Title: Venom, Tears and Potions

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.

Summary: Events during Second Year have far reaching consequences that no one could have foreseen.


It was two weeks since the incident with Draco, where Hermione had scratched his arm, and a kind of routine had been established for the two Zodiac Apotheosis. Every morning they were up early to have their training session with Neko and Kammy, their House Elf Weapons Instructors. Lots of cardio was done by constantly running around the castle, sometimes even deliberately taking the long way around rather than shortcuts to get the extra exercise in. Classes were going well except for potions, which was not unusual except Snape kept trying to ratchet up the insults and both Harry and Hermione ignored them.

In the last class, with Snape was feeling particularly vindictive, he took a total of a thousand points off Harry and Hermione over the course of the lesson, causing the other Gryffindor students to give the pair death glares. Harry and Hermione were unconcerned.

"Why are you so arrogant?" Lavender hissed at the pair as they entered the entrance hall. "You just cost Gryffindor a thousand points."

"Did we?" Hermione asked, nodding her head at the row of magical hourglasses that showed the total number of House Points each House had.

The rest of the Gryffindors looked over, expecting to see their hourglass completely devoid of ruby coloured counters and a zero being displayed above it. Instead, the Gryffindor hourglass showed seven more House Points than when they had started Potions Class. As they watched another five markers cascaded down into the hourglass and then fifteen disappeared.

"Ever since the incident with Malfoy, all of Snape's point deductions and detentions, when it concerns Hermione and myself, have to be reviewed by the headmaster and the other three Heads of House before being calculated or issued." Harry explained with a shrug.

The group entered the Great Hall for lunch and took their places at the Gryffindor table. Up at the Teachers Table, there seemed to be an intense discussion going on between Dumbledore and McGonagall and after a few moments McGonagall got up and left the hall. Ten minutes latter the doors to the Great Hall banged open.

"I'm telling you, you simply can't…." Came McGonagall's voice only to be cut off quickly.

"We are here on Official Business. He He He." A sickenly high pitched voice said.

In the lead of the group was a short and unattractive woman dressed almost entirely in pink. Behind her were three Wizards and a Witch dressed in the scarlet robes of Aurors. Behind the group, with enough of a gap to show that they were not part of the group, stood Professor McGonagall and a Witch in dark robes with her dark red hair, streaked slightly with grey, and a monocle.

The Witch in pink and the four in Auror robes, after a few moments looking around, marched directly up to Harry and Hermione and stood in front of them.

"The creature formerly known as Harry Potter and the creature formerly known as Hermione Granger, you have both been found guilty in absentia to the grievous assault of a Pureblood Wizard by the Tribunal for the Regulation of Magical Creatures. The sentence was death but has been commuted to life in Azkaban. Aurors, take them away." The Witch in Pink said.

"Hold!" the Witch with the monocle snapped and the Aurors, who had begun to move forward, stopped in their tracks.

"How dare you interfere Bones." The woman in pink said indignantly. "I have the full…."

"You have nothing, Umbridge." Bones snapped back. "I let this go this far because I was curious as to what you had planned. You know very well that the Tribunal can not perform an in absentia ruling, nor has a formal proceeding been undertaken to determine if the… changes Mister Potter and Miss Granger have undergone would classify them under those articles."

That exchange was enough to identify the two Witches. The one in pink was Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, a title that was designed to sound impressive but had about as much actual power as the person responsible for ensuring that the Ministry Cafeteria had enough napkins. The Witch with the Monocle was Director Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the second highest ranking member of the Ministry after the Minister, and arguably had more actual power than the Minister. Director Bones was also the Aunt and primary Guardian of Harry and Hermione's year-mate Susan Bones in Hufflepuff House.

"Fine." Umbridge sulked. "Bring them and we'll have the proceedings before throwing them in Azkaban."

"Director Bones." Hermione said, her vertical pupiled eyes fixed on the Director in an intense but non-confrontational stare. "Are you aware of the details of Article 2?"

As Hermione addressed the Director, Harry glared hard at Umbridge, his charcoal grey hair shifting in a non-existent breeze and his wings slowly emerging from behind his back and then draping over his shoulders like a cloak.

Hermione could see Director Bones wracking her memory for the details of Article 2 and then the light go on as she remembered.

"Verry well." Bones said. "I will arrange for the full Wizengamont to gather to hear the Article 2 case."

"They don't get a Wizengamont trial." Umbridge protested. "The Magical Creature Laws forbid it."

"Article 2 requires it." Bones said calmly.

"My Laws replace any other laws relating to Creatures." Umbridge countered, almost spitting the word Creatures.

"Article 2 requires it." Bones repeated. "And if you try to interfere in any way, I will lock you up in the cells until I decide to let you out. Even Minister Fudge wouldn't be able to get me to release you until I decide to."

Umbridge opened her mouth to protest but stopped when Bones held up a hand.

"And I consider you saying just about anything at this point to be interference." Bones continues. "Mister Potter, Miss Granger, you will be informed of when the Article 2 case will be heard."

With that, Bones prodded Umbridge to get the shocked woman moving and left the Great Hall with the Aurors in tow.


Amelia Bones rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times as she leaned back in her office chair. In preparation for the upcoming Article 2 trial, she had figured that it would be a good idea to brush up on Article 2 itself, and while she felt like her brains were about to dribble out of her ears, she was glad she had.

It had taken almost an hour and a half for her to simply read Article 2, it was so long, and another four going over every section and subsection to make sure she fully understood what it was actually saying. Part of it was the language, a major hinderance as the English Language had evolved in the last thousand plus years so what was written resembled more Medieval English than Modern English, which were different enough many Modern English Speakers would consider Medieval English more foreign than French or German. The other part was the jargon used. It was Legal speak. Medieval Legal speak. There was also a Modern English translation of Article 2 laying on her desk… somewhere, which she had also been referring to, but it was still dense going.

It was not just Amelia's sense of professionalism or Justice that had her researching so much. An Article 2 Trial required an Adjudicator, a role that seemed part Prosecutor; part Defence Lawyer and part Judge. The Adjudicator administered the proceedings and made a number of determinations on how the case went, including if the Wizengamont Members even got to vote on the issue. The Wizengamont were not a part of the Article 2 Trial to pass judgement, as a general rule, but because one of the prescribed outcomes could change the way the Wizengamont was run for decades, maybe ever centuries, to come.

It was her job as Director of the DMLE, as part of the stipulations within Article 2, to step into the role of Adjudicator, though she expected a fight there as Fudge or Umbridge would want the role to control the proceedings and condemn Potter and Granger. Amelia was not sure, one way or the other, how she felt about Potter and Granger. She had never believed most of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' hype. Susan's letters home, the only real direct source Amelia had on Potter and Granger, had only rarely mentioned them, with it mostly being how smart Granger was and how shy Potter seemed to be.

With a stretch, and returning her monocle to her eye, Amelia leaned forward again and started searching through the papers again. Where was the description of that spell?

TBC….