The Ties That Bind

Timeline: The day they get home from Hogwarts to start the summer.

"Truly, to tell lies is not honorable; but when the truth entails tremendous ruin, to speak dishonorably is pardonable."

~ Sophocles (496 BC - 406 BC), Creusa ~

Danny wasn't sure about moving the kids back to their home, but they insisted. He was entirely prepared to move them to his apartment when they arrived at the kids' old home, but he ended up being surprised when they immediately set their luggage in the foyer for the house elves and set about to explore the house.

"What are you looking for?" Daniel asked when he saw them move through a side door in the living area.

"Malf!" Jess called from the hallway.

A house elf suddenly appeared from the dining room.

"Mistress, you called me?" the aging house elf replied. Daniel was surprised to see the joy on the house elf's face.

Jessica and Casey came back into the foyer. She smiled at Malf.

"Malf," Jess said. "Come," she nodded her head towards the hallway she and Casey had just exited. "We need to talk."

Malf looked curious as he followed them from the room. Casey, who was last to exit, looked at Danny and shook his head. "This is a private conversation," he said quietly before leaving with his sister and the house elf.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"We need to free all those once loyal to only my dad," were the first words out of Jessica's mouth after Casey shut the door to the room they had just entered from the hallway.

Malf looked taken aback, and it was then Jessica realized what she sounded like. Casey knew from their discussion on the train ride home that she was nervous and even a tad bit scared to do what they were about to do, but he knew she believed as equally as he did that this was their best option.

"I want to free all the *house elves* that were loyal to only Father," Jessica rephrased.

Malf's face went from shocked to surprised. "That's a goods chunks of the staffs, Mistress."

"How many?" Jessica demanded.

"A littles over fifties, methinks," the old house elf replied quietly.

Jessica nodded silently.

"There's going to be about thirty coming from the Department of Magic, I imagine, if Uncle Danny moves in with us," Casey supplied.

Jessica looked confused for a second, so Casey started to explain. "Part of the Montgomery house elves were suppose to go to Uncle Danny. Since only two or three can reside in his apartment at a time, he ordered the rest to keep Magical Law Enforcement clean until such time as he needed them."

Jessica looked back at Malf. "Will that be about enough to keep this place functioning?"

Malf nodded. "Yeses, Mistress, it wills be."

"What about security?"
Malf hesitated before nodding. "Yeses, Mistress, it wills be."

Correctly interpreting Malf's hesitance, Jessica smiled. "Don't worry. This time you'll be protecting Casey, Uncle Danny, and me, not Lord Voldemort."

Malf smiled. "I'm glads, Mistress. I'm glads."

From his corner, Casey agreed. "You aren't the only one, Malf."

Jessica exchanged a smile with him.

"Let's begin," Jessica said quietly. "And I don't want it to hit them until they're outside the house."

When Jessica and Casey turned to leave the room, Malf threw them a curious look.

"Wheres are you going, Masters, Mistresses?"
The siblings exchanged a smile before Casey answered the house elf. "To get a bunch of socks of course."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Andorra stopped just outside the kitchen door. The house elves at Briana Manor had let her in with the instruction that she could find Master Montgomery in the kitchen. Washing dishes. They had sounded annoyed about that.

And sure enough. He was washing dishes. Andorra stood watching her Level Black Captain, her Captain of his Dark Operators, her Daniel. She knew he was younger than she was. Much younger, if truth be told. Much, much younger. She took a silent breath. Though graying, she still had streaks of brown in her hair. Her face was still youthful. Many did not believe she was her age. But she was. And, unfortunately, she couldn't help the way she felt about some people, even if they were much younger than she was. Much, much younger.

She and Daniel hadn't clicked right at the beginning of their relationship. She had just become the Head of Magical Law Enforcement in America after serving twenty years as an Auror for them. He was a hotshot just off training in the States, though he had attended Hogwarts in England. She remembered that his mother had visited often and worried about him more often. His Marks were higher than hers were, and you could tell by both his ability and his attitude. She thought he would be showy on a mission. She worried, so she had assigned him a routine mission, going with him with the idea that she would drag his bruised body home. To her great surprise, and dismay at the time, he had ended up dragging her bruised body home. He hadn't been showy but rather the epitome of reserve. Much later, he would confide in her how strict his mom had been growing up, how she had been very concerned with the self-control of her children. She had always felt that there was something to that, something more, but he had been tightlipped on what he said about it.

