Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't own Harry Potter! So what? Can't I just borrow him and everyone else for a while? Okay Thanks :D !
Well, that last chapter was quite informative wasn't it? Oh, and by the way, just so that everyone knows, I'm making Hermione left handed and that's why she's doing everything with her left hand (not overly important, but I just thought I'd mention it.) Well, here is the next chapter as I promised! REVIEW, I won't continue if I don't get any!
Chapter 3 - Trial
"Miss Granger . . . I'm afraid that we really must be leaving now. Just be sure to take care of yourself and be prepared because they will probably ask that you testify in court. Oh, and if I were you, I would put those bandages back on because it would seem highly unusual for you to be completely healed already," said Dumbledore as they began to leave. Each muttered an incantation and turned into the nurse and doctor that Hermione had seen earlier.
Hermione put the bandages back on and sat in silence once more as they walked out the door and shut it. She was a Phoenix. A Phoenix in human form for the time being.
A few moments later, a police officer came into the room.
"Are you Hermione Granger?" asked the man.
"Who wants to know?" she asked skeptically.
"I'm the detective for the case of the murder of John and Anna Granger. Are you her?"
"Yes, the last time I checked."
"I'm detective Hughes with the Surrey Police Force."
Hermione held out her left hand, "Nice to meet you." He took her hand lightly to shake it seeing the injury.
"I see that your wounds are healing nicely."
"I'm a very fast healer, always have been sir. . . it still hurts though," said Hermione quickly catching a could-have-been mistake.
"I'm going to get straight to the point. Do you think that you'd be willing to testify in court?"
"I don't see why not," said Hermione.
"Okay. I will need as exact of an account of what happened as you can give me, and then we're going to get you a lawyer."
"Well . . .
. . . I drove into the driveway of my house and noticed a black jaguar car already in the driveway and that the telly wasn't on like it always is unless there's company. (nice transition huh?) So I walked into the house under the pretense that there was either a relative or a family friend there. Everything was dead quiet, so I figured something was wrong and walked to my mum and dad's bedroom. The door was left slightly open so I peeked through and saw a man holding my parents at gunpoint."
"And what did you do next Ms. Granger?" asked the lawyer.
"So I went to the kitchen, grabbed my dad's cell phone, hid in the pantry in the kitchen, then I called the police. They told me someone would be there immediately."
"So how was it that you ended up back in your parents' room again?"
"Well, two men had walked down the hall to my parents' room before I made the call, and one of them came back out at some point and caught me. He took me to my mum and dad's bedroom and showed the man with the gun the cell phone in my hand."
"Then what happened?" the lawyer pressed.
"He asked me if I called the police and I said no. He said that I had better not be lying or else he would kill the three of us, me, my mum and dad that is. I told him I wasn't lying even though I was, but I was doing it to try and save my parents. He told me that he would believe me because he was in a good mood and put his gun down and did something with it. I now know that he was taking off the safety lock even though I assumed he was putting the safety on. And he lied about not shooting my parents because he shot my dad twice and then he shot my mum once. I ran over to my parents and checked if they were alive or dead."
"How did you break your wrist Ms. Granger?" said the lawyer pointing to her left wrist.
"They were both dead and I got very angry so I tackled the man with the gun. He threw me on the ground and my wrist snapped and was, as I was told, severely broken. I guess that sent me into shock or something and then I blacked out and don't remember what happened after that."
"Thank you Ms. Granger. No further questions your honour," said her lawyer taking his seat.
The lawyer of the defendant stood and paced for a few seconds in front of her. "So, Ms. Granger . . . might I inquire about your other injuries?"
"Well, I remember that I woke up in the hospital three days later and being told that I'd been shot three times by one of the doctors."
"The doctor shot you three times?" asked the lawyer incredulously.
"No! He told me I had been shot three times," said Hermione realizing that this conniving lawyer was going to try and manipulate her words to mean what he wanted them to.
"Okay, so you also said that you purposely lied about calling the police to my client. So how do we know that you aren't lying now?"
"Because I'm not, and isn't that question a little unreasonable? This is a court, one of the two of us has to be lying," said Hermione sharply.
"But you said so yourself that you lied to save your parents. Why wouldn't you do the same for yourself?"
Hermione's lawyer stood abruptly, "I object your honour, he's badgering my client."
"Sustained," said the judge.
"You say you don't remember what happened after you broke your wrist. Is that correct?" he asked as he grabbed a piece of paper from his client.
"Yes that is correct."
"Well that's very interesting Ms. Granger because my client just gave me a description of what happened. You see, my client says that you rose into the air and the whole room went red from the fire that surrounded you, which you shot through the room. Two times, and both times, you burnt my client quite severely. You yelled, and I quote 'You sodding bastards.' How do you explain this Ms. Granger?"
