadow or a lingering Dark Mark. "As such, you have been in the custody of the Ministry and therefore have forfeited an right to refuse to willingly ingest any mind-altering potions, such as Veritaserum."
She frowned; another flashbulb flashed. "I assumed as much." Her voice was barely audible; the snakes hissed and slithered tighter around her arms, as though sensing her apprehension.
"Good," Judge Ivengar affirmed again. "Bring in the Veritaserum - Formula B."
On cue, a heavily robed wizard marched into the courtroom, bearing a small clear vial on a silver tray. A small stone table rose out of the floor upon which the tray was set.
"Kingsley, could you explain why you petitioned for the Veritaserum and why Formula B was chosen?" Ivengar raised his brow. Formula B was just recently deemed appropriate for usage in a Court of Trials, yet its side effects could be risky on one so young.
Kingsley rose. "Veritaserum was requested as Ms. Black's testimony is perhaps the only testimony available that could provide true insight into the character and motives of Severus Snape. Ms. Black is documented to have spent much of her time with Mr. Snape; there is no one else alive who would be able to speak about the accused from several different angles. Both Mr. Potter and I agreed upon comparing evidence that Ms. Black will be able to talk about Mr. Snape the professor, the spy, and the man. However, I believe that Mr. Snape was not truthful, even to Ms. Black. He was a man of lies, and to avoid even more lies being spilt into this case I requested the use of Veritaserum. It is rare that Veritaserum, which forces the drinker to speak only that which is truthful, is granted to be used in a case such as this. However, I requested Formula B, which was actually created by Mr. Snape himself along with a colleague, the late Charlotte Norton in the late eighties. Formula B enhances memory, and gives the drinker sharp images of memories, no matter how old they might be. For this reason, the Wizengamot voted to allow the usage of Veritaserum Formula B, as part of Ms. Black's testimony is based upon her experience relating back to her first year at Hogwarts." He sat down.
"Formula B also is known to weaken its drinker," Ivengar stated, looking at the already frail Alice Black. "Its use will be limited. We wouldn't want to kill our witness. Do give Ms. Black exactly two drops of the Formula B." Ivengar's almond shaped eyes stared into the young woman's icy glare. "Let's see who Professor Snape was."
Alice hated Veritaserum. It undid her. She craved control, and as the first drop hit her tongue, she felt it all disappear. Her jaw loosened, she was ready to tell them all. What was her name? Alice Elspeth Black IV, although she did find out in her fifth year that her supposed half-sister, the irresponsible Irina and not Lyra Parkinson, was actually her mother and Lucius, not Regulus Black, was her father. When was she born? Why, September 17 1979, of course. It was a Sunday. Finally, Potter rose and Alice knew she was about to be asked a question she didn't want to answer.
"I want you to tell me about Severus Snape," he said, seriously, looking into her clouded eyes. "Everything you know."
Alice felt faint; light flashed before her eyes. It was so hot. She felt like she was falling. She heaved a sigh, wishing they had provided her with a more comfortable chair. "The first time I saw him," she began, seeing the Great Hall in all its glory, warm and well-lit, in front of her. She was there all over again, in line, waiting to be sorted. She concentrated on a man in all black, analyzing how with the bare movement of his lips, he could send Irina into a fit of laughter, "he was making Irina laugh. I was eleven, waiting to be sorted - I'll need to start from the beginning, further back for you to understand…" She felt uncertain. No one ever wanted to know what she knew, unless it happened to be an answer on an exam at school.
Ivengar made a motion at Potter. Potter nodded. "That's perfectly fine, Alice," he said, using her first name. "Go ahead."
She coughed, eyes filling with tears. "Draco Malfoy was, to my knowledge, my cousin. I spent the remainder of the summer with the Malfoys when Irina left early to go to Hogwarts…"
The courtroom listened silently, hanging on her every word. Every pause felt like an hour, and every line Alice gave betrayed the years of knowledge she had gathered from observing and analyzing those around her. Iyengar leaned back into his seat, hoping that her testimony would shed some light on this case, and establish Snape as a definitive hero or villain.