Chapter 12

Severus frowned at the piles of parchment on the kitchen table.

"Surely this has nothing to do with the court case?"

"Mm?" Hermione looked up. He was wearing his black dressing gown, which no longer stretched around him; it gapped slightly in the front displaying a sliver of pale, hairless skin. She had no intention of telling him so, but he looked as if he'd swallowed a beer barrel. "Oh, this is the syllabus for Muggle-Wizarding studies."

Severus lowered himself carefully onto a kitchen chair.

"So you intend to take the job?"

"Yes." She took in a deep, slightly tremulous breath. "I haven't handed in my notice at the Ministry yet, or officially responded to Minerva's offer, but yes, I'm going to teach at Hogwarts. I want to make a difference, Severus, and it all fits in with the rest of my life as well. I'll be free during the holidays for Hugo when he's old enough to go to school. There's a little primary school in Hogsmeade that has a very good reputation."

"You have thought this all out very carefully," he said. His dark eyes were almost blank. "Do I fit into this plan of yours?"

"Of course you do!" She put down her quill. "Severus, whatever you decide to do, you'll be a big part of Hugo's life."

"And your life?"

"If you want to, yes."

"I am ... considering Minerva's suggestion."

"That would be wonderful."

"However, it all hinges upon the outcome of the court case."

"I had an owl from Squiffle; he says there's no decision about the date yet. Harry says the Wizengamot members have been scuttling around a lot recently, so he and Kingsley think something's going on."

Severus shifted uncomfortably on the hard wooden chair.

"I shall owl Strood and instruct her to remove Hugo tomorrow or Friday. I believe she will be agreeable."

"He is very large," Hermione agreed. "Two weeks early shouldn't be a problem for him, should it?"

"It cannot happen soon enough."

Hermione smiled as he heaved himself to his feet and waddled out of the kitchen. She and Ginny had already been shopping for everything needed to turn the smaller bedroom into a nursery. Severus had refused to visit Diagon Alley for the last month, claiming that his back would not withstand the amount of walking. Hermione couldn't really blame him. He was a very private person, and although the surge of mild popularity resulting from Luna's campaign might stand him in good stead when it came to the court case, he would not tolerate middle-aged witches clucking over him, patting his tummy and asking when he was due.

She heard him treading slowly up the stairs, then water clanking in the old pipes as he ran a bath.

There was a sudden flare of green and Harry's voice called her name. Hermione jumped to her feet and leaned down to talk to his flame-shrouded head.

"Court case is called for tomorrow," he said.

"Oh, hell."

"Exactly. The bastards did this to me as well. They're not going to owl Severus till tomorrow; luckily Iorweth ap Howells is friendly with us; he tipped the wink to Kingsley."

"Severus was going to ask Strood to get Hugo out tomorrow."

"Would be best if he didn't," Harry said, scratching his ear. "Frankly, he should use every weapon he can. The witches will be more inclined to be lenient if he's still flaunting a huge belly."

"Hardly flaunting."

"You know what I mean. He needs to look noble, long-suffering, heroic and dignified."

"And about to explode."

"A sympathy vote is still a vote. Got to go; I'm not supposed to know about this and certainly not supposed to warn you in case Snape does a bunk." He rolled his eyes. "Don't think he's in any state to fly, is he?" Then, after a beat, he added, "Don't panic, Hermione, we'll be okay."

With that, he withdrew and the flames died. Hermione sat back on her heels and practised taking deep, slow breaths.

oooOOOooo

Hermione watched as the members of the Wizengamot took their places, trying to guess from their expressions whether they were for Severus or against him. Many of the staid witches and wizards looked angry or alarmed when they saw the large crowd already gathered in the court room, although a number appeared pleased, and a few went so far as to acknowledge friends in the audience.

The Weasleys were there, including Molly, to Hermione's surprise. Minerva led a delegation from Hogwarts that included Flitwick, Neville, Hooch, Sinistra, Vector and Trelawney. Luna appeared, looking chirpy and flourishing a long ostrich feather quill, and a small crowd of Slytherins collected around the triple hubs of Lucius and Draco Malfoy and Horace Slughorn.

Bunter waved at Percy, who banged his gavel on the desk before him and called, "Bring in the accused!"

