CH 112: Boxing Gloves On

The next morning they were all moving like slugs. Rose and Hugo slept in while Ron and Hermione shuffled around caring for the babies like they had lead feet. After they'd been up a while, they'd eventually gotten them to fall asleep in their portable crib in the living room, and Ron soon kipped next to them on the sofa. Hermione curled up with her sleeping husband on the couch as she looked at a new book her mum had given her and perused the muggle and magical newspapers. It was the first moment of calm she'd had in what felt like weeks.

Hazel started to fuss a bit, and before she could even reach her, Ron had automatically snatched her up, snuggled her against his chest and the two had settled into sleeping again. Hermione marveled at the two of them and how much it reminded her of that first night on the couch when Ron had comforted Hugo's nightmares without even waking up. Hermione knew they each loved both children the same, but there was some connection between Hazel and Ron she couldn't put her finger on yet. Ron could settle her like no one else. And she hoped that special father-daughter bond would continue. Eventually Ron woke up, gently rubbing his hand over sleeping Hazel's tiny back. He caught Hermione's eye as she smiled at him.

"Hey," he said in a gravely whisper. "How long was I out?"

"Almost two hours," Hermione said. "Did you even wake up when you picked up Hazel or was that autopilot?"

"Huh. No. Guess it is an automatic response at this point. Did you sleep?"

"No, but I feel more rested anyway. The house has been perfectly quiet as I sat here and read. I would think Rose and Hugo would be up soon, but so far I haven't heard a sound."

"What are you reading?"

"Oh, I looked at that photo book Mum gave me, but now I'm reading the Prophet."

Ron scrunched his nose. "Anything in it?"

"Her arraignment is tomorrow at 10."

Ron made a face again. "Good riddance."

"I plan to be there."

"WHAT?" he said bolting up, awakening an angry Hazel in the process.

"Shh! Here, put her back with Ry. Come on, if you are going to get that upset we should talk in the kitchen or something."

"Or something," he said gruffly as he covered them in a silencing spell so the babies wouldn't wake up.

"Ok. So, what is the issue?" Hermione asked calmly.

"What is the issue?" he hissed. "I don't want you anywhere near that bitch!"

"I hear you. I do. And, while I understand where you are coming from Ron, I need you to understand where I am coming from too. I have to be there because I have to know I did absolutely everything in my ability to be sure justice is done and she can never bother us or anyone else ever again."

"I get that, Hermione. I really do. But, you're not even a magical solicitor. Can't you let the prosecutor handle it? I'm sure Harry will pull strings to make sure it's handled by the best we have in the Ministry."

"Well, I would expect nothing less. But I also expect Harry to pull strings to allow me to help prosecute this case."

"You can't, Hermione!"

"And exactly why not?" she said, trying very hard to keep the solicitor fight out of her voice.

"I just don't trust her, Love. Please? I just – she's done so much already – can't we just let the Ministry handle it from here?

"Well, to put it succinctly, no. We can't. Or at least I can't. Call me a cynic, but I have not been terribly impressed with The Ministry's ability to prosecute her yet. And while she was caught in the act, I am not convinced – or at least not as convinced as you – that it will mean she is now out of our life."

Ron didn't speak, but his scarlet ears and clenched jaw communicated enough to Hermione to know what he was thinking.

"I need you to work with me on this," she said softly as she reached for his clenched hand. "I need to do this. Call it a mother bear reaction or something, but I have this physical need to do this. As much as you have a physical need to keep her away from all of us, I have that same need to work on her prosecution. So, what I need to know from you is what you need so that you don't worry the entire time. How can we find some middle ground here?"

He looked at Hermione, and her heart broke a little but by the mix of defeat, pain and concern in his eyes. She waited a few moments for him to say somethings, but he seemed to still be working on calming his breathing. So, she decided to try to offer suggestions instead.

"Look, I know we won't have any of the kids anywhere near her. And I can promise to never be alone with her or some other protective measures that could help put you at ease through this. I don't want to hurt you Ron. I never want to hurt you. I love you. And I know you love me. And together we will do all we can to rid our lives of that woman. But can you at least tell me you understand that I need to do this? Please?"

