Molly watched the unfolding scene behind the Sphere in apprehension, her eyes flitting rapidly from one blurred figure to the next. One question remained constant in her mind: Why? Harry had been Ron and Hermione's best friend. Why would he interfere just when she was about to get off?

There was a flurry of movement behind the Sphere, which promptly dissolved. Molly caught only a brief glimpse of Hermione being led out of the dock and down the stairs to the cells. Then her gaze was drawn to where the members of the Wizengamot were withdrawing to chambers. There they would decide the fate of the young woman she still considered her daughter-in-law. Molly scrambled through the crowd to reach her estranged son before he disappeared through that door. She just had to try and make him see that Hermione could never have done such a thing. "Percy!"

The Minister of Justice paused at the threshold. Keeping his back to her, he said, "Not now, Mother."

"Yes, now Percy Weasley. I don't care what Harry told you, Hermione couldn't have killed Minister Fudge! She's not a killer!"

"Unfortunately the facts say otherwise." He turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder. "Father is avenged. That's all I can say for now."

Harry watched this exchange from the chair that until recently had seated the counsel for defense and allowed a small smile to grace his lips. At least one of his goals would be achieved this day.

"What the devil are you smiling at, Potter?" Severus had apparently removed himself from the witness stand to conduct his own interrogation. To say that the Potions Master of Hogwarts was angry with the Arrogant Boy Who Just Destroyed His Life, would be like saying that Voldemort was Not A Nice Fellow.

"Healing old wounds, Severus." Harry said simply. "Someday soon, the Weasleys will be a family again." He nodded over to where Molly stood with her hand over her mouth in shock. "I think that alone makes what I had to do worth while, don't you?"

"The Weasleys?" Severus asked incredulously, "They're why you betrayed your best friend? They're why you've condemned her to ...?"

Harry cut him off. "Condemned? I don't think that I've condemned Hermione to anything. On the contrary. I believe I have set her free and by extension you and the rest of the wizarding world as well."

"Set her free? Are you insane? Don't bother answering that , I already know the answer. You are insane. Mad. Bonkers. Stark raving around the bloody twist and up wall!"

Harry sighed at his former teacher's theatrics. He sighed in the manner of an adult about to explain something rather simple and obvious to a small stubborn child. "Wormtail wasn't the only one who knew of Bellatrix' actions. Lucius knew of them as well. Do you really think that he is incapable of coming to the same conclusions I did? Or that he wouldn't use that information to his own advantage. And even if he didn't, there was sufficient evidence elsewhere that, if discovered, would have been enough to launch a full investigation of both yours and Hermione's activities. Only this time, there really wouldn't be any hope for her. Or you. At least this way Percy may convince his colleagues to be lenient. "

"What makes you think that there's any hope for me now? By convincing them that Hermione did kill him, you've completely destroyed the credibility of my testimony. They'll re-examine all the cases I've been involved in. Do you have any idea how many Death Eaters are going to go free because of this?"

"Oh, I hardly think so. After all, you were telling them the truth." Harry looked rather smug.

Severus looked sceptical. "Well, I know that! The question is, how are you going to prove it?"

Harry shrugged, "That other evidence I was talking about."

---------

Hermione trudged wearily down the cold uneven steps that led to the cells beneath the Wizengamot. Ahead and behind her marched the guards she'd nicknamed Sour Grapes and Percy Wetmore. Their true names didn't suit them at all, so she'd given them ones more appropriate to their natures. Grapes, who was behind her, never stopped bitching about his lot in life. How he'd been passed over for promotion, how his wife hated him. After listening to that through the door of her cell all morning, she was about ready to hex him till his ears bled. And she knew just the curse to do it too. As for Mr Wetmore? Well he reminded her of the character from that Stephen King movie, The Green Mile. Thanks to him, the whole dungeon knew when someone else had been sentenced to the Kiss. Every time said prisoner was brought back to his or her cell, Wetmore had taken great pleasure in loudly announcing that there was a new vegetable ready for harvesting. Hermione could only hope that his fate would be at least as satisfying as the fate of the character she'd named him for.

The staircase ended abruptly, startling her as it had the first time, and she looked up to take in her surroundings. To her right lay the brightly lit guardroom, from which the prisoners could hear Grapes' unending stream of complaints. Ahead lay that dark corridor, where the inky blackness was pierced only by a single guttering torch hanging precariously from the left wall. How long the corridor was, Hermione couldn't say, for her cell was the third on the right. To her left lay another corridor, equally as dark, and even more forbidding, for despite its lure of freedom, this access tunnel to an apparition point had its own guard, cloaked in darkness itself.

A Dementor.

Briefly, Hermione considered her chances as she was marched towards that third door on the right. It would be a simple matter to slip Wetmore's wand from his belt, (how dumb was he anyway? Apparently stupid enough to place his wand within easy reach of his prisoner,) immobilise Grapes and then stun Wetmore. A matter of seconds would be all the time she would need. And as for the Dementor? Well if the memory of returning her fiancés murderess to her master in pieces wasn't a happy enough memory, then surely the night of his proposal was. And then she would be gone, forever. They could never catch her, not the woman who had killed in the Dark Lord's very presence and gotten away with it.

