Kriss was sitting outside the Department of Magical Law Enforcement main courtroom at the Ministry of Magic, waiting to be called in.
She fiddled nervously with the hem on her school robes; 'smart' robes were considered appropriate for court appearances and these were the smartest she owned. Her parents sat to one side of her and her friends on the other, all looking as apprehensive as she was.
The trial had been arranged as quickly as possible so as not to clash with the looming exam time at Hogwarts. In the last few weeks, she had thrown herself into her studies to take her mind off it and had spent most of her time in her dorm; sitting at her desk or in the library, surrounded by her friends at all times, to make her feel safer.
Seeing Severus had been difficult. She missed him very much, as she hadn't now spent the night with him for four weeks. He seemed to be absent a lot now and the other teachers were doing his 'guard' duties at night along the corridors.
"Miss Krisstina Firestone, could you come through now please." Said a small, chubby, stern looking witch, who had appeared out of the doors to the left of them. Kriss and her group were ushered into the small courtroom and told where to sit. Kriss was guided up near the front and sat next to her Prosecutor, a tall balding man in his fifties called Pendragon Filicaster. He smiled at her encouragingly as she sat down. He had already spoken to her at length about what was going to happen and how the court would treat her and the case. Of course Claudette had already helped her a lot in this area, as she would soon start her training to be a lawyer after finishing school.
The court was ordered to silence as Amelia Bones walked in followed by other official looking witches and wizards. They sat down behind a long high bench, looking out into the rest of the room.
Kriss felt someones eyes burning into the back of her head, but as she looked behind her they looked away, it was Severus. She longed to talk to him or even catch his eyes, but knew it would be impossible in here, with everyone watching them. Instead she looked miserably at the desk in front of her, wishing this to be over with as quickly as possible, so things could get back to normal again.
"Bring in the accused," said Amelia Bones, looking at the chubby, stern witch now standing next to the bench. The witch disappeared through some other doors and reappeared walking in front of Caecius, flanked by two Aurors. They sat down at the opposite side to Kriss and her group; looking straight ahead.
Amelia banged her gavel against her desk to indicate the start of the session. "Let the trial begin," she said absently, looking down her bespectacled nose at some papers she was holding. After a pause she spoke again
"Caecius Alberto Venfitch, you are accused of the attempted rape and sexual assault of one Krisstina Anora Firestone, how do you plead?"
Caecius stood up to speak "Not guilty your Honour"
"Very well, let us have the first witness" Amelia said after Caecius sat down again
Claudette was called first, then Xanthe, then Lucinda. Claudette held fast against the aggressive questioning of Caecius's lawyer but the other two girls wavered slightly, looking nervous and intimidated.
Next up were Caecius's witnesses; his friends of course and his mother and father as character witnesses, who all tried to make it sound like Kriss was the one after him. Kriss's lawyer was good too however and managed to tear quite a few holes in their flawed testimonies.
Kriss stayed looking down for most of the trial, feeling that re-living the attack again in front of so many people and to have it spoken about in such minute detail, almost to much to bear.
Suddenly her name was called and her lawyer, who liked her to call him 'Pen' for short, ushered her to her feet. Kriss walked to the front feeling all eyes upon her, she sat down at the desk beside Amelia and the other Official's bench, then took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves.
She told her side of the story from the time that Caecius first attacked her outside the Slytherin common room, the looks and suggestive remarks in between and to the incident in the changing room. She also told the court about him showing her the dark mark on his arm, making everyone gasp in shock and disbelief.
Caecius's lawyer of course sought to disprove her version of events. Saying that she had flirted with Caecius and had in fact invited his attentions. Also that she had no proof that the first attack was in fact made by him at all and asked why she hadn't reported it at the time. He also said that the dark mark was not real but simply a tattoo to look like one. Kriss tried hard to hold back her tears throughout the hard questioning, but eventually lost the battle. She was passed a tissue before her own lawyer began to question her as they had practiced before, making her resolve stronger again.
Next up was Professor Snape. Kriss held her breath as he sat down. 'What would he reveal? What was he going to tell them? Would he tell them about him following Caecius and that he suspected him of being a real Deatheater?'
Severus sat down at the witness bench
"Professor Severus Salthazar Snape, please give your account of events" Amelia asked him. Severus recounted finding Kriss in the corridor after the first attack but that she had asked for it not to be taken any further. He then recounted, when he had first realised that Kriss was being attacked in the quidditch changing rooms. That after he had overheard Caecius's friends talking and had read the mind of one of them, to extract more information, he had gone there immediately and found him in the act of attacking her. He also revealed that he had suspected for some time that Caecius was the ringleader of a group within the school, that wanted to be Deatheaters and may have recently become so, but not how he had come by this information. When asked how he knew this, he merely said that Dumbledore had told him to keep a close eye on Caecius, so he had.
Kriss worried that it may come out that he too was a Deatheater. That would be disastrous for him, he would be arrested himself. She knew he was here at great personal risk and was extremely worried.