Ron finally sighed and nodded. Reaching for her and pulling her to him he said, "Of course I understand, Hermione. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't make me happy or comfortable or any of those things. But I, of all people, can understand the need to do everything you can to protect the ones you love. I just seem to be stuck loving people who won't stay on the sidelines. You, Harry, Fi, my sister – I can't get any of you to sit home and learn to crochet or something, can I?"

"No, I definitely don't see that as a good option for any of us. Though, I have to tell you, there was a while there where Nicola was convinced I would quit work one day and open either a crochet shop or a store that sold naughty knickers."

Grinning despite himself, Ron shook his head. "A Naughty Knicker Shop, eh? I think you could do quite well. You know, as long as no one else got to see you model the merchandise but me." He moved to kiss her neck as she laughed.

"I promise you right now that if for some twist of fate I ever do open such a shop, I'll only model for you."

"See, we're compromising already."

"Right. Compromise. So, are you ok if I promise to not be alone with her?"

"Yes. I suppose as long as there is another solicitor or auror or something there and she has no wand I am ok. But, be patient with me if I am cranky through this, alright? It will worry me when you're there with her and working on this whole stupid thing."

"OK. I can promise that. We'll set up a system where we call and check in with each other on those days, ok?"

"OK," he said. They sat for a few moments in the quiet before he added, "but about those naughty knickers…."

Hermione had reached out to Harry that afternoon and learned that a prosecutor named Wiltshire had been assigned to the case. He reported that Wiltshire was relatively new to the department but got the case as many of the regular solicitors were on holiday. That said, Harry reached out to Kingsley and had her appointed as a pro bono solicitor assigned to assist the prosecution on this case. While they knew it was highly irregular to have one of the victims of the crime serve in that role, Hermione would not be deterred. Wiltshire took Boxing Day off but was expected back in the office on the 27th.

For the rest of Boxing Day Hermione immersed herself in reviewing magical law texts and the various books she had amassed over the past few years as well as a few she was able to borrow from Percy. But, by 9 am on the 27th, Hermione was sitting in a chair right outside Wiltshire's office waiting for anyone to show up to work. She had prepared several legal approaches she thought were appropriate and had brought all of her previously compiled research on the various charges Skeeter had managed to wiggle out of over the past thirty years and was quite impatient to get started. When a slightly groggy twenty something bloke sauntered in at 945, Hermione was livid. But, knowing he was the formal prosecutor she tried her best to remain civil and professional.

"Hello," she said as she stood up with her hand extended to greet him. "I'm Hermione Granger-Weasley. Pleased to meet you. I'm not sure if you received the owl from Kingsley, but I have been appointed a pro bono assistant solicitor on the Skeeter case. I know the arraignment is in just over an hour, so I am sure we have a lot to get to straight away. We can save the small talk for after that, alright?"

The flabbergasted gentleman squinted his clearly hungover eyes at Hermione trying to make heads or tails of the situation.

"Sorry," he said. "Bit too much fun over the holiday. But, I'm the newest in the department, so I'm here over Christmas. Um, did you say Kingsley owled me? As in Minister of Magic Kinglsey Shacklebolt?"

"Yes. Yes, that's the one. You didn't receive it?"

"No. I had fun, but not so much fun I would have forgotten that. Sorry – that pepper up potion should kick in any minute now. Come on in to my office," he fumbled as he opened up the door and they made their way to the parchment covered desk. He flicked his wand to clear off the stack of books to make a place for her to sit.

"And you said Skeeter case, right? As in Rita Skeeter?"

"You really have no idea what I am talking about or who I am do you?" she asked.

"Guilty on that charge, I'm afraid. I stopped reading the Prophet years ago, and I went to Paris with my sister and her husband for Christmas. Just port-keyed in this morning. So, I am guessing that owl is either exhausted over the English Channel somewhere or will arrive any minute."

As if on cue, a paper airplane arrived at his desk from the Minister along with a file folder detailing the Skeeter case. Hermione, watching the minutes click by on her watch, tried to be patient, but soon found herself explaining what had happened to the young man. While he didn't seem to embrace her presence on the case, he didn't fight it either, so Hermione continued to explain what she had found in her research and possible approaches they could consider.

"Does the file indicate what formal indictments she will be charged with today?" she asked.

"No, not really," muttered Wiltshire as he shuffled through the stack of parchment. "Guess we'll find out soon enough."

"And can we be sure to push for her to remain behind bars, please?" she said.