After he had dragged her bruised body home, the next day, he hadn't said a thing. He knew how hard it was for her to control the Aurors because of her being a woman. Being the sister of the "great" Albus Dumbledore had helped very little. (Living with that constant comparison was extremely difficult.) But Daniel never said a word about the incident. Yet, even after that, Daniel and she did not become friends. It wouldn't be until after Whitman that things would change.

Whitman was a left over from Grindelwald. He had a special vendetta against Andorra, because of the precise connection to Albus that everyone had made at that time when it came to her. Whitman had wanted to start Grindelwald's operation back up but in America this time. And he had almost succeeded. Had it not been for the determination of Andorra, Secretary Raimy, and Daniel Montgomery and one late night meeting between Andorra and Daniel, Whitman would have succeeded.

It had been that night that she saw this hotshot kid as something else. At the late night meeting between Andorra and Daniel, Daniel brought up this crazy idea that had been going through his head for years. It was the start of the formation of a team that would become known as the Dark Operators, named so after their operations - operations that were to take place in darkness so no one could see and no one could know. And then Daniel suggested another thing that had surprised Andorra at the time. There was this kid that followed Daniel wherever Daniel went. This kid would have annoyed a lesser person, but Daniel remained patient, even though she could see it trying him at times. But that night, at that meeting, without hesitation, Mr. Hotshot - Daniel - had suggested this annoying little brat of a kid to be the Commander of the Dark Operators. To Andorra's amazement, Daniel had been getting copies of the kid's transcript via bugging the kid's old great-aunt. This kid would be done with Auror training at the end of the week.

And after this suggestion, Daniel, along with some other individuals, put together a team that would live without the law to defend the law. They would obey not a title, Daniel insisted, but one behind a title, such as Andorra herself, he explained, and Secretary Raimy. They would not obey them because they were the head of the department or the secretary. They would obey them because Andorra and Raimy themselves deserved to be obeyed.

When he was finished laying this plan out, Andorra had asked how in the name of Merlin he expected a group of government agents to defend the law without obeying it themselves. He laid out a system to check the individuals, including the fact that the group itself would never know the exact system of check being inflicted upon them. She then asked why he thought this would work, why he thought that this would be better than the bad guys since this was only stooping to their level. His answer shocked her.

While in Diagon Alley to get some school supplies one day while he was still attending Hogwarts, curiosity had gotten the better of him. He had ventured into Knockturn Alley and seen Grindelwald. The evil wizard was in a shop giving a speech. And Daniel had sat and listened. One of the things he had heard had continued to haunt him through his schooling and into his days as an Auror. Grindelwald had said, 'They can't catch us, and do you know why they can't catch us? In the great race to the top, they stop at the signs of their laws, while we run straight through!' And Daniel did not think that fair to the very people the Aurors protect. So what if they got a group that would obey laws though they would never get in trouble for breaking them?

Daniel was the one they rarely checked. She was the last one to run a check on him, and it still amazed her that he never stepped outside the bounds of his job at all. The one without the biggest check - himself - never used his position to his own advantage.

He put his team together, and they worked beautifully. He put his team plans together, and they succeeded in almost everything they did. He could get his team excited about the very ideology that many Aurors lose excitement for after awhile.

Andorra and Daniel had become fast friends during the taking down of Whitman, a process that had lasted two long grueling years. On the night they had caught him, the Department had celebrated. It was really Daniel's catch, but, per restrictions, the Dark Operators couldn't openly declare their captures. So many people had shaken Andorra's hand that night rather than Daniel's. They said things like, 'I honestly wondered about you, Andorra, but you did it!', 'I'm surprised, but pleasantly so, Dumbledore.', and the worse: 'Your brother has taught you well.' Daniel had walked her home that night. As they stopped in front of the door to her own apartment, a floor above Daniel's, she had shaken his hand to congratulate him, but, his large hand gripping her smaller one tightly, he whispered, 'I was never surprised, Andorra. Greatest runs in your family, but all your brother did was merely begin it. Had you been born first, it would be your name haunting Professor Dumbledore.' Unexpectedly, tears had risen in her eyes, but she blinked them out quickly. It was then that her entire world had shifted. Daniel had smiled at her, that sweet grin that she would grow to adore, and had leaned down to kiss her cheek. 'Congratulations on the capture, Andorra.' 'But, it was your capture,' she had replied to him. He had shaken his head. 'No, it was yours. You had faith in a crazy idea, by a crazy, hotshot Auror, an idea every person on earth would have shot down before taking a risk on. That took more guts than what my team did.' She remembered that he had taken a deep breath then, making her already light head spin a little as, at that moment, she had realized how large and muscular he was. 'Sometimes,' he had continued, 'people don't realize that the more frightening task isn't always dealing with the enemies on the other side. Sometimes, it's being willing to deal with the enemies on your own side. And you did it, Andorra. That's why you're *my* boss.' He gave the hand he was holding a squeeze, giving her that sweet grin again before turning to walk away, never realizing that, at that moment, he had just changed her life.

