Disclaimer: None of the recognizable characters and settings belong to me. They are all the intellectual property of J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing around with them for the fun of it…no monetary gain is sought.

This story is dedicated to scatteredlogic for her cherished friendship and all her invaluable help.

Chapter Forty Four: A Timely Arrival

Albus Dumbledore paused in his pacing and turned his attention to the tall man who sat easily in the witness chair and watched the Headmaster with a confident gaze.

"So there's no doubt in your professional opinion, Mr. Carson, that there is a fairly substantial obliviation scar in Minerva McGonagall's mind?"

Carson nodded calmly. "None whatsoever."

"Only one scar?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, only one," responded Carson.

"Can you describe the scar?"

"Well, an obliviation scar presents itself to someone scanning the mind as a blank, dull spot where no brain activity exists. This particular scar is fairly large, and the edges are a bit ragged. This usually means that the person being obliviated fought against the procedure when it was performed. It isn't a pleasant procedure to have performed, after all," the man admitted honestly.

"Can memories that have been obliviated be recovered by any means?" The Headmaster cocked his head and gazed curiously at the Ministry Obliviator.

Carson crossed his legs and shook his head. "No. Any memories that existed in that section of the mind when the procedure was performed would have been permanently destroyed, if the procedure was performed correctly, that is. If you wish to merely mask the memories, there are other memory charms that can be used."

"How long have you been a Ministry Obliviator, Mr. Carson?" asked Dumbledore politely.

"I've been an obliviator for sixty-eight years," Carson stated proudly.

"Sixty-eight years. That is indeed a long time, Mr. Carson. So you would definitely qualify as an expert in this area, would you not?"

"I'd certainly like to think so," answered Carson.

"I'd tend to agree," said Dumbledore with a smile. "So, tell me, can you speculate as to the age of the scar in the defendant's mind?"

Carson stroked his chin thoughtfully and gazed up at Dumbledore with dark and sober eyes. "Ah, now that's a tricky question to answer. It isn't possible to determine the exact age of such scars as long as the person who has them is still alive, that is. Once we can physically examine the brain, we can be a bit more precise. Short of that possibility, I could give you an educated guess, based on my experience in the field, but that's all it would be…a guess."

"Well, we've established that you definitely qualify as an expert, Mr. Carson, so I would certainly accept your educated guess as to the age of Professor McGonagall's scar."

Carson looked pleased and nodded. "I would say, judging from its appearance, that the scar in the mind of the defendant is at least forty to fifty years old."

Dumbledore nodded soberly. "There's no chance that the scar was made much more recently than that, is there? Such as in the last few weeks or months?"

Carson glanced quickly at the prosecution table and then returned his eyes to Dumbledore. "No, none whatsoever. I can't tell you exactly how old the scar is, but I can definitely tell you that it wasn't made in the last five years. There's a reddish tinge to newly made scars; they have an angry quality to them that's totally missing from older scars. This is definitely an old scar."

"Thank you, Mr. Carson," said Dumbledore pleasantly.

Just then, as Dumbledore was headed back to his seat, the door at the back of the top audience tier opened and Irma Pince entered the room, squeezing herself determinedly through the crowd of people clustered near the doorway. As Irma paused to get her bearings, Severus Snape slipped into the room behind her, being much more careful not to be noticed.

Pince had a large black book clasped tightly to her chest, and she wore a smile on her face that would rival the sun for its brightness. Dumbledore's heart lifted to see it. As she caught his eye, the librarian immediately began to shove her way down through the crowd, obviously heading for the floor near the defendant's table where Minerva sat and watched, as her fate was determined. Snape, on the other hand, melted back into the crowd and made no attempt to move any closer to the floor of the crowded room. However, his sharp eyes sought out those of his master with a look of triumph in their depths, and one corner of his lips was curved ever so slightly upward.

As Pince finally succeeded in reaching the floor, she waved excitedly at Dumbledore and turned to smile down at Minerva who glanced upwards in surprise at her abrupt appearance. Immediately, Dumbledore turned back toward the bench without even waiting to speak to the excited Pince and addressed the woman who sat in the middle observing these occurrences with a curious eye.

"Madam Bones, may I request a short break to examine some new evidence?" Dumbledore asked politely.

Bones motioned for him to approach her as her companions on the bench looked down at Dumbledore with interest as well.

With a mild frown on her face, Madam Bones spoke softly. "What new evidence is this, Albus?"

