Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Pilfered Progeny - Stolen Dreams	By : SisterGryffindor Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Slash - Male/Male Views: 14679 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: We do not own any part of the Harry Potter series/charachters/movies/books and we do not profit from our writings regarding them.

Chapter List
- 49
- 50
- 51
AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Tying up the loose ends now... not many more chapters. But there will be an epilogue story.

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This room wasn't small, it really wasn't. Twenty feet by fifteen feet was actually quite a lot of space. But when you knew you were not allowed to leave it or risk being labeled as an escapee, it seemed incredibly tiny. Hermione stood for a long moment at the window that was her only contact with the outside world, a window that she had been instructed never to open. She had been told not to even move the curtain, just allow it to block away all the light and the view that she longed to take a look at. Anything to distract her from the monotony of these four artfully wallpapered walls.

When she'd first arrived here, the room had been a typical muggle hotel room in downtown London. A double bed with a nice bedspread, a telly, bible in the nightstand, the whole works. Tonks had left her here then with specific instructions never to open the window nor to move the curtain. She had two changes of clothes; as she changed one she was to drop it in the hamper and they would be cleaned and returned to her when she had need of them. Her meals were served by house elf as well; they simply appeared on the table then vanished when she was finished eating. The first night had almost seemed like a holiday; she had slept through the night with no bad dreams for the first time in months.

That had lasted until the night she returned from Malfoy Manor. Another Auror with a very sour face had come in and had altered the room and everything in it. The pictures and shelves of pretty little items were gone from the walls, the decorations on the table vanished, the dresser and its mirror as well as the mirror in the loo were gone, extra towels and other amenities that one expects in a hotel were gone as well. The bed had been changed to what looked like a solid block of wood with a strangely soft top; impervious to damage. She had been left a single blanket to cover up with but no pillow. There was no nightstand; only the small table that was magically stuck to the floor and a single backless little stool to sit upon. All of the items that were pleasing to the eye had been removed including the area rug under the bed; the only decoration placed in the room was a painting of an ancient female Auror. Hermione had not objected to the change at the time; to the contrary she had felt rather guilty for the luxury she had been living in.

Hermione had attempted to speak with the witch in the painting, since it was clearly a wizard-made painting. The old woman was constantly moving; little twitches or shifting in her overstuffed chair or bewitching needles to do some knitting from the basket of yarn at her feet Hermione was sure that her purpose here was to monitor her behavior. That woman did not speak to her at all, though sometimes Hermione could hear her muttering under her breath. Anything she did in the room was monitored by the old hag, but she could escape her baleful gaze by slipping into the loo. The more restless she had become, the more that the witch in the painting had become amused, the old goat.

This room that they had called a safe house was where she had been placed the night that Pansy had gotten away from Tonks. If she had not been depressed when she had come here, she certainly would have been by the absolute dearth of anything she had to do.

She began to pace the room, her eyes closed in thought. She halted a bit before the wall without opening her eyes, turned, and began to slowly pace back. She went over in her mind for the thousandth time just what had happened, and how she could have stopped it. Could she have…? What happened to the old Hermione? Hermione Granger would have stepped right up and stopped all that mess. Hermione Weasley was a totally different woman. She'd become complacent in her life; wrapped up more in her own business and her family. She'd been too busy to notice all the little signs that had been right in front of her eyes. She should have noticed that the work she was doing was not being documented and was not part of the regular services of the clinic. She should have seen that Pansy was separating her from the others, grooming her to take over the 'business' and to be a main part of that business. She should have noticed that the samples left by previous pureblood wizards was vanishing from the stores. But she hadn't, until she had felt there was no way out for her.

She almost jumped clear out of her skin when the door opened, looking around with wide eyes. Tonks had almost frozen in the doorway, looking a bit startled at what she saw. "Bloody hell, Hermione, what did you do in here…?"

"Nothing. I don't have my wand, I turned that in to you." Hermione answered, moving to her, almost elated to see anyone. She would have been excited to see Severus Snape at this point in time.

