i know. its been a very long while since ive even touched this story. and for that i appoligize, but i lost all passion for writing for a while and i write super slow...but just know i really want to finish this story. i know i have a reputation for starting stories but not finishing stuff...one of my favorite authors had that same problem, but im trying.
im not entirely satisfied by this chapter, but come on. its Snapes trial. not much can be said about it, i just want to get it over with.
i dont own Harry Potter. all rights to Rowling.
The next morning Harry and Tonks were let go, Harry having woken up sometime around midnight and passing all of the standard tests healers had to go through for mind assault.
"Wonder why he did that.. isn't he a teacher?" Tonks asked, rubbing the scar on her arm from where the curse hit her first.
"It's...all a blur." Harry rubbed his head, "from what I managed to steal from him he was completely and obsessed with my mum...and he mistook that for love. He was the one who told the dark lord about that prophecy auntie Bella told us about...by spying on Dumbledore, who decided to have an interview in the hog head," Harry scowled at that one, "anyway, he begged the dark lord to spare my mum and give her to him. Only went to Dumbledore to hedge his bets."
"That doesn't explain why he hated you though..." Susan and Hannah appeared next to them.
"That has to do with my dad. He hated my dad with a passion...from what I've made out my dad bullied him some after he began hanging out with what is now death eaters, and they nearly killed each other a few times."
"And because you look a lot like your dad..." Susan nodded, "either way, he attacked two members of ancient and noble houses. He's being fed so much veritaserum that he won't be able to lie for the rest of his life according to Auntie. Though you guys will probably have to give a statement and memory too."
"Whatever gets him out of Hogwarts." Harry shrugged, "the moment we entered his class I knew he wasn't gonna be a good teacher. No safety equipment, no explanations. I bet he was just gonna set us brewing without teaching us the basics anyway."
"Not to mention how he had his ingredients Cabinet set up too." Hannah nodded, "Mum would've been appalled at that thing alone."
"POTTER!" Everyone winded and turned towards a ferret-faced boy, "How dare you attack my godfather."
"Last I checked, Malfoy, he attacked first."
The boy growled, "I challenge you to a duel!"
Everyone blinked in surprise, "Draco...last time you did this you got thoroughly whipped." Tonks said, she didn't care about the spoilt brat...not even his mother did at this point, but she had to put a token of effort into getting through to him.
"I'm much stronger than before!" His face turned red.
"I seriously doubt that...but very well cousin. Since you challenged me, I say we dueled in Flitwick's class this week. I recall he was going to go over the basics of dueling, he'll probably be delighted to see a few volunteers."
Draco ground his teeth, sometimes he hated pureblood tradition. He was planning on getting them in trouble for being out of bed after curfew. "Fine. You and your second be prepared." He spat out and stomped off.
"I take it you're volunteering yourself in tomorrow's demonstration then Mister Potter." Professor Flitwick said as he appeared from behind a portrait, which Tonks snuck around the shorter professor to check out.
"If you'll have us professor."
"Oh absolutely. It's always a pleasure when a student volunteers for a job. I think the last one was your mother In fact."
"You knew my mum?" Harry asked excited, perhaps he could get to know her without the very creepy memories of Severus Snape that he was very cautiously sorting through.
If he had to watch one more fantasy he had about his mum he would lose it.
"Oh absolutely. She was one of, if not the best student I've ever had. Stop by for some tea and I'll tell you about her."
"Thank you, professor," Harry smiled
"Of course of course. Head on into the hall. I'm sure you're starving. Magical healing may be faster, but it stirs the appetite like none other."
The hall quieted as they entered, and Harry was caught off guard as almost every older student began cheering him on.
"Snape is not very well-liked it seems..." Tonks muttered.
"Of course not." Susan said as they sat down, "Auntie Amiela has been trying to get Snape taken down for years. The average number of people with potion NEWTs has dropped to almost nothing since he started teaching. That's why healers, aurors, and potion masters are some of the hardest to attain careers."
Harry blinked as a Gryffindor sat next to them, "its...Hermione, right?"
"Yes...are you ok?" She searched him over with her eyes.
"Sure. I was able to hold him off for the most part...it was Tonks that took a dark curse point blank." Harry shrugged
Her gaze turned to Tonks, who showed her the slight scar on her arm, "I can't believe a teacher would do that..." She mumbled
"He was no teacher. Like Susie was saying, he's the main reason not many people can become aurors or healers, and why most potion masters are older and on the verge of retiring."
