Chapter Two
The Hearing

"So?" James asked as soon as Albus and Scorpius walked through the Burrow's front door. "How was it?"

"Fine," Albus replied, following Scorpius into the kitchen, where they found his grandmother cooking lunch.

"Boys! You're back," she sighed with relief, giving each one of her famous bone-crushing hugs.

"What do you mean, 'fine'?" James continued badgering them, having followed them into the kitchen. "You went to the most feared wizard prison on Earth, and all you have to say is it was 'fine'?"

"It was fine, James!" Scorpius yelled, his anger causing Molly Weasley's pots to jump around and clang. "What more do you want us to say?"

"Scorp-"

"-Forget it, Albus," the blonde cut his best friend off, storming through the kitchen door and out into the yard beyond.

"Now look what you've done!" Albus yelled at his brother, who cringed.

Although James knew he could give back exactly what Albus was currently directing at him, he had trouble finding the guts to do it - with the combined tempers of both Harry and Ginny, Potter, Albus Severus was a force to be reckoned with when he allowed his temper to fly.

"James, you get out there right now and apologise to dear Scorpius!" Molly reprimanded her grandson who, again, cringed.

"I'll go," Rose, who along with her brother Hugo and cousins Molly and Lucy had run downstairs when they heard the shouting begin, told her grandmother. "He won't be able to get near enough to say anything."

It was true that Rose and Scorpius had a special love-hate connection, and had done since the day they met. Albus, however, suspected that the two, although friends just as they were with anyone else, had a special deeper connection with each other. Once the kitchen cleared out, he shared this theory with his grandmother, who smiled knowingly.

"When one's angry, the other one is the only person who can calm their temper or talk them down," Albus explained, watching his grandmother's face closely. "They seem to, I dunno, get each other in some way that no one else can."

"Around here, Albus, we call it fate," she whispered her reply, winking as she did so. "You should've seen your Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione when they were your age - they couldn't stand each other! The best of friends, but always at each other's throats. And, they always seemed to have a special connection that no one else had."

"Grandma, are you saying...?"

"All I'm saying is you're a very perceptive young man, Albus," was the only reply he received.

The next morning, although filled with great anticipation, also gave Albus a sense of unexplainable foreboding.

"We'll be in a courtroom full of Aurors and Ministry officials, the Death Eaters will be locked up in the chairs and they'll have a heap of wands pointed at their faces. What's to worry about?" Scorpius attempted to reassure him, stuffing his face with Grandma Weasley's scrambled eggs on toast the whole while.

"Do you ever stop eating?" Rose asked him indignantly.

"Calm down, Rosie, there's nothing to worry about," Scorpius' reply - and casual use of a nickname Rose had banned them from using at age three - caught Albus off guard.

'Rosie?' he mouthed to Lucy, who shrugged.

'No idea,' she mouthed back.

"This is going to be a very long day," Albus muttered, pushing away his half-full plate and resting his head on the table.

"Albus," Harry calmly stepped into the hallway down near the Department of Mysteries, where Albus and his cousins had snuck into the Ministry mere months ago, "we're ready for you now."

"What do I do if they break free and try to attack me, dad?" Albus whispered, following Harry through the door.

"That's not going to happen, Al."

"But just say it did?"

Harry sighed and bent down so he was at the same height as his youngest son. "Then you'll be fine, just as you always are - you'll cast a shield charm, and get you and Scorpius safely out of here."

"Ok," Albus replied, calming down slightly but fingering his wand, which was sitting in his trouser pocket. "I'm ready."

"That's my boy," Harry replied, standing back up and leading Albus through to the witness stand, his hand in his shoulder in a silent sign of support.

"Please state your name and residency for the court," Albus looked to his right and saw the calm face of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister for Magic. At the sight of his father's close friend, Albus drew a deep breath and found himself suddenly calm.

"Albus Severus Potter, resident of Godric's Hollow, England," Albus replied in a steady tone of voice, looking directly into the Minister's eyes.

"Thank you, Albus," Kingsley replied, giving him a single nod of the head as a sign of confidence. "Now, Albus," Albus's dad had already told him about this - since he was only twelve, and not the one in trouble, the court would be addressing him by his first name, so as to make him feel more comfortable in the unfamiliar setting, "you were here on the night of the tenth of May last year?"

"Yes, sir," Albus replied, nodding. "I was here with my brother, cousins and two of my friends."

"Could you explain to the court why you and the group were here?" Kingsley asked him calmly.

And so Albus recounted the story - of the threat made against his family, of how they found out it was real and of his cousins' kidnapping. He told them of Molly's escape and return, of her message to give to Harry, and of their discovery in the Chamber of Secrets. He told them of the attempted kidnapping of his brother and cousins, and of their finding out the location of the girls. Finally, he told them of their daring plan to escape Hogwarts' wartime precautions, of how they went to Italy and then to English Muggle Parliament, not forgetting Kreacher's vital role. He explained their getting into the Ministry and finding their family members; and their getting out and bringing the house elves and Aurors with them. He finished with Rodolphus' final threat, the threat which he knew would, one day soon, come back to haunt them.

"Albus, you've mentioned several underground, suspected and known Death Eaters. From the images on this wall, could you identify them?"

"Um..." he looked through the first row, and saw the heavily scarred face of a man he remembered all too well. "That one, there on the right hand side - he's the man who tried to cast a killing curse at me." The Ministry officials hurriedly scribbled notes on the man and his crimes onto pieces of parchment littering the room. "That man, that one and that one - they were all holding the girls in El Magio Villagio...That man cast the cruciatus curse on my best friend's mum, Astoria Malfoy." Again, the court scribes hurriedly copied down the testimony. After picking out a few more faces he recognised, Albus stopped at a picture of an inmate of Azkaban prison. "That's him. The one all behind this." He looked to Kingsley, who nodded in encouragement. "That's Rodolphus Lestrange."