Disclaimer: All the characters that you recognize belong to J. K. Rowling.
Author's Note: Thanks to Rylie D, JPx3LE, Red Hair Green Eyes, Untamed Loner, AnIrishLily, dancechic12345, redglasses, serindraxx, Miss Myrtle360, zuska1985, potterchik, meeeeeee, Jutey, heather Gernenz, Super Cara, Trocle, coffeegirl123, waterdreamer, and 4BlOnDiE4 for reviewing!
Once again, thanks to Jen, my beta for editing this chapter for me as well!
"Are you ready?" Albus Dumbledore asked his three favorite students. His eyes weren't sparkling today, nor did they show any sign of happiness. The blazing fire only distinguished his rigid look.
Lily, James, and Sirius all nodded their heads in approval. Although Lily wanted to spend every moment of her last month at Hogwarts with her friends, this was not what she had anticipated. She had pictured herself and her friends spending time outdoors together, perhaps lounging by the lake. However, the three seventh year students could do no such thing on the beautiful Saturday afternoon. Instead, they were expected at the tenth floor of the Ministry of Magic: the courtrooms.
Less than a week after Avery's capture, his case was processed and he was going before a judge. The Ministry requested the presence of his captors, as well as anyone who witnessed the confession of the murder of the Gerald and Linda Potter: Lily, James, and Sirius.
Dumbledore fought this request at once, arguing that a courtroom was no place for students. However, the Ministry insisted that it would only land Avery behind bars in Azkaban sooner if the students were present.
That was why the three students and Dumbledore were standing in front of the fireplace now. They were using the only fireplace in Hogwarts that could physically transport witches and wizards in and out of Hogwarts via the Floo Network.
Dumbledore grabbed a handful of Floo powder and stared at the fireplace for a moment, then glanced briefly at his students. Lily looked down at the ground, then back at the fireplace. She couldn't keep her eyes focused on one area for more than ten seconds.
James and Sirius, on the other hand, behaved quite the opposite. There was a mere hint of glee in their eyes, as if participating in the trial would make everything better again. A mixture of childish excitement and ruthless determination filled both their eyes.
With one swift motion, Dumbledore threw his handful of Floo powder into the fireplace and said his destination. Before entering the fireplace, he instructed his three students to follow him immediately. Once Dumbledore disappeared from their sight, the three students followed him into the fireplace. Sirius and James were excited, Lily more nervous than ever before.
In a matter of seconds, Lily found herself stumbling out of the fireplace, nearly knocking James over in the process. "You okay?" he asked, a smirk across his face.
"I'm fine," she huffed as she brushed off her robes. "I just want to get this over with."
Not knowing what to say, James lightly bit the side of his upper lip and shrugged his shoulders. He couldn't wait to see Avery standing in the middle of the courtroom, begging for mercy. True, he didn't want to physically murder Avery himself, but he would truly enjoy watching him sentenced to life in Azkaban. MSOffice1
"Miss Evans, Mr. Potter, don't fall behind," Dumbledore firmly said, looking back at his two seventh year students with sad, yet determined eyes.
"Yes, sir," Lily automatically said and rushed ahead, pulling James with her so that they could join the headmaster and Sirius.
As she followed Dumbledore, Lily couldn't help but look around. The Ministry of Magic was spectacular. Looking back to where she entered the room, she noticed several fireplaces lining the wall, witches and wizards popping out of them every now and then. Across the hall, several more fireplaces stood. A large sign above them indicated that they were for departures only. In the middle of the hallway, the object that caught her attention the most was a large fountain. It contained five statues: a wizard, witch, centaur, goblin, and house-elf. The wizard stood in the very middle and he extended his wand high up into the sky, as if to show off his magical powers. The other statues were centered around him, and all but the witch were looking up adoringly at him. It appeared that only the witch was considered his equal.
