Shado of the Covenant

Chapter 24

Trial and Terror

Severus Snape had been hospitalised at the Ministry in a high security cell, after his vicious attack on Susan Bones, and though she hadn't been hurt too badly, nobody had to know that or they might try to get some kind of lenient sentence passed, forgetting Snape was an evil child abusing douche bag. The greasy prick would be going to jail for the rest of his life if Maya Strife had any say, and it was lucky that she did have some. She was chosen by her queen to sit at her right hand during the hearing in which Shado held power within Wizengamot, as Queen of the Covenant.

Dumbledore wasn't at all pleased, but worse was when Shado openly admitted that she was the new leader of the Covenant, and he and a lot of slow members paled, and Maya could see why he did. The sister of the Girl-Who-Lived had so much power, she could easily use that to keep Rose out of nefarious hands. Then, added to, Maya knew some of them would switch sides now that truth was out in the open, and the truth about what Dumbledore forced the Potter's to do to their 'god tier' daughter, and many looked over where The Potter parents were kept at Dumbledore's side, in pity? Or suspicion?

The old man was likely extremely annoyed with Shado for leaving the school for the meetings (likely because without her support he would be able to get Snape out of jail, but showing herself, many families would side with her on shear principle of not having to fear Dumbledore and his supporters). Therefore, Dumbledore could no longer change Snape's fate, and would no longer persuade matters of magical state. Shado was rather cunning when she chose to be, and went on to attack Dumbledore's character before he could attack hers.

Shado easily questioned Dumbledore's judgement in appointing such a volatile man when she handed out complaint reports. Some of Dumbledore's people laughed it off as Snape having worked at the school for near fifteen years, and thirty-nine complaints was perfectly reasonable (Maya would agree) until they were told they were the complaints from September the first that year, and pulled out a space time case and poured it all out on the chamber floor. Anna must say she was just as shocked that Dumbledore could ignore over 700,000 complaints, and they were only the students and parents who had the guts, most of which would dare lodge formal complains constantly.

Dumbledore tried to brush the whole ordeal off by bringing charges to Shado for attempted murder and for crippling Snape, as he couldn't move his left shoulder because the nerves were completely fused and wouldn't regenerate with magic, and then the loss of his eye.

Shado turned to the old man coldly and raised her eyebrows before pointing to him from the wooden stands that surrounded the centre pit where criminals would be brought in. She aimed her finger at him, and as she stood next to Maya, the chamber felt supercharged, like the atmosphere was burning from her presence.

"You bring this back to me, Dumbledore!" she said in statement fashion. "That man attacked my friend, and tortured her, so I did what any great friend would do and made him stop by any means necessary, and if I could do it all over again, we wouldn't be having this discussion because that Death Eater would have been dead!"

Maya couldn't help but quiver as Shado talking like that with those beautiful emerald eyes, alit with that unearthly green light, and that sexy English accent was something else, but then her outfit, was both hot and amusing. She was dressed like a witch from some kind of fantasy world. Shado's hair was its natural black, and she was wearing a green large brimmed witch's hat with a point. Her green skirt was ragged to her lower thighs, and she wore knee high socks, her right green, and her left black with half boots, the right black and left green. She wore a white blouse open at the top few buttons, and hanging loose over her waist, and her pendant glistening in her power hanging to lay on her chest. Then she wore a thin black robe that was open and hugging her powerful body perfectly, to her ankles, and over the backs of her hands.

Shado also wore some light make up, green to match her colour choice, her lips painted, and her eyes shadowed, and her nails painted too. She still had multiple earrings, three one side and two the other.

The 'adults' hadn't taken Shado seriously at first, but now they were all ears, all eyes, all attention, and you could tell the weak from the strong.

The strong in the chamber pushed through Shado's slight projection of force and most of them chose caution. Then the weak, like the Minister of Magic and many of his flunkies were sweating and breathing harshly, weak boned like they were going to collapse within moments if they lost concentration for a moment.

"But Miss. Potter, we shouldn't act like that!" Dumbledore said with a 'disarming old man smile', but she kept her expression closed and cool. "Severus was just having a really bad day, and then Ronald being caught with his, personal property!"

