A/N: Finally the trial! I hope you like the outcome.
The courtroom was already brimming with Ministry officials, including various department heads and upper level employees. The press had also found their way into the circular bleachers, including Barnabus Cuffe and Rita Skeeter, who were having a long and spirited conversation near the side. Aberforth Dumbledore sat quietly in the back, trying not to bring attention to himself, though the press had already noted that he was there. Upon entering the courtroom, Draco nodded to Aberforth, grateful that he came, and then went to the front of bleachers alone, his mind entrenched with thoughts. It didn't help that he noticed the head obliviator sitting adjacent to the Winzengamot, most likely prepared to carry out the verdict directly following the trial.
Around the other side of the courtroom sat the "golden trio." Their position in the Ministry and relationship to Dumbledore compelled them to not miss the trial. Hermione, in particular, hoped it would be carried out fairly.
Harry Potter immediately noticed Draco's presence in the courtroom and asked his two companions, "What's Malfoy doing here?"
"Saw him on Level 2 the other day, 'Mione said he was working on the case," Ron replied, having asked his wife to look into it.
Hermione chimed in, "I found out that he acted as chief potioneer for Blaise since their main one was out on business."
"Sure he loved working in close proximity with a muggle," Ron said jokingly.
"No kidding," Harry replied.
Hermione then looked at Draco and said slightly concerned, "He looks upset."
"Doesn't he always look that way?" Ron said nonchalantly while crossing his arms.
Unsympathetic to Draco's disposition and decidedly changing the subject, Harry asked Hermione, "What do you think the outcome will be?"
"Don't know," Hermione said, "They've never had a case like this before. I suppose they have to deduce whether it's safe to let her keep her memory. Of course, if she was just a muggle no trial would be necessary. Of course, being related to Dumbledore changes things considerably."
"Amazing the things I never knew about Dumbledore," Harry said solemnly, thinking back to the year he spent searching for Horcruxes and the odd revelations that he had about his old headmaster.
"Maybe Dumbledore didn't know either," Ron said.
"Of course Dumbledore knew, he's the one who enchanted her," Hermione sent a sharp look of mild disdain at her husband for not following.
The Wizengamot, dressed in plum colored robes and mushroom shaped hats, began sitting in their seats, filling the bleachers on the one side. The group was composed of mainly older members who had been on the panel for several decades.
"I for one feel sorry for her," Hermione said while watching the robed figures sit.
"It's a right fix to be without your magical ability," Ron added, missing the point.
"Not that," she said concerned, "She's been held against her will for a week and now she's being judged to keep her memory and for writing a book no less. These laws need to be changed."
"I don't disagree with you on that," Harry replied, figuring that Hermione's next task would probably be proposing legislation to handle these situations better.
Since it was time, Blaise knocked thrice on the door and entered the room where Alice was sitting in deep meditation. She opened her eyes to meet Blaise's, who stood as cold as the first day she met him.
"It's time; I ask that you don't speak unless given permission," Blaise said sternly.
Alice noted that he was hiding some nervousness under the bravado; this made her feel better about her own apprehension. "Fine," she replied a bit smugly, gathering her confidence as she stood up. Poised and as prepared as possible, she followed Blaise out the door and down the hall.
The courtroom was unlike anything she had ever seen. Like a circular coliseum, she walked into its center, feeling like she was on an actor's stage. Black sleek walls curled up around the intricate blue and gold geometrically designed marble floors. Large torches illuminated the space from behind. The bleachers were filled with witches and wizards, all their eyes on Alice as she walked into the room. With her head held high she returned their glances and she recognized some of their faces, having come across their photographs in her previous research. Blaise had her sit in a rather large wooden chair in the center of the floor. She felt dwarfed by this position. It forced her to gaze up at the members of Wizengamot, who stared coldly back at her. Drawing in a deep breath, she tried to remain confident and emotionless as the trial began.
The main prefect who sat in the center of the sea of plum colored robes spoke, "Witches and Wizards of the Wizengamot, members of the Ministry of Magic and press of the British wizarding world, we have gathered to discuss the case of Alice McNally and her breach of Clause 73 of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Evidence of this breach are a book written by the convicted, Hinting at Magic: 20th Century Conspiracies and Possible Explanations," the prefect held a copy of Alice's book up for the courtroom to see. "In it, several magical incidents which drew notice of the non-magical community in the past are reinterpreted and plainly laid out for a general muggle audience. According to the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes," the prefect nodded approvingly to the head obliviator who was sitting with his arms crossed in the bleachers nearby, "all muggle connections with this book have been effectively obliviated, except for one, the book's author, Alice McNally." The head prefect then looked at Alice through his half-moon spectacles; she returned his gaze searchingly. Then he added, "The head of the Special Cases Unit, Blaise Zabini, will give a brief statement of the convicted."
Blaise had stood slightly off to the side, but when called, he moved to the center in order to best address the Wizengamot.
"Alice McNally was brought into custody in order to assess the source of her information. It was assumed that her knowledge of the wizarding world came from someone on the inside, so the case was handed over to my team in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to detect who this possible insider was. Her knowledge, however, is rightly her own, deduced from years of personal research. We also conducted blood and ancestry tests that conclusively showed that she is the granddaughter of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. However, she possesses no magical ability. The reason for which became apparent after another series of tests showed that an enchantment placed on her as a child effectively repressed her magical gene. It is also important to note that all this information was unknown to the convicted until this week."
"Thank you Mr. Zabini," the head prefect said respectfully, "As members of the Wizengamot know, if Alice McNally was a muggle, her memory would be obliviated in order to protect wizarding world secrecy. However, the evidence suggests wizarding ancestry and we need to discern whether this accords her the rights of wizards and witches in this realm. I now open this up to discussion."
