Trials and Tribulations

Trial12


Disclaimer:  Apart from the various necessary OCs,
the whole bunch of 'em belong to J.K. Rowling and her fleet of publishers
(Bloomsbury, Scholastic, etc).  I don't make a penny from it. 
I must also write a brief apology for semi-veering from canon.  When
I wrote the flashback, I was thinking of a clip in the CoS film where we
see Snape and Lucius sitting together - But when I looked in my book, there
was no reference to it.  I'm afraid, on this occassion, it's staying
in, simply because there is nothing to say they didn't sit together
in the book!
Author's Notes:  The usual thank you's to my beta-readers,
Big Momma and Ria *Hands out a chocolate covered Snape cookie*, and also
to PlatinumNacht for being my muse on the flash-back - Cheers, darlin!I've
gotten lazy with looking up good chapter names in the family Bible. 
So I've gone for a slightly more obvious title name.  This chapter's
dedicated to all the reviewing possee, including Dave, Adrienne, Rachel,
amythest, kiyuchan, Meg Carter, Geministarz, pauline, padfoots_bitch (big
thanks to you!), Huntress Angel, kate, Dark-past, sev1970, t.a.g., ranger,
evelia and Els-chan (These are all the people that reviewed chapter 11). 
This chapter is dedicated to you guys, for making the story worth writing!
The Defence
Snape sat heavily on the bench in the staff area of the Quidditch
stands.  He was slightly out of breath from the climb.  ‘I’m
getting old,’ he thought.  It was only a short time before the seat
next to him was also occupied.&nbSnapSnape made a general point not to
speak to people first, and so was surprised when the man who had sat next
to him laid a hand on his shoulder, and leaned over to whisper, “Surprise.”
Snape raised an eyebrow, but made no other movement.  “Indeed. 
What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to watch my son thrash the Potter boy, of course.” 
Lucius removed his hand, sliding it slowly down his arm to brush against
Snape’s hand, stroking along the fingers idly, until Snape turned his hand
over to grasp the other.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.  Harsh as it would be to deride my own
house, the Gryffindor’s team is superior.  Mr Malfoy, after all, has
only been with the team for a month or so.”
Lucius shook his head.  “Ever the pessimist, Severus. 
Whatever happened to the underdog?”
Severus said nothing.  He simply raised an eyebrow in response,
and squeezed Lucius’ hand.  For the moment, they were the only ones
in the box.
“Did you miss me?”  Lucius asked, at length.
Snape turned his head and frowned at Lucius.  “I wasn’t aware
you had been away.”
Lucius smiled briefly.  “And they say that absence makes the
heart grow fonder.  I have been in France, visiting my Father.”
Snape smiled wryly.  “How is old Tiberius these days?”
Lucius sighed heavily.  “Still alive, still cantankerous, still
trying to convince himself that his only son isn’t gay!  I think he’s
like the Potter brat – he lives on to spite us all!”
Snape allowed himself a chuckle at that – after all, there was no
one but they there to witness it.
“It’s good to know I can still make you laugh.”
Snape lifted his lover’s hand and dropped a skisskiss on it. 
“There are many things you can still make me do – laughing is the least
of them.”
Lucius leant towards Snape and whispered conspiratorially, “Perhaps
we can explore those avenues later, Professor.”
Snape smiled, pressing his lips briefly to Lucius’.  “Perhaps,
indeed.”
They separated quickly as Professor McGonagall entered the box. 
Snape shiftily flicked his robes to one side to cover their hands, still
entwined together.  “Good day Severus,” she greeted him.  Her
face fell slightly as she saw Lucius.  “Mr Malfoy.”
Both nodded their greetings.  Minerva sat on Severus’ other
side.  “Ready for a good thrashing, I hope, Severus.”
“Your optimism, as ever, is truly nauseating, Minerva.  The
chasers are evenly matched; our beaters carry more weight in their swing
than yours, although I will own your keeper is marginally superior. 
In my opinion, it is down to the seekers.  It is anybody’s game.”
Minerva gave a very un-ladylike snort of derisive laughter. 
“Potter is better on a broom than half the international seekers. 
There’s no question as to who will catch the snitch.”
Lucius leant forward and raised a very critical eyebrow, watching
with some sadistic pleasure as Professor McGonagall’s face flushed and
her mouth puckered.  He sat back in his original position, not missing
the somewhat satisfied smirk on Snape’s face.
“How is Mrs Malfoy?” McGonagall asked after a brief pause.
Snape’s jaw clenched, but he forced his face into a mask of nonchalance. 