As they came closer to the fountain, Lily noticed that there were Knuts and Sickles sprawled out across the fountain's floor. A sign nearby informed her that all the proceeds went toward St. Mungo's Hospital. As if on cue, the moment she finished reading the sign, she saw James toss a Sickle into the fountain. A huge smile spread across her face.
They reached the Security Desk, where a short man with tired eyes and grey hair sat. "Wands, please," he said as they approached, not even looking up from his newspaper.
He extended his hands and gathered all four wands. It wasn't until he successfully held them in his hand that he actually looked up. He smiled at once and greeted, "Albus, how rude of me; I didn't think you would be arriving so soon."
"It's quite all right, Theodore," Dumbledore replied, a sparkle reappearing in his eye.
"I just need to weigh the wands, just in case," Theodore explained to them, noticing the three students.
Once he finished his job, he returned the wands and gave the four visitors nametags. "Well, Albus, you know where to go… I'll set the door to open to your wand."
"Thank you, Theodore," Dumbledore politely responded, before directing his attention to his students and instructing, "Come along."
Dumbledore led the way, taking long strides so that his students didn't have time to stare at their surroundings. MSOffice2 After several minutes of rushing down the hallway, Dumbledore eased his pace, allowing the students to take a breath as they walked.
It wasn't until that moment that the three students realized that they were in a dark corridor and that no one else was in sight. James looked curiously around, wondering where he could possibly be. As a child, he had spent countless hours in the Ministry of Magic, visiting his father at work. However, he had never seen this corridor before.
"Sir, where are we going?" James suddenly questioned.
"To the courtrooms," Dumbledore answered.
"Why aren't we taking the elevators?"
"You can't reach the courtrooms by elevator, at least not the main elevator. MSOffice3 "
James didn't say anything more, only walked beside Sirius down the hallway. He knew that Lily was behind him, he could hear the tapping of her heels with each step she took. He wondered if he should hold up a bit and walk with her. Casually, he looked back at her and noticed that she was staring at the walls, at each picture. No, she didn't want to walk with him; she was too deep in her own thoughts about the day, about her testimony.
James twisted his own head to look at the portraits on the walls. They were all of different angles of a courtroom trial. One portrait focused on the lawyer giving his speech, another on the judge who intently listened to the scenario before him. One was of the criminal himself, being dragged away, towards Azkaban.
Soon enough, the images came to a halt, as did Professor Dumbledore. He touched his wand to a panel on the wall, which instantly made a small beeping sound before the wall in front of them began to rattle and move, each strip of wall binding together to form an entrance way.
Once all four of them were through the entrance, it quickly snapped shut, sealing their exit. In front of them, doors to a small elevator opened up. The four of them entered, and once inside, saw that the elevator was no longer small; it could probably fit a minimum of fifty people inside. Dumbledore pushed a small button-- the only button in the entire elevator, which traveled between the courtrooms and the ground floor, with no other stops.
Once they reached their destination, they piled out of the elevator and headed for the wooden doors that led to the courtroom. As they approached them, Dumbledore stopped for a moment and turned to look at his students. "Are you three sure you want to do this?"
"Yes, sir," both James and Sirius instantly said, smiles still present on both of their faces.
Lily paused for a moment, but answered, "Yes."
Dumbledore sighed once before pushing open the large double doors, revealing a stadium full of people, all watching the floor. They filed into their marked seats, which were just a row behind the action on the floor.
A few minutes after they settled into their seats, a large man with hard, brown eyes walked through another set of doors and up to the judge's seat, which looked more like a wooden throne than anything else. Next, nearly twenty witches and wizards entered the same set of doors: the jury.
Finally, a third set of doors burst open. At first, all Lily could see were two extremely large, powerfully strong men. She could tell they were grasping onto something, but couldn't tell what it was. She leaned forward a bit, trying to see the object that they struggled with.
