Chapter 16: Relief

"Polly, you ready?" Hugo stood in the doorway in his Auror robes, nervously tapping on the door frame. He hadn't been able to sit still all morning; the fact that today was the day when everything would come to light in court had given him insomnia the night before and he'd sat up looking out the window of Gin's packed-up Monument Avenue flat. "Are you wearing that?"

Gin finished her makeup and looked over to him. "With everything that's up in the air you're worried about what I'm wearing?" She looked down at her conservative grey Muggle suit. "I'm putting my robe on over it; don't worry, I'll be appropriately attired for wizarding court."

That seemed to mollify Hugo somewhat but he glanced at his watch. "Are your parents coming over or…"

She stood up and went over to him, leaned on the doorframe and sighed. "We're meeting them at court. Honestly, Hugo, were you this wound up when you were in the army? I'm amazed you didn't blow your foot of or something." She saw his eyes and put a hand on his chest. "I know you're worried, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't, but it's like Dad said at supper last night, 'truth will out.' Franny said she's more than ready. She was scary last night, to be honest. And then there's…" She stopped suddenly. "I said it, didn't I? Don't tell Mione."

"You said what?" Hugo gave her an odd look. "What can't I tell your sister?"

"Never mind." Gin gave him a weak smile. "Ok, let me put on my robe and we're ready."

Hugo watched her put on her robe and finish touching up her hair, her bangles jingling slightly as she moved her hands about her face. He wasn't sure why she felt so confident. He'd heard the slights and disparaging comments when they'd been apart, when she'd been away, and he knew how hurtful people could be; hopefully they wouldn't have to endure that any longer. As he saw her turn from the mirror and walk towards him he could see her steely determination and promised himself that he would no longer pay any attention to those nagging doubts in the back of his mind, they were only leftovers from before. She was there, wearing his ring, they'd set a date and everything was ahead of them. Everyone else could go to hell.

- ooo -

Gin sat in the seats behind the prosecutor with Franny Sawgrass, her confidence from earlier that morning melting like an ice cube on a summer sidewalk. Yes, her parents, Mione and her Aunt Lavender were sitting behind her, but it was when Hermione Weasley sat down next to her mum that the sureness of the results, in her mind, began to spin away. Her future mother-in-law would hear everything. Yes, she'd told Hermione about what happened, but somehow she knew it would sound different in court. The fact that Terry Boot and Miranda Fleming, the Invisibles who had sent messages that had boosted her resolve, were nowhere to be seen didn't help things.

She'd only glanced at Chance Gilmore once, when she'd come into the court room. He had very short, clean-cut hair, a brand new robe and his solicitor was a tall, thin man with a severe face. The AAB agents had brought him in, let him talk to a woman that Gin assumed was his mother, and then led him to the small table where his solicitor sat writing notes on a pad with an overly dramatic quill. He'd looked at her once, but she'd pretended to look at something else and only saw him out of the corner of her eye.

Then it began. The witch who was presiding over the court had iron-grey hair pulled up into a bun, and once she'd been seated she called on the prosecutor to begin his opening statement. Gin listened as the wizard went through all of the charges; using an illegal drug on unsuspecting women, coercing them to have sex and filming everything with his portable WeasleyVision camera.

Filming? Gin felt her stomach drop away and she grabbed Hugo's hand. She hadn't known about that; what would happen if it was played in court? What would Hugo think? What about her parents and Hermione?

Hugo squeezed her hand and leaned in. In a quiet, whispered tone he reassured her. "Don't worry, Polly. Don't worry."

As she listened to the defense begin its opening statement worry was all that she could do. That twat Chance had filmed them? Horrible visions sprang into her mind and everything seemed to go quiet; all she could do was stare at the UMS flag to the right of the judge's seat.

Gin was brought out of her stupor by Franny Sawgrass, who tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the witness stand. She walked over there in slow, measured steps and took the oath that said that she would only tell the truth. Once she'd been seated the defense attorney came over to the stand.

"Your name, for the court, please?"

"Virginia Pauline Boyd."

"That's not the only name you've used before, correct? You used the name Leda Twombly, yes?"

"Yes."