"If everyone acted like that while having a bad day the world would dissolve into anarchy!" Shado replied while he grimaced, and backed down before Maya spoke to him, as the chamber took in what Shado said, knowing that it was the truth of society, and wouldn't try to dispute her 'claims', just as Dumbledore knew he couldn't, and didn't try anything more in that vein.

"I don't feel like any teacher should be allowed to drink in a school!" Maya added coldly, omitting that she drank with female students at school, as long as they were at least sixteen, and able to handle a drink or two, and it wasn't technically illegal. "Let alone a man I have observed being vindictive to my students. I have been to Dumbledore on a few occasions with concerns since starting at the school, but unfortunately, he shakes his head and laughs it off as a misunderstanding. I have collected evidence to show that since he became potion professor after Professor Slughorn retired, NEWT applicants have dropped to ten per cent of OWL passing student… and that's with a score of O's, as he doesn't even allow E students through," she said to widened eyes, "and NEWT passes have dropped to a six percent of that," she said passing out copies of her findings and getting gasps. "If it wasn't for the Auror Academy and Healer School offering courses to retake certain exams, potions being the main, we probably would have barely any healers or aurors… or people in any connecting fields."

"Albus Dumbledore!" the woman at the centre said coldly. She was a red head with a few streaks of grey. She wasn't old, but not young either. She was in her mid-to-late-forties, and kept a nice figure. She was pretty, in a stern way with her hair tied up tight and neat. "This proceeding is to see why you had seen fit to put our children in danger, Severus Snape's competence as a teacher, and your roll in this, not Lady Umbra's DEFENCE of MY niece!" she hissed out even colder than Maya had been, and using Shado's taken name, as someone at least knew the lore's of magic, or at least knew how to be polite. "These records are appalling for any subject, and having both eyewitnesses and proof from his wand, Severus Snape is never going back to Hogwarts no matter what you say. It is obvious that he is now, and has always been a Death Eater, and that your testimony to the contra was nothing but lies because all you gave was your word on the matter that he had 'changed' sides, so why don't you tell us the truth?!"

"But I can assure you, Madam Bones-."

"I'm sorry, but that is not good enough!" she interrupted with a cold look like frost in her striking green eyes.

"Well, it will have to be," Dumbledore replied thoughtfully. "Nothing will become of this. I have more families who know the truth when they hear it, some of them like the Potter's, are of old important blood..." He looked so very smug at that, and didn't realise that a few of those families looked like they might turn on him.

"But you don't have me!" interrupted a voice from the back as a near replica of Shado started walking down, except she was wearing her Gryffindor school uniform, and Professor Sinistra followed her down. Everyone watched her until she stopped by her sister with a small eyeroll at her cosplaying witch outfit, and stayed standing. "Albus Dumbledore has enslaved our parents! I wouldn't be surprised to discover that Sirius Black was innocent and sent to Azkaban to stop him from saving us!"

"You dare accuse me of such a thing?!" Dumbledore roared out frighteningly as his power projected out, and Rose cringed back as he drew his wand, and a moment later, Shado stepped in the way.

"Go ahead, you piece of shit!" Shado said coolly. "Do it, shoot at me, so I can have an excuse to wipe your existence off the face of this planet!"

Dumbledore ground his teeth and looked around before placing his wand away and trying to hitch up a smile, but it looked wrong. "You shall not get away with this… corrupting the Girl-Who-Lived, and accusing me of such crimes!"

"Okay, fair enough," Shado said coolly as she turned and for the first time looked closely at Lily and James Potter. They looked confused, scared, and broken, and as if neither of them had gotten any sleep, in weeks. There was strain in their eyes, and they had bruising and red sores around their eyes too. "Then how about we take our parents to a hospital, and have a healer examine them for such magic, you would be okay with that, wouldn't you, mum, dad?" she asked and they flinched as she called them mum and dad for the first time in their lives.

Lily and James looked to Dumbledore and he smiled at them, but neither spoke up for themselves, and Dumbledore answered for them.

"Of course, we can head over to St. Mungo's now-"

"No," Shado replied to very little surprise. "How about we take them to Japan… there's a hospital in Tokyo I would rather take them," she said thoughtfully which caused Dumbledore to pale. "I've done a little research, and they are one of many countries I could trust to get things done above board, and I've always wanted to visit, so two birds, one stone."

