Chapter Twenty-Three

Counselor Vallid

It was the first day of the New Year when Jennifer made her next trip to London. East Coven Suites sat along the Thames River in what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. No Muggle could have guessed that it was actually one of the finest hotels in England.

Jennifer couldn't help but feel a bit conscientious about her appearance when she Apparated in the lobby, surrounded by all the wealthy clad high status wizards and witches, probably most of them Merlin class. Severus Snape, who had Apparated in right beside her in his normal drab black robes, wasn't bothered in the slightest, glancing around with bland interest as they walked up to the desk.

"Professor Craw and Professor Snape here to see Lunette Vallid, please," Jennifer told the tiny wizened witch sitting at the desk. Several people hanging around the desk looked up at them, watching.

"Yes, we received word this morning to be expecting you. One moment and I will see if she's ready to see you." The elderly witched rolled up a note, handing it out to a thrush that flew up to her and headed up the stairs, while holding up her hands to the wizards and witches that had gathered around her in protest. "No, no, sorry, she's not taking any visitors, I told you that already! Professor Craw made previous arrangements. Now why don't you all put down your names and I'm sure she'll get to you if she has the time?"

A concierge stepped out of a pair of double doors that appeared on a nearby wall, motioning for Jennifer and Severus to come closer. The group of people in the lobby scowled at them in envy. What would someone like Lunette Vallid want with magic Professors? The concierge pressed a room number beside the double doors and then opened them, ushering them straight through and onto the thirteenth floor, quickly shutting the door behind them before anyone could try to sneak in. He then knocked lightly on the door and opened it, allowing them to step in.

If Jennifer hadn't been impressed with the hotel before, she was certainly impressed now. The first room they entered must have been over half the size of the Great Hall with a small seating area and a conference table to one side, a lounge seating area with expensive plush chairs in the center, and on the far side was a huge fireplace area with chairs, a corner library with about five hundred books and a long bar with a built-in cabinets and a mini potion lab. Enormous ornate rugs crossed over the carpeted floors, while paintings of forests covered the walls provides soft, pine-scented breezes that drifted through the air.

"Wow," Jennifer said softly as she stepped in, trying very hard not to touch anything.

"Come, now, you shouldn't be impressed by all this. You're a Craw, after all," Severus reminded her, poking about the mini-potion lab curiously. It had been true that at one point her family had had enough money to make Malfoy's estate look like a shack, but that had been a long time ago, and Jennifer was quite sure that most of the money had come from ill-gotten means. As a fugitive, Jennifer had learned quickly to only be concerned about safety and where the next meal was coming from. Comfort was always an afterthought. "Why in the world would anyone make a 24 karat gold beaker rack? And tongs? Not very practical." Severus said, smirking. "I wonder if it's even been used."

"Severus, stop poking around. I'm sure she'll be here any minute," Jennifer said. "It's probably just for show." Just then there was a flutter as a dragonfly flew in and landed on one of the stools near the bar. "Good afternoon, Judge Vallid, it's good to see you again," Jennifer said to the dragonfly. Severus moved back around to the front of the bar. The dragonfly seemed to look as if it were going to take flight again, but then started to grow, quickly transforming into the Truth Seeker who smiled at Jennifer warmly.

"Actually, just call me Counselor Vallid while we're here in Britain, Jennifer. And it's good to see you! I was hoping you would take me up on my offer to help you on this case. Besides, it's nice to come out of retirement now and again for a good cause."

"This is Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts," Jennifer introduced. Vallid shook hands with him, searching his face and becoming rather amused by what she had picked up.

"So this is the man that you had refused to speak of, eh? I always pictured you the tall, dark and distinguished-looking type. I can see now I was right as usual. And situations have changed since this summer between you, have they? Well, that's good; it'll work to our advantage. We won't have to worry quite as much about what they might ask you, Jennifer," she said, leading them over to the table and sitting down.

Severus was looking over at Jennifer thoughtfully, wondering exactly what had been said or not been said about him. Jennifer had never really told him any details of the Truth Seeker test.

"All right, before I do anything else, I need to get a full recording of you, Jennifer, that I might look at later. Basically it runs similar to the last part of your Truth Seeking test. I need you to give me an account of everything you know about Malfoy so far; especially everything that's happened since we last met, while I glib out what I can from your face. Then, the whole thing is going to be stored so I can look out later and see connections that might have been missed otherwise. Of course this all falls under client confidentiality, so you need not worry about where it goes from here. If I find something that I think might be crucial to the case in some way, I will bring it to your attention and then we will discuss whether or not it should be used in testimony, ok? Professor Snape, if I could just get you to sit beside me while I talk to her, I really don't think I want to see your face when I do this. No offense."

"None taken," Snape said, quickly moving out of the way. It was apparent that he didn't want her to see his face either.

It took a couple hours for Vallid to get all the information she wanted, stopping and backing up sometimes to find out where a certain chain of events went. She also spent an uncomfortable amount of time asking her about what she felt during the Mortification Curse, and was also interested that somehow Pettigrew had heard of her weakness to it.

"Does it really matter how hard the spell hit me?" Jennifer snapped testily.