Hermione chuckled lightly, "Sir, I don't mean to be rude, but there are two things that I have to say to that. Firstly, how do you know that he wasn't lying, when he himself lied to me? And secondly, that is not humanly possible for me to do as he said," said Hermione. "I'd also like to ask you a question. How is that relevant to this case sir? Even if it were possible, there really is no point in stating that."
Hermione's lawyer and the judge looked at the man smugly.
He opened and closed his mouth a few times, reminding Hermione of a fish taken out of water for too long. "No further questions your honour," he said quickly in humiliation as he took his seat.
The judge nodded at the jury, who went into the side room.
Hermione sighed as the jury came out just five minutes later.
"Has the jury reached a verdict?" asked the judge.
A woman with a stern looking face, reminiscent of Mc Gonagall, stood. "We have your honour. We the jury find the defendant . . . guilty of first degree murder and attempted murder."
The woman looked over to the judge as she sat down. "That being the case, the defendant, Jack Willis, will serve a twenty year sentence in high security prison with no chance of parole. Case dismissed."
"Jack got up and darted towards Hermione but was detainedby two security guards as they wrestled him to the floor and handcuffed him.
"You bitch!" he yelled, "I'm not finished with you! I have men all over town who're going to hunt you down and kill you! And if they can't find you by the time I get out, I will see to it that that task is complete myself!"
The guards walked him outside to the police car. He was yelling out to someone in the crowd, "Tommy, Vin, boys you got new orders! Hunt that bitch down and kill her at any cost! Don't stop looking for her until she's dead! Tell everyone else!"
When they reached the car, the guards shoved him in and slammed the door shut. They watched as several men fled from the scene.
Several guards walked up to Hermione hurriedly.
"Ms. Granger, we are going to need you to come with us please," they escorted her to a car outside, which took them to a run down looking building next to the Leaky Cauldron.
She stepped out of the car and they guided her into the unmarked building, which no one on street seemed to notice.
'Odd . . . I wonder if this is a Wizarding place' thought Hermione as the men led her though many halls until they came to a door that had a plaque bearing the letters 'WPP'.
One of the men knocked on the door twice and it opened, and they all walked in quickly and shut the door behind them.
"Miss Granger I presume?" said the man at the desk.
"Yes . . . what is going on here?"
"Ever since your parents told me about the gang harassing them we've had the three of you down."
"Down? Down for what?"
"Hermione, your parents weren't who you assumed them to be."
"I don't understand sir," she said politely confused.
"Well, that man that killed your parents, Jack, he was there boss. Your parents were part of a notorious magic/muggle gang called the 'Black Widows', they were really dentists, but only as a cover-up. Your parents were trying to get out of it for your sake. They've been in it since you were only a year old. The boss decided to start harassing them when he found out their true intentions. That's when they came to me, they applied the three of you under a protection program in case anything should happen."
"Am I going to be relocated?" asked Hermione not wanting to leave before her last year of school.
"No . . . in your parents' will, they say they wanted you to go with your closest relative under a new identity."
Hermione calmly asked, "And who is that relative? Because I don't know any."
"Your mother's brother . . . Severus Snape."
"Snape! I can't possibly be related to him! You must be joking!"
"No, not at all. Your mother also wrote that everything, except your school supplies, would be sold including the house, all clothes, even yours, and the cars . . . something about them not wanting you to be traceable. All the money would go to your account at Gringotts as well as all the money in their bank accounts outside Gringotts. So your total balance will arrive, if not today, then within the next few days," said the man behind the desk.
"Where am I supposed to stay until September? I can't very well be in my house since it's not going to be mine or safe for that matter! And what is my name going to be so that in 2 months I'll be used to it," she said trying to take all of the news in gracefully.
"Well, you will stay in the Leaky Cauldron and your school things will be brought by your uncle. You won't be allowed in London again until you go to school, or you could be killed. As for your name . . . you will be Phoenix Turoe. You will be from Dallas, Texas. You moved to Surrey when you were six and were adopted by the Grangers when your parents died in a tragic accident, but you kept your original last name. Then you were sent to the school in Phoenix, Arizona, since you did go there the year before Hogwarts and it's an easy cover for how you knew what you knew, and your good friends call you Dallas because of your accent and your birthplace. This will be so that you don't accidentally slip up somehow about your knowledge of Hermione. You will have to do what you can to change your appearance and accent."
"Well I guess that's all then?" asked Hermione not really knowing how to feel about the situation.
"Yes Miss Turoe. You are free to go to the Leaky Cauldron. The best of luck to you. Remember to cut off all ties with any friends as soon as possible because as far as we know, Hermione Granger is dead . . ."