CHAPTER TWO
DMLE v. Scabra
December 17, 2035
~O~
"The accused being present," Chief Prosecutor Ianus said, "let us begin."
Lily looked to Scabra, sitting next to her at the small desk in the center of the courtroom, and gave a reassuring nod. Scabra turned and faced blankly ahead. Now that they were actually in court, the prospect of being wrongfully convicted and separated from his daughter was facing him down. It seemed to be weighing far more heavily on his mind than she'd seen before. She hoped he wouldn't crack.
The thought of Scabra's family made Lily glance over to her own family, who had just entered. They were settling into the seating behind the defendant's stand which was open to the public. James was working, of course—he had been Head Auror for just under three years. But her parents were here, and so were Hugo, Rose, and Rose's longtime boyfriend. Her mother gave her a smile and a small wave. Her father compressed his lips and his shoulders as he tried to smile like his wife. Harry was never comfortable in this room; he'd had some unsettling experiences in here. But he was here nonetheless, watching Lily's last trial for Potter and Quayle, which she very much appreciated. Hugo looked around the courtroom with interest, as it was his first time in here since the Battle for the Ministry of Magic. Rose's mind already seemed to be buzzing as she began to evaluate what was going on in the court.
Chief Prosecutor Cellen Ianus adjusted his glasses on his lengthy nose, and peered at Scabra through suspicious eyelids. He next turned his gaze to Lily, who met his stare. His eyebrows—the only hairs on his head—settled down in a challenging glare. There was a rumor that Ianus never blinked once during a trial. Lily had been a defense attorney for thirty-two months now, and she had yet to disprove that rumor.
There had been a time, not that long before Lily was born, where the Minister for Magic was also Chief Prosecutor. But as time had told, this could lead to problems, and the powers were separated. Ianus had been elected the Chief Prosecutor way back when the position was first created nearly forty years ago. The man was in his seventies, but still had the ferocity with which he'd entered the job. That had been great for the time shortly after Voldemort, and during Ingot's reign and the Shadow Years (the name given to the time when the Man in the Shadows was in control of the world). But such vitriol was not needed all the time, and especially when one couldn't be sure the suspect was truly guilty. While coming down hard on crime during his first years had helped the new Ministry rebuild their country and the world, it wasn't the best option for the world all the time, and definitely not for recent years. As Lily's friend in the Ministry, Bellica Wallace, liked to say: Ianus was a very reliable person, but that wasn't always a positive trait. You could count on the negative aspects of his character to be reliable as well.
Ianus cleared his throat. "Trial in the case of DMLE v. Scabra, fifteenth of December, 2036. Charges have been filed by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement against Mr. Ozymandias Scabra, resident at number fourteen Black Rd, apartment ten, Hinterton, West Sussex. Interrogators: Cellen Prima Ianus, Chief Prosecutor, Magical Law Consultation Office, Department of DMLE; Svetlana Ludetska Bones, Head of Magical Law Consultation Office, DMLE; Linus David Lovebrook, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Office of the Minister for Magic."
Svetlana Bones gave Lily the smallest of smirks and the tiniest of winks. Lily gave a small smile back to her. Madam Bones had interviewed her just two weeks ago for the Ministry position, and had said she was very excited that Lily had accepted the position. She was going to be one of Lily's highest-ranking superiors at the start of the new year, when Lily began work at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's Magical Consultation Office. The next step up would be her Aunt Hermione, who was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and Aunt Hermione reported to the Minister of Magic, Dahlia de Rière. But for most anything, Lily would be reporting to Madam Bones. Or for specific cases as a prosecutor, she would report to the Chief Prosecutor, Cellen Ianus, who was currently listing the present personnel.
"Court Scribe, Jolene Ethel Ganlock, DMLE. Grievants: Gustav Lark; Lia Lark. Witness for the Defense, Lily Luna Potter; Potter and Quayle, Attorneys at Magical Law. Expert Witnesses: Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, Resident Forensics Analyst, Forensics and Forensic Psychology Office, DMLE; Nella Rhiannon Chelic, Head of Forensics, FFPO, DMLE. Representative of Rights, Ayano Aokuro, Alliance of Magical Countries and Territories."
