Chapter 35 was so long that I divided it into two separate chapters.

Chapter 35

Unlike Draco Malfoy's limited resources in looking for his long-lost cousin, the Ministry of Magic had many Muggle and Wizarding resources—including a lengthy confession from Draco Malfoy in exchange for Aurors to protect his wife and son—and in a matter of hours confirmed the worst: Gemini Ridley was indeed Gemini Morgana Black, daughter of You-Know-Who and Bellatrix Lestrange.

News of the party spread like wildfire. Nearly the entire community believed Gemini Black was the Second Coming of You-Know-Who. Scared parents who were alive in the Second Wizarding War quickly pulled their children out of Hogwarts despite the assurance from the Ministry that they were safe, but with so many children leaving the school, Headmaster Flitwick was forced to close down the school and send everyone home.

While several members of the Ministry's high ranking members wanted to keep the wizarding community in the dark and assure them everything was fine, Minister Shacklebolt and Head Auror Harry Potter didn't want to mirror what the last Ministry did by placing mistrust and discord in the public and decided to confirm the truth. They knew, either way, the public would be scared, but it was best to be honest. They assured the wizarding community that Gemini Black was in their custody, and nearly all sources—except for Raymond Skeeter's miniscule column in the Daily Prophet—claimed that Gemini was cooperating well enough while in custody and has never tried escaping or attacking Aurors who guarded her.

Apprehension of Gemini Black was easy, since she chose not to struggle and complied even without the need for enchanted shackles, but when it came to detaining her, it was a different matter. Azkaban was the norm for prisoners' detention center before trial, but a group of Wizengamot members, headed by Hermione Granger, noted the Dementor residue in Azkaban that made visitors uncomfortable, and pointed out that Gemini Black did not deserve to be kept in a place like that simply because of who she was born to. Instead, she was kept in a holding cell under the courtrooms in the Ministry.

The cell was a small, circular room made with bluish-black stone and torches that never went out. There was a comfortable bed attached to the wall, a simple table with pens and papers, and a tiny door that led to a tinier bathroom. The entrance was barred with enchanted metal bars that couldn't be broken, and the sound of running water at the maintenance room nearby was driving Gemini insane as she waited.

Gemini had been detained for almost a day. She had not been allowed visitors, though Hermione had been visiting to give her updates on what was happening outside her cell. The Ministry was doing damage control on the panic caused after it was confirmed that someone like her existed. According to her, so many people found it hard to believe that Gemini was You-Know-Who's daughter after her contribution of society and people's comments about her saying she was a good person, and in the span of two days, she was vilified by everyone despite the Ministry saying otherwise. Her membership to the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers was revoked, and St. Mungo's had stopped using the Potions she created in Malfoy Apothecary. The Slytherins she once called friends were quick to destroy her image, claiming she was a narcissistic, arrogant, bullying witch who hurt others and, before she even found out about her parents, liked to insist that she was half-blood and forced everyone to believe it despite the evidence that she was likely Muggle-born. As if they weren't the ones who made the idea in the first place, Gemini thought bitterly as Hermione reported on.

She could barely eat, too anxious about what was going to happen to her now that the truth was out. There was nothing she could do but wait, and having nothing to do while her life crumbled around her made her restless. She couldn't get any sleep the night before, as she kept dreaming about Arnold's face the night she was taken away, and it made her feel so guilty that she didn't want to sleep anymore. Despite being isolated for less than thirty-six hours, Gemini's hair was tangled from tossing and turning at night, making her look so haggard that she'd think she was arrested last month.

"Hermione…" Gemini cut her off gently as she reported what was happening. "Why are you doing this? I appreciate you coming here, but naturally of all people, shouldn't you be up there hating my mere existence as well? I'd expect you, Harry, and Ron to be demanding for my head by now. You were there when my father nearly killed Harry Potter."

"I was," Hermione agreed, "but you weren't. I'm Muggle-born; I know what it's like for people to judge you because of the parents you were born to. I know you, and you are not your parents. You can prove that—and you already have, to some. Harry and Ron were of course taken aback when they found out about your connection to Voldemort, but when they learned that even you had no idea about it, they agreed with me that you did nothing wrong."

"Then let me prove it." Gemini said fervently, leaping off her bed and clutching the bars in front of Hermione. "Let me prove that I'm not a bad person."

Hermione nodded. "I was getting to that. The Wizengamot want to hold a trial, and they'll be interrogating you, see if you are fit to live in public again. They recognize that you've done nothing wrong—Malfoy's not pressing charges against you; too afraid to want anything to do with you anymore—but the fact is, you've got Voldemort's blood in you, and that's a possible risk, especially now that you're aware of it."

"I don't intend on killing anyone, if that's what they're thinking." Gemini said tightly. "Make a trial, by all means. I have nothing to hide, now that Draco's said everything."

"Yes…well…have you ever heard of Veritaserum Alpha?" Hermione asked.