"Well, maybe, but there really isn't any precedent for it that I am aware of given that no violence occurred."

"No violence!?" yelped Hermione. "She endangered four minors!"

"Well, while I understand you feel that way, ma'am, there is nothing documented that shows she did anything violent at all or even threatened to do so. But, I suggest we wait and see what the judge says and go from there. Today is just step one."

Aggravated but undeterred, she nodded, and they got up to head down to the court room for the 11 am hearing. Ron had said he and Harry would meet them there. Molly had offered to have the three Potter kids in addition to Rose, Hugo and the babies all come to The Burrow for Christmas leftovers, and Rose had talked her into inviting Scorp as well. So, at the very least they wouldn't have to worry about that woman being near the kids again.

As Hermione entered the court room, she saw Harry in his formal Head Auror robes, and Ron was in his formal attire as well, and both were wearing what she had come to think of as their "auror masks," where they had their jaws set tightly, wrinkled their foreheads a bit and looked incredibly gruff and serious. The first time she had seen it was back when Ron was hurt in the potions case, but she had seen it a few times since, and it always unnerved her a bit to see those loving, lighthearted men look so hardened and worn down by decades of heavy burdens.

Harry came over as they entered. Before she could greet him he had looked at the prosecutor and simply said, "Skeeter hired McGlaggen as her defense."

"Well shite," Wiltshire said as he visibly paled.

"Wait, what am I missing?" asked Hermione. "Who is McGlaggen?"

"Only the top defense attorney in all of magical Europe," said Wiltshire, nerves showing in his voice.

"Well, I wouldn't go quite that far," Ron said as he joined the conversation. "He was an old classmate of ours at Hogwarts. Though – technically not a mate and he had no class, but yeah, we were there at the same time. Anyway, he is a right bastard but has managed to make a living in celebrity trials so to speak. He has always managed to manipulate the media in such a way that they create an air of sympathy for his client. And, he is incredibly well-connected so somehow he often gets the charges lessened as well."

"WHAT?!"

"I know," said Harry placatingly. "But it isn't like he's never been beaten, right?"

"Not that I know of," said Wiltshire, clearly wanting to back out as soon as possible.

"Seriously?" Hermione said as she whipped her head around to face the young solicitor wizard. "These are my children she endangered. Don't you dare wimp out on me now. I am happy to take the lead on this case, but you can't disappear quite yet as I am not technically credentialed in magical law." And after a brief moment added, "yet."

Ron and Harry glared at Wiltshire who seemed to be looking younger and paler by the minute, but the staring contest was interrupted when McGlaggen walked in followed by a team of reporters. And, just after that, the court room was called to order and Skeeter was brought in.

Ron and Harry moved away from the prosecution desk to sit in the gallery, and Hermione turned to glare at Whiltshire. Through gritted teeth she hissed, "Follow my lead, but for the love of Merlin, don't you dare let me wander into any procedural mistakes or I promise you will regret it. If you have a problem with this arrangement, you take it up with Harry, Ron and Kinglsey later, got it?"

"Yes ma'am," he nodded, eyes wide at the very idea of facing the Golden Duo and the Minister of Magic at the same time.

The case went on with the required procedural work, and Ron hoped that this whole circus would go smoothly so they could get through today and work to get a different solicitor assigned to the case after the initial hearing. But, as he thought to himself later, he should have known better than to think anything involving him and Skeeter would go as planned.

"Rita Skeeter, you are herein charged with trespassing on private property and for failure to register as an animagus. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty, Your Honor," McGlaggen responded with a gleamingly innocent smile. "My client and I are confident that we will be able to show this is nothing more than a simple misunderstanding. As you know, Ms. Skeeter has been a treasured and important member of magical society. So I am sure we will be able to address any concerns and put all of this nonsense behind us."

"Right, right," the Judge nodded, only half listening as he glanced at his files.

"Object," Hermione angrily hissed at her partner. When he ignored her she kicked swiftly him under the desk.

"Hey!" he screamed involuntarily grabbing his shin, quickly adding, "Objection, Your Honor?"

"Is that a question?"

"No sir," Hermione said as she stood. "What my colleague, Solicitor Wiltshire, meant to say was that The Ministry wishes to clarify the charges against Ms. Skeeter. Are there not additional charges with which she is being indicted?"

"No. There are no additional charges, Ms?"