Lily eyed the AMCAT representative. Normally, she would have to convince half of the jury. In this case, that was the three interrogators, and ten members of the Wizengamot. The full Wizengamot was not present, as the crime was not severe, so she only needed to convince seven people. But as Aplin had once said, if you could convince just one in particular—the AMCAT representative—you wouldn't have to convince anyone else.
She still needed to build up her case, though. She couldn't come out guns blazing about her client's rights to a fair trial being violated. She still had to make the case for Scabra being innocent of the crime in the first place. It was always much more suspicious, and much more likely to be seen as grasping at straws rather than a legitimate complaint, if one tried to come out against the process instead of the charges. Whether or not the prosecution muddled up the case, juries and even representatives from AMCAT liked to see that the person on trial was getting what they deserved, regardless of whether a little rule was bent. It was easier to convince people to vindicate a client on a technicality if the client deserved to be vindicated anyway.
The stone-carved law on the books was one thing. The law in interpretation and implementation by humans depended on a host of variables, because of the imperfect nature of humans: the moods of the jury, the affability of the defense attorney, the magical parentage of the accused, which side of the argument the interrogators had heard first, even the attractiveness of the plaintiffs and defendants. These could all affect the outcome, subconsciously or overtly. There were a thousand conditions that were hard to predict and generally couldn't be controlled, but some could be funneled if one was deft enough.
They wouldn't want Scabra getting away on a technicality if they still saw him as the suspect being questioned. They had to see him as an innocent man (or a man with a relatively high chance that he was innocent) who was mishandled by the people sworn to protect him, who could end up going to jail for nothing. And then they'd want him to escape this unfortunate situation as soon as possible.
"Let us begin," Ianus said. "With the charges."
Lily held up a hand closed into a fist, the tactic known as "calling stall," which let the court know she needed a few seconds for a conference. Ianus leaned back in his chair, clearly irritated that she was already asking for a pause.
Lily looked over to Scabra. "Roll call is done, summary of charges begins," she whispered. "Remember, say no to the charges." She lowered her fist.
Ianus leaned forward again. "The charges against the accused are as follows: That he did break and enter into the home of the grievants, Gustav Lark and Lia Lark; that he inflicted damage upon their properties; that he abducted several of their personal artifacts, including but not limited to an entire safe containing nearly sixteen hundred Galleons' worth of Lark family heirlooms, and a box of jewelry known as Oozing Jewels. Will the accused please stand."
Scabra did so.
Ianus stared him down, and a multitude of creases blossomed on his forehead. "You are Ozymandias Scabra, of number fourteen Black Rd, apartment ten, Hinterton, West Sussex?"
"No," Scabra said.
Lily slammed her hand onto her face and lifted the other into the air in a fist to call stall again. "Those aren't the charges," she said patiently, not wanting to contribute any more to Scabra's nerves. "New strategy. Repeat the sentence in your head before answering. Say yes to the true things and no to the false things."
She lowered her fist; Ianus smirked. "So, you deny that you are Ozymandias Scabra, resident at number fourteen Black Rd, apartment ten, Hinterton, West Sussex?"
Scabra thought about it for a moment, apparently trying to remember whether Ianus had said "you are" or "you deny that you are." He looked at Lily, anxiety flooding into every feature. Subtly and calmly, Lily shook her head no.
"No," Scabra said.
"My client misheard the first question," Lily interjected before Ianus could begin again. "We request that you speak more slowly and clearly."
Ianus rolled his eyes. "Very well," he enunciated, drawing the phrase out longer than necessary. "So you are Ozymandias Scabra, resident at number fourteen Black Rd, apartment ten, Hinterton, West Sussex. Yes?"
Scabra took about five seconds, mouthing the sentence Ianus had just said. "Yes," he finally said.
"Did you or did you not break and enter into the unoccupied house of Gustav Lark and Lia Lark on the twenty-ninth of November at eleven twenty-one in the evening?"
Scabra took a few seconds to think again. "No," he answered. On a pause from the court, he added, "I did not."
"Did you or did you not damage the doors, alarm system, walls, and basement furniture belonging to the Larks?"
"No. I did not."
"Did you or did you not unlawfully seize artifacts belonging to Gustav Lark and Lia Lark?"
