Author's Note: Here is the final chapter of 'When Life Must Go On'! I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I have enjoyed writing it!
Several weeks later...
The man presiding over the Wizengamot stares blankly over the crowded room as the sound of hundreds of people murmuring causes a roar in his ears very similar to the sound of the sea against jagged cliffs. He feels very much like he is out in the middle of a storm with waves crashing all around him. There seems to be no end in sight for the danger that everyone thought was over and he feels as if he is somewhat to blame. Who else was there to blame besides himself? He was the one who brought her there in the first place after all. He takes a deep calming breath before he reaches for the gavel.
"Order!" Kingsley says, authority drips from the very word as he pounds away with the gavel. Suddenly, the crowded room becomes silent. It was an eerie kind of silence that nearly causes him to shudder. Steeling himself for the rest of the débâcle that should surely ensue after this meeting, he speaks again. "Guards, bring in the convicted."
A curt nod from the two wizards was the only reply as they silently move out of the room to the holding cell adjacent to the room. Momentarily, the guards reappear with the convicted female in between them. The sight of the female between them causes the room to explode into a din of indistinguishable voices that makes Kingsley pound away with the gavel again.
"I will clear this room of all onlookers if there is another outburst," he threatens as the crowd in the room goes quiet. Staring at the accused female that has caused the disturbance within the courtroom. "Now, before we begin, I need for you to state your name to the Wizengamot."
"I am Minerva McGonagall. Former Headmistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"And do you understand the reason behind your presence in this room and in front of the Wizengamot?"
"Yes, I do," Minerva replies quietly. Her eyes never stray from the dark orbs of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
The wizard nods his head, "So, then you understand that this is a hearing based on your actions last month and the subsequent activities that occurred?"
The witch nods her head softly and then stares at the marble flooring.
"Answer the question Professor McGonagall."
"Yes... yes I do understand."
Kingsley nods his head stiffly and takes a deep breath, "As you know, and as the Wizengamot knows, the audience shall also know the reason behind your appearance here today. Let it be known for the record that last month on Monday May 18th, you, Professor Minerva McGonagall, broke in to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and released wanted criminal Hermione Riddle, also known as Hermione Granger, from her hospital room and allowed her to escape. You then proceeded to tell her the location of Death-Eater at large, Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black. A location that was only known to Aurors who were closing in on Ms. Lestrange's location. This bit of information leak has now caused both witches to disappear off our radar and over two months of planning is now wasted. Do you have anything to say in your defence? If not, how do you plead?"
The older witch looks up towards the wizard she has known since he was a child and smiles wearily at him, "I have but one thing to say in my defence, and you already know what it is Kingsley..." she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. A lone tear slides down her cheek as she continues, "It is a question that I had asked you after I released Hermione from her confinement. Since I have asked you this question and you lacked the answer, I shall ask it of the Wizengamot. Maybe they now the answer... that is, if I can pose my question to them?"
Kingsley nods his head in approval but stays silent, he knows the question very well yet still ponders over what the answer may be.
Professor McGonagall slowly stands as she addresses the court, "Members of the Wizengamot I ask you but one question and one question only: Should a person be condemned for their actions for a crime that was perpetrated on them several years before?
"Think before building the answer in your head ladies and gentlemen. I am sure by now you have all heard of the dastardly things that Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore had done to Hermione in the past. She has never had a day in her life that wasn't planned out for her..."the older witch stares at the people around the room, "How would you feel if that was you? How would you feel if you were, at a very young age, trapped in a vicious web unable to do what you wanted to do for fear of the deaths of the only family you had ever known? Would you retaliate? Or would you fully comply until the very end?"
Murmuring erupts in the hall as Minerva pauses to catch her breath and to allow what she had said to sink in. Raising her hand, the professor silences the crowd, "You may say what I did was wrong, that I should have never tampered with what the Wizengamot had decreed... yes, I am guilty of releasing a young woman from the hospital room that was her prison at St. Mungo's and yes, I released her from the spell that I myself had put her under so she could not know what was real and what was imaginary. I feel horrible for nearly driving Hermione mad with the images that were interlaced with what really happened to her. I was hurt that such a wonderful girl had become a vicious murderer for the dark, but if I had to, I would release her again from such a prison and allow her to find her own life and to live as she was supposed to. If I am guilty of one thing, I am guilty of allowing a young witch to follow her heart and to be able to love someone who was thought to not have the capacity to love anyone, not even herself." The older witch sits back down in the high-back chair in the middle of the room and closes her eyes. Everyone stares silently at the woman in the middle of the room waiting to see if she would speak again.
Sensing that she was finished, Shacklebolt clears his throat, "Well, if there isn't anything else to add, we shall start the deliberation. The two guards walk slowly up to the chair in the middle of the room and carefully take Minerva back towards the holding cell.
New York City, New York ...
"Remind me again why we are here?" Bellatrix asks as she follows the young brunette through the crowds on 57th Street and Lexington.
"No one will find us here, my love, too many people to even attempt to search for two people," Hermione replies with a quick smile as she turns down a random side street. "Remember how the Ministry kept the Second Wizarding War off the records? Well, we are going to use that to our advantage. Kingsley and his Aurors will never find us here, they are too busy with Minerva's actions to come after us."
Bellatrix smiles as she thinks back to the day that the Headmistress had brought Hermione back to her, "I am just glad she had a change of heart. She was the one who had sent you to that damnable place in the first place."
"Who said she had a change of heart?" Hermione says with a smirk as she stops in front of large abandoned building. "A good Imperious works so much better than a sudden change of heart. Besides my love, do you think she would have ever let me go free?"
"I am just glad you are free, dear. I tried everything I could to get to you. After you attempted to escape after killing that doctor, they heightened security... they nearly killed me!" The older witch lifts her hand and softly cups Hermione's cheek causing the younger woman to close her eyes and sigh, "I spent every night thinking about you and plotting schemes to get you out of there. I missed you."
"I missed you too, Bella," she smiles at the older woman and slowly tilts her head forward to capture the beautiful woman's lips with hers. Suddenly the sky opens up and a torrent of rain falls around them. Both women look up to the sky and smile as the rain continues to beat down upon them. Hermione laughs maniacally and grabs Bellatrix's hand, "Come, let's get out of the rain and into our new quarters. We will lie low for a while... maybe plan a bit and also see what sort of information we can gather about the former Death-Eaters. Who knows?! Maybe next year, we will have what we need to restart my father's empire!"
Bellatrix's eyes light up at the possibility of another war, "The world will tremble at our feet! No one will be safe."
"Yes it will... and the Ministry of Magic will rue the day that it tried to stop Hermione Riddle!"