One day during Potions, Professor McGonagall called Fae out of class. She
had a grave look on her face and didn't even attempt to smile when Snape,
who didn't seem too ungrateful to be missing another Gryffindor, emitted
the girl.
"'Fessor?" she said, a little confused.
She still kept her crucial look. "Come with me, O'Connor," was all she said before walking off.
Fae raised an eyebrow, but followed after her any way. They reached a large phoenix statue, and she realized that it was the doorway to Dumbledore's office. She took in a deep breath and figured that it must be something of importance. She had never been there before, and to put things bluntly, she didn't really think she wanted to be.
McGonagall jerked her head over her shoulder, and Fae reluctantly walked some distance so she could say the password. Eventually, she heard a sound that sounded like two large stones' surfaces rubbing together, and turned around. The statue started spinning and rising upwards, leaving a stone spiral staircase behind it.
"Ace!" She exclaimed, but the professor only looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. She sighed. "Right.. okay.."
McGonagall headed up the staircase and Fae followed behind. It was a short walk, and they eventually found themselves to be in a vast office. Dumbledore was standing with another man, who was speaking to him in a raised tone.
"..You can't deny these pictures, Albus. It's proof right in front of your eyes,"
"Yes, Mr Crouch, I understand that. But as I have said before, I will not act upon anything without a fair trial."
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, and the two quarreling men turned and a smile spread across Dumbledore's face. "Ah, Minerva, didn't see you there. And hello Fae, please, come in, come in."
Fae stepped forward awkwardly, doing as she was told. There were tall bookshelves covering almost every spot on the walls, except for the opening to the second floor, and were all stacked with rows upon rows of books. Some kind of glowing globe sat spinning on the top of one of them. There was an enormous grandfather clock in the corner of one room, and there was a velvety-looking, red sofa next to it. Across the room was a big wooden stand, on which perched Fawkes the phoenix, and next to it was Dumbledore's desk. It was covered with interesting gadgets, quills, parchment, and even more books.
He asked her to sit down, and she seated herself on the squishy red couch, completely aware of the man's purposefully conspicuous glare on her as she sat down.
"Miss O'Connor, this is Mr Albert Crouch from the Ministry of Magic. He has recently taken over his brother Barty's head position."
Fae recognized the name from back in August at King's Cross when Percy was constantly speaking of him and what a shame it was for his loss. Surprised that she still remembered that, she smiled at him any way. "'Lo," she said, trying to put on a cheerful face. Albert just snorted. Dumbledore rolled his eyes-she found humor in seeing a wizard of such high standards to something so juvenile-and continued.
"Mr Crouch is here to speak to you of something. I am sure you know all about what has been happening lately at our school with finding the paralyzed students. Are you familiar with what happened at the beginning of the school year and towards the winter vacation and the two Dark Marks reported?"
Fae nodded. Yes, because I was accused, she thought sarcastically, and then realized at her own words just what this meeting was for. Dumbledore nodded.
"Of course she knows, she's the one who did it!" Albert suddenly cut in, and Fae's jaw dropped in shock.
"*Excuse* me?" she exclaimed, and completely forgot about being polite.
He sneered. "Don't try to hide it, we've got the evidence right here."
"Mr Crouch!" Dumbledore silenced. He continued to glared daggers at him, but shut his mouth. The headmaster looked at Professor McGonagall, and she nodded and left. He then turned back to Fae, who was clutching one arm of the couch in anger.
"Sir, please tell him that he's lost his mind!" She demanded, and realized that Mr Crouch looked kind of like Vincent Price. He was one of her favorite actors-because he was in two of the Poe movies-but suddenly lost so much interest in him.
He looked back at her for a long while, and then turned to Mr Crouch and nodded. As soon as he did, the wizard from the Ministry threw a yellow envelope onto her lap and folded his arms as she glared back at him.
"What's this?" She started opening it without waiting for their answer. She was pretty annoyed with this Mr Crouch, even after only knowing him for ten minutes. But what she saw fell out onto her lap shocked her.