He giving her public credit for capturing Whitman had helped her considerably. She was then given credit for having a brain and the real Andorra Dumbledore was allowed to show herself and to come into her own as the years rolled by; her past Auror work in the hunting of Grindelwald was also allowed to show itself. But it wasn't that that had the most profound affect on her that night. It was his sweet smile and the forever wildly beating heart in her chest every time he came near her after that.

"Does my backside look that interesting, Andorra?" he asked, continuing to face his dishes.

"As a matter of fact, it does," she responded, surprising them both. She laughed to cover it up. "What, may I ask, is a wizard doing washing dishes the Muggle way?"

"It use to be an exercise my mother would make Maddie and myself do to give us patience and self-control."

"Is there something particular you need patience and self-control for right now?" Andorra asked, walking over to stand next to him so she could see his profile.

"There's a load of stuff here I would prefer smashing, but I told Jessica I would let her and Casey decide what to do with their father's stuff."

She nodded. "That's probably the best idea," she said before glancing around and listening a moment. "Where are the kids anyhow?"
Daniel shrugged. "I have no idea at the moment. They insisted that they needed privacy and took off with a house elf."

"A house elf?" Andorra asked.

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, Malf."

"By chance...is Malf an old house elf, with a white beard but quite fast and efficient for his age?"
The question caused Daniel to pause a moment before continuing. "Yeah, why?"
Andorra shook her head. "Nothing really. Something about the case." That was the house-elf that had helped her and Riley the day that they examined Madeline's laboratory.

Daniel looked at her.

"Don't ask because I can't answer you," she said.

"I wasn't planning on asking. I was just looking at you," he said, going back to his dishes, almost sounding like a little griping kid.

Andorra paused a moment before commenting, "I'm surprised that you returned to the house. I thought you were going to bring them to your apartment."

"I thought I was to. They insisted on coming here."

"They can't go into their father's study. Or his bedroom."

"Bedroom?" Daniel asked, glancing at her. "I didn't realize that was a part of the crime scene."

"Jeffery is part of the crime scene. Therefore, his bedroom is as well."

Daniel shrugged, seemingly too tired to argue or to try to understand.

"Either way, it's all taped off and what have you," he sighed. "Plus, I don't think the kids will venture to that side of the house anytime soon. They convened their little house elf meeting on their safe side."

"Safe side?"
Daniel nodded. "Their life happened on one side of the house while their father's happened on the other. At least, that's what Jesse explained to me when she asked when supper was going to be." Daniel broke a plate. Instead of picking it up, he dropped it in the water and gripped the edge of the sink with his soapy hands.

Andorra put a hand on his back. "It's not your fault, Daniel."

"The hell it isn't," he said, his voice tired and strained. "I've spent the past six months trying to understand why I didn't see, why they didn't tell me. I know that Maddie told me in her letter that Jessica wouldn't trust me because she couldn't, but...I'm their uncle, Andorra. I'm suppose to protect them. Not only did I fail at that, I missed what was right in front of my face. I'm trained to weed out the bad guys. To discover them, track them, and capture them, kill them if I can't capture them. I missed Jeffery. He was there, under my nose the whole time, and *I missed him*."
She rubbed her hand up and down his back. "Sometimes it's hardest to see what's right under our nose. We live so long with it that we become comfortable with our thoughts of a person, not taking into account that they can change and change fast and we never even notice it. You know from experience that life can change in a second and not everyone around you notices the effect on you. Like Riley changed after that child."

"But I noticed that, Andorra. I noticed that!" he growled loudly. "But I couldn't notice the change in my own sister. I couldn't even notice the change in my niece or nephew."

"That's simple to explain. Maddie didn't let you see the change in her. She got herself into this mess, she would tell you, then she would say that she wasn't about to let her little brother get her out of it. By the time that the kids were born, she couldn't tell you.

"As for the kids, you didn't notice the change in them because there wasn't a change to notice. They lived all their life under Jeffery's rein. They didn't know any different, except for what you inadvertently taught them and Madeline attempted to teach them.

"The kids aren't blaming you for what happened."

"No. Jessica's blaming herself."

"She shouldn't."

"I know that. You know that." Suddenly, Daniel stopped. His eyes slowly turned to Andorra. "She shouldn't blame herself? What about Ri's conclusion? That it was premeditated?"

