A/N:

Sorry this chapter is late, guys! Work has gone haywire lately and as a result my hours have been doubled. For the sake of my own sanity, I'm going to only update FIWYMI on Tuesdays now, at least for the next month. You can always follow me on tumblr for updates about my updates and for other wizarding world stuff.

Love to you all for continuing to read and keeping me going with your wonderful comments. You're all amazing!

Anyway, hope you like this chapter. Let me know what you think xx

Chapter 16 - Litigation

The run up to the start of the trials was not a pleasant experience for Hermione. It was getting close to the next full moon so the stress and anxiety she was feeling only served to exacerbate her pain, bringing it on earlier than the past two months. Still, when the trials started, she fought through the agony to go with Harry and Ron to the Ministry for every one of them.

Each morning, she pulled herself out of bed, ignoring the aches in her muscles and joints, argued with Ginny about whether she should be going or not, won that argument, then headed downstairs where Mrs Weasley was waiting with another argument against her going. Hermione ignored their protests every day.

She swallowed down her wolfsbane potion, ate a hurried breakfast with her boys, and then the three of them apparated to the Ministry. They were still classed as visitors, despite Harry and Ron being required at the trials and having signed on for Auror training that would start in September, so each morning, they piled into the telephone box and sunk into the glossy-walled atrium, their distorted faces reflected in the shiny, deep green tiles.

Only those vetted to be present for the trial taking place were allowed to enter the courtroom during the session. To ensure it was a public process, the national and some international wizarding press were present alongside the Wizengamot, the victims' families, the Aurors in charge of the case, those testifying and, of course, the defendant. Kingsley, as Minister, was also in attendance for the trials of the most heinous defendants, or those who had a hand in the deaths of his friends, the deaths of fellow Order members.

This meant that Hermione was not permitted to enter the courtroom during any of the trials. She would return Ron and Harry's sheepish and apologetic smiles as she watched them disappear through the dark doors, but then she had to be content with waiting outside in the long hallway for the session to conclude.

But Hermione struggled to find any contentment in waiting, especially when it felt as though her muscles were crawling beneath her skin, all tense and begging for the chance to unfurl. No matter how much she paced or rolled her shoulders, cracked her joints or stretched out on the benches in the hall, her pain, anxiety and restlessness refused to disappear.

Sometimes, during the long days, Bill and Fleur would come and join her during their breaks, leaving Gringotts to bring her lunch and make sure that she ate. Percy would also occasionally descend to the lower levels of the Ministry when he had the time, providing her with some company and distracting her with conversation of his own work. For the Carrows' trials, she also got to catch up a bit with Neville who was there to testify against them for the treatment of children at Hogwarts. Their trials lasted the majority of the first week, with Professor McGonagall and Ginny also amongst those who were providing testimony. At the end of it, both Alecto and Amycus received life in Azkaban with no possibility of parole. It demonstrated to wizarding Britain, in what was the first week of the trials, that this time, the post-war Ministry would be pulling no punches.

Hermione was glad, but it also made her slightly nervous.

Over the first few weeks of the trials, the only days she missed were the day of the full moon and the day after to recover. Mrs Weasley, Professor McGonagall, Bill, Andromeda and Ginny all tried to talk her out of going to the Ministry the day before, as well as talk her into staying in bed for a second day afterwards, but it was important to Hermione that she be there as much as possible. In a way, she felt guilty that she could not speak against the Death Eaters on behalf of the wizarding world and all they had suffered, so by being there, at the Ministry, the proximity helped a little.

At least Harry and Ron knew that there was no point in trying to change her mind. They hadn't tried to sway her choice even once, understanding her need to be there.

While Hermione was up at Hogwarts again with Bill during the full moon, the two of them had been able to spit the mandrake leaves out, McGonagall supervising their preparation of the leaf afterwards, ensuring that they weren't contaminated before they could be placed in the potion. The effort would all be worth it come the next electrical storm, as long as they remembered to keep incanting Amato Animo Animato Animagus.

Hermione was more relaxed following the full moon, feeling better able to cope with the trials now that she wasn't so amped up on pain-exacerbated anxiety. Sure, she would still pace along the corridor outside the dark doors and her leg would still bounce when she chose to sit on the benches, but overall, she felt a lot calmer and more patient, engaging in conversations with the Ministry workers who passed her quite pleasantly.

After each session, Harry and Ron walked from between the dark doors to tell her the outcome of that particular trial. It was rare that they looked happy at any of the outcomes. Mostly, they just looked grey and tired after leaving the courtroom, exhausted from tailoring the same testimony to different defendants, from reliving the events of the war again and again.

Augustus Rookwood was sent back to Azkaban for a third time, hopefully for a long time, but he had the chance for parole in ten years. Hermione had heard from the Ministry workers she'd been talking to while she waited that there were plans being put in place for various rehabilitation programmes. It was possible that, after his ten years, Rookwood would be assigned to one of those.

