Disclaimer: All HP characters don't belong to me. Some sentences are quoted from "Fred and Edie" by Jill Dawson and the movie "Another Life"

Disclaimer 2: Baby William belongs to me. There's no baby in the real story, only abortion and miscarriage.

To BeaumontRulz, my Beta Reader!

Thank you all for your reviews!

Chapter 14: The Verdict

4th of October 2003

"Mrs Weasley, would you mind telling us what happen last night again?" asked a member of the Law Enforcement Squad to Hermione at the Burrow.

It was already 8am in the morning, 8 hours after Ron died. Molly and Ginny were busily crying over the loss of their family member while the rest of the Weasleys were silent.

Hermione thought for a while. She was almost certain that it was Harry who killed Ron, but Harry sometimes did lose control when he was very furious, so he might had killed his best friend by accident… whatever how Harry killed Ron, Hermione decided not to drag him into it…

"On the night of 3rd of October, I was walking home with my husband Ron Weasley when I heard him call out 'Oh!' and he fell up against me. I put out my arms to save him, and found blood which I thought was coming from his mouth. I tried to hold him up. He staggered for a while and fell against the wall and slid down. He never moved after he fell… I think he died…" said Hermione, not looking at the wizard.

Molly wailed loudly at Hermione's statement. Ginny continued to weep.

"Was he physically ill before he died?" asked the wizard.

Hermione was about to answer when another wizard from the Squad came into the house.

He headed straight to the one who was questioning Hermione and whispered into his ear about something.

The wizard's eyes widened and asked his colleague, "Are you sure?"

"Of course," said his colleague.

"Mrs Weasley, I'm sure you know a certain person named Harry Potter?" asked the wizard.

Hermione's face paled. The Weasleys looked up and at the wizard in puzzlement.

"What's Harry got to do with this?" asked Arthur Weasley.

The wizard looked serious. "Well, my colleague reported that Harry Potter had turned himself in half an hour ago. He claimed that he was the one who killed Mr Ronald Weasley."

Silence.

"Impossible!" said Arthur Weasley. "Harry and Ron were best friends!"

"Harry won't kill his best friend, he just couldn't have…" said Molly over and over again.

"Harry is a good man, he gave me and George his Tri-wizard winnings so that we can start a business!" said Fred in protest while George nodded.

Only Ginny was silent, then she stared at Hermione with her face paled. "It is you, you are the one who he likes…" she said quietly.

The rest of the people didn't hear her, but Hermione did. She turned away from her sister-in-law, refused to look at her.

"Mrs Hermione Weasley," said the wizard.

"Yes?" asked Hermione quickly.

"Why didn't you mention that you saw Mr Potter last night?" asked the wizard suspiciously.

Hermione couldn't find a good answer so she kept silent.

"Your statement doesn't seem to be correct. You said your husband fell up against you, but then Mr Potter came into the Ministry to turn himself in for murdering your husband. It is possible that you are covering up for him."

"I'm sorry, Mrs Weasley. You are now one of our suspects for the murder of Mr Ronald Weasley. You have to come back with us to the Ministry for the murder trial."

Hermione got up without protest. Ignoring all the shock and horrified expressions on the Weasleys' faces, Hermione followed the wizards out of the house.

Present

"So you are saying that you killed Mr Weasley out of self defence?" asked the Minister to Harry.

"Yes." said Harry calmly.

"But why Mrs Hermione Weasley said that she didn't see anyone that night?" said the Minister.

Harry didn't say anything.

The Minister sighed in frustration and said, "The court will decide on the verdict in 2 hours, dismissed."

2 hours later, everyone came back into the court. As they sat in their chairs, Harry and Hermione were holding each others' hands tightly, both were nervous and scared to hear the verdict.

"You will be all right, Hermione," whispered Harry. "You didn't kill Ron, they can't lock you up for adultery."

"You too, they can't hang you for manslaughter…" said Hermione.

The Minister cleared his throat and banged his hammer for attention.

"Mr Harry James Potter and Mrs Hermione Jane Weasley. We have gone through so many, um, stories, during your trials: having adultery, plotting of the murder in your letters, which you two said that they were just made-believe, abortion and having an illegitimate child.

