Originally Posted 8/29/16, last revised 10/27/16.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and while I've never met her and am not one of her subjects, I have nothing but respect for the Queen. Information about British law and letters to and from the Queen comes from online research and is accurate to the best of my knowledge.

Epilogue 2: The Queen's Justice

During the two weeks that followed the assault on the Riddle House and the death of Voldemort, the Crown Wizard's office, the MMS, and a select group of others worked to prepare for the trials of the remaining Death Eaters. The biggest challenge was procuring appropriate legal representation for them, since despite the obvious guilt of many of them the proper legal forms needed to be observed wherever possible. Madam Edgecome had already been provided with a solicitor, but she, along with the other Death Eaters required a barrister, and there was always the possibility that they would not want to use the same one. Eventually, a team of six barristers and three additional solicitors with the appropriate credentials were recruited via word of mouth, most of them being relatives of people with ties to the Magical community in some way or another.

The trials were held over the last two days of August, with all but one being concluded in that time. Madam Edgecombe's trial was first, and fastest, as after making her agreement with the MMS and having further discussed things with her legal advisers, she pled guilty to charges of treason and sedition and agreed to testify against the others knowing that if they were somehow spared her life would be in jeopardy from them. Her testimony, along with that of Severus Snape, was the final nail in the coffins of the remaining three, whose interrogation transcripts were damning to begin with. Malfoy and Yaxley refused to put forward any defense other than that they had been under the Imperius Curse, despite warnings from their legal team against it, while Macnair proudly proclaimed his involvement, having considered it impossible that he would ever be held somewhere his Dark Lord couldn't rescue him from.

The fact that Voldemort was dead hadn't been kept from them, but in true pure-blood fashion none of the three had taken their Muggle captors seriously; after all, Voldemort had come back before and bragged about his steps towards immortality, so he would probably do so again. Thus it was no surprise when all three were found guilty, and immediately sentenced to death by hanging. What was a surprise to them, however, was the fact that they were not sent to Azkaban, but instead were remanded to the custody of the MMS pending their execution. Even if Voldemort found a way to return and attempt to rescue them, chances were he wouldn't be able to locate them on his own.

The reason for this was that Her Majesty had stated early on, unequivocally, that the dementors of Azkaban had to go before she would permit any new prisoners to be sent there, and the sooner it happened the better. Despite the potential danger of removing them, there was no way they would ever be considered acceptable treatment of anyone, prisoner or not, and so she had tasked her Chief Wizard with finding a way to either destroy or remove them altogether. The Chief Wizard had, in turn, enlisted Croaker and his Unspeakables, asking them to come up with a solution as quickly as possible, but as of yet they didn't have one.

The final trial, that of Severus Snape, was ultimately delayed for several months. During the time the legal team had been preparing for the Death Eater trials, there had also been a further investigation into Snape's behavior at Hogwarts, and it was ultimately decided to postpone his trial while they determined what, if anything, they could charge him with for his behavior while teaching. In the meantime he, along with Madam Edgecombe, were kept in holding cells at a different location from the other Death Eaters for their own safety, just in case something happened.

The outcomes of the trials were announced to the Magical world on the second of September, three weeks after they had first been arrested. While the actual information had been given to Governor General Bones, and from there a press release had been given to the Prophet that evening, everyone involved agreed that it was best to wait until all of the students were safely in Hogwarts before risking the public's reaction. Fortunately, despite a lot of grumbling, there was only limited unrest as a result of the verdict and sentences, and not enough that the Aurors weren't able to handle it themselves. Still, there were a number of people arrested and ultimately sentenced to both community service, as well as a mandatory education program, although the latter had yet to be properly created.

That same day, quietly and without fanfare, Dolores Umbridge found herself finally being taken out of her cell for more than just a shower and exercise. She attempted to find out where she was going, but all that did was get her blindfolded and gagged. She was placed in some sort of a vehicle and driven about an hour before being taken out of said vehicle and led inside a building. There, she was seated in a chair and secured to it before her blindfold and gag were finally removed. Standing in front of her, looking just as displeased as the last time she'd seen her, was the Queen.

"Dolores Umbridge, we have brought you before us to determine what it is that we should do with you. Before we decide, do you have anything to say for yourself?" asked the Queen.

Umbridge narrowed her eyes. Just who did this Muggle think she was, thinking she could decide what to do with a witch. "You hold no authority over me. I demand to speak to the Minister of Magic immediately!" She stared at the Queen defiantly, challenging her to refuse.

