It was rare that the wizarding world would take on muggle traditions, though arriving in style was an exception. For important events the wizarding ways of arriving just didn't crack it, especially for those who adored the attention of mysteriously emerging from a carriage.
Unfortunately for Caitlin MacNair one thing that the wizarding world hadn't copied off the muggle's was cars. Instead within wizarding boundaries carriages pulled by thestrals were used. It had been a while since Caitlin had experienced this form of transport, any form of transport actually, and part of her had forgotten how tortuously long it took to get just about anywhere. To make the trip even worse she found herself sitting across from her stepmother Ava. It made her feel slightly uneasy, as if each time she moved she was being wickedly criticised and judged by the woman.
Of course Caitlin knew exactly what was expected from her today, it is all Ava had talked to her about for a fortnight. As today was not just the trail of her father, but also the day that would also mark her reappearance into the social world. It wasn't what she wanted to do, part of her preferred her life in solidarity, but today her hopes of being forgotten by the world would be shattered. She knew the entrance of the Ministry of Magic would be jammed full of photographers and journalists from the wizarding newspapers, all prepared to get themselves an exclusive story for tomorrows front page. She would stand beside her family, and act as though she didn't hate them, she would act exactly like one of them, intimidating, cold yet illusive. The main thing that worried about this was she wasn't like them. Over the years she had taken on many traits which defined a MacNair, yet that was all. And she knew that if a single question was raised about her true mother, she would be forced to face the consequences.
That however wasn't the only thing worrying her. The MacNair family was all taking a huge risk by turning up to Walden's trail, putting themselves in danger of being accused of using dark magic aswell. Caitlin had known for aslong as she could remember, that her father was a deatheater, and was one of the few people who carried on the mission of purifying the wizarding blood after Voldemort's downfall. It had been just over a year since Lord Voldemort had returned, and a few months since the whole of the wizarding world had their eyes opened to the truth behind the speculations. Her father was one of his most loyal followers, and today the truth of the torture and murder he had committed onto many muggles and muggle-borns would come out. If that truly did happen then undoubtedly the whole family would be accused of being involved. Just by staring at all the other faces in the carriage she knew she wasn't the only one who felt this way. Her two older brothers and Ava faces had been ghostly pale since she first saw them this morning. Her younger brother Jack, much like her looked less fearful of the day ahead, neither had the Dark Mark permanently screaming out their loyalty to the Dark Lord, but still she noticed that Jack's mind kept drifting, probably trying to figure out what would happen if his family did go to Azkaban, after all he would be the only one un-accusable, he hadn't even had ownership of a wand.
Caitlin noticed the sound outside the carriage getting significantly louder, as the carriage slowly drew to a stop. She could slightly hear peoples conversations and footsteps between the inaudible shouting.
"Nervous?" Isaac asked in her direction, she nodded her head, finding herself unable to get her words out.
"Just try and ignore the cameras and follow our lead." He advised, and shot her a small smile, seconds before the door of the carriage was opened. The three boys stepped out first, and Caitlin sat back and watched the flashing of the camera.
"You can do this." Ava said, before exiting the carriage herself, and linking arms with one of the twins. Those four words slightly gave Caitlin the confidence she felt she needed, but most importantly they were probably the nicest words Ava had ever said to her, there was no hint of sarcasm or coldness to her words, instead it was as if she truly meant them.
Edwards head popped around the corner of the carriage and offered her his hand, she shakily got to her feet, and using his head was able to successfully climb down from the steps. As soon as she came into view of the crowds it was as if the world had came to a complete stop. Not a single person made a sound, not a single camera made a click, not a single person dared to move, they all stood frozen in complete shock. There had been rumours that to show her support to the family Caitlin would be here, though nobody had fully believed it would happen.
The silence only lasted for a few more seconds until the hustle bustle prior to her appearance started again, this time the cameras were no longer directed at the other people here to view the trial, but instead towards her, and the other members of the MacNair family.
