Haunted

By Be Boring

Chapter 18: The Trial From Hell

The past few weeks had been incredibly relaxed, much more so than Necia would have ever expected. Speaking to Ron and Hermione again was much easier than she had thought it would be, and although things weren't back to normal yet, the trio had no problem with her sitting by them in the common room, in class, and at meals. Actually, they weren't so much of a trio anymore, because Ginny rarely spent any time with anyone else. She and Harry were without a doubt dating now, although neither would admit it, and Necia was having very strong suspicions about Ron and Hermione. Their bickering had slowed down lately, and although it could have been her imagination, she could have sworn she caught Ron studying Hermione with a look that conveyed much more than mere friendship.

"When are you just going to say it out loud?" she asked Ginny as they sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast one morning.

"Say what?" Ginny asked innocently as she eagerly began devouring her eggs.

"That you and Harry are dating."

Ginny nearly choked. She took a quick drink of orange juice to wash down the rest of her mouthful, then looked at Necia with a very unconvincing look of polite innocence on her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Right, and Flitwick's six feet tall. Come on, everyone can see it, why won't you just say it?"

Ginny blushed. "Because I don't know if we're technically dating. We haven't gone out or anything."

"Have you kissed?" Just the look on Ginny's face was enough answer. Necia laughed and asked, "So was it worth the wait?"

Now a sheepish grin crossed Ginny's face. "Yeah, it was pretty nice." For a moment she looked as though she was thinking about something very serious, then she said quietly, "When you and Harry were going out, just how close did you get? I mean, did you…?"

Necia shook her head. "No, we didn't sleep together, but we came very close once. At the Yule Ball when Harry took me to the Room of Requirement and I was really overwhelmed at seeing my house again, it nearly happened."

"Why did you stop?"

"I wasn't ready. Harry understood and we came back here. It was kind of awkward for a bit after that, but we got over it. How close have you two gotten?"

Ginny's eyes widened. "Oh, not that close. We've only kissed, he hasn't even done any extra touching." She suddenly seemed very embarrassed to be talking about her relationship with Harry. "Okay, when you say that you came close, just how close was it?"

"Ginny," Necia said almost severely, "I think you're better off if we don't talk about this."

"Come on, just answer the question."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I was completely naked and he was over halfway there, but when he tried to do some 'extra touching,' as you called it, I panicked and had to stop. Listen, it's not really as big of a deal as it seems. I always thought it would change my entire life to be near a guy like that, even if we didn't actually do anything, but once we got over being uncomfortable, it was pretty much business as usual. Did we seem strange at your house over the holidays?"

"No," Ginny replied quietly. "You seemed just like normal."

"See, so things aren't really any different now either. Are you worried about Harry still having feelings for me?"

She shrugged. "If you two got that close, then yeah, I'm a little worried. How can you just be friends now?"

"Because he doesn't trust me anymore and frankly, I have way too much on my mind to think about really dating someone. Besides, I think he's always really liked you, but maybe it took getting royally pissed off at me to make him realize it. I think you guys are really cute together."

Ginny smiled. "Thanks. I'm pretty happy with it. How have you been doing? You're so quiet all of the time. Why do I get the feeling that I'm completely missing out on something?"

'Because you are.' "You're not, I'm just trying not to push it with anyone right now. Besides, there's N.E.W.T.s to study for and I'm studying potions on my own now." Dumbledore was still handling the Potions lessons, which he apparently was planning to do for the rest of the year and hire a replacement over the summer, but instead of working directly with her, he had given her free rein to study the potions she liked. She had a permanent pass to the Restricted Section because so many of the potions that were on her level couldn't be found in the other books, and she had permission to use ingredients from the private stores that used to belong to Snape.

She had done her best not to think about Snape ever since he left, but that was going to be difficult. Draco's trial was later today and they were both required to be there. After all, she was the victim and Snape was the sole witness. Unless Draco confessed, which so far he had refused to do, and the strong magic in the air around Hogwarts made it impossible for the Ministry to tell if the Cruciatus Curse had been used, then they would be forced to attend the trial. It was Necia's and Snape's word against Draco's.

Draco was still at Hogwarts, but he was being kept in a secret location in the castle, heavily guarded by a consistently rotating group of Aurors to prevent any of his friends from coming to his rescue. After Voldemort's defeat, Arthur Weasley had refused to allow the dementors back in control of Azkaban, and with both Lucius and Narcissa - who had been found guilty at her own trial - there, the Ministry didn't think it was safe to also bring Draco. In the cells where he would have waited for his trial, he would have been very close to his mother, and without the dementors it simply wasn't wise to allow that. So far he hadn't escaped, so the Aurors were evidently doing their job well.

