Chapter XXX - The Trial
Ellie almost didn't sleep that night. She was sure Dumbledore would get them out of this, but fearful thoughts kept bumping into her mind as fearful thought always do the night before something important.
By next morning, she arrived quite early at the Ministry for the Hearing, but she barely had time to talk to anyone, since she was quickly pushed to one of the witness's rooms, to make sure she would have no contact with anyone before she testified.
She didn't even see Remus.
Alone, in the room, she waited for someone to call her, wondering what was happening. She knew all the accusation witnesses would go first, which included Rita Skeeter and some Ministry Agents, at least. Then Dumbledore would take charge in the Defence (she didn't know who represented the Accusation part) and she would be called to testify.
Finally, half an hour later, she was called. She entered the court room where there was Cornelius Fudge, in a judge-like position, with Dumbledore, on his right side, and a short, toad-like woman on his left, which should stand by the Accusation.
Behind them there was a crowd of people watching and people who had already testified. And in front of them, on the far left corner of the room, seated on a chair behind some short arches, was Remus. When she saw him, pale and tired, all she wanted to do was run to him, hold him, warm him. He looked exhausted and numb, but when he saw her he smiled and his face seemed to have gained new strength.
She seated on a chair, on the right corner, opposite to Remus, and waited. Dumbledore stood up and she noticed his eyes were twinkling.
"Miss Wood, we have already established that you were bitten by a werewolf. Is this correct?"
"Yes." said Ellie at once, who had been instructed by Dumbledore to agree with him in every sentence that had "correct" in it.
"That is what we could see by the pictures taken by Miss Skeeter. Unfortunately, the identity of the attacker is not shown on the pictures" and Dumbledore seemed puzzled.
Ellie tried to conceal her shock. She never thought of that!
"So" continued Dumbledore "we have no evidence about who the attacker was. All we have is you as a victim and so, your word as such." He paused and she could see that this argument was not a surprise to anyone in the room. They were probably discussing it for long, for she noticed Rita Skeeter had very red cheeks and the Accusation representative, although smiling, was looking sour.
"Miss Wood" said Dumbledore, very clearly "do you know the identity of your attacker?"
"No." said Ellie, perhaps too quickly. "I have no idea!"
"Miss Skeeter" and Rita Skeeter blushed even more "is under the impression that you saw your attacker transform from human to his, or hers, wolf form. Did you see it?" "No." she said again. "I was just in my room when this. wolf came by the window and attacked me."
"We saw your brave defence against this attacker." said Dumbledore, and there was a murmur of assent in the room. "Miss Skeeter also seems convinced that you were living with Mr. Lupin for sometime. Is that correct?"
"Yes, it is."
"And she thinks he was the one who attacked you."
And suddenly, Ellie felt a thought entering her mind. She looked at Severus for the first time since she had entered and she noticed his lip twitching.
"It couldn't have been him." said Ellie, understanding what Severus had just thought. "He was staying at Sev- with Professor Snape."
"Ah!" said Dumbledore "We thought so. Professor Snape also gave evidence on this subject and there seems to be no doubt left, since you rectified it. I think this clears up the matter and I think this proves, once and for all, that there is no need for this trial to continue, since there is no evidence, quite the contrary, that Mr. Lupin attacked Miss Wood."
"Well" said Fudge "it does seem that everything-"
"Hem hem" said a female voice, and Ellie, looking at the source of the sound, found the Accusation representative smiling again.
"Yes, Miss Umbridge." said Fudge "Is there anything you would like to add?"
"It seems to me that there are certain. details that we have missed. Like, if Miss Wood wasn't attacked by Mr. Lupin, why didn't she report it to the Ministry?"
"I was in a deep sleep, as is everyone who is bitten by a werewolf, and when I woke up, since I didn't have a clue on my aggressor's identity, I didn't think there was anything I could do."
There was a mumble of agreement in the room. But Umbridge didn't seem convinced.
"Miss Wood, I think you are aware of a potion, the Lupos Origus Potion, that can show if a suspected werwolf was responsible for an attack."
"Yes," smiled Ellie, sarcastically "I know. I helped inventing it."
"So you must know that it is much more accurate that, say, words and testimonies."
"Much more accurate." said Ellie, realizing where all this was ending. "But you must have a suspect."
"As we do now. Of course you also know that we cannot use it without the victim's permission. but since now you are one of. them. I'm sure you would like to know who the reponsible was."
There was silence in the room and Umbridge smiled friendly.
"I couldn't care less, actually" said Ellie.
