May 2nd 1998

Hermione got to her feet, slipped passed Ginny and made her way down the stairs, clutching a few sheets of parchment. "Thank you, Madam Lupin. My Lords and Ladies, as the heir of Rowena Ravenclaw and the owner of Ravenclaw castle, it was decided that I should put together and present this case. It is not a trial and there are no charges so to speak. The purposes of today is to clarify if there are any charges to be answered."

She cleared her throat. "Additionally, I am also aware that Veritaserum doesn't really like 'why' questions, so with the court's permission, I am going to speculate motives at certain points and ask Professor Dumbledore to confirm whether I am correct."

"Are there any objections to the proceedings?" Jen asked.

No one answered, not even Dumbledore - but then the question hadn't been aimed at him.

"Right then, starting from the beginning," Hermione said. "During the first war, you formed the Order of the Phoenix, prior to the first pureblood murders. Was this because the Ministry didn't seem to be doing anything about it?"

"Yes," Dumbledore answered.

"The Order of the Phoenix lost several members," Hermione continued. "Prior to Halloween 1982, did you have any prior knowledge that may have prevented this?"

"Yes."

Hermione blinked. "Who?"

"The McKinnons," Dumbledore answered. "I suspected Rookwood was a Death Eater so I asked Marlene to approach him for the Order."

"But you didn't warn her," Hermione said. "Did you consider that it would put her family in danger?"

"At least the Ministry would pay attention if purebloods were killed."

As Addie began to cry, Hermione was startled - she had suspected the first from the journal, but not the latter. She opened her mouth before she could stop herself, but bit back her immediate question.

"Lady Ravenclaw," Jen prompted.

"Sorry," Hermione said. "I don't really want to ask my next question with Lady McKinnon in the room."

"Just do it," Addie said shakily. "I know what the question is. And I want the answer."

Hermione sighed. "Did you want Marlene dead?"

"Yes."

Hermione closed her eyes, as there were shouts of outrage around the room. Addie dissolved into tears and Frank left his seat to hug her, since Sirius was on another level. She hadn't considered this previously, and tried to remember anything in the journal that might explain it.

Then, she remembered something.

"Paperwork found at Hogwarts suggested that Marlene had been doing some research," she said, trying not to speak too quickly. "She suggested the exams had been getting easier so that purebloods weren't outperformed by Muggle-borns - is that why you wanted her dead?"

"Yes. No one would benefit from that information."

"Objection!" Someone shouted.

Jen sighed. "Yes, Lord Wilkes?" The fact that he was still on the Wizengamot was a sour note for her - she knew exactly where his loyalties lay, but just couldn't prove it.

"You can't surely be suggesting that Muggle-borns could outperform purebloods?" Wilkes said, disgust dripping from his voice. "It's ridiculous."

"Marlene McKinnon's research is not on trial," Jen said icily, "and it has no bearings except to offer a motive. We can ask the Unspeakables to look into it and see if they can offer any insight. For the time being, we will add conspiracy to commit murder to the list of charges. Your objection is noted and overruled. Please continue Lady Ravenclaw."

Hermione smiled tightly. "Thank you. Professor Dumbledore, the previous Lord Black, Regulus, came to you and advised you of two things: firstly, that Lord Voldemort had used some Dark Magic to try to make himself immortal - I will come back to that later - and secondly, that Lady McKinnon and her sister, Leona, were trapped on a warded island. Is this correct?"

"Yes."

"You wiped his memory," Hermione said, "and chose not to go looking for Lady McKinnon so you would not have to reveal the other knowledge he had divulged, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Did you cast the Memory Charm on Madam Lupin?"

"Yes."

"You believed that the prophecy had to be adhered to," Hermione said. "You believed Madam Lupin was likely to be able to kill Voldemort and that wouldn't fit with the prophecy, and that is why you removed her from the equation. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

Jen closed her eyes. I hate it when I'm right.

At least it wasn't personal.

How is she?

Fast asleep. Stop worrying.

"We all heard testimony from Peter Pettigrew just now," Hermione said, "but just to clarify - was Mr Pettigrew your spy within the Death Eaters?"