“Yes, how is Narcissa?”
Lucius squeezed Snape’s hand before answering.  “My wife is
always in perfect health, thank you.  She is only sorry she couldn’t
attend.  She has an old friend in Austria who has become very ill,
and has apparated to see her.”
More people began to filter into the box, each nodding their greetings.
Snape looked at Lucius closely, leaning in so they could speak more
privately.  “Anyone I know?”
Lucius shook his head.  “Some distant relative or friend of
the family, I think.”  He dropped his voice so only the two of them
could hear.  “Wasn’t paying that much attention, to tell you the truth.”
Snape stopped the smile that threatened to spread across his lips
for the sake of keeping up appearances.  The box filled gradually,
until there was only one seat empty – the one that was always reserved
for the commentator, Lee Jordan.  At length he entered, smiling briefly
to his head of house, before taking his seat.  He took out his wand
and pointed it as his throat.  “Sonarus,” he said.
“Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins – Put your hands
together and stamp your feet for…The Gryffindor team!”
The large stadium erupted into boos and cheers, as the seven small
figures all dressed in scarlet and gold robes flew onto the pitch. 
Each did a brief lap, waving to friends and occasionally making ruded
gd
gestures to enemies.  Snape sighed heavily, wishing that Dumbledore
hadn’t banned him from deducting house points at Gryffindor matches.
“And now, give it up for…The Slytherin team!”
The green and silver stands went wild as the green clad figures flew
into the air.  They, too, performed a lap of honour.  Draco raised
a hand briefly to his father as he pas and and Lucius inclined his head
in return.
“I forgot to thank you for your kind donation to our team,” Snape
said.
Lucius dropped his voice to a soft growl, stroking one of his fingers
along the side of Snape’s thigh.  “You can thank me properly later.” 
Snape suppressed a shiver, choosing instead to smirk and press his leg
closer to Lucius’.
The game began at a fast moving pace.  The quaffle passed quickly
from hand to hand, each team occasionally sng gng goals and fouls. 
Snape failed to notice a lot of this as Lucius’ hand roamed over his left
thigh, squeezing and soothing occasionally – being generally distracting. 
As his thumb brushed a particularly sensitive spot, Snape grabbed the hand
and held it tight.  “Mr Malfoy, I have found you committing lewd acts
with a teacher.  I have no choice but to award you a nine hour detention
to be served in my rooms tonight.”
Lucius smirked.  “Yes, Professor.  I am sorry.”
“So you should be, you over-sexed brat.”
Lucius laughed out loud, and Snape couldn’t resist smiling at the
rich, seldom-heard sound.
***
Snape was shaken from his memories as a loud ‘bang’ sounded the
end of the court recess.
“I understand that during the recess Mr Malfoy has been administered
with an extra truth potion?”  Fictus frowned at the sheet of paper
that had just been shoved under his nose.
“Yes, Minister,” Harry replied.
“I am unfamiliar with this potion.  Please explain why it is being
used.”
Harry stood from behind his desk, and lifted the small bottle that sat
on it.  “This,” he said, “is Aspicio Draft, also known as the Seeing
Potion.  It is used to reveal the true truth behind the believed truth. 
I use it today because, as not many people know, Veritaserum forces a person
to tell what he believes to be the truth.  It is obvious to
everyone here that Mr Malfoy is not in his right mind, and I believe that,
as part of the abuse he has received, his mind and memories have been warped. 
Using this potion, I hope to find out what actually happened to
this man.”
“You have not tested this potion on Mr Malfoy before?”  Fictus
asked.
“No, Minister.  Though, the potion has been tested by the MLE potions
masters and passed as safe to use.”
“So, you yourself do not know what will be revealed by this potion?” 
The pompous man now looked rather amused.
“No, but having spoken to the defendant, I have a fair idea of what
will be said.”
Fictus nodded.  “Continue.”
Harry nodded back, and then addressed Draco’s nurse.  “He’s been
dosed correctly, yes?”
“Yes, Mr Potter.”  The nurse swooned slightly, making Snape smirk. 
He had noticed Harry had that effect on quite a few women.
“Thank you.”  Harry smiled at Draco, who scowled back.  Some
things never change, thought Snape.
“Now, Draco.  I just want to test the potion and see if it works. 
What do you think of me?”
“I think you’re an idiot with an inflated ego, who can’t catch the snitch
for toffee.  And you’re a raving poofter!”  Draco didn’t stop
scowling.
