Hello readers, I apologize for the long break, however I've been very busy. Bad news (for me), I broke my foot, good news (for you) I'll have more time to write. Once again, the greastest fan award goes to Sherlock Harry Winchester.
I keep hitting writing blocks, so I could use any reviews with suggestions for the plot.
Chapter 16
Several hours later the boat pulled into the harbor, and she parked in an empty spot. Jem hopped out and dissallusioned herself as quickly as she could. She was about to transfigure her prison rags into normal clothes when a figure that had been standing on the dock spoke. Jem was so filled with excitement of escaping the prison that she had allowed her emotions to blind her once again.
"Ah Miss Potter, just the person I was hoping to see," chuckled Albus Dumbledore.
"Now my dear, I don't quite trust you, so…" Ropes bound Jem even as she tried to block them. Her very short time in Azkaban had weakened her. Jem had not eaten for six days and her reflexes were quite slow.
"Now Miss Potter we have a trial to attend."
With that Jem felt a tug on her navel and the port disappeared to be replaced with a grey room. There was nothing in the room, just three concrete walls and one glass wall with a door.
Her ropes disappeared and were replaced with chains. Again. Jem rolled her eyes. Dumbledore really needed to get more creative.
"Alright, Miss Potter, if you could just follow me to the courtroom, that would be fabulous."
Jem didn't move as Dumbledore walked to the door and opened it.
"Miss Potter if you do not come, I will have to make you."
Jem still did not move. Dumbledore lost his patience and with a flick of his wrist, Jem was being dragged forward.
Once they were outside of the room, four Aurors surrounded her and added to her collection of chains. Soon it was hard to even walk because the metal was so heavy and currently she was so weak.
It steadily got louder as they drew nearer to the courtroom. When they reached the door, the noise was at a dull roar.
It was quite a contrast to when they opened the door, it went silent. They only thing that could be heard was the clinking of Jem's chains.
She was led to a chair and was forced to sit down.
"Now that the accused is present, we may begin," stated Madame Bones. "We have already done the introductions, would you like to redo them?"
Jem opened her mouth to say that she would like to, just to annoy them, but Dumbledore beat her to it.
"No thank you, that should not be necessary."
"Are you to be the defense for the accused?" questioned Madame Bones.
"I am," stated Dumbledore. There was an outbreak of murmurings at this point. No one could understand why Dumbledore would defend such a criminal.
"Please read the charges," Madame Bones instructed.
A short wizard with greying hair called out, "The charges against the accused are as follows: The murder of sixteen people, assaulting and injuring twenty more, associating with and helping fourteen known fugitives, including Bellatrix Lestrange and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and damaging Ministry property."
"Are you Alexa Rose Potter?" Madame Bones asked Jem.
"No."
"Who are you, then?" Madame Bones asked, puzzled.
"Jem Lynn Riddle." Jem could have sworn that James Potter facepalmed.
"Identity spell, please" Madame Bones ordered. As it was cast, first the words above Jem's head said "Alexa Rose Potter" but changed to "Jem Lynn Riddle" and then continued to flicker back and forth between the two.
"Somebody else please cast the spell," Madame Bones commanded in a frustrated tone. After three tries nobody was successful, and she was forced to move on.
"Did you, whoever you are, commit these crimes?" she asked.
"Yes," Jem answered confidently.
"So are you saying that you are guilty?"
"Yes," Jem repeated.
"Alright, moving on to the sentencing." Madame Bones paused. "Albus, would you like to suggest something?"
"I'd like to start with the charge of 'destroying Ministry property'. That could have been any of the Aurors, or even myself. The punishment for that should be a simple fine of one galleon. Unless you'd like to put all of the aurors who were involved in Azkaban, I suggest that they each pay one galleon." Albus took out a coin from his pocket. "This is my payment for my crime of 'destroying Ministry property.' "
"Alright, those who agree with this punishment for this particular crime, please say 'I,' " directed Madame Bones. The vote passed easily. Nobody wanted to put their top Aurors in jail.
Jem was nervous now; it was quite obvious that Albus planned to get her out of Azkaban, which would make it a lot harder for her to escape.
Madame Bones motioned for Albus to continue. "Now, I have reason to believe that the last three crimes are associated with each other, so I will address them together. At the age of one, Miss Potter was stolen from her parents. She grew up, brainwashed into believing that Lord Voldemort-" several people flinched, "- had her best interest in mind."