As a Potioneer, Gemini knew very well what Veritaserum Alpha was. It was a relatively new potion, a modified version of the original Veritaserum recipe, made by one of the older Potioneers Gemini had the honor of working with back in Malfoy Apothecary. Veritaserum was the strongest truth-telling potion in the world, but it had its flaws: if a wizard was skilled at Occlumency or had enough willpower to resist, they could get away with telling the truth. Gemini was good at neither—as proven when Zoey Rossier smuggled in some of the potion on their third year—and plain Veritaserum would have made her spill her deepest secrets, but if the Ministry planned to interrogate her with Veritaserum Alpha, that meant they were taking no chances of her lying. Veritaserum Alpha was mixed with something akin to Muggle soda spiked with Marijuana. It would make the drinker's mind spin in a way that they couldn't be focused enough to resist, their minds would be too filled to use Occlumency, and at the same time it wouldn't create hallucinations in their head that it would be their insanity talking. It would be a reliable confession from any person who drank it.

But what made Veritaserum Alpha ten times better than regular Veritaserum was that there were no loopholes. According to reports, people who drank it heard a second voice in their heads, and if they could worm their way out of telling the truth because of the way the question was posed at them, that voice would make sure it wasn't possible. It would ask the implied question the interviewer failed to ask but wanted to know, and if Gemini drank it and was interrogated, she would be open to every question they asked, no matter how out of line it would be. No stone would be left unturned once a person drank Veritaserum.

What have I got to lose? She wondered. And when I get out, what happens? At this point, Arnold's not an option, I have nowhere to go to. My friends abandoned me. I don't have a job anymore. I'll probably have to move to Albania or something. Yes, I could, actually. I have enough Galleons to start a new life somewhere. Not somewhere expensive, but still…She sighed. "If I have to take Veritaserum Alpha before they can believe me, then so be it. Prepare the trial."

Hermione grimaced. "It's already prepared."

~0~

The courtroom looked just like the scenes Gemini watched in the Pensieve archive. She looked around the room, at the Wizengamots dressed in plum robes, at the Aurors looking sadly at her, at the Stenographers, Secretaries with parchments around them, and Gemini couldn't help but wonder which of their memories would be used for this interrogation when she became a part of the archives. After drinking a shot of Veritaserum Alpha and having her hands safely bound to the chair at the bottom of the pit, Gemini felt her head begin to spin.

"The interrogation of Ms. Gemini Black has now begun." Minister Shacklebolt said. He turned to her. His face was not unkind, but stern. "Let's begin with the simple questions: Are you Gemini Black?"

A second voice seemed to penetrate her head: Tell the truth. Say it. Say it.

Stop it. I will, Gemini thought irritably. The name still sounded odd: Gemini Black. From time to time, she would still catch herself calling herself Gemini Ridley. To be the last member of an old wizarding family just sounded so surreal. "Yes." She said, but she heard herself adding "I was born Gemini Black, and I only found out about it two days ago. Before that, I was known as Gemini Ridley. For a few months when I was four, I was Gemini Stark after the family that adopted me, but that was revoked after I was returned."

"And until two days ago, you had no knowledge whatsoever that you were related to Bellatrix Lestrange and Tom Riddle, commonly known as Lord Voldemort?"

"No."

Minister Shacklebolt nodded. A few seats away from him, Hermione spoke up. "Can you tell us about where you grew up?"

"I grew up in the St. Jerome Emiliani Orphanage in Kent." Gemini started. From the corner of her eye, she noticed two Wizengamots look at a piece of parchment and nodded. "I stayed there—meaning that was my permanent residence—before I turned seventeen and moved to Abigail Flint's penthouse in London."

"You were adopted at one point?" One of the Wizengamots in the upper seats asked.

"Several times, yes." Gemini said bitterly, the potion working to admit what she had always hated to say out loud.

"But you were returned." A voice said plummily. It didn't even sound like a question.

"Crudely put, yes." Gemini said tightly. Why? The second voice in her head asked. "Bad things kept happening when I was around."

That made murmurs in the courtroom. Several Wizengamot members who were already looking at her with contempt at the beginning of the interrogation looked more hostile. Minister Shacklebolt quickly silenced them. "Continue, Ms. Black. What kind of bad things?"

Gemini didn't want to remember, but when she tried blocking those painful memories, her head started to throb in pain, like it hurt her to block memories. "The first family that took me in—the Stark family—owned a large home in Kent. It had a ranch and a barn and everything. Mr. Stark raised large breeding horses, and it scared me the first time I saw them. I hated hearing their noisy neighs at night. They disappeared, and Mr. Stark was quite upset about one of his favorite horses disappearing. There was a snake infestation—" the room muttered again, but this time, Minister Shacklebolt was too immersed to notice "—and it killed the other animals that I didn't like. There were…accidents in the house. Accidents that could never be explained. The Starks were superstitious, believed that I was cursed, and sent me back in less than two months, and took another orphan in my place.

"The second family was the Dawson family. They're basically that rich family that adopts for publicity but privately only adores their real son when the cameras weren't on. I refused to play their game: they acted differently around me in public, but I didn't. Their son, Andrew, I think—I don't remember his name very well, was a bully and he liked to hit me even if his parents were looking." Gemini said darkly, her mouth saying words she didn't want to say.

"We were playing by this hill, and by that point I knew I was different. I could fly, so I jumped off a very steep hill and landed safely at the bottom. I told him he could do the same. I knew he couldn't. I wanted him to get hurt. I was sent back a week later…"

"That will be enough, Ms. Black." Minister Shacklebolt said. "Now, next question…"