As it turned out this did not come up and after giving his account, was interrogated by Caecius's lawyer. He was a greying, bushy-haired and rather portly, man who strode about the courtroom arrogantly. But his aggressive style of questioning had no effect whatsoever on the Professor, he might as well have talked to a block of stone. No reaction or waver in his story came, no matter what the lawyer tried to do or say, he eventually gave up sitting down grumpily, in greatly annoyed defeat.
Dumbledore was up next. Caecius's lawyer wasn't quite so confident this time; in fact he seemed nervous as he questioned him. All the time Dumbledore spoke calmly and steadily, never raising his voice one octave. He spoke of the evidence he had about the rise of Voldemort and the suspicions he had about certain students being tempted to join him, one of these students being Caecius. He revealed that he had once suspected Caecius's Father of the same thing but had never been able to prove it. Although Caecius's lawyer had tried to make out that him being a Deatheater or not had no relevance to this trial, it was allowed. Everyone in the room had been completely engrossed when Dumbledore had been speaking and had almost collectively taken a breath as he stood down.
As Caecius had not asked to speak, the court was adjourned to reach its verdict. Kriss felt very hopeful as all the evidence was there to convict him and his defence seemed weak in comparison. Even though his lawyer had tried to make out that he had been a pawn in a game Kriss had been playing and that he was the victim not her.
Everyone left the courtroom while the Wizengamot and Amelia Bones discussed the evidence.
Two hours and many cups of coffee later, Kriss sat staring at her feet outside the courtroom, just feeling numb. Her friends sat by the side of her, looking at her now and again and patting her back, but Kriss did not look up. Her parents had been sitting, talking to Kriss's lawyer in hushed, worried tones for a while but now they too were silent.
Suddenly a note fluttered along the corridor, it hovered in the air for a while, as if deciding where to go, then landed softly in Kriss's lap. She opened out the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts headed notepaper, wondering who it could be from.
"What is it Kriss" asked Claudette, leaning on her friends shoulder for a better view. The other girls had scooted closer now too. It read:
"Hello Kriss I just wanted to let you know I was thinking of you. I've been through a trial myself and it wasn't a pleasant experience. I understand what you're going through and I hope that all goes well for you and that evil son of a bitch gets what he deserves.
It's a shame you didn't tell me about him before, as I would have sorted him out a long time ago, no problem. Your friends told me exactly what happened, I was so angry when I found out. But now hopefully you will finally be free of him.
Yours truly Harry"
Kriss smiled as she finished reading and held the letter close to her heart. Even though she had treated him terribly, he had still taken the time to write her this letter. Kriss was touched deeply by this kind gesture.
Her friends looked at her smiling.
"I think he still holds a torch for you Kriss, even though you finished with him" said Lucinda, touching Kriss's arm as she spoke. Kriss merely shrugged and tucked the note safely into her pocket.
"Yes, he was very concerned about you, wanting to know how you were and everything, when you were in the hospital wing." Said Claudette
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" asked kriss, suddenly curious
"He asked us not to, he didn't want you to know he had been asking after you" said Lucinda
"Why?" said kriss confused
"We don't know, he wouldn't say, he just made us promise" replied Claudette.
Before they could continue the conversation however, the chubby witch calling them in again interrupted them.
Everyone followed her in and sat back down at their places in the courtroom. Kriss felt her belly squirming with nerves and was on the verge of tears again. There was an unbearable wait as Amelia Bones and the other officials took their seats.
"We the Wizengamot have contemplated all the evidence put before us. Believe me when I say that we cannot be tricked or fooled and will always see through lies. No matter how good the teller is at giving them, we will always get to the truth in the end. In this case we feel the evidence is overwhelming, thus our verdict." The courtroom collectively held its breath
"Caecius Venfitch - on the charge of sexual assault– we find you not guilty, for lack of solid evidence" a cheer went up from his side. Kriss felt bitterly disappointed at this and she looked over at Caecius resentfully; who was now smiling around at his friends and family. Everything now rested on the attempted rape charge
"On the charge of attempted rape – guilty as charged"
The courtroom was in uproar as everyone either shouted in agreement or in anger at the verdict.
Kriss felt elated, she was now being hugged her friends, who were all jumping up and down with excitement. Her parents also came and hugged her; very unusually her mother had tears in her eyes.
Kriss couldn't see Severus anywhere, she wanted desperately to see him and speak to him, but she thought he must have gone immediately after hearing the verdict.
Caecius was sentenced to one year in Askaban to be started immediately, much to protest's by his friends and family.
The gavel was banged again, to silence the court.
"The revelation of Caecius's suspected Deatheater status, has yet to be established. This warrants further investigation, so a separate trial will be set for this charge. The date will be announced as and when more conclusive information is found." Said Amelia Bones in a serious tone.
After this statement everyone got up to leave and made their way out of the Ministry of Magic building.
Kriss dreaded getting back to school and facing everyone, they would all no doubt know by now, about what had happened, as the Hogwarts grapevine was very efficient. But she was also very glad that it was all over and like Harry had said, she was now free of him at last.