Andorra glanced away as she sighed. "That's what I came up here to talk to you about. Riley and Secretary Melovic wanted you to know. They also want you to tell the kids. The charge has been changed. It was premeditated, but he believes that it is also self-defense." Though Daniel only merely looked at her, she held up a hand to stop any possible objection. "I've seen his evidence. It's incredibly persuasive."

"No."

Both Andorra and Daniel turned to the door to see Jessica standing there, Casey beside her. Casey was looking at her in surprise.

"What makes me different then murderers like Grindelwald?" Her gaze shifted from Andorra to her uncle then back to Andorra again.

Andorra was about to respond to her like she would a child, but she stopped herself. Though a twelve-year old with a twelve-year old's immaturity, this was one area that Andorra had a feeling that she wouldn't be allowed to treat Jessica her age.

"In some cases of murder," Andorra said calmly, looking straight into the girl's eyes, "even if it's premeditated, it can be considered justifiable homicide. That means that the person felt in immediate fatal danger, or, in your case, that someone else was in immediate danger, and you had to stop it. Even though you planned the murder much earlier than the act, you didn't do it until you felt in immediate fatal danger. Riley has evidence that you felt in immediate danger prior to the act, so you're planning how to do it much sooner weighs little to the case. Or so we hope. We won't know until the trial tomorrow."

"That would..." she looked at her little brother.

"Justify," Casey supplied.

"That would justify," Jessica continued, "the murder of Aurors by bad guys, wouldn't it?"

Andorra was startled. She exchanged a surprised glance with Daniel. He looked equally surprised by the girl's perceptiveness.

"If there's something Jessica understands well," Casey said, going to sit at the kitchen table, "it's murder."

"Why do you understand murder so well?" Andorra asked softly.

Jessica merely gave her a dark look before going to sit at the table. "We got done with our meeting, Uncle Danny," she said, looking straight ahead, at no discernable spot. "Half the elf houses were ordered to leave the land and thus freed. We will need your house elves in order to keep the house running."

"Why did you free them?" Daniel asked, his hands sitting in the sink but not returning to the washing as he looked over his shoulder at his niece.

Casey, reaching behind himself to a shelf and surprising Daniel and Andorra by pulling a book from the shelf, answered, "They were Dad's house elves. We didn't trust them."

"I'm sorry that we did it without telling you, Sir," Jessica added, her eyes still on her spot, "but we did not feel that we had much time to lose. Father once threatened that if he were gone, we could still be harmed. We wanted to get his spies out as soon as possible." Suddenly, Jessica looked at Casey as he turned to look at her. Her face didn't break emotion, but she raised her eyebrows as though replying to him, though neither child spoke aloud. Casey went to his book without a word.

"Andorra, I would invite you for dinner, but I think the three of us need to have a talk."

Andorra turned to Daniel. His face was calm, but he was angry, she knew. Very angry. But although angry, she knew he wouldn't hurt the kids. Something they said had upset him. What it was, she didn't know, because it could have been every word out of their mouth. They were treating him as a stranger.

Andorra nodded at him. "That's fine. I already ate." She put her hand on his arm and gave a squeeze, trying to tell him it would be all right with her look.

He seemed to understand, giving her a tight smile and nodding.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

*That was a good lie.*

Jessica merely raised her eyebrows at her brother. The lie didn't affect her conscience...that was, until Uncle Danny asked Andorra to leave. He sounded angry.

Jessica remained resolutely with her eyes in front of herself, her right hand resting on her left, her left resting on the table.

With a startling realization, she realized she was scared. Scared of Uncle Danny.

He sat across from her, blocking the spot in space she had been staring at, the spot that she had counted on for the comfort of being back in the house. She was forced to look up at Danny.

"Jessica, you will never call me 'Sir' again."

"Sorry, S...Uncle Danny."

Uncle Danny looked about to say something before mumbling to himself and running a hand through his hair, making it damp and leaving suds on his forehead. He looked accusingly at his hand when he was done. The sud in the middle of his forehead caused her to smile. Danny looked curiously at her.

"You've got a sud on her forehead," she replied.

He laughed quietly as he wiped at his forehead before frowning at the same time she did.

"You know, Jessica...you too, Casey, the both of you, I've been wracking my brain for months, trying to understand why you guys didn't tell me anything. Maddie told me in her letter that I was to trust that you guys know what you're doing."

Jessica and Casey exchanged a look before Jessica asked, "What letter?"

Danny opened his mouth before closing it then opening it again. Finally, he glanced away as he answered, "Your mother wrote me a letter and put it in some of my stuff. I found it when looking in it for...after your father died."