Susan glared at him, "My name is Susan. Don't call me Suzie. I hate it and Harry knows that."
"Nice to meet you..."
She went to stand, "You know...you could stay. You'd find a smarter conversation over here than with them...the other girls in your year seem to be more gossip mongers."
Hermione blinked but smiled as she sat down, "thank you..."
Harry smiled at the sound of relief that she had, "So, what classes do we have today? Being stuck in the hospital wing kind of prevents me from checking."
"History and astronomy. So we've got the whole day off." Hannah shrugged
Hermione frowned, "But you guys have a history..."
"History of Magic is taught by Binns." Tonks grumbled, "he's a ghost, and his monotonous voice makes everything boring according to Mum. Not to mention he won't even notice if you're in class. We're better off with self-study."
"Maybe we can convince Missi Cissa to give us History lessons. She's got a mastery in it." Harry said.
"She does come around back home enough to get a lesson or two in."
"Alright class, today we're going to go over the fundamentals of dueling. Mr. Potter here has volunteered himself and Mister Malfoy today." Flitwick said, practically bouncing around happily, Harry and Malfoy stepped up onto the stage, "Now boys, disarm only. First, you bow to each other." Both bowed and backed away, "now on the count of 3."
Harry hadn't expected anything else as soon as Malfoy launched forward, a piecing hex launching out before Flitwick had even begun counting down.
Dodging he swung his wand over and ropes launched toward the boy, wrapping around him.
"And were done. Now, outside of Mr. Malfoy not listening to me." He glared at the bound boy, "Five points from Gryffindor for that by the way, that was an excellent showing on Mr. Potter's part. Can anyone tell me what spell Mr. Potter used?"
Hermiones' hand shot up, "incarcerous sir." She said as she was called on, "But how did it work? Harry didn't speak a word or use wand motions..."
"Very observant Ms. Granger. That is because, strictly speaking, incantations and wand motions are not required to use magic. We just teach them at the beginning of Hogwarts to help children learn to focus their Magic and allow them to learn to cast spells. 15 points to Hufflepuff by the way Mr. Potter."
Harry entered the ministry with Andromeda and Tonks followed with Auntie Bellatrix soon after.
Both women were furious with the attack and wanted to nail Snape to the wall, and to do that they would need to join them in the trial.
Honestly, according to Andi, the only thing that stopped Snape from being thrown in jail, minimum, was Dumbledore, and Lucius.
Lucius Malfoy pulled the strings of a lot of the darker side of the wizengamot and had been a trusted advisor to the minister. He had been angling for a seat on the wizengamot for years now, but due to his allegiance, and general refusal to provide evidence on his imperious defense that Auntie Bellatrix had set an example of, several newborn, or Muggle as the old-fashioned preferred to call them, got the seats before him.
Much to the man's ire.
It didn't make him powerless, but it forced him to play a bit more carefully so he didn't get caught.
Entering the court Harry looked around amazed, everything looked so stately and official...except for some fat pink woman who looked like she had botched a transfiguration and now looked a little too much like a toad. She was wearing a bright pink cardigan.
"How is she allowed to wear that in the wizengamot chambers Andi?" Harry asked.
Narcissa, who had just appeared, sneered, "She's the undersecretary of the minister. Most people are too afraid to stand up to her."
"This court will now come into session!" An older woman took the stage.
"Oh good. Griselda is taking judge today. Dumbledore would've just made sure Snape was free." Bellatrix said as Narcissa went to take the Black seat and Andromeda the Potter seat.
Luckily she and Lucius were only married in name. They didn't even live together anymore. So he couldn't take that seat from her, or Harry since she was his proxy.
"Today's agenda will be the trial of one Severus Snape, who was caught by the head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones, not only attempting to mind rape a student in Harry Potter, but hit another student with a dark cutting curse that according to the on-site healer, must have been made from him since the only way she was able to save the victim is because Mr. Potter managed to pull the counter curse from his head. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty. Surely my word is worth more than a bunch of first-year brats?" Snape sneered.
"I will be the witness for defense!" Dumbledore burst Into the room.
"Very well. Shall we get started?"