Severus was accompanied by only two Aurors: one tall and gangly with red hair, the other smaller and slighter, his messy black hair and bright green eyes instantly recognisable. Harry had one hand under Severus' elbow and was speaking to him quietly.

Severus himself wore plain black robes and a black travelling cloak. He made no attempt to disguise his unwieldy shape, and once he had allowed Harry to help him to a seat in the centre of the room, he rested one hand on top of his belly. Harry and Ron each took a step back and clasped their hands behind their backs, looking alert, competent and very much as if they were protecting Severus rather than expecting to restrain him.

"Severus Snape," Bunter said rather more loudly than necessary, "you are accused of using Unforgiveable curses. Let's face it; this is all a waste of our time, isn't it? You admit that you killed Albus Dumbledore – may he rest in peace – using the Killing Curse. The Killing Curse is Unforgiveable; ergo, you cannot be forgiven. All we need to do is decide the exact level of punishment..."

"Chief Warlock Bunter, my client had very good reasons for what he did, and I intend to prove to this court that he had no choice in the matter, and if he is to be punished at all, that punishment should be trivial."

"Of course you do, Squiggle, Squiffle, whatever your name is. That's what you're paid for."

Next to Hermione, Ginny gave her a bracing smile as Squiffle called his first witness.

Minerva McGonagall was an impressive witch under any circumstances. She described the terrible time when Severus had been Headmaster without mincing her words, admitting that she had hated Severus for what he had done. She told how she and the other staff gradually came to understand how he had protected them and the students, shielding them from the excesses of the Carrows. Then she relayed how Harry's words and those of Dumbledore's portrait had changed her mind about Severus, once she believed that it was too late to ask his forgiveness.

Next Draco Malfoy spoke, describing his own part in the downfall of Dumbledore in a level, clipped voice that spoke of deeply controlled emotions. Luna's quill and those of the other reporters present scratched busily on their parchments.

Other Hogwarts staff and ex-pupils gave their evidence. Squiffle was building up a picture of Severus as a deeply honourable man who had been placed in an impossible situation. From the cross-questioning by the members of the Wizengamot, Hermione began to fear that Squiffle's plan was flawed. The Wizengamot witches and wizards were not concerned with why Severus had done it; they cared only that he had admitted to having killed. There would be no forgiveness for Severus Snape.

"It'll be okay," Ginny whispered, squeezing her hand. "Ron's got a plan."

"Oh, no ..."

"Hermione, think! He might be a bit of a plonker but what's he good at?"

Hermione looked at her friend, a glimmer of hope flickering in her heart. "Chess."

"Exactly. He and Harry were huddled in the study till one o'clock this morning. All they would say was that there wasn't time to tell me anything but that they'd got a plan."

oooOOOooo

With a show of reluctance, Bunter conceded to Squiffle's request for a two-hour lunch break to allow Severus to rest. Harry and Ron took him off to their office, where Harry transfigured a chair into a sofa and sent a Ministry elf for sandwiches and pumpkin juice. Hermione, Ginny and Squiffle joined them, and then there was a flurry of raised voices outside the door while Lucius Malfoy marched in, trailed by an irate Auror.

"It's okay, Wendy," Harry said, waving her away. "I doubt if any of us could keep him out."

"What is that meant to mean, Mr Potter?" Lucius demanded, looking down his nose as if Harry was a small and irritating animal sniffing around his ankle.

"You've protected Professor Snape for the past eight years; I didn't expect you to suddenly stop."

"If you can call it protection," Ron muttered. "Looked more like imprisonment to me."

"I remained at the Manor by choice, Weasley." Severus lowered himself onto the sofa and sighed, folding his hands on top of Hugo.

"There you go," Harry said, levitating plates of sandwiches and jugs of pumpkin juice around the room, "help yourselves. Snape, which sandwiches do you want? We've got ham, cheese and pickle or egg and cress."

Lucius Malfoy caught one of the plates and a goblet and handed them to Severus, seating himself on the sofa so that their thighs almost touched.

"Eat, Severus. You're too thin."

"You are joking?"

Lucius placed a finger under Severus' chin, turning his head so that they were eye to eye and pursed his lips. "Your face is almost as gaunt as it was when you were Headmaster, my friend. Are you not eating?"

"There hasn't been a lot of room in here for food lately. You try eating a big meal while someone kicks your insides."

