Sorry for the delay! I've been on vacation & working and such. Here's the new chapter, I hope you kids like it! I had a bunch of people ask me for more action, and although this isn't action-filled, it's got a lot of stuff about the war. Sooo, hopefully you guys like it? :) Let me know in a REVIEW! :D Also! I started a new story called Chasers, Keepers, and Bludgers. It's a Katie Bell/Oliver Wood story. I'd really appreciate it if you'd read it and let me know what you think! - Jen.

And Thats When a Bludger Came Through My Window
Chapter 14

James Potter. In my bed. Next to me. His mouth slightly agape, and little bits of drool pooling in the corners. He snored, but not loudly, just ... innocently. His glasses were crooked across his face.

All of his clothes were still on - that was a good sign. But who was I kidding? I would never...

I watched the ministry owl flutter around my head. "I know, I know." I muttered, swatting at it. What was I supposed to do? Here was James Potter asleep in my bed, and I had to leave. Was I just supposed to wake him up and kick him out? Urgh!

The ministry owl began tapping at my arm again. "I know!" I whispered in an irritated tone. I grabbed the letter it had sent me, and flipped it to the blank side. Taking the quill off of my bedside table, I began to write.

James;

I had to leave. Didn't want to wake you. Make sure to lock the door if you leave. See you later?

-Lily.

Alright, so it wasn't very personal... but, it would do, right? I had to leave. I couldn't get fired - I'd already made it so far. The owl seemed satisfied as I rushed out the door, and finally made its exit through the window.

I began to skirt through London, where very few early morning workers were making their way to their jobs. What was I doing? Leaving James Potter in my bed, in my room... what happened last night? I wanted to say nothing, but the last thing I clearly remember was our drinking water competition. I wanted to say I'd fallen asleep, but... I wasn't that tired was I?

When I made it to Mrs. Brunswick's office, she handed me a giant stack of papers.

"Penelope is on vacation. I need you to sign some forms and file some of these. I have a big day, you wont see me much. At three, I need you in the court rooms to take notes on a trial. I will send someone to retrieve you." She ordered strictly. I nodded eagerly - I'd be working on a real case! I took the stack of papers to Penelope's desk, quite enjoying the feeling of having my own desk, and began to work, my mind occupied on the fact that I'd be seeing a REAL Wizengamot trial.

At three o'clock, a tall man with dark eyes, wearing a dark robe, stood before my desk.

"Lily Evans?" He asked. I nodded. "Caradoc Dearborn." He finished. I shook his cold hand. "I'm here to escort you to the court room. Please bring a quick notes quill and multiple sheets of parchment. It could be a long night."

I nodded in agreement. The man was intimidating, with an air of needing respect, but his dark eyes had a sense of kindness in them. I grabbed the parchment and quill from Penelope's drawer, and followed the man down the hall.

"You're an intern, right?" He asked when we entered the elevator.

"Yes sir." I answered. He laughed a deep, full laugh.

"No need to call me sir. Call me Caradoc."

"Yes, Caradoc." I blushed.

"I've heard about you from Dumbledore." He added. I looked up at him, confused. Why would Dumbledore be speaking about me? I was just one of hundreds of students!

"All good, I hope." I replied with another blush. He laughed again.

"All good. He holds you in high regard. Head Girl, correct?" Caradoc inquired. I nodded, feeling the heat in my cheeks burn. "I'm sure you'll be a great Witch, Miss Evans. Please don't let this trial scare you."

"Why would it scare me?" I asked, but before he could answer, we were down a dark staircase and into a large courtroom where a burly man with dark hair and 5 o'clock Shadow sat in the middle, his twisted face contorted into a sinister grin. I felt chills go up my arms as I followed Caradoc to a set of chairs near Mrs. Brunswick.

"You'll need to make sure you get down every last word, by anyone in this room, Miss Evans." She instructed me as I took the seat next to her, with Caradoc on my other side. I glanced across the room, the greater percentage of its patrons wore plum colored robes with silver "W"'s fastened to them... the Wizengamot.

"Are you ready?" The minister looked down the row towards where I was sitting. I nodded eagerly, my heart racing. "Disciplinary Hearing for the 16th of August" Spoke the minister, his voice booming across the court room. The man in the center of the room let out a short laugh, but the Minister continued. "Into offenses regarding the use of illegal and harmful magic on an innocent-"

This time the man in the center of the room boomed with laughter. "Innocent. That's funny, Minister."

The ministers back went rigid, but he continued speaking nonetheless. "-by Antonin Dolohov on August 7th at Number Seventeen Turpin Court."

The minister then continued to list the interrogators, and finally, what he was accused of.