The bright side of this was that Tonks was regularly at the castle, which meant she spent quite a bit of her spare time around Lupin. Necia took great pleasure in pointing out to Harry how perfect they were together, despite the fact that every time he saw them together, his face distorted as though he had a strong stomachache. Ron tended to develop that expression as well, but Hermione agreed with Necia that they looked like a rather happy couple. Ginny loved bombarding Tonks with questions, but she could only do this when Harry wasn't around, otherwise he tended to look as though his stomachache had progressed into an ulcer.

With the cheerier side of things starting to shine a little more, Necia didn't even want to think about the upcoming trial. Besides, it was still a few hours away. That was plenty of time to prepare herself, right?


It had been a very lonely time for Severus. He hadn't realized just how accustomed he was to being surrounded by people until he isolated himself in his room at the Hog's Head. Dumbledore had tried to convince him to take a room somewhere else, but he felt the Hog's Head suited him.

He rarely left the inn, usually only doing so just to get some fresh air, but the rest of the time it was because Dumbledore wanted to talk. The Aurors were closing in on what they believed to be all of the remaining Death Eaters, and every piece of advice he could give them was precious. He knew all of the tactics they would use to seal their hideout against the Aurors, as well as the vast majority of the dark curses they knew, so the Aurors could prepare themselves more thoroughly. He was a veritable treasure chest of information for the Ministry.

When he woke up on the morning of Draco's trial, it felt as though he had swallowed a boulder sometime during the night. He would see Necia today for the first time since she had stormed out on him after taking the antidote. Dumbledore had informed him that she seemed to be returning to normal and had even managed to salvage her friendship with Potter's gang. He supposed it was for the best, she would recover much faster if she was happy. But did he really want her to recover?

The thought of Cassandra had plagued him ever since Necia took the antidote. Their time together hadn't given him much closure other than the knowledge that Cassandra truly loved him, and instead of feeling a sense of finality, his desire to see her only seemed to have intensified, but now she really was gone. Necia was hardly a suitable substitute, although he knew there was a good chance that some of her mother's affections were still lying dormant inside of her.

When he Apparated to the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic, many curious stares flew his way. Most of them knew who he was and he realized he didn't look very good today. He hadn't shaved in days and his robes were rather rumpled, but he had at least taken a shower. He didn't need to give a completely terrible impression at the trial.

"Well, Snape, long time no see," came a low, growling voice from behind him. Severus turned to find himself facing Mad-Eye Moody, who had trained both eyes on him.

"The pleasure is all yours, believe me," he muttered back, just loud enough for Moody to hear him without any passersby being able to eavesdrop.

Moody's knarled face twisted into a grotesque smile. "Same old Snape. I'm supposed to escort you down to the courtroom. Maybe we can catch up along the way."

"How exciting," he sighed as they stepped onto a lift and Moody jabbed the button for level nine.

"Say, Snape, I was rather curious about why you quit your job. I would have thought that if you were going to do it, you'd have done it years ago. You don't seem like the type to put up with kids. Perhaps something happened to convince you to leave at such an odd time." His tone was as light and conversational as it was possible for it to be, but it still made Snape's insides curl with anger.

"It's none of your business, Alastor, and I'd appreciate it if you'd leave it alone." He was the first one off the lift when it reached the Department of Mysteries, sweeping down the staircase at the edge of the hall and whipping open the door to the courtroom. He had been here during his own trial so many years ago, when he'd been forced to admit that yes, he had been a Death Eater, but he'd been an active spy for Dumbledore for over a year.

Dumbledore was already waiting, and sitting on the bench next to him was Necia. Her face paled significantly when she saw him, but then she focused her eyes on her shoes and didn't look at him again, not even when Dumbledore motioned for him to join them and he sat down on Dumbledore's other side.

It was several minutes before Draco was led in by Kingsley and Moody, staring at the floor in front of him as though he were in a daze. When he sat down in the chair and the enchanted chains twisted around his arms to lock him in, Severus noticed that his fists were very tightly clenched.

"Draco Malfoy," Arthur Weasley said, standing up and letting the light wash over his face that had so far failed to illuminate the other members of the court. "You have been charged with the use of an Unforgivable Curse against a student of Hogwarts. Do you deny it?"

There was a very exaggerated silence, then Arthur repeated himself. "Do you deny that you used the Cruciatus Curse?"

Severus focused his eyes on the boy, noticing his fists once again. Was one of them slightly larger than the other, or was it just his imagination?

"Draco Malfoy, did you or did you not attack Necia Malfoy with the Cruciatus Curse?"

Draco's eyes coldly rose to meet Arthur's. Arthur didn't falter, but he was obviously surprised by the cold fury in the young man's face. "She deserved it," he whispered, his voice barely reaching Severus, who was sitting in the front row.