"Yes."

"Did any of the information he leaked lead to the deaths of any Order members?"

"No."

Jen breathed a tiny sigh of relief. There was that, at least.

"It is my belief that you lied to him about Miss Cotswold's wellbeing, and then placed a Compulsion Charm on him to keep him from sharing his concerns with Lord and Lady Potter. I believe you did this to manipulate him into divulging their address to Voldemort in order to save her. I believe you then visited their cottage and altered the wards so that they could not escape. This was to test whether Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom was the child of prophecy, is that correct?"

"Yes."
Lily stifled a sob, and Alice put an arm around her shoulders.

"You then placed a Compulsion Charm on Lord Black," Hermione continued, "to prevent him from coming straight to the Ministry and alerting anyone. You compelled him to track Peter down himself to give yourself time. Did you expect Peter to fake his death?"

"No," Dumbledore admitted. "I expected him to disappear."

"You then gave evidence in this court that Lord Black was the Potters' Secret Keeper when you knew that he was not," Hermione said, keeping her eyes fixed on her notes, in lieu of having to look at her former Headmaster. "You also went to Gringotts to remove their Will but learned they were not dead. You intentionally hid this so you could place Harry with his Muggle relatives so you could isolate him from the Wizarding world, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"You wanted to do this so he was easier to manipulate, right?"

"Yes."

Hermione glanced over at the gallery. "Lady Longbottom doubted Lord Black's guilt. When you learned they were going to push for a trial, you advised them it was safe to come out of hiding. Did you do this in the hopes they would be attacked and therefore be unable to follow through with this?"

"Yes."

Now it was Alice's turn to start crying.

Hermione paused to take a drink of water. "We could probably stop here, but I have more. Were you aware that Harry Potter was being mistreated by his aunt and uncle?"

"Yes."

"Did you believe the wards would protect him?"
"Yes."

"Small mercies," Jen heard someone mutter from somewhere in the gallery. She did not bother chiding them, not when she agreed with them.

Hermione scanned her notes, trying to clarify whether that was the last of the pre-Hogwarts questions. "Okay, at this point, I have a memory I would like to present to the court. It is actually a combinations of memories of my first year. That way you all understand what I'm talking about." She handed Amelia the first memory.

Amelia performed the perfunctory scan - as she was not presenting the memory, she was allowed to verify it - before pouring it into the Pensive and tapping the side.

"… The third floor corridor is off limits to all those who do not wish to suffer a most painful death."

The Pensieve proceeded to play a selection of memories - finding Fluffy, Hagrid letting slip about Flanel, Harry finding the Mirror of Erised, the dead unicorn, the jinxed broom, the obstacles, Quirrell …

Watching it all in a few seconds made Hermione feel quite queasy, and a glance around the room told her that everyone felt the same.

"Okay, I have a list of questions for Professor Dumbledore based on what we've just seen," she said. "Does anyone in the court have any questions for me before we continue?"

One of the members Hermione didn't know stood up, but she recognised his features one of her classmates.

"The court recognises Lord MacMillan," Jen said, more to the scribe than anyone else.

"Thank you, Madam Lupin," he said, in a pompous voice - clearly the apple did not fall far from the tree. "Lady Ravenclaw, am I right in concluding from that memory that you and your friends found a large three-headed dog concealed in Hogwarts behind a door that could be opened with a simple Alohamora Charm?"

"That is correct, yes," Hermione answered. "Obviously, growing up in the Muggle world, I didn't think anything of it at the time."

"That kind of warning given at the opening feast would have been considered an invitation when I was at school," he said. "Do we know how many students went to have a look?"

"Well, not exactly," Hermione admitted, checking her notes. "I sent out letters to as many people as I could, and I got about ninety eight responses. Of those, eighty three admitted to trying to get into the third floor corridor, and just about all of them managed it. All of them report to have been unharmed." She looked up. "The dog was leashed and shackled, so I don't think he would have been able to reach a student at the door. For obvious reasons, I didn't test it."

