A/N- Sorry I'm late putting this chapter up, I had a super busy weekend and totally forgot yesterday!
Chapter Twenty
The next morning Hagrid walked slowly through the ministry halls. Buckbeak was on a long length of scruffy rope, serving as a lead and followed Hagrid happily; confused at the new sights and sounds.
"Mr Hagrid?"
An official looking wizard in a smart set of black robes came over to Hagrid.
"Aye that's me." Hagrid said, trying his best to stay calm.
"You didn't need to bring the accused." The official said, with a roll of his eyes, "My name is Titus Carr and I'm here to walk you through the trial."
Hagrid nodded, unsure what to say.
Titus looked him over and sighed, "Do you need a few minutes to smarten yourself up?"
Hagrid picked at his finger nails. He was wearing his best suit but he knew he looked scruffy compared to the other people around him.
"It's quiet all right Mr Hagrid, come this way with me." Titus said kindly.
He led the way through several confusingly long passages. They had a long wait until the lift was completely empty so they could get Buckbeak in. Buckbeak did not enjoy the experience, for a moment getting confused by his reflection but they managed to get him in in the end; leaving a lot of disgruntled workers who had to wait.
"Startin' ta think I shouldn' 'ave brough' 'im wi' me." Hagrid said as he lead the Hippogriff through the gilded corridors.
Titus sighed and didn't say anything. He opened the door to the large room where the trial was to be held. There was a small group of people sitting in two neat rows. Hagrid gave a small wave to Lily who waved back and gave him a reassuring smile.
Hagrid wished she'd been able to bring Danica with her but Lily had already told him she was going to leave Danica at home with Sirius, she didn't want her to get upset. Mr and Mrs Weasley were also sitting, as far away from Lily as the small amounts of seats would allow.
Mrs Weasley glared at Hagrid, before wiping away a few tears with a brightly embroidered handkerchief. Hagrid saw another red headed man sitting next to Mr Weasley; he recognised him as Charlie, their second oldest.
"Mr Hagrid please take a seat on the left side of the room. Tie the accused to the table since you felt it was appropriate to have such a creature in this hearing." An old wizard sneered at Hagrid.
He did as he was instructed, his fingers struggling to tie the notes that would secure Buckbeak due to his nervousness. After a few minutes of him struggling gentle hands took over. Hagrid looked up and gave a grateful smile to Lily.
"Thanks." he mumbled.
"It's OK. You can do this." Lily told him.
"Mrs Snape please return to your seat." The wizard in charge told them.
Lily squeezed Hagrid's arm comfortingly before going and sitting back down.
"We are here today to consider the case of one Hippogriff, goes by the name of Buckbeak. Said creature is accused of attacking a school student, Mr Ronald Bilius Weasley, thirteen, and causing sever bodily harm. How do you plead?"
"Well umm. 'e did...umm" Hagrid took a deep breath and looked at the notes Harry and Hermione had given him, "We plead not guilty."
The wizard sighed, "All right then lets get going. Do you have a statement to make?"
Hagrid nodded, "Aye Sir." he cleared his throat, "Buckbeak is a good pet. 'E 'as been 'round children before and never 'ad an issue. Buckbeak is a wonderful example of a good 'Ippogriff and as a Professor o' 'Ogwarts I feel that it were Ron's actions tha' caused the accident not Buckbeak."
Mrs Weasley let out a large huff of indignation and glared at Hagrid. Hagrid ignored her as Hermione had told him to.
"That's all, thank you for all listenin'." Hagrid finished, sitting back down.
"Thank you for your statement Mr Hagrid. Can you go over what happened?"
"Well I told the class 'ow to go up to a 'Ippogriff, I even used Buckbeak as the example with Mr 'Arry Potter; he had no trouble. The other students then went up to the rest o' the herd. Ron went up to Buckbeak and everythin' went OK to start with but then Ron looked away, to talk to 'Arry which I'd told 'em not to do. That's when Ron got hurt."
The board of the three wizards jotted down a few notes.
"Mrs Weasley please take the stand if you wish to say something."
Mrs Weasley stood up and went over and stood before the group of wizards.
