New Respect:
Returning to work after Christmas made Doe's life even more complicated than it already was. Catching one of the first Death Eaters had earned her a new respect that she wasn't sure if she was comfortable with. Senior aurors had been coming up to her and congratulating her on the job she had done. It made her slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't that she was ungrateful, She just didn't think that she had done anything that any one of them couldn't have done in the situation.
Moody was by far the worst. His giddy at her capture of Rosier was evident. His mood had even dissipated slightly. He had spent the last few days coaching her on how to deal with testifying at the trail. It had made her rather nervous.
" Look it will be fine" Moody told her, " the only thing that won't be true is that you were there at Marlene's invitation"
It still terrified her that she would be in front of the entire wizarding court, telling them what had happened.
At her insistence, Moody had agreed to let Sirius come. She knew it would be easier for her if a familiar face was there amongst all the ministry witches and wizards. Moody seemed to agree.
So on the morning of the trial, Sirius Moody and Doe got into the elevator and took it down to the courtrooms.
They were in courtroom eight today. It was full when they got there. It seemed as if the entire ministry was crowded in the room. Almost every seat was filled. Doe noticed that there were a few photographers and writers from the daily prophet sitting near the front as well. Doe recognized Rita Skeeter sitting in the front row. Her quill already out. She eyed the three of them carefully as they walked into the room.
" Why are there so many people?" Doe asked Moody quietly.
" It's the first major Death Eater trial" Moody said, " people are curious"
" Thats a lot of bloody people" Sirius commented.
Moody led them over to the seats in front row. They were on the side of the high chair that minister sat at.
Doe looked up at the collection of wizards in the seats above them.
" It'll be fine, Dorcas" Sirius assured her.
" It won't be for you if you call me that again" she said darkly.
Sirius grinned, " See, don't you feel better"
" I'm angrier" she told him.
He laughed, " I find the angrier you are, the more calm you are"
" That is twisted logic Black" Moody snapped from beside him.
Sirius shrugged, " Would you rather her go up there shredding the edge of her robes with nerves?"
" Meadowes is capable of handling herself" Moody told him, " she needs to learn"
" It's the first time she's ever done this" Sirius pointed out.
" I'm right here" she reminded them.
They both stopped bickering. The minister had stood.
" Hit wizards, if you would please bring in the accused" the minister said. There was a shuffle as the door opened and two wizards brought in Evan Rosier.
He looked like hell. He was disheveled. He was wearing an Azkaban prison jumpsuit and his face was unwashed and unshaven. The two hit wizards slammed him into the chair and magicked the chains to wrap themselves around him.
A large cylindrical cage that resembled an owl cage fell from the ceiling and covered the chair. Small spikes were pointing inward towards Rosier.
The minister raised his wand, " Let the record show that we are gathered here in Courtroom 8 on this day the 13th of January to try Evan Rosier for his crimes committed and his allegiance to You-Know-Who"
Evan made a strangled noise from the cage that sounded a lot like hissing.
" I would like to now call the arresting auror Dorcas Meadowes to the front" the minister said.
Moody gave her a slight shove and she stood up walking to the small podium to the left of the cage where Rosier sat. She stood in front of it.
" Ms. Meadowes" the minister, " Please describe the night in which you arrested Mr. Rosier"
Doe took a deep breath and began telling the entire courtroom what had happened. Every so often Rosier would make a noise or shout " rubbish!" from beside her. She did her best to ignore him.
When she finished the minister nodded, " And in your professional opinion Ms. Meadowes, is Mr. Rosier a Death Eater?"
She nodded slightly, " Yes, Minister. I am fully confident that he is one. I would not be surprised if he was branded with the Dark Mark"
The minister nodded to the Hit Wizards at the door and they walked over to Evan lifting his left sleeve.
There was a collective gasp from the crowd, as Rosier's left arm revealed a fully formed Dark Mark.
Rosier pulled his arm away quickly, scowling at the crowd.
Moody motioned for her to come sit back down. She followed his instructions.
" You will get your Meadowes!" Rosier hissed from the cage, " count on that!"
She ignored his comment.
" Now," the minister said clearly, ignoring Rosier's shouting " All those in favor of releasing Evan Rosier and clearing him of all charges"
A few hands in the room were raised. Moody whispered something harsh under his breath.
" And all those in favor of conviction?" the minister asked.
Hundreds of hands were raised. Rosier screamed from the cage.