"Granger-Weasley, Your Honor. The Minister of Magic saw fit to assign me to this case to assist Mr. Wiltshire. Due to the quick timing of this hearing after the holiday the prosecution did not receive a copy of the charges ahead of time, or we would surely have pointed out the clearly accidental oversight at the lack of charges relating to breaking and entering, aggravated burglary of an occupied dwelling, criminal child endangerment of four minors and violation of a restraining order."

Watching from the gallery, Ron could not see her face, but he could clearly picture the expression on her face as she spoke. He wasn't actually convinced Hermione had taken a single breath since she started speaking. While one part of his brain was saying I knew I'd be turned on watching her in court, another part was screaming how the hell did she come up with all of that?!

"She had a restraining order?" Harry asked in a whisper.

"Not that I knew of," Ron whispered back with a shrug, utterly flabbergasted.

"Ms. Granger-Weasley," the judge started in a patronizing tone, "I understand that you have a unique and passionate connection to this case."

Oh shite, Ron thought to himself with a wicked grin trying hard to emerge on his face. This poor bloke has no idea the hole he is digging for himself with that patronizing tone. Cover you bits, mate. He simply covered his mouth with his hand and seemingly rubbed his jaw in thought as he covered up his smile and waited to see what his amazing wife had planned.

"And, it seems you also have great enthusiasm for being in court. But, I assure you, the prosecution does not get to simply make up charges that they have heard on those muggle television programs."

"Oh I fully agree, Your Honor," she crooned in an equally condescending tone. "I would never deign to disrespect the court with such rubbish. While I am confident that with your exceptional and, well, obviously extremely tenured personal experience, the laws, rulings and cases that impact all of this will be almost embarrassingly simple. But, I did bring extra copies for the record of the court and for my prestigious fellow solicitor representing the defendant. Solicitor Gagging, I believe?"

Ron bit hard on the inside of his cheek to avoid laughing, but the fact that Harry was next to him shaking in silent laughter was not helping.

"As I am sure all of you gentleman are well aware," she continued in a tone that was equal parts condescension, feigned ignorance and deadly assassin. "The most sacrosanct law of our magical society, the Statute of Secrecy of 1275, with amendments in 1421, 1597, 1694, 1789, 1825 and 1918 clearly lays out the necessary importance of privacy and held confidence. The statute says it best, I believe, so I'll just read directly. It's the 1789 amendment here just to be clear, 'Without the ability to maintain private knowledge separate and distinct from other parties, there is no ability to form the necessary trust and relationships that make up the basis of any human society. Recognizing that the conversations between members of a family, specifically between spouses, children, parents and siblings hold a special level of understood trust and confidence, the laws of magical society should not, do not and shall not violate these bonds. Conversations between these familiar parties are private, and may include discussion of the magic with non-magical family members as long as they are within the natural privacy bonds of family and have been instructed on the importance of maintaining the confidence. Any violation of these naturally private bonds of a family should never be permitted within magical society with the only exceptions being when said conversations are suspected to contain criminal behavior or could endanger public safety. In those cases, The Ministry will work to address the public need with the minimal violation of family privacy.'" Hermione paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "And, well, gentlemen, you of course know how it goes on from there. Private family conversations, according to the founding laws of our society, are clearly considered, well, private. And then, of course, there is the issue of criminal theft. Now, understandably, the most literal reading of the case may initially not see that the defendant took anything at all. But, the law is also quite clear on this matter. Actually, it holds its basis in a myriad of cases much too long to list here. So, I made copies for everyone."

With a flick of her wand she sent a long list on parchment of at least one hundred legal cases which addressed intellectual property theft. The judge, now completely bewildered, scanned the parchment quickly and nodded as if everything was in order, and exactly as he knew it should have been to begin with. McGlaggen was slack jawed as he looked at the list but said nothing.

"Where in the hell has Hermione been all our lives?" muttered Harry quietly as he shook his head in awe.

"And I can tell she's nowhere near done," grinned Ron, failing to control his adoration. "I have no idea what she has up her sleeve, or if any of this shite is even real, but bloody hell, she's brilliant."

