AUTHOR'S NOTES: I've come up with a name for the hippogriff Camille befriended in this story: Wildwing. And… I confess… I came up with it after looking at some of the names on the old cartoon 'My Little Pony'. Go ahead… make fun and get it out of your system.

Anyhow… enjoy the chapter!

Chapter summary: The Dursleys go to trial! And Marge Dursley shows her true colors.

Chapter 7

The night before the Dursleys' trial, Camille couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she pictured a faceless judge ordering her to go with Aunt Marge. Getting up and sneaking down to the common room she was only half surprised to find Harry sitting on the floor by the fireplace. Waiting until he looked up, she asked, 'You couldn't sleep either?'

'I was worried about you,' Harry replied as Camille sat opposite him on the floor. 'I kept thinking… what if the judge at the trial tomorrow sends you to Aunt Marge?'

'I can't go there, Harry,' Camille signed, frantically. 'You know how she is. And she'd blame me for Dad going to jail.'

'If that's what the judge decides… I'm coming with you,' Harry said, determinedly. 'I don't want you to go through this alone.'

'Harry, you have your mum now. I'll… I'll be fine.'

'No, you won't,' Harry protested. 'Listen… I was talking with Hermione and we had an idea. In court cases like this the judge sometimes appoints an objective person to speak on behalf of the child or children involved.'

'What good will that do? We need someone who knows what's happened to us and will fight for us,' Camille said, wondering where Harry was going with this.

'What if we ask Snape? He's always been fair to us and while he tries to remain neutral we know that he'll be on our side. And he can sign so that's a plus as well.'

'That's a good idea,' Camille agreed. 'We'll ask him first thing in the morning. Aunt Lily said the trial's not starting until 2 in the afternoon.'

Harry gave his cousin a smile and after a few moments conversation turned to what Dudley was likely to go through at St. Brutus's.

--

The next morning at breakfast, Harry and Camille went up to the staff table and waited until Snape looked up from his plate. "Yes, Mr. Potter?" Snape asked calmly, but with a touch of impatience thrown in incase any of the Slytherins were looking.

'We need to ask you a favor, Professor,' Harry said. 'It's… about the trial.'

'We want you with us, sir,' Camille said, simply. 'I… I don't want to go live with Aunt Marge and… I know Aunt Lily will do all she can, but… well, we'd like to have a plan B if possible.'

Snape considered this for a moment. If Marge Dursley was anything like her brother… "I will meet you and Lily in my office at noon. We will travel by floo powder to London."

'Thank you, sir,' Harry said, honestly.

"Trial?" Dumbledore whispered, as Camille and Harry went to the Gryffindor Table.

"Custody and sentencing hearing," Snape explained. "The judge will be deciding what happens to Vernon and Petunia Dursley as well as where Camille Dursley will be living."

At their table, Hermione looked at Harry. "Is Snape going to act as guardian ad litum?"

Harry nodded. 'Yeah. Hopefully it'll be enough to keep Cam away from Aunt Marge.'

'You mean the Wicked Bitch of the West?' Camille added, smirking. 'I'd really love to see her get what she deserves during the trial.'

--

In the courtroom, Harry and Camille sat with Lily and Snape and a woman who introduced herself as Mackenzie Conroy. "I'll be representing you and Camille, Harry," Mackenzie said, smiling. "Now… let me tell you how this will work." Gesturing to a man standing by the witness stand she said, "That's Connor Douglas, he'll be acting as interpreter when the two of you are testifying. Now, usually in this kind of trial there is a guardian ad litum appointed."

"Severus Snape has agreed to act in that capacity," Lily said, nodding to Snape. "I know that he'll be fair and objective."

Mackenzie nodded. "Okay… well, first…" Consulting a sheet of paper in one of her files she went on, "The first witness for the prosecution—that's us—is Dr. Edward Laurence."

'Who's he?' Camille asked, trying to remember why the name sounded familiar. Snape lifted a questioning eyebrow in her direction. 'I have no sense of volume when I'm speaking out loud, remember?' Camille replied to Snape's silent question.

Snape gave a single nod of understanding. Looking at the lawyer's notes, Snape replied, 'Dr. Laurence is the doctor who saw the two of you 4 years ago.'

'Now I remember,' Harry said to Camille. 'Remember? He was the doctor who treated you when you parents finally took you in for the ear infection.'

'And he was the one who...' Glancing at Lily, Camille finished, 'He was the one who checked you out after Dad choked you.'

Lily looked at Harry but if there was something the teenager was hiding, he wasn't going to share.

The door to the courtroom opened and Harry turned to see two police officers escorting Petunia, Vernon, and Marge Dursley and a man with limp brown hair and a shrewd demeanor. As the man gestured to the Dursleys to have a seat, Mackenzie turned to Lily and Snape. "That's Nigel Moore. He's built his career on defending child abusers. He'll try to rile you up, so don't let him get to you."