"And why?" said Umbridge with a triumphant smile.
"Because I am not one of them." answered Ellie, coolly.
There was a murmur of surprise in the room.
"You are not one of them?" asked Umbridge, very slowly. "Come girl, how can you not be? You were bitten, weren't you?"
"Yes, but I assure you I am not."
"Yes, Dolores" said Dumbledore, suddenly getting up "I forgot to mention that, after the attack, Miss Wood fell in the deep sleep of the bite and Professor Snape, who happened to pass by her house, found her and took care of her. He gave her, daily, a potion that him and Ellie had been brewing and it had this remakable effect of preventing her from becoming a werewolf." The room was suddenly filled with the whispers of everone chatting and talking to their neighbours. Everyone was tremendously surprised by the turn of the events. "So Miss Wood is no more a werewolf than I am. Or than you, Dolores, if my word isn't good enough."
"My, how extraordinary!" said Fudge "And it worked?"
"Hem hem."
"Yes, Miss Umbridge?"
"Miss Wood, were you expecting an attack?"
"No." said Ellie.
"Than how come you had the potion with you already?"
"I am a potion inventor. I was studying a potion that could make werwolves safe, and then the Ministry convinced me to droop it and, since I was in the subject, I invented something much more useful. Don't you think it's useful to keep people from becoming werwolves?"
"And you were bitten the same month you did the potion? That's such a coincidence."
"If being bitten by werewolves was that rare, I wouldn't have invented it in the first place."
"And isn't it odd that you were studying such a potion, when living with Mr. Lupin, and that he just suddenly vanishes in the night of your attack? I find it hard to believe that it wasn't the same person."
"I don't remember seeing you that evening." said Ellie. She noticed Dumbledore smiled at this. "Maybe you were the one who attacked me."
"Don't be silly girl! I am not a werewolf."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive." Umbridge said acidily.
"Can you prove it?"
Umbridge turned red and said, less friendly "We keep track of every werewolf in the Department for the Restriction of Dark Creatures."
"Am I on this list?"
"Certanly."
"Than as I said before, the list is wrong because I am not a werewolf. And contrary to some people, I can prove it."
The room had gone very quiet in expectation.
"How can you prove it?" defied Umbridge.
Ellie smiled. She looked at Remus and then at the audience.
"As any expert in the Dark Arts will tell you, the werewolf invasion in the blood kills anything living inside the werewolf's body, with the exception of himself. Thus, a werewolf is rarely sick because no organism can survive long enough inside his body." The audience was listening with mild interest. Umbridge had a very closed expression. Severus was looking both proud and broken. But Remus was suddenly looking at her very seriously.
"That aplies to any human form as well. As you know, werewolve females cannot breed."
Umbridge twitched her lip in what was clearly an expression of "Thank goodness for that!"
"Babies are destroyed during the transformation." explained Ellie.
"Miss Wood" interrupted Fudge "Interesting is that all may be, could you just go to the point?"
Remus looked at Ellie very intensely. Surely it couldn't be what he was thinking. Ellie looked at him and just said "I am pregnant."
The room exploded in whispers and murmurs of surprise and astonishment. Umbridge looked positively defeated. She understood she had lost the battle even before Dumbledore reminded everyone that there had been a full moon two weeks before, and that if she was indeed a werewolf the baby had been distroyed by then. Fudge was looking flabergasted. Severus looked miserable.
But all that missed Remus' attention, for suddenly there was nothing else in the world apart from him, Ellie. and what he had heard. She was still looking at him, smiling.
Pregnant.
Remus felt his heart beating fast inside his chest. His hears, listening a kind of buzz, didn't hear Fudge's voice saying that since there was no evidence on the identity of the attacker, and since Ellie wasn't even transforming, there was no point in continuing the session. Remus didn't catch Umbridge's expression (which, alone, indicated his freedom), didn't hear Rita Skeeter curse and didn't even see when everyone got up and slowly left the room, leaving them alone.
As if he was dreaming, he saw Ellie walking to him, taking his hand and resting it on her belly.
And only then did he wake up from all the confusing sensations that took over him. He felt her body warm under his touch and before he realised what he was doing, he embraced her tightly, feeling a huge sensation of freedom, love and warmth. He felt like if he was being born again, like a radiant morning shining after a long and cold night, his mind seemed greater than the Universe. And when he kissed her he felt his whole body melt and shake in emotion at the same time.
He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but suddenly it didn't seem enough for what he was felling. So he just held her tightly against his body.
And when Remus revised his whole life, he felt that they had performed their greatest piece of magic yet.
