Chapter 18: Chapter 18
Chapter 18
DAPHNE GREENGRASS
Daphne Greengrass was acutely aware of the frail health of the blonde walking towards the witness stand in the courtroom. It was one of the reasons that had kept her out of Great Britain and unaware of the whole trial proceedings. Due to the complexities of her birth, she had been bedridden for a year now, and many healers had called it a miracle that the young woman had even managed to survive.
Everyone in the court was intrigued by the presence of this newcomer, at least for those who were only paying perfunctory attention to the trial.
Those who had done some digging of their own were aware of the witch's importance, and given that the woman had been declared dead, her reappearance caused quite a stir in the court.
She could see a flicker of surprise appear on Percy's face, and it was no surprise that both of them were aware of each other, given that they had been prefects at around the same time at the school.
Adelaine slowly settled down into the chair as Daphne walked up.
"Can you please declare your name and relation to Crovus Lestrange for the Court?" she questioned, and Adelaine nodded.
"My name is Adelaine Murton," she began, her voice weak, and she halted at the next words before she continued in a shaky tone.
"And I was his only ever friend," she remarked, and the words stung her, for Daphne had her own part in the ruination of the young boy, a role which she could never deny. One that had made the blonde sitting opposite her resent her very much.
Yet now, despite their differences, they had come together for a singular purpose, and it was the exoneration of Crovus.
"Could you describe to the court in detail the nature of your relationship with Crovus Lestrange?" Daphne added and saw the blonde wither as she glanced towards the empty seat of the defendant. After a moment of thought, she added,
"I became interested in him near the end of my fifth year when I accidentally caught him facing Professor Snape in a secret duel. He dueled the man with exceptional skills, skills which could overshadow sixth and seventh years," she began, and she was aware of this.
"And then over the years, I began to follow him, began to understand the ocean that was Crovus Lestrange," she then stopped.
"Initially, it was all a puzzle, a game, the rules of which I did not understand. But then, over the years, things began to make sense, and the pieces began to click, and I realized the true intentions of Crovus Lestrange," Adelaine said slowly as she turned to face her.
"And what exactly were those intentions?" she questioned, and the whole Court waited for the blonde's answer.
"To infiltrate the ranks of the Death Eaters so he could bring down the man whom many in this room even fear to name," she snarled, a hint of anger and frustration in her tone as she glanced at the people sitting in the stands.
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ADELAINE MURTON-(Flash Back)
"I want you to help me become a Death Eater," Adelaine spoke as she sat beside him on the edge of the Astronomy Tower. The Dark Lord's revival about a year ago was still a secret, and the Ministry, under the control of Fudge and his cronies, was doing everything to stomp any notion regarding the return of the man.
Today was her last day in the school. She was aware of Crovus's rapid rise amongst the Dark Lord's ranks, and unlike many other people, she was aware of the toll it was taking on him. He had always been thin and pale, yet his skin had lost nearly all its color over the last few months, and his bones had begun to show. And the massive Dark circles under his eyes spoke of sleepless nights, often riddled with nightmares. She knew of this, for she had soothed him to sleep several times now, and his gut-wrenching screams and convulsions would break her heart.
"What?" he reacted just as she had expected, alarmed and angry as he looked towards her with wide eyes, his breath tinged with the smoky odor of the muggle cigarettes, a smell to which she found herself getting accustomed to.
"I want you to help me become a follower of the Dark Lord?" she repeated, and his eyes widened. She saw his mind race until a spark of realization passed through them as he nodded his head.
"Your father?" he guessed right, already aware of her father's greed and behavior. She chewed her lip as she nodded, bringing her own cigarettes to her lips as she took in a deep puff. The burning sensation soothed her as she looked at the starry sky above.
"Yes," she began.
"He plans to sell me to the Flints to gain favor with the Dark Lord, and the only way for me to escape his clutches is this way," she said.
"You could run away. I have my family's money…." And she turned to look at him and could see the concern in his eyes as he tried to help her. She slowly reached for his hand and squeezed it gently.
"This is the only choice, Crovus," she replied, and perhaps she was lying. Perhaps she just wanted to stay close to him. Wished to help him. Perhaps she was shortsighted.
Yet in the end, the boy agreed to her demand, and then a month later, she found herself standing infront of the Dark Lord, with fear lingering in her heart as those Red Orbs ripped her apart, and the man put his wand on her arm.
"Mosmerde!"
And then pain rippled through her, excruciating pain, yet she bit her lip just as Crovus had instructed her and stopped herself from screaming as dark lines rippled over her arms, training her very soul as the Dark Mark appeared on her arm.
Behind the man, she could see Crovus looking at her with a concerned gaze, his eyes so similar yet so different to the dark red orbs of the Dark Lord!
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And then later as the reality of her new associations dawned her, as she saw the dungeons littered with muggles and muggle born witches and wizards, and saw the depravity and vileness of those the people who surrounded she felt herself break, slowly, slowly but her very should began to rip itself apart, she tried to remain strong. Tried, yet in the end she broke down.
And as she found herself sobbing helplessly in the dark of the night, standing over the edge of the terrace ready to step forward, determined to end it all, she felt a strong pair of arms pull her back.
"Ahh!" she screamed as she fell back and landed on the person who had pulled her back and she stilled for a moment as she saw those ominous red orbs until she saw the specks of grey and gold in them telling her that it was not the Dark Lord.