A small witch on the Wizengamot with beady eyes and short white hair raised her hand to speak and the head prefect nodded in allowance. She looked disdainfully at Alice before beginning, "If we are to look closely at the evidence, Alice McNally was a muggle when writing this book and due to her enchantment, she remains a muggle till this day. We cannot accord wizarding world rights or privileges due to her previously unknown ancestry."
"I agree," another member spoke out, "This muggle should not have been brought to our court." Several other members spoke in agreement.
The head prefect interjected the sudden clamor of voices with his raised tone, "Whether she should have been brought to court is not the issue! We are here now and I think such ancestry accords a discussion of the rights given to all of us in this realm."
Another member raised their hand to speak, "Obviously as a muggle, she was unaware of those rights or our laws. Do we present them to her now?"
The head prefect responded, "That is precisely the question at hand," he stared curiously at Alice, who was more than surprised by the previous comments as she immediately suspected things were not going favorably for her. Then the old prefect said respectably, "I want to hear from the convicted. Miss McNally, you can have your say."
This was it, the moment Alice hoped she'd be allowed but after such a negative outcry she wondered if anything she said would make a difference. She rose from the chair slowly and stood on the platform the chair was stationed on. Gathering her thoughts and taking in her audience with her eyes, she began to speak slowly and steadily. The words came from deep inside her.
"Being here reminds me of one very important moment in the history of philosophy when Socrates said, The unconsidered life is not worth living. What he meant was if you don't reflect on your life, if you don't consider it, if you don't choose the values you're going to live by, then you're going to live according to someone else's choices, someone else's ideals, someone else's ideology. The magical world has effectively decided on behalf of non-magical persons that they will live such a life; unconsidered, uninformed, unaware. My crime that brought me to this courtroom was considering, for thinking critically, for having an awareness and understanding of what's happening in the world; but in so doing I breached my relegated position as a non-magical person, or as you call me, a muggle.
This week I came to fully comprehend that position, the demarcation of our two worlds and the blood that has been spilt on account of both sides. One gene differentiates us but that should not dehumanize us. That dehumanization is done by arrogance, it is done by ignorance, and it is done by dogma. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge and power, with no test in reality, this is how they act. The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy is supposed to uphold a common though separate humanity, to protect as best it can the stability of both our worlds. It is not to create prejudice or bias of such differences. It is my understanding that my grandfather believed in this and he died fighting against those who did not.
But yet, here I stand below you, feeling dehumanized by my forced custody, my lack of rights in this realm, and by your words. I wrote a book without knowing your laws, without knowing that I crossed the line that separates us and protects us. I now know this and I respect its premise. But if you still feel that protection comes at the cost of my current knowledge and my humanity, then I ask you to reconsider. If I am not allowed to be an informed participant in the great conversation of mankind, then I am with Socrates in saying that such a life is not worth living."
The power behind her words led everyone in the courtroom to stay silent in deep contemplation. Her plea spoke truths that many had failed to see. Whether or not she should be given rights was in fact whether a muggle was worth as much as a witch.
The head prefect was particularly touched, and as an old friend of Albus Dumbledore, he recognized the direct lineage of the young woman before him. Breaking the silence he said, "Miss McNally speaks with the wisdom and dignity of her grandfather. I believe we have heard enough and I move to pass judgment."
"I second the move," said the man sitting next to him, confirming that it was time to vote.
"Those in favor of conviction," a few members rose their hands slowly, noting the ill-favor it awarded them from the audience. The head prefect nodded in recognition of their number. "Those in favor of clearing the accused of all charges," he raised his own hand only to be quickly followed by a majority of the house.
"Alice McNally, you have been cleared of all charges. You will keep your memory and your dignity."
As Alice heard the gasp of the audience and saw the nod of approval from the prefect, she felt dizzy and her head started spinning. Suddenly she was no longer standing in the courtroom, but instead was in the middle of a green pasture, the ends of which were covered by a heavy fog. She looked around nervously, unsure whether to move. But then a voice echoed around her, a familiar voice that she had not heard for quite some time.
"I am very proud of you Alice," Albus Dumbledore said, as he appeared from beneath the fog.
"Grandfather?" Alice stared in disbelief though her heart was happy to see the old man who gave her so much encouragement in life. She hugged him softly before asking, "Where are we?"
"That needs not an explanation my dear, but I do owe you another one," He looked concerned even though his blue eyes continued to twinkle. Suddenly a small table and chairs appeared from the mist and he walked over to sit down.
Alice followed apprehensively, her victory at the trial suddenly an afterthought as she knew she was about to learn the answers to some of the questions she had about her life.
"When I came across your name as a practitioner of underage magic and thus, eligible future student of Hogwarts, I had not known of our family connection. Instead it was a dream that told me while also showing me two very different futures. I had a choice between allowing you to study magic with a possibility of it ending in tragedy, or for you to flourish in the muggle world. As you realize now, I chose the latter."
Alice noted the sincerity in his eyes; she knew he hoped he had done the right thing. Then she began to ask a question she feared the answer to, "Was it I…"
"Who caused your mother's death?" Dumbledore finished her question for her; he knew she would ask it. "No blame can be placed on such an event. Your mother was a rational being whose magical abilities never surfaced. This rationality proved both her success and her downfall. I regret not being able to intervene in time and am heartbroken to have lost my only daughter. As you can imagine, it weighed heavily on my choice to repress your magical abilities. I did not want to lose you as well."
Alice's eyes welled with tears as she knew the truth pained him as much as it did her.
"You have flourished Alice, intellectually and emotionally, and you have handled your encounter with the wizarding world with utmost wisdom and patience. You listened before you spoke and I have no doubt in your future abilities. That is why I feel you are ready."
"Ready?" Alice repeated this word and it echoed all around her as the mist began closing in; she did not know where it led.