"The charges against the accused are as follows: That he, under full awareness and clear mind, used an illegal Imperius and Cruciatus curse on Caradoc Dearborn-"

I snapped my head to the man next to me, his face was in a state of pure hatred towards the man in the center of the room. He glanced over to me, knowing that I was staring at him.

"You might want to keep writing." He whispered. I nodded fervently, and continued to jot down every word the minister said, but my mind was racing.

"You are Antonin Henry Dolohov?" Asked the minister.

"Course I am." Grinned the man in the center of the room, bearing yellowed teeth

"This is your third trial for similar crimes, is is not?" Continued the minister.

"Sure is, Minister." The mans grin did not falter. "Though, you'd think by now, if you could prove I'd done anything, you would have.

The minister cleared his throat. "You did, in fact, use two illegal curses against Ministry Employee, Caradoc Dearborn?"

The man laughed again, and his gray eyes snapped to where Caradoc sat. "He looks perfectly fine to me, Minister."

"Did you use these spells, Dolohov?" The minister asked again, his voice growing angry.

"Does he say I did?" Asked the man, his eyes not leaving Caradocs. "From where I'm sitting, it seems you can't prove anything."

"Mr. Dolohov, would you object to the use of veritaserum?" Asked the minister. The man laughed.

"I'm not that stupid, Minister. Maybe you've forgotten the other three trials, but you've yet to prove anything. Go ahead, I'll humor you." He laughed again. Every time he did so, it felt as if my heart was being laced with ice.

"Very well, Dolohov... Gibbons!" He addressed a small man to his right. "Please go fetch a vial of veritaserum. Court will regain in 15 minutes."

Caradoc turned to me. "Doing alright?"

I nodded, but was out of words. He smiled encouragingly.

"It gets easier - the more of these you play through."

"He attacked you, though!" I replied, exasperated.

He played idly with the hairs at the nape of his neck. "Yeah, he did. Not that I remember it."

"You don't remember it?" I asked, my mind swimming in thoughts.

"Nah. These guys, they don't play like that. They wouldn't let me walk with the memory of knowing what they did. Cleared my memory. Unfortunately, the idiot didn't do it well enough. I still remember him barging into my house, I just don't remember the attack."

"Is there a way to unclear your memory?" I asked stupidly.

He nodded. "Yes, actually. It's sort of like legillimens, in a way. I have to break into my own mind. Unfortunately, whaever they used way extremely powerful. I've spent hours trying to essentially break into my own mind, and I haven't gotten anything."

"Wow." Was all I could say.

"These guys don't play around, Lily. I'm sure you've read the news, I'm sure you know whats happening. There's a war going on, and he, Dolohov, is on their side. A Death Eater, as they call themselves. They know what they're doing. As evil and corrupt as You-Know-Who is, he's also very, very smart. He's trained them. Dolohov was a friend of his at Hogwarts, he's a right hand man of sorts. These guys, they mean business. I could have died that night, I'm lucky to still be here."

My heart was racing, pounding out of my chest. The idea of this terrified me. Of course I knew about the war, James' mum had been killed. I wondered how her trial had went, if there had even been one. No one saw who did it... there was no one to accuse. Pangs bit at my heart as I thought about poor James...

"Why did they do it?" I asked, finally.

He shrugged. "Speculation is they were trying to get at the minister, and because I'm still fairly young, they assume I wouldn't know how to defend myself as well. I'd just completed my Auror training, however. They were right, I wasn't very prepared that night, I'd been out celebrating with some of the other graduates. Could've just been doing it because I'm a muggle born, though. They don't like muggleborns, or muggles in general. They're all about pureblood, they seem to think it makes them better, stronger."

"I'm a muggle born." I admitted, feeling my heart sink even deeper. Caradoc patted my shoulder.

"They doesn't make you any less than anyone." He assured me. "From what I hear, you're the smartest witch of your age. Don't let them scare you. Fear is your worst enemy. Stay strong, stay smart. You're better than they are if you're in your right mind. You're fighting for yourself, your pride, and the ones you love - that's stronger than anything they have."

I nodded, and felt hate surge through my body. I hated that man in the center of the room, and not in the same way I'd once hated James. Dolohov was a criminal, a cruel, hateful wizard. I wondered if he'd been one of the men that had killed James' mother. I felt tears sting at my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away.

Finally, the tiny man, Gibbons, returned with the vial of Veritaserum, and held it to a man dressed in full black robes on the side of the room. The man took it, and approached Dolohov.

"If you refuse this, you will be sent directly to Azkaban, is that understood, Dolohov?" Spoke the man. Dolohov nodded, still smiling, and snatched the vial from the man, downing it in one gulp. He smacked his lips.

