Alexandra Potter
Chapter Thirteen
Scene 7/7
"It's not going well, is it? said Alex. She and Hugh had escaped through a small door to a luxurious bathroom with marble floors and a crystal chandelier. An Auror was outside the door, but he'd let them go into the room alone. There was only one door.
"Hmm?" said Hugh. He was looking at his pocket watch: a strange contraption with more dials and hands than Alex could make sense of. She didn't really care.
"I saidit's not going well." She glared at Hugh. He was supposed to be fighting for her, not looking at his pocket watch.
"Oh," replied Hugh, still not looking at her. Her rotated a a couple of gold knobs. At last, he gave her his attention. "I had hoped it would go better, yes. Bailiff Hess… I don't think we can count on her."
Alex sighed and leaned on the sink, staring at herself in the mirror. "Maybe I should try blonde," she muttered. "Obviously black isn't working."
"Too late for that now," Hugh said. Alex turned on a tap and splashed her face with freezing cold water. The shock of it felt good. She looked at herself again, and shook her head.What am I doing thinking about hair colour?
"So what's our new strategy?" she said, businesslike. "Do we have some good witnesses?"
Hugh busied himself with his watch again. "I'm afraid I don't have much good news on that front. We only have one. Lily Moon."
Alex wanted to knock the watch out of Hugh's hands. "One?" she said, barely containing her anger. She had trusted him! "You only have one witness?"
Hugh snapped the watch shut placed it back in his pocket. "It seems that you've done a pretty good job of alienating everyone you know, Alex."
Shame and embarrassment filled her. What did it say about her that only one person in all the world would come to her defence? But that wasn't right. There were two. "Well, at least we had Sophie. That will help, right?"
"Perhaps," said Hugh. "But--"
They were interrupted by a knock on the door. It was the Auror - Williams, or Whorl, or something like that. "Time's up."
They retook their seats and before long Bailiff Preston began proceedings. "Mister Lewis, you still have one final witness to give testimony, correct?"
Lewis stood. "That's correct, sir. Our final witness is an expert in the area of Dark Magic and has travelled all the way from Europe to give testimony. The prosecution calls High Master Igor Karkaroff to the stand."
"What?" said Hugh, reaching for his watch. "That makes no sense!" Alex ignored him. The people sitting behind her were whispering frantically - she leaned back to listen in and frowned. She definitely heard them sayDeath Eater. And then a tall, thin man wearing furs swept into view. His mean face was twisted in an expression of disdain. Alex disliked him immediately: his black goatee, his black eyes, and his tied black hair. He sat down as if the simple chair were one of the bailiffs' thrones.
"Thank you for coming, Mr Karkaroff. Can you tell me what your profession is?"
"I am the High Master of Durmstrang Institute," he said. He had a thick Eastern European accent.
"The High Master… that's essentially the same as the Headmaster, correct?"
Karkaroff's lip curled at the line of questioning. "That is correct."
"But before you worked at Durmstrang, you were were a Death Eater, yes?"
Karkaroff's eyes flicked towards Alex. She couldn't read his expression. "A decision I regret every day of my life."
Lewis looked up towards the bailiffs. "I would like it to be clear that Mr Karkaroff is an expert in the Dark Arts, as shown by his past as a Death Eater and his position at Durmstrang Institute. But it is well known that he cooperated with the Ministry, leading to several arrests. For many years now Mr Karkaroff has been the image of a respectable citizen. It is with those considerations in mind that I hope the panel will hear his testimony."
"Duly noted, Mr Lewis," said Preston.
"Thank you, sir," said Lewis, and he moved to stand behind the chair. "Mr Karkaroff, when you look at Miss Potter what do you see?"
"Darkness," he spat, "she reeks of it. I have only felt it once before, like this."
Lewis almost smiled. "And where was that?"
"In the presence of the Dark Lord."
More whispers. Quigley and Hess were conferring silently.