Dumbledore smiled up at the three curious faces. "I'll need to consult with my colleague to be certain, of course, but she's been searching night and day for something that will shed new light on these proceedings. Since she's now here with a book in hand, I can only assume that she found what she's been searching for. If I'm right, this evidence will explain everything that we've seen in that pensieve, and prove that Minerva is innocent."

"Powerful evidence indeed," came a skeptical voice from over Dumbledore's shoulder.

He turned to see Acting Minister Gallagher standing next to him with a raised eyebrow and a down turned mouth.

"Yes. It will be," agreed Dumbledore calmly.

Gallagher frowned and addressed his remarks to those on the bench. "It's a bit late in the game to be allowing new evidence. I object to a break at this point. Mr. Carson is the last witness to be presented. All that awaits us now is the final summation. All relevant evidence has already been presented. This is likely some last minute trick designed to gain sympathy for the defendant since obviously my opponent hasn't been able to prove her innocent through a straight recitation of the facts."

Dumbledore frowned and opened his mouth to reply but was beaten to it by Interrogator Carstairs, who up to this point had remained completely silent. Looking down his impressive nose at Gallagher, he fastened his beady eyes on the Acting Minister of Magic and spoke in a firm and decisive tone of voice.

"This is not a "game", Mr. Gallagher, and I do not appreciate your referring to it as such. A woman's life is at stake here. Since you and your office pushed so hard for a reinstatement of the death penalty, and were successful in obtaining it, the outcome of this trial will be irreversible once sentence is carried out. That puts a greater responsibility upon us to be sure that every possible shred of evidence that could illuminate this case in any way gets heard by this court before judgment is passed. If Professor Dumbledore wishes a brief recess of these proceedings to examine new evidence that could be important to this case, then I see no reason not to grant his request."

He then turned and glanced at his colleagues. "Wouldn't you agree, Madam Bones, Undersecretary Blackstone?"

Both of the addressed indicated their agreement.

"Absolutely," stated Blackstone with a nod that set his enormous moustache to quivering.

Amelia Bones nodded briskly as well. "There's no reason not to take a short break and allow Professor Dumbledore to examine his new evidence. As Interrogator Carstairs says, we want to be sure that all relevant evidence gets heard." She placed a slight stress on the word relevant as she looked down at Dumbledore.

The elderly wizard smiled reassuringly. "If this evidence is the evidence I've been hoping to find, it will be most relevant, I assure you."

A faint smile flickered briefly before she resumed her businesslike expression. "Very well."

Dumbledore and Gallagher stepped back from the bench as Madam Bones grasped the glowing marble ball in her hand and rapped it firmly against its resting place. "The court will take a brief break to allow the examination of some new evidence. We will resume these proceedings in ten minutes." With those words, she brought the ball back down to rest in its dish with a sharp thump, got to her feet and headed for the door followed closely by her two colleagues.

The audience began to buzz with wild speculation as Gallagher and Percy left the room as well, following in the footsteps of the Wizengamot members. That only left the defense to pin their hopes of drama on and most faces immediately turned towards the table where the defendant sat with a slightly perplexed but faintly hopeful expression on her face.

Dumbledore crossed the room to the defense table and was met before he quite reached it by an eager Irma Pince, who immediately thrust the heavy black volume that she held into his hands as if she could hardly bear to keep it from him for another moment.

Doing her best to keep her voice low, which wasn't easy under the circumstances, Irma directed Dumbledore to the relevant pages and, once he'd found them, pointed out the passages with a trembling finger. "It's here on page 238, Albus. Right here. It explains everything, just as we hoped. Severus and I tested it out, and it worked exactly as it says," she exclaimed in breathless excitement.

Nodding his thanks, Dumbledore grasped the book in his hands and moved around the table away from the two women. There, he sat down in his seat to read through the material that the black bound tome contained. While he concentrated on his reading, Irma turned shining eyes on Minerva, who was obviously still very confused.

Turning away from the hunched figure of the reading Dumbledore, Minerva addressed her friend in a faintly hopeful and almost curt voice. "What is this book, Irma? What did you and Severus test out?"

Irma bent down and embraced her friend tightly and spoke reassuringly in her ear. "It's the answer, Minerva. It's a spell that will prove that you didn't murder Henry Grant or anyone else. Severus and I have been looking for it for days. I was beginning to be afraid that we wouldn't ever find it, but we did. We did!"

Before Minerva could ask any more questions, Albus looked up from the book, beckoning Irma closer. Irma gave her friend's shoulder a squeeze and then moved between the two of them and focused her attention on Dumbledore.

"Yes, Headmaster?" She bent down and pitched her voice low so that none in the watching audience could hear their conversation.