"I did not," Scabra said, more confidently.
"Did you employ, request, or coerce any individuals to perform any or all of the aforementioned acts on your behalf?"
Scabra cleared his throat, and glanced over at Lily. He glanced back and forth between Lily and Ianus, once again a deer in the Lumos beam. The Wizengamot murmured amongst itself, clearly taking the wrong impression from Scabra's pause, and Lily intervened.
"I believe my client may be unclear as to the definition of the word coerce, and missed the rest of the question while he tried to figure it out," Lily said.
Scabra nodded vigorously.
Ianus sighed, loudly enough to clearly communicate his frustration with Lily's client. "Did you hire, ask, or force anyone to do the things I said earlier?"
"No," Scabra said immediately.
"Do you know any details regarding the person or persons who did commit these acts?"
"No."
The creases in Ianus's forehead increased. "Then what do you plead on account of the charges brought against you today?"
"Not guilty," Scabra announced.
"You plead not guilty on all charges?"
"Yes."
"And do you affirm—do you agree—that you have no knowledge of these crimes, other than what you have said to the arresting officers and initial interrogators?"
"Yes."
"You may be seated."
Fearing he may have said something wrong, Scabra turned his head slightly so he could glance sideways at his defense attorney. Lily nodded encouragingly, and he let out a heavy breath as he took his seat.
"We will now begin interrogation," Ianus said, folding his fingers together. "As per AMCAT trial protocol, the witness for the defense shall be permitted to answer any question directed towards the accused."
Lily caught Scabra's eye. She subtly drew her pinched thumb and forefinger across her lips like a zipper—zip your lips, I'll take this. Scabra nodded once more.
"Is it true," Ianus said, glad to be addressing someone to whom he could speak normally, "that you, Ozymandias Scabra, were apprehended on charges of IID and DWI on the twelfth of September this year?"
"Yes," Lily said.
"And is it true that the Injuriously Intentioned Dueling and Dueling While Intoxicated took place following your argument with the victim regarding a perceived price gouging of a set of Oozing Jewels?"
"Yes."
"The Oozing Jewels in question were later purchased by the Larks. They were stolen from the Larks' house during the robbery of which you are accused, Mr. Scabra. They were later discovered in your residence. And still you maintain innocence of this crime?"
"Yes," Lily said. "Mr. Scabra did not take the jewels or otherwise arrange for them to be taken. He therefore believes that their appearance in his residence indicates that someone is seeking to lay blame on him for the incident."
"Indeed," Ianus snorted, "I'd say that given the evidence, the majority of Britain seeks to lay blame on him for the incident."
There was a chuckle around the court. Scabra looked like he was about to panic, but Lily kept calm. She knew how these things went. The Wizengamot often came in with a predisposition to one side of the argument. They were, after all, humans with opinions. In this case, Lily knew they were inclined to think Scabra was a bad person, so he was likely to have committed this crime. But their initial opinions shouldn't matter once she was done.
"In any case," Ianus pressed, "we have expert witnesses to further testify. The prosecution calls Scorpius Malfoy to—"
Ianus was interrupted when the door flew open, and James rushed into the room looking wide-eyed from adrenaline. He charmed himself dry, apparently having been out in the rain, and there was a large rip in the shoulder of his robes. There was definitely some sort of story there that Lily had to remember to ask him.
"Sorry!" James yelped, noticing every face in the courtroom aimed in his direction. "Sorry for the—I'll just—you can go on." He clambered up the steps so fast he nearly tripped, and stumbled his way to Harry and Ginny, sitting down next to them as Ginny scolded him for being late. He whispered something to her, and Ginny clapped a hand over her mouth.
Lily tore her eyes off of her family; whatever was happening there could wait. There was a man here who needed his daughter back, and that was the most important thing for her to be thinking about right now.
"The prosecution calls Scorpius Malfoy to the stand," announced Ianus, before there was another interruption.
There was a shuffle from the back. Scorpius stood, and descended towards the witness box, wearing a scarf and flat cap. Everything about the young blond was modest and reserved. Wherever he went, he liked to go without much fanfare. Lily supposed she could understand it. The nearly-white hair was like a beacon: Here is the son of a former Death Eater. So he was usually hiding that hair under a hat whenever Lily saw him.