The Queen narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips before responding. "We see that your time to yourself has done nothing to change your attitude. Very well, if you will not back down, neither shall we. Dolores Umbridge, you are charged with High Treason in the attempted murder of your sovereign. We look forward to your conviction and execution thereafter." The Queen turned to one of the soldiers guarding Umbridge and said, "Return her to her cell and coordinate legal representation for her. The Chief Wizard will be in touch regarding a trial schedule, but the sooner the better."

The soldier saluted and said, "Yes, Ma'am," before showing her out. He then returned to a protesting Umbridge and blindfolded and gagged her again, before beginning the process of taking her back whence she'd come.

Umbridge's trial was held two weeks later, and despite the seriousness of the charge was remarkably short. The fact that there were numerous witnesses to Umbridge pointing her wand at the Queen and shouting "Reducto!" might have been all that was needed, but when Umbridge lost her cool and began hurling insults at the Queen, the judge, and everyone else who she saw as being inferior to herself it sealed her fate. Like the three Death Eaters who hadn't cooperated with the MMS, she found herself sentenced to death by hanging and was taken to be held with the other condemned Magicals.

After several discussions on how to best ensure that the actual hangings were not disrupted by misguided members of the Magical community, it was ultimately decided that they would take place in the courtyard of Azkaban prison, once the dementor issue had been resolved. They might have been able to do it sooner, given that the prisoners wouldn't actually be housed there, but nobody was certain how the dementors would react to condemned prisoners on their way to the gallows, and nobody wanted to take any chances either.

The solution to the dementor problem was finally agreed upon the last week in October. Despite numerous attempts to do so in different ways, no successful method had been found for destroying dementors, and the only remaining suggestion was deemed unacceptable. While the Crown Wizards had been thoroughly horrified at the Unspeakables' proposal to use a nuclear weapon to destroy the dementors, they had dutifully consulted with the MMS, and ultimately the Queen, to make an informed decision. Strangely it wasn't the political ramifications that stopped the proposal, but the inability to guarantee the safety and efficacy of capturing, transporting, and destroying all of the dementors.

With no way to destroy them, the dementors would instead be herded into the far corner of the lowest level of Azkaban and sealed in place. Both Magical wards and non-Magical methods like concrete would be used to ensure they remained there forever, and the prisoners would all be moved to the opposite end of the prison. It was hoped that over time the lack of prisoners to feed off of would result in the dementors weakening, or perhaps even dying off altogether, but at the very least it would provide some time to keep researching a better solution. It took nearly three weeks to assemble all of the materials needed to seal the dementors in, and two of the team members nearly lost their souls to the Dementor's Kiss while they were herding them into place, but it was finally done and the Prison was deemed usable again. The only place the effects of the dementors was still felt was in the far corner of the central courtyard, closest to where they had been sealed in.

It was a cold, rainy morning in early December when the Prophet announced that the execution of the convicted Death Eaters and former Undersecretary Umbridge had been carried out the previous day. While a reporter and photographer had been permitted to witness the executions, the only image the paper published was a still one showing the four condemned prisoners having their sentences read to them while standing on the gallows platform. The article was very matter-of-fact in its description of the execution itself, neither embellishing nor softening anything for the readers.

While the story did carry a warning for sensitive readers, it had been decided that the only way to avoid the appearance of pushing an agenda for or against the executions was to report the straight truth and nothing more. This caused quite a stir among many of the Prophet's readers, who sent a number of letters to the editor along with quite a few Howlers, but other than an editorial the next day explaining their position in response to those letters the paper did nothing more.

Below the story about the execution was a second story, with headlines nearly as large, proclaiming that Her Majesty the Queen was taking steps to permanently ban the death penalty for both her Magical and non-Magical realms. While this latter news was greeted with approval, it wasn't enough to prevent protests by the same group of people who had protested the original trials and sentences. Fortunately, the protests were mostly peaceful, and similar to the last ones there were a limited numbers of arrests for minor offenses but no other damage. A few of the protesters even tried to keep them going, returning to the Ministry to protest the next day, but eventually gave up when it became clear that while many people were uncomfortable with the concept of the death penalty, most of the public weren't actually sad to see it happen to those particular individuals.

Over the next two years, the Queen's direct involvement was limited to briefings on the project to normalize the laws, giving or withholding assent from the drafts of those laws, and negotiations over a replacement Wizarding Charter. She continued to receive regular reports on the state of the Magical world, and occasionally sent comments or suggestions back as a result, but beyond that she stayed back and allowed things to proceed on their own, judging that anything more might have a detrimental effect on the changes she had mandated.