"And finally, gentleman," Hermione continued, "I share this last list. Please don't consider my detailing these all out one by one an insult to your intelligence. As you know I am only recently shifting from muggle to magical law so I am still trying to keep all of the torts and case laws clear in my head, and this simply helps me keep it straight. But, this last parchment details the three key precedents for this particular situation. While one is, admittedly, quite old since it was from 1498, the other two were much more recent. Yet, all three were handled consistently based upon this same Statute of Secrecy interpretation as noted in the formal opinions in case law, all noted on your parchments. Each of those cases, as I am sure you already were aware, involved individuals who had concealed their identity in some way. One was a disillusionment charm I believe, another was polyjuice potion and the third was, oh what was it again?" she said in a falsely ditzy voice as she glanced at her parchment. "Oh! That's right. Silly me. The 1498 case was an unregistered animagus who stole a memory and was convicted of theft and criminal violation of privacy, among other charges. This really is quite similar that case, now that I think about it. Hmm. Well, yes, anyway, per that list, I would assume The Ministry meant to charge Ms. Skeeter with criminal violation of privacy, breaking and entering, aggravated burglary of an occupied dwelling and criminal child endangerment of four minors, two of which are infants. And, well, as I said I am still learning, so I went ahead and listed out the various sentences for each of the referenced cases. Those are attached at the back. Some quite long sentences in Azkaban, I must say. Though, I understand it's not nearly so bad now that the dementors are no longer there. Then, finally, the last bit of course, is the violation of a restraining order. As I am sure your client informed you, Solicitor Gagging, after she illegally obtained private medical records from St. Mungo's just over a year ago and then invented and printed false stories about the context of said records, I do believe the victim filed a formal restraining order which was properly filed and registered with The Ministry. Let's see. Yes, here it is, November of 2017 and the restraining order required Ms. Skeeter to remain more than 200 meters from the complainant and her immediate family. What was the victim's name again? Oh yes. Here it is. Hermione Granger-Weasley."

She paused for a moment before pursing her lips and arching her eyebrows, removing any last speck of doubt to all in the courtroom about who was in unequivocal control of the situation. Finally she gave a smug smile at McGlaggen before saying, "Any questions, gentlemen?"

You could hear a pin drop in the court room. The judge looked as if he'd been hit with a confundus charm, while McGlaggen stared with his mouth open, seemingly unable to form words. Wiltshire sat with his mouth sealed shut and his eyes wide with disbelief, staring at Hermione. Harry and Ron sat equally wide eyed, but both had covered their smiling mouths with their hands in an attempt to not distract anyone from Hermione's all out shredding of the court.

The quiet continued until finally Skeeter hit McGlaggen with her arm hissing, "Well say something, you idiot."

"Uh, right, um, well, Your Honor, the Defense requests a brief recess in order to review these introduced exhibits and confer with my client."

"Yes. Yes. That is quite in order. Court is adjourned for one hour."

McGlaggen quickly ushered his client out the side door while Ron and Harry rushed to Hermione.

"Holy Shite, Hermione!" Harry said.

Ron hugged her tightly. "I have the most amazing wife."

She laughed at him. "So you think it went ok?"

"Oh hell no," Ron laughed. "I think you can't even see OK from where you are, love. That was fucking brilliant."

"Yes, yes," added Wiltshire nodding fiercely. "What he said."

Ron hugged her again, this time whispering in her ear, "And I was right. I am so fucking turned on by watching you annihilate people in the courtroom."

She smiled as she released his embrace to gather her things, blushing as she mouthed, "Rain check."

The rest of the afternoon went so well that Skeeter was threatening to fire McGlaggen before 5 pm. She was still to be locked up for the time being, which let Hermione breathe easier as they left. Harry declared that they had to celebrate. Hermione refused to celebrate until the final verdict because while she didn't really believe you could jinx yourself, there was no reason to poke fate in the eye on these things. So, while Harry and Ginny had envisioned a night of fancy food with friends and flutes of champagne, Hermione and Ron headed home for Thai take away with Rose and Hugo, followed by bottles of formula for the twins.

It was around 3 am when Ron got up to feed the twins. He sat in the rocker in the nursery by the soft light of his wand. He could see the forms of Rose and Hugo sleeping soundly on the mattresses on the floor as he balanced both babies on his lap with bottles for each. He was just getting them settled when Hermione quietly walked into the room, taking Hazel from him and settling in the other rocker.

"I'm sorry I woke you," he whispered. "I'll get them. You should get some sleep."

She rocked gently as she fed Hazel and smiled. "Actually, there is nowhere else I'd rather be right now."