NO, this was Crovus, whom she had been trying to avoid for she did not wish to add to the worries of the young boy.
Yet it appeared as though it had all been useless.
His face was ashen and hurt, filled with agony as he glanced at her.
"What were you doing!" she screamed. Rage and concern lingered in his voice.
And she looked down, not concerned by her appearance, as she felt him grip his arms tightly.
"I couldn't take it anymore! You were right!" she said through sobs as tears dripped down her face, and she felt him still as her vision blurred.
She wrapped her arms around him, her head falling onto his shoulder as she sobbed, and his arms slowly circled her back.
"I am sorry!" he spoke seconds later his voice shaky and tumultuous, and she herself stilled as she heard his guilt-ridden tone. And when she backed up to retort, he held her face in his hands.
"I got you in this mess, and I promise in my life that I will get you out of it!" she felt the very magic ripple as she stilled and realized just what he had done.
"No.." but he cut her off as he slowly wiped away her tears and added.
"So, just hold on. Please, just hold on!" he nearly begged her as he stared into her eyes before he gently pushed her away and began to walk away.
As she watched him move away, she realized for the first time how much he had grown up from the young boy she had sent dueling Professor Snape, and her heart broke as she realized just how much he had suffered.
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ADELAINE MURTON-(Present day)
"You all should be ashamed of yourself!" she uttered with all her strength, her voice rippled through the courtroom, and she glanced at the jury as well, her gaze lingering on the Minister as well as she raged on.
"You all should be ashamed of yourself, for you all sit here trying to evaluate Crovus when it was all you people who failed him, failed this whole society!" she shouted again, as her fists balled up and her eyes teared up.
"You let Voldemort run rampant years ago, failing to stop his rise, and it was only a miracle that the Dark Lord met his demise on that night in 1981, yet what did you all do afterward," she scoffed and saw the jury redden in rage and embarrassment as she continued.
"NOTHING! NOT EVEN A SINGLE THING!" she shouted.
"You let the rot fester, ignoring it all, and when he rose up again two decades later, you. ALL OF YOU FAILED TO DO ANYTHING AS HE RIPPED OUR VERY SOCIETY APART! RHE RAPED, KILLED, MURDERED, RUINED WHOLE FAMILIES YET YOU ALL FAILED TO STOP HIM!" she shouted.
"This is out of line, mind your…" one of the jurors began to retort.
"WHY?" she questioned angrily.
"Why should I stop when it was all your negligence and lack of action that forced a literal a boy to end the war! Where were you when he infiltrated his ranks? Where were you when he suffered all those tortures? Where were you when he leaked intel about attacks to the Ministry, yet that same ministry was so incompetent that it even failed to react to such intelligence!" she retorted.
"YOU JUDGE HIM HERE, YET THIS WHOLE MISTRY WAS FILLED WITH THE DARK LORD'S MEN JUST OVER A YEAR AGO! EACH AND EVERY DEPARTMENT TEEMING WITH HIS SYMPATHISERS!" she added, as her throat began to hurt and close up.
"EVEN NOW, MANY OF THEM LINGER ONE AS YOU SIT HERE CONTINUING THIS FAR…" and she began coughing up.
"KUKH! KUKH!" and she glanced at her hand and found it dyed scarlet. Yet she didn't stop as she looked at the flushed juror.
"Tell me! Tell us all, what were you doing when a boy of fourteen was doing more than this damn Ministry to bring down the existential threat faced by our society?" she then turned towards the reporters.
"Where were all of you? Miss Skeeter, Mr. Creevy. Miss Ogden, tell me where all of you were!" she said as she felt a tear dripping down her face and falling into her lap. As she breathed deeply to calm herself down as much as she could.
She then finally looked up and began again, barely containing her voice as she began once more.
"Crovus Lestrange is neither a saint nor a devil!" she began remembering the rare gentle smiles and bewildered expression he would have whenever he would discover something new or intriguing, becoming excited like the other boys his age.
"He was a simple boy who decided to stand up where all of us failed. He was a casualty of our inaction, of our weakness, of our complacency."
She could see some of the people in the stands and jury looking down guiltily as she showed them the idiocy of this whole trial, of this whole farce!
"We could all scrutinize all his actions, dissecting each and every one of them as necessary or not, yet before judging Crovus, the young boy whose sacrifices allow each and every one of you to live their lives in peace even as he fights for his very life in St. Mungo's," she looked into the Minister's eyes as she continued.
"I want each and every one of you to question yourself, where were you when the Dark Lord was rampaging across our society."
"Where were you?"
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Hours after the conclusion of the proceedings, the Daily Prophet would issue a special issue detailing the proceedings of the last Death Eater trial. The trial would come to an end with the testimony of Adelaine Murton, and the highlight of the special issue would be a specially written article by a budding reporter titled:
~ WHERE WERE YOU? ~
By Tracy Davis
The article would contain testimonies from sympathizers who would each speak of his whereabouts during the years when Crovus Lestrange had infiltrated the ranks of the Dark Lord's followers.
And perhaps, taking mercy on the touted 'Cursed child' of Magical Britain, the young boy would wake up, managing to overcome his extensive injuries.
A feat, according to many healers, was nothing less than a miracle.
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