"Come again?" Arthur asked loudly, trying to encourage Draco to speak up.

"I said she deserved it!" Draco shouted, releasing his fists the moment he finished. It was like a bomb had exploded in the middle of the courtroom. A strange dust had sprinkled from his right hand, detonating every piece of floor it came into contact with. He threw himself to the left as the floor beneath his chair exploded, but as debris rocketed around the room, it was clear that he had been injured. Before anything could hit them, Dumbledore had pulled out his wand and conjured a very large, silvery, transparent shield to cover all three of them, and through the thick clouds of dust and smoke, Severus could see Draco stumbling awkwardly toward the door, his right fist once again clenched tight. The chair must have released him once it was no longer bolted to the floor. 'He didn't drop all of the powder,' he realized, and Kingsley was standing just outside the door.

Without really thinking, while Dumbledore was making sure Necia was all right, he tore down the row and threw himself at Draco from behind just before he could reach the door. Of all things, Draco couldn't get away. He needed desperately for everything involving the Death Eaters to end, and that wouldn't happen if Lucius's son was on the loose.

The only thing he hadn't really considered was the fact that if the powder would be damaging to Kingsley, it wouldn't be any safer for him, and their crash to the ground forced Draco's hand to unclench.


When the second explosion rang out, Dumbledore dragged Necia nearly to the floor by the neck. Chunks of the benches near the entrance to the courtroom flew threw the air exactly where Necia's head had been moments before.

"Stay here and keep low," he whispered urgently to her before leaping up and running to the middle of the room, where the balcony holding the Wizengamot had partially collapsed.

Amid the shouts and the sounds of people scrabbling through the rubble, Necia raised her head slightly to see what was going on. Suddenly, she realized that Snape was no longer sitting nearby. Where had he gone? She pushed herself to her feet and slowly picked her way through the ruins of what had been the set of tiered benches closest to the door of the courtroom. If Draco was going to get away, he would have had to have come this way. Had he dropped some more of that dust to get rid of any guards?

As she stepped onto a particularly large pile of debris, she heard a very low groan from right beneath her feet. Horrified, she leapt to the ground and started scooping bits of stone and wood away as fast as she could. Had she stood on someone? Suddenly, an arm shot out of the pile and gripped her shoulder painfully. She gasped and jerked back, dragging Snape out with her.

At first it was hard to even tell it was him. He was covered from head to toe in dust that looked like it was badly mixed with some thick liquid. It took Necia a moment to realize that it was blood. How could he have so much blood on him? A long streak had been gouged out of his jawline on the right side and his right arm was hanging at a very odd angle, blood dripping from his motionless fingertips as he raised himself uncertainly to his feet. He looked dazed, his eyes weren't focused on her at all, and as he tipped precariously to one side, Necia lunged forward and grabbed him, grunting as his weight came down mercilessly on her shoulder. She gave one mighty heave and propped him against the very pile of rubble she had pulled him out of.

It had been difficult to be near him before, but that had been because of the awkwardness of the situation. Now something else flared inside of her: sheer panic. She just couldn't believe how much blood was on him. Then, as her mind slowly came to its senses, she realized that it couldn't all be his, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to even pull himself out of that pile. A deep gash in his side was obviously adding its fair share of blood to the rest that covered him, but she knew the majority had come from someone else.

"Professor," she said automatically, although "Sev" had also been on the tip of her tongue, "where did all this blood come from? What happened?"

He didn't seem to hear her at all, he just leaned heavily against the mountain of stone and continued to stare blearily off into space. Necia had stopped looking at him, however, Her eyes had just landed on a hand sticking out of the pile. It wasn't moving at all, but she still darted forward and continued pulling rocks away until she could see the back of someone's head. The rest of his face was still buried in the pile, but she didn't need to remove anything more. Although heavily bloodstained, she would have recognized Draco's hair anywhere. Her stomach gave one terrible lurch and she dropped to her knees, vomiting what little breakfast she had eaten that morning. The smell of blood was overpowering, and right now she didn't even want to imagine what Draco's face looked like. If that dust had exploded right beneath him, there wouldn't be much left of him.

Without warning, Snape slumped to the ground, blood flowing steadily from the gash in his side. She scrambled over on all fours, tapping the side of his face and whispering, "Sev? Sev, wake up!" She didn't even notice what she was saying as she shook him by his good shoulder. She could still hear his raspy breathing, so at least he was still alive, but blood was pouring out of him in copious amounts by now. Apparently moving around had opened the wound farther.