Ellie almost didn't sleep that night. She was sure Dumbledore would get them out of this, but fearful thoughts kept bumping into her mind as fearful thought always do the night before something important.
By next morning, she arrived quite early at the Ministry for the Hearing, but she barely had time to talk to anyone, since she was quickly pushed to one of the witness's rooms, to make sure she would have no contact with anyone before she testified.
She didn't even see Remus.
Alone, in the room, she waited for someone to call her, wondering what was happening. She knew all the accusation witnesses would go first, which included Rita Skeeter and some Ministry Agents, at least. Then Dumbledore would take charge in the Defence (she didn't know who represented the Accusation part) and she would be called to testify.
Finally, half an hour later, she was called. She entered the court room where there was Cornelius Fudge, in a judge-like position, with Dumbledore, on his right side, and a short, toad-like woman on his left, which should stand by the Accusation.
Behind them there was a crowd of people watching and people who had already testified. And in front of them, on the far left corner of the room, seated on a chair behind some short arches, was Remus. When she saw him, pale and tired, all she wanted to do was run to him, hold him, warm him. He looked exhausted and numb, but when he saw her he smiled and his face seemed to have gained new strength.
She seated on a chair, on the right corner, opposite to Remus, and waited. Dumbledore stood up and she noticed his eyes were twinkling.
"Miss Wood, we have already established that you were bitten by a werewolf. Is this correct?"
"Yes." said Ellie at once, who had been instructed by Dumbledore to agree with him in every sentence that had "correct" in it.
"That is what we could see by the pictures taken by Miss Skeeter. Unfortunately, the identity of the attacker is not shown on the pictures" and Dumbledore seemed puzzled.
Ellie tried to conceal her shock. She never thought of that!
"So" continued Dumbledore "we have no evidence about who the attacker was. All we have is you as a victim and so, your word as such." He paused and she could see that this argument was not a surprise to anyone in the room. They were probably discussing it for long, for she noticed Rita Skeeter had very red cheeks and the Accusation representative, although smiling, was looking sour.
"Miss Wood" said Dumbledore, very clearly "do you know the identity of your attacker?"
"No." said Ellie, perhaps too quickly. "I have no idea!"
"Miss Skeeter" and Rita Skeeter blushed even more "is under the impression that you saw your attacker transform from human to his, or hers, wolf form. Did you see it?" "No." she said again. "I was just in my room when this. wolf came by the window and attacked me."
"We saw your brave defence against this attacker." said Dumbledore, and there was a murmur of assent in the room. "Miss Skeeter also seems convinced that you were living with Mr. Lupin for sometime. Is that correct?"
"Yes, it is."
"And she thinks he was the one who attacked you."
And suddenly, Ellie felt a thought entering her mind. She looked at Severus for the first time since she had entered and she noticed his lip twitching.
"It couldn't have been him." said Ellie, understanding what Severus had just thought. "He was staying at Sev- with Professor Snape."
"Ah!" said Dumbledore "We thought so. Professor Snape also gave evidence on this subject and there seems to be no doubt left, since you rectified it. I think this clears up the matter and I think this proves, once and for all, that there is no need for this trial to continue, since there is no evidence, quite the contrary, that Mr. Lupin attacked Miss Wood."
"Well" said Fudge "it does seem that everything-"
"Hem hem" said a female voice, and Ellie, looking at the source of the sound, found the Accusation representative smiling again.
"Yes, Miss Umbridge." said Fudge "Is there anything you would like to add?"
"It seems to me that there are certain. details that we have missed. Like, if Miss Wood wasn't attacked by Mr. Lupin, why didn't she report it to the Ministry?"
"I was in a deep sleep, as is everyone who is bitten by a werewolf, and when I woke up, since I didn't have a clue on my aggressor's identity, I didn't think there was anything I could do."
There was a mumble of agreement in the room. But Umbridge didn't seem convinced.
"Miss Wood, I think you are aware of a potion, the Lupos Origus Potion, that can show if a suspected werwolf was responsible for an attack."
"Yes," smiled Ellie, sarcastically "I know. I helped inventing it."
"So you must know that it is much more accurate that, say, words and testimonies."
"Much more accurate." said Ellie, realizing where all this was ending. "But you must have a suspect."
"As we do now. Of course you also know that we cannot use it without the victim's permission. but since now you are one of. them. I'm sure you would like to know who the reponsible was."
There was silence in the room and Umbridge smiled friendly.
"I couldn't care less, actually" said Ellie.
"And why?" said Umbridge with a triumphant smile.