In a matter of seconds, she saw the object in the men's hands, or, rather, the person. It was Avery. She nearly gasped when she saw him; in the short time that passed between the incident in the barn and now, his appearance had changed severely. He looked slimmer than before, and his formerly clean-shaven face now sported a gruff-looking beard. His eyes didn't hold the same laughter as before; now they were stone cold.
Out of the corner of her ear, she heard Sirius whisper, "Why didn't you kill him when you were given the chance?" His tone wasn't sharp or bitter, but relaxed instead. It was as if it was a simple question, such as, "Have you done the Charms homework yet?" instead of a serious question that dealt with death.
"I couldn't," James whispered back, "Besides, Azkaban is worse."
For the first time that day, Lily felt a rush of pride run through her veins. Yes, James's excitement to attend the trial truly upset her, but his words of honesty made her heart pound with love. He wouldn't kill for revenge… he was too good for that.
"Order, order," the judge yelled, pounding the wooden desk in front of him with a mallet. The room quieted down at once, sending chills up Lily's spine. "Today, we will hold the trial of Gregory Avery, concerning two counts of murder and five attempts to murder."
The words stung into Lily's ears. The man before her eyes had murdered Gerald and Linda Potter. He had attempted to kill Sirius twice, James twice, and her once. This was her second time escaping death; how many more times would she have? No, she didn't want to think about that. She didn't want to think that she could be dead right now; she didn't want to think about seeing James and Sirius murdered by this man. She needed to focus her mind on something else, anything else.
"Mr. Avery, do you admit to what you have been charged with MSOffice4 ?" bellowed the lawyer, a man by the name of Andrew Ellison.
Avery didn't say a word. He only stood behind the bar of the steel cage he was in, staring down at the ground. He didn't look out at the audience, nor did he look at the jury or judge. If he were not in the center of the room, a spotlight beating down on him, he would have appeared to be invisible.
Ellison looked up at the judge for a moment before turning his eyes on the crowd. "Mr. Avery, I repeat, do you or do you not admit to what you have been charged with?"
Once again, there wasn't a response.
Ellison then turned to face the judge and asked, "Your Honor, do I have permission to bring my first witness to the stand?"
"Proceed," the judge instructed.
"Miss Lily Evans, please come forward," Ellison instructed.
Lily felt as if her entire body had shut down. She was immobilized. She needed to testify… first. How could this be? She wasn't aware that she would be the first to go under oath before the judge. She felt her heart speed up and her palms become sweaty. She looked to her right and saw Dumbledore looking down at her; there was still no twinkle behind his half-moon glasses. She then looked at James who gave her an encouraging smile and lightly patted her thigh.
With all her effort, Lily stood up and shakily made her way toward the center of the room. Ellison gestured toward the large wooden booth to the right of the judge's seat and Lily cautiously walked toward it. One of the large men who had escorted Avery into the room opened the small gate for her, as if he was being a kind gentleman at a restaurant rather than the gruff man that he truly was.
As Lily sat in her seat, she felt all eyes upon her and hated it. There was nowhere to hide beneath the strong lights that beamed over her shoulders. With her heart pounding, she glanced toward the judge and saw a gold nameplate, which read "Frederick Quincy Spalding III."
What came next occurred like a blur, and Lily found herself reciting the oath as if she were a trained machine. It wasn't until Ellison started questioning her that she realized that it was time for her to come up with her own unique answers.
"Miss Evans, in your own words, please tell the jury exactly what happened the night Gregory Avery attempted to murder you and your friends," Ellison said strongly, his eyes piercing into her as he spoke.
Lily took a deep breath and tried to look at James in the crowd. It was too dark though, and she couldn't make out a single face. She then directed her attention back toward Ellison, whose eyes seemed to soften as he realized her nervousness.
"Where do you want me to start?" she asked softly.
"Wherever you need to," Ellison replied.
"It started out an ordinary day," Lily began, averting her eyes so that she wasn't making eye contact with anyone. "We were all seated in class-- I believe it was Potions class-- when a younger student came into the room with a note from Professor Dumbledore asking James to see him in his office. At the time, I didn't really think a lot about it… it wasn't too uncommon MSOffice5 ."
