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The Chrysalis	By : EVegvary Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 2123 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-The Chrysalis
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-End
- 2
- 3
- 4
I am standing before him now. It has been so many years since I have seen his true face. The face he was born with, not the face he has created for himself. The creature he has built from the bone, blood and bile of others, from the fear, pain and death of others; this creature has rid itself of Tom Riddle�s face. A human ecdysis.

I find myself wanting to weep for the boy who shed himself. But this creature feeds on such emotion and would suck me into uselessness. I must think of the others. I must play my role and render a space in time, slow the clock so that the seconds freeze. I must become Eternity.

I see him twirl my wand between his palms. But he will not use it, does nare are to use my own wand against me. He sees me looking and he holds it out and snaps my life�s precious instrument in two. I wince. I sense his gathered minions grow restless with this breaking. The energy they exude is sickening and I swallow back the rising bile.

I watch him ponder and weigh, he understands the dilemma, he has wanted nothing more than this moment and now it is his moment and the power of it is intoxicating him.

I gather into my core, call all the power that heen een my life into the whirlwind of my self and I stand in the eye of this formidableness. For this, perhaps, I was born. For this I will die.

I see his caution, watch his eyes narrow. He wants to strike me with his fists. He will not use magic to destroy me. He now understands that his darkling skill is not enough. Not enough.

He flies at me, a broken piece of my wand in each fist, he drives the pieces deep into my body and then they are all upon me. Unloosed by the release of my blood. None dare to touch me with their hands; none dare to raise a wand against me. Instead I feel a boot in my back and I am down.

In this ruination comes their undoing. The three are there. The curses cast. The moment stretches into forever.
~***~

Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, rose briskly to his feet. He was shaken to his core at the sight of Snape�s injured face, his starvation, but more than that his nobility. This was not what he had been told to expect. He wanted to look around the Wizengamot and single out the wizards and witches who had insisted upon this trial. He wanted to remove himself and go back to his office upstairs. He wanted Severus Snape out of his presence, back in Azkaban, permanently ensconced in the stasis of imprisonment.

Nothing was as it should be anymore. Albus dead, Voldemort dead, the war over. And yet there were still no answers. No happy ever after. In his darkest moments he wondered if he looked as big a fool as he felt. The feeling of foolishness seemed to engulf him in a sticky constriction. He could not break free of it. But he wore his official face regardless and he stood and pondered the situation for a moment, letting his features harden, before clearing his throat.

�Assass�nus and tr�diti� trial of Severus Snape on this, the twenty-eighth of September. Judiciary hearing into offenses of political treason and assassination leading to the betrayal and murder of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore on August twelfth.� The court clerk took notes, head down, studiously. �Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic, Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Percy Ignatius Weasley, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister.� Fudge looked over to where Arthur Weasley sat with his youngest son, Potter and Granger, and nodded.

Arthur stood and opened his mouth to speak, but Harry rose beside him and interrupted, a hand on Arthur�s shoulder and a hand on Hermione�s shoulder, �Witnesses for the defense, Harry Potter, Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hermione Granger, Arithmancy Professor Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.�

Fudge narrowed his eyes in dangerous contemplation. He looked from Harry to Hermione and then with a quick flash of white, he looked at Snape from the corners of his eyes. He turned his profile away from the seated witches and wizards and glowered out from under his still lowered brows. He reached for the lone parchment on the table in front of him, picked it up and read aloud.

�The charges against the accused are as follows: That he being a Death Eater for twenty-five years, acted under the direct order and compulsion of Voldemort and accosted his employer and benefactor, Albus Dumbledore on the night of August 11th. He kidnapped the victim, overcame him with the use of physical torture and presented his wand to Voldemort to gain favor. He then brought the victim to Voldemort where he participated in the killing of said victim.�

Severus stared at Fudge throughout this accusation. His mouth set in a fine and firm line. His eyes betraying nothing.

�How plead you to these charges, Severus Snape?� Fudge sneered.

Snape shook his head.

Fudge sat down a bit too heavily and propped both elbows on the table in front of him, drumming his fingertips against one another and looked at the man before him. �Did you kill Albus Dumbledore?�

Snape shook his head again.

�Did you deliver Albus Dumbledore to Lord Voldemort?�

�Yes.�

The courtroom gasped collectively. Fudge smiled.

�When you delivered Dumbledore to Voldemort, where you acting upon a command from your Dark Lord?�

Snape shook his head.

�Were you a Death Eater, Snape?�

�I was.�

�And were you acting as a Death Eater when you kidnapped and tortured Albus Dumbledore?�

Snape shook his head.