"You said that you and Severus tested this out, may I ask what spells you used?" asked Dumbledore equally quietly.

She nodded. "I attempted to perform a shrinking spell on a chair in the tower room. It's a spell that I do all the time when I'm shifting things around in the library so I'm very familiar with it. Severus used the substitution spell on me and successfully substituted an engorgement charm instead. The chair doubled in size when it should have shrunk to doll size."

"Excellent. And the flash that the spell produced…was it the proper bluish green color?"

"Well, I've never seen either the copy or the pensieve that contains these memories, so I couldn't compare, naturally. However, the flash that I saw was definitely a bluish green color, and Severus was certain that it was identical to what he'd seen in the pensieve copy." Irma smiled.

Dumbledore reached out and patted Irma's hand. "Thank you, Irma. This should do the trick. I can't introduce this spell in public court, though. It's far too dangerous to be used by and reported on to the general public. I'll have to ask Madam Bones if I can't demonstrate it to the court in private chambers. Would you be willing to assist me?"

"Absolutely," asserted Irma fervently.

"Good, now I have another request to make of you as well. I can't go into details as to why it's important, but it is. Do you trust me?" He stared earnestly into her curious eyes.

"Of course I trust you. I'll do anything you ask," she asserted firmly.

Dumbledore gave her a pleased smile. "When they ask how you happened to find this spell, please don't make any mention of Severus. It would be better for all concerned if no one knew of his involvement in the search for this spell. Would you do this for me? I apologize for not being able to explain further."

Her confusion shown on her face as she stared at him. She certainly couldn't think of any reason why Severus shouldn't be given the credit he deserved for suggesting that they should look for this spell, but if the Headmaster didn't want him mentioned, then he must have a good reason for it. It wasn't as if she hadn't been accepting a lot on faith lately. What was one more thing? She did trust Dumbledore, after all, more than anyone else she knew. "All right. I won't mention Severus at all," she promised solemnly.

"Thank you." Dumbledore smiled encouragingly at her and then directed his smile over at Minerva, who was still looking confused and was trying her best not to be too impatient with her friends who weren't explaining themselves nearly fast enough to suit her. It was her life that hung in the balance here, after all, so it only seemed fair that she be kept informed about the important developments in the case.

Minerva bent over and frowned at Dumbledore. "Are you going to explain this to me, Albus? What is this spell that the two of you are talking about and how can it prove my innocence?"

Before Dumbledore could answer though, the door that led to the waiting rooms where the Wizengamot had gone opened once more and the triumvirate of interrogators filed back into the room and headed for their places on the bench.

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As the Wizengamot members filed slowly out of the chamber, Snape stood at the back of the room and tried to blend unnoticed into the crowd. He pulled his cloak tightly around his slender body and tried his best not to touch any of his fellow gawkers, but it was truly a lost cause as there were simply too many of them to avoid. The seething mass of curious people who filled the room to overflowing pushed themselves against him in their eagerness to get a better look at the drama that was unfolding on the floor below. Irma's entrance had been unexpected, and there was now a buzz of excited speculation echoing through the entire chamber as everyone questioned each other endlessly as to what it could possibly mean.

Fortunately, the fact that he'd entered the room on her heels seemed to have escaped their notice, so he was able to avoid becoming the focus of any unwanted attention himself. The last thing he needed at the moment was to have his presence here be remarked upon by anyone. His plans required anonymity and stealth. To distract himself from his untenable position, jammed into a corner by the crowd, he focused his eyes on the back of Minerva's dark head and watched with a faint stab of envy as Irma Pince got to do what he so longed to do himself and embraced her tightly, offering encouragement.

Once Pince had handed the ancient black spellbook to the Headmaster, he moved aside and quickly read through the information it contained. Snape knew that it wouldn't take long. The spell wasn't really a complicated one. In fact, it was actually quite elegant in its simplicity. Under other circumstances, he'd have admired it greatly and been quite intrigued by the uses that could be found for such a spell, but the use it had already been put to had caused great anger to lodge itself in the depths of his heart. And all he wanted at the moment was to punish the one who'd used it in such a manner.

Scanning the crowd with narrowed eyes, Snape finally located the person he sought. Ian Standish sat near the front of the room directly behind the table that normally housed the Acting Minister of Magic and his toadying Weasley scribe. Just like everyone else in the room, Standish's eyes were currently focused on the defense table, watching Minerva be embraced by her friend and Dumbledore examine this mysterious black book.