"Where'd everything go? And what the bloody hell is that?" she said, glaring at the old woman in the portrait, who gave her a dirty look and turned her back on them.

"Auror Burke came the day I came back and changed it to this. I thought it was what you told him to do so I didn't object." Hermione said, feeling her hands trembling.

"I can't believe he had the balls to do this, but it really does make sense." Tonks said with an irritated snort. "Burke is an old traditionalist; he misses throwing everyone straight into Azkaban to have everything tortured out of them… That old buzzard." she sighed with a half-chuckle.

"Could I… could I at least have a book to read…? Anything; a muggle book, a potions book, a book on molds and fungus I don't care at this point…" Hermione asked.

"One book?" Tonks smirked teasingly. "You'd read an entire book in an hour. I'll get you a dozen or so, and I'll get you some parchment and a pen as well."

"Thank you…" Hermione said and Tonks pulled her into a hug. She wasn't surprised at how hard the woman hugged her.

"I'll get this room set to rights. Maybe even get the telly back in here so you can keep up with the muggle news."

"I can't thank you enough…" Hermione let her go, finding that she had tears on her cheeks. "But this can't be why you came here…"

"Of course not… but are you sure you're all right, love?" she asked, leading Hermione to the bed. Hermione was trembling and looked pale, but never once looked away from Tonks.

Tonks drew her wand and several books appeared on the table. "There we are… those should keep you busy for a little while, all right? This room is horrible when its empty…"

"I don't care, I'll read them all a dozen times rather than sit here and stare at that horrible old lady…" she looked at the painting.

The witch with the hooked nose and grey hair snorted, smirking, quite entertained by what was going on. "The view isn't that great from this side either, missy." she said bitingly.

"Oh shut up you old harridan." Hermione said in return, not even looking at her. The woman in the photo cackled and was silent. "Can I cover her up or get her out of here...?"

"Yes, again, that's Burke's choice and not one I approve of. I'd better talk with him about overstepping his bounds." she sighed. "All right; I came here tonight to tell you that we have the date set for you to be seen by the Wizengamot."

"Please tell me it's soon…" Hermione said in a pleading tone.

"Another week. Sorry, I tried to get it sooner but they wanted it to be next month some time…" she said apologetically.

"A whole week?" she asked softly, then took a deep breath. "It'll be all right, I'll be fine…" she assured.

"Good." she said, rising. "I really need to go…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

Hermione found she couldn't look up; she was afraid of the accusation she would see on everyone's face. She had said everything she could have said in her own defense but all of it only felt like it was making her more guilty than ever. She stared at the base podium of the head of the Wizengamot, waiting for them to tell her to get off the stand so they could deliberate.

Minister McLaggen, the head of the Wizengamot, stood and tapped his gavel to get attention back to the center. "Mrs. Weasley, you may step down off the stand." He instructed, then waited until she rose, trembling slightly and feeling weak and dizzy, and made her way back to the seat she had been provided on the back of the floor of the room. The stands of the chamber were full today; many had turned out for the trial of the only person left who was known to be involved in the entire sperm-stealing scheme. It was not until she sat down that he spoke up again. "I understand there is another witness for the defendant?" He asked, eyes wandering the faces that were there.

"Yes."

A voice that Hermione had not expected to hear sounded clear and confident yet somehow oily and unctuous at the same time. Severus Snape? Hermione bowed her head, heart sinking. Any hope she had was gone now; he'd surely nail her to the wall for every little thing she'd done. He'd made it abundantly clear that he thought that she was responsible for the entire mess.

The leader of the Wizengamot took a seat. "Please speak your name and title for the court."

"Severus Tobias Snape; retired Potions Master for Hogwarts and currently a Pediatric Medi-wizard on-call." he answered, striding forward to stand just to the right of the witness seat. He was immaculately dressed today in wizard's robes of deepest blue, a color he did not normally wear, his hair combed and free of its potion to prevent it catching fire in his work, looking every bit in control of everything in his world.

"If you will take a seat, Mr. Snape?" McLaggen gestured to the seat with a bit of impatience.