Lily looked a bit worried but replied, "I'll try my best."

Once everyone had assembled and Judge Shannon Rosado had taken her seat, Mackenzie called Dr. Laurence to the witness box.

At their table, Harry faced Camille and translated what was being said as he didn't want to see his mother's expression when Dr. Laurence talked about what Uncle Vernon had done.

After talking about Camille's loss of hearing, Dr. Laurence went on to describe Harry's injury. "Harry's throat was a mess. There was severe trauma to the trachea and larynx and very quickly Harry was having trouble breathing. I tried to intubate but his throat was starting to swell. I finally had to call a second physician to assist with a tracheotomy."

Harry winced as he practically heard his mother's head whip around to look at him.

When Harry finally turned to face her, Lily noticed the faint scar on Harry's throat. "Oh, my God…" Turning to look at Vernon, her green eyes livid, she shouted, "How could you, you monster?"

"You're lucky my brother kept those brats after that!" Marge snapped. "If it were me I'd have dumped the both of them at an orphanage."

"Ms. Dursley, that will do!" Judge Rosado said, looking sternly.

"I told you that you should have thrown the both of them in the river when you told me about that freaky nonsense that started when they were 5 years old!" Marge said to Vernon, ignoring the judge. "Then we wouldn't be here right now."

"Officers, please arrest Ms. Dursley," Judge Rosado said, angrily.

When the police pulled Marge to her feet and handcuffed her, she started protesting even louder. "This is ludicrous! I demand you unhand me, you vicious brutes! What is this, America? Release me at once!"

Mackenzie calmly turned to the judge and with a raised eyebrow asked, "And you thought that maybe she was the better person to take custody of Camille Dursley?"

Judge Rosado nodded. "Yes, well…" Looking at the Dursleys—Petunia, Vernon, and Marge—she said, "None of you are fit to take care of a vegetable garden let alone a child. Vernon Dursley… since you have been spearheading this whole thing I am sentencing you to 35 years in prison. Petunia Dursley… you will be sent to a women's correctional facility for 30 years. And as for you, Marjorie Dursley… Since as far as I know you have not been at the forefront of the abuse of Harry and Camille but it seems to me that you could use a good kick in the arse... 10 years in a women's correctional facility and 5 years probation where you will put in 2000 hours community service to be split between various organizations helping prevent child abuse and at the local orphanage." Turning to Lily, she said, "Ms. Potter, I am granting you full custody of Camille Dursley and Harry Potter." Pounding her gavel, she said, "Case dismissed. Officers… remove the defendants."

Lily hugged Camille first and then turned to Harry who didn't meet her gaze. "Look at me, Harry," Lily said in a kind, yet firm tone. When Harry finally looked at his mother, there were tears in his eyes and he subconsciously touched the scar on his throat. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

'I don't want to talk about it,' Harry said, angrily.

"Harry… I'm your mother. Whatever you've been through… I want to know. I love you," Lily said, hugging her son.

Camille put a hand on Harry's shoulder and when he turned to look at her, she signed, 'It's okay.'

Harry sighed and after a moment, he said, 'When Vernon finally let go of me, I could barely breathe. Petunia was panicking and finally she put me in the car and drove me to the emergency room. It was getting harder for me to breathe. Dr. Laurence started to examine me but…'

"And then what?" Lily asked, gently.

"And then he stopped breathing," Dr. Laurence replied, walking up to the table. Watching from the witness box, he'd noticed how uncomfortable Harry was describing what had happened and decided to take the burden off of the mute teenager. "I tried to intubate Harry but his throat was so swollen I couldn't get the tube down into his lungs. Finally… well, as I said, we had to cut a hole in Harry's throat and put a breathing tube directly into his trachea."

Harry closed his eyes and tried not to picture waking up in the hospital's ICU wondering why there was a tube in his neck and why he couldn't talk. He'd been like that for 2 days until the swelling had reduced enough for him to breathe on his own. 'Mum,' Harry said, opening his eyes and looking at his mother, cousin, and Snape. 'Can we leave? I want to get out of here.'

"Sure," Lily said, smiling. "And since you and Camille have already missed half your classes today, let's go do something fun."

'I'd… really rather just go back to Hogwarts, Mum,' Harry replied.

"Okay," Lily agreed. "Let's go."

As Lily led Camille and Harry out of the courtroom, Snape hung back. "Dr. Laurence…"

"I can't advise you on how best to deal with Harry," Laurence said, shaking his head. "Camille was much quicker to accept her disability. Harry was—and apparently still is—much more difficult. Just… give him time… talk to him. It's the best advice I can offer."

Snape thanked him for the advice and headed out to follow Lily and the others back to Hogwarts.