The Wizengamot

Chapter 11: The Wizengamot

The guard unlocked the small cell and allowed the tall, white-haired old wizard to enter. "Knock when you are ready to leave," he said as he locked the wizard in with the prisoner.

Albus Dumbledore beheld Severus Snape sitting on the small camp bed; glittering black eyes observed him silently in return. Dumbledore passed his wand over the door and all the walls while murmuring a spell. When he was assured they could not be overheard, he spoke:

"I had a very enlightening interview with Miss Bourne yesterday. She is made of sterner stuff than anyone could have realized. She will speak in your defense at the trial."

An utterly dumbfounded expression skillfully negotiated the unfamiliar territory of Snape's features. "What can she possibly say that would not guarantee I am convicted?"

"She will corroborate the story that you were also taken against your will and were put under the Imperius Curse."

Snape crossed his arms and eyed Dumbledore suspiciously. "She knows perfectly well that I was nothing of the kind!"

Dumbledore faced Snape calmly. "She knows it was against your will, she told me so. She will say, I think, some surprising things. Incidentally, I believe it would be safer for her if Lord Voldemort were to believe that you modified her memory before I returned to the castle."

Snape's features went suddenly blank and he asked, "Did you?"

"I did not," Dumbledore replied firmly.

"The child has been violated enough," Snape responded, unable to conceal his relief.

Dumbledore allowed a hint of a twinkle to escape. "I agree, but I would not think of her as a child."

Snape could think of no suitable retort to that and so was silent. Dumbledore, satisfied that Snape was now sufficiently armed, should any of Voldemort's supporters question him, signaled to the guard and departed.

For a long while after, fathomless black eyes stared pensively at the door through which he had left.

Late Monday afternoon, after returning from the Ministry, Professor Dumbledore asked to see Rowan again in his office.

He informed her that Snape's trial had been set for the next Monday, December 30, and that she would, in fact, be required to give her testimony in person. He was quite hopeful, though, that it would go well. Amelia Bones, as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, would be presiding. She was sympathetic, but quite firm that all the forms must be observed.

"She feels that it will carry more weight with the parents and Board if he is acquitted in a public trial rather than a private hearing. That is undoubtedly true, but I am afraid it will be hard for you," Dumbledore told Rowan.

She reassured him that she would be up to it. Dumbledore sighed and thanked her again.

Despite Dumbledore's assurances, Rowan spent a worry-filled Christmas at Hogwarts. There were bright moments, though; she enjoyed opening the gifts she found at the foot of her bed on Christmas morning. From her mother she received her first grown witch's gown, to wear for job interviews in the spring. It was an elegant thing of wool crepe, high at the throat and long sleeved. The skirt just skimmed her toes and swept nicely behind her. It was Ravenclaw blue and trimmed with black grosgrain ribbon.

There was a lovely hooded robe to wear over it, a darker blue than the dress and lined in black. It was hard for kids with Muggle parents to fit in sometimes, but her mom was really proud of having a witch for a daughter, and pretty resourceful. She had taken Rowan's measurements over the summer on the pretext of knitting her a sweater, then secretly gotten Ariadne's mother to take her shopping in Diagon Alley. Ariadne had owled her mother notes on what Rowan had looked at and admired when they had gone shopping in Hogsmeade. It was a lovely gift and a complete surprise.

From Ariadne, she received a small pot of honking daffodils. They set up a delighted trumpeting as soon as she freed them from their paper wrapping. The silly things were so cheerful, Rowan couldn't help laughing. She knew some people thought they weren't nice but Ariadne had remembered they were her favorite flower.

True to his word, she had an owl from Edgar, wishing her a Happy Christmas. He'd had the tact not to send a gift, which she appreciated. She felt the parchment note in her fingers. It was a very nice quality, an even, soft white, and buttery smooth. It must have come from his family's farm.

Rowan set the daffodils in the window, then sat at her desk and cut a fresh point to her quill with her penknife. She would owl a note to her mother right away to thank her.