Snape sat down, clearly completely at his ease, then looked up at the Minister of Magic. "May I proceed, Minister?"

"By all means." He agreed, sitting down once more.

Hermione found herself gazing over at Ron, who sat silently in the first row, with his mother on one side and Blaise on the other. There was a lot of red hair out there; it looked like Ron's entire family had come… where was Rosie…? Her eyes wandered to the left of Blaise and she saw Draco, then she saw Harry and tears came to her eyes. Harry had come…! She only hoped that he had not come hoping to see her condemned. Her attention was yanked back to the front when Snape began speaking.

"As some of you know, I am currently working in the medical field in hospitals, both in the muggle and in the magical community. As such I have become familiar with the procedures that were being performed at the fertility clinic."

"We are all rather in the dark about those procedures, except for what Mrs. Weasley explained." Cho Chang said; she sat to the left of the minister.

Snape nodded. "Then I shall explain." he agreed, and did so with excruciating detail, explaining each point until not one of the council had another question on any of the process. He was sure, however, that a good three quarters of them had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He suppressed the urge to smirk at their willingness to remain ignorant simply to avoid looking ignorant.

"All right, then, that is the process that was followed. What do you have to contribute to the case against Mrs. Weasley?" The Minister of Magic asked pointedly.

Hermione closed her eyes; she knew his testimony would be harsh and would likely mean her permanent residence in Azkaban.

Snape took a deep breath; he knew exactly what he was going to say. "Mrs. Weasley was involved in a plot not of her own creation to create children. Although she came to know that the... shall we call them samples...? she came to know that the samples were not acquired with the free will and acquiescence of any of the wizards they were taken from. She hid her knowledge from her husband, from her friends and family. She did indeed use one of these samples herself to create a child who sits in this very courtroom, but that case is not being pressed against her as the child is currently in the custody of her father."

Hermione bit her lip, listening quietly. It sounded so horrible when it was put like that…

"She used the stolen samples to create children, using her newly created methods and magically altered eggs to create children. Her verbal testimony under veritaserum, her memories pulled and viewed by this entire Wizengamot by pensive, the readings from the spells cast by her wand as well as the documented proof found in our raid on the clinic the day of its closure confirms this..."

"So far you haven't told us anything we didn't already know." Millicent Bulstrode said from her seat a row back behind the Minister, scowling. She had only grown more bitter after the years, especially after losing her fiancée in a potions accident. She had never liked Hermione, and was clearly pleased to see her held to crimes that could result in imprisonment.

Snape gave the woman an acidic glare, scowling now. "Mrs. Weasley could have continued to hide this scheme. She could have simply faded from our view, never to be seen again in our lives. She did not do this for her husband, for her daughter nor for herself." he growled, eyes fastened on Millicent, who scowled and sat back. Severus allowed his flashing black eyes to scan the faces up in the stands. "She turned herself in with the full expectation that not only would she be subject to spending the rest of her life in Azkaban; she expected to be sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss." he added. Several in the room gasped softly, and there were murmurs of disagreement that any such thing should happen.

"And why should she not? Over thirty children created by her hands without consent or knowledge..."

"Not only by her hand." Severus interrupted with a sneer. "Or did you not read all the documentation?"

"Of course I did!" she blustered, angry now. "But..."

"This is my time to speak, is it not Minister?" Snape asked, and the minister nodded, gesturing that Miss Bulstrode should be silent. The woman fell silent but continued to mouth swear words under her breath. "Thank you, Minister." he said with a smirk at the woman, and then he resumed his speech. "The children were created by Mrs. Weasley, mostly without her knowledge that anything was stolen. An oversight at best, sheer ignorance at worst. The children created by Malcolm Parkinson and his cohort August Bebel were not created in such innocence..."

"They are not on trial here!" Bulstrode growled.

"Be silent!" the minister turned on her and she subsided once more, her face suffused with anger.