From there Gin answered a number of questions and her confidence faded with each one. By the time the defense attorney had finished he had established for the court that Gin was a drinker, engaged at the time she was 'involved' with Chance, had been fired from Witch Weekly, walked out on her Muggle art lessons, her Italian flat and had even brought up her pattern of detentions at Hogwarts. When he'd asked her about her house at Hogwarts he'd even made sure to bring up somehow that Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy and Lord Voldemort were in the same house. Without stating it explicitly he'd tied her to those three infamous Slytherins. He'd done exactly what Franny Sawgrass had predicted that he would do, make Gin seem horrible, an unreliable witness due to character flaws.

The prosecutor then cross-examined Gin, going over the exact details of the night in question that led to her 'involvement' with Chance. He followed up the defense attorney's line of questioning by showing that Gin had avoided some of the scrutiny that goes with having famous relatives, including her father the author and her sister the professional Quidditch player, by assuming a different name when in Richmond. Her business with Mary Caroline was brought out, and more importantly to Gin he verified that she and Hugo were engaged and had set a date for the wedding in Richmond. The development of Gin and Hugo's transition from friends who wrote to each other during the war to something more was laid out, and he established that once she was with Hugo she'd never strayed before.

Gin felt much better after she was excused from the witness stand, and had just sat down with Hugo when the defense attorney asked for a recess; apparently his next witness wasn't there yet. The judge granted the recess, and as soon as she was out of the courtroom Hugo took her in his arms.

"You did amazing. Not exactly how I wanted to tell Mum the date, but it doesn't matter."

"Thanks." Her voice was quiet and shaky. "I need to go outside, fresh air…"

"Sure. Let's go."

Once they'd made their way through the spectators and avoided their families Hugo and Gin stood outside the wizarding courthouse, next to a tree. They were quiet for a while and Gin was concentrating on people walking about, going on with their lives as if everything was fine when a cigarette waved in front of her face.

"What the hell?" She took the cigarette from Hugo.

He smiled sheepishly. "Thought you might need it today."

She laughed, harder than she usually would. "That's very sweet, but not today. I'm sure Dad's making up for my not smoking." Gin looked over to Hugo but he wasn't paying any attention to her. After following his eyes she saw Terry Boot walking up the sidewalk with several people, most of them women about her age. "What's that about?"

Gin felt a shiver of hope run through her body, enough that it made her fingers tingle. "I think the cavalry is here."

"The what?"

"One of Dad's sayings. I think things are about to become a little more sticky for Chance."

- ooo -

Gin went to return to her front row seat but it was full. Seven women, the ones they'd seen with Terry, sat there silently until a tall girl who reminded Gin of a Japanese woman she used to work with at Witch Weekly sat down with a baby. As the woman gave the little boy something soft to keep him occupied she felt Hugo's breath in her ear.

"Is that his kid?"

Before she could answer Chance was returned to the courtroom by the AAB agents, and she watched his face closely. Initially he was still the same as he was before, almost cocky he was so confident, but as soon as he saw the women in the front row his face fell into a mask of numbness. The moment he sat down at the table with wizard running his defense he cupped his hand to the man's ear and began whispering feverishly.

When the judge returned to the courtroom Gin felt much better. She looked over to the prosecutor, didn't get any inkling of what he had planned and turned to Franny Sawgrass. "What do you…"

Franny held a finger over her lips to quiet Gin and just motioned with her head towards the judge.

After the judge sat down she pointed to the defense attorney who called Chance to the witness stand. After swearing the oath to tell the truth the questioning of Chance began in a rather odd fashion. What seemed like questions that were fairly innocuous were haltingly answered, causing the wizard defending Chance to stop and go back to the desk for his file. After reviewing the file the solicitor began building his case through questioning: Chance was the wealthy son of a fine, upstanding couple, it wasn't his fault that women found him attractive, and he'd had no idea that a WeasleyVision camera had been running, blaming it on an old roommate. Throughout the questioning Chance occasionally glanced over to the women in the front row, and once at Gin, but for the most part he only looked at his solicitor.

Once the defense declined to ask any more questions the prosecutor stood up. "Mr. Gilmore, in regards to the portrayal of you as a fine, upstanding member of society who has been unfairly accused, I'd like you to clarify a few things for me. At no time has the defense addressed the question of illegal drugs. Mr. Gilmore, have you ever been arrested regarding possession of illegal drugs? I remind you that you are under oath."

"Yes."

"When was the first arrest?"