Harry grinned triumphantly.  “It works!”  There were a few
titters of laughter.  “Right, down to business.  Could you please
tell me about your relationship with your father, Draco?”
Draco opened his mouth to reply, but Ron got there first.  “Objection. 
Minister, this has nothing to do with Professor Snape.”
“But everything to do with the charges against him,” Harry replied quickly. 
“I promise you, this line of questioning has a point.”
Fictus nodded.  “Answer the question, Mr Malfoy.”
“I hate him.”
“Why do you hate him, Draco?”  Harry frowned slightly.
“I hate him because he only punishes.  He punishes and punishes,
and I’ve never been good enough for him.  He’s never once says he
loves me.  Or that he’s proud of me.  That’s why I hate him.” 
While the Veritaserum made Draco dull and lifeless, this potion seemed
to bring Draco back to the boy he had been at school.
“When you say he punishes you – how do you mean?”
“I mean he used to hit me with that bloody cane of his.  And when
his cane wasn’t close enough to hand, he’d use his fist.  And when
he was feeling too lazy to use his fist, he’d use his wand.”
There were scattered gasps around the room.  Snape would have relaxed
at things running so smoothly, but he had seen the wounds Draco had received
first hand.  Hearing about them from his own lips simply wasn’t something
he found pleasure in.
“That must have caused a lot of wounds, Draco.  How did you have
them treated?”
“Mother was going to be a medi-witch before she married father. 
She dealt with anything basic enough to heal at home.  Otherwise father
would take me to St Mungo’s and tell them I’d had falls playing Quidditch. 
I think they suspected something, but they never said.  That’s another
reason I hate him,” he added, bitterly.  “He can stop people speaking
with his money.”
Harry nodded.  “Draco, when you were under the Veritaserum you
mentioned that Professor Snape had sexually abused you when you went to
see him for tutoring.  Do you still stand by this?”
Draco frowned, as though thinking about the question.  “That’s
not what happened,” he said slowly.  “Snape…I did go to him for tutoring…and
I didn’t learn anything there…that was true.  We talked, though. 
He let me talk to him about father.  He said his father used to beat
him, too.  He promised not to tell anyone about it, but that I could
trust him if I needed to talk to someone.”
“Were you ever sexually abused when you were a child, Draco?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”  Harry was resting heavily on the bar that divided them. 
Snape could see the hope in his eyes, and imagined it was reflected in
his own.
“By Voldemort.”
Gasps echoed around the room, and Harry frowned in confusion. 
“By Voldemort?  Not by your father?”
Draco shook his head.  “Voldemort used to use polyjuice to transform
into Father.  I always thought it was him, at the time.  Although,
Father gave his hair willingly for the potion, and he’d watch sometimes. 
Father also gave some of Professor Snape’s hairs.  When Voldemort
and Father found out that Professor Snape wasn’t a real Death Eater, they
started to tell me that it was him doing it.  They’d make me say his
name, things like that.  In the end, it was easier to believe them
than get battered.”
Harry’s expression had turned into one of pity.  “I’m sorry to
make you go through it again, Draco, but I have to be absolutely certain. 
Professor Snape didn’t abuse you, in any way?”
Draco shook his head.  “r.&nr.  He wouldn’t have done it. 
I see that now.”
Draco turned his head, and met Snape’s eyes.  Both pairs had tears
in, and Snape smiled gratefully.
“Thank you, Draco.  No further questions, minister.  But with
the evidence given, I ask that the charge be lifted from the defendant.”
“Of course,” Fictus agreed.  “Mr Malfoy, you are free to leave. 
Mr Weasley, kindly call your next witness.”
Ron turned scarlet, as Draco was taken out of the court by the same
door.  “Uh…Actually, Minister…Um, I don’t have any more witnesses.”
Fictus sighed heavily.  “Why not?”
“I thought the other charges were rather self-explanatory.”  Snape
watched Harry’s growing look of delight.  “I mean we already knew
from the previous trial that he’s a Death Eater, and there are only three
witnesses to his use of Avada Kadavra – Two of them are dead, and the other
one is heading his defence.”
Fictus was wearing the look that usually adorned Snape’s face after
he had endured a whole day of Slytherin-Gryffindor potions classes. 
Especially when they contained the cauldron-melting wonder, Neville Longbottom. 
“Sit down, Weasley.”
Ron did as he was told, meekly.
“Mr Potter.  Please tell me you have some witnesses?”
Harry nodded happily.  “Quite a lot of them.  But I now feel
that not all of them will be needed to prove my point.  I’ll limit
it to two.”
Fictus nodded something that sounded like, “I’m not surprised.” 