He gazed at her in awe as they both held their babies, and he grinned. They both rocked in silence, letting the moment envelop them. Ron could hear the softly squeaking rockers, the gurgling of babies as they sucked down their bottles and the soft snores of Hugo and the slow breaths of Rose. He could smell the mix of the freshness of little babies with the slightly sour milk smell from the burp cloths. And he could feel Ryan squirming gently in his left arm, the soft little hand grasping at his calloused large one as Ryan fought to try and maintain eye contact with his dad until sleep overcame him again. He was rather sure he would be able to remember that peaceful moment with his family for the rest of his life.

The next morning the case was to re-convene at 11 am in the same courtroom. So, naturally, Hermione was at Wiltshire's office by 8 am. Wiltshire, unsurprisingly, was nowhere to be found. She tried to manage her frustration, but found her tapping foot betraying her. When he arrived at 930, it was all she could do to not start with yelling at him. But, she was glad she held her tongue.

"Sorry," he said in a rush. "I promise I was here early, but then I got this." He held up a crumpled parchment as if Hermione should know what it was.

"Ok," said Hermione, hoping he would explain.

"This," he grinned as he opened his office up and held the door for her, "is from McGlaggen. They want a plea deal."

"What?!" she gasped.

"Well, I believe their motivation is twofold. First – and probably most importantly - McGlaggen wants to keep his perfect record in court with no losses. Second, he had a little chat with his client last night and she was, I am sure, slightly more forthcoming in detailing all that she had actually done. They both know that if it goes to the judge for ruling, she will likely get five years in Azkaban. Trust me when I say she will do just about anything to avoid that."

"Well, what's in it for us, then? She deserves prison. Probably for longer than that."

"I said the same thing this morning when I met with McGlaggen. More or less they are open to suggestions." He looked at her, surprised to see the woman suddenly speechless. "Ms. Granger-Weasley, I know we didn't get off to the best start. And I am admittedly not so great in court. But, this type of thing, well, I have a bit of a knack of finding plea deals where everyone wins. I'd really like to help."

She looked at him blankly. Then after a moment said, "Well, ok. What have you got?"

He grinned, pulled out some parchment and they got to work. An hour later they both sat and looked at the parchment they'd been working on, both reviewing it for any last minute missed details.

Hermione smiled. "I like it. I think she'll like it. But I need to be sure Ron is ok with it before we present it to McGlaggen and Skeeter. They should be in the conference room by now. Let's go see what they think."

Ron and Harry were both shocked Hermione would consider a deal. But, then she explained what she and Wiltshire had come up with.

"Look," she argued. "There are a few things I want to walk away from this whole mess with. While I like the idea of her rotting in a cell for years, the problem would be that in seven years she will be back at the Prophet doing it all again, and nothing will have changed. But, maybe we can leverage this to get what we really want."

"Like what?" Ron asked, trying to stay calm and hear her out.

"Well, I want my privacy back. For good. Not just for a few years. I want to take that whole night she was in our home back. So, maybe we get her to agree to give us all the memory, the notes and pictures and agree to a permanent obliviation of that whole event. We can replace it with a memory of simply appreciating us for allowing her to avoid all those years in prison. And then, we also ensure she doesn't write again. Well, first we ensure she writes something of a confessional article that sets the record straight and apologizes for what she did wrong to so many people. And then she can't work in journalism or publishing of any kind ever again. If she breaks that agreement ever, she goes to prison within 24 hours. Finally, to ensure she truly understands the value of privacy, she loses hers. She goes to prison for 1 month because she needs to know what that feels like, but also needs to understand what we are saving her from. And then she has to be monitored by the aurors through a tracking and recording device. She will have no privacy for the rest of what would have been her five year prison sentence."

She stopped talking to gauge the reactions from both Harry ad Ron. They both seemed stunned. Not angry. Not happy. Stunned.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "I just – well – its bloody brilliant. Wish I was that clever."

Ron laughed at his friend and returned his gaze to his wife. "I think it's brilliant too. I just – is there a way to figure out what other sneaky memories she has that need to be obliviated? Could we get her to agree to review certain years with an objective party and obliviate those memories too? We just can't know what else she saw as a bloody beetle."

"Veritaserum," offered Harry. "I'd love to do that interrogation. Obviously we'd need a third party observer. But, who knows what she saw. I'd like to keep that as tightly held as possible."