For far too many people, it didn't matter that Scorpius and his father had helped bring down the Man in the Shadows. There was anti-Malfoy-extended-family rhetoric in papers and radio and daily conversations nonetheless. Some people craved an excuse to feel superior to the rich and powerful Malfoys, to feed their egos. They would take the chance no matter how outdated the opinion.
Scorpius, to his credit, had brushed most of it off. He had his measure of success already, as a forensics consult for the Ministry, and no one could deny that he was good at what he did. The whispers in the dark just made him even more determined to prove himself in the light.
"State your name and your connection to this trial," Ianus said.
"Scorpius Malfoy, Forensics Analyst for the Forensics and Forensic Psychology Office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I evaluated the evidence left in the Lark household after the incident."
"And what were your findings?"
Scorpius cleared his throat and opened a file folder, pulling out a sheet of paper. Always wary that there were people willing to pounce on a single mistake and use it to hold themselves over him, he was extremely well-prepared for all of his cases. "Based on slight variations in the hues of walls in the house, not present in the family's memories of the previous day, we can determine that several spells were cast during the break-in. We know that these spells were Charms intended to ease the illicit seizure and transport of valuable goods during the break-in. From the Erracity style of the spellwork, which we gleaned from photobleaching on the walls, we can determine that the caster most likely attended Hogwarts between 1998 and 2017 while Theodora Thigby was Professor of Transfiguration by the style of the Transfigurations used, and between 2006 and 2031 when Paragost Plinky taught Charms. Thus the caster is very likely to have attended Hogwarts between 2006 and 2017. We can also judge that the caster of these spells was a lone male of between five feet five inches and six foot one inch. Mr. Scabra meets all of these criteria. The likelihood of someone meeting all of these descriptions is quite low, and I would recommend taking this into consideration when the jury renders their verdict."
"Thank you," Ianus said, clearly trying to suppress a smug grin. But if he thought it was going to be that easy…
"My testimony has concluded, and I would like to thank the court for hearing me," Scorpius said in a voice most mannerly. He bowed and returned to his seat.
"Does the defense," Ianus said, "have any evidence to present at this time?"
"We do," Lily said. "Ms. Rahman?"
Talisa Rahman stepped gracefully down from the high rows of the seating, though there were many unoccupied spaces closer to the front. She swished her blue silk dress behind her as she settled into the witness box. Seashell earrings dangled around her shapely face and almost vanished in her voluminous, natural-looking hair. Her sparkling but tired eyes landed on Lily as she waited for the questioning to begin.
Lily liked Talisa a lot, though she didn't know the woman that well. Talisa tended to be all business, showing up right on time and leaving similarly. Lily assumed that she had a lot of work to attend to with her expertise, especially given how tired she always seemed. She also moved slower than most of her associates, being a Squib, so it would make sense that she'd need more time to do things that Lily took for granted. However, Talisa had never once missed a deadline or seemed to let her exhaustion get to her. She was one of the hardest workers Lily knew. That was a very good attribute to have if you were in a line of work where lives were on that line.
Lily cleared her throat and stood again. "Ms. Rahman, please introduce yourself to the court." Most of them had seen Talisa before, but it was best to remind everyone of her credentials.
"My name is Talisa Rahman. I hold a doctorate in magical forensics from the Angus Buchanan College. I was head forensics analyst in the exoneration of Dodecus Tytezian, among other high-profile international cases. I examined the altered crime scene of the Lark residence as well as the unaltered memory of the Jureye and I am here to present evidence on behalf of the defense of Mr. Scabra."
When she spoke the phrase altered crime scene, Lily saw Ianus's eyes pop slightly further open. His smugness began to vanish as he realized Lily's plan of attack, and she could practically see him formulating a counterattack as Talisa finished her introduction.
"Can you tell us," Lily said, "what this is?"
She flicked her wand at the court Pensieve below the court scribe's desk. From the unaltered memory of the crime scene, a three-dimensional footprint rose in blue effigy and began rotating.
"This is a scuffmark from which the full footprint was recreated," Talisa stated. "From the kitchen. It was not present in Mr. Lark's memory of his kitchen from the night before."
