A/N: Thanks to AlexandraO for lending her beta services! Drop me a line and let me know your thoughts. Find me on Tumblr at crochetawayhpff!


Hermione's heels click-clacked along the marble tile in the Ministry. She strode fast and hard down these hallowed corridors, relishing the sound of her heels as they echoed around her and of the way everyone got out of her way. She was Hermione Granger, war heroine, one-third of the Golden Trio and current golden girl of the Ministry. According to her superiors and the press, she could do no wrong. She only hoped she could live up to all of their expectations. Especially with what she planned to toss onto Kingsley's desk this afternoon.

"Miss Granger, you can't—" Hermione ignored Kingsley's secretary and stormed through the door of his office to find Kingsley's arse hanging out of the fireplace as he made a Floo call. She slammed the door behind her and settled herself onto one of the armchairs facing his desk, summoning his tea service from the corner while she was at it.

She couldn't hear Kingsley's conversation, so she made herself a cup of tea and waited. He would have heard her come into the room and would wrap up quickly, she was sure. She was right; she'd barely gotten halfway through her cup of tea before Kingsley was standing up and brushing the soot off his clothes.

"Hermione!" he greeted her with enthusiasm, holding out his arms. Hermione lifted her brow, refusing to rise from her seat and embrace him as he so clearly wanted. Kingsley was a bit of a perv, and Hermione wasn't playing that game today.

"Oh," Kingsley frowned. "Something serious then?"

"Yes," Hermione replied coldly and set her teacup down on the desk before her. She didn't offer Kingsley any, having banished the tea service back to the corner where it belonged. "How many people have we falsely imprisoned since the end of the Second Wizarding Aar?"

"Where is this coming from?" Kingsley asked with a frown.

"You remember Draco Malfoy, right?" Kingsley nodded, and Hermione continued. "He was deemed innocent, not just not guilty of the crimes against him, but innocent because we'd found that his body, his soul, would not accept the Dark Mark."

"I'm aware of the circumstances of the case, Hermione."

"Then why didn't you bother to check the rest of the Death Eater's arms?! It's like the first war all over again when nobody could be bothered to pull up a fucking sleeve and look at an arm with their own two eyes!"

"What are you talking about?" Kingsley asked.

"Rabastan Lestrange. His arm looks identical to Draco Malfoy's. And he was marked during the first wizarding war. Bad enough that nobody checked it before his first stint in Azkaban. But now he's back again. Unlawfully!"

"Well, he did break out of Azkaban," Kingsley said reasonably.

"He was being held unlawfully! His Dark Mark proves it. So, I'll be getting him a new trial. The question for you is how many others?"

"I'm not sure if I know the answer to that," Kingsley hedged.

"Because you didn't look at anyone's bloody arms did you?"

Kingsley didn't respond but did have the grace to look ashamed.

"Unbelievable. The lot of you."

Hermione rose from her chair and with one last scathing look at Kingsley, stormed out of his office and down to her own in Magical Law Enforcement. She slammed her shared office door open and grumbled under her breath as she sat in her chair, already working on the appeal needed to bring Lestrange's case back to court.

"Something the matter?" her office-mate, Draco Malfoy asked.

"Yes, the Ministry is filled with incompetent fools," Hermione hissed as she drew a fresh piece of parchment forward and began making a list of everything she would need to get the new trial started.

"You sound like Snape," Draco commented lightly.

"Do you know that after you got off, your trial was one of the first, mind, nobody even thought to check any other Death Eater's arms to see if their Marks looked like yours?"

Draco rubbed his arm where the faded, white, Dark Mark sat and frowned, "I didn't."

"Right, incompetent the lot of them," Hermione snarled and turned back to her parchment.

Technically, since she worked for the Ministry as a prosecutor, she couldn't retry Lestrange's case. She'd have to find a barrister to represent Lestrange, preferably not the one he used the first time around since whoever it was clearly didn't bother with much a defence. One of the first things she would have to do is find Lestrange's case file, both of them, to identify specifically what he was in prison for beyond 'Death Eater Activities'. She was in for some long nights ahead, but if it meant an innocent person leaving prison, she was happy to do it.