Edward placed his arm around her waist, and she found herself taking part of a family photo. A smile didn't appear on her face, mainly as she could bring herself to fake one, but also it was a part of being a MacNair. There was a reason the family managed to intimidate even those they had never met, and it was the tradition of no smiling allowed which caused that.
"Caitlin over here!" She heard multiple people scream, followed by another load of flashes almost blinding her eyes. She began to feel slightly claustrophobic, yet was determined to make her family proud. She moved away from her brothers grasp, and stood infront of a man with a camera and delivered her most intimidating look, with a slight hint of seduction. She found that as soon as she stood alone and almost independent, that a feeling of freedom suddenly hit her. It then occurred to her, that maybe being forced into the spotlight wasn't ruining her old life, instead it was opening her to the one she once lived.
She and her family finally made it into the entrance of the Ministry, where a dozen of other people stood waiting to be escorted to the trial. She was quite surprised when she looked around the ministry as far as she could see, and saw it looked rather depressing. It was the place which hired a large percentage of the wizarding population, where thousands come here to work everyday, yet they find themselves in a rather dark and depressing place, the walls were covered in dark green almost black tiles, and the only form of bright colour was the white grout which surrounded each tile, of course it was also rather extravagant, reminding her slightly of her home, from where she stood she could see 5 large chandlers alone.
"What does he seriously think he is doing here." Edward whispered to his twin, catching Caitlin's attention. She turned to where her brother seemed to be glaring, and saw a young black haired boy, who appeared to have his back to them all.
"Now now Edward, remember we have a reputation to uphold." Ava grabbed hold of his arm, as if preventing him from walking over there at this moment and hexing the hell out of the guy. Caitlin carried out staring in the direction, hoping to get a glimpse of the boy.
"Mother he has no right to be here!" Edwards voice became much louder, and two people turned to look at him before turning back to their own business.
"He may not, but you barging over there and starting a scene is hardly going to benefit your fathers case. So think before you do." Ava whispered in a threatening tone. Caitlin carried on staring at the boy, and took notice of an older man stood next to him, he was much taller the boy next to him, and wore a rather outdated suit. She watched as a familiar old wizard walking into their direction, and was pleased to see it was Albus Dumbledore, the head-teacher of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There was only a few people outside her family that she actually knew, Albus Dumbledore was one of them. He was a great acquaintance to the family, though his hatred on what the MacNair believed stopped either her family or him from being friends. He made on average two visits a year to the manor, with one objective only, to convince her father to allow Caitlin to go to school. Dumbledore always saw that wasting magical abilities was rather stupid. Her family was unaware that Dumbledore knew she was a 'superior witch', which was one of the main reasons he was so dedicated to her cause, but another thing they didn't know was the true relationship between Dumbledore and herself. She didn't simply see him as a potential professor, but a protector and a friend.
"Dumbledore what a pleasure." She said, as she walked over to him, and stuck her hand out for him to shake. She paid no attention to the two people he was conversing with.
"Caitlin, how unexpected, it is great to see you out and about." He bent down and picked up her hand, bringing it towards his dry, slightly chapped lips and placed a small peck on the top. "May I introduce you to Harry Potter and his godfather, aswell as a great friend of mine Sirius Black." The two names caught Caitlin's attention, she had heard them alot over the years. She turned to face the boy that Edward had been making comments about and let out a silent gasp. It truly was him, the chosen one, the boy who lived. He expectantly held out his hand, but Caitlin ignored it knowing she was under the close watch of her family. "As much as I would love to say it is a pleasure to meet you as well Mr Potter, unfortunately I must admit that it isn't, I don't tend to enjoy meeting the person who is wrongly accusing my father of being a deatheater." She emphasised the word wrongly, trying to hide the fact that she knew he had actually be telling the truth. Harry awkwardly placed his hand back down to his side.
"Innocent until proven guilty as I believe the muggles say." Dumbledore chuckled, trying to break the now awkward silence which dominated the group.
"Yes, I must agree Albus. Miss MacNair I promise you that if your father is found to be innocent I will make sure my godson here will deliver an apology to you and your whole family." Sirius chipped in. Caitlin knew exactly what Sirius was thinking, there would be no way that her father would actually be found innocent. But the question would always be, how long would Azkaban be able to hold him.
