Chapter Ten – The Sentence

Harry had wanted to leave after making that speech. He thought that he had probably condemned himself in the public opinion. But he had decided that he didn't really care what the public thought of him. What he had said, had needed to be said, and Snape was going to be condemned to death anyway. It wasn't going to make any difference that Harry knew, just knew, that there was something that Snape was hiding. There had to be some reason that Snape wasn't talking. Stubbornness did not extend to catatonia. Not in the face of certain death.

But he had stayed, because he wanted to see if Snape had the slightest reaction when the verdict was pronounced. A huge space had cleared around him, as though no one wanted to be associated with the man that had been once revered. No, the teenager that they had revered. The teenager, they loved. The man, they hated. It was an easy enough divide in his mind.

More testimony followed after his, though he had always known that he would provide the strongest. Now that he had made that speech, he wished that that would sway the verdict in a different direction, and found himself horrified that he was even thinking it. He hated Snape as much as, if not more than, the rest of the country. He had watched Snape, in cold blood, murder Dumbledore. Like it was absolutely nothing at all. Nothing, nothing in the world, could excuse or forgive that.

Through it all, Snape had remained motionless. As the testimony piled up against him, it didn't even seem to occur to him that he was slowly being condemned and the words that the judge issued would be a mere formality. Everyone knew that Snape was a dead man walking.

Except Harry knew that that was what he actually was. Something about him seemed thoroughly dead already. Killing him at this point wouldn't do anything to him that hadn't been done already. Something in him was dead.

Finally, the judge left to deliberate. Most people did not bother to get up; it was assumed that it would only be a brief recess and that the judge would be back within ten or fifteen minutes. This was, after all, a very open-and-shut case. Harry Potter had seen him kill Dumbledore, and he had then fled and had not been seen again for years. Every Death Eater that they had captured, though, had attested to the manner in which Snape grew closer and closer to Voldemort, coming as close to his right-hand man as it was possible to do. Not all of the Death Eaters could have been lying. Snape might not have been seen for years, but he had been working behind the scenes to make sure that Voldemort did not fall. Until, of course, he did fall. Even then, Snape had not been captured, or even seen, for years. All kinds of rumors spread about him, but Harry didn't really believe any of them. He was no stranger to rumors, and the falsity that most of them presented.

It took more than an hour before the judge emerged. Everyone else watched him walk over; Harry saw that Snape didn't. If this was just an act – which Harry was doubting more and more by the minute – then it was the best he'd ever seen. Snape, if he was faking it, had perfected the art of not caring about a thing in the world, not even his own death. That must take practice.

The judge looked at Snape, and then at Harry, before speaking. "I think that it is evident that Severus Snape is guilty of the crime that he has been charged with. The eyewitness testimony of Mr. Harry Potter has made me sure that it was Severus Snape that committed that vile act. That alone should be enough to condemn him to death. But the speculation over the years that has followed has led me to be convinced that Severus Snape's role in the Death Eaters was far more…elevated than simply as a murderer. If this is looked at as well, it is unconscionable to consider anything other than a death sentence for Severus Snape."

A cheer rose up in the room, but the judge raised his hands. The room fell silent.

"However, as is the statute, a man cannot be condemned to death without first confessing to the crime. This Severus Snape has not done. In accordance with this, Severus Snape should simply be given a life sentence in Azkaban, something which is more than possible to do. There are risks inherent with this, but without a confession, it is not possible to execute Severus Snape.

"Finally, Mr. Potter made a point which I believe we have all tried to push to the backs of our minds. Something is happening in this country, and from all indications, it is the work of the Death Eaters. As Severus Snape was reputed to be one of the most senior Death Eaters and was free up until very recently, I find it impossible to believe that he did not have some knowledge of these actions, who was behind them, and why they are being carried out now. It would be a gross misuse of justice to pardon a man for a terrible crime simply because he may prove useful in the future, though."

Harry wished that the judge would just hurry up and say what he meant, because now he was just starting to be annoying. He was supposed to have decided upon a verdict, not written a speech.

"Bearing all of that in mind, I have made my judgment to the fate of Severus Snape. Due to the nature of his heinous crime, but to the potential he has to assist the Ministry of Magic, I am hereby sentencing Snape to life imprisonment. This sentence is to be carried out in two parts. The first part will consist of Snape being under house arrest with Mr. Harry Potter. After his usefulness has been determined, he will either be moved to Azkaban or remain with Mr. Potter.

"Court is adjourned."

TO BE CONTINUED, in "Defender of the Faith"…coming soon!