The morning of the trial, day one, was probably the second most disturbing morning of Rosie's life, only overshadowed by the morning that she viewed Lockhart's memories for the first time. Moony had come into her room at six in the morning to tell her that it was time to start getting ready.

Rosie didn't realize the preparation that she was expected to go through. Severus arrived shortly after and took over. He opened her closet and looked through her clothes, muttering softly to himself.

"Severus? What are you doing?"

"Choosing your outfit."

Rosie was confused, until her guardian pulled out a conservative floral blue dress and a pair of flat shoes. The dress was from a couple of years ago, and he had to modify it so that it would be long enough to fit. "Why do I have to wear that?" She questioned.

"You need to look as young as possible." He responded firmly. What Severus did next made Rose flush with embarrassment. "Put this on." The man commanded, holding out a sports bra that was slightly too small for her. It was obvious that the intention was to make her breasts appear lesser. Rosie cringed. She did what the man said and quickly began to change as Severus practiced asking and answering questions with her.

Much to Rosie's chagrin, Sirius had walked into the room whilst she was still in her knickers. His face had changed from calm to horrified in a second.

"Remus! Snape is in here with Rose while she's changing!" He called down the stairs, his voice tense.

Severus snarled, but Moony yelled back. "Sirius come help me with breakfast!"

"But Moony…" He countered.

Rosie was irritated now. "Yes Sirius. Severus waited till the day of my rape trial to accost me in my bedroom. That is exactly what this is." She growled

"Rosie… it's inappropriate." He whined. She tugged the dress over her head and sighed loudly. "No. What's inappropriate is that my defense professor had sex with me when I was twelve. Now, stop being like that and come do my hair." She demanded. Severus chose to ignore Rosie's vulgar commentary and moved onto the next question. She allowed Sirius to charm her hair into twin braids as the potions master spoke.

"And how did you come to meet Mr. Lockhart?" Severus drawled.

"He was my professor in my second year at Hogwarts." Rosie responded promptly.

"Good. Now should you be asked any personal questions about your previous sexual history; how should you respond?"

"That I had none."

"And should they inquire into your current sexual activity?"

"I should tell them that it is confidential and that I maintain the right to discretion where it does not pertain directly to the trial."

"Excellent."

Sirius interjected. "Why would they ask that?"

Severus sneered at him. "It is a tactic commonly used in this particular type of trial to attempt to discredit the victim."

"That isn't fair! What Rosie does now shouldn`t matter." Sirius moaned.

"Touching…Black. However, seeing as though you are not on the Wizengamot, your opinion on the subject is not relevant."

Severus continued to ask questions until Sirius had finished doing her hair and had gone downstairs to help with breakfast. When her guardian was sure that his enemy had left, he came to stand in front of where Rosie sat on the bed and knelt down.

"Rose Lily Potter. You will be absolutely fine today. It is of no matter that I will not be in attendance because I am not the one who suffered as you did. Only you can tell the story, and only you are allowed an opinion on it. Do you understand?"

"Sir?"

"If there is ever a time today that you feel incapable of continuing, or unable to answer a question, you stop. You have every right to be respected and to not allow questions that you do not feel comfortable answering."

"What if they make me?" She whispered.

"Nobody can make you do anything child. You are not the criminal. Remember that. If you are afraid, I have spoken with Lupin, all you must do is ask and he will escort you from the premises. In the end, your wellness is my only concern."

"Will you be waiting for me… afterwards?"

"Indeed. Your wolf will be flooing you to my residence directly from the ministry."

"I'm scared Severus." Rosie's voice was shaky. "I haven't even left the house since the first article… I don't want to face everyone."

"You have nothing to fear. You are completely innocent. Those who would view you differently for this would not last a moment in your shoes."

Rosie shut her eyes and nodded, drawing strength from the potions master, who was at least acting, entirely calm. Severus left after that, and Rose forced a bit of breakfast down her throat, but she was too nervous to really eat. When it was time to go, Moony gave her a meaningful stare and motioned towards the fireplace. Sirius helped her up and then wrapped her in a bear hug, whispering in her ear, "Kill it Rosie. Give the bastard what he deserves." With one last deep breath and a gentle shoulder squeeze from Moony, the pair stepped into the fire, and Rosie stepped into battle.

From the moment that they landed in the ministry atrium, Rose clung onto Moony like a leech. There were people waiting for her, reporters, and her guardian wrapped his cloak around her small frame as they moved dangerously forward, cameras and microphone ready and waiting. Rosie whimpered. "Relax my love, we're almost through." Moony soothed, his hand on her back. A woman walked out of one of the round offices to meet them, eying Rose curiously and sticking out her hand to shake.