"My favorite."

"Antonin Dolohov." Spoke the minister again. "Did you use multiple illegal curses against Caradoc Dearborn."

I began writing again, but the man laughed before he answered.

"No." He said bitterly. My eyes shot up to Dolohov, his grey eyes staring fiercely at Caradoc. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Caradocs knuckles whiten.

"Did you break into Dearborns house on the night of August 7th?" Continued the minister, though his voice seemed a bit dis-hearted.

Dolohov laughed. "I knocked politely on the door, thank you."

I heard Caradocs breath catch.

"Was there anyone with you that night?"

Dolohov smiled more broadly. "Yes, Minister. Mulciber was with me."

My eyes caught his again. Mulciber, I recognized that name. There was a Mulciber two years above me at Hogwarts.

"Peter Mulciber?" Asked the minister. Dolohov laughed.

"No. Patrick Mulciber. Peters son."

Patrick Mulciber. A Slytherin who had graduated two years ago. I remembered him. I remembered Snape talking about him. They were friends, or acquaintances at least. For the hundredth time that night, my heart sank. Severus was friends with them. My worst fears confirmed. I had trouble keeping my hand steady to continue writing.

The minister turned to Gibbons. "Get any files you can on Patrick Mulciber, and schedule a hearing with him as soon as possible." He said quietly.

The minister cleared his throat again. "Antonin Dolohov, one last question. If you weren't attacking Caradoc Dearborn the night of August 7th, what exactly were you doing at his house."

The man grinned more widly than he had all night.

"Simply borrowing a cup of sugar, Minister." He replied with twisted enthusiasm in his voice. I felt positively sick.

"Hearing adjourned." Spoke the minister, though his voice sounded extremely skeptical. "Mr. Dolohov, you're charges are not dropped. We will see you again."

Dolohov nodded, but left the room with a skip in his step. I looked to Caradoc, but he was already out of his chair storming out of the room after the Minister. I followed closely.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME, MINISTER!" He shouted when the reached the hallway. The minister paused and turned around so quickly that his glasses nearly fell from his nose.

"Excuse me, Mr. Dearborn?" He asked quietly.

"You're not even going to speculate that? Why Veritaserum has never worked on Dolohov? The four times we've interviewed him, he's always come up clean?" Caradoc seethed. I was frozen on the spot behind Caradoc, watching as the ministers calm expression did not falter.

"My dear Caradoc, maybe it's because he's innocent after all?" The Minister made to turn around, but Caradoc grabbed his arm.

"He's about as innocent as Voldemort himself!" Shouted Caradoc. Everyone in the room froze at the sound of his name. The minister gulped audibly.

"Mr. Dearborn, first, I beg of you to watch what you say. Second, you have no proof of anything. We can't send a seemingly innocent man to the dementors. When you unlock whatever it is your brain is hiding from you, come see me again. Until then, you have nothing." The minister replied, and walked away as quickly as possible.

Caradoc froze, his breath loud and panting. I wanted to hug him, to apologize to him for the way things were gone, but Mrs. Brunswick quickly pulled me back towards her office. I gave a quick smile towards Caradoc, and followed my boss.

"Leave your notes on my desk, Miss Evans." She informed me as we returned. "You're free to go." I nodded at the woman, placing my pages of parchment on her desk, and the quill back on Penelope's.

My mind raced as I made my way back to my room. I wasn't even completely sure how I got there, my feet followed the path automatically. My head nearly ached from everything I had seen, and everything I had heard. There was no way Dolohov was innocent - it was impossible. The way he laughed and smirked... it was impossible. I wrenched open the bedroom door.

And there sat James Potter.

"James." I breathed. I'd completely forgotten that I'd left him this morning. He smiled at me.

"I... er... brought you dinner." He grinned, and handed me a plate.

"Thank you." I nodded, but my head still ached from the events of my day.

"Is everything all right?" He asked, running a hand through his thick hair.

I nodded again, and sat down on the bed.

"Are you sure? You look pale as a ghost." He urged, sitting down next to me. I took a deep breath, and shook my head. I wasn't okay. This wasn't the world I'd ever imagined myself living in. Where guilty men walked free after committing horrible crimes...

James wrapped me in a hug, and I began to cry. I couldn't help it. My entire body ached as I sobbed. I wasn't even completely sure why I was crying. Maybe for Caradoc, maybe for James and his Mother, maybe for Snape, maybe for the fear that had filled my body, knowing that they were searching for people like me. All I know is I didn't leave James arms for a long while.

Jen Riddle
9-25-10

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