"Because I am not one of them." answered Ellie, coolly.
There was a murmur of surprise in the room.
"You are not one of them?" asked Umbridge, very slowly. "Come girl, how can you not be? You were bitten, weren't you?"
"Yes, but I assure you I am not."
"Yes, Dolores" said Dumbledore, suddenly getting up "I forgot to mention that, after the attack, Miss Wood fell in the deep sleep of the bite and Professor Snape, who happened to pass by her house, found her and took care of her. He gave her, daily, a potion that him and Ellie had been brewing and it had this remakable effect of preventing her from becoming a werewolf." The room was suddenly filled with the whispers of everone chatting and talking to their neighbours. Everyone was tremendously surprised by the turn of the events. "So Miss Wood is no more a werewolf than I am. Or than you, Dolores, if my word isn't good enough."
"My, how extraordinary!" said Fudge "And it worked?"
"Hem hem."
"Yes, Miss Umbridge?"
"Miss Wood, were you expecting an attack?"
"No." said Ellie.
"Than how come you had the potion with you already?"
"I am a potion inventor. I was studying a potion that could make werwolves safe, and then the Ministry convinced me to droop it and, since I was in the subject, I invented something much more useful. Don't you think it's useful to keep people from becoming werwolves?"
"And you were bitten the same month you did the potion? That's such a coincidence."
"If being bitten by werewolves was that rare, I wouldn't have invented it in the first place."
"And isn't it odd that you were studying such a potion, when living with Mr. Lupin, and that he just suddenly vanishes in the night of your attack? I find it hard to believe that it wasn't the same person."
"I don't remember seeing you that evening." said Ellie. She noticed Dumbledore smiled at this. "Maybe you were the one who attacked me."
"Don't be silly girl! I am not a werewolf."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive." Umbridge said acidily.
"Can you prove it?"
Umbridge turned red and said, less friendly "We keep track of every werewolf in the Department for the Restriction of Dark Creatures."
"Am I on this list?"
"Certanly."
"Than as I said before, the list is wrong because I am not a werewolf. And contrary to some people, I can prove it."
The room had gone very quiet in expectation.
"How can you prove it?" defied Umbridge.
Ellie smiled. She looked at Remus and then at the audience.
"As any expert in the Dark Arts will tell you, the werewolf invasion in the blood kills anything living inside the werewolf's body, with the exception of himself. Thus, a werewolf is rarely sick because no organism can survive long enough inside his body." The audience was listening with mild interest. Umbridge had a very closed expression. Severus was looking both proud and broken. But Remus was suddenly looking at her very seriously.
"That aplies to any human form as well. As you know, werewolve females cannot breed."
Umbridge twitched her lip in what was clearly an expression of "Thank goodness for that!"
"Babies are destroyed during the transformation." explained Ellie.
"Miss Wood" interrupted Fudge "Interesting is that all may be, could you just go to the point?"
Remus looked at Ellie very intensely. Surely it couldn't be what he was thinking. Ellie looked at him and just said "I am pregnant."
The room exploded in whispers and murmurs of surprise and astonishment. Umbridge looked positively defeated. She understood she had lost the battle even before Dumbledore reminded everyone that there had been a full moon two weeks before, and that if she was indeed a werewolf the baby had been distroyed by then. Fudge was looking flabergasted. Severus looked miserable.
But all that missed Remus' attention, for suddenly there was nothing else in the world apart from him, Ellie. and what he had heard. She was still looking at him, smiling.
Pregnant.
Remus felt his heart beating fast inside his chest. His hears, listening a kind of buzz, didn't hear Fudge's voice saying that since there was no evidence on the identity of the attacker, and since Ellie wasn't even transforming, there was no point in continuing the session. Remus didn't catch Umbridge's expression (which, alone, indicated his freedom), didn't hear Rita Skeeter curse and didn't even see when everyone got up and slowly left the room, leaving them alone.
As if he was dreaming, he saw Ellie walking to him, taking his hand and resting it on her belly.
And only then did he wake up from all the confusing sensations that took over him. He felt her body warm under his touch and before he realised what he was doing, he embraced her tightly, feeling a huge sensation of freedom, love and warmth. He felt like if he was being born again, like a radiant morning shining after a long and cold night, his mind seemed greater than the Universe. And when he kissed her he felt his whole body melt and shake in emotion at the same time.
He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but suddenly it didn't seem enough for what he was felling. So he just held her tightly against his body.
And when Remus revised his whole life, he felt that they had performed their greatest piece of magic yet.