There were at least five photographs of her-obviously done on a wizard's camera, because they moved-holding a wand to the victims who had become paralyzed. There was Harry, Hermione, the two first year girls. she got to the last picture and it was one of her casting the spell to create the humongous Dark Mark in the room where Ron had found her so long ago. There was a very uncomfortable and long silence as she flipped through the pictures again and again, watching herself cast a curse on Harry, Hermione, and the other victims. Mr Crouch was looking at her with a horribly toothy grin of satisfaction. There was a long uncomfortable silence as she flipped through them over and over. Finally, she spoke.
"How did you get these?" her voice cracked.
Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, but Albert cut him off. "Ever since the incident in the beginning of the year that happened on the Hogwarts Express-though I'm sure you're familiar with it and don't need the reminder- we've been placing wizard's camera's around the school. The flash won't be seen or detected by anyone, but it still goes off. We actually got the idea from a muggle camera way back when, but that's not important right now. Fess up."
"Albert, that is enough!" Dumbledore finally said. He turned to Fae and gave her a gentle look, bending over so they were eye-to-eye.
"Fae, I'm not accusing you of anything. And I assure you, nothing will happen to you until there has been a fair trial with the Ministry," he turned and looked at Mr Crouch over his shoulder. "But I need you to answer me honestly. Did you do any of these things?"
"No." she said, almost too quickly.
Mr Crouch went into a fit of rage. "Albus, how can you take this? There's photo proof right in front of you! She's obviously lying!"
"As I have said before, I will not hold anything against her until there has been a proper trial. I've already spoken with the rest of the Ministry.. there is to be a trial in one week."
Fae bit her lip. "Sir, if I really *am* guilty, hypothetically speaking of course, then what will they do with me?"
He turned to Mr Crouch, who smiled smugly. "If you are found guilty, you will be expelled from Hogwarts for good, and probably sent to Azkaban."
"Azkaban!" she screeched. She could hardly imagine herself in a prison.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure there will be other juvenile delinquents such as yourself running around in there. You'll make friends in no time."
His last few insults were unheard, because she was too busy trying to get her heartbeat back to a normal rate. She was going to go to Azkaban! For who knows how long, ten, twenty years. for life? She tried to imagine herself in the dark cells, carving things into the walls and avoiding the older male prisoners like the plague. Everything else that Dumbledore and Crouch told her was all a blur. All she remembered was that she was going to a trial somewhere in one week, and she would have to miss a day of school to attend. Finally, she asked to be excused. Dumbledore paused, but nodded and she left. As she grasped onto the handrail and stumbled down the phoenix staircase, the tiny strand of optimism she was hanging from was cut, and she fell. Literally.
Everything was spinning as her body collapsed onto the cold stone floors. She felt insanely tired all of the sudden, and fought to keep her eyes open. But they eventually fluttered shut and she fell into the first tranquil sleep she had experienced in a while.
+ + +
She woke up there early the next morning to Filch's cat sniffing her hair and nose. Her eyelids barely lifted and she saw a huge cat face in front of her, and screamed. She sat up quickly as the cat ran off, probably to find its owner. She glanced out the window and saw that the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she quickly stood up before Filch returned with his cat. Stretching, Fae wandered down the hall and finally found the Gryffindor common room again. The door swung open and Parvati walked out, probably to go visit the twins and Lavender. She glared at Fae, who mentally added her to the list of everyone who thought she was performing the spells.
+ + +
The next week went by all too fast for Fae, and the next thing she knew, she was woken up early by Professor McGonagall, rushed to get ready and then escorted to Dumbledore's office. He awaited her with a smile, although she didn't even bother to return it.
It was her first time traveling by Floo Powder, and was very skeptical of it at she stepped into the chimney. But as she shouted "The Ministry Courthouse!" she believed every word he had told her. With a flash of blue, she tumbled out of a fireplace in a huge library. She scrambled to her feet and hastily dusted herself off, although it didn't do much. A few moments later, Dumbledore appeared and stepped out of the fireplace with ease. She rolled her eyes, and within a few moments Mr Crouch appeared.
"Good morning, sir." He said to Dumbledore, and then cast a glare at Fae. She smiled back with obvious mock-sincerity. He mumbled something about she being lucky that the Order of the Phoenix wasn't involved in this, and started escorting them out of the library and down a long hall with marble floors and high a high ceiling.