"Hermione Weasley had no knowledge of what she was doing. When she was finally exposed to the truth, she dithered a bit, that is true. But then she approached Mr. Potter and spoke with him and turned in not only herself, but her wand. She has since then not only handed over her notes, she was instrumental in the location of ALL the children of concern, including those in the families of those among the Wizengamot; blood children that some of you did not even know you possessed. And blood children to be true heirs to your lines. If it was not for this woman..." he pointed at Hermione. "...we would not have found even half of them. By the time that we had found out anything, even with the help of the detective agency looking into the situation, the children would have been long gone."

This time Millicent had nothing to say, though she clearly wished she could refute the facts, grinding her teeth. Hermione watched Severus Snape in complete and utter shock. He was defending her…?

"Without the aid of the woman you hold accused of all of these crimes, the only children we would have located are ones who ended up in the hospital. I had located two of them myself due to complications with their birth, and one due to an accident that she suffered." Snape added. "Mrs. Weasley could have stopped assisting us when she turned herself in, but she did not. She could have sat back and watched but instead she enabled the Aurors to infiltrate Parkinson's operation. She procured files for us that showed us who had these children, and files showing which families were attempting to spawn a child - a boy child only - who would have the power of the dark lord." Severus paused a moment to allow that information to sink in. "Those files also revealed that innocent young witches were murdered because they were the wrong gender for those prospective parents. And she did not stop there, either. This woman remained where she was long enough for us to catch Pansy Parkinson in the act of rape of not just one, but THREE wizards!" Severus finished.

The room was silent for several long moments, then the Minister rose to his feet. "Please clear the room; we must deliberate." he ordered, then pounded the gavel to emphasize his command.

Hermione rose and found Ron at her elbow, helping her to her feet. She gave him a grateful smile then moved away from him with the Auror.

Ron gazed after her, watching until the door closed that would isolate her until the judgment was reached. He sighed and turned back to his family to find both Blaise and Harry waiting to reassure him next to the door. He took a deep breath and put a smile on for them, deeply worried despite the words that Severus had said in her defense.

The waiting area was full of redheaded people; every one of Ron's siblings had come to support him, and their spouses and adult children who had been able to get away. Even Percy had managed to get away from his work long enough to give emotional support to his youngest brother.

"It will be all right, Ronald; you'll see." Molly tried to reassure her son, but her face betrayed the fact that she was very worried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

Hermione glanced up nervously at the stands of witches and wizards who would decide her fate as the Auror led her back into the large room and back to the center. The chair was gone, only a small stand with a railing to rest upon remained. She stepped up onto the stand, unable to force herself to look back at Ron or anyone else. This was the moment...

The Minister banged his gavel and the room fell silent. "We have deliberated at length upon this issue. We have considered each action taken by the defendant, both positive and negative, and weighed the importance of those actions in what occurred. Although we are aware that many among those of you in the gallery today are desirous of one outcome or another, we assure you that we will not change in our decision..."

Draco leaned close to Harry. "I think that man just likes to hear himself talk." he whispered, and Harry had to stifle a chuckle.

Ron sat still as a statue, looking as if he was going to be ill at any moment. He was as pale and white as Hermione was.

The minister went on and on about the great responsibility of the court and of the medical field toward the public and it almost sounded like he was about to launch into a political speech when someone behind him cleared their throat. He flushed and rearranged his papers. "As I was saying..." he said in a clearly disgruntled and irritated tone. "We debated upon each possible decision and have come to this decision." he turned his eyes to Hermione and she felt like she was completely alone, staring up at that panel of dozens of witches and wizards all up staring at her. She felt so incredibly small and unimportant... she expected nothing but the worst.

"For the crime of Accessory to the murder of five Potter children, we find the defendant..." he took a deep breath for dramatic effect, then let it out. "Not guilty." he finished, then turned the page.

Nearly everyone in the place burst into conversation, a gabble of confused voices and sounds that Ron found he couldn't make any sense of at all. The minister scowled, pounding his gavel for silence several times before he finally got compliance with his wishes. When silence again was achieved he eyed the audience. "If you cannot remain silent we will remove all except the accused for the reading of the judgments!" he snapped.