Jessica exchanged a look with her brother.

"One thing I've begun to wish when it comes to the Mighty Blood and you two is that the benefit of the sibling connection was also between an uncle and his niece and nephew."

The two looked back at him with a grin.

"I have one question before we start dinner. Actually, a few. The first one will be a big one."

Both kids merely nodded for him to continue.

"Did your father ever discuss the legend of the Mighty Blood with anyone? Like your Uncle Jonathon?"

There was a very short pause before Jessica shook her head. "No, not that I know of."

Casey backed her up by shaking his head as well.

Daniel sighed. "Okay, next question. Are you guys sure you want to live here? I have a perfectly capable apartment not far from here."

Jessica nodded without a glance at her brother. "This is where Mom lived."

Daniel slowly nodded, his hazel eyes glancing at his nephew. Casey didn't make a motion one way or the other.

"Dad only lived on one side of the house. His house elves kept an eye on the rest of the house. Mom lived on the side that we lived.

Danny looked at Casey. "Case, what do you think?"

"I agree," he said quietly. "It will take awhile to not constantly remember that day in the study, or the other days, but this was Mom's house too."

Pausing a moment, Danny looked to be considering their arguments before nodding. "Okay...for now. The second I don't think it's healthy for either of you, we're going to my apartment."

Jessica suddenly, with such clarity it startled her, remembered the feel of the blood on her body the night Mom had died. Uncontrollably, she had shivered and cried. She remembered sobbing so loud it was like screaming to her ears. Dad had grabbed her in a hug. Uncle Danny was standing by her bed as Father had sat on it to grab her. She looked up at her uncle, about to tell him, but Father whispered in her ear, "Your brother needs your help more than anything now. You need to calm down for him, for his own...life." She was only seven years old at the time, but, at that moment, she knew what it was like to want to kill someone. She remembered staring at his throat, remembering one time when he had grabbed Mom's throat and the noises and gasps she had made, the kneel that Father had been able to force her into, his hands on her white throat. And then, in that bed, Father whispered to his daughter, "For your brother," and he had forced her to turn to the six year old in the bed right next to her. Casey was sitting there, staring at her, his quick and able mind trying desperately to comprehend what was going on. And something that didn't happen that often, happened. Jessica had figured out what was going on before her brother had.

Jessica had turned back to her father and nodded.

Presently, Jessica merely stared at her uncle.

"What's wrong, Jessica?" Danny asked, staring back evenly at his niece.

"You'll find out at the trial," she murmured. "For now, I want to win against Father. This was Mom's house. It wasn't Father's."

Danny slowly nodded. "But the second you want to, my apartment is there."

Jessica nodded.

"Let's eat," she said when everything quieted. Danny used his wand to set the table. While he was distracted, Jessica glanced at her brother.

*It's going to be weird living with Uncle Danny,* Casey said.

Jessica merely nodded to the chicken Uncle Danny had cooked.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

The day of the trial, Riley stared at his hands. He hadn't slept at all last night and therefore had a cup of coffee on the table in front of him. His second cup of coffee of the morning. Next to it sat a full glass of water. Next to that was a pitcher full of water.

Off to his right on the table sat his evidence. It was in discrete, unmarked bags, but he knew what each bag contained. And the one that had kept him up most of the night sat closest to him.

He heard the door at the back of courtroom open. It sounded as though several people entered. He waited for the door to close before he glanced over his shoulder to see who else had entered the room. Oh, great. It was his team. And Daniel. And minus Mark, who was a witness and thus had to wait outside the courtroom until his turn for the stand. Riley gave another glance over his shoulder and made eye contact with Josh Benson. Josh, the more muscular of the twin brothers, sat next to Daniel. Kevin sat in front of Daniel. Riley had asked the two to be prepared to hold their team lead down if the need arose, which he doubted it would, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He knew that there would be extra security in here - the Supreme Interrogators informed him of such at their meeting last night - but he also knew Daniel. He was less likely to injure a member of his own team.

Riley had tried only one case in front of the Supreme Interrogat by himself. He had stepped in for a fallen comrade. It had been a rather short, ordinary, easy case. Other than that, he had team tried a few cases while in training and had done plenty of solo mock trials with former Supreme Interrogators. The only ones he truly feared to be a problem for him in this very real, very lonesome trial were Tatianna Melovic, who had made it abundantly clear that she didn't trust him at all let alone with this case, and Andorra Dumbledore, who had pulled him aside last night and told him she was not going to give him mercy just because she had assigned him to this case. Other than that, he wasn't that nervous about presenting the case because of where it was.