Ianus rolled his eyes. Lily ignored him. "What size shoe," she pressed, "left the scuffmark?"
"The mark was from a size nine, in men's sizes," Talisa said. "Mr. Scabra wears size ten and a half. The other members of the household wear, in men's sizes, eleven, seven, seven, and seven and a half."
"And the mark was definitely left following dinner the night of the break-in."
"That is correct."
"Apologies for the brevity of your testimony after bringing you all the way here this morning," Lily said, "but thank you. That will be all."
"Now, hold on," Ianus jumped in. "I have a few questions for our expert witness here."
"I am happy to answer," Talisa responded, settling back into her seat.
"Ms. Rahman, how was the mark analyzed?"
"The initial forensics sweep noted the scuffmark," Talisa answered, as calm and direct as always. "They recreated the footprint. The memory shows the recreation, and through that memory and several others I matched the print as a men's size nine."
"That," Ianus grunted, "is quite a few independent steps where information could be lost or distorted. Isn't this prone to error?"
"It's prone to error at exactly the level of the people the Ministry hired to take records of the crime scene," Talisa said. "As those same people also supplied the evidence in Mr. Malfoy's testimony on your behalf, I assume you have confidence in their abilities?"
Lily smirked.
"Yes, well, it is still an outside party's interpretation of the original party's work," Ianus insisted, though he looked more than a little nettled. "So there is still possibility for misinterpretation between analysis…"
"I would wager," Talisa interjected, "that when the forensics team recreated a footprint of size nine, they did not intend this to communicate that it was a size ten and a half foot which left the print."
"Thank you, Ms. Rahman," Lily said. "Is that all, Mr. Ianus?"
Ianus waved his arm.
"Once more, we appreciate your time," Lily said. "Now, Mr. Ianus… I'd like to address your concerns that there is a possibility for misinterpretation, with my team's research being based on what we were able to see through the altered crime scene and only the memory of the unaltered crime scene. Believe me… this was a concern of ours as well." She took a deep breath and checked her posture as she dove in for the kill. "In fact, we would have loved to have sought analysis with the original crime scene. For example, it is possible to see if any hairs left at the crime scene were from a person under Polyjuice influence. If, for example, Mr. Scabra impersonated a member of the family to gain access and this is why the shoe size was wrong, then some of the hairs in the house would have tested positive for Polyjuice. However, our counsel was not granted the opportunity to investigate the unaltered crime scene.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please take note that Mr. Malfoy's forensics team completed analysis before I and my team took the position as Mr. Scabra's counsel. This, of course, is not illicit activity. But then, rather than leave the site untouched for the defense's forensics team to complete their own independent analysis, Chief Prosecutor Ianus opted to cut the tape and afford the site back to the Lark family so they could return to their house. I'm sure this was a well-intentioned gesture, but it deprived our forensics team of the ability to perform such a test. One performed in the altered crime scene is no longer admissible as evidence.
"Thus the only verifiable analysis of that crime scene was completed by the prosecution. The entity with a vested interest in convicting Mr. Scabra issued the only forensics sweep. And it seems that they happened to miss, or else failed to mention upon reporting to us here, a detail that could have immediately exonerated him. The prosecution failed to allow the defense to independently investigate a crucial section of the evidence—and then left out the full analysis of the evidence when it didn't fit the narrative they wanted to push. So the court's understanding of the full picture of the evidence has been skewed in favor of the prosecution. As I am sure the Wizengamot knows, this happens to be against AMCAT protocol—and, I could even say, illegal. Not to mention that it has led to an innocent man standing trial, wasting everyone's time and money, while the real culprit roams free."
Murmurs throughout the courtroom—Lily had been here enough times to know that this was a good thing, and she relaxed slightly. Her eyes drifted naturally over to Chief Prosecutor Ianus, who seemed ready to leap out of his chair and strangle her.
The furious look that Ianus gave Lily every time she was in court always boosted her confidence. He had given her a moderately irritated look back in the very first trial in which she'd provided defense. Since then, his rage against her had only grown, due to the number of times she had embarrassed him. Now it was a veritable dictionary death glare, and she loved to drink it in. It meant she was doing her job well.