"Thank you for allowing me to speak to you all. I would like to say that my son Ronald is a responsible and caring young man. He has received excellent grades in school and his horrific injury put his school work back greatly. Clearly this wild animal is a danger to students. Ronald could have easily been killed." she said, she looked begrudgingly between Charlie and Buckbeak, "However it has been pointed out to me that dealing with dangerous animals is something that we all need to learn, although why anyone would want to go into such ridiculous work is beyond me." she huffed.
Charlie sighed and leaned back, thankfully his mother had listened, he just hoped it would be enough.
"Thank you Mrs Weasley." the head wizard gave her a note and made several notes, "Are there any more statements to be made?"
Lily raised her hand, "I would just like to say that I have always trusted Hagrid. He currently teaches my son and I often visit with my daughter and they have never come to any harm because they have followed instructions."
The head wizard rolled his eyes subtly but made a few notes, "Thank you Mrs Snape, now we will debate the issue. All please leave the room and we will call you back in shortly."
Lily helped Hagrid untie Buckbeak and Titus escorted them into a small side room. It was fairly dimly lit with a few torches on the walls. Wooden benches lined the walls and it felt uncomfortably like a prison cell.
Hagrid sat on the bench, squished in the corner looking far to big for the room. Lily went and sat next to him, taking her hand gently in her own.
"Are you all right?" She asked him softly.
Hagrid nodded, "Yeah, just worried what they're goin' to say."
Lily gave him a small smile, "I know. We've done all we can though, we will just have to trust they make the right decision." She said it as hopefully as she could but she didn't have much trust in the ministry.
Hagrid nodded, "Thanks Lily."
Lily patted his hand and moved over to the Weasleys.
"I don't think we've had the chance to meet." She said, holding her hand out to Charlie, "Lily Snape, I'm Harry's mother."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Charlie, Charlie Weasley." Charlie smiled, shaking her hand, "I work out in Romania with the dragon populations."
"Wow that's very impressive. I looked at going into dragon care when I left school." Lily told him, "But it was a difficult time back then."
Charlie nodded, "I know what you mean."
"I wanted to thank you for speaking up for Buckbeak Mrs Weasley." Lily said kindly, "He really is a kind creature."
Mrs Weasley straightened her robes, "Well I'm not sure that is the case but Charlie pointed out that Ronald may not have followed all the instructions he was given and it is a dangerous class."
"Yes. It's not the easiest class to take. I'm glad that Ron seems to have made a full recovery though." Lily said.
Mrs Weasley nodded, "Yes. So am I."
Lily smiled to them and went to sit next to Hagrid again, Buckbeak was laying, sprawled out in front of them cleaning his wing feathers.
It felt like a long and uncomfortable wait until Titus reappeared and ushered them into the hall again. Hagrid stood, the wizards glaring down.
"We have discussed this matter at length and considered all the statements made here today. We have agreed that the Hippogriff known as Buckbeak is a danger to students at the school and will therefore have to be removed from the grounds or be put to sleep. We have also concluded that any Hippogriff is a danger to all students under the age of sixteen or in their sixth year of school. If any of these conditions are not met the consequences will be most sever." the head wizard loudly banged a gravel on the desk before him, "We will give you to the end of the year to permanently remove the Hippogriff from the grounds."
Hagrid nodded, "Thank you Sirs." he gave a small awkward bow and followed Titus from the room.
Lily quickly gathered up her cloak and followed him out, "Well that could have been worse."
Hagrid nodded and sniffed, "I'm just not sure what I'm goin' to withou' 'im." he looked on the verge of bursting into tears.
"I'm sure we can find a good home for him Hagrid. It's still a couple of months until the end of the year." Lily assured him, "Please try not to worry."
Hagrid nodded, "Aye I know. And it coulda been so much worse."
"Exactly." Lily smiled, "I have to go and make sure that Danica hasn't driven Sirius into insanity yet."
Hagrid nodded, "Bring her round soon?"
"Of course Hagrid, you know how much she loves coming round." Lily smiled, "And I will always trust you to keep her safe."
Lily gave him a huge hug goodbye and wrapped her cloak around her shoulders before walking towards the disapparation points. She was fighting with the clasp when she walked straight into the back of someone.
"Will you watch where you are walking?!" a haughty voice told her.
"I am so sorry I..." Lily stopped, "I didn't expect to see you here; Your Grace."