"Well, I'm afraid that will be, impossible," Dumbledore said nervously, and to many people confirming the suspicions.

"Well, fair enough, I suppose!" Shado chimed with a bright smile. "So, let's get back to the matter at hand, and sentencing, Severus Snape for his crimes," she said and this time Dumbledore showed uncertainty when he looked around the hall to see many of his supporters weren't looking very supportive anymore. He had no idea that all of that was for show, as they knew he would never allow a proper healer who cared for their patients to see the Potter's, and with that, he lost his majority support on the 'light' side, and the 'dark' who would have sided with Snape because they saw no chance of Dumbledore losing support before, saw an opportunity to bring Dumbledore's downfall, and they would throw Snape under the hippogriff to do it, and their Dark Lord would be pleased by that outcome.

"There is something else I am curious about though, if I may, before we get to the trial of Severus Snape?" Shado said thoughtfully.

"What now, girl?!" the old man asked, and looked relieved that he was given a few more moments to think.

"Oh, not a question for you, Mr. Dumbledore," Shado said smilingly as she turned towards a stern elderly woman not too far from them. "For you, Mrs. Longbottom, actually," she said surprising the old woman. "Do you know that your son, and your daughter in law are both mine and my sisters joint godparents with Laurel Greengrass and Sirius Black? My mother was rather close to Alice at school, same year, same house, rather reasonable to think that really…?"

Nothing more was needed to be said, as the old woman's cold dark eyes turned a fury upon Albus Dumbledore. "If you have anything to do with my son being kept in that hospital, Albus, I will do everything within my power to end you!"

"Now-now, my dear!" Dumbledore said and there was a quiver to his voice. "Miss. Potter is just a dilutional little girl, playing at things she does not understand!"

"Of course," Shado said. "There is plenty of stuff I don't understand. That is why I have many covenant witches who are older and more knowledgeable in all this political nonsense to help me, and offer their advice. But enough about this for now, lets bring out the condemned… I mean accused," she said as she took her sisters hand and took her to sit by her.

Dumbledore couldn't say anything more, as he knew Snape was going down, and he could not come back from this. Shado was the only person stood, as Snape was finally half dragged out into the courtroom by five huge set male aurors that Maya was certain Shado could beat up without using her powers. Everyone knew what was going to happen, no one asked for a vote on his sentence. For the use of such a curse on an innocent child, they all knew his fate, and Dumbledore had lost majority support as no one spoke up. Madam Bones handed over the representation of her family for this judgement to Shado and the Covenant of which her niece was apart, for protecting Susan, nobody denied her her right.

"Severus Snape!" Shado said as he was forced to sit on an old wooden chair and chains shackled him in place as he glared up, covered in bandages that were bloody and dirty. "You are charged with the use of an unforgivable curse on a sixteen-year-old student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for which you were a teacher hired by Albus Dumbledore. However, certain deeds must be considered while sentencing you," she said and Dumbledore looked up to her in hope, but Maya knew her queen was soon to dash that.

"You have on numerous occasions," she continued coldly. "Incited hate and racism within the Hogwarts House, Slytherin," she said and Maya saw Dumbledore looked away in horror as his mind whirled with bad thoughts, and he knew where this was going. "You have been vindictive, humiliating, and discouraging to students, going so far as to torture them with dangerous physical punishments, adding cleaning chemicals and potions to unknown potion waste for one example," she said reading off some notes. The man glared at her so hard it amused Maya as he was finally powerless because he had attacked one person too many.

Shado looked down at him in ice. "Then we cannot overlook the fact that Voldemort!" she said to gasps and filches from most but some of them, Amelia, Laurel, Rose, and Maya didn't even look surprised that Shado would say his name so casually, as they knew that she would never fear him, let alone his name. "He has an initiation for new recruits, which involves killing a young muggle, normally not of age, after proving your worth with the torture curse, which you have been shown to be apt in, so not one count of use of the cruciatus is being applied, but multiple, as well of multiple counts of using the killing curse. Your vindictiveness has known no bounds, but we of the Wizengamot shall show you some mercy!"