There was no sound now, except for an embarrassed cough or two. He cleared his throat importantly and continued. "For the crime of twenty three counts of Theft by Deception, we find the defendant..." again the dramatic pause. "Guilty, of one count, not guilty on twenty two. For the crime of Aiding and Abetting Pansy Parkinson in murder of children, we find her not guilty on all counts. For the crime of Aiding and Abetting Parkinson with stealing not only the 'seed' of wizards unwillingly, but for the theft of the heirs of no less than ten wizarding families, we find the defendant guilty." he said firmly, clearly quite pleased that he had not been interrupted this time. "For the crime of rape leveled against her..."

Hermione looked startled at that accusation and Ron came to his feet immediately. "She did no such thing!" he snapped.

"Sit DOWN AND BE SILENT!" The minister growled at him. Harry grabbed his sleeve on one side and Blaise on the other and they pulled the resistant redhead back down into his seat, seething with fury.

"For the Crime of Rape levied by Radivar Mulcider, the court finds her not guilty." he said quickly, trying to get his words out this time before the crowd started talking again. Someone in the back yelled his objection, and Ron turned to see the man accusing his wife being taken out of the room by Aurors. Hermione watched him go in utter confusion. Who the hell was that guy...?

Tonks watched him leave with great relief from her place just to the right and behind the Minister. She was NOT unhappy that that cruel man was getting escorted out at all; it was she who had been in Hermione's stead the night he had all but raped HER… and he had the gall and nerve to press charges for rape. The sick bastard…! Her eyes turned and fell on her wolfling mate's face; Lupin's expression held nothing but pure hate and the clear expression of the hunt. Oh Merlin. He clearly had remembered the scent of the man that had been on her the night she had been so shaken up; now he had the name and the face to go with that scent. Radivar was a dead man walking and he didn't even know it if she couldn't get Severus to help her talk Remus out of it... if she even wanted to.

"What in the bloody hell is he talking about? Rape! Hermione never! Not once did she do that shit! Tonks even said so...!" Ron hissed quietly to Harry, who urgently gestured for his friend to be quiet so they would not be thrown out although his own whisper had barely been audible above the general level of conversation that had arose from the accusation.

The minister glared about the room and pounded his gavel again, refusing to speak again until he had total and complete silence. "For the crime of Improper Use of Magic in the creation of living creatures, we find the defendant Guilty."

Hermione bowed her head at that; this crime usually meant the removal or blockage of any magical ability of the accused at all.

"For these crimes that you have been found guilty of, Mrs. Weasley, the punishment could range from immediate incarceration to Azkaban to probation under close observation. Again, we did consider all possibilities on this case, and..." the minister seemed about to wax eloquent once again but someone in the audience wasn't going to allow it.

"Come to the point you overblown windbag!" a female voice muttered, though the voice was quite audible and could be heard all about the room. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought that it was Molly Weasley who had spoken up that time.

Several people laughed softly at the comment and the minister turned red again. "Hermione Weasley, for the crimes that you have committed against both the wizarding and muggle worlds, you will be sent to Azkaban..." Ron went ashen, and Blaise put a supporting arm around him.

The babble of the crowd at that announcement drowned him out; that wasn't about to stop the Minister from completing his pronouncement of the sentence. He touched his wand to his own throat and invoked the sonorous spell, making his voice boom out over the crowd in the room as he went on, "...for a period of one month...!" he added.

"You're barking mad!" George growled.

"That's insane with all the help she gave to the Aurors!" Molly snapped angrily.

"You're trying to make a political statement with her sentence and all its going to do is lose you that position you hold so dear!" Percy accused him. "She does NOT deserve Azkaban!"

"Yeah! And he'd know 'cuz he's the only politician amongst us!" Fred said in a half-jab at his brother.

"You can't tell the Ministry what to do!" someone to the left of the Weasley clan said in equal outrage.

The minister, finding even his magnified voice was being drowned out, began pounding his gavel on the sounding block and the sound crashed across the crowd, drawing attention back to him and bringing some lowered voices. "You will all sit down or you will be removed from this proceeding!" he demanded, red-faced and angry that any moment he could have in the spotlight had been interfered with.

