The book of revelations
The skies had darkened.
She had kneeled before him.
Forgiveness was for nought.
For God had spoken.
His retribution would be swift
But it would be brutal.
"Please state your name for the court"
Hermione's eyes blinked rapidly adjusting to the light as the black cloak shielding her sight was removed with haste. Her eyes twitched with discomfort as the blurred images slowly manifested into solid masses.
"Again- state your name for the court"
Hermione made eye contact with the owner of the thundering voice that was echoing within the halls of the Wizengamot. The owner of the voice was one Amos Diggery.
Father of one dead Cedric Diggory.
War had aged Amos Diggery. As did the brutal death of his only son.
Not only had war aged Amos Diggery, it had given him a new passion. Bringing justice to his dead son and all those who had aligned themselves with those he believed were responsible for his death.
Hermione watched the old man wearily as he stood high on his pillar. His grey cloak graceful and smooth flowing behind him. His chin held up high and his eyes cold as a dead fish in the water.
Hermione searched his face for any familiarity and found none.
Dead eyes to match his dead son.
Hermione looked around her for the first time taking in her surroundings. She too stood high on a pillar, the Azkaban chains heavy against her wrists and ankles weighing her down. Next to her stood both Azkaban guards that she had grown accustomed to.
In front sat Boston Mc Cleoud, Melissa Dharth and Pacey Julibee, her counsel.
Melissa Dharth was a middle aged litigator, the best in her field. She was a small petite woman who spoke in short and simple sentences. She was never one to beat around the bush. Something Hermione after many months in her presence came to admire about the woman.
Pacey Julibee was a nervous jittering man no older than herself. What he lacked in confidence he made up in his brilliant mind. The man knew wizengamot like the back of his mind and memorized every wizarding law and sub law there was.
This was her Counsel.
This was what remained of her family.
Then, there was him.
Hermione forced herself away refusing to allow herself to linger on the unattainable.
The unthinkable.
She focused her eyes on her counsel refusing to look elsewhere.
There were more. Hundreds more. The wizarding world did not disappoint. The stands of the Wizengamot were full without a seat left empty.
Hermione glanced over the faces blankly.
She didn't allow herself to recognise them.
What she didn't know didn't hurt her.
"Hermione Jean Granger" she answered sensing the irritation of her prosecutor.
He who was here for her judgement.
He who wanted her head on a spike.
Amos nodded satisfied with her answer. He glanced at his colleagues seated behind him before turning back to her.
"The names of your parents Miss Granger?" he asked briefly.
Hermione sighed internally.
Semantics.
"Richard and Cecilia Granger. They are muggles" she replied hesitating.
"I mean they were muggles" she corrected.
You owe them nothing her madness whispered cruelly in her ear. Hermione winced slightly in reaction.
Please not now shethought miserably
You did what you had to, you did what you had to do to survive
"Miss Granger, can you tell the court how long you have known one Harry James Potter?"
Hermione startled by the question stared in response at her counsel.
"Miss Granger, I believe you don't need help doing the math. I hear you were the brightest witch of your age?" Amos asked sarcastically.
The silence of the courtroom was deafening.
Making eye contact with Boston he nodded briefly encouraging her with haste to respond.
Swallowing the uncomfortable knot that had formed in her throat she hesitated before responding.
"Since my first year in Hogwarts, we were 11 years old" she replied.
Amos nodded noting her answer down on a piece of parchment.
"So that would be what, 8 years?" he asked her
Hermione nodded.
"Miss Granger, would you say you and Mr Potter were friends?" said Amos.
"OBJECTION!" yelled Melissa standing quickly in her seat.
Amos glared at her in response. "On what basis?"
"On the basis that your line of questioning is irrelevant. What does it matter if she considers Mr Potter a friend or not"
Amos huffed offended by the tone taken.
"It is all relevant. I need to understand the surrounding circumstances of the crime that was committed and yes her friendship with Harry Potter is relevant" Amos spat in return.
Hermione could feel the animosity reach a breaking point.