"Jennifer, if you had to be hit with a major curse, and you had a choice between Cruciatus and Mortification, which would you chose?"

"Cruciatus," Jennifer said.

"And what about a death curse? Killing? Bleeding? Clenching?" Vallid asked. Jennifer glared at her. "That's what I thought. Jennifer, I think we should add a few more charges to this. I'm not going to go for a torture charge… basically because I think it would do you personally and publicly more harm than good for you to win that, and it would easily win. But I think we should at least go for a debilitation with intent to harm charge, and might I also suggest, although my main concern at the moment is Malfoy, that you make sure they charge Pettigrew with debilitation with intent to harm and manipulate," Vallid said, rubbing at her temples.

"We also need to go back and see if there's any connection between Malfoy and how Gregory Goyle got those snakes last year. Venowraiths don't exactly grow on trees, even in Britain. I need the inkwell and the seized documents from the Ministry, and your mirror, Jennifer, although I know how hard it is for a Truth Seeker to part with their personal mirror. As for Audacious," she began, but then began drumming her fingers. "I'm not quite sure what's going on with her yet. I doubt she'll talk to me since she's helping represent Malfoy. This just isn't like her."

"I think the Ministry has a record of what spells were on my mirror when it was cursed," Jennifer offered, handing over the mirror.

"Well, I think it's about time I spoke with them anyhow. That Minister of yours has been hounding me for weeks trying to get me involved in the Voldemort thing, but I hate crowds and press agents. Take my word for it Jennifer, don't get mixed up in fame, it isn't worth it. Oh wait, you already are mixed up in it, aren't you? I forgot about the Unicorn thing."

"I wish everyone else would forget about the Unicorn thing!" Jennifer muttered.

Vallid, Jennifer, and Severus Apparated into the reception room of the Ministry. Vallid quickly took the lead, walking in as if she owned the place. She only had to drop her name once before finding a large stack of records in her hand… she had been in communication with the Ministry since Lucius was arraigned. Soon Minister Arthur Weasley arrived, looking as if he had just won interviews from a dozen Muggles on the topic of his choice.

"It is an honor to meet you at last, Counselor Vallid. Welcome to Great Britain! I hope you're enjoying your stay so far, and please let me know if there's anything I can do…" Arthur began.

"Yes, please set me up with the investigators working on the Malfoy case as soon as possible, and I'd like to see Lucius Malfoy at once if it can be arranged." Vallid said. "Also, I need to get in touch with the French Ministry about something if you don't mind."

Vallid soon had everyone scrambling as Arthur went to make arrangements, telling everyone he could find to do what she said and he'd sign it later. Jennifer couldn't help but being amazed at the attention… the only other person she'd ever seen Arthur tell everyone to give them whatever they wanted was Albus Dumbledore. Suddenly Vallid turned to Jennifer and Severus, pulling them close with a hand on each shoulder.

"It doesn't look like word has spread about the two of you yet. I may be able to get more interesting responses from Malfoy if he doesn't know," Vallid said.

"You don't think Audi told him?" Jennifer whispered.

"I guess we'll know the answer to that soon enough," Vallid replied.

No Dementors walked the halls of Azkaban any longer. Instead, the old charms and glyphs were reinforced and there were goblin built anti-magic chambers, maintained by a large host of wizards and witches. Vallid seemed to approve of the change, deciding it was all for the best as they walked to the holding area where temporary prisoners were kept. Arthur walked them into a conference room, half of the room partitioned off with a clear wall of energy, barely visible. On the other side sat Lucius Malfoy, looking uncommonly common in his prison robes. Beside him were three of his five counselors and Audi Belle. The counselors and Audacious stared in surprise when Vallid strode in, glancing anxiously at one another. Jennifer walked in beside Vallid and Arthur, while Severus leaned against the closed door with his arms folded, nodding at Malfoy.

"Gentleman and Madam, may I introduce Counselor Vallid, who'll be working with the prosecution on this case on behalf of Jennifer Craw," Arthur told them cheerfully.

Lucius' eyes went wide, then stared with hatred at Jennifer. Audacious nodded to everyone and then turned around in the opposite direction, facing Lucius but keeping her back towards Vallid.

"I would like to remind you that this is a criminal investigation and anything you say can be used against you. However, since Vallid is a Truth Seeker, I would also remind you that as a counselor in this case, she may not directly use any information that she learns from her ability as testimony against you," Arthur said.

"What about her?" Lucius snapped, glaring at Jennifer. "I demand she leave at once."

"Jennifer isn't a licensed Truth Seeker and therefore cannot testify any of her knowledge in court either," Vallid pointed out. "If she were, this would have been a murder trial and not an attempted murder trial," she added. Arthur glanced at Vallid thoughtfully and then towards Jennifer, who was eyeing Malfoy warily.

"So then, Lucius, it seems you have a choice. To answer my questions verbally under the guidance of your team of counselors, or to choose not say anything, which is your right. Either way, I'll get what I came for." Vallid said with a smile. Jennifer was quickly realizing why it was that Vallid had never lost a case. "I found out something interesting while I was doing my homework on you. It seems that you and Thomas Craw had been pretty good friends at one point. In fact, you were business partners, weren't you?"