" Evan Rosier you are hereby sentenced to life in Azkaban for crimes against the wizarding community"
Rosier screamed again and the Hit wizards dragged him from the chair still in chains.
" Dirty Mudbloods and Blood Traitors! You will all fall at the hands of the Dark Lord!" Rosier shouted as they dragged him through the door.
Everyone began clearing out of the courtrooms. Sirius and Doe got up from our seats and followed Moody.
" See it wasn't awful" Sirius said to Doe.
Doe nodded, but she was still shaken up by Rosiers comment.
" Dorcas" Rita said stopping her by placing a hand on her shoulder as she left, " care to give a comment for the prophet"
She shook her head, " No thanks, Rita"
" Oh come on" she pressed, her long pink painted nails digging into my shoulder and her voice full of false sincerity, " one teensy little comment for an old school pal?"
Doe didn't ever remember being friends with Rita Skeeter. She had always thought she was a little pompous and self centered.
" No comment" Moody said hoarsely, pulling her out of Rita's gasp.
Sirius followed them out of the room, leaving Rita scowling.
" Never liked that one, she cornered me the other day trying to get me to talk about Dumbledore" Moody said as we followed him back to the office.
" Well congratulations Meadowes" Moody said when they walked back into the auror office, " you've just made yourself an enemy to Death Eaters. You're now a target"
" Goody" Doe said under her breath sitting down in her cubicle.
" You know you're famous now, Doe" James said at breakfast a few days later.
" Excuse me?" Doe asked taking a bite of the pancakes Lily had made.
She was sitting at the table with Lily and Sirius.
" Yeah look, you're in the prophet" James said handing her a copy of the prophet. Doe looked at the front page.
There was a picture of Rosier being dragged out of the courtroom, struggling against the Hit Wizards.
Underneath the picture was an article.
EVAN ROSIER CONVICTED AS DEATH HEATER AT HANDS OF YOUNG AUROR
BY RITA SKEETER
On the 13th of January, former Slytherin Evan Rosier was convicted of being a Death Eater and sentenced to a life sentence in Azkaban for crimes against the Wizard community. Rosier was arrested on Christmas Day by Dorcas Meadowes, an auror of barely 19. The former Gryffindor testified in front of the entire wizarding gamot, confederation of wizards, and Magical law enforcement department that she had seen Rosier committing unspeakable attacks and had been engaged with him in a duel with fellow auror, and attractive Gryffindor alum Sirius Black at the Mckinnon home on Christmas Day, before announcing to the entire court that his left arm should be checked for the Dark Mark. Overall, the statement seemed very rehearsed and frankly quite made up. Why the ministry took the word of someone who has only been in the auror office for under a year is unclear. However it can be inferred that the the ministry's judicial process is certainly lacking if it is based off of the words on an unstable teenager.
Doe rolled her eyes as she placed the prophet on the table, " Unstable teenager am I?"
Sirius took the paper from her and crumpled it, " Ignore her, she's just pissy she didn't get the comment she wanted"
" Isn't it ridiculous how she painted you as someone who was too immature to handle the situation" Lily said shaking her head, " If anything your young age should be impressive"
Doe shrugged, " Rita Skeeter's exaggerated writing is the least of my worries. She can tell people I'm a Death Eater if it pleases her, it doesn't change the fact that I'm not"
" Here, Here" James said happily.
" You're in there too" Doe told Sirius.
He grinned, " I saw, I however was described as the attractive Gryffindor alum, so I'm not complaining"
Doe rolled her eyes, " You get attractive and I get unstable"
Sirius grinned, " Well can you blame her? I am uncontrollably gorgeous"
" Simmer down, Padfoot" James said from the other side of the table.
" Are you saying I'm not pretty James?" Sirius asked jokingly.
" Yes I think I am" James added.
Sirius frowned, " Not funny, Prongs. My beauty should be revered"
James rolled his eyes this time, " How do you stand working with him?" he asked her.
She shrugged, " I don't know"
Sirius smiled, " She loves it. Don't let her fool you"
" Yes, Sirius. You are the reason I even dain to show up to the ministry" she said sarcastically.
" And don't you forget it" Sirius said with a wink.
Lily stood up from the table. She had a small bump now, she was about two months pregnant. It was so strange to see.
Their plan for today was to go shopping in Muggle London and buy Lily some new maternity clothes.
" You ready?" Lily asked her. She was stroking her stomach in an admiring kind of way.
" Definitely" Doe told her.
Lily bent down and kissed James quickly.