"Is this really relevant?" the judge cut in.
Lily looked up at the judge, surprised by his words. She then glanced out to the crowd and saw Ellison's face, encouraging her to carry on. She turned her attention to Avery, locked away in his steel cage. He had a smug look across his face, despite the fact that he was being tried for murder. Suddenly, she felt a stronger hatred for Avery than she ever had before. She wanted nothing more than to wipe that look off his dirty, gruff looking face. At that moment, she knew why James and Sirius were excited to attend the trial and she felt that excitement pass through her as well.
"Yes, it is relevant," Lily boldly replied, looking up at the judge as she spoke.
"Carry on then," he instructed.
"As I was saying, James was asked to see Professor Dumbledore. After that, I didn't see him at lunch or dinner. By the end of the day, Sirius and I realized he wasn't on castle grounds anymore. He was gone. We went to Professor Dumbledore the moment we discovered that he wasn't at Hogwarts, only to find out that James's parents had been murdered. I remember feeling as if all the life I possessed was slipping away from me. I couldn't believe it had happened, and they weren't even my parents. MSOffice6 …" Lily continued with her story, spilling everything she'd ever thought about the incident. She told them of her frustrations, her sorrows, and her longing for everything to get better. She knew she didn't need to speak it all, but couldn't help herself. The words were flowing from her lips like an unstoppable force.
"Then we came back to the barn," Lily recalled. She stopped speaking for a moment and stared directly at Avery. The smug look was replaced by boredom. It disgusted her. He didn't give a damn about what happened to the Potters or the immense pain he put the three Hogwarts students through. All that mattered was his precious Lord Voldemort. She despised him.
"It might have been my nerves, but I could tell something wasn't right. Sirius assured me everything was fine, but I was still jumpy. Every little sound made my heart pound. Then, I heard his voice, but couldn't see him. I knew he was somewhere above my head, and I didn't dare light my wand. Then, there was a flash of bright light and Avery and Mulciber appeared, both wearing dark cloaks.
"They talked to us for a little bit… about their job concerning Gerald and Linda Potter. They told us exactly how they murdered them, and said that they were only telling us because they didn't expect there to be any survivors in the barn that night.…" Lily told the courtroom every detail about that night, down to the spooky sounds she heard. She recalled every spell, every curse, and every move they made.
Once she finished her story, she looked back at Avery again. He still looked bored. He didn't care about her story. In his mind, it didn't concern him. He knew he couldn't win this tale. The only way he would ever get away with his crime would be through blabbing about the whereabouts of other Death Eaters.
"Thank you, Miss Evans," Ellison finally said. "I have no other questions."
Lily took that as a sign she could leave and hastily made her way back to her seat. She could hear Ellison ask Sirius to the stand and felt him brush past her as he walked to the middle of the room.
"You okay?" James whispered once Lily was settled back into her seat.
"Yeah," she whispered back.
"Are you sure?"
"It was really scary," she admitted.
"You did a good job."
"Thanks."
With that said, James placed his handMSOffice7 on her thigh, assuring her that he was still with her. It was the only thing keeping her calm. Despite the fact that she wanted to be at the trial, her nerves were still tense. Everything about the room made her nervous. She barely listened to Sirius's testimony at all; she was concentrating too hard on regaining herself.
James was asked to testify next and sat in the witness bench far longer than any of the other students. Still, he remained calm throughout the entire ordeal. He was asked more questions too, and he answered them all with complete honesty… well, almost all of them. Before the trial, James and Sirius had gone over what they were going to say concerning the werewolf aspect of their testimony. They decided it would be best to lie and say that they were all out for a midnight run around Hogsmeade, just out to break some rules. They reckoned that it would be a believable story to say that they were heading out to the old shack for some simple mischief that would get them into trouble at school.