"Hello Rose. My name is Amelia Bones. I'm the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement here at the Ministry. I will be walking you through our procedure for today's trial." The woman began. Rosie shook her hand tentatively, and then Moony, standing up straight, stuck out his hand to shake with Mrs. Bones.

"Remus Lupin. I am Rose's guardian." He introduced. The man was still curled around her protectively.

Amelia Bones brought them into the empty court room and showed Rosie where she would sit, where she would get up and walk to, and explained the order in which the events would take place. That day was solely reserved for evidence, examination, and cross examination.

The following day would be the revealing of the verdict. When it came time for them to exit the room so that the members of the Wizengamot could enter, Rosie was practically hidden beneath Moony's cloak, pressed into his side and on the verge of panic. They were escorted into an empty waiting room and the werewolf brought her into view.

"Rose." Moony tried as she began to tremble. The desks and chair in the waiting room shook. She ignored him. The pressure in her chest was building, but Moony was not having it. He moved to stand in front of her, taking her chin in his hand and turning her head to meet him.

"Rosie Potter, you are here for a reason. Get in there, get through it, and get it done. I have never known you to run away in fear. My girl who defied Voldemort as a baby, again at eleven years old, lunged forward and pushed a mass murderer to the ground, and looked a fully transformed werewolf in the eyes. You are my brave; strong Gryffindor goddaughter and we are all here for you."

Moony helped her to take some breaths, and before Rosie had time to have a fully-fledged outburst, Mrs. Bones came back into the waiting room.

"We are ready to begin Mr. Lupin." The woman said softly, eying Rose.

Taking one last deep breath, she clutched onto her guardian's arm, held her head up high, and marched forward. The room was, less full than Rosie was expecting. Perhaps Severus had exaggerated the amount of people in attendance.

Almost everyone was a man. Her eyes found Dumbledore easily and he smiled at her, but his face was somber. Moony lead her over to the seats which they would occupy until it was time for Rosie to take the stand. The trial began with introductions. The members of the Wizengamot stood individually to be named, and then Rosie had to stand when her name was called in representation of the prosecution.

Even though she knew that Lockhart would be present at the trial, Rose was not prepared for the full effect that it would have on her to see the man, her ex-professor, marched into the room in chains. Her breath hitched and her grip on Moony's arm tightened.

The werewolf leaned down and pressed his lips to the top of her head briefly in support, but his amber eyes were trained on Lockhart.

Next, the man who seemed to be in control of the narration of the trial announced that the charges were to be read.

"Gilderoy Lockhart. You are hear today to receive judgement based on the following accusations. You will be tried for multiple counts of statutory rape and molestation in the first degree, the intent to commit lewd acts with a minor, the improper and unlawful use of memory charms, the improper and unlawful use of magic to manipulate a minor, and the breech of your Hogwarts teaching contract."

Lockhart was looking down at the floor. Rosie sucked in another deep breath. "I would like to call forward the alleged victim, Miss Rose Lily Potter, daughter of Lily and James Potter to testify on her own behalf."

At the sound of her name, Rose felt Moony nudge her to stand. He allowed her to lean on him as she did so, but once she was standing, she was all alone. Walking bravely forward, Rosie bypassed Lockhart, and moved to sit at the bench in front of the crowded room.

"Good morning Miss Potter." The questioner greeted tonelessly.

"Good morning Sir." She replied, trying to pull strength from her body and project it into her voice.

"Are the aforementioned charges consistent with your supposed encounters with Mr. Lockhart?"

"Yes sir."

The room was completely silent. Rosie looked forward, trapping Moony's gaze. He nodded at her encouragingly.

"Please tell this court at what age and in what context you became acquainted with Mr. Lockhart."

"I met him when I was twelve years old, in my second year at Hogwarts in detention, and he was my defense professor."

"Thank you. Now, please explain the reasoning as to why you received such an excessive amount of detention with Mr. Lockhart in particular."

"My friend Ron and I flew a muggle car to Hogwarts that year instead of taking the train. I was given a long detention sentence for that with Professor Lockhart. The sentence was then lengthened when I was discovered at the scene of a suspicious incident at school."

"Who assigned you the detentions?"

"Professor McGonagall and then Professor Snape."

"That is Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape, Correct?"

"Yes."

"Miss Potter, can you describe how your detentions differed from regular detentions?"

"I'm sorry?" Rosie asked, confused. Regular detentions did not include a weekly dose of rape.

