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Chapter Sixty Four: The Right Side of Wrong.

"Still trying to find the answers?" Bill's voice interrupted Hermione's musings. She glanced up and smiled distractedly, placing one finger on the line she had been reading, "I think you need to go into Magical Law Enforcement after this. You've got all the studying done."

"If anything, it's taught me that I want nothing to do with a courtroom after these trials." Hermione replied ruefully.

"Do you think you can win?" He asked, taking a seat beside her on the bench.

"I'm doing everything I can." She sighed and looked out at the Weasleys' garden. The whole family were around. Fleur was drinking fresh lemonade with Mrs Weasley, the sun making their drinks shine like jewels, while watching the others playing a rather dirty game of quidditch. There was laughter and peace and an air of freedom. While she sat researching for a way to win the same for others. Trials had taken a break for the weekend, but her mind restlessly thought of the three people currently on hold in the Ministry. She had to find a way to let them see the sun again, "They deserve to be free."

"Do they Hermione?" Turning her head sharply to glare at Bill, he looked back unrepentantly, "We have all heard their crimes. Do you truly believe they deserve another chance at life?"

"Yes." She replied, "I do." Closing the book, she quirked an eyebrow at him, "Tell me; did you kill someone during the war, Bill? Did you hurt someone else? Did you do what it took to save your life? To save your family?" He looked down with guilt creasing his lips, "We all did things that we were not proud of. It was war, life and death, and we all did things we would have never dreamed we were capable of." Placing a hand on his shoulder, she sighed, "Why should someone be punished for doing things for the sake of survival, when we did the same?"

"It's different." He said adamantly.

"They were on the wrong side of the war." She agreed, "But they changed. They decided that those ideals that they were indoctrinated with since birth were wrong. They chose to change their side. They helped us. They defended us." Hermione shook her head sadly, "But everyone chooses to see their past crimes. They ignore what they did right."

"But they still committed them."

"They did. But every crime that they committed, they did so under the threat of death. They might not have been directly threatened with a knife or a wand, but they knew that if they failed to fulfil the tasks given to them, then someone would die. Be it themselves or their loved ones." Looking him squarely in the eye, she asked, "Would you not have done the same?"

"I would." He admitted after a heavy moment, "If it protected Fleur and my family."

"I know." She nodded, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. I would have done the same too." Biting her lip, she looked back out at the quidditch game, "We did do the same. We just had the benefit of being on the winning side, the right side."

Silence fell between them. Both lost in those thoughts. The terrible thoughts of what you would do to live. For your family and friends to live. To what extent that you would protect them. Knowing that you would do anything – anything – for them. It was a loving thought, clouded with an awful truth. Anything. Anything to protect them. Even if it cost your soul to do it. You would do it, absolutely, and that thought was a scary one to consider – even if we had lived through it already.

"But that defence isn't enough to save them." Bill suddenly remarked, startling Hermione from her thoughts.

"I know." She whispered quietly, not wanting to admit defeat in that statement.

"No one blames you for trying to save them." He said kindly, placing a hand on hers.

"Harry and Ron aren't great fans of me for it." Hermione shrugged, reopening her book.

"But they understand."

"Yeah..." Her eyes began to skim the page again.

"Have you found a loophole yet?" Bill asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Not yet." Flicking the page over, she scowled at the first paragraph. Every time she thought she had found some part of a legislation to exploit, there was always something that could be used against her reasoning on the next line. It was frustrating. Draco, Blaise, and Pansy were all up for sentencing in the coming days and she was no nearer to finding them a way out of their dire situation than she was when she forced the Ministry to make her their defence attorney. There would barely be any time left to give a final push in their case before sentencing was forced to be made. She needed to find a miracle through an old, forgotten law to fix this now. Some misplaced legislation or policy that could be exploited. There had to be – she couldn't face losing. This wasn't a test at Hogwarts or a way to prove her pride; it was their lives at stake. She had to find a way.

"Try Wizarding Law in 1690." Bill broke into her thoughts once more, "There is a law there that may help you."

"What law?" Hermione's eyes widened with curiosity and hope.

"A law that no one would hope to bring into practice." He frowned, "I don't even know if its a law that would be legal now. It would be abhorrent to enact it and there would be riots and revolution to stop it...but it just might help you."

"What's the law Bill?" She asked desperately, tired of his evasiveness.

"The Quae Demit Law." His expression contorted with disdain, "It's an old law. One rooted in even older origins. It's an ancient curse twisted into the very core of the Essential Wizarding Laws." Looking at her seriously, "You will cause uproar by using it." With that, he walked away, leaving Hermione shocked, but feeling the faintest threads of hope for the first time in a long time.