The Christmas feast she had been looking forward to was deeply marred for her by Snape's absence, although she was clearly the only one among the students present who felt that way. She pulled a cracker with a Hufflepuff girl sitting next to her and gamely wore her jester's hat for the rest of the evening. Minerva McGonagall didn't get nearly as tipsy as rumor had suggested she might. She looked distinctly out of sorts and toyed with her fork, pushing her plum pudding around the plate. Rowan suspected she was also worrying about Professor Snape.

After Christmas the reports started coming in: Voldemort and his Death Eaters had gone on a killing spree. Mixed Muggle/Wizard households were the favored targets. The Dark Mark appeared in the sky over burning homes. The staff and the few students at school huddled over copies of the Daily Prophet at breakfast. Clearly the Dark Lord was angry about something, but no one (at least no one on the staff of the Prophet) had any idea why. Rowan was relieved to have an owl from her mother, who had a subscription and knew Rowan would be worried.

The next few days she filled with the studies which had been her reason to stay over the holidays in the first place. She had several N.E.W.T. exams coming in the spring, and if she wanted that job in the Department of Mysteries, she had better do well on all of them. Hard work kept her mind busy and safely away from memory lane, which was currently a very rocky road.

On the morning of the trial, Rowan rose early and dressed carefully. She pulled the new dress she had gotten from her mother for Christmas out of the closet. Rowan was afraid she would be expected to wear her Hogwarts robes, but the last thing she wanted today was to look like a schoolchild. Making her decision, she donned the new garment, pinned her hair up neatly at the back of her head and applied some subtle make-up. There, she thought, surveying herself in the glass. She looked at least a little older and hopefully respectable.

In Dumbledore's office, a little later, Rowan gave a last twitch to straighten her gown and pulled the hood of her cloak carefully over her head to shield her from the curious. Dumbledore went into the fireplace and through the Floo first, then helped Rowan out of one among the great bank of fireplaces at the Ministry of Magic at the other end. There were guards nervously twiddling wands and scrutinizing everyone going in and out of the Floo network.

Dumbledore escorted her to the Security Desk to have their wands registered. There was a dark-haired young lady in line ahead of Rowan, who she thought she recognized. Sarah something, she thought, a Gryffindor. Left Hogwarts only last year, but Rowan had a hard time remembering her. She felt a strong dislike for the other girl, but couldn't for the life of her figure out why. Rowan was glad when Sarah accepted her wand back and headed off about her own business.

When their wand registration was completed, Dumbledore led Rowan to a lift, which they took down to the bottom level. From there, they descended further down some stone steps through a corridor and into a dungeon courtroom which seemed designed to make Professor Snape feel quite at home.

Dumbledore led Rowan to a seat in the middle of the second row of benches where she sat down next to him. When everyone was assembled, two guards, with wands at the ready, brought in Snape. Thankfully, there were no longer any Dementors under Ministry control, so the guards were otherwise ordinary, burly-looking wizards.

Snape was brought to the chair that was the focus of the room. When he sank into it, the chains that hung from it wound themselves around his arms and legs, binding him to the chair. His clothes looked slept-in, and his hair was lanker even than usual. He kept his eyes down, and Rowan could not see if he had looked around or noticed where they were sitting.

The trial began, and Madam Bones read the charges. Alastor Moody and Nymphadora Tonks were called as witnesses for the prosecution. They described the scene they had encountered upon their arrival – Rowan bound and with her robes askew; Snape disheveled and bloodstained, holding a vial containing a small amount of dark fluid.

"What happened to the vial?" Madam Bones asked.

"Snape dropped it when we grabbed him," Moody answered, "but Dumbledore's phoenix snagged it and brought it back."

"Was it in fact 'reft virgin's blood'?"

"We didn't test it. Dumbledore had me destroy it – for the girl's safety. It's too dangerous a thing to have around."