"I apologize, I mean, how did you become suspicious of Mr. Lockhart?"

"To be honest sir, I didn't suspect anything. The detentions were strange, I didn't remember much from them, and they always felt very short, but I did not connect them with the physical symptoms I was experiencing."

"What symptoms were those?"

Rosie cringed and sighed. Moony made eye contact with her and smiled sympathetically. "Exhaustion. I was having unusual pain and discharge. There were unexplained bruises all over my body."

"Alright. To whom did you disclose your symptoms?"

"Professor Severus Snape."

"What did Professor Snape do?"

"He used legilimency to discover that my memories of detention with Professor Lockhart were false, and then he disclosed the information to Professor Dumbledore. I believe, after that, the memories were collected from Lockhart."

"Thank you, Miss Potter. That concludes our series of questions. Now, if you would be so inclined to answer the questions set out by the defendant, we can move on."

Rosie nodded slowly. This was the part that Severus had warned her about. She didn't understand why they might ask her unkind questions when Lockhart's memories clearly spoke for themselves. Why couldn't they just pull out a vial of veritaserum and be done with it?

"Good morning Rose." An older man greeted her. He was short, probably about a head shorter than Sirius who wasn't very tall, and he was balding. Rose groaned internally. Of course, it would be this ugly old man asking her the worst questions. He had already skipped past formalities and called her by her first name.

"Good morning." Rosie replied. As soon as she spoke this time, Lockhart looked up from the floor and stared her down.

Her heart stopped, just for a moment, and she forgot to breath.

"Rose. Did you hear me?" The man prodded. His expression was expectant. Truthfully, Rosie hadn't even heard him speak.

"I'm sorry Sir, can you repeat the question?" She tried politely.

"I inquired about your level of knowledge on the topic of sexual activity prior to your supposed viewing of my client's memories."

"I had absolutely no idea what sex was or how it was done." Rosie stated firmly.

"Is that so?" The man hummed. "So, no sexual partners prior to age twelve?"

"No." She cringed, was he asking her if she'd been molested before? Rose didn't know anyone who started having sex before age twelve.

"How about now?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Do you have any sexual partners now?"

"I'm sorry sir, I do not believe that I am obligated to disclose personal information that doesn't pertain to the matter at hand. Is that correct?" Rosie turned to the trial narrator again.

The other man appraised her carefully and then turned to Lockhart's representative. "Miss Potter is indeed correct, is there a reason for this line of questioning?"

"The question is pertinent in the context of the severity of trauma suffered at the hands of my client."

"I will allow it, but please do be sensitive to the nature of the question when addressing the alleged victim."

Rosie raised her eyebrow. She was expected to answer the question now? Moony must have noted the confusion in her expression, because he quickly nodded his head and motioned towards Lockhart's representative.

"The answer is yes." Rose said evenly. So far, she thought she was doing alright.

"Yes, you have had sexual partners since the alleged trauma occurred?" The balding man questioned her.

"Partner, singular." She replied.

"Indeed." He breathed. "A boyfriend?"

"Yes." This was getting irritating now.

"Excellent. How nice that you've been able to look past a traumatic incident and engage in a normal teenage relationship." The representative smiled patronizingly at her.

"Is that a question Sir?" Rosie asked, trying to channel Severus.

"Should it be?"

"I don't seem to recall being asked if I had any trouble engaging in said relationship." She countered.

"Did you have a hard time with it Rose dear?"

"Yes, in fact, it has been extremely difficult to navigate a relationship in the aftermath of what was done to me." Moony was trying to get her attention. He frowned and trailed his finger from his eye to the base of his cheek. Was he telling her to cry?

"I bet it was my dear, but the important thing is, is that you got through it, and that you are alright. Is it not?" The ugly man smiled again.

Rosie took a deep breath and pinched herself underneath the table as hard as she could. She could physically feel her face twist in pain. Holding the pressure firm and cutting into her skin with her nail, Rose allowed her eyes to sting and water, cheeks flushing.

"Alright?!" She pretended to choke, allowing a tear to fall and quickly wiping it away.

"I lost complete control of my magic because of him. I can't feel, or express emotions properly without exploding in magical residue." Rosie continued.

She channeled the panic that she had felt before coming into the room and allowed it to take over momentarily. Her body tensed visibly and a glass of water on the desk in front of the narrator shattered. This seemed to be working perfectly. Several of the men startled and frowned at her sympathetically.

"I'm so sorry sir!" Rosie whimpered. "I just can't help it!" She brought her hands up to cover her face.