He was unraveled because of last night. He had lain for twenty minutes with a seven-year old's shirt over his face, the shirt that had been drenched in her mother's blood and had never been washed, a shirt that smelled dirty and musty. He had lain there, trying to live for twenty minutes like that seven-year old who had conceived of murder under that very shirt.

And today he was going to have to tell twelve cynical people what that was like. And he was also going to have to tell Daniel.

Suddenly, the door in the front of the court opened. Riley stood up, knowing without checking that the entire courtroom stood up as well. The Supreme Interrogators walked in. Melovic led the group, followed by Andorra Dumbledore, and, after her, the Head of International Magical Cooperator Ben Zeckaroy, the Headmistress of Salem's Institute, Ellen Vallen, and following her were eight more people. Bringing up the tail was Julian Hammonds, the little twerp. He was a Court Scribe and had gone to school with Riley and Mark. He had taken great pleasure in getting Riley into trouble when he could, Vallen loving every moment of it.

Matter of fact, Riley's only real ally on the bench was Andorra, and she had informed him she wouldn't be an ally. Zeckaroy maybe, but he made sure to let Riley constantly know that he was neutral on the Dark Operators. Other than Zeckaroy, Andorra, and Melovic, no one else in the Department knew about the Dark Operators - they just knew Riley was a good Auror who worked closely with a certain group of people.

Once seated, Melovic seemed about to motion to the security detail on the door, but just then, Ignatius Malfoy pushed himself into the courtroom. He quickly took a seat in the front...behind where Jessica and Casey would sit. Riley spun a pleading look onto Melovic. She saw it. Last night, they had agreed that no one would sit in proximity to the kids.

"Mr. Malfoy--"

"Minister Malfoy," he corrected.

"Mr. Malfoy," Melovic continued, causing several people to hide their grins behind their hands or well-placed coughs. "As per agreement last night, we will not have anyone sitting that close to the children or to Mr. Haderson. If you could please move back a few rows." Though the sentence seemed like a request, her tone did not denote it as such. Malfoy looked ready to spit nails, but he did as asked by moving back two rows, still leaving two rows between himself and the Dark Operators.

When he was settled, Melovic nodded to the security detail on the door. He opened the door and motioned to someone on the other side. He backed away to allow two pairs to enter: Jessica, being led by an Auror, and Casey, being led by an Auror as well. They were brought to the two chairs in the front. The chairs were large and somewhat separate, with chains hanging, waiting for a criminal they feared. Today apparently would not be the day that put a temporary end to the eternal wait for they strapped in neither child.

From his brief look, he noticed that Jessica seemed rather calm. On the other hand, though outwardly seemingly calm, Casey was clasping the handles of the chair tightly.

"Let's begin," Melovic said, Hammonds diligently starting his job, "This is a criminal hearing of the twenty-first of June, 1973, looking into the offence of Magical Criminal Statue 4, also known as criminal homicide, by Jessica Celerina Elizabeth Madeline Montgomery Ziners, resident of Briana Manor on the Department of Magic. We are also looking into the offence of Magical Criminal Statue 4.3, also known as criminal conspiracy to commit murder, by Casey Jackson Riley Daniel Jeffery Tom Salazar Marvolo Montgomery Ziners, also resident of Briana Manor on the Department of Magic.

"Supreme Interrogators are Tatianna Helen Melovic, Secretary of Magic, Andorra Elizabeth Amelia Susannah Dumbledore, Head of the Department of Magical Enforcement..." and on she went, listing all twelve members, finishing off with identifying the Court Scribe.

"The defendant, Jessica Ziners, is specifically charged with the homicide of one Jeffery Casey Andrew Remington Birch Ziners, the father of both of the defendants. Casey Ziners is charged with conspiracy to commit the previously mentioned homicide.

"The Investigator of the charges is Riley Matthew Haderson, Level Black Commander, Ten Marked Investigator." There was a momentary surprised, shocked, and nearly horrified look by Ellen Vallen, who hadn't known of his high marks, the highest marks possible for an Investigator.

Melovic looked at Riley. "And what was the final conclusion of your investigation?"

Riley stood up. "Self-defense," he replied, not looking at anyone but the Supreme Interrogators.

"That's a far cry from the previous charge of premeditation," Vallen said in dismay.

"This case was not as it seemed initially," Riley replied, his voice very passive. "Because that tends to be the situation every now and again, we investigate."

"Whatever it may be," Melovic said before any further comment could be made, "we'll discover today. Mr. Haderson, call your first witness."

