Disclaimer: In chapter one.
AN: Please review.
"It was definitely blood magic?"
"Yes headmaster, I'm certain."
"The trial is tomorrow, for both of them. Will you be testifying?"
"Of course."
Taranau's eyes opened. He was in the hospital wing, on one of the beds. He could see Ginny on another bed. Her head was turned towards him. She was wrapped in chains. She was looking better than she had been when he collapsed. Her eyes met his. She smiled slightly, then he noticed that he too was chained.
Madam Pomfrey appeared between them and pulled a divider into place. "Tomorrow you will both be on trial before the wizengamot, you Mister Lloyd for possessing Miss Weasley and for the illegal use of blood magic, and you Miss Weasley for the illegal use of blood magic as well as intent to murder. Your family has officially disowned you. Your family, Mister Lloyd, is at the moment unaware of the charges levelled against you." She then shut the divider so that they couldn't see each other.
After she left, Taranau could hear Ginny crying quietly. He started to whisper comfort to her but his words had little effect. He hoped Cannos returned soon and told Carrog and Cysged what had happened.
The next morning, ten aurors came and escorted them both, still chained, to the Winged Boar Gates. A young girl appeared just as they were leaving. She was made of golden light and shone very dimly. Black wisps swirled within the gemstone at the peak of the gate's arch. None of the aurors saw her nor did their prisoners. She waved her hand at the aurors. Nothing happened.
The aurors and the prisoners portkeyed away to courtroom ten. The girl fell to her knees, her face contorted into a silent scream. Then she faded away.
The entire Wizengamot was in attendance.
The Minister of Magic, a rather toad-like woman and a severe looking woman with a monocle were sat in front of the rest of the Wizengamot. There was a stone chair facing the ranks of elderly wizards and witches. Chains lay about it. The aurors directed Ginny to the chair and the chains sprung to life. They held her tighter than the chains that she'd had to sleep in the night before. Taranau was led to a separate room behind the chair. He couldn't see or hear the proceedings within the courtroom.
Ginny was terrified. She had no idea what could happen at the trial but she knew that the charge of intent to murder would certainly mean Azkaban.
"Trial of the twelfth of September, the charges are the illegal use of blood magic and intent to murder, the accused is Miss Ginevra Molly formerly Weasley, former resident of The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon. Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Delores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Court Scribe: Andrew Moss. Lead Prosecutor: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." The Minister started the proceedings.
"You are Ginevra Molly formerly Weasley and your former residence was The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon?" He asked her. Ginny nodded.
"You are aware that blood magic, of all forms, is highly regulated and only legal within the Gringotts building under Goblin supervision?" Ginny shook her head. The Minister frowned. "Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking it. Did you and Mister Lloyd perform blood magic together?" Ginny didn't respond. She shook her head again. There hadn't been any magic involved on the train.
Albus Dumbledore stood. "If I may, I would like to ask for Madam Pomfrey to be questioned on this matter." The Minister nodded. Madam Pomfrey entered the courtroom.
"It is our understanding that you believe that Miss Ginevra has performed blood magic. Do you have any evidence of this?" Amelia Bones asked her.
"Yes I do, if I could be permitted to perform magic I can show a diagnostic charm that I used on Miss Ginevra and this charm shows that she has used blood magic." At the Minister's approval she performed the charm. "This crimson area of Miss Ginevra, her hand and most of her forearm, has traces of blood magic all over it."
A healer from St. Mungo's was summoned to verify the charm's results. He declared that Ginny had to have performed blood magic for the charm to show her hand in such a way. After both healers left the room, the Minister continued.
On the matter of intent to murder, the evidence provided is this melted diary cover and the ashes held within it. Would the Lead Prosecutor please explain?"
"Of course Minister. This diary belonged to a student of many decades ago called Tom Marvolo Riddle. This boy grew up to become Lord Voldemort. After I discovered this diary, I found powerful dark magics in it. The diary also once contained a secret that is now entirely undeterminable due to it having melted, the secret is likely to have contained the location of the Chamber of Secrets. I am aware of one occasion on which Miss Ginevra opened the Chamber while at Hogwarts this year. It is my belief that she intended to follow in Salazar Slytherin's footsteps and kill the muggleborn population at the school."