"And we are convinced that there is sufficient evidence to prove that Mrs Hermione Jane Weasley helped out in the murder of Mr Ronald Weasley, since she is capable to have adultery, abortion and plots the murder with Mr Potter. Most importantly, she was present when Mr Weasley was killed. She even covered up for Mr Potter after the murder."

"As for Mr Potter, although he said that he killed Mr Ronald Weasley out of self-defence, we concluded that you couldn't have said the killing curse, even if you have totally lost control. So we decided that Mr Potter's statement is entirely false."

Hermione paled. This was not good…

"Therefore, the court has found that Mr Harry James Potter and Mrs Hermione Jane Weasley…" the Minister paused for effect.

Hermione swallowed.

"Guilty."

Harry's eyes widened and drew in his breath. Hermione gave a tiny gasp. The court started to fill with whispers and talking.

Hermione could hear her mother crying: "Oh my God, Hermione, my dear girl…"

Then she heard someone saying: "This is not fair! Why is Hermione guilty as well!"

"Unreasonable."

"Pighead!" yelled Fred and George Weasley in unison.

"Shut up! The court knows who's right and who's wrong," said the Minister.

"Yeah right, the court has a brain with the size of a pea," someone said in disgust.

"There's nothing wrong parenting a child, even if it is an illegitimate one!"

"You are turning the poor baby into a real orphan!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The Minister slammed his hammer down. "Silence! All rise for the death sentence to be passed!"

Suddenly, the whole court went silent. Harry's expression turned from shock to anger. His hands were trembling.

Then movement of chairs could be heard as the people in the court stand.

"Mr Harry James Potter. The sentence that the court have given you is that you will be taken from this place to Azkaban and then to a place of lawful execution. And there you shall be hanged by the neck until you be dead. May the god Hades have mercy on your soul."

Hermione could hear Mrs Weasley sobbing.

"Mrs Hermione Jane Weasley. The sentence that the court have given you is that you will be taken from this place to Azkaban and then to a place of lawful execution. And there you shall be hanged by the neck until you be dead. May the god Hades have mercy on your soul."

The Minister banged his hammer, ending the session. Hermione heard her mother wailing loudly. "Oh my Hermione, my girl…"

"This is unfair!" yelled Harry angrily. "Hermione didn't kill Ron, I did! She's innocent!"

"Take him away," said the Minister in a bored tone.

"You can't do this to Hermione!" Harry continued as the guards grabbed him around the arms to take him away. They removed his hand from Hermione's grasp.

"No!" cried Hermione and leaned forward to take Harry's hand again, but she failed and watched helplessly as the guards took Harry away.

"You are hanging the wrong person! She's innocent, I'm telling you!" yelled Harry and he continued shouting after he was out, his shouts could be heard in the court and they slowly faded away.

"Mrs Hermione Jane Weasley? Have you anything to say before the state of execution?" asked the Minister.

At first, Hermione's mind was blank. She couldn't believe that she and Harry had been sentenced to death. All Harry did was manslaughter; he didn't mean to kill Ron. As for her, she had done nothing wrong except adultery… she didn't want Harry and herself to die, she wanted Harry and herself to be with William again….

"No, they are not going to end our lives like this…" said her mind. "They just can't…"

"… we are not guilty…" whispered Hermione, her voice trembling. After she had found her voice, Hermione began to speak louder. "Oh God… we are not guilty…"

"Take her away as well," said the Minister.

"Hermione!" called her parents.

But Hermione wasn't listening. The guards came and they tried to take her away. "No! We are not guilty!" she cried and hanged on to the chair where she was sitting. She wanted to stay until the Minister changed his mind about their death sentences.

"We are not guilty!" repeated Hermione loudly. Tears were running down her cheeks. "We don't want to die this way, we just can't!"

The guards managed to remove her from her chair. Hermione was still screaming, which was quite a disturbing sight.

Not being able to bear to watch the commotion any longer, Mrs Granger got up and ran out of the court, with her husband chasing after her.

"We are innocent!" screamed Hermione as she was been taken out of the court.

"Thank you all for your patience, for this long and difficult case," said the Minister.