Snape for a moment looked like he had hope, and Dumbledore looked at Shado in surprise before he looked sick as he saw no mercy in her eyes. "We sentence you to the death of your choosing, here and now, with any party performing this deed exonerated of any criminal act while preformed on the now hereby named, Condemned."

"You can't do this!" Dumbledore cried out in horror while Snape broke down sobbing.

"If you do not choose within the next ten minutes, you shall die with your soul taken by dementors!" Shado added, ignoring Dumbledore while he had tears in his eyes but he didn't move to try saving Snape.

"P-please, h-he deserves a chance, he can do better, make it better!" Dumbledore tried to get people to shout out, but even his followers couldn't overturn the judging, but looked away, even if they wanted to, some were even sick. His crimes had been admitted to, even when Dumbledore vouched for him all those years ago, but Snape never stuck to the deal he made with the Wizengamot, and that bound with using the torture curse on a student, let alone of a noble and ancient pureblood family, the heir no less, he was done.

"Then why don't you come down here and end me, Potter!" Snape suddenly roared up at her with horrified tears running down his eyes, and Maya knew that when she had amended to give him a choice, she had hoped he would choose her. "You're nothing, Potter, and someday that bitch sister of yours will just be property, to be used and-"

Shado crashed down from the stands, buzzing with lime lightning, crushing the ground in the pit, in a shattered crater as her mere power sunk the ground, cracking, and displacing it to show everyone why she was the new queen, as her power flooded the hall, and the weak felt close to throwing up, wetting themselves, or even shitting themselves, and a few may have, and even the strong had issues controlling their bodily functions.

Snape didn't look so mocking when Shado walked over to him without missing a beat, the ground around her sinking and shaking, cracking with every spark-filled step. "Maybe Severus, in another reality, you might not have been a piece of shit, too hung up on Lily Evans; that you just became a bitter piece of shit. Maybe you missed your happy ending because you allowed yourself to pine in bitterness and jealously. That isn't love, but nothing but obsession and that is bad for your mental health..." she said, and had reached him while her sparks died out.

Shado paused a few feet from Snape and rose her left hand out towards him, and with the click of her fingers the chains holding him dissolved away and Snape was held tight in an invisible force, and lift from his seat to hang in the air before her and unable to move.

"... that… that is almost as not good for you as hurting my friend," Shado continued while Snape cried and whimpered in pain as his body started contorting inwards with his skin splitting. "I can only hope the Underworld, or Hell, or whatever bad place called dibs on you makes you repent for the evil you brought to this world," she finished and closed her hand into a fist, and with that, Snape imploded into nothing, and hadn't even the chance to screams as he was dissolved into nothingness.

Shado turned back to everyone as she let her arm drop. Maya could see Dumbledore sobbing along with some others who ran with Dumbledore too deeply, and a few tears from Death Eaters on the council as they looked at the Empress of the Covenant of Witches, knowing they had to report this to their master, and for once, those who sided with Dumbledore and Voldemort feared anew… they feared the magical queen.

"Nobody hurts my friends, or my people!" Shado said coolly. "Well, I believe we only have one more thing... a vote on a proposition to... I'm sorry Maya, I left my papers up there!"

"Quite alright, My Lady...!" Maya replied slowly with a smile and nod as she found her papers and looked at them; already knowing what they were about, but it was all just for show. "Yes, this odd proposition from Dumbledore to... hmm... force marriages of girls and even boys to breed mage for the UK, as it seems that lots of Muggle-born's and some half-bloods find it difficult to get paid employment in the UK, so tend to either join the muggle world on more permanent basis, or even other magical groups, or even leave the UK, for the US mostly-."

"Oh yes," Shado interrupted Maya as she climbed up the stands (as they had no stairs from the pit) like it was easy work, and stood by her sister. "Seems like a hefty lot of work. I'm certain it would be so much simpler to make new jobs, and maybe an equality bill would be better, so that brilliantly qualified persons can't be passed over for a less qualified pure-blood mage like that without possibly being fined or sued for discrimination. It doesn't seem fair to me, and I've heard about it happening all of the time, even in the ministry if you can believe such? It's why the UK magical world has become so stale and doesn't change as fast as it should..."