He spoke rather louder then, saying, “Call your first witness then.”
“My first witness is Remus Lupin.”
The witness door opened again, and in walked Lupin, looking as skinny
and scruffy as ever.  He smiled at Snape, and winked at Harry, before
climbing into the witness box.  Harry grinned back at his former teacher,
before gathering himself and trying to look very serious.
“Professor Lupin.  How long have you known Professor Snape?”
Lupin also wore a look of mock-seriousness.  “Since my first year
at school.  Severus was in the year above me, in the same year as
two of my friends.  They didn’t like him very much, so I got to hear
a lot about him.  He also gave me tuition in potions when I was in
my fifth year.  Since then, we have been somewhat thrust together
through each of the wars, and in 1999 and 2002 we worked together at Hogwarts.”
“You mentioned you worked with him during the war.  How is it that
you, a known member of The Order, associated with a supposed Death Eater?”
Lupin smiled amiably.  “Ah yes, well, what not a lot of people
realise is that Professor Snape was also a member of The Order.  He
was simply a little more modest in owning it than the rest of us. 
But yes, he was there.  He led projects on inside information – no
one gives inside information better, you know, than a man who attends all
of the other side’s meetings.”
“During this time, you never once suspected that he was double crossing
you?”  Harry smiled.
“Not once.  Professor Dumbledore trusted him, and that was enough
for me.”
“And after Professor Dumbledore died?”
“Well, after his death it was mainly he and yourself, Harry, that pushed
for Voldemort’s final demise.  On top of that, Professor Snape always
made it very clear that he didn’t want much to do with other plans or information. 
He was very happy to be left out, because he didn’t want certain people
to think he was relaying information to Voldemort.”
“Thank you very much, Remus.  No further questions, Minister Fictus.”
“Weasley?  Can you be trusted to cross-examine?”
Ron’s ears and cheeks went very pink.  “Yes, Minister.”  He
stood and walked towards the witness box.  “Professor Lupin, what
was the general impression people had of Professor Snape at school?”
Lupin shrugged.  “I suppose he wasn’t very well liked.  James
and Sirius, my friends at school, certainly despised him because he was
a bit of a know-it-all in class.”  Snape raised an eyebrow at the
werewolf, who studiously ignored him.  “He’s always been anti-social,
to a certain extent.  But some people just get on better with books
than people.  I dow tow those, however, that get on with him very
well.”  Snape noticed that it was now Harry that was turning pink,
and smirked.  When Harry saw this, he went even redder.
“Isn’t it true that Snape was very interested in the Dark Arts at school?”
“Objection, Minister,” Harry said, almost lazily.  “What Professor
Snape’s interests were when he was twelve can have little relevance to
this trial.  Furthermore, we know that Snape was a Death Eater, we
are trying to ascertain whether or not he was when Voldemort died.”
Fictus inclined his head in agreement.  “Suned.ned.  Anything
more useful, Weasley?”
Ron shook his head and scowled at Harry.
“Professor Lupin, you may leave.”
“Actually, Minister,” Harry interrupted, as he rose once again. 
“Professor Lupin needs to stay.  I’m the next witness, and I need
someone to ask me questions.  Professor Lupin has been given a list
of questions.”
“This is highly irregular, Potter.”
“I apologise, Minister, but Ron’s already said it.  I’m the only
living witness to Snape’s use of Avada Kadavra.”
Fictus sighed, and gestured for them to continue.
Lupin and Harry swapped places, and Lupin took up a sheaf of parchment,
laden with Harry’s scrawls.  “Right,” he read, “are you Harry Potter?”
“Yes, I’m Harry Potter.”
Remus grinned.  “Prove it.”
Harry lifted up his fringe to show the scar on his forehead.  More
swoons were heard around the room, making Snape roll his eyes.  There
are far more remarkable parts of Potter’s physique to swoon over than his
forehead, he thought before he could stop himself.
“Right,” the werewolf continued.  “How long and-or well would you
say you know or have known Professor Snape.”
Harry raised an eyebrow.  “I have known Professor Snape since I
was eleven, and since I was about sixteen or seventeen I have considered
him a friend.”
“You fought together at the Siege of Hogwarts, did you not?”
“Yes, we did.  Snape was by my side through most of that battle. 
It was his job to see that I was protected while the final part of our
plan to destroy Voldemort was put into action.”
“Just for those who don’t know, could you please explain this plan and
why you needed protection for it?”