"Any child follows their parent, and Miss Potter believed that he was her father. These are the reasons she was associated with the known criminals, and I suggest that the charge of 'associating with and helping fourteen known fugitives, including Bellatrix Lestrange and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,' should be dropped, as she did not enter that situation willingly."
The court voted again, and the charge was dropped, but narrowly.
Jem was a bit upset now, but she knew that the chances of spinning murder and assault into positive light were very low.
"Now keeping in mind that Miss Potter was raised to be a Death Eater, I ask you to treat this case as you would if it was any normal Death Eater's child." There were a few nods, but most of the people in the courtroom remained stony faced.
"Miss Potter has killed sixteen people. Ten of those people were low-level Death Eaters and she only killed them on her father's order."
Jem wondered how in the world he had found that information. It was true, her father had wanted her to practice killing techniques on the traitors. Funny how Dumbledore omitted that the Death Eaters that she killed had helped the light. The great Albus Dumbledore seemed to not be as moral as she thought.
"Aurors are instructed to kill or capture Death Eaters, and although the latter is preferable, killing a death eater is not punished. I ask you to lower the charge to six people."
Once again it was passed, but only by three votes.
"Of those six people, none of them were killed by the killing curse, and died after they had sustained an injury. Not to blame anybody else for their death, but had they been taken to a hospital sooner, they possibly would not have died. I would like to move on to the last charge, and suggest the punishment for both of the crimes at the end, if that is agreeable?"
Madame Bones nodded. Jem had a bored expression on her face, but on the inside she was panicking. She knew that Dumbledore knew that she had killed his spy a few years ago but he seemed to be turning a blind eye to it.
"Of the twenty people that Miss Potter assaulted and injured, only one wants to press charges." At this, James and Lily glared at Mundungus Fletcher.
"However, I would like to point out that Miss Potter acted in self-defense. The Aurors did attack first. This being said, I know that her behavior can not continue. I believe that in time Miss Potter can be taught to see the error in her ways. However, if we send her to Azkaban she will only learn to hate us. Not to mention, Lord Voldemort has been known to break people out of Azkaban before."
"So, keeping all of this in mind, I suggest that she is sent somewhere that her freedom is restricted, where she cannot be contacted by anyone supporting Voldemort, and where she can be taught to see that the people who raised her were wrong."
The court burst into loud chatter, everyone feeling that what they had to say was more important than anyone else. Jem was stunned; there was no way that anyone would let that happen.
Several minutes later, the court had a solution.
"We would like to make a few changes to Albus's suggestion. Here is what the court has agreed upon: Miss Potter will be fined with 301 galleons, one of those going to the Ministry and the others going to Mr. Fletcher. She will be sent to wherever Albus feels is best, as we trust his judgement. She will also be given two questions to answer under Veritaserum before leaving this courtroom."
The crowd broke into an uproar. Jem felt her heart drop. This was not good. Not good at all.
"SILENCE. The court has already decided, the sentencing will go into effect now."
A man approached Jem with a small vial of clear liquid. "Please open your mouth, Miss Potter."
Jem refused. The man looked behind him. The imbeciles had not expected to have this problem.
Several minutes later Jem's jaw was pried open by multiple Aurors with bleeding, bitten hands.
"Miss Potter, where is the location of Lord Voldemort's base?" Madame Bones questioned. Jem knew several techniques to fight the truth serum but decided to be honest.
"I cannot tell you. I took a Unbreakable Vow."
"Alright, Miss Potter, what are Lord Voldemort's plans?" Madame Bones asked, slightly frustrated.
"Please be more specific, I'm not quite sure what you are asking," Jem answered in a monotone.
"There is leaked knowledge of a raid scheduled for Wednesday in Diagon Alley. What are his plans regarding that?"
Jem debated what language to answer in. She could answer using Liki or Tanema, but they could probably find the one muggle who knew how to speak it and have him translate. The most fool-proof method was Parseltounge.
"Ss He plansss to sstart at the bank, and work hissss way down from there. He will alsssooo have a sssmall group possssitoned at the entrancccee by Knockturn Alley, and the Leaky Cauldron. They will be disguissssed assss muggle bornssss," She hissed. Several people in the crowd fainted. Jem could feel the Veritaserum wearing off. There had only been a few minutes worth of serum in the vial and some of it had spilled.
"Alright, that was two questions. I will be taking Miss Potter now," Dumbledore said cheerfully.
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