"That is ENOUGH!"
Hermione looked up at Kingsley Shacklebolt.
He was a man of honour. A man that was respected by the wizarding world. The impeccable Auror and now Minister of Magic.
He was once her friend.
"These are unprecedented times. No one wants to be here longer than we have to. I am sure both sides appreciate that. This has been drawn out long enough. I will not sit idly by whilst you both peacock yourselves in this courtroom in the name of making a name for yourselves. Do you understand me?"
Kingsley stared down at the opposing sides.
He had thrown down his gravel.
Amos regaining his senses nodded fearfully at the Minister of Magic.
Melissa also seemed slightly mollified sat down quickly before turning her head to her colleagues whispering furiously
Kingsley satisfied with the response stared at her Hermione.
She didn't recognise his expression.
She doubted it was anything but pity.
"Proceed" he stated clearly.
Amos stood again moving around the desk to stand in front of Hermione.
"Miss Granger, did you alert anyone from the Order of Pheonix where you were going the night you left the safe house on the night of the 25th of October"
Hermione mentally steeled herself for the inevitable onslaught.
"No I didn't"
"Why is that?" Amos asked.
Hermione felt the prodding. The poking.
They don't know- none of them know what it's like
They shouldn't have to
But they should want to.
Back and forth they went in their head.
"I knew they would try and stop me" she said instead.
She could feel the atmosphere thicken with anxiety. Her own or her counsels, she wasn't sure anymore.
"And why Miss Grander do you think they would have tried to stop you?" Amos asked keening
A Cobra in the wild ready to strike.
Tell them you're sorry her sanity pleaded
But she isn't her madness responded.
Hermione felt herself checking out of reality and succumbing to the internal dialogue that had become her safe haven.
If you ask for forgiveness they will show you mercy.
Hermione felt herself stiffen at the naivety of her own sanity.
Her madness on the other hand cackled laughing cruelly in response.
Tell them we were willing to burn this world to the ground if only it meant we could dig him up from the ashes.
Her sanity was silenced.
It was never long enough.
"I don't know" she whispered.
She didn't know who she had answered.
Amos sighed in frustration at her lack of a response.
"Miss Granger, I remind you that you are under oath of the Wizengamot and therefore you are required to tell the truth. Were you or were you not in a clear state of mind the night you betrayed Harry Potter and the Order of Pheonix?"
There it was, the question they had all been waiting for.
The cobra had gone in for the kill.
Tell them the truth her madness implored with new vigor.
It doesn't matter she replied despondently.
Back and forth they went. Her sanity and her madness. Forever intertwined in the same debate.
To tell or not to tell.
Her madness craved the destruction her honesty would bring.
Her sanity craving self-preservation- knowing all along that she would not survive it.
The truth was never so easy. It was woven, complicated. It was ugly.
Her counsel had spent hours preparing for such a question.
You were scared and overcome with grief, you didn't know what you were doing Boston would say
According to sub-section 167.45 of Wizarding laws 44 was it betrayal in the eyes of the law? Pacey Julibee would say
It was self-preservation. It's not a crime to want to save yourself Melissa's cold voice would sound.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
She knew what she was doing- for she was the one who had done it.
She betrayed her friends and all the people she had sworn to protect.
It wasn't self-preservation, for it wasn't herself she was interested in saving.
For the first time Hermione looked beyond her prosecution. Beyond her counsel. Beyond the faces of the people who had travelled for miles to see her burned on a stake.
All she could see was him.
It was her truth.
Perhaps it was the only truth that mattered anymore.
She stared at him, his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes. She had found herself lost at sea within those eyes too many times to count. Too many times she had lost herself looking for salvation in the eyes of the one whom she had forsaken all others for. They were for now hidden behind a pair of dark sun glasses.
Look at me she implored.
He never did. Not anymore.
For she had kneeled before him.
And he had spoken.
"Yes I was in a clear state of mind. I just didn't care".
For she had wept and wept for what felt like centuries. She had told her God that she was weary of trying. And he had spoken.
Quit trying