Yaxly's trial was over pretty quickly. Harry said that he had tried pleading the imperious as a defence but, as they proved at the beginning with the Carrows, the Wizengamot weren't going lightly. Percy even got some semblance of retribution, able to provide evidence of Yaxley's orders and actions during the war, although Hermione knew he still felt guilty over his own blindness at the time.

Crabbe Sr, who Harry had been able to identify as being one of the Death Eaters present at the graveyard when Voldemort returned, received life in Azkaban along with Goyle Sr. With Vincent having died in the fiendfyre, and his mother having fled to family in Ukraine, the entire Crabbe estate was seized by the Ministry for reparations. The Goyle properties, however, were kept from the hands of the Ministry for Gregory's future use, only monetary reparations being taken. Their fellow student received a sentence of fifteen months on account of his youth. The testimony against him, especially regarding treatment of younger students the previous year, could not be discounted. Once he was released, his wand would be monitored for location as well as spells cast for a further year.

Theodore Nott's father also received life in Azkaban, the testimony from Theo himself being particularly damning. Harry and Ron had hardly had to speak during that trial and, when they left the courtroom particularly pale and silent, it took Hermione a whole hour sat nursing butterbeers to get what happened out of them. It turned out that Theo had been present for his father's torture of his mother, wanting Theo to 'see what happens to mudblood sympathising scum'. He hadn't seen his mother since he'd left for Hogwarts last year and suspected that his father had made sure he never would again.

The evening after Umbridge was finally sentenced, receiving six years in Azkaban, Mrs Weasley gathered everyone for dinner at the Burrow, taking advantage of yet another warm day to eat at extended tables outside. Bill and Fleur joined them from Shell Cottage, George brought Angelina, Percy arrived as soon as he could from the Ministry, McGonagall had returned from the trial with them, and even Andromeda joined, bringing with her a sleepy Teddy who ended up cradled in Harry's arms.

As the sun began to set after dinner, Ginny and George managed to set up a game of Quidditch, enough people being present, and interested, for them to play three on three. Hermione sat with Fleur and McGonagall at the table, Teddy bouncing on her knee, watching Bill, Ron, Harry, Angelina, Ginny and George throw the quaffle between each other and through the hoops.

She felt slightly restless, a strange feeling prickling along the back of her neck and down her spine, but she couldn't figure out why. Considering the way the evening had gone, and the fact that Umbridge was finally paying for their fifth year, she should have been relaxed, and she supposed that she was besides that singular tingling sensation. Her fingers began tapping rapidly against the bottle of butterbeer in her hands and Fleur picked up on the tense motion.

"You can feel it too?" she asked, smiling knowingly at Hermione.

"Feel what?"

"That sensation down your spine. Veela get it too. Probably a warning not to fly because there's a storm coming."

Just then, Hermione felt a large raindrop land on her arm where it was resting on the table. It had been very warm and dry for the last few weeks, so the rain felt cool and refreshing on her skin where she watched the raindrops settle.

She startled when she heard a sudden rumble of thunder, her head shooting up at the same time McGonagall stood abruptly from the table.

"Mr Potter, Mr Weasley," she shouted towards the Quidditch game, and it wasn't long before Ron, Harry and Ginny were landing next to them, Ginny pulling Fleur to one side, just far enough away from Hermione so that she couldn't hear what Ginny was whispering into her sister-in-law's ear.

"I'll need some assistance bringing your potions from the castle. We should be quick because we don't know how long this storm will last."

Hermione watched the three of them apparate away to Hogwarts and then Fleur was pulling her into the Burrow.

"Come, Hermione, we should get inside. Storms don't mix well with Wolves and Veela."

Hermione looked over her shoulder and saw Bill jogging towards them. He caught up to them once they were already in the living room but, before he could say anything, Fleur engaged him in one of their silent conversations and whatever he had been about to say died on his tongue.

The three of them sat in the living room, Hermione reading Emma again, while they listened to the heavy rain and the rumbling of thunder, until a sodden Ron and Harry burst through the door, massive grins spread across their faces. Ginny followed them in, just as sodden, but headed straight upstairs, presumably to shower and change.

"We did it, 'Mione!" Ron exclaimed. "It worked."

He pulled her into a damp hug, and she could smell that unmistakeable scent of wet dog soaked into his skin.

"What are you, then?" she asked, pulling away.

"A dog," he grinned. "Ginny said it's a Labrador. I've got smooth, golden fur that the rain just slid right off of."

"Playful, protective, seems always happy... I guess that works," she winked at him and he laughed, pulling her into a second, shorter hug.

Hermione looked at Harry when Ron released her, hands on her hips.

"Do I even have to ask?" she smirked, and Harry just laughed.

"I guess not. No idea how my dad put up with the antlers. They get caught on everything. And don't even get me started on the legs. I swear I wasn't that gangly when I was still under the stairs."

"Don't joke about that, Harry."

"Why not? Joking about it is better than getting sad about it. Now, would you give me a hug, too?"

"Of course, Harry," she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Congratulations."