MUDSNAKE
by Flye Autumne
CHAPTER NINETEEN: TRIAL
Hermione nervously straightened her robes. The rich green flowy garment had been an early Christmas gift from Draco's mum. Hermione wasn't sure why Mrs. Malfoy had given her such a nice present, but she wasn't about to protest. She twirled, watching the floaty fabric lift, then land back down by her calves where it stopped just short of her patent leather boots. Hermione grabbed her Hogwarts winter cloak from its hook and pulled it over her shoulders. It went well enough with the robes, and, anyways, it was the only cloak she had. Taking one last glance in the mirror, Hermione turned and head down to the common room.
"Good afternoon, Professor Snape."
"Good afternoon to you as well, Miss Granger. Are you ready to depart?"
Hermione looked at her boots. Truth be told, she was very nervous. "I suppose so. How are we getting to the Ministry?"
"Apparition."
Hermione shuddered. Apparition was not high on her list of favorite things to do. Wincing only slightly, Hermione followed Professor Snape out of the Slytherin common room, through the dungeons, and out onto the grounds past the Apparition boundary.
Professor Snape extended his forearm to her. "Grasp onto my forearm tightly, Miss Granger."
Hermione did, and they turned on the spot, vanishing with a slight pop to reappear in the corner of a small tea shop.
"Apparition point," Professor Snape explained when Hermione looked at him in confusion. "Follow me."
They exited the tea shop onto a dingy street with shabby office buildings and overflowing dumpsters.
"Stay close," Professor Snape warned. "As you may have deduced, this is not the nicest part of London."
They walked briskly down the street before stopping in front of an old red telephone box, which was missing several panels and stood before a wall covered in graffiti.
"I present to you," Professor Snape said drily, "the Visitor's Entrance to the Ministry of Magic."
Hermione wrinkled her nose. "Really?"
"Unfortunately."
Hermione stepped inside the telephone box, followed by Professor Snape. He picked up the receiver. "Now, Miss Granger," he said in a lecturing tone, "what I am going to do next, and you should make note of in case you need to do this in the future, is dial into the Ministry. The code is six...two...four...four...two." The dial whirled back into place.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic," said a cool female voice. Hermione jumped. The voice didn't come out of the receiver, but sounded like there was an invisible woman right next to them. "Please state your name and purpose."
"Professor Severus Snape, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, here to escort Hermione Granger to a hearing."
"Thank you," said the voice. "Visitors, please take the badge from the slot and attach it to the front of your robes."
There was a rattle, then a clunk as two square silver badges slid into the coin return bin. Hermione picked them up. Hers said Hermione Granger, Hearing while Professor Snape's read Severus Snape, Hogwarts Professor. She wordlessly passed the professor his badge.
"Visitors, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
The floor of the telephone box shuddered, and for a moment, Hermione wondered if the whole thing was about to collapse. Then, it slowly began to sink into the ground, almost like an elevator. Hermione watched nervously as the pavement disappeared and darkness enclosed over their heads. Panic rose in her throat. She did not like dark, enclosed spaces. Really didn't like them.
Finally, at long last, light filtered in from the bottom of the box. Hermione released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.. Light flooded the box, and Hermione blinked rapidly.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the voice.
The door of the telephone box opened, and Hermione's jaw dropped.
"Come along now, Miss Granger. Kindly do not gawk."
Hermione followed Professor Snape out of the box, still staring at Ministry Atrium. It was elaborately decorated, and was an excellent distraction from her anxious thoughts.
The floors and the walls were made from a dark wood, and the ceiling was peacock-blue with gleaming gold symbols. Hermione made a mental note to ask Professor Snape about the symbols later. Fire places were sunk into the walls, with wizards exiting the ones on the left and waiting to enter the ones on the right. In the center of the hall stood a massive gold statue of a wizard, a witch, a centaur, a goblin, and another small creature Hermione didn't know. She made a mental note to ask Professor Snape about that as well. Water flew up from the statues, landing in the pool below which was full of shining coins.