"That is a pity, but Professor Dumbledore is correct. If that is what it was, it would have been a very powerful link to Miss Bourne," Madam Bones acknowledged.

Professor Snape's statement on what had occurred was then read to the court

– it went pretty much as Dumbledore had described to Rowan in his office. As he had told her to expect, Professor Snape asserted that he had been placed under an Imperius Curse and that everything had happened against his will. Snape kept his face lowered, shielded by black, stringy locks throughout the reading. If the members of the court hoped to ascertain the truth of the matter from his expression, they were in for a disappointment.

Albus Dumbledore was then called and gave his statement. He attested that Professor Snape was no servant of Voldemort, and that he would never harm a student unless he were forced to.

Madam Bones then called Rowan Bourne to testify. She had already taken Rowan's statement so she spared her a lengthy repetition of it, and only asked her to confirm the facts of the matter.

"You are over seventeen years old, legally of age?"

"I turned eighteen in November, Madam Bones."

"And you state, for the record, that you willingly had sexual relations with the accused?"

Rowan kept her eyes fixed on Madam Bones' face, and off of Snape's. She would never be able to look him in the eye again after this.

Chin up, Bourne. "That's right."

"In that case, the charge of rape must be dismissed. So ruled." At this she banged the gavel, and the court clerk made notations and shuffled through his documents while the courtroom erupted into startled murmuring. Madam Bones silenced the talkers with a sharp look around the room and addressed Dumbledore:

"Professor Dumbledore, I understand you wish also to contest the charge of Dark Wizardry?"

Now Dumbledore stood and spoke up. "Yes, Madam Bones."

Rowan sat gratefully back down. Although she had kept her voice and demeanor cool and steady when it was necessary, now that the crisis had past, her face was bright pink and she was deeply embarrassed. She kept her eyes firmly fixed on her toes, utterly unable to look Snape in the face.

"Please state your reasons."

"Professor Snape is charged with brewing Aversion Serum. The key ingredient is 'reft virgin's blood'. The recipe clearly specifies that the 'donor' must be raped. Since, as Miss Bourne has made plain, there was no rape, her blood did not meet the requirement."

Now the murmuring in the courtroom rose to such a level that Dumbledore had to raise his voice to be heard clearly over it.

"Since the key ingredient was invalid, Professor Snape did not engage in Dark Wizardry. As evidence, I offer that the potion singularly failed to work. I assure you, I felt not the slightest desire to attack my friends. Aurors Moody and Tonks both told me afterwards that they also were not affected in any way."

Amelia asked them to confirm Dumbledore's assertion, which they did.

Madam Bones conferred with her peers; the discussion appeared energetic, but brief, after which she returned to her stand and gave the court's decision:

"It would appear that Professor Dumbledore's assessment is correct. There was no reft virgin's blood, and no Aversion Serum brewed. Therefore the charge of Dark Wizardry is dismissed. The prisoner, Severus Snape, is free to go."

At that the chains unwound themselves from Snape's arms and legs and slid to the floor. He stood and looked around, his gaze settled on Rowan with an utterly uninterpretable look before he turned and was escorted out the door.

Dumbledore stood. "Madam Bones, I have a request of the court."

Amelia Bones turned calmly to Dumbledore, as if she had expected this too. "What is your request?"

"Although Miss Bourne is of age, she is still a student. In order for her to complete her studies in peace, I ask that the records of this session be sealed till the end of term."

"Very well, Professor Dumbledore. So ordered."

Dumbledore gave his hand to Rowan to stand; she pulled the hood of her cloak carefully over her hair to shield the sides of her face and to offer her some privacy from the frankly speculative glances aimed at her from around the room. She followed Dumbledore past the clumps of excitedly chattering wizards and witches, out of the courtroom and back to the big Ministry transport Floo stations.

Rowan and Dumbledore emerged from the fireplace in Dumbledore's office. Minerva McGonagall had clearly been anxiously waiting there for their return, along with her Head of House, Professor Flitwick. McGonagall looked at Dumbledore questioningly. "Well, Albus?"