Snape had a feeling that this book wasn't as much of a mystery to Standish as it was to most everyone else in the room though. The man's face had gone rather pale as Irma had handed the book to Dumbledore, and now, as the book was being so carefully examined, Standish was squirming uncomfortably in his seat. Even if he didn't recognize the book itself, who knows where his own knowledge of this spell had come from after all, he had to realize what such an old spellbook could mean. If he'd done what they were all so sure that he had, then right about now, he should be getting very, very nervous.

A predatory smile spread itself across Snape's features as he noticed beads of sweat appearing on the forehead of his enemy, who'd pulled an expensive silk handkerchief from a pocket and had begun to mop his face with it. Yes, suddenly it appeared that the noose that Standish had been anticipating being drawn tightly around Minerva's slender neck was beginning to wrap itself around his own, and Snape was eagerly anticipating being the one to spring the trap beneath his feet.

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As everyone settled back into their places, and Madam Bones called the court into session again, Dumbledore rose from his seat and asked to approach the bench for another private conference. Naturally, he was given permission, and a somewhat grim looking Minister Gallagher joined him as he addressed the three interrogators once more.

Handing the ancient tome up to Madam Bones, Dumbledore directed her to the proper page and then addressed them all in low tones.

"This book contains a spell that can explain every question that I've brought up regarding the memories that we've all seen in the pensieve that's been entered into evidence against Minerva McGonagall. I intend to enter the book and the information that it contains into evidence; however, due to the sensitive nature of the spell that we'll be discussing, I would like to do this in private chambers instead of open court."

"What?" exclaimed Gallagher in amazement. "You can't be serious, Dumbledore. The people of this community have the right to hear and examine all the evidence that's to be presented for and against this murderess. If we traipse off and discuss this behind closed doors, we're only opening ourselves up to the charge of making last minute secret deals. My predecessor excelled at backroom deals and under the table maneuvering, and I want to be sure that the people of this community realize that dealings such as those won't be tolerated by my administration."

"You'll feel differently once you realize what information that book contains, Mr. Gallagher," said Dumbledore calmly.

As Gallagher shook his head and opened his mouth to continue the argument, Amelia Bones closed the book with a snap and gazed down through her monocle at them both.

"Professor Dumbledore is correct, Minister. This isn't the sort of information that should be exposed to the general public. It could cause many problems that I'm sure that you and your administration would be happy to avoid. We'll adjourn to the private chambers behind this room to go over this evidence in detail."

"Oh, Madam Bones…" Gallagher began.

Bones raised a hand and silenced him. "No, Minister. My ruling is final."

Dumbledore spoke up once more. "I'd like to have the woman who found the spell testify about it as well, if I may." He indicated the avidly watching Irma Pince with a wave of his hand.

Bones nodded decisively. "Very well."

"And shall the defendant come as well?" asked Dumbledore.

Bones stared across the room at Minerva for a long moment and then shook her head. "I don't want to dismiss the court completely at this point. The defendant can remain where she is for now. Once we decide what to do about this new evidence, we will return and make any rulings that are required in front of open court."

Then she asked both Dumbledore and Gallagher to step back from the bench so she could address the entire room.

"At this time, the court will adjourn to private chambers to discuss some new evidence that is currently being presented. Court will remain in session while we are out of the main chamber. Please, everyone act accordingly. Thank you for your patience."

After delivering this statement, Madam Bones got to her feet, cradling the book in her arms, and she and her fellow interrogators stepped down from the bench and filed through an unobtrusive doorway behind it into a small private chamber. Throwing a disgruntled glare at Dumbledore, Gallagher motioned impatiently for Percy to gather up his things and follow him, then without waiting for the frantically scrambling young man to do so, he stomped off into the anteroom after the Wizengamot members.

As a chorus of excited voices exclaimed over these unexpected developments, Dumbledore walked back to the defense table.

"Albus, what is going on? Why won't you explain this to me?" exclaimed Minerva in a highly aggrieved tone of voice.

He took her hand in his and smiled down at her. "Amelia wants you to remain here for the moment, Minerva. You'll have to remain patient for just a little while longer, but I assure you that things will work out all right now. This evidence will prove your innocence. Can you trust me for a little longer?"

Minerva frowned and pulled her hand from his. "Oh, of course, I trust you. I just don't enjoy being kept in the dark like this."

"It won't be for much longer, I promise," he said warmly. Then he straightened up and addressed Irma Pince who was still hovering nearby. "I'll need you to give your testimony inside, Irma."

She nodded and stepped forward to join him. "I'm ready," she assured him eagerly.

Then with final warm and reassuring smiles for the still anxious Minerva, the two of them crossed the courtroom and entered the small private antechamber closing the door behind them.