Though she didn't quite understand what made him so upset. If the people he was prosecuting were innocent, as she often proved, he should be pleased that his department wasn't arresting the wrong people. Instead, he gave the impression that he'd arrest a hundred innocent civilians if it made Lily look bad in the process.
Maybe he wouldn't be long for the position, since his department had now become almost notorious for their suspects being mistakenly charged and turning out innocent. Lily hoped he would step down, for many reasons. The largest of those reasons was because she and Bonita were closing the doors of Potter and Quayle and he would probably continue to prosecute innocent people, and might succeed without Lily in the way. The next largest was the fact that in less than a week, he would be her superior when she started work at the Ministry. As much as she enjoyed the death glares now, she really wasn't looking forward to seeing them on a daily basis from her boss.
For now, though, she happily absorbed his wrathful glare and responded with a smile. She turned to the AMCAT Representative of Rights, Ayano Aokuro, and addressed her directly.
"I would in fact like to submit a complaint under Article 6-2b of the Alliance Charter, the Equal Echelon Clause," Lily said, staying in swift stride. "I would move to have this case dismissed on grounds of a violation to my client's right to a fair trial, pursuant to the denial of opportunity for an equal echelon of expert witnesses as called by the prosecution. Furthermore, I would expect that this decision can take effect immediately, as I think we can all agree that neither criterion is present to negate the clause. The arrest was made almost immediately, so the crime scene was not held for an unreasonable length of time prior to its deconstruction. There also is not a compelling overabundance of evidence to support a conviction despite the clause, as the validity of nearly all of the evidence has now been called seriously into question. There has been a serious failure on the part of the prosecution to bring a case here, even if they hadn't egregiously violated my client's rights."
She saw her parents' faces growing more and more impressed, and she swelled even further. Distinctly, she saw James mouth the words "Bloody hell!"
Ayano nodded for Lily to continue. After a quick glance at Scabra's suddenly optimistic face for even more encouragement, she did.
"The prosecution has called an expert witness to speak on a piece of forensic evidence. By Article 6, section 2, the defendant has a right to hire or request a team to investigate the same evidence being assessed by the prosecution. And by subsection b, the defendant's team must be presented with the opportunity to access that unaltered evidence, with a grace period of between twenty-four and seventy-two hours after the initial meeting with his legal representation. The crime scene was altered only a few hours after I agreed to represent Mr. Scabra, and more than twenty-four hours before my first meeting with him. If this is not a clear and blatant violation, I don't know why we have the Alliance Charter at all."
"Classy," Ianus spat, "real classy, Miss Potter. No evidence to support you, so you go for the technicality. Truly superior legal work there."
"On the contrary," Lily said calmly, "the reason we don't have any evidence to offer you is entirely owed to the 'technicality' of you obliterating the proof before anyone outside the Ministry got to have a look at it."
If she could have taken a picture of Ianus's face at that moment, she might have framed it in her new office. The infuriation on his face today perfectly summarized the past two years of Lily running legal circles around his prosecution.
"Which is precisely why I suggest that Article 6-2b shows you have violated my client's rights," Lily concluded. "Miss Aokuro, I'll be happy to answer any other questions, if you have them?"
Ayano shook her head. "I have none," she said. "As far as I can see, this trial is concluded. Mr. Scabra will be awarded damages pursuant to the Article of Restitutions for his inconvenience at the hands of Chief Prosecutor Ianus and the British Ministry. We apologize for your mistreatment today. And we sternly remind the Department of Magical Law Enforcement not to take shortcuts with legal rights in the future."
One could easily tell who was new to a courtroom. The Wizengamot stood immediately, knowing the trial was over and having much better things to attend to. They wasted no time in making their exit, most grumbling about wasted time on the way out. Those who had not seen many trials—such as Ginny, Hugo, Rose's boyfriend, and a few interns scattered around the courtroom—were looking around with confusion at how abruptly the trial had screeched to a halt. Searching the room again, Lily saw her good friend in the Ministry, Bellica Wallace, pumping a fist enthusiastically, despite her employer having lost. Next to Bellica, another very important figure in Lily's life was unexpectedly present. O. Cyrus Haynsly, an investor in her research into the Third Realm, tipped his hat at Lily from across the room. She had a meeting with him later, but she hadn't known he'd planned on attending the trial.