"This way, Miss Granger. Do not dawdle."
They headed to a desk marked Security. "Step over here," said the grumpy security wizard in a bored voice.
Hermione walked over, and the wizard passed a long golden rod over her front and back.
"Wand," the wizard grunted.
Hermione looked nervously at Professor Snape, who nodded, then handed her wand to the wizard. He tipped it onto a strange brass instrument, which whirred for a moment before producing a thin strip of parchment.
"Ten and three-quarters inches, dragon heartstring core, in use for one year. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"I keep this," the wizard said, putting the parchment on a small spike. "You get this back." He handed Hermione her wand.
"Thanks."
The wizard completed the same procedure for Professor Snape. It turned out his wand had a dragon heartstring core too.
Hermione and Professor Snape joined the stream of Ministry witches and wizards - Hermione stifled the rising feeling of claustrophobia - and soon found themselves in a small hall with about two dozen lifts. Professor Snape steered Hermione onto one.
"Level seven," said the cool female voice from the telephone box, "Department of Magical Games and Sports, incorporating the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club, and Ludicrous Patents Office."
One wizard stumbled out of the lift, and the doors closed again. Somewhere around level four - Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures - one of the wizards in the lift tried to strike up a conversation with Professor Snape. The professor shot the unfortunate wizard a glare, and he quickly gulped and shut up. A small smile crept onto Hermione's face. It was always great to see Professor Snape in action.
"Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services."
"This is our destination," Professor Snape said quietly to Hermione. "Excuse us," he muttered as he elbowed people aside to get out of the lift.
They walked through a corridor with sunlit windows.
"Professor Snape?"
"Yes?"
"Aren't we underground?" Hermione asked, looking at the windows.
Professor Snape's lips quirked upwards. "The windows are enchanted."
"How?"
"I believe a combination of advanced Charms and Transfiguration would do the job, as well as Arithmancy to get all the elements to align."
"What's Arithmancy?"
"A branch of magic that involves a heavy use of mathematics."
"Did you study Arithmancy?"
"Yes. I use it frequently when developing original potions. This way, Miss Granger," he said, directing her towards the Wizengamot Administration Office. Inside was a room with a secretary's desk, and several dark wood chairs that seemed out of place with the plush violet carpet.
"Severus Snape, here with Hermione Granger," Professor Snape told the secretary. "We have a 10:30 appointment with Madam Bones."
The secretary peered owlishly over the rims of her glasses, then ran a finger down an inky ledger. "Wait here," she said, gesturing vaguely to the chairs. "I will let Madam Bones know you arrived."
They sat in the chairs to wait, Hermione fidgeting nervously.
"Don't be nervous."
"I'm...I'm not nervous," Hermione protested.
"You are. You're fidgeting."
The secretary was back. "They are ready for you in meeting room seven. It's the last one on the right."
Professor Snape stood and walked towards the hallway. Hermione followed him with a degree of trepidation. The nervous ball sitting in her chest tightened with each step. She couldn't do this. Couldn't.
They were at the door.
Hermione swallowed hard.
She couldn't do this.
Couldn't.
"Come along, Miss Granger."
Hermione stepped through the door and was greeted by the sight of five people seated around a table.
"Please, both of you take a seat," said a witch with a square jaw and iron grey hair. She flicked her wand at the door, closing it. "I believe everyone is present. My name is Amelia Bones, and I am Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department. I will be overseeing this hearing. With me today are Alastor Moody and Nymphadora Tonks of the Auror Department, Matilda Marchbanks of Wizarding Children's Services, and Chloe Runcorn of the Welfare Department. We are joined by Professor Severus Snape, the Head of House of the child in question, along with the child herself, Hermione Granger.
"We have already reviewed Pensieve memories from Aurors Moody and Tonks, and from Miss Granger. Ms. Marchbanks and Ms. Runcorn have several questions to ask Miss Granger before we adjourn to make a final decision."