But she would be hunted. Oh, yes they would hunt her and hound her till the very end of days. She would never be able to rest, for her infamy would spread before her wildfire on the plain. Stories would be told to frighten children to their beds, and students would learn of the muggleborn who dared kill the Minister of Magic. Was that how she wished to be remembered? Did she truly want to live as Sirius had? She had seen how hard it had been for him. She had seen how he had just exchanged one prison for another.

No, she decided as she reached her cell door. She would accept whatever punishment the would mete out to her with grace.

"Here, keep moving." Grapes poked at her shoulder.

Confused, Hermione peered up at him through the gloom. "But this is my cell."

"Not anymore it ain't. There's only one punishment for that, and only one cell we can put you in. O'course it hasn't been used in centuries, so who knows what kind of condition it's in." He gave another shove and they began marching again. Wetmore snatched up that guttering torch on the way past. Grapes continued as they marched to the distant end of the corridor. "You see, what you did? It's the only crime that they haven't gotten around to changing the compulsory sentence for. Where murder would get anyone else time in Azkaban, or even the Kiss," He shared a leer with his colleague as they reached the imposing door at the end of the corridor. "You get to be executed."

A dark laugh came from the next to last cell. "I see I'm in good company then. They did say that I deserved death for my crimes. Although I have to say I rather envy you, whoever you are. Death would be far more preferable to my fate."

Hermione easily recognised the honeyed tones of Lucius Malfoy.

Wetmore grinned nastily as he undid the numerous locks on the apparently solid steel door, the rusted bolts squealing in protest as he manipulated them. "Burned at the stake, actually. Huh. Looks like you muggles knew how execute someone right after all." And with that Hermione was thrown bodily into the dank little room, the door booming closed behind her, the bolts slamming home with the tortured cry of metal.

And there in the darkness, she was left to contemplate her imminent death.

----------------

If it all possible, the crowd in the gallery had swelled to almost twice its previous size and almost all of them were calling for blood. The few that weren't, were surrounded by cries for Hermione's execution. 'Death to the Mudblood traitor!' was a common catcall. The cries increased in volume when the Wizengamot returned from their deliberations, despite repeated calls for order and silence. And when the accused emerged from below and returned to the dock, they rose as one like a wave and called for her death.

In the twenty minutes it took for order to be restored, Hermione looked at the crowd only once, somehow finding the eyes of her staunchest defender. In that one moment, Molly could only find one thing to say. It went unheard through the din, but the two words could easily be read off the lips of the Weasley matriarch. "Thank you." Hermione nodded once, then looked away, her heart lighter. Whatever her fate was to be, in this world or the next, she could face it with equanimity.

It took a silencing spell to bring about order. Finally, the chamber was quiet. Finally, sentence would be passed. The Minister for Justice stood, his features grave and determined. "Hermione Granger. You have been found guilty of the Assassination of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. There is only one sentence for this crime. One that we have not had to carry out in centuries. The law states, that the assassin shall be executed, by way of burning at the stake, in full view of those whom you have wronged." Percy paused, "However. Due to the circumstances surrounding this crime, most notably the death of your fiancé and his father at the Minister's command, the sentence of death is commuted: to exile. Your wand will be destroyed, your name erased from all records, never to be spoken again. Only in the records of these proceedings shall you be known and they shall be sealed against your return. You will never again have any contact with any member of the wizarding world. Should you disregard this warning, the full weight of your sentence shall be brought to bear, and you shall die a most horrible death."

There was an extended period of silence during which the gallery tried to make their protests known, though in vain. Harry Potter merely sat with a satisfied smile on his face. He had achieved everything he had set out to do.

The Minister for Justice spoke again. "In addition, the wizard Severus Snape shall be taken into custody on the charge of perjury, and all his testimony re-examined."

Harry spoke up. "There will be no need for that, Minister. Severus did not perjure himself."

"Then how do you explain the contradictions in evidence? Ms Granger could not be in two places at once."

"There is a final piece of evidence to be submitted. On the night in question, while Professor Snape was at St Mungo's examining the Minister's body, Hermione Granger was at the Department of Mysteries. For a period of 36 seconds she was out of sight of anyone. In the Room of Time. It is my belief that during those few seconds, she made use of a time turner to send herself back in time to the point of Fudge's death. My later examination of the records supports this."

Percy seemed to consider this for a moment. "Very well. The charges of perjury are dropped. But Professor, it must be asked: did you, either before or after the act, know of your lover's intentions and that she was indeed the Minister's Assassin?"

"No! He knew nothing! I worked alone!"

"Quiet, Miss Granger! Professor, answer the question."

Severus looked long at his lover, and stood proud and tall when he addressed his accuser. "I did."

"Then you leave me no choice. As punishment you are stripped of your titles and shall spend a period of no less than three months in Azkaban Prison once all these trials are over."

"I would request instead that I be allowed to join Hermione in exile."

Percy frowned. "Are you certain that this is what you wish?"

A quiet plea from the dock could be heard, "Severus, don't do this."

Severus smiled softly, "Be quiet, you silly girl. I do, Minister."

The Minister for Justice nodded firmly. "Then so be it. However, as it is likely the two of you may one day produce a magical child, and due to the fact that you committed a lesser crime, you and you alone Mr. Snape, will be allowed to resume contact with the wizarding world no sooner than the day your eldest child receives his letter from Hogwarts."

"Court is adjourned."