Fae felt like she was in mourning. McGonagall had told her to dress in all black 'dress clothes'-Fae didn't have many of these-and gave her a black veil to wear over her face for when they had the trial. She said something about how everyone who had been in trial was supposed to dress like this, but Fae hadn't particularly noticed too many other witches dressed like this.
McGonagall had specifically told her all the 'rules' she had to follow. Leave it to her to go over the rules a thousand times: "Keep your head down, only speak when you're supposed to. And don't even think of raising your voice or using any Irish slang.. they would surely deem you guilty right on the spot. They're all a bunch of inconsiderate old men, so you definately want to act all sugar-syrupy sweet." She didn't really know why the Professor was helping her all of the sudden, but she was somewhat thankful for her advice.
The next thing she knew, Mr Crouch was opening two extremely tall wooden doors. They stepped inside and Fae found herself to be in a vast courtroom. It wasn't like the Muggle ones she had seen, it was like a big theatre.. the kind she had seen where Muggles went to watch ballets or operas. Only of course there was no stage and no pit for the orchestra to sit in, but there were paintings and long red curtains on the windows that looked similar to curtains. She felt like she was in a part of Hogwarts she hadn't ever been in before.
Surprisingly, there were many people sitting in the seats to watch the trial. Fae didn't have the slightest idea as to whom any of them were, but it only made her feel more awkward to know that she'd have an audience. The jury was seated in the same place as juries were in a Muggle court. They were probably the members of the Ministry, so she imagined. She was escorted to sit down at a small table in the front, and realized that she didn't have a lawyer. She was about to ask Dumbledore, but when she turned around he was gone.
She felt everyone's accusing eyes on her, and she suddenly wondered what she was doing in there. She also wanted to know where her parents were, and if they had even been informed. They would probably skin her alive, both of them being Catholic Muggles. This was the reason she wasn't allowed to attend Hogwarts until her fifth year, because they were so religious and thought that by sending her there, she would indulge in 'black magic'. She finally convinced them though after four years of trying, and now she was being charged for association with Voldemort and the Dark Arts. She warily turned around in her seat and eventually spotted her parents seated in the back. Her mother's hair was pulled up into a tight bun on the back of her head as it always was, and her father had grown back a beard. They both pressed their lips into a thin line, a sure sign that they were very disappointed, she had learned over the years. She was never going to hear the end of this, she realized, and slumped down farther into her seat.
A few moments later, the door opened and a few people walked in. Fae didn't bother to look up, but she could tell by the numerous numbers of footsteps. Someone pulled up the chair next to her, and she jumped and looked to see who it was.
"Percy?" she exclaimed, not bothering to hide any of her shock. "*You're* going to be my lawyer?"
Percy Weasley, who she had met at King's Cross so long ago, was seated next to her. He turned to her and she was surprised to see no smile on her face.
"I'm doing this because I need a promotion in the ministry." He said bluntly, and turned back in his seat. Her jaw dropped and she slammed her head on the table.
I am so screwed.
+ + +
A few minutes later the judge walked in. Fae was surprised to see that it was a woman, and she was in black robes and a tall wizards hat of matching color.
"All rise for Judge Judith," someone announced.
The courtroom rose to their feet as the judge took her place behind her podium and then they all sat again. Fae sniggered internally as she thought of the show Judge Judy. At least she found a little optimism and humor in this. She still felt very self-conscious in her 'funeral' clothes, probably because everyone continued to stare at her.
Everything went by in a blur. She couldn't really recall all that happened because she had been so nervous. She remembered that Percy did put up a fight for her, but everyone there seemed to know it was hopeless. As soon as Mr Crouch had brought up the pictures, the entire audience and some of the jury gasped. Her mother wailed and buried her face in her father's shoulder, as Fae bit her lip. She became tongue-tied to answer questions, and tried her best to avoid looking at what appeared to be Dementors, in the shadow of one corner of the room. She had no idea what she had answered or how badly she was stuttering, but she remembered the disapproving looks from the jury and the judge.
The one thing that really stuck out in her mind was when the jury returned back into the courtroom. She remembered none of them were looking at her when they walked out-not a good sign-and everything started to go in slow motion. It suddenly was very, very hot as the Judge asked if they had reached a verdict.
"We have," one man stood up. "We find the defendant.. guilty."