It was a long week for Hermione as she searched for a barrister willing to take on Lestrange's case. His original barrister had died, and he hadn't had one for his second trial. In fact, he hadn't had much of a second trial at all because he pled guilty. Which meant that he could only appeal on the grounds of his first trial and false imprisonment then. It would make the case more difficult, but if she could find a co-defendant or two, who also had failed Dark Marks, it might make it easier.

"Tell me again, why a prosecutor from the Ministry is looking for a defence attorney?" Alistair Shafiq, the latest barrister Hermione was interviewing, asked.

Hermione raised her eyebrow and leaned back in the chair she was settled in, crossing her legs.

"As I told your secretary, Mr Shafiq, I am here on behalf of a man falsely imprisoned in Azkaban. I am looking for a barrister who would be willing to take on his case. I do not want to give too many details before an agreement is procured, as I am sure you understand. You would not be working for or with me, but rather the man in prison."

"And you are what? His girlfriend?"

"Let's go with agent, shall we?"

"Fine then. You're an attorney, how likely am I to win this case if I take it on."

"You'll win. It's already been proven, but the Ministry won't release him on his own recognisance due to his plea from his most recent trial."

"Most recent trial? Is it a Death Eater?"

"I cannot divulge that information," Hermione reiterated coldly. "Take the case, Mr Shafiq; I promise you that you will win. And I'll help you as much as I'm able. Obviously, I won't be the prosecutor on the case, I'll have myself recused, but I know the ins and outs better than anyone."

"And who will be paying my fee?"

"I will," Hermione lifted her chin to look down at the other man. She hoped he was going to do it, she'd been to see four others, and they all turned her down, insisting on meeting the client before taking the case. Hermione couldn't allow this to leak to the press until the appeal was filed. She didn't want Lestrange to be convicted in the press before the court was able to hear the case.

"Fine, I'll take the case, Miss Granger." Shafiq nodded at her and began passing her parchment work for her to sign.

Hermione took a moment to review the contract and shook her head. "No, I can't allow you to accept a flat fee for this. Do it on a retainer, please. And I'll need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement." She tapped her bag with her wand and her standard non-disclosure agreement flew out and onto the desk before her. She pushed it toward Shafiq as she continued reviewing the rest of his contract.

"A retainer will be quite expensive," Shafiq said.

Hermione looked up at him, "I'm aware. However, as easy as this case may be, I'd feel better if I paid you on a retainer now. In case something goes wrong and it takes longer than expected."

Shafiq frowned for a moment, tapped his chin with his finger. "Alright." He took the parchment from her and handed her a different scroll. Then signed her non-disclosure agreement which glowed blue for a moment and disappeared.

"Gringotts?" Shafiq guessed.

"No, my personal safe at my home," Hermione answered distractedly as she reviewed the new contract.

"Why not Gringotts?"

Grinning, Hermione looked up, "How long have you been in wizarding Britain Mr Shafiq?"

"My family is Sacred Twenty-Eight," he shrugged.

"Then you'll know that I broke out of Gringotts on the back of a dragon a number of years ago. I was never a vault holder there, and they have since banned me for life," her grin turned wicked. "Their loss."

"So where do you keep your money?"

Hermione laughed, "And be conveniently robbed? No, I shan't be telling you that. However, the goblins will still allow me to do business with them, exchange wizarding for Muggle and the like, I'm just banned from holding a vault or ever going down to anyone else's vaults."

"And what of your compatriots, Weasley and Potter? Are they also banned?"

Hermione shook her head, "Both had vaults — therefore in order to not lose business, Gringotts just fined them. I was fined and banned."

"That's outrageous!"

Hermione grinned, "Perhaps. However, as a Muggleborn thus is my lot in life. I was able to get them to agree that any heirs I might bear would be allowed to hold a vault. All is not lost."

"You successfully negotiated with the goblins?"

"It was my test case for becoming a full-blown barrister. I passed." She looked back at the contract and read it over one final time. "This looks good." Signing it with a flourish, it too disappeared after briefly glowing blue.

"Well, in that case, it's time for me to meet my client."

"Yes, you should meet him, but not quite yet. First, you need to know who it is and why this case is such a slam dunk."

"Slam dunk? I'm not familiar with the terminology."

"Right, well, muggle words. It means why this case is so winnable."

"By all means, Miss Granger," Shafiq settled back in his chair as Hermione began her tale. First discussing Draco's case and then moving on to who her client was and why she was sure he could be released.