"I don't see how this applies to the case, counselor," one of the counselors interrupted, looking at her suspiciously.

"What happened to all of those investments when he disappeared sixteen years ago?" she asked.

"His business venture failed and went bankrupt. As anyone of any business background can tell you, it was a risky venture, so this was not that surprising an occurrence," Malfoy said, smiling coldly.

"Did it fail on its own or did you have to give it a little nudge?" Vallid asked. The three counselors began protesting again, claiming it had no relevance to the case at hand.

"Nonsense, it might be quite relevant, considering that all this happened before the Craws came to testify at your Death Eater trial. Now, why would Thomas Craw be willing to stick his neck out for you after you purposefully drained his resources just a year before? And why do you suppose, after fleeing Voldemort, he would risk his life to come back here and speak for you, especially considering his wife testified against you on former occasions?"

"This is pointless. Minister, surely you see she's just trying –" one of his counselor's began.

"He doesn't have to answer any questions he doesn't want to," Arthur said.

"It's all right, I'll drop the line of questioning. I am wondering, however, exactly how come you have such a deep hatred for my client. Someone, according to your statement, that you hardly know and have only seen four times since she returned from the States."

"Another leading question, trying to establish motive. You can't prove my client 'hates' your client."

"Counselor Bowyer, your client's wand gives evidence that he had cast the Mortification Curse on my client. One does not normally cast a major Dark spell on someone they like."

"I cast in self defense," Malfoy snarled.

"I also find it interesting that the same spell was used on my client by one Peter Pettigrew, who claimed he got the idea from you. So how, exactly, did this known murderer find out about that while you were stewing in here? Law Enforcement reports do not reveal what specific spells were cast to the public." Vallid held up her hand as the counselors began to protest again.

"He doesn't have to say. Besides, I can easily get a list of his visitors, or I could try asking Pettigrew since he's down the hall," Vallid smiled. Malfoy looked startled. He hadn't heard that Peter had gotten caught.

"Pettigrew is still a bit uncooperative at the moment," Arthur grunted.

"No matter. His fate was sealed before he even entered Azkaban from what I have heard," Vallid said, waving it off.

"Counselor, I find your questions abusive and leading. I suggest you discontinue this and allow him to go back to his room before we lodge a complaint to the justice board about this," said one of Malfoy's counselors.

Vallid snorted softly at the empty threat.

"Very well, Counselor Rummert, I only have one other question I want to pose. Tell me, Lucius, who is the person behind the Ivory Skull?" Malfoy looked genuinely surprised.

"You think I know? That's the most ludicrous question of all! If I'd known who it was, I wouldn't have had to hire special investigators to find out who is killing off my business associates, not to mention attacking me! That much your client could tell you herself, considering she was there. Why not try asking that flea-bitten boyfriend of hers, Sirius Black?" he snarled angrily. "He is quite obviously not in his right mind since that Azkaban business, and he is more than likely capable of it, especially after Weasley decided to pardon him. You have only yourself to blame for those deaths, Weasley. You're much too soft to be Minister!"

"It's an interesting theory," Vallid said calmly, "although I fear that some of your facts are not quite right. Sirius Black had an alibi on many of the occasions that the Ivory Skull struck. Furthermore, the romantic connection you insinuate between my client and Black is inaccurate, considering that she is engaged to another man. In any case, it was a long shot that you would know, but I had to ask. He may go."

But as the counselors got up and Audi went to signal the guards, Malfoy didn't move. Instead he was staring searchingly at Jennifer, who was looking at him with pure defiance and satisfaction. His eyes then wandered to the back of the room where Severus stood, tapping the fingers of his left hand pointedly against his arm, watching Malfoy's eyes land on the ring before breaking into a cold, insolent smile.

"You!" Malfoy said, standing in outrage. "You did it! You saved her from the death curse! And you woke her! TRAITOR! You traitor! You never left Dumbledore's service. How dare you defy the master? How dare you stand in our midst and swear our loyalties. Do you truly think that you can escape the wrath of Voldemort? You won't get away with this, Snape! You will be caught and you will be begging for your death before we've finished with you!"

Malfoy had been too enraged to notice his counselors trying to quiet him or the guards entering behind them, Arthur holding his hand for them to wait and let him finish. But he had noticed Malfoy's distinct fury when Jennifer moved over to Severus, standing almost protectively at his side while Severus put an arm around her. Vallid smiled triumphantly at the prisoner.

"Well, that was nice and damaging, wasn't it?" Arthur said cheerfully, nodding to the guards who led the seething Malfoy out.

"Quite," Vallid agreed. "It should make the hearing nice and short, and we can move quickly to trial. Full council trial at that; it should prove quite interesting." Audacious turned her head slightly to the side, smiling at Vallid as she followed the other counselors out of the room. Vallid watched her go, becoming thoughtful.

"Someone should try and talk to Audi." Severus said softly in Jennifer's ear. "I'm going to see if she will talk to me. I'll meet you at the gates in a few moments." Jennifer nodded to him, her expression troubled. "Don't worry. I won't be long."