Mr O'Connor gasped and his wife started bawling again and massaging the cross she had around her neck with her fingers. Fae felt her heart drop down into her stomach as the man continued reading things off of a piece of parchment that she didn't even hear. All she could think of was the buzzing in her ears and some of the crowd murmuring and watching her intently. The only thing she heard the man say was "..She will be expelled from Hogwarts in three days, and will be sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban."
Fae's jaw dropped and she felt her eyes well up with tears. She remembered her Detention monitor in the beginning of the year telling her that she would somehow end up in Azkaban, and her throat was tight. Her mother was sobbing uncontrollably, the crowd was still murmuring, and she suddenly felt very, very tired again. The room started spinning and she felt herself slide out of her seat and onto the floor. Then everything went black.
+ + +
She woke up in the infirmary in at Hogwarts. She had no idea how she got there or just how long it had been. Opening her eyes, she tried to recall what had happened to her at the Ministry. And then suddenly, it hit her. She was going to be expelled from Hogwarts in probably less than two days, and sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban.
Azkaban! She had just turned fifteen in January, and she was going to Azkaban!
She suddenly noticed that her parents were both asleep in two chairs pulled up near her bed, her mother with her hand clutched tightly around her cross necklace. She smirked to herself; she was always so paranoid of the whole witchcraft idea, and was very old fashioned.
Slowly, Fae sat up, hoping that Madame Pomfrey wouldn't notice. The nurse, however, was asleep on her desk, snoring every now and then. Fae looked around the room and saw all the victims of what were supposedly her attacks. She saw Harry, Hermione, the twins, Ginny, Lavender.. everyone. And that was when she decided that something was going to have to be done. She refused to let herself go down like this, and leave all of these victims lying in a coma. Although she wouldn't really mind so much if Lavender stayed..
She slowly swung her feet over the edge and stood up, realizing her legs felt like jell-o. She wobbled over to the door, slowly opened it, and stepped outside. Catching the clock as she looked out the door, it was 11:28 p.m. She winced; if she had been asleep for two days, then she had one half hour to do whatever she was going to do. And to put it bluntly, she had no idea.
As she was walking down some staircases toward the great hall, she passed by the door where she had seen the huge spiders. Looking at it, she shuddered at the memory, and then stopped and did a double take. There was a light on the other side.
"'Fessor?" she said, a little confused.
She still kept her crucial look. "Come with me, O'Connor," was all she said before walking off.
Fae raised an eyebrow, but followed after her any way. They reached a large phoenix statue, and she realized that it was the doorway to Dumbledore's office. She took in a deep breath and figured that it must be something of importance. She had never been there before, and to put things bluntly, she didn't really think she wanted to be.
McGonagall jerked her head over her shoulder, and Fae reluctantly walked some distance so she could say the password. Eventually, she heard a sound that sounded like two large stones' surfaces rubbing together, and turned around. The statue started spinning and rising upwards, leaving a stone spiral staircase behind it.
"Ace!" She exclaimed, but the professor only looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. She sighed. "Right.. okay.."
McGonagall headed up the staircase and Fae followed behind. It was a short walk, and they eventually found themselves to be in a vast office. Dumbledore was standing with another man, who was speaking to him in a raised tone.
"..You can't deny these pictures, Albus. It's proof right in front of your eyes,"
"Yes, Mr Crouch, I understand that. But as I have said before, I will not act upon anything without a fair trial."
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, and the two quarreling men turned and a smile spread across Dumbledore's face. "Ah, Minerva, didn't see you there. And hello Fae, please, come in, come in."
Fae stepped forward awkwardly, doing as she was told. There were tall bookshelves covering almost every spot on the walls, except for the opening to the second floor, and were all stacked with rows upon rows of books. Some kind of glowing globe sat spinning on the top of one of them. There was an enormous grandfather clock in the corner of one room, and there was a velvety-looking, red sofa next to it. Across the room was a big wooden stand, on which perched Fawkes the phoenix, and next to it was Dumbledore's desk. It was covered with interesting gadgets, quills, parchment, and even more books.
He asked her to sit down, and she seated herself on the squishy red couch, completely aware of the man's purposefully conspicuous glare on her as she sat down.
"Miss O'Connor, this is Mr Albert Crouch from the Ministry of Magic. He has recently taken over his brother Barty's head position."