The two women began asking questions. They started off mundane, and Hermione answered them easily. After rattling off basic information about herself and her family, they began asking the hard questions. The ones Hermione didn't want to answer. The ones she had never answered.
"Do you feel safe at home?" Ms. Marchbanks asked.
Hermione looked around nervously. It was one thing to admit these things to herself or answer them in private, but with all the other people around..."Do I have to answer?"
"Yes, Miss Granger, you do. We wish to ameliorate the situation, and we cannot do so if you do not answer our questions."
"No," Hermione answered, voice small.
"No?" Ms. Marchbanks asked in confusion. "You will not answer the question?"
Hermione stared at her boots. "No, I don't feel safe at home."
The words hung in the air.
Ms. Marchbanks made a note on her clipboard. "In your Pensieve testimony, there was an incident when you were locked in your house's water closet. How typical is that?"
"Whenever I misbehave."
Ms. Marchbanks continued asking questions about Hermione's Pensieve testimony. Hermione slowly answered each question, not wanting to divulge details, but at the same time, there wasn't much they didn't already know.
After what felt like hundreds of questions, Ms. Runcorn took over.
"Should relocation be necessary," Ms. Runcorn began, "we would prefer to relocate you to a wizarding family to avoid compromising the Statute of Secrecy. That being said, if you have any muggle relatives who are close to your family, that would also be acceptable. Do you have any close relatives."
Hermione shook her head.
"A verbal answer, please."
"No. Both my parents were only children. My mother's parents passed away two years ago, and my father's parents live in an assisted living facility."
"Assisted living facility?"
"It's a place where old muggles go to live. It lets them stay somewhat independent but they have help really close by if they needed it."
"And you have no wizarding relatives?"
"No."
"That will be all, Miss Granger."
"Does anyone else need to clarify information with Miss Granger?" Madam Bones asked. "Seeing everyone appears to be set, I am going to ask Professor Snape and Miss Granger to leave the room while we discuss. I will send someone to locate you when we are finished."
Amelia watched Hermione and Severus exit the room. The door closed behind them, and Amelia cast a quick Colloportus on the door.
"Are we in agreement that Miss Granger should be relocated?" Amelia asked.
There was a chorus of yeses.
"Excellent. Now, we have three homes that volunteered to take in Miss Granger. If we determine none of them are suitable, she'll end up going into the system, which I would like to avoid."
"Who's the candidates?" Moody rasped.
"The Dagworth-Grangers, the Malfoys, and Professor Snape."
"I thought she had no wizarding relatives?" Tonks asked, looking confused.
"The Dagworth-Grangers are her fourth cousins. They've got a daughter two years older than her and one two years younger."
"It would be nice for her to be around other girls," Matilda cut in. "Especially since she would be right in between the two of them age-wise."
"They're complete strangers," Chloe argued. "She might not feel comfortable moving in with them."
"The Malfoys also have a kid in her year," Matilda said. "They're definitely wealthy enough to give her a comfortable lifestyle."
"No Malfoys," Moody said. "Don't like them. Old Lucius was in league with the Dark Lord. I don't trust that bugger."
"Mr. Malfoy was under the Imperius curse…"
"Bullshit."
"Alastor! Language! And what about Snape? Do you not trust him either?"
Surprisingly, Moody shook his head. "Don't trust Snape. He's a slippery bugger. I do trust him to do right by the girl, though."
"But he's a bachelor!" Matilda exclaimed. "He's not married, doesn't have children. He's not particularly wealthy either. How could he provide for her?"
The debate continued. Moody was set against the Malfoys, while Matilda and Chloe were against Snape. Matilda thought the Dagworth-Grangers were the best option, but Chloe and Tonks disagreed. Over an hour later, they finally reached a decision.
"So we've decided?"
"Yes."
"Excellent. Bring them back in."
A/N: Only one chapter left! I've already decided where I want Hermione to go, but I'm interested to see what your predictions are! Thanks as usual to my betas and to those who leave reviews (hint hint)!