The next hour was mind-numbing and boring for Harry. Dumbledore did his best to get Snape off, but not even he could argue the number of people who testified against him, especially when the court saw the cuts on Tonks's arms, which matched several attacks and deaths back in the war that had never been solved, resulting in more charges being piled on top of him since he had never been acquitted of his crimes. He had only been let go on Dumbledore's word, which was the imperious defense for him.
Finally, Harry had been called up, "Mr. Potter, perhaps you can give us an explanation of what happened? We know what happened to Ms. Tonks, but to most others, you were just staring at each other."
Harry nodded, "well, I entered the class and was very confused and worried after looking around."
"About what Mr. Potter?"
"The classroom." Murmurs began rising, "Entering into the classroom I noticed three things, it was not a properly lit or ventilated room...and all of the school potion ingredients were just stuffed into a cupboard. Not to mention I didn't see any safety equipment."
A man stood up, "what do you mean Mr. Potter?"
Harry frowned, but saw the Symbol in the area in front of him, "well, Lord Greengrass, growing up I was taught the basics of potion theory by all three black sisters, three women who are arguably the best brewers to come through Hogwarts according to a man I met once known as Horace Slughorn."
That caused a lot of people to mumble in agreement since the majority of them had been taught by the man.
"The first thing all three of them taught me is you always and a large spacious room that's properly ventilated since the fumes of a potion are known to carry some of the potion effects, the most commonly known one everyone has experienced was Amortentia." People nodded again, "and that you can't let your ingredients touch. That can cause what muggles call cross-contamination, and make it so that even if you followed the recipe exactly it could be ruined due to a little bit of something that's not supposed to be in there."
Lord Greengrass, an avid potioneer follower nodded and sat down, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Continue please Mr. Potter." Madame Marchbanks said.
"Right...well, despite the horrible conditions of the classroom I sat down, and the man burst into the room looking like he owned the place. He took attendants and when he got to my name he began asking questions like the names of Aconite, where a bezoar is located, and the main ingredients in the draught of living death. Only one of them was supposed to be taught to first years, and the only reason I knew them was because of my teachers. He got mad and then began probing my mind...it was all I could do to keep him out..." Harry shuddered, "I heard Dora scream and saw a red liquid fly...and then I saw red. I managed to reverse the connection and throw him out, snagging the counter curse to whatever he sent at Dora due to it being at the forefront of his mind. I don't remember much after that."
Amelia stood, "Let it be known to the court that when I came in Mr. Potter had begun bleeding from his nose indicative of mental strain."
"Thank you, Madam Bones." March Marchbanks nodded.
"What I don't understand is how that man was allowed to teach for so long..." Harry finished.
"What do you mean Mr. Potter?" That came from a woman who looked an awful lot like Tracey Davis.
"After being attacked I looked into the man...since he's taken the reigns of potion master, not only has the quality of potions for the school dropped dramatically, but the number of people able to get a NEWT in potions, and those that do have to have a few more years of tutoring than usual if they want to get a mastery because they don't know half of what they should." Harry paused and licked his lips, this would be the deciding factor on whether the man walked free or not, "isn't that bad? Without future potioneers, we lose out on Aurors and healers, and diseases will rise again."
That caused a dull conversation to arise.
"Without competent potioneers diseases like dragon pox that we've long since been able to prevent will come back because nobody will be able to brew the vaccine?"
The room descended into silence as every single Lord/Lady of the Wizengammot turned to stare at Snape, who had begun sweating quite profusely.
"I think...the members of the Wizengamot should break for a discussion on what we have just heard." Marchbanks banged her gavel and everyone not in a lord seat was ushered out, except Snape, who was dragged out.
Almost an hour later everyone was allowed to come back in, which Auntie Bellatrix says was a good thing.
Marchbanks looked exhausted as she spoke, "After a long and heated discussion...due to the evidence and the facts Mr. Potter has made use realize...we have decided that Severus Snape is guilty on all accounts put up against him, both past and present...and after consulting several healers we have decided to charge Mr. Snape for treason against our very government for his negligence and willful sabotage against what should arguably be one of the most important subjects in Hogwarts."
Snape had been silenced during the recess as he raged and screamed, but no sound came from him.
"Due to this a full-scale Investigation will be done on Hogwarts since Albus Dumbledore has actively stopped many attempts at fixing the other problem class in Hogwarts, defense against the dark arts. This body can no longer ignore the problems in our school if they lead to our people being weaker for it."
Dumbledore looked miserable at that, and Harry had to wonder how much the old man had hidden from everyone.