"I call Miss Lily Evans."

The young red-haired girl was led in from the hall. She was clearly nervous but walked with her head forcibly held high. She looked at Jessica and Casey as she walked past them but only Casey glanced at her.

Lily was led to a solitaire chair that was set up between Riley's table and the bench of the Supreme Interrogat and faced in the opposite way.

"Please state your name for the court," Riley said, starting the preliminaries. When he was finished, he questioned Lily about the letter she had written to Marcus Potter and the circumstances that had prompted her to write the letter. Nothing that she offered was proof that there was abuse, but Riley was attempting to shape Jessica's personality for the court. To back this up, he asked Lily how she would describe her friend and her friend's brother, whom Lily then corrected as also being her friend. Lily had a good time describing them, telling the court how Jessica was a very courageous person, nice to whom she liked, and not taking any bad thing from anybody, *especially being protective of her brother*, which was key to Lily Evans testimony.

At the end of her testimony, Riley excused her with a smile. When she was out of the courtroom, he called Molly Weasley. Mrs. Weasley was able to put a more adult perspective on both of the children's personalities, speaking specifically to Jessica's anger streak. Mrs. Weasley was also able to start Riley's proof that Jessica was indeed being abused, describing the markings on Jessica's back. But she was also able to tell a specific pattern of behavior, stemming as far back as the children's mother.

"What was Jeffery Ziners like?"

Molly frowned. "He was an extremely stern man. Rarely smiled."

Here, Riley stopped her. "And when was it that he smiled?"

"When he was proud of Jessica."

"But what about when he was proud of his son?"

"What does this line of questioning have to do with anything?" Vallen objected.

"I am trying to establish Miss Ziners' mode of thinking that led up to the day of the murder by relying on more than just the testimony of the children. Jeffery Ziners kept his family affairs very private, and Mrs. Weasley does have some knowledge on how Jeffery Ziners treated his children. This is very relevant to what led Miss Ziners to her actions on December 25, 1972."

Vallen sighed but nodded, accepting his argument.

"You may answer the question," Melovic instructed Molly Weasley.

"Jeffery never smiled with pride for Casey. He once told me that there was never a reason."

"You objected to this, did you not, Mrs. Weasley?"

She nodded. "Jeffery told me that I had better watch myself or that they suddenly may not have time to visit. That was the first time I ever spoke my fear aloud."

Riley, who was pacing in front of Mrs. Weasley, asked without looking at her, "And what was your fear?"

"I feared that Jeffery was physically and mentally abusing Madeline and the children.

"I always knew that Jeffery was a strict and stern man. When I first met him, I saw a romantic, charming, good-looking young man when it came to Madeline, Jessica and Casey's mother. He always seemed to have a very tender spot when it came to Maddie, but, to everyone else, he was this very strict and stern man.

"A year after Madeline and Jeffery had married, they separated for a time. Maddie became an Assistant Professor of Potions at Hogwarts for that time. That's where I met her."

"Did Madeline Ziners ever tell you why she separated from her husband for that time?" Riley inquired calmly.

"No, but I overheard the reason when they had an argument one time. Jeffery had come to visit Madeline at Hogwarts. I came down to the Potions classroom one night for our weekly tutoring session. Madeline was in the classroom already, and the door was ajar. Before I was able to announce myself, I heard a man that I didn't recognize at the time start talking."

"Would you learn who this man was through this conversation and later on actually meet him?"

Molly nodded. "Yes. It was Jeffery Ziners."

"Did you hear what Madeline and Jeffery said in the classroom that night?"

Molly nodded again. "I didn't mean to though. I was about to walk away to get a snack before the session, to give Maddie time with her visitor, when I heard something that made me stay."

"And what did you hear?"
"Jeffery said that he hit her in anger and wouldn't do so again. Madeline started to cry. She told him that she did not want to be in an abusive situation, that she couldn't trust him anymore. He was pleading for her to come back with him, but she told him that she couldn't. She couldn't trust him yet. Finally, after they talked for a period of time, Jeffery was able to convince her to start dating him again, so she could learn to trust him again. She agreed."

"And was there a time that you came to believe that Jeffery had hit her again?"

Molly hesitated, glancing at her lap before looking back at Riley and speaking again, "It was almost immediately after Casey was born. It was a week afterwards to be precise. Maddie came to the house...Arthur's and my house one night. She was barely holding it together. She didn't say anything, but I saw the bruises on her arms. I asked her if Jeffery had put them there, but she denied it." Molly paused, taking a deep breath. She was near tears. "Maddie was afraid for her kids I know. She was terrified. She said that I needed to help her with something, and that I couldn't question it. She said that it would be dangerous...dangerous to her babies if I questioned it...if I ever questioned it to Maddie or to anyone else."

