Here we go *tears* chapter twenty! My baby's growing up!
Fate
Hermione's POV
Friday is finally here. For the past two days Cruella has gone easy on us, except for the first night here. There were a few slaps here and there but other than that she's just left us in our room, not letting us out. We didn't complain, that gave us the chance to work on my plan, but the only problem was that she only gave us lunch, so we only had one meal a day. I think the only reason she's doing this is so we can at least walk when we go to court.
She had bought us clothes to wear to court today to cover our bruises and scars. She bought me dark blue jeans and a dark green long-sleeved shirt with a jean jacket to cover it. The others had similar outfits; long jeans with long-sleeved shirts. My body didn't hurt as much anymore but it still ached slightly.
"Come on! We don't have all day!" Cruella yelled from the living room. I looked at my siblings.
"Ready?"
"As we'll ever be." Neville replied and together we walked out the room.
/
Sam's POV
She was brilliant. After retrieving the papers from the box last night there was no doubt in my mind that we would win. For a nine year old girl she had the brain of a college student, maybe even older. She knew this day was coming, she knew from the start that Cruella was going to come after them, and she came prepared.
We had arrived at the courthouse at ten this morning; the trial would start at eleven. The Cullens had come to watch the trial and give us support. I was sitting on one side of the courtroom with Paul at my side. The rest were sitting in the audience with the Cullens. There were two minutes until trial started and we were waiting anxiously for the kids and Cruella to enter.
At ten fifty nine they finally entered, Cruella in the lead with the kids following behind. Their faces lit up when they saw my pack and the Cullens in the audience. Cruella walked to take a seat at the table on the other side of the room and the kids took a seat in the front row on my side. Hermione smiled at me and raised her eyebrows in silent question. I nodded my head and she beamed.
At that moment the judge came in from the backroom.
"All rise, Judge Francis entering." The bailiff said and we all rose to our feet.
"Thank you, you may take your seats." She said and we did. As she settled down she picked up a paper. "We are here today to determine custody of Miss Hermione Granger, Miss Luna Lovegood, Mister Neville Longbottom, Mister Dean Thomas, and Mister Seamus Finnigan. Mister Samuel Uley is challenging Miss Sondra Granger for their right to be the guardian of these children and is also accusing Miss Granger of child abuse. We will start with the prosecution, Mister Uley if you may." The judge said. I nodded and stood to address the court.
"Thank you Judge Francis. I'm going to get straight to the point. On August 2nd I was sitting in my house with my family when I got a call from Jacob Black, a family friend, saying that he and Seth and Leah Clearwater had found five children in the La Push woods. Seeing as it is our duty to protect the land of La Push and the people in it, we immediately went to see what was going on. When we arrive to where they were we see these five small children who are battered and dirty and so tired. Their hair and clothes are a mess, they have bags under their eyes, and they looked as if they were about to fall where they stood. When we asked them who they were and why they were in the woods they told us their names and said they had been living in the woods for a week now. My first thought was to get them out of the woods and somewhere warm, my second thought was to get answers. So we brought them to Jacob's house and asked them why they were here because by their accents we could tell they weren't from America. After a while they finally trusted us enough to tell us what happened; after finding out that Cruella had taken them all in the cruelest ways they took matters into their own hands and ran away from England all the way to America. How they afforded it I still don't know but that doesn't matter, what mattered was when they told us how this woman beat them continuously over the years." There were gasps throughout the room. The judge looked deep in thought so I continued.
"Ever since that day I took them under my wing; they lived in my house, they got along with my family who loved them, they got a healthy diet, but most importantly…they were cared for. It took us a while to do this, but we were finally able to get a doctor's appointment with a local doctor in town, Carlisle Cullen. We took them all to him to be checked up and each and every one of them had scars and a few bruises on their body that were clearly from abuse." I motioned to Carlisle who handed me a few papers. The bailiff walked forward and took the papers from me to give to the judge. She looked them over and nodded for me to continue. "We had never seen the scars or bruises how could we? We never helped them get dressed or wash them, they insisted they do it themselves and at that point we saw why. They were scared we would be disgusted and send them away. There was no way in hell that was going to happen, not then, not now, not ever. I love these kids like they were my own and I will do whatever it takes make sure that she does not go back to that woman." With that I sat down and Paul patted my shoulder. The judge took a long look at me before motioning for Cruella to speak.