The back story was pulled out in slow, teasing bits and pieces. Chance's first arrest for illegal drugs was when he was in sixth year at the Laveau School in New Orleans. From there, since he was expelled, his parents made a large 'donation' to Houdini, the magical school in New York where he finished his seventh year. After that he'd been arrested twice for illegal drugs, including one that was commonly known on the street as Blackout. The effects of Blackout were that a person would slowly lose control of their actions but would not pass out fully. A clear, tasteless drug that when combined with liquid gained potency allowing the effects to be felt by the person who consumed it for approximately eight to ten hours, depending on concentration and the weight of the person who took the drug.

After establishing a connection of Chance to Blackout, the prosecutor looked to the judge. "Your esteemed honor, I would like to enter Item 7 into the record, a WeasleyVision video."

Gin held Hugo's hand tightly and closed her eyes. Please please please let it be someone else, not me.

Once the objections of the defense were overruled the prosecutor took out his wand and levitated over a portable WeasleyVision player. He started the process and soon the courtroom was in Chance Gilmore's bedroom; thankfully for Gin she was nowhere to be seen; only Chance and another wizard who she couldn't make out were visible. The volume came on as the figures began to move. There, on film and in court, everyone heard Chance talk to the wizard about how effective Blackout was, that he'd even managed to get that hot little Japanese chick into bed, and she'd been wonderful. The film, he said, was professional quality. When questioned by the other wizard what he would do with the film Chance laughed and said he was thinking about trying to make some money with the underground pornography subculture that existed since the advent of portable WeasleyVision cameras. Chance offered a small vial of the drug to the other wizard who Gin couldn't quite make out, but he looked familiar.

Then the video changed again, and it was a series of Chance walking into the doorway of his bedroom with other women, all of them obviously incapacitated by Blackout. Before anything embarrassing was shown the focus shifted out and changed until finally Gin appeared onscreen with Chance. Unlike the other women, who were somewhat upright, Gin could hardly walk. Chance stood her in front of his bed and left her for a moment, leaving Virginia the only person visible in the video, and moments after Chance walked away Gin crumpled into a heap half on and half off the bed.

Gasps were heard in the rows of spectators as the WeasleyVision video stopped. The prosecutor stood next to Chance. "There is more video, but I would like to preserve the dignity of these proceedings. No more questions. Your esteemed honor, I would like to call Yumi Ushido to the stand."

Gin watched the woman in the front row hand her baby to another woman, but Chance's defense stood up suddenly.

"Your esteemed honor, I'd like a moment to confer with my client."

After the judge assented to the request Gin watched them intently. Chance gestured wildly but the defense wizard shook his head negatively several times. Finally Chance closed his eyes and nodded.

"Your esteemed honor…" the defense wizard glanced quickly over to the women in the front row and then back to the judge "…my client would like to change his plea to Guilty."

- ooo -

As she walked out of the courtroom Gin felt as if the color was once again filling into her world. Chance had been caught, hell, not only caught but exposed to everyone as the complete amoral asshole she knew him to be, but part of her still felt wounded. Seeing herself so helpless in the video had brought everything back to her, those weeks of not knowing she was pregnant, sending the ring back, all of it. She glanced down at her ring and it was then that she felt a hand on her arm.

"That pitiful excuse for a man got what was coming to him." Mary Caroline stood there, happy, but somewhat shaky.

"Yeah, he did." Gin took her aside from everyone. "He's going away for a long time so why are you so upset?"

"Did you see the other guy in that video, Gin? It was Carter."

"Your ex-boyfriend?"

Mary Caroline nodded. "I recognized his watch. He always wears that stupid watch with the red band. That was him, I know it was. I'm so glad I turned him down when he tried to take me out for a drink." She looked over Gin's shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "I'll talk to you later, looks like you've got someone who wants a chat."

Once Mary Caroline left Gin turned around to see her parents and Terry Boot walking towards her. She worriedly looked for Hugo but he was a few feet away talking to his mum, saving her from revealing the Invisibles involvement to Hermione. As for Hugo, she knew she would tell him eventually. When depending upon the impending conversation.

After hugging her parents Gin surprised everyone, most of all Terry, by giving him a hug. He stood there motionless for a moment but eventually gave Gin a few small pats on the back. After breaking apart she looked over to make sure Hugo was still talking to his mum and then turned to Terry.

"Thank you, Mr. Boot, for everything. I do have one question, though…about the videos…"

Terry adjusted his aviator sunglasses. "No need to worry. Everything with you has been destroyed except for what you saw in court. The others are in the hands of the authorities." He turned to her parents. "Melody, Hank, we're even." Before they could respond he turned and Apparated away.