Fae recognized the name from back in August at King's Cross when Percy was constantly speaking of him and what a shame it was for his loss. Surprised that she still remembered that, she smiled at him any way. "'Lo," she said, trying to put on a cheerful face. Albert just snorted. Dumbledore rolled his eyes-she found humor in seeing a wizard of such high standards to something so juvenile-and continued.
"Mr Crouch is here to speak to you of something. I am sure you know all about what has been happening lately at our school with finding the paralyzed students. Are you familiar with what happened at the beginning of the school year and towards the winter vacation and the two Dark Marks reported?"
Fae nodded. Yes, because I was accused, she thought sarcastically, and then realized at her own words just what this meeting was for. Dumbledore nodded.
"Of course she knows, she's the one who did it!" Albert suddenly cut in, and Fae's jaw dropped in shock.
"*Excuse* me?" she exclaimed, and completely forgot about being polite.
He sneered. "Don't try to hide it, we've got the evidence right here."
"Mr Crouch!" Dumbledore silenced. He continued to glared daggers at him, but shut his mouth. The headmaster looked at Professor McGonagall, and she nodded and left. He then turned back to Fae, who was clutching one arm of the couch in anger.
"Sir, please tell him that he's lost his mind!" She demanded, and realized that Mr Crouch looked kind of like Vincent Price. He was one of her favorite actors-because he was in two of the Poe movies-but suddenly lost so much interest in him.
He looked back at her for a long while, and then turned to Mr Crouch and nodded. As soon as he did, the wizard from the Ministry threw a yellow envelope onto her lap and folded his arms as she glared back at him.
"What's this?" She started opening it without waiting for their answer. She was pretty annoyed with this Mr Crouch, even after only knowing him for ten minutes. But what she saw fell out onto her lap shocked her.
There were at least five photographs of her-obviously done on a wizard's camera, because they moved-holding a wand to the victims who had become paralyzed. There was Harry, Hermione, the two first year girls. she got to the last picture and it was one of her casting the spell to create the humongous Dark Mark in the room where Ron had found her so long ago. There was a very uncomfortable and long silence as she flipped through the pictures again and again, watching herself cast a curse on Harry, Hermione, and the other victims. Mr Crouch was looking at her with a horribly toothy grin of satisfaction. There was a long uncomfortable silence as she flipped through them over and over. Finally, she spoke.
"How did you get these?" her voice cracked.
Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, but Albert cut him off. "Ever since the incident in the beginning of the year that happened on the Hogwarts Express-though I'm sure you're familiar with it and don't need the reminder- we've been placing wizard's camera's around the school. The flash won't be seen or detected by anyone, but it still goes off. We actually got the idea from a muggle camera way back when, but that's not important right now. Fess up."
"Albert, that is enough!" Dumbledore finally said. He turned to Fae and gave her a gentle look, bending over so they were eye-to-eye.
"Fae, I'm not accusing you of anything. And I assure you, nothing will happen to you until there has been a fair trial with the Ministry," he turned and looked at Mr Crouch over his shoulder. "But I need you to answer me honestly. Did you do any of these things?"
"No." she said, almost too quickly.
Mr Crouch went into a fit of rage. "Albus, how can you take this? There's photo proof right in front of you! She's obviously lying!"
"As I have said before, I will not hold anything against her until there has been a proper trial. I've already spoken with the rest of the Ministry.. there is to be a trial in one week."
Fae bit her lip. "Sir, if I really *am* guilty, hypothetically speaking of course, then what will they do with me?"
He turned to Mr Crouch, who smiled smugly. "If you are found guilty, you will be expelled from Hogwarts for good, and probably sent to Azkaban."
"Azkaban!" she screeched. She could hardly imagine herself in a prison.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure there will be other juvenile delinquents such as yourself running around in there. You'll make friends in no time."
His last few insults were unheard, because she was too busy trying to get her heartbeat back to a normal rate. She was going to go to Azkaban! For who knows how long, ten, twenty years. for life? She tried to imagine herself in the dark cells, carving things into the walls and avoiding the older male prisoners like the plague. Everything else that Dumbledore and Crouch told her was all a blur. All she remembered was that she was going to a trial somewhere in one week, and she would have to miss a day of school to attend. Finally, she asked to be excused. Dumbledore paused, but nodded and she left. As she grasped onto the handrail and stumbled down the phoenix staircase, the tiny strand of optimism she was hanging from was cut, and she fell. Literally.