Rose was definitely going to hell. It wasn't like she didn't really feel this way, she just hadn't quite needed to express herself quite so boldly as she was doing in that moment.

The man, Lockhart's representative seemed slightly shell shocked by her display. "No further questions." He said stoically, shaking his head. Lockhart's eyes widened. Was that fear behind his expression?

The narrator, who now seemed quite out of sorts, turned back to Rose. "Miss Potter, I am so terribly sorry to force you to relive that incidence in question, but I must ask if you prefer the memory evidence to be view individually by each member of the Wizengamot, or together here in this room?"

This was the part that Rosie was most nervous for. "It's alright Sir. We can watch in here." She hiccoughed.

"Very well then my dear. Why don't you return and have a seat with your guardian?" He suggested, rising to help her down from the bench.

She took the man's hand innocently and allowed him to guide her towards Moony. Her guardian took her into his arms fiercely and murmured into her ear,

"Sweetheart that was brilliant." Rosie composed herself and winked at him, taking her original seat, and leaning her head against his shoulder.

She refused to watch his face. The pensive was brought out and some sort of magical projection device was attached to it. By this time, she was trembling. Moony rubbed her arm absentmindedly, but his attention was on the activities taking place.

The first memory began as Rosie remembered. She heard the echo of her voice saying,

"Hi Professor Lockhart sir!" Before the memory had finished, she had her head buried in her guardian's shoulder. Rose did not need or want to see this again, she'd already seen it one thousand times over in her mind. The sounds were torment enough. It began with curious fear and turned quickly into screams. Her screams of pain. Moony was still as a stone beside her, but she was still hiding her face. A mixture of crying, choking, shrieking, and disturbing silence filled the room with every memory that passed.

They had to be almost finished by now, she couldn't take this anymore. Rosie thought that she actually might prefer to be raped again than to continue with this twisted cinema experience. She regretted instantly allowing Moony to come along, forgetting over time just how horrific this would be to watch. Now he would really never look at her the same again. He wasn't hard and cold like Severus was, he was never a death eater.

Severus had seen this stuff before, Moony would probably be scared off. After what felt like an entire lifetime, the memories ceased. Rosie, who was still hiding her face, waited for someone, anyone to speak. When the narrator did speak, she dared to lift her eyes, not wanting to miss a word.

Every single pair of eyes in the room was on her, except for Dumbledore, who was staring at Lockhart, eyes devoid of twinkle. Rose avoided looking up at Moony beside her, favoring instead the front of the room.

"I think that that is all the evidence that shall be required for today. The session will be adjourned and will resume for the verdict tomorrow at the same hour." The man hit a gavel against the bench and the members of the Wizengamot began to file out.

Lockhart was levitated off the chair and moved, hands still bound toward the door. He was looking down once again. Moony hissed angrily from beside her.

"The bastard has an erection." It didn't sound like he was talking to her.

Sure enough, when Rosie looked again, she caught sight of the slight tenting of the man's pants. Her stomach curled. That man had been inside of her. Breathing long and low, she allowed a silent and stiff Moony to guide her back through the throngs of people in waiting.

Her guardian wouldn't make eye contact with her, he kept his head facing the other direction and he hadn't said much at all since the last memory had faded from view. She felt completely rejected. When they reached the fireplace, he only spoke the name of Severus' flat, his hand gripping her shoulder, and his silence gripping her heart.

Severus was waiting by the fire when they came through. He stood as they entered. Rosie shot him a pitiful look, and Moony excused himself quietly. The werewolf didn't even look at her as he left.

Severus opened his mouth to speak, but Rose beat him to it.

"Moony doesn't love me anymore." She cried, falling into him. "He doesn't want me, he thinks it's disgusting." Her first guardian just held her, his strong arms her safety net.

His scent familiar and comforting. This man, he was her dad, even if the idea would make him cringe, even if he would deny it on his death bed. Severus Snape was the closest that Rosie was ever going to get to a father, and he was a damn good one.

He always knew what she needed even before she did. Severus led her out of his house without a word, but his silence was reassuring. She knew that he would always love her, and he knew everything there was to know, every broken piece of her and every scar.

They walked for a few minutes, past a children's playground, down a long winding path, until they reached a small but sweet little house next to a creek. It was old, and the paint was peeling. The bushes were overgrown, and the grass unattended. Severus put his hand on her shoulder and spoke with an ease that she envied.

"This is your mother's house."

Rosie looked up at him with wide eyes. Yes, he knew exactly what she needed.