Albus Dumbledore sat down. Ginny was shocked, how could the headmaster have known about Tom and about what he had wanted her to do? Unless…
"I believe that the evidence is damning for both charges. Are there any further questions?" Both other interrogators shook their heads. Ginny realised that she hadn't had a chance to speak in her own defence and that the trial was almost over. She tried to deny the charges but found that her mouth wouldn't open. In her panic she missed the headmaster's smirk. "I call for a vote. All those that find Miss Ginevra guilty." All hands rose. "Those that find her innocent." No hands were in the air. "I declare Miss Ginevra guilty and sentence her to life imprisonment in Azkaban Prison."
The chains of the chair unwrapped and two dementors entered the room. Ginny screamed. Then the dementors pulled her from the room by her arms.
Taranau felt that he had been stood against the wall, draped in chains, when he heard Ginny scream. He dove for the door. The aurors stunned him before he reached it.
He awoke in the stone chair in the courtroom.
A man in a black cloak with a violet strip running diagonally across his front entered the room silently and sat amongst the reporters and other onlookers.
"You are aware that blood magic is regulated and thus is only legal within the confines of the Gringotts building and only under Goblin supervision?" Taranau shook his head. The Minister frowned again. "Ignorance of the law is not an acceptable excuse for breaking it. Did you perform blood magic?" Taranau knew Ginny must have been found guilty. She wouldn't have screamed otherwise. He only hoped that they'd have the same punishment so as to be together. The man in the black cloak stood up.
"I admit to performing a protective blood magic spell." Taranau told the court. The Minister nodded.
Albus Dumbledore stood. "On the matter of possession I believe that Mister Lloyd used the blood magic that he performed on Miss Ginevra to possess her. He wished to hide the blood magic from us. It was good chance that he has been caught." The Minister nodded.
He stood. "I sentence Mister Lloyd to life imprisonment in Azkaban Prison." A camera flashed as a pair of dementors swept forward. The man in the black cloak strode out of the room. Taranau did not resist as the dementors drew him from the chair. He was going to Ginny, hopefully Carrog and Cysged could rescue them.
"Chief Warlock, sir!" A voice came from behind him. He spun about on the spot. The man before him was dressed in a black cloak and had a single violet strip running diagonally across his front. A single white raven marked his shoulder. He was recognisably an Unspeakable.
"Yes? What can I do for you?" Albus' voice echoed in the now empty corridor outside of courtroom ten.
"We would like to know about Harry James Potter. He was due to arrive at your school the year previous. Yet he has yet to arrive." The voice was cold, emotionless.
"He has vanished, his guardians all passed away several years ago to a very severe illness and he was not there when I came to visit him. It was a great shame."
The Unspeakable nodded. "And of Taranau Lloyd? This boy meets all predictions of what Harry Potter may have grown to become."
"Taranau Lloyd? He is not Harry Potter, of that I can assure you. The wards at Hogwarts would alert me to a student who attempted to attend under a false name."
The Unspeakable nodded again. "You have been most informative." The Unspeakable turned on the spot and started to walk towards the Department of Mysteries and the chamber in which they studied the Law-writers from afar.
"Why do you ask?" Albus called after the Unspeakable. No reply came until the Unspeakable opened the door at the far end of the hallway.
"You are wrong."
Minerva McGonagall was the only member of staff to have ever been to the Hearth and so it was her task to inform Mister Lloyd's parents of what had happened. She apparated to the path in front of the house. She was amazed by what she saw. Men in black armour rushed about around as if they were a storm whipping about the house. The sky was filled by phoenixes and by phoenix fire such that the flames rivalled the sun in brightness as they brought various cargoes, metal and tools, timber and blades, arrows and potions. Entire herds of centaurs were hauling felled trees into the open grass beside the house and elves, which she had thought to be creatures of only myth, carried arms and armour into the cottage.