Lucius placed a large hand firmly on Severus' belly and said, "You in there, behave, or I shall have words."

"I do not believe that will have much effect," Severus said, biting into an egg sandwich. He grasped Lucius' hand and pressed it against himself for a moment before pushing it away and releasing it.

"Start as you mean to go on," Lucius stated, standing up and adjusting his cloak. "They won't play nicely unless trained from an early age." Turning, he addressed Squiffle. "Another of the young Slytherins has agreed to speak on Severus' behalf; I believe she will be an excellent witness. I will introduce you if you will accompany me."

"What was that about?" Ginny breathed into Hermione's ear. Hermione shivered and shook her head as if she had no idea, as if she had not just seen Lucius Malfoy display both his affection and his anxiety for Severus. Lucius swept out of the room with Squiffle at his heels, and Severus stared blankly at the wall, chewing on his lunch as though he were eating sawdust.

oooOOOooo

"It is of no matter," Bunter snapped, his jowls wobbling. "We are uninterested in why Snape acted as he did. You can make all the excuses you want, but the members of the Wizengamot are interested only in the fact that the blasted wizard is guilty! He used an Unforgiveable Curse and that's an end to it!"

A babble of voices rose from the crowd in the public gallery, a few yelling, "That's right! Send the bastard to Azkaban!" And rather more shouting, "No! Shame! Snape's a hero!"

Hermione held on to Ginny's hand. She was furious and terrified. Severus, however, stared at the Chief Warlock with an air of mild curiosity, as if the wizard was reciting ingredients for a potion. Squiffle stood up.

"Chief Warlock, my client is in no fit state to be sent to Azkaban; the journey itself might be enough to kill him. Surely his child is innocent?"

An elderly witch leaned down from the Wizengamot bench.

"He's right, you know, the baby is nothing to do with this. I move that Snape shall be held safely here at the Ministry until he has produced the child; then he should be transferred to Azkaban and the child given to its other parent."

"Sound thinking, Madam Murgatroyd, very sound. All in favour? Has anyone..."

"Excuse me, Chief Warlock." Harry took a couple of paces forward, standing lightly balanced on the balls of his feet, his hands still clasped behind his back. Ginny's grip tightened on Hermione's hand.

"Yes, Auror Potter?"

There was an air of anticipation in the courtroom now, as people leaned in to listen to what the Chosen One had to say.

"It seems to me that Professor Snape..."

"Snape is no longer a professor, Potter!"

"...that Professor Snape is being victimised simply because he was and still is a Slytherin."

"Snape is being brought to justice because he used an Unforgiveable Curse, that's all there is to it."

"It doesn't appear that way to me," Harry said, although in a very pleasant and polite tone. "To me, it seems like he's paying for a choice made for him when he was eleven, by a senile mediaeval artifact."

"No, Mr Potter, he's guilty of using an Unforgiveable Curse!"

"But non-Slytherins don't get hauled up in front of the Wizengamot for that," Harry said, his green eyes wide and guileless.

"They would be treated in exactly the same way, I assure you! Do you have anything to add?"

"Yes, I do. I'm equally guilty, so why am I not standing over there with him?"

"Come, come, Mr Potter!" Bunter waved a hand jovially, and Hermione was reminded of Cornelius Fudge. "Any curse that you used against the Dark Lord is a different matter, that was war ..."

"No," said Harry. "I disarmed Voldemort with Expelliarmus." He smiled slightly as the majority of the Wizengamot flinched at the name. "Let's see, I used four Unforgiveable Curses: I tried to curse Professor Snape with the Cruciatus curse, I definitely used Cruciatus on Bellatrix Lestrange, and I used the Imperius curse on a goblin named Bogrod and a Death Eater named Travers. I was in Gryffindor, though, so I've never been brought to trial. One rule for Slytherins and another for everyone else, is that right? No wonder dark lords pop up every fifty years trying to fight for Slytherin supremacy – the Slytherins have chips on their shoulders a mile wide, and I don't blame them one bit if this is supposed to be justice."

Bunter bared his teeth in what he possibly thought was a smile. "Your misguided loyalty to Snape is excusable; you were very young and impressionable..."

"Yeah, didn't stop you all expecting me to off Voldemort though, did it?"