"Perfect," nodded Ron. "I'd like to be there too. But, yeah, probably not so smart to have it be just us."

Wiltshire smiled. "So, I'll write that up and offer it to them immediately. Let's see if we can wrap this up before lunch."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, Ginny might finally achieve that New Year's resolution to get rid of her!"

When Wiltshire came back out with a smile and a signed parchment, Hermione finally allowed herself to let it all hit her.

"Really?" she said, suddenly feeling her eyes water. "She signed it?"

Wiltshire nodded. "Yup. Goes to Azkaban this evening. Head Auror Potter can administer the veritaserum for that interrogation any time in the next month while she is there.

"We did it," she whispered, as much to herself as to anyone else. "We've really got our lives back."

"You did," Wiltshire said. "That was outstanding work you did. I know you haven't qualified yet, but I am sure you will anytime you want to take the exams. You would be a brilliant addition to our department, or anywhere else."

"Thank you. That means a lot. I really appreciate it. And, I apologize if my demeanor came across a bit gruff yesterday."

"Don't mention it. You were completely appropriate at every moment. I can't imagine having my life violated and my children threatened like that, well – if I had any. And I can't tell you how much I have learned just from working with you these past few days. I wish you all the best. And if I can ever do anything to help you, please let me know."

"Thank you," she said nodding in an attempt to hold in her emotion.

Wiltshire left the conference room, closing the door behind him leaving Hermione sitting alone. She exhaled slowly, feeling physically drained from the entire experience. She felt herself getting weepy, even noticing a shake in her hands. Giving into it, she placed her elbows on the conference table, cradling her face in her hands as she let the tears come down. She scoffed at herself through her tears as she suddenly had a picture of herself as the tire that can drive 100 miles after being punctured by a nail, but then when it finally gets to the auto mechanic it completely deflates in only a few seconds. Her arms felt like lead, and her body felt drained of all energy. But she'd done it. She'd done all she could to protect her kids and it had worked. They were safe. She let a sob escape her lips, but before she could reach for her hankie she heard the door click open.

"Hermione?" Ron said gently as he came in. "Love, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked as he rushed to her side.

"Nothing's wrong," she said shaking her head. "It's finally right." With that she let out another sob and embraced Ron who clutched her tightly. "It's over," she whispered. "It's finally over."

"Oh, Hermione. I am so, so, so sorry you had to put up with her for all this time. Fuck, I just wish I could have protected you and the kids from all of it. But I couldn't. And I will forever be sorry for that."

"Ronald! Stop saying that utter rubbish. You are no more to blame for what happened than Rose is. Or Harry. Or Hazel, for that matter. Skeeter is responsible for it. And the editors who paid her. And the people who paid to read her trash. But not you. And not me. And not Harry. And definitely not our kids."

He was kneeling on the conference room floor next to her, still clutching her tightly as his forehead was against her shoulder. "I couldn't keep her out of our house," he whispered, the guilt heavy in his voice.

"Ron," she said with great tenderness as she lifted his face to look in his eyes. "No. You couldn't. And Harry couldn't. And I couldn't. But when she did get into our house, you still kept our family safe. You managed to protect our kids from harm. And me. And you even took care to be sure Hazel didn't see you scream at her so she wouldn't be scared. And then you took every possible step to be sure everything was done correctly so we could finally get her. So, no. You couldn't keep her out of the house. But you absolutely protected your family. You kept us safe. Please don't think otherwise for even one second. You lost the battle but won the war, love. And in the end, she won't ever hurt us, or anyone else, ever again."

He shook his head, maybe out of disagreement. Maybe out of disbelief. Maybe to simply clear the fog from his mind around the whole mess. "And you made sure she was never worming her way out of the charges. You were incredible, Hermione. If not for you, she could have walked. Again."

She smiled as he wiped the tears from her cheek. "Guess we make a pretty good team, huh?"

"Pretty good?" he said laughing. "Yeah. Pretty good. Better than average but not too amazing," he teased.

"Hmm. Bloody brilliant, then?"

"I love it when you swear," he laughed. "But I would go one further. I would say we are fucking fantastic."

She found herself giggling at his declaration. "Fucking fantastic," she whispered against his lips as he grinned and captured hers in a passionate kiss.