"Well I will be eagerly looking forward to that." Caitlin replied, "It was great to see you again Dumbledore, but now I must go."
"You too, Miss Caitlin, and remember there is still time for you to join the ranks of my students." Dumbledore said as Caitlin began walking back over to her family, trying to ignore the suspicious look from Ava.
Caitlin took a seat in the viewers stand of Court Room 10, between Jack and Ava. This courtroom was known for being the place where the trials of suspected deatheaters were held during the wizarding war, and it was no surprise to Caitlin that it had been the place where her father would be put on trail. Caitlin found herself feeling slightly curious about the room, it was something she had never seen before. She had grown so use to seeing perfection, yet this room managed to be the complete opposite. The room was circle shaped, with levelled seating around the edges. On the back wall of the room sat the jury dressed in their ministry burgundy robes, whilst on the opposite wall was the seating for the spectators and allowed media. In the centre of the room, sat a cage, which she had been informed by Ava would be where her father would be placed, for security reasons, though it resembled more of a torture device, large metal poles with sharped edges pointed towards the middle of the cage, and Caitlin was unable to figure out how they increased the security, after all if a wizard was believed capable of escaping a highly guarded room, a few metal poles would be next to no challenge at all. Around the cage sat desks covered in tall stacks of paper, it caught her notice that atleast two of the many piles had fallen into a scattered mess. The room appeared to be about a century old, without any improvements, including the aging wooden seating. Her attention then turned to one of two entrances where she saw Mr Finn, her fathers lawyer in a deep conversation with the new minister, Rufus Scrimgeour who had been appointed to the position mere weeks ago, and had been rumoured that the majority of his time in office had been spent dedicated to the capture of many suspected deatheaters. Occasionally though she found her gaze wondering in the direction of Harry Potter, her emotions towards him were rather confused, she just didn't understand how to feel. She should be angry towards him, and show the hate that the rest of her family showed, but part of her felt like she should be relieved. Caitlin and her father could hardly be described as having the typical father and daughter relationship. They had their moments where a relationship between them both was truly evident, after all she was the only person who could receive a hug from him infront of others, however they also had their moments based on pure hatred for one another, hatred that was unimaginable.
The courtroom fell into hushed silence as the squeaking of the cogs turning within the cage began moving, pulling up the safely restrained man. As he came into view she could hear a loud cry leave Ava, Caitlin's hand instantly held hold of her stepmothers, squeezing it tight, reassuring and comforting her. It was moments when a family was minutes away from falling apart when all disputes needed to be put aside. At first she didn't completely recognise him, partly the doubting that the man infront of her was actually her father. She had never seen him looking so dishevelled, even when she saw him returning from a deatheater mission he still managed to look classy and magnificent. His face was hidden behind the layers of mud, and a fortnights worth of stubble, which was beginning to form a beard. His clothes were merely rags, almost the same as their houself wore, but most importantly it looked as though the left sleeve of his discoloured shirt had been ripped off and with the combination of his hands being bound infront of him, it left his darkmark for plain view of the spectators. Caitlin could feel the tears coming to her eyes, and with her spare hand grabbed a tissue from her pocket, dabbing it against her wet eyes. The small, short and restrained sobs from her younger brother next to her made her heart bleed the most, he shouldn't be here to see this, no child should have to see their own father in such a state.
The Minister of Magic sat down in the judges seat and surveyed the court room, his eyes stopping at where the MacNair family sat, before they turned to stare at Walden.
"Today the 2nd of August, begins the trial of Walden MacNair." Rufus said, beginning the trial. He picked up the pieces of paper on the table infront of him and quickly scanned over the front page, "Walden MacNair, you are stood infront of the Ministry of Magic today accused of use of the unforgivable curses, murder of unknown amount of victims, harm of unknown amount of victims, capture of unknown amount of victims and showing allegiance towards the deatheaters. How do you plead?" Walden turned and faced up to his family, his face showing no emotion as he said two words, "Not guilty."
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