Dumbledore smiled his answer. "The charges have been dropped, and the records sealed till the end of the term."

Minerva let out a long breath and relaxed her stiff posture. "I'm beginning to think you can work miracles, Albus."

"In this case, I had very little to do with it, Minerva. Now, if you will excuse me, I will return to the Ministry. I would like to see Severus back to his rooms. The lemon drops are on the desk there if you need them." Dumbledore then took a handful of Floo powder and exited back through the fireplace.

Minerva McGonagall turned to Rowan and said earnestly, "I am very grateful that our Potions master is returned to us safely. I wouldn't have imagined it possible. I believe I really must have a word with that hat," she said, glancing sharply at the specified object. "You should have been sorted into Gryffindor."

"Nonsense!" asserted the Sorting Hat. "Of course she is brave, but she is more than that. She was clever enough to outsmart Voldemort. I stand by my decision."

Minerva snorted and turned back to Rowan. "That hat never will admit a mistake. I don't know why I bother."

Rowan blushed at the praise and apologized, with a glance at Flitwick, for being happy as a Ravenclaw.

"Well, my dear, I suppose that is just as well, seeing as you've been one for nearly seven years, and we're hardly going to re-sort you now."

Now that the trial was over, Rowan was looking forward to things getting back to normal. She wasn't at all used to being a public spectacle and had been very uncomfortable. She wondered how things were going to be when the rest of the students returned and classes resumed.

"Professor McGonagall ..."

"Yes, Miss Bourne?"

"What is going to happen now, I mean, the rest of the year?"

"Well, Professor Dumbledore said that the `record would be sealed till the end of the term. That should allow you to complete your studies. The staff will, of course, know what happened, but it will be kept in the strictest confidence."

"What about Potions class?"

Professor Flitwick stepped forward to answer her. "That mostly depends on you, Miss Bourne," he squeaked. "If you wish to drop Potions that is entirely understandable. We will simply delete from your record that you began the class."

"But I'm going to need my Potions N.E.W.T., and I don't want to drop the class."

"I did say you were brave." Minerva smiled at Rowan.

Flitwick explained that Professor Dumbledore had conferred with Minerva and himself on how to handle the problem. "We have determined that if you wish to complete the course, and if Professor Snape concurs, we will let your N.E.W.T. result comprise your final grade. Since the test is given by outside examiners, there will be no excuse for anyone to question the validity of your grade."

Rowan thought that was a good solution, and a fair one. Professor Flitwick then added: "I believe Professor Snape will wish to speak with you as soon as possible after his return. You and he will have to work out how you will handle yourselves for the rest of the year, and after, when the records are released and the news breaks."

"Oh, my." Rowan realized that the summer was going to be a very difficult time; neither she nor Professor Snape was likely to enjoy the coming attention. "I think I will have one of those lemon drops now," Rowan said faintly, taking one from the dish Professor McGonagall held out to her.

Sucking on her lemon drop, Rowan went back to her room in the Ravenclaw dormitory. The daffodils greeted her return with a series of happy honks. Rowan laughed and brought them some water. She sat at the desk and wrote a note to Ariadne, thanking her again for the daffodils and telling her how boring it was at school with everyone gone. She somehow neglected to mention any of the recent events. Rowan didn't think she would tell anyone, ever. Of course, everyone would know in a few months, but maybe by then she could stand it. She was grateful for the reprieve, at least.

She also finally returned Edgar's note with a polite thank-you and a hope that his holiday was going well and was more fun than hers. She didn't think she'd ever written a sincerer word.

Author's Notes: Some of you may have recognized a visitor from "A Merciless Affection" at the Ministry (blows kisses to Verity Brown). Just so you know, this is the Sarah Darkglass of Rowan's world, to whom the events of AMA have not happened – and a darn good thing from Rowan's point of view!