Finally, Ellison turned on Avery himself, allowing James to return to his seat. "Gregory Avery, do you deny any of what was charged against you?"
"No," Avery sharply said.
"Very well," the judge remarked. "Do you have anything to say?"
"You don't understand what it's like to be around him," Avery replied, suddenly sounding like a wounded puppy. "I didn't have any control over what I was doing… If I hadn't killed the Potters, You-Know-Who would have killed me."
"Likely story," Ellison interrupted. "I've heard every single one of you say that." His voice was louder than before, as if he were trying his very hardest not to yell at Avery.
"But it's true," Avery shrieked. "He has great power over me. He threatened to kill me if I didn't do it. And he said that if I left any survivors I wouldn't live to see daylight."
"Yet you're still alive today," Ellison bitterly remarked. "And you killed the Potters, not him. It was you! It doesn't matter that it was under You-Know-Who's bidding. You were the one to say that dreadful curse. You carried out the Unforgivable Curse MSOffice8 ."
"But… but… I'm sorry," Avery yelled. "I didn't mean to do it. It was beyond my power."
"Likely story," Ellison shouted back.
There was a sudden uproar from the audience as everyone discussed the issue at hand. The judge was growing frustrated and yelled, "Order, order." His mallet struck the wooden surface with a loud bang, causing all of the talk to stop at once.
"Jury, please write guilty, not guilty, or uncertain down on the piece of paper in front of you. Once finished, fold it in half so your vote can be tallied," the judge said.
Lily watched in amazement. The wizarding system was bizarre compared to the Muggle version of a courtroom. Yet, she was certain it must take much less time this way.
Less than two minutes later, the judge hammered his mallet against the wooden surface again, calling everyone's attention. "The jury has come to the verdict… Gregory Avery is guilty as charged and shall serve a life sentence in Azkaban."
"No, wait," Avery screamed. "I have names for you; I'm sure I do. Please don't make me go there."
"We're listening," the judge impatiently said.
Avery didn't say anything for a moment, contemplating which names he should give the courtroom.
Lily stared at him, puzzled by the scene in front of her. She leaned over to James and whispered, "What's going on?"
"If he can give the judge an adequate number of names of Death Eaters, they'll investigate his charges further. And if the names are true, they'll lighten the sentence," he replied.
"Edward Polaris," Avery announced.
"He was caught last week," the judge icily replied.
"Saxby," Avery said.
"He has been in Azkaban for the past month."
"Zeakle," he said, a sense of urgency present in his voice.
"We've known about him for months," the judge snapped. "Now, if you cannot tell us anymore information…."
"Wait!" Avery shouted. "I might know something about Mulciber."
"Go on," the judge pressed.
"He… he said something about another task…"
"Is that all you have to offer?" the judge shouted. "Guards, take him to Azkaban."
"No! Wait!" he yelled again. "It's about Muggles, that's all I know. He said there was going to be another attack on Muggles."
"Take him away," the judge ordered.
The two guards pulled Avery out from the steel cage and roughly grabbed him by the wrists, slipping handcuffs onto him. Avery was screaming throughout the process, begging for another chance. The judge only turned a cold shoulder on him, not listening to another word. Avery's screams could be heard for minutes following his departure. Then, all of a sudden, they stopped. He was on his way to Azkaban.
As the wizards and witches in the courtroom began to disperse, Lily felt a chill go down her spine. Avery's pleads were echoing in her head.
"You okay, Lils?" James asked. It was just the two of them at that moment; Dumbledore needed to speak with the Minister of Magic and Sirius spotted the only uncle in the entire Black family that he liked.
"Yeah, it's just, well, it's really scary," she admitted.
He shook his head in agreement, but didn't say a word.
"Do you think what he said was right, about going after Muggles?"
"I don't know."
Author's Note 2: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Sorry about the long wait, I promise the next chapter won' take nearly two months to come out. Please review!