"I would just like to say that I would never beat a child. Yes, once or twice I would pat them on the rear if they did something bad, but I would never intentionally beat them as he claims. Also I have legal rights to all these kids, and what happened to their guardians was not my fault at all, so I have no idea what Mister Uley is talking about." As she said this she had a shocked looked on her face which I was glad to see was failing. "I love those kids with all my heart."
"Mister Uley, your rebuttal?" the judge asked me.
"If she showed she loved them so much then why'd they run away in the first place?" I say calmly. "Also I have evidence that she was the cause of the death of two of these children's guardians, that she hooked one of their fathers on drugs, and that she kidnapped one of them, too." I saw Cruella start to get a panicked look on her face. Paul reached under the table and brought out a red box. The bailiff collected the box and handed it to the judge. Taking the box she opened the lid. Inside there were pictures of the Misfits together at different places. She looked at the pictures and a fond smile came to her stern face.
"As cute as these pictures are, what does this prove?" she asked looking at me.
"Go to the very bottom of the box, you'll find papers." I told her. She looked through the box until she reached the bottom. She pulled out ten pieces of papers. Looking at the papers she scowled.
"Explain." She said.
"Hermione had found pictures in her mother's closet that proved she had taken these children. On those papers are front and back copies of pictures of the five children that Miss Granger kept that Hermione had made before she came here. I think you'll find what's written on the back of said pictures interesting." I said and Cruella's eyes went wider than plates.
The judge's face became more and more disgusted and appalled as she read the papers. "Miss Granger, what is the meaning of this? 'Neville Longbottom: 2005, Parents: Insane, Grandmother: Poisoned. Fourth child: Mine' 'Hermione Granger: 1998, Kidnapped in Paris. First child: Mine'. Would you like to explain this to me, Miss Granger?" the judge asked, looking at said person.
She fidgeted, "Those aren't mine, I have no idea what he's talking about." She claimed.
"Really?" I asked, smirking and she looked at me warily. "Then why is it the same handwriting as your signature on one of Seamus old tests from school that I found in his bag?" I gave the bailiff Seamus' test and he gave it to the judge to look over. She looked back and forth between the signature and the writing on the photo.
"He's right, they're compatible." The judge said.
"Let me explain—"
"I gave you your chance to explain, Miss Granger." The judge snapped and Cruella kept quiet. "Now, Mister Uley, it is quite clear that these kids were taken but, not that I'm doubting you, we need proof that these kids have been beaten." The judge said and before I could open my mouth a voice spoke from behind me.
"We do." It said and I turned to see the Misfits standing from their seats. They walked to the front of the courtroom until they were in front of the judge. Hermione, who had spoken before, continued. "You see, I may be only nine, but I do know the rules of the court, it's something I've always been interested in. One of the rules are that no one can ask for a person to show them what's under their clothes in court, nor can they show you themselves unless they have pictures. Well, we don't, so we came up with a plan to show you while having our clothes still on in place." She said. To my surprise they started taking their clothes off but what was even more surprising was what they wore underneath. When they were completely undressed they stood in front of the judge covered in a second layer of clothing only these were see-through. Under those the girls wore a sports bra and boy shorts while the boys just wore shorts. Through the clothes you could see their body covered in fresh bruises that were a sickly black and blue. They covered their torso and legs, covering the beautiful skin that lay underneath. I had to stop myself from growling when I saw them. I was furious, if they didn't chuck this woman in jail God only knows what I'll do.
"You see, my sister is very good with a needle and thread. She made these out of saran wrap we took from the kitchen over the past two nights and we snuck them on this morning while Cruella was taking a shower." She explained and I had to stop myself from laughing at the name she used.
"Cruella?" Judge Francis asked. I could tell she was trying to hold back a smile as her mouth twitched.
"Yes, that's what we call her since we don't feel comfortable using mother." Seamus said innocently. Oh, Seamus.
"When did you receive these?" Judge Francis asked.
"The night we were sent back." Luna said. The regular dreaminess was missing from her voice and I guess Jacob noticed because I heard him whine behind me.