In the midst of it all the cottage looked the same as always; strong, stable and peaceful. Its log walls were still in perfect condition and it seemed like the roof had been freshly painted a soft red.
Then suddenly she found herself on the ground. Something heavy had placed a foot on her back.
"Let her up Glaza." She recognised the voice as Carrog, from when she introduced Mister Lloyd to magic. When she stood and had stretched her now sore body, she noticed that were more wolves there than men. Most were stood just within the treeline and half a dozen were behind her with an exceptionally large brownish wolf directly behind her.
A phoenix dove at her and suddenly a net of fire surrounded her, not touching her at all. She had enough space to take a step back or forwards. "You can't perform magic while within that net, the flames separate you from the ambient magic in the world, and how they do it is a secret that their High Court has yet to see fit to allow us to learn. You will find that magical artefacts too can't function in there. Why have you come here Professor McGonagall?"
She looked about herself, still in awe. She'd discovered for herself that she couldn't apparate. "I've been sent to tell you that your son was found guilty of illegally performing blood magic and of possessing another student. He's been sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban Prison." Carrog nodded.
"You are the third to tell us of this. The Swedes have answered. They've already taken to wing." Cysged's voice came from behind.
Carrog smirked. "I hope Azkaban Prison isn't very important, Professor, because I don't expect that it'll be around for too much longer." He turned around and went back to his work, armouring various wolves. He seemed to have a method for choosing which ones to armour, Minerva couldn't see why some were being armoured and others weren't.
Cysged came up beside her. "You shall not communicate that which you have learnt here today to anyone. As I say it, I mean it. As I mean it, I say it. So mote it be." A breeze howled through the forest and a distinct hint of powerful magic blew around them. It was unlike any magic that she had felt before. The younger woman went to the pile of fallen trees and started to move the logs into an odd shape. It resembled a very small house; someone could stand in it, just about, and it could fit a dozen people, six on each side of a suspended log with a metal ram's head on the end.
The phoenix above her flamed away and was lost in the confusion of flame overhead. The wolves behind her blended into the forest again. She apparated to the Winged Boar Gates at Hogwarts and went to her office, only offering the gemstone atop the Gates a cursory glance. The gemstone still shone very dimly and cracks had begun to appear around the edges of its seat. Cysged had bound her in such a way that she simply couldn't even try to tell anyone of the impending attack on Azkaban.
An alarm rung out in the Department of Mysteries. Gold cursive script wrote itself across a wall in a large room deep in the heart of the department. 'Minerva McGonagall' had just appeared on the wall. This was the third new name on the wall in a decade. The Law-writers had surely returned to the wizarding world.
Albus Dumbledore returned to his office confused. Miss Ginevra and Mister Lloyd had both been sent to Azkaban and they wouldn't be capable of interfering with his plans and wouldn't lead Edward astray. Albus knew exactly what Prewitt would do to capture their man. He didn't pause to consider the possibility that Miss Ginevra's preferred man may not have been Edward. Why wouldn't he be, even the Minister's wife probably wanted to be seen on the boy's arm when he grew up. Although, if rumours were to be believed, she likely wouldn't mind him as he was.
Yet the Unspeakable had disturbed him. What was he wrong about? Could it be possible that Mister Lloyd was the missing Potter boy? If he was then how had it gone unnoticed all of this time, he had a map of his own which informed him of the locations of all students and it had steadfastly named Mister Lloyd as 'Taranau Lloyd'. He would visit the boy the next day in Azkaban to question him, and if necessary draw the memories from him with legilimency.
Besides this issue Albus couldn't see any enemies on the horizon. The next task would be arranging a meeting with the Moon Council. It had a massive following across Britain and if Edward were seen as the patron of werewolves in Britain then, when he inevitably became Albus' successor, he'd have a strong base of supporters to work with.
Yes, even savage beasts would come to heel before the greatness of The Albus Dumbledore.