Lily broke her gaze away from the audience to see that Scabra was still sitting in his chair, slightly stunned. She clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You are free to go," she said with a small smile.
Like a switch upon hearing those words, Scabra's manner clicked back several days, now that he had evaded danger. He smirked and put his feet up on the table. "Yeah, good, thanks. What's the quickest way out of here, sugar? I'm not spending a second longer than I need to down here, it's really cramping my style."
Lily tightened her grip on Scabra's shoulder, and he winced. She stared into his eyes.
"You can drop the act," Lily sighed. "I've seen you at your most vulnerable. Stop being so cocky. You got very lucky. Yes, you were innocent—but the evidence was still stacked against you and you got very lucky. Don't put yourself into this situation again. If you keep up this tough-guy charade, people are going to keep trying to knock you back down a few pegs. You stuck with it on the Oozing Jewels confrontation and got arrested and taken away from your daughter. Then as a result, this jury only knew you from the ass-hat farce you put on, and they were ready to convict you on it. My advice, if you really don't want to spend any more seconds down here than you need to? Don't act like this never happened—act like it's going to happen again if you don't make some big changes in your life, starting right now."
Scabra's smirk faded again. He looked in the other direction and nodded.
"The quickest way out is the elevator we came in on," Lily said. "Go back to your daughter, Mr. Scabra, and don't thank me, because I haven't helped you; I've just followed the law. You're the only one who can help yourself."
When he sensed she was finished, Scabra stood and strode out of the room without a moment's delay.
Lily shrugged and turned to see James and her parents waving excitedly. She headed up the steps to meet them.
"Lily, I'm… awestruck," her mother said after a tight hug. "I knew you were fierce, but I didn't know how professionally you translated that into the courtroom!"
Lily blushed. "Anyone could have done that with the same information, really."
"You made Ianus freak," James laughed. "Good. I hate him."
"I think everyone does," Lily said. "Which really begs the question of how he got there, if he's neither likeable nor very good at his job."
"Is that how these things usually go?" Harry chuckled. "I haven't much enjoyed being down here, given my first experience in this room… But this is a lot more exciting than I assumed most trials were."
"Usually, I'm just working to reduce sentence or something like that," Lily said. "This time, I knew I could go for gold."
Bellica stepped over to Lily and extended a hand, which Lily shook. She gestured to James. "Have I missed the story of how that happened?" she asked, eyeing James's robes, which he had dried but which were still torn and burned in several areas. James liked to wear his battle scars for a while.
"No, I haven't told it yet," James said. "It was crazy. These pure-blooded bigots are targeting that new up-and-coming company, Spellbound. They smashed all the windows and threw in a container of potion that spewed toxic gas, trying to poison everyone in Spellbound's Wales-based office building. Apparently this wasn't the first incident, but it was the worst so far."
"Why would purists attack Spellbound?" Bellica asked.
"Apparently they're coming out with some interesting new product that they're claiming will 'give Muggles a taste of magic'. They're being purposefully vague about it. But I think it's something that will bring the Muggle and Wizarding worlds closer… which of course, a lot of people take issue with."
"Catch any of the culprits?" Bellica asked. "What I'm asking is, is the rest of my afternoon going to suck?"
"Not yet. They were careful. Probably won't be the last we see of them."
Lily turned her head and noticed Haynsly waiting for her at the ground level, and she said a hasty goodbye. Her friends and family would be around many other times. But she wasn't about to keep her billionaire investor waiting.
"I didn't know you were going to be here!" Lily said as she approached.
Haynsly opened his arms wide and encased Lily in a hug; he was never afraid to show his warmth. "I'm glad I attended! Quite the experience. You're a true talent."
"Thank you, Mr. Haynsly. Is this the first trial you've attended?"
"I'd attended one other," Haynsly said. "I had a complaint against a fellow businessman who tried to cheat me out of my earnings with a company we both partially owned. I'm very glad for the DMLE. It made sure I had a fair shot to make my fortune."
He nodded to Lily.
"I'm glad I'm able to give you a fair shot at your dream."