" Take care of her, Doe" James warned her.
Doe nodded, " Nothing will happen to Lilyflower on my watch" she assured him.
Doe took Lily to the living room and grabbed a small handful of floo powder. Seeing as Lily was pregnant she couldn't apparate.
" Leaky Cauldron" Lily said dropping the powder in the fireplace and disappearing behind the green flames.
Doe followed her and landed in the cold fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron.
Lily and Doe waved a greeting to Tom before they left the tavern and headed down the muggle streets looking for some of the maternity shops Lily had heard about from her mom. There was one only a few blocks away.
The shop was small but it was full of maternity clothes and trinkets for babies. Lily and Doe went to the clothes and began scanning through the racks.
" You know Lily you're so tiny you could probably just buy larger regular clothes" Doe told her.
She shook her red hair fiercely, " I want Maternity clothes, it's all part of the experience"
" Okay, maternity clothes it is" Doe told her taking out a green sundress and handing it to her.
" Have you thought of any names yet?" she asked her.
Lily shrugged, " We haven't found anything we really love yet".
" You will, maybe you should try a name book?" she told her.
She flipped through the rack of clothes, " I should get one" she agreed.
" Enough about me" Lily said quickly, " what about you? How have you been doing, you know besides catching Death Eaters?"
" Doing with what?" she asked her.
Lily put her hand on her hip, " You know what, the absence of a certain messy haired marauder?"
" Oh" she said realizing she meant Remus, " I mean I'm dealing with it"
Lily frowned, " Have you heard from him at all?"
" No" Doe said flipping through the rack quickly avoiding her gaze. She nervously tucked the piece of hair she had missed when putting her hair up, and tucked it behind her ear.
Lily sighed, " You promise me you're okay, right?" she said.
Doe nodded, " Lily, I'm fine. I'm not the kind of girl to fall apart and stop living my life over a guy" she assured her.
She bit her lip, " Okay, I just worry about you. You're my best friend"
She hugged her quickly, " I love you, Lily"
She smiled and held up a few pieces of clothing, " I'm going to go try these on"
" Okay, I'll wait here" Doe told her sitting down in one of the squishy armchairs outside of the dressing room.
Lily ended up liking all of it and bought the pieces. Doe carried one of the bags for her and they walked back into muggle london, stopping at a coffee shop so that Doe could get a latte and Lily could get some herbal tea.
They were walking down the street with their drinks when they saw a familiar blonde head coming down the street.
" Doe Meadowes?" Landon Mckinnon asked, a wide smile on his face.
" Landon, Hi!" Doe said as he pulled me into a hug.
" Hi, Lily" he said after they broke apart. Lily smiled at him.
" I've been wanting to run into you" Landon said to her, " I never got to properly thank you for what you did at Christmas"
Doe shook her head, " Don't worry about it, that's my job"
Landon shook his head, " That was for the Order, you didn't have to do it. It was really noble of you, and very Gryffindor"
Doe smiled, " Well thank you"
Landon's eyes fell on the bags in her hands, " You're not pregnant are you?" he asked quickly.
Doe shook her head with a slight laugh, " No, not me. Lily" she said gesturing to Lily who smiled slightly, her hand on her stomach.
" Oh, right." Landon said blinking quickly, " I should've known. You don't look like it"
She laughed, " I'm going to take that as a compliment"
" You should, you look great" Landon told her.
He pouted slightly, " Actually, Doe. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go to dinner with me sometime?"
Doe blinked abruptly. She hadn't been expecting that. Landon was Marlene's older brother. He had seen her grow up her whole life. He had witnessed every awkward phase and every pimple.
She bit her lip. He was cute, and nice too. She wanted to like him. But her insides roared the word no. She still couldn't stop thinking about Remus. It was far too soon to even consider thinking about someone else.
" Oh, Landon. I just ended things with someone and it's still a little early to start seeing someone else. I'm sorry" she said apologetically.
Landon shook his head, " No. I understand. Maybe in a few months, anyway it was good seeing you" he said and placed a kiss on her cheek.
" You as well, Lily" he said and then passed both of them on the street.
" That boy is crushed" Lily commented when he was far enough away.
Doe frowned, " I didn't mean to disappoint him"
" Why'd you say no?" Lily asked.
" It's too soon, Lily" she said quietly, " I still miss him too much"
Lily wrapped an arm around her comfortingly, " Come one Doe, let's go distract ourselves and buy something frivolous"