MacMillan sat down and no one else moved, so Hermione turned back to Dumbledore. "Right, from the top. I believe that you asked Hagrid to remove the Philosopher's Stone from Gringotts while he was taking Harry to Diagon Alley so Harry would notice. I also believe that you moved the Stone to Hogwarts in order to test your theory that Voldemort was not dead, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Were you aware that Professor Quirrell was possessed by the spirit of Voldemort?"
"Yes."

There were cries of horror through the room - mostly from parents who had children at Hogwarts at the time - but Hermione pressed on.

"You said nothing because you also wanted to test that Harry had not turned dark growing up in an unloving home, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"You instructed the teachers to set up protections, but, with the exception of Quirrell, talked them into using spells and enchantments perfectly suited for Harry, Ron, Neville and myself," Hermione continued. "These were tweaked through the year as you learned more about us. Sending Hagrid to collect Harry meant that the two formed a friendship, which meant we could learn how to get past the dog. Additionally, when Harry received a detention, you convinced Hagrid to take us into the Forest to check on an injured unicorn, so that Harry would realise it was Voldemort after the Stone."

She paused for another sip of water. "You had removed Lord Potter's invisibility cloak from the house when you went to check the wards and sent this anonymously to Harry at Christmas, knowing he would go for a nighttime wander. You then guided him to where the Mirror of Erised was, so he knew how it worked, before moving it to the end of the enchantments. The night Quirrell was to attempt to go after the stone, you advised Professor McGonagall that you had received an owl from the Ministry and needed to come here at once, meaning that Harry would feel he had no choice but to stop Voldemort himself. Is that all correct?"

"Yes."

"Moving on to the following year," Hermione said, "were you aware that one of the Dark objects Regulus Black warned you about was in the school until Harry brought it to your attention?"
"No."

"Well, that's something at least," Jen muttered under her breath.

"Were you aware that Ginny Weasley was possessed?" Hermione asked.

"Yes."

As Ginny turned a dangerous shade of white, Sirius flashed a hand signal to Ron and Percy in the gallery and moved to crouch beside her and give her a hug.

Hermione sighed. "Andromeda Tonks has confirmed that St Mungo's had mandrake restoration draught. Those of us petrified by the basilisk were left to wait until the mandrakes at Hogwarts were matured - was that because you didn't want the Ministry to get involved?"

"Yes."

"Was that so you could test Harry again?"

"Yes."

"Was it annoying when Fawkes refused to take you into the Chamber with him?"

"Yes."

Hermione couldn't help a smirk. "That's something I suppose." She checked her notes. "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I only have a few questions left, you'll be pleased to hear. When Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire, you could have made it clear that he did not enter his own name, but you didn't. I believe you did that to create more of a chasm between him and his peers, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Were you aware that Alastor Moody was an imposter?"

"No."

Hermione nodded. She was expecting that one. "The Dark objects Regulus had warned you about - had you gone looking for them?"

"I researched them. I didn't look for them."

"Were you aware of any other ways of removing the Dark object, other than destroying the vessel?"

"Yes."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Did you realise that the fact that Voldemort resurrected his body using Harry's blood would have any side effects?"

"There were no side effects."

Hermione frowned. "How do you know? Did you check?"

"I knew there were no side effects."

"So you didn't need to check," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Did you place a magical block on Harry Potter to keep his power levels low to keep him from getting too powerful?"

"Yes."

"Did you place a magical block on Harry Potter to keep him from learning Occlumency?"

"Yes."

"I think," Hermione said, "that's my questions."

"Thank you, Lady Ravenclaw," Amelia said. "I will administer the antidote in that case."

Hermione shuffled her notes, waiting for the veritaserum's effects to lift. "I assume you have something to say in your defence, Professor."

"The court should know by now," Dumbledore said, "that everything I do is for the greater good."

"What was the greater good about telling Harry to die?" Hermione asked. "You left a memory telling him to let Voldemort kill him!"

"And there was nothing else that could be done," Dumbledore said sadly. "There are extenuating circumstances, which I will not mention as I do not wish to expose that kind of magic to the court. But what's done is done. And I must …"

The doors flew open, and Draco and Harry strode in.

"Sorry we're late," Harry announced. "We had some business to attend to."