"We demand that a poll of the members of the Wizengamot be made!" Arthur Weasley spoke in a voice that had lost a lot of its power over the years, but he was still clearly heard over the angry mutters and confused whispers of those in the stands, coming to his feet as he spoke.

"A poll of the members is not necessary, I..."

"Wizarding Law states that ANY member of the wizarding public can demand a poll of the Wizengamot when a sentence comes into question." He answered. "That law has remained unchanged since the formation of the Wizengamot and I choose to invoke it!"

The Minister's face went a shade redder and he sat down suddenly, a pout on his rather handsome face. "As you wish... Ms. Bones, if you will...?" he passed the responsibility on to her, clearly very put out and angry by the entire situation. It was clear he had decided the sentence before the hearing had even begun.

Amanda Bones, a row down and several seats to the right of the Minister, rose in her place and turned to the panel that sat in judgment. "A poll has been called for: those amongst you who feel that the crimes that Hermione Weasley has been found guilty for are heinous enough to warrant her being committed to Azkaban please indicate now by raising your hands." she instructed, standing quietly to take the poll.

Some hands did rise, including Millicent Bulstrode's and at least a dozen others.

"And those who do not feel that her crimes warrant her being committed to Azkaban...?" she asked, raising her own hand. Nearly twice as many hands went up indicating the lack of support for the Minister's sentence. "The result is clear, Minister; the Wizengamot does not support a sentence in Azkaban for this case." she reported the obvious verdict.

The entire room was silent now, waiting for the final determination expectantly. The minister raised his wand and cast a spell of privacy that encompassed the stands occupied by all the members, allowing those within the Wizengamot to speak in private without anyone in the gallery hearing.

A soft babble of whispered conversations rose from the audience. Ron barely breathed as they waited, not daring to hope for anything positive. Blaise put a comforting arm around him, telling him to relax that it would all be all right, somehow.

Hermione simply sat quietly with her head bowed; she was going to accept any sentence that was pronounced by the wizarding council. She was stunned that Severus Snape had actually testified on her behalf; she had trouble wrapping her mind about that simple fact.

"I think the Minister is dead-set on putting her in Azkaban!" George growled, arms folded, eyes narrowed as he glared at the Minister, who had his back to the room and was gesticulating grandly.

"Probably is, the idiot." Warrington had no idea why he was here but George had insisted he come, and with Alyssa's backing he hadn't any choice. He hated coming to the ministry and only the fact that no one had learned the details of his involvement in this entire mess had kept him from sitting in the same seat that Hermione was now. "I never liked him in school; he was really self-absorbed and doesn't seem to have changed at all."

"Yeah… I thought the same damned thing." George smirked at him faintly, still highly irritated as he watched the Minister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

"Policy and history demand that for the crimes she was accused of…" the minister began.

"Policy and history be bloody well damned!" Cho Longbottom-Chang snapped in response. "She was not found guilty of the charge of rape and that's what you want to hold her to!"

"She's right, that was Pansy Parkinson, not Hermione Weasley!" an aged wizard snapped. "She was not guilty!"

"She was guilty of Theft by Deception, aiding and abetting Pansy Parkinson and one count of Improper Use of Magic! Isn't that enough to put her in Azkaban? Just because she doesn't have a Dark Mark and she associates with Potter you all just want to let her walk away from this!" Millicent Bulstrode growled, eyes narrow. "There is no Dark Lord anymore, we must stop worshipping at the feet of Potter and everyone he associates with!

"Oh, come on Millicent; you know as well as I do that this has absolutely nothing to do with Potter other than the fact that it all BEGAN with him!" Cho scowled.

"And no one said they wanted to let her walk away!" Amanda countered immediately. "But she should not be treated with undue harshness because you cannot find a way to bring back the Parkinsons and punish them yourself!"

The minister was clearly flustered. "I… this isn't about Parkinson or his daughter, this is about…"

"Isn't it? You've been on the edge of your seat since this entire thing began!" Amanda countered.