Susan Bones leaned forward, �This court tires of your refusal to speak, Snape. For seven weeks we have waited for your testimony. We can sentence you based upon our own conclusions and eyewitness accounts. And we may be prepared to do this.�

Harry leapt to his feet, �Eyewitness accounts? What eyewitness accounts?�

Silence descended upon the room. The skin of Fudge�s face mottled into angry red blotches and his hands scrabbled over the tabletop. Bones face crumpled and she sat back with a feminine grunt. Percy jumped to his feet and pointed a shaking finger at Harry.

Harry moved with a speed that made even Snape flinch. In less than a single stride he was in front of Percy, his hands grabbing great handfuls of the other man�s robes, pulling him nearly off his feet, yanking him towards him, and they were nose to nose and yet Harry�s voice rang clear, �There were no eyewitnesses other than myself, Hermione and Snape. Aherehere are no eyewitness accounts.�

He shoved him and watched as Percy caught his balance and began smoothing the front of his clothing, face drained white. Harry turned to Bones, �You tire of Snape not testifying? You mean you tire of not being able to beat a confession out of him?� Bones began to answer but Harry was shaking his hand and holding an open palm up at her. He began to walk across the floor in front of the benches. He pointed at a witch in a middle row, �You�re tired, too, Irmelda?� He pointed at a wizard behind her, �And you, Walter? How is your son�s career by the way, Potions Master at that school in the American South was it? Snape wrote him a letter of recommendation just two years back, didn�t he? You�re tired; you�re ready to sentence Professor Snape?� The wizard looked down at his hands. Harry let his gaze linger on another wizard, �Are you ready to sentence Professor Snape, too, Gamon? I hope Jenise can make seeker for Slytherin this year, without her Head of House there to lend the moral support we all see now that she needs.�

Harry stopped his pacing in front of Cornelius e, he, he leaned on the table and bent over it, bringing his face down to the level of the minister, �Are you getting tired, too, Fudge? Feeling a little wand happy, wanting to cast an Avada Kedavra, are you? Is that going to make it all better? Let you sleep at night without having to quaff bucket loads of the dreamless sleep? You want to put all this behind you, seal the parchments, close the book, burn the body. Be done with it?�

Harry straightened and in a long, drawn out moment looked every wizard and witch in the face. He studied them and his lips became a tighter and tighter line drawn across his face. �The future looks quite a bit brighter now, doesn�t it? All filled with light and laughter and life.� He turned slightly and motioned at Snape, �Just this one little dark mark on your spotless, blemish free existences, though. Sentence him to death, will you? Do any of you ever believe that he was living? Serving the Order of the Phoenix, risking life and sanity in his role as spy for Albus Dumbledore. Is that the life you want to end this morning? Who, come forward, who is going to push him through the veil?�

Silence.

He shook his head at them. �You�ve got it all figured out, have you?�

Fudge leapt to his feet and his voice was tremulous, �I will not allow these proceedings� he pointed an accusing finger at Harry, �this Wizengamot, to become your own personal testimonial to Albus Dumbledore and,� he was spluttering now, �his Order of the Phoenix. Where did that Order get him in the end? Where?� Cornelius Fudge was actually smirking, but his lower lip trembled visibly.

Harry�s mouth fell open. Then snapped shut. His eyes narrowed. �Where did the Order of the Phoenix get Albus Dumbledore?� he whispered, his voice tinged with horror. �You ask me what the Order of the Phoenix did for Dumbledore?� Now he was roaring like an injured beast, �What did the Order of the Phoenix do for you? And you? And you? And your children? And your children�s children?�

�With all due respect, your Honour.� Hermione�s voice rang out like a tolled bell. She sounded anything but respectful, yet she commanded the attention of the courtroom. They turned as if one creature from the specter of Harry Potter. �Professor Snape cannot speak of Headmaster Dumbledore�s death. He has taken a magical vow of silence.�

Fudge stared at her, mouth agape. Then he looked back to Harry, then back to Hermione, his face contorting, �What? What are you talking about, Miss Granger? What is a magical vow of silence? I�ve never heard of such a thing.� He moved closer to Percy. �Do not stretch our patience here, young lady, you will find that we will show no tolerance for insubordination.�

�Albus devised a modified Fidelius Charm in the hopes that it would keep him from being martyred. Severus, I and Harry allowed the spell to be cast upon us.�

Murmurs and whispers rippled through the courtroom. Snape eyed the young woman with a look of exhaustion etched upon his face. She turned slowly, away from Fudge, away from the eyes apprising her, away from Harry and faced him.
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The Chrysalis