"Okay. Thank you, children." She said and they nodded. After putting their clothes back on they took their seats again. Jacob, Leah, and Seth held their imprints close, whispering in their ears as Sue did the same to Seamus and Neville. "Are there any closing statements?"
"I would like to say one more thing." I said standing up. The judge nodded. "I love these children with all my heart, we all do. They've become my children and I never thought I could care for a group of kids as much as I do them. If you give me custody I promise on my life that I will care and love them as if they were my own." I said with all the passion I could muster. The judge nodded.
"Okay, the jury will now go and deliberate." She said and with that the jury went into the back room to decide our fate.
/
Hermione's POV
Oh Gods, I'm so nervous. I sure that we had won but I wouldn't calm down unless I heard the words. They've been in there for ten minutes but it felt like hours. I was in Seth's lap and he held me tightly. I looked over his shoulder to where Edward sat directly behind him. He smiled at me when he saw me looking and I returned it.
"Hi." I whispered.
"Hi." He chuckled. He leaned forward so he was closer. "You were so brave out there. It takes a lot of courage to do something like that." He whispered.
"Thanks." I said. Looking him straight in the eye I say, "I'm scared."
"We all are, but there's not a doubt in my mind that they'll make the right decision." He said flicking my nose. I scrunched my face and he laughed. At that moment the jury entered the courtroom again and we waited anxiously to hear the verdict.
"Ladies and gentleman of the jury, have you reached a decision?" Judge Francis asked.
"We have your honor." The foreman said.
"And how do you find the defendant?" she asked.
"We the jury find Sondra Granger guilty of all charges made against her." The foreman said.
"YES!" we all screamed. It was like a huge amount of weight was lifted from my shoulders and for the first time ever I felt free. Even when I was with the pack and the Cullens I never felt free or truly relaxed because I knew one day Cruella would find me. But now, in this moment, I felt truly free, I felt infinite.
"NO!" Cruella's voice rang through the courtroom. "This is not happening! Those kids are mine, you hear me? MINE! I had five miscarriages and I worked damn hard to replace the children I lost and I will not let some stupid guys who look like they're on steroids take them away from me!" she screeched and started to run towards us but two security guards got to her before she could reach us and wrestled her to the ground. Once they had her in their grasp they hauled her to her feet and turned her towards the judge.
"Miss Granger, not only have you beaten these children, but you are the cause of what happened to the guardians of Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, and Luna Lovegood. On another note, you also kidnapped Hermione Granger when she was a baby." The judge said angrily at the struggling woman. "With that i here by sentence you to twenty five years to life in prison without the possibility of parole. I am disgusted by your actions, Miss Granger. No child or family deserves this."
"Oh, eat horse dung!" Cruella shouted.
"Get her out of my sight!" the judge demanded and the security dragged a screaming woman out of the room.
The judge turned to look at us. "Congratulations. Mister Uley, I trust you will take good care of these kids."
"With all my heart, ma'am." He said and she smiled down at him. I climbed over the seats to where he stood and he picked me up into his arms, smiling broadly.
"You did it!" I exclaimed.
"No, we did it." He said and I smiled. "So what now?" he asked and they all looked at me.
"Let's go home." I said and they all smiled.
You know, I use to believe that fate was a bitch, that my fate was to always be on a leash, held by Cruella for the rest of my life, being beaten and hated. I never thought that I could be loved or even love anyone else except my siblings. But right here, in this moment, I knew that, that wasn't my fate. My fate was being here with my siblings, and my new family, and the Cullens. In this moment I knew that my future was bright. Today was the day that my life would finally start and right here, surrounded by people I love, I knew that this was my fate, and it sure looked good.
Today I officially begin my life as Hermione Jean Uley.
THE END! The end has finally arrived and I have to say I am very proud of this story. I absolutely loved writing this and I can't wait to start my next one!
I would just like to thank all of you who supported me and this story especially a few in particular: E J ect, xXBelieverXx, .5, LeeArt, Taybug98, flyingberry, and .96780. These people have been a big help to my story so I thank you guys very much.
Follow me as an author so you can see when my next story comes up! My poll is still up but will be taken down on Monday so I can start my next story. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! Get ready for The Misfits Go to Hogwarts!
Lots of Love,
-Olivia Rose