Lewis stepped forward once more to take centre stage. "Children fight, we have heard. And this is true. But how many of them fight with powerful Dark magic? My son certainly does not. Does yours, Bailiff Preston?" Preston's only answer was to wave at Lewis to continue. "And of course, we must not pretend to forget that most obvious of facts: this is not ordinary girl sitting before us. This is the Girl Who Lived! The defeater of You-Know-Who. Only extraordinary power could allow a child to escape him with but a scar." And now he advanced on Alex, closer and closer, until she thought he was going to touch her, but he stopped right in front of her. "Mr Karkaroff: do you have any observations to make about Miss Potter's most curious scar?"
"Forged through the darkest of magic," he said, raising his hand to gesture dramatically with each word. "Only with powerful Dark magic could she have defeated the Dark Lord."
Lewis turned to the bailiffs and raised his bushy eyebrows. "One final question. If Miss Potter were a student at Durmstrang, Mr Karkaroff, what would you do with her?"
"Expel her. Without a doubt."
Lewis returned to his seat. "No further questions." He sat down to silence.
Bailiff Preston cleared his throat. "The panel needs a moment to confer." He raised his wand and cast a silencing spell, blocking all sound from the platform. They began to speak to each other, and it wasn't a peaceful discussion. They were waving their hands, pounding the table, and more than once Hess pointed at Alex, her finger full of judgement.
"What are they discussing?" she asked.
"I have no idea. This is really most irregular," Hugh said, and he glanced at the watch still in his hand. He was beginning to look very nervous. "But I have a bad feeling about it."
The privacy bubble dissipated and Preston stood up.
"Panel has reached a judgment," he said, and he produced a golden wand from inside his robes.
Hugh jumped up so fast he knocked his chair over. "You can't do that!"
Preston frowned and Hugh shunk back. "Apologist Welsey-Wesley, in light of the evidence from Mr Karkaroff, it is panel's opinion that this matter must be heard by the Lords of the Wizengamot." He held the golden wand over the scales. "So I have said, so it will --"
Hugh's watch chimed. "WAIT!" shouted Hugh, and Preston's hand froze. "Wait! We have a witness who must be heard!"
"Mr Welsey-Wesley, I have made my--"
The doors crashed open so quickly they hit the walls with an almighty bang. Every head turned; five Aurors marched in.
"All hail!" cried one. "All hail His Grace Cornelius Fudge, by the will of Parliament Minister of Magic, First Wand of Britain, Chief Justice of the Wizengamot and Wizard of the Silver Sceptre, the Duke of Bombay, Sheriff of Canada, Australia, and all overseas realms!"
It didn't take long after that. Fudge immediately took control of the hearing, announcing a recess so that he could confer with the bailiffs. Upon his return he made a long speech about the value of children, the importance of education, the need to be able to make mistakes, and the great debt owed to Alexandra by the wizarding world.
"...and so, I'm sure you can all see why I couldn't just sit back and watch a child hauled before the Wizengamot," said Fudge, standing alone on the platform. The three bailiffs were nowhere to be seen. At some point the press had made it into the room and cameras were flashing constantly.
Alex felt like she was in a dream. She was quite sure, in fact, that she really was dreaming: one moment she was well on her way to Azkaban, the next she was being rescued by a portly man in a purple bowler hat.
"And what about my daughter!" shouted Harmand, slumped in his seat. He had passed through angry near the beginning to the speech and now just looked exhausted.
"Discipline is, of course, a necessary part of growth," said Fudge, nodding and smiling at Greengrass. Alex was sure Fudge had made an enemy out of him. "And so, in addition to her ongoing suspension from Hogwarts and her time under arrest, Alexandra will pay a weregild of 1500 galleons to the Greengrass family."
Thatgot Harmand sitting up and clapping with the rest of them. It was half of Alex's money and she couldn't bring herself to care. After what she had done, maybe Daphne deserved it more than her. And none of that mattered anyway, she thought as Fudge handed her a very familiar wand.
She was free.