Everything was spinning as her body collapsed onto the cold stone floors. She felt insanely tired all of the sudden, and fought to keep her eyes open. But they eventually fluttered shut and she fell into the first tranquil sleep she had experienced in a while.
+ + +
She woke up there early the next morning to Filch's cat sniffing her hair and nose. Her eyelids barely lifted and she saw a huge cat face in front of her, and screamed. She sat up quickly as the cat ran off, probably to find its owner. She glanced out the window and saw that the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she quickly stood up before Filch returned with his cat. Stretching, Fae wandered down the hall and finally found the Gryffindor common room again. The door swung open and Parvati walked out, probably to go visit the twins and Lavender. She glared at Fae, who mentally added her to the list of everyone who thought she was performing the spells.
+ + +
The next week went by all too fast for Fae, and the next thing she knew, she was woken up early by Professor McGonagall, rushed to get ready and then escorted to Dumbledore's office. He awaited her with a smile, although she didn't even bother to return it.
It was her first time traveling by Floo Powder, and was very skeptical of it at she stepped into the chimney. But as she shouted "The Ministry Courthouse!" she believed every word he had told her. With a flash of blue, she tumbled out of a fireplace in a huge library. She scrambled to her feet and hastily dusted herself off, although it didn't do much. A few moments later, Dumbledore appeared and stepped out of the fireplace with ease. She rolled her eyes, and within a few moments Mr Crouch appeared.
"Good morning, sir." He said to Dumbledore, and then cast a glare at Fae. She smiled back with obvious mock-sincerity. He mumbled something about she being lucky that the Order of the Phoenix wasn't involved in this, and started escorting them out of the library and down a long hall with marble floors and high a high ceiling.
Fae felt like she was in mourning. McGonagall had told her to dress in all black 'dress clothes'-Fae didn't have many of these-and gave her a black veil to wear over her face for when they had the trial. She said something about how everyone who had been in trial was supposed to dress like this, but Fae hadn't particularly noticed too many other witches dressed like this.
McGonagall had specifically told her all the 'rules' she had to follow. Leave it to her to go over the rules a thousand times: "Keep your head down, only speak when you're supposed to. And don't even think of raising your voice or using any Irish slang.. they would surely deem you guilty right on the spot. They're all a bunch of inconsiderate old men, so you definately want to act all sugar-syrupy sweet." She didn't really know why the Professor was helping her all of the sudden, but she was somewhat thankful for her advice.
The next thing she knew, Mr Crouch was opening two extremely tall wooden doors. They stepped inside and Fae found herself to be in a vast courtroom. It wasn't like the Muggle ones she had seen, it was like a big theatre.. the kind she had seen where Muggles went to watch ballets or operas. Only of course there was no stage and no pit for the orchestra to sit in, but there were paintings and long red curtains on the windows that looked similar to curtains. She felt like she was in a part of Hogwarts she hadn't ever been in before.
Surprisingly, there were many people sitting in the seats to watch the trial. Fae didn't have the slightest idea as to whom any of them were, but it only made her feel more awkward to know that she'd have an audience. The jury was seated in the same place as juries were in a Muggle court. They were probably the members of the Ministry, so she imagined. She was escorted to sit down at a small table in the front, and realized that she didn't have a lawyer. She was about to ask Dumbledore, but when she turned around he was gone.
She felt everyone's accusing eyes on her, and she suddenly wondered what she was doing in there. She also wanted to know where her parents were, and if they had even been informed. They would probably skin her alive, both of them being Catholic Muggles. This was the reason she wasn't allowed to attend Hogwarts until her fifth year, because they were so religious and thought that by sending her there, she would indulge in 'black magic'. She finally convinced them though after four years of trying, and now she was being charged for association with Voldemort and the Dark Arts. She warily turned around in her seat and eventually spotted her parents seated in the back. Her mother's hair was pulled up into a tight bun on the back of her head as it always was, and her father had grown back a beard. They both pressed their lips into a thin line, a sure sign that they were very disappointed, she had learned over the years. She was never going to hear the end of this, she realized, and slumped down farther into her seat.