"Please move aside, I'll try to help him," a very deep, rather soothing voice said gently in her ear. Kingsley kneeled down beside her and inspected Snape's wounds, then tapped his wand against Snape's ribs and muttered something that she didn't understand. "I've only slowed down the bleeding, he'll need true Healers to actually be cured. He'll be all right for now, but would you please stay by him and try to wake him up? As soon as he's awake, try to keep him that way, do you understand?" She nodded a tad too enthusiastically, making her head throb in protest, but he smiled comfortingly at her and gave her shoulder a light squeeze before he hurried to join Dumbledore in helping the injured out of the ruins of the balcony.

"Professor, you have to wake up," she said anxiously, her head clearing slightly after seeing a comforting adult who appeared to know what to do in a crisis. Against her better judgment, she gave him a rather hard smack on the side of the face, the sound echoing softly around them. "I need you to wake up, I really don't want someone to die right in front of me again," she added brokenly, suddenly realizing that she had said "again." A very brief flash of her mother swept through her mind, sprawled on the kitchen floor right next to the table, her eyes wide open and slightly afraid, as though she had just realized what Lucius was going to do right before he cursed her.

"Wake up!" she nearly shouted, giving him a very hard shove on the chest. His eyelids flickered up, but before he could close them she grabbed his chin and pointed his face toward hers. "Look at me," she said firmly, feeling the panic grow when their eyes connected and he seemed to recognize her, but instead of saying her name, he whispered, "Cass."

"No, I'm Necia," she whispered back, her panic nearly seizing her throat at the sound of her mother's name. That wasn't a good sign, he had no idea what was going on. What was she going to do if he just died right there, no more than two feet from her? She didn't think she could take it.

"Necia, it's going to be all right, but I'll need you to step back and let the Aurors take him." This time it was Dumbledore's voice cutting through the frenzied fog in her head and his hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her away from Snape. "They'll take care of him now," he said gently as she slowly stood next to him, shaking uncontrollably. She just couldn't take her eyes off of his limp form. He was still breathing, but that didn't mean he would keep going for long. He must have been right there when the rest of the dust exploded. As the Aurors levitated him and took him away, she allowed Dumbledore to steer her out the door and back up into one of the lifts.

When they used Floo Powder to return to Dumbledore's office, it hardly registered that Madam Pomfrey was actually waiting for them, holding a cup of potion. Necia shook her head shakily as she held it out to her.

"No, I don't want to drink anything." She wasn't interested in ever taking a potion again.

"Necia, please take it, it will allow you to get some sleep," Dumbledore insisted.

"But it's the middle of the afternoon," she protested feebly, already accepting the cup from Madam Pomfrey. She waited to drink it until she was in the hospital wing, and despite her misgivings, she was truly relieved to settle down into the bed and fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.


When Severus woke up again, he knew right away that he had been out for a long time. Candles floating in bubbles above him were the only source of light, and when Dumbledore entered the room, he looked as though he had showered and changed first, more than likely with plenty of time to spare. He knew he must have been unconscious for at least six hours to need to rely on the candles.

"How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked quietly as he conjured a very cushioned chair next to Severus's bed.

"Like someone beat me with a cauldron," he grunted painfully. His jaw ached, although he was quite sure that if a wound had been there before, it was no longer there now. What hurt the most, however, were his ribs on the right side. "How bad was it?"

"You're very lucky to have survived. It appears that young Mr. Malfoy's body took most of the impact, most of your injuries were derived from the debris of the floor beneath you."

"Does that mean…?"

"Draco didn't survive the blast. I have no idea how he managed to acquire dried dragon bile or how he knew the charm to prevent it from exploding in his hands before he dropped it, but it was very effective. He probably would have gotten away if it weren't for you, and I'm sure if he had used any of it near Kingsley, with only one person to aim at he would have killed him instantly. Thanks to you, no one innocent died today. Or actually, I should say yesterday, because it won't be long until dawn now."

Why did he have the strongest feeling that Cassandra had been with him when he was in so much pain? He still remembered the blast, but he could also hear her panicked voice. Then it clicked for him. "What happened with Necia after I stopped Draco?"

"She pulled you out of the rubble and probably saved your life, because otherwise you would have suffocated. I didn't even see you run off to stop the boy, and I'm sure none of the Wizengamot had their eyes on you. She was sincerely worried about you. I believe she may still be asleep in the hospital wing. I asked Poppy to keep her there through the night."

Although he had been unconscious for several hours, sleep sounded very good to Severus. As though he knew what he was thinking, Dumbledore picked up a potion from the bedside table. "They told me to give this to you if you woke up. It will help heal that wound on your side while you're sleeping. The rest of the cuts the Healers could take care of right away, but that gash is a bit more serious. Hopefully you'll be back to normal when you wake up."

Severus nodded his thanks very lightly and swallowed the potion in one gulp, grateful for the blackness which washed over him almost immediately.