"You're even?" Gin looked over to her father. "What did he mean by that?"

"Ah, yeah, that." Hank looked over to Melody who shook her head. "I'll tell you about that later. So, celebration dinner?"

Melody rolled her eyes. "Hank, it's half three in the afternoon."

"Make it easy to get a table, then." He gave Gin another hug. "I told you not to worry. You and Hugo send us an owl or stop by the Williams' later on. We're not leaving until Sunday."

After a long hug from her mum Gin felt herself being set at arm's length. "So I have to find out that you and Hugo are getting married here next July from court testimony? That doesn't give me much time to plan."

"We're doing it all, Mum. Don't worry. Besides, you'll be too busy with Mione's baby anyway."

"Come on Granny; let her be for a while." Hank winked at Gin as he pulled Melody away.

Hank and Melody walked away in one of their usual 'conversations,' her mum informing her dad that she would be Grandmum, not Granny. It was while watching them leave that Gin felt Hugo's arm around her. She leaned into him. "Come on, Hugo. I'm ready to get out of these clothes."

- ooo -

As soon as Gin and Hugo reached her almost-empty apartment Hugo shut the door and began laughing. "I don't know how it happened, or who did it, but that was brilliant. Did you see one reporter or photographer there?"

Gin put her robe on the bed and looked back at Hugo. "No. I didn't. You don't think…"

He took off his robe and laid it on the bed over Gin's. "I don't think what? Come on, Polly, you big Slytherin, spill it."

"Well, I guess we're almost married, so that would be covered; still, I don't want you to end up in some dark alley somewhere."

"Ok, now you've got me curious."

As Gin changed out of her Muggle suit and into a pair of jeans and a jumper she filled in Hugo about Terry and Miranda Boot, the conversation with her father at their Satterbourne house and the visit from the Scamander twins. The entire time she related the events Hugo's reaction went from surprise to shock, then to worry and finally ended up shaking his head in disbelief.

"So not only do the Invisibles exist, they owed your Dad a favor and somehow or other they found out all that evidence on Chance? Remind me not to underestimate you again."

She put her arms around his waist and gave him a kiss. "Rather a good idea regardless. Now I think we need to do a bit of celebration." She pulled back slightly. "What did your mum say?"

"Oh, well, you know Mum. She's happy about the outcome, of course, and she started in on whether or not she could get a sample of that Blackout drug to take over as evidence. Apparently there's a case she's working on that it might be a factor in or something like that. That was the first few minutes and the rest of it was about us. I don't know if she likes the Richmond idea very much."

"You know she'll go along with anything you want, Hugo. You're her baby." She heard his stomach growl and laughed. "And it sounds like its feeding time for baby."

- ooo -

The afternoon celebration stretched on into the night; thankfully Mary Caroline's mum Tiny had reserved the entire back room of the Chinese restaurant, so they were secure from prying eyes. The reporters that were conspicuously absent made an appearance only to be run off by the proprietor of the restaurant who waved both a wand and a baseball bat at them. As Gin looked around the room she couldn't believe how things had turned out. Hugo was at her side, she wore his ring and they had a date set for the wedding. When she returned to the UK there was a house in Satterbourne that was their house, theirs alone. Her parents sat next to Mary Caroline's parents and Lavender Boyd was across the table talking to Hermione Weasley, both of them laughing and waving chopsticks semi-dramatically. Mione and Mary Caroline were deep in conversation and it struck Gin that soon everything would change. Mione and Scorpius would have a baby, Mary Caroline would have her own place in England and that she would be back at the Grey Swan Galleries soon.

After all of those horrible months she had endured everything was finally over; Chance was going to jail, Hugo knew the truth and even more importantly she knew the truth. Part of her, the little part that nagged her at night and wouldn't let her sleep, the part that told her that she willingly went with Chance had been banished forever. The video was plain; she hadn't cheated on Hugo at all, she'd been completely at the mercy of the drug.

There was so much to look forward to now! Not only the wedding in July but Minnie's wedding in Stintborough, Mione's baby, the appointment to look at that building on the note that Miranda Boot had sent her and, as if from a bolt from the blue she remembered the portrait that George Weasley had commissioned. So much to do.