That made the minister bluster. "This isn't about me either!"

"It is, because the German wizard's council demanded the return of August Bebel. You have no one else to showcase as taking the blame for this entire situation!"

"That woman has broken the laws of the wizarding world and must be punished for doing so!" An old witch said. "She could easily have exposed us to the muggle world with her intermingling of wizardry and muggle technology!" She eyed Cho. "Are you saying she should not be punished?"

"I'm not saying that and you know it, Gertie." Cho answered. "But Azkaban is for killers. Hermione hasn't done anything to warrant that severity of treatment!"

"What do you suggest, then? A slap on the wrist and let her back out to do the same bloody thing?" the Minister demanded, red-faced.

"Of course she's not! Don't be a bloody fool, none of us are idiots!" a wizened old wizard grumbled.

"Then what do you suggest? I only was putting her in for a month!" The minister seemed to be beginning to whine now, folding his arms, scowling deeply. It was all getting away from him and he didn't like being out of control of the situation at all.

"You all heard the testimony of Severus Snape…"

"Oh, that's an impressive point; he's a most trustworthy man." Gertie said in sour sarcasm.

"Even if you don't believe a single word he's said, you've seen the penseive testimonies of all the aurors involved! If it had not been for Hermione Weasley we might never have even found half of those children. And from the interviews that were done on those returned to the families of their fathers, it is clear that they would have suffered much abuse to try to mold them into new Dark Lords to take over our world again! Because of Hermione Weasley, that threat has been eliminated!"

"Aren't you being a bit dramatic?" Millicent asked.

"Am I? I took the time to read ALL the reports and watch ALL the penseive testimony, not just what looked like what it might be juicy." Cho said, eyes narrow.

"Ladies! Minister, please…" an old wizard spoke up from the back of the gallery; he had been on the panel for over a hundred years and rarely voted much less spoke during debates. All eyes turned to the man, who cleared his throat and pressed on in a shaky voice. "Minister, if you must place her in Azkaban, do so for a period of no more than two weeks. Then proceed with whatever probationary process you wish; I am quite weary and am ready to head home." He suggested.

"Is that the consensus of all of you?" McLaggen demanded, looking around.

"I'd prefer no time at all, but yes, that will do." Cho said with a frown.

"Then let's get this done; I'm more than ready to have this all behind me!" The minister growled, returning to his seat and snatching up his gavel before he lifted the curtain of silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

Minister McLaggen felt assaulted by the babble of voices that struck him when he lifted the silencing spell, but he began banging his gavel on the sounding block and calling for attention and silence. Finally the babble quieted down but McLaggen was waiting for complete silence before he proceeded, glaring at the audience as if accusing them of spoiling a very important moment for him. "The dominant desire of the Wizengamot is that you will stay in Azkaban, Mrs. Weasley; your stay will be limited to a fortnight." He said, glancing about as if daring anyone to naysay him now. No one said anything though there were rumbles of discontent from the gallery.

Hermione nodded, not raising her eyes from her hands, clasped in her lap to hide the fact that they were shaking.

"Upon the completion of your stint in Azkaban, you will be moved to a low-security prison in Bristol and will be assigned to work in the hospital there. You will be continuing your studies under your current collegiate program, though you WILL change your focus from genetics to general physician. You will be working in the emergency clinic with muggle patients. You will NOT be allowed the use of your wand for a minimum of three months; you will be watched closely throughout that time. ANY misuse of your magic and you will be returned to your cell in Azkaban! You will not be allowed to travel, but you will be allowed to have visits from friends and family. After a period of a full year, you will be allowed to return to your home and released under probationary restrictions. Details will be worked out with the Aurors; this case is closed." he slammed his gavel down a final time and turned to walk out, followed by the rest of the wizarding council. Millicent Bulstrode stayed seated for longer than the others and was one of the last to leave, scowling and angry still.

The room erupted in a cacophony of voices; two Aurors stepped forward and escorted Hermione away.
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Pilfered Progeny - Stolen Dreams