There was a tense silence, broken as Bunter slammed his hand down on the bench in front of him. "I will not allow Snape to walk out of here just because you say so!"

"Then apply the same rules to everyone, Slytherin or Gryffindor!"

"Very well!" Bunter pointed a shaking finger at Harry and shouted, "You stand accused of the use of Unforgiveable Curses, Harry Potter! What do you say?"

"That I am guilty," Harry exclaimed over the rising voices.

"Potter, no!" Severus half-rose from his seat, but Ron pressed him back down with a hand on his shoulder and leaned over him. Hermione bit on her own knuckle as she and Ginny clung to one another.

"Oh, Merlin," Hermione groaned, "I hope he knows what he's doing."

Ginny nudged her. "Look at Ron and Snape. Ron must have planned this."

Ron Weasley was speaking quietly, close against the fall of Severus' straight black hair. Severus was listening intently, his black gaze on Harry. He glanced across at Hermione, gave a tiny nod and returned his attention to Ron.

Harry turned to face the massed benches of the Wizengamot.

"If Snape's guilty, then so am I. If you allow amnesty for me and send him to Azkaban, then you're guilty of the most blatant injustice imaginable, and I don't want to live in a country where something like that can happen."

"That's right, Potter, you tell them!" screamed a witch from the back of the crowded public area. Hermione thought that it might have been Daphne Greengrass.

"They've backed themselves into a corner," Hermione said to Ginny. "Oh shit, Harry, they're going to send you to prison as well!"

"I don't want to do this, Potter, but you're forcing me to it!" Bunter roared over the rising cries of "Shame!" and "Harry Potter!" Harry threw back his head and waited with an expression of fierce anticipation. "I find you guilty, both of you!"

Aurors appeared, forcing back the witches and wizards who attempted to storm towards the Wizengamot. A few wands were drawn and the trial appeared to be about to descend into a brawl.

Some members of the Wizengamot were already sidling towards the exit behind their benches when a magically amplified voice commanded, "Ladies and gentlemen, kindly remain in your seats!"

Kingsley Shacklebolt strode over to stand beside Severus. He was wearing flowing blue robes that emphasised his broad shoulders and considerable height, and Hermione saw that he held his wand discreetly at his side, among the folds of his robe. "Chief Warlock Bunter," he said, inclining his head politely towards the portly wizard.

"Don't think you can overrule the Wizengamot, Minister!" Bunter slapped both hands down on the bench, making his papers flutter.

"I have no intention of anything of the kind," Kingsley said in his deep, reassuring voice. "It's the role of the witches and wizards of the Wizengamot to decide whether these two wizards are innocent or guilty of the crimes of which they're accused." He nodded at Harry, whose mouth twitched in a tiny smile. "However, it is the Ministry which decides the penalty for those crimes."

"A lifetime in Azkaban, isn't it, Shacklebolt?" Bunter was sweating and his eyes looked wild.

"That is one option, yes," Kingsley agreed, "however, due to the serious nature of the accusations, plus the fact that it appears that the entire Wizengamot is in agreement..."

"That's not true!" A thin wizard jumped to his feet, waving his hands agitatedly. "There hasn't been a vote, look you!"

"Thank you, Mr ap Howells, for pointing out that technicality. Witches and wizards of the Wizengamot, do you find the accused innocent or guilty of using Unforgiveable Curses?"

A number abstained, three obstinately voted 'no' despite the fact that both Harry and Severus admitted their guilt, and Bunter thrust his hand into the air and glared at his companions as they hesitantly raised their hands, condemning both wizards to whatever fate the Ministry decided awaited them.

"So now you're going to suddenly make it permissible to cast Unforgiveable Curses, are you?" Bunter demanded furiously. "Change the rules for the Golden Boy?"

"Not at all, Chief Warlock. You may be aware that although life imprisonment is the usual punishment for this crime, in earlier times other rules applied, and those have never been repealed."

Harry walked to stand beside Severus, both facing Kingsley with calm expressions, although Hermione thought that Severus looked very pale. Kingsley waved a hand, and Aurors strode, in step, to form a semicircle around the two wizards.

"But – that's impossible – no!" Bunter began to stand up and then flopped back again, staring aghast at Kingsley. "You can't mean the death penalty? For Harry Potter?"

"Yes," said Kingsley Shacklebolt.