Bellatrix straightened her robes, "The feeling is mutual. Please watch where you are going Mrs Snape."
"Of course I am sorry." Lily told her, "Are you well? I didn't see you at the new years ball."
Bellatrix nodded, "I am quiet well, I simply was elsewhere. I have been enjoying spending the year travelling."
"That sounds lovely. Have you been anywhere nice?" Lily asked as the queue moved slowly forward.
Bellatrix nodded, "Yes."
Lily smiled but Bellatrix didn't go any further into details.
"Name." The ministry official asked.
"Lady Bellatrix Lestrange, Duchess of Waterford." Bellatrix told him.
"I hope your visit has proved productive?"
"It hasn't." Bellatrix scowled at him, pushing her way past.
The ministry official looked slightly awkward and jotted her name on the sign out sheet, "Your name?"
"Mrs Snape, Lily." Lily smiled.
"And was your visit productive?"
Lily nodded, "Yes, very much so, thank you."
She stepped though to where several small blue boxes were painted on the ground. She moved to the empty on and spun round on the spot back to Grimmauld Place.
"MUMMY!" Danica called though the house at the sound of the pop.
Lily swept her up in her arms and hugged her tightly.
"I missed you." Danica whispered.
"I missed you too." Lily smiled, "Where you good for Uncle Sirius?"
Danica nodded with a slightly evil grin.
"She's been as good as gold." Sirius smiled, coming into the hall, "We played with her building blocks."
"Sounds like you had a lot of fun." Lily laughed, "Kreacher?"
Kreacher walked into the hallway and gave a small bow, "Yes Miss?"
"Are you free to watch Danica for a little while so I can catch up Sirius up?" Lily asked.
Kreacher flapped his ears and beamed, "Yes Miss. Dinner is needing to go on in one and a half hours so I will needs to be free by then."
"Thank you Kreacher." Lily said, "We'll be finished by then."
Lily and Sirius walked into the library while Danica and Kreacher went up to her room to do some colouring.
"How did it go?" Sirius asked.
"Pretty well, better than I'd dared to hope." Lily told him, "Buckbeak has to leave Hogwarts and Hagrid can't have Hippogriff lessons until the students reach sixth year but really I can't blame them there. Not every student is mature enough to deal with them until them."
"Unlike your five year old who is more than able." Sirius smirked.
Lily couldn't help but feel a flush of pride at the fact Danica was so capable, "Stop it. You know what I mean."
Sirius nodded, "I get it. Unfortunately learning how to live in the magical world will always come with it's dangers. I have to admit though I was surprised after how worried you were about Harry that you were willing to help Hagrid."
"Why?" Lily asked, "Why wouldn't I help? The two things have nothing to do with one another."
"Well Harry could have been hurt in that class rather than Ronald." Sirius pointed out.
"Harry would never have been so stupid." Lily told him, "He listens to his teachers."
Sirius gave her a look, "Really? After all the danger he's been in the last two years it could have easily been him. It wouldn't even need to have been him that upset the creature, it could have been another student and he just got in the way."
Lily leant back against the sofa, "I never thought about it. Does that sound silly?"
Sirius shook his head, "No. Thing is you're going to have a hard time taking Harry out of school if it comes down to it."
Lily nodded, "Yeah I know. I'm not even sure I want to I just… I hate it when he's not here and I can keep an eye on him."
Sirius moved over to sit next to Lily, "I know. It's hard for me as well." He paused and considered telling her about what happened with Nikka but thought better of it. Lily had already asked a few times why she hadn't been around and Sirius had so far been able to brush the comments off.
"I'm not sure how you did it you know." Lily sighed, "After James died, how you ever let us out your sight."
"Well it wasn't easy, ended up living with Severus after all. I guess it just didn't take me long to know you had to be able to be your own person still. You've always been strong headed after all." He grinned.
"Hey!" Lily pouted jokingly, "I was not."
"There you go again, being strong headed." Sirius laughed.
"Danica, come save me!" Lily called out, "Uncle Sirius is being mean to me!"
"That's not fair!" Sirius said.
Lily laughed, as Danica charged into the room and jumped on Sirius, trying to lick him.
"What can I say? Us girls have to stick together." Lily told him, before standing up to help Kreacher with the dinner.