Harry nodded.  “The general idea was that we would imprison Voldemort’ssencsence and life-force inside a very powerful crystal, leaving only his
empty body behind.  The crystal would then be returned from whence
it came, effectively trapping Voldemort forever.  Unfortunately things
didn’t go to plan, and the crystal was dropped from the astronomy tower.” 
Here Harry blushed slightly, as not so many people knew that it had been
dropped when he and Snape had embraced in pure joy at Voldemort’s demise. 
“This turned out to be a good thing.  When the crystal shattered,
so did Voldemort’s life force.  We knew this because Professor Snape’s
Dark Mark faded and disappeared.
“To get back to the original question, I needed protection because the
spell was a very powerful one that called on me to use my own life force,
as it was so closely linked with his.  I would not have been able
to protect myself, had anything gone wrong.”
“Something did go wrong, that caused Professor Snape to, by necessity,
use Avada Kadavnbspnbsp; What was that?”
Harry nodded.  “Well you see, while Snape kept Voldemort in the
astronomy tower by telling him that he had sent a few Death Eaters to find
me and bring me to him, I was hidden under my invisibility cloak doing
what needed to be done.  But then this other Death Eater, MacNair,
came in saying that he’d overheard a kid say he’d seen Harry Potter come
up towards the astronomy tower – he hadn’t wanted to miss watching me die. 
While he talked, he happened to trip over me, and part of the cloak slipped
off.  I was so into what I was doing, I didn’t even notice. 
All this was kind of on the periphery of my consciousness.  I vaguely
knew what was going on, but it didn’t seem to matter.  Anyway, Voldemort
had ma bee beeline straight for me, so Snape put him in a bubble to stop
him from moving.  Then MacNair realised what was going on – that is,
that Snape wasn’t really a Death Eater, and was actually helping me – and
started to raise his wand to me.  He hesitated, though – he maybe
couldn’t decide whether to kill me or Snape first.  It gave Snape
enough time to kill him.”
Lupin nodded.  “No further questions.”
“Thank you, Professor Lupin.  Now you mayve.&ve.  Unless
Mr Weasley would like you to prosecute as well?”
“No, Minister.”  Ron stood as Lupin took his leave.  “Harry,
just one question.  You said that when Voldemort started towards you,
Snape put him in a protective bubble.  But when MacNair started for
you, he was killed.  Couldn’t MacNair have been put in a bubble, as
well?  Until such a time as the Ministry could deal with him?”
Harry shook his head.  “It’s possible, but you have to understand
that we didn’t know for certain that this would work.  Also, at that
time, we didn’t know who in the ministry was one of us, and who was one
of them.  The ministry had only just decided to join in the fight
– mainly because it looked like its position was going to be threatened.”
“But it would have been possible for Snape to restrain MacNair, rather
than kill him?”
Harry sighed, his jaw clenched.  “Yes, it’s possible.  But-“
“Notherther questions, Minister.”
Harry stood and, leaving the witness box, walked back to his seat.”
“If that is all?”  Both defence and prosecution councils nodded. 
“Very well.  Court will recess while the jury comes to a verdict. 
Jury, you have one hour to come to a decision and, if necessary, a punishment.” 
Fictus made his wand go Bang and stood to leave the court.
Harry walked over to Snape, smiling weakly.  “Sorry about that.”
Snape shook his head.  “He had a point, Potter.”
“I’ll be so glad when all this is over and we can just get back to normal.”
Snape raised an eyebrow.  “Tired of me already, Potter?”
“I didn’t mean like that,” Harry said, lowering his voice.  “I
mean that I think we need to talk about some things.  You know what
I’m talking about.”
Snape’s expression was the very epitome of wide-eyed innocence. 
“We do?”
Harry shook his head.  “I hate you, sometimes.”
Har Harry, I never knew you cared!”
Harry just shook his head again, and walked away.  Snape was torn
between the usual triumphant feeling of knowing that he had got under Potter’s
skin, and a rather unusual feeling of regret at his leaving.
Studying his nails closeSnapSnape listened to a small voice in his head. 
It was a voice he had always tried to ignore before; a voice that had first
spoken up many years ago, when Dumbledore died, and the only person he
could turn to was the one he should hate most of all.  The voice then
had said, ‘trust him’.  The voice now said, ‘listen to him’. 
There had even been occasions when the voice had said ‘kiss him’. 
But most often, the voice said something that scared him to his very core.
‘Love him’.
***
AN:  You've read...Now review...Please?....Only three more chapters
to go, now.  Next chapter: the verdict....And I hate to say this,
but I think a lot of you will be unpleasantly surprised!