Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The hearing, much to Hermione's disgust, was being held down in the same courtroom as Harry's had been three years ago, and, when she entered the room, she was incensed to see Severus was chained to the chair in the centre.

Thick leather straps were buckled across his chest; his wrists were manacled to the arms of the chair and his ankles to the legs. Hermione was reminded, horribly, of an old fashioned electric chair. If she had known they were going to do this, she would have insisted on accompanying Severus to the courtroom when they got to the Ministry instead of accepting Kingsley's offer of time to freshen up. She would even have forgone brushing her teeth if she could have prevented them treating him like this.

Of course, the Ministry still believed Severus to be a cold-blooded murderer and premier Death Eater. Well, in an hour's time they would be begging his forgiveness; Hermione would make sure of that.

Her instinct was to rush down the stone steps to his chair, but she couldn't. She was at work now, with all her superiors watching her. She was Professor Snape's lawyer, not the girl who had spent the last twenty-four hours with him, getting to know him, comforting him, sleeping in his arms. Stop that, she chided herself, feeling her cheeks growing warm at the memory. Act professional!

'The court will come to order.' Kingsley's deep, smooth voice echoed through the room. He placed the Pensieve on a small table beside the chair and indicated for the chosen judges – Gawain Robards (of course), Mafalda Hopkirk from the Improper Use of Magic Office, and longstanding members of the Wizangamot, Grizelda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden, to gather round it.

Kingsley approached Severus, wand held out. Severus managed not to flinch, but Hermione could see it was a near thing. Abandoning her professional detachment, she left her seat and ran down the steps of the courtroom to the chained chair. Laying her hand on top of his (she wanted to hold it, just briefly, but the cuffs prevented that) she said, softly 'Let the memories go, Severus. This is what you've been holding onto them for. It's OK.'

The Minister placed his wand to Snape's temple and withdrew a strand of memory. He carried this carefully over to the Pensieve and deposited it onto the surface of the shallow bowl. Then he turned back to the chained chair. 'The prisoner will accompany us.' He flicked his wand and the leather straps unbuckled; the handcuffs and leg-irons opened. Severus stared up at Hermione. 'I can't. I have done nothing for an entire month but replay those memories in my mind. I cannot watch them again.' He lowered his voice to a whisper only she could hear. 'Last night was the first time for a month that I didn't have nightmares.'

She placed her hands on his shoulders. 'You have to. I'm afraid you don't have a choice. I'll be with you. I won't leave you, I promise.'

He looked as if he was going to faint, or be sick, but he nodded. She took his hand and led him over to the Pensieve.

The Minister, the Head of the Auror Office and Ogden went first, bowing over the bowl until their faces touched the surface of the memories, and their feet left the courtroom floor.

Hermione was glad of this, as the two women were much gentler with her and Severus than the men would have been as they encouraged them to do the same. She thanked her lucky stars Shacklebolt had managed to get Dolores Umbridge locked up in Azkaban, for obstructing the truth about Voldemort. Umbridge would have been delighted to be back in the courtroom, throwing her weight around like she did at Harry's hearing.

For the hundredth, the thousandth, time that month, Severus was forced to watch his childhood being played out before his eyes. Hermione watched him carefully. She didn't know how long he would be able to continue standing. He was weak from his month's incarceration, and this was nothing less than mental torture for him. When they got to the memories of his fifth year, she made a decision and conjured chairs for them both.

Kingsley leaned over and hissed, 'The prisoner will stand.'

Hermione's patience snapped. She was aware that any ill-judged outburst now could cost both her job and Snape's freedom, but she'd had enough. 'No. He won't,' she said firmly. 'He can't be expected to take this any more. I set myself up as his lawyer and, as such, it is my job to look after him. As I, too, am exhausted from a night in Azkaban, we will both have to sit. Or are you now treating your own employees as criminals?'

She'd touched a nerve. With an irritable gesture, the Minister turned away from them and ignored them.

They had, by now, come to the part Hermione had been dreading – Snape's betrayal of the Potters, and his subsequent discovery of what that meant. As the desperate, inhuman wail rang through the air, he slumped forward in his chair, unable to bear listening to his own grief. Tears pricking her eyes, Hermione hesitated. Given what had happened earlier, she wasn't sure if she should help him. Her first instinct was to comfort him, as he had her, but would he pull away again? He was a proud and private man, and the entire court was watching them. Then his breath hitched, and the sound caught Hermione somewhere below her breastbone. Damn the court; she didn't care what they thought; this was all their fault anyway. She bent over Severus, putting her arm around his shoulders, and, almost imperceptibly, he leaned into her embrace. The court wouldn't have noticed, but she did, and her heart lightened. She did not release him until the scene ended and his breathing calmed.

She raised her head and glared at the others. Tears were pouring down Mafalda Hopkirk and Grizelda Marchbanks' cheeks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt was looking stunned. She met his eyes and, for a moment, she thought he was going to add Lily and James' deaths to the list of Severus' charges, but after a second he turned wordlessly from her and continued watching the scenes being played out in front of him.

When they got to Snape's memory of saving Dumbledore from the cursed ring, the subsequent conversation and his reluctant promise, the court took an awed intake of breath and started muttering amongst themselves. Hermione wasn't going to get her hopes up yet, but she was fairly sure the responses were in her favour.

Two minutes later they were all standing back in the courtroom. Severus was ushered back to the chair (with rather more respect than he had been hauled out of it), and the Veritaserum was produced.

Hermione couldn't see that it was necessary, not after what the court had just been shown. There was no way Severus had tampered with his memories – there was no unnatural fog, no inexplicable darkness – but four months working for the Ministry had taught Hermione that rules, unlike memories, could not be tampered with.

She reflected that she hadn't had much to do in the actual hearing. Her job had been to see that Severus' case was heard, and to give him moral support. At least he was accepting her help – she hadn't been sure, after what had happened earlier, that he would. She smiled inwardly as she allowed herself to relive those moments: the scent of him, the feel of his skin beneath her cheek, of his hands on her hair...

The Minister for Magic cleared his throat, and Hermione realised, with a start, that she had daydreamed through the whole of Severus' statement. The court was ready to pronounce its verdict.

'There is no case to answer. Severus Snape is hereby cleared of all charges of murder and Death Eater activity. And,' said Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was still looking shocked at what he had just seen and extremely ashamed of his own conduct, 'I think we should award an Order of Merlin, First Class, for Services to the Order of the Phoenix.'

He held out his hand to Snape, who, Hermione was relived to note, had more colour in his face now, and whose hand was perfectly steady.

'Having your victim ask you to kill him is a pretty good defence,' Kingsley remarked, shaking Severus' hand. Then, catching sight of Hermione's unimpressed face, he became suddenly serious. 'My sincere apologies, Professor, for everything that we... no, that I have put you through.' He turned to Hermione. 'You're quite the lawyer, Miss Granger. I shall be recommending a promotion for you with immediate effect.'

Hermione met his gaze, coolly. 'Thank you, Minister. Now, if the Ministry has quite finished persecuting innocent men, I am going to escort Professor Snape back to Hogwarts.'

A/N: This photo inspired this story. It is a still of Richard Armitage as Lucas North (middle) and Struart Wilson as Arkady Kachimov (right) in the BBC drama 'Spooks' (Series 7: 2008). To me (with a little bit of wishful thinking!) it is Snape being dragged into the courtroom by Ministry officials. The look in his eyes – half fear, half furious defiance is perfect.