A few moments later, the door opened and a few people walked in. Fae didn't bother to look up, but she could tell by the numerous numbers of footsteps. Someone pulled up the chair next to her, and she jumped and looked to see who it was.
"Percy?" she exclaimed, not bothering to hide any of her shock. "*You're* going to be my lawyer?"
Percy Weasley, who she had met at King's Cross so long ago, was seated next to her. He turned to her and she was surprised to see no smile on her face.
"I'm doing this because I need a promotion in the ministry." He said bluntly, and turned back in his seat. Her jaw dropped and she slammed her head on the table.
I am so screwed.
+ + +
A few minutes later the judge walked in. Fae was surprised to see that it was a woman, and she was in black robes and a tall wizards hat of matching color.
"All rise for Judge Judith," someone announced.
The courtroom rose to their feet as the judge took her place behind her podium and then they all sat again. Fae sniggered internally as she thought of the show Judge Judy. At least she found a little optimism and humor in this. She still felt very self-conscious in her 'funeral' clothes, probably because everyone continued to stare at her.
Everything went by in a blur. She couldn't really recall all that happened because she had been so nervous. She remembered that Percy did put up a fight for her, but everyone there seemed to know it was hopeless. As soon as Mr Crouch had brought up the pictures, the entire audience and some of the jury gasped. Her mother wailed and buried her face in her father's shoulder, as Fae bit her lip. She became tongue-tied to answer questions, and tried her best to avoid looking at what appeared to be Dementors, in the shadow of one corner of the room. She had no idea what she had answered or how badly she was stuttering, but she remembered the disapproving looks from the jury and the judge.
The one thing that really stuck out in her mind was when the jury returned back into the courtroom. She remembered none of them were looking at her when they walked out-not a good sign-and everything started to go in slow motion. It suddenly was very, very hot as the Judge asked if they had reached a verdict.
"We have," one man stood up. "We find the defendant.. guilty."
Mr O'Connor gasped and his wife started bawling again and massaging the cross she had around her neck with her fingers. Fae felt her heart drop down into her stomach as the man continued reading things off of a piece of parchment that she didn't even hear. All she could think of was the buzzing in her ears and some of the crowd murmuring and watching her intently. The only thing she heard the man say was "..She will be expelled from Hogwarts in three days, and will be sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban."
Fae's jaw dropped and she felt her eyes well up with tears. She remembered her Detention monitor in the beginning of the year telling her that she would somehow end up in Azkaban, and her throat was tight. Her mother was sobbing uncontrollably, the crowd was still murmuring, and she suddenly felt very, very tired again. The room started spinning and she felt herself slide out of her seat and onto the floor. Then everything went black.
+ + +
She woke up in the infirmary in at Hogwarts. She had no idea how she got there or just how long it had been. Opening her eyes, she tried to recall what had happened to her at the Ministry. And then suddenly, it hit her. She was going to be expelled from Hogwarts in probably less than two days, and sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban.
Azkaban! She had just turned fifteen in January, and she was going to Azkaban!
She suddenly noticed that her parents were both asleep in two chairs pulled up near her bed, her mother with her hand clutched tightly around her cross necklace. She smirked to herself; she was always so paranoid of the whole witchcraft idea, and was very old fashioned.
Slowly, Fae sat up, hoping that Madame Pomfrey wouldn't notice. The nurse, however, was asleep on her desk, snoring every now and then. Fae looked around the room and saw all the victims of what were supposedly her attacks. She saw Harry, Hermione, the twins, Ginny, Lavender.. everyone. And that was when she decided that something was going to have to be done. She refused to let herself go down like this, and leave all of these victims lying in a coma. Although she wouldn't really mind so much if Lavender stayed..
She slowly swung her feet over the edge and stood up, realizing her legs felt like jell-o. She wobbled over to the door, slowly opened it, and stepped outside. Catching the clock as she looked out the door, it was 11:28 p.m. She winced; if she had been asleep for two days, then she had one half hour to do whatever she was going to do. And to put it bluntly, she had no idea.
As she was walking down some staircases toward the great hall, she passed by the door where she had seen the huge spiders. Looking at it, she shuddered at the memory, and then stopped and did a double take. There was a light on the other side.