She heard her name from the other side of the table and somehow it didn't surprise her as her cousin Paige stood next to Lorcan Scamander. As additional chairs were brought to the table Paige shook her head.

"We can't stay long, we have reservations. Gin, I know this is horrible timing but I'm going back to D.C. later tonight. Would it be possible to get that portrait of Mom and Dad?"

"Sure." She stood up from the table. "I'll be right back. Sit, Hugo, its ok. I won't be long."

Once they had left the restaurant and Apparated over to the gallery Gin unlocked the front door and turned on the lights with a wave of her wand. Lorcan and Paige followed her over to the wall where the portrait of Ted and Candice Boyd hung and Gin took it off of the wall.

"Are you sure about this, Paige? Why don't you let me do another one, this one is so…I'm much better now."

"No, Mom'll love it." Paige looked to Lorcan. "You promised to help me with the packaging."

Lorcan nodded and looked at Gin. "Where would I find the…"

Gin pointed to the back. "Through the office and it's the blue door. You'll find everything in there." Once he'd left she looked at her cousin. "Do you know what you're getting into? With your ultra-super-secret job they might not like the fact that they can't find anything on him. They check out your boyfriends, right?"

Paige nodded and smirked at her cousin. "Oh, they definitely do that. Besides, I'm not too worried. My boss had lunch with his father the other day, they're old friends. We're just dating, Gin, that's it. "

"What the…Merlin's pants! Do you work for the AAB?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that statement." She mimed zipping her lips shut and throwing away a key.

Before Gin could ask another question Lorcan returned with the portrait securely wrapped in the heavy canvas and wood that was available in the back room. Gin knew it was overkill to do that much packing, but she let it go. Lorcan took out his wand and shrunk the painting until it was the size of a WUMP and handed it to Paige. After assuring her cousin that the 'family discount' was actually free Gin watched the two of them leave, still shocked that not only was her cousin dating Lorcan Scamander but that she possibly, as a Muggle, worked for the AAB.

It was in that semi-daze that Gin went back to her office and began cleaning up; yes, she needed to go back to the restaurant but she couldn't leave the office in that sort of state. After moving files around, and straightening her desk, she lifted a file and found a stack of letters. She sat the file down and picked up the letters, shuffling them around and recognizing the handwriting on each and every one; Hermione Weasley.

A bell that signaled the front door surprised her and she went to go see who had come to fetch her back to the restaurant, letters still in her hand. It wasn't anyone from her family, though; it was a man in expensive, tailored robes that looked familiar for some reason.

"I'm sorry, sir, we're closed. I just came to pick up some paperwork. We'll be open tomorrow at ten."

He arched an eyebrow at her but didn't answer; instead he began walking around the gallery looking at paintings. Finally after about ten minutes he turned back to Gin.

"Everything, how much?"

Gin blinked several times. "Excuse me?"

"All of your paintings, how much? I'd like to buy them all…with a condition."

She looked at the man intently and a small glimmer of recognition spread until she knew exactly who he was. "What's the condition?"

"Speak to the press and tell them that everything was fabricated. That you lied. I'll buy every painting in this gallery and the one in London."

"You don't have that much money. Besides, I'll never do that; your son's guilty. No amount of Galleons will ever change that."

He pulled out a Gnut from the pocket of his robe and tossed it onto the floor between them. "That's all the trash in here is worth, to be brutally honest. Cheap price for cheap paintings and a cheap girl." Gin's laughter shocked him but he recovered quickly. "Don't you know who I am? I can ruin you."

"Listen, sir, don't try to play the intimidation game with me. Do you know who I'm engaged to? Do you know his parents? Even better, do you know who the hell my godparents are? Just try it. You're an asshole, just like your son. I wouldn't sell you a painting…hell, I wouldn't give you water if you were on fire. Did you pay any attention in court today? Remember that one part the slimy git you hired to help your son hammered home, the part about me being in Slytherin? My parents, future in-laws and godparents weren't in Slytherin, so they don't think like I do. They're really fucking scary when they're angry, but I'm even worse. Remember that." She pulled out her wand and tapped it on her thigh. "Now get the fuck out of my gallery before something 'accidentally' happens. Or stay. Your choice."

Once Chance's father had left the gallery Gin walked over to the fireplace, lit a fire with her wand and threw Hermione's letters into the flames. As the fire caught the corners and slowly worked its way across the envelopes she watched the light catch the diamond on her ring, light reflecting on the wall.