Magic of the Night (Harry Potter/Twilight Crossover)

Chapter Thirty-One:

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE:

I was in a state of shock, only half aware of the fact that I was standing in what I'd dubbed Luna and Draco's bedroom at the Cullen's. Luna was speaking to Hermione, but I didn't hear what it was she was saying, not really.

It was Hermione who passed me the phial, who gently guided my hands to press it to my lips.

The artificial serenity of the Calming Potion brought the world around me back into sharp focus.

"Hermione?" I mumbled.

"Are you back with us, Bella?" she asked, and I nodded. She smiled. "I'm glad. You need to get changed into robes and clean up, and then I'm taking us both to the Ministry. Can you do that?"

"I can," I assured her. She smiled brightly and then shocked me by pulling me into a hug.

Hermione was taller then me, by about two or three inches, and her body was harder then mine, all lean muscle where I was either soft edges or pointed bone. She smelt like smoke and ozone and pine, and when she whispered in my ear, her voice was firm and fierce. "The Volturi just crossed the wrong witch!"

As Hermione took a step back and gave me another smile, this one as fierce in its passion as her voice, and just as firm in its resolve, I knew that she was almost right; the Volturi had crossed the wrong witch– but it wasn't me. 

I wait until Hermione's left the room before turning to Luna and asking, "when I grow up, can I be her?"

I'm only thirty percent joking.

-

The first thing I noticed about the Wizengamot chambers was that the place looked more like a dungeon from the Middle Ages then any kind of courtroom I'd ever seen. It didn't really seem very comfortable or professional. Possibly the designer had been one of the morbid, dramatic types who'd likely gone mad a few weeks after the room's construction.

The thought crossed my mind that, if Luna was here, she'd probably tell the Wizengamot to redecorate in purple and yellow in order to deter wrackspurts or some such thing, citing the importance of preserving a just court system, free from interference.

My inner Luna had a point (about the need for redecorating, not the wrackspurts). The dungeon-like setting of the courtroom probably predisposed wizards to assume that the suspect before them was guilty. And the heavy looking chair in the center of the room– was it seriously covered in chains?– certainly didn't help any.

"Oh I know," Hermione said, from my side, giving me a commiserating look. "Redesigning the Wizengamot chambers is third down on my list of things I plan to get done before returning to Hogwarts– first is redesigning the entire British wizarding justice system in general, its utterly archaic, but I'll make sure it's completed before the start of the next school year."

It's sort of terrifying that I believe her when she tells me that, but I'm much less afraid now of the Volturi, and their inevitable retaliation for what I did to She-Devil (aka Jane)– because if everything goes right, then there won't be any time for retaliation.

And after all 'the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting'.

Well, I won't be fighting– and neither will my family.

Hermione practically makes my case for me in front of the small panel of six members of the Wizengamot, without me having to say a word, laying my official claim that I'm being aggressively pursued/hunted by a coven of vampires. I only have to speak once, confirming what Hermione has been saying– most of it's true, too, so its not really a lie (even if it was, though, I doubt anyone dares to say a word against Hermione Granger, Order of Merlin First Class, Brains of the Golden Trio, Best Friend of Harry Potter– in fact, I'm fairly certain that it's this sort of bias in the court system that Hermione plans to minimise as much as possible, like the processes in the muggle court system, but I'm more then okay with just staying quiet right now and letting her work her magic).