"I agree," Madam Bones added in looking to her papers, and trying to get over how easily Shado had destroyed Snape, and knew very few would have the balls to try going against her anymore. "This bill Dumbledore is trying to push would give him power to marry off school girls to old men, and being an old man himself, and what has happened here today. I believe it should be abolished in favour of creating more jobs and writing into law equality of employment, giving witches and wizards reason to stay and build their lives here," she said not having a clue that Shado was running way faster than she ever thought, and would want to nudge it enough that it never said human or any variation of the word mage.

"All in favour...!" Maya quickly asked, and majority hands went up, even some annoyed Death Eaters rose their hands to put an end to Dumbledore's grasps at power. "Okay, so Dumbledore's new law is out of the window in favour of keeping the Muggle-born's we have. I also see the danger of students fleeing out of the country in disgust, and this being worse."

"Well, if we have nothing more to discuss," Madam Bones said with a nod she stood and nodded, dismissing everybody.

Shado turned a smile to Rose, and took her hand, pulling her into her arms. "Dumbledore is nearly over!" she whispered into Rose's ear, causing her to shiver, and hold her sister tighter.

Meanwhile, the courtroom was emptying, and Lily Potter felt like her head wanted to explode as she let the crowd drag her along. She felt sick and uncertain. She loved Rose, so why would Rose turn on Dumbledore like that, but what was more, why was it turning on Dumbledore that concerned her. Rose always looked so happy when she was with Ivy. Shouldn't that be the way it was? They were twin sisters after all, and though not all sisters got along, Rose, Ivy, and…

"Hello, Lily." She was startled out of her thoughts and felt her heart skip a beat as her green eyes focused on Laurel Greengrass. "It's been quite some time since we've been alone together, and you still look amazing, even if you could do with a good night's rest."

"Rest?" Lily asked, confused as she looked around to see that she had wondered into a quiet hall, and it was just the two of them. "I… Laurel, w-what do you want?" she asked as the voluptuous blonde moved closer.

"I have a healer at my beck and call, just for you, Lily!" Laurel said gently and offered her right hand. "Please, let me save you...?" she begged with her grey eyes watering.

Lily looked into those eyes and tried to raise her hand to take Laurel's, but she couldn't. "I-I can't, Laurel, I can't."

"Don't think on it, Lils', just do it!" laurel demanded in desperation, and then, just when she thought that Lily wouldn't be able, they were holding hands, and Laurel was pulling her friend after her, to sneak her from the ministry, and out of Dumbledore's influence.

"You can't just take them!" the healer demanded in horror as the elder Longbottom with several more members of their family were preparing to move Alice and Frank from the psychiatric ward at St. Mungo's Magical Hospital.

"We'll be giving them private care from now on," Mrs. Longbottom said coldly, "and we shall be importing their new carers outside of Dumbledore's influence," she said fiercely while the healer looked like he was going to have a heart attack. "You and anyone else involved will lose your licenses, and we will sue this hospital so bloody hard that we'll own it when we're through."

"And why is that?" They were interrupted by a cool gazed woman in her mid to late thirties with light brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses, wearing some medical robes. She was joined by an older man in a security robe uniform.

"I have strong reason to suspect that Albus Dumbledore is hiring persons to drug my son and daughter in law!"

"Nonsense!" she replied angrily, and before anyone could stop her, she strode to the nearest bed where Alice sat looking vacantly into space, and with a complex set of motions with her wand, and whispered words she pulled back after an array of lights faded down, and turned with such fury that even Mrs. Longbottom took a step back. "Secure him!" she ordered, and the security man move in and forward rather quickly and grabbed the healer before he could think of escaping.

The brown-haired woman moved towards the younger healer while looking like she was part dragon in that moment. "Your life is over. I hope Dumbledore paid you well, because you'll need a very good lawyer, but hopefully you'll be a useful stooge to get the rest of your conspirators! This is a hospital where we HEAL all, dark, light, human, and even non-human, and animals… we do not poison people!"

"But Dumbledore-!" The young man cried out.

"You stole fifteen years from their daughter and her parents!" Mrs. Longbottom roared. "Do you have any idea what it's like to bring children to see their parents like this?! I'm going to see to it that you and everyone involved spends the rest of their lives in Azkaban, including Dumbledore if Lady Umbra doesn't end up destroying that bastard for stealing her parents too! You're all scum!"

to be continued…