When Molly paused, Riley urged to her to continue. "And what did you do, Mrs. Weasley?"

Molly looked back at him, tears in her eyes. "I had no choice, Mr. Haderson. I had to help her without question. Her babies were in danger. I wanted to say something," her voice took on a pleading quality and her eyes went to Daniel's. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I'm so sorry." Her eyes turned to Jessica and Casey, but she was only able to catch Casey's. "I'm sorry, kids. I'm sorry that I didn't say anything sooner."

"Mrs. Weasley," Riley said before Melovic had a chance to say something, "they know you're sorry. Right now, we have to focus on what you did for Madeline that night."

Molly turned back to Riley. Taking a minute before responding, she took a handkerchief from a pocket on her dress to dab at her nose. "Maddie needed a lawyer. She needed to make up a second will.

"She told me that she had made a will the day of Casey's birth. I asked why she wanted to make a new one so soon, but she refused to tell me. She reminded me that I promised not to ask questions."

Riley was quiet as he inquired, "Do you know what the second will contained?"

Molly nodded. "Yes. She was keeping her money from Jeffery and his friends. Her money and her books."

"Did Maddie tell you that that was what was in the second will?"

Molly shook her head. "Not directly. I read it."

"You read it?"

"Yes. She gave me a copy for safekeeping."

Riley went to his table and took a paper from beside his stack of notes. He handed Molly the paper. "Is this the second will?"

Molly looked it over before nodding. "Yes. It's the copy I gave to Jeffery."

"How do you know that?"

"Maddie had a number copies of the will made. She gave it to certain people for safekeeping. Specifically, she gave me three copies of the will. One for Arthur to hide, one for me to hide, and one for me to give to Jeffery when he came searching for it. She numbered each of the wills. This one has a number five in the upper left corner. That is the one I gave Jeffery."

Riley handed the will to Melovic. "Secretary Melovic, can you verify that this is the same will that the Supreme Interrogators examined last night?"

Melovic looked it over before nodding. "I, Secretary Tatianna Melovic, verify that Mrs. Molly Weasley has identified the will the Supreme Interrogators examined in the Examination of Evidence as being the second will of Madeline Ziners."

Riley set the will back on his table before resuming his questioning of Molly. "Mrs. Weasley, there came a time when you thought the abuse may have stopped if it had been going on in the first place, was there not?"

Molly hesitated a minute before nodding, tears slowly running down her face. "I thought Jeffery had been abusing Madeline but not the children. I knew that Maddie had feared for them, but they showed no signs of having been abused. When Maddie died, I thought that there wasn't a reason to worry. It didn't matter though. I worried fiercely for those kids anyway. I wanted to tell someone, but I couldn't. My husband Arthur and I talked for hours about it. They didn't show any outward signs of abuse. We feared that we didn't have enough evidence and that Jeffery might hide the kids from us as a result." Her voice breaking, she shook her head, "We should have said something sooner."
"There came a time when you did say something though, right?" Riley urged.

Molly nodded. "It was the first physical sign of abuse we saw. It was the first time Jessica couldn't explain it away easily."

"What was it?" Riley asked, urging her to talk despite the tears and choked sobs.

"I walked in on her while she was in the bathroom. She had the back of her shirt up and was putting ointment on a wound on her back."

"Had you seen a wound like it before?"
Molly nodded. "A few weeks before the incident in the bathroom, Arthur and I were in Hogsmeade eating lunch. We were just on our way home when some men stumbled out of a bar. One was bleeding quite badly, and, like a madman, started to yank off his shirt as he howled in pain. There were wounds on his back. It looked like spider webbing. Arthur told me that he had been injured by a Cruciatus Curse. That's what the wounds on Jessica's back looked like. Jessica said that she had been injured on the farm from the kids horsing around, but I didn't think that was true. So I told Arthur. Together, Arthur and I agreed. We had to say something."

"And who did you speak to?"

"It was Arthur. He spoke to Marcus Potter."

Riley nodded. "One more thing, Mrs. Weasley."

She waited and looked at him expectantly.

"How protective is Miss Ziners of her brother?"
"*Very* protective. I remember one time, when the children were just about only four and five, Jessica and Casey were horsing around. They started to get annoyed at each other though and started to become very harsh. Jessica accidentally smacked Casey's head against the corner of a wall, causing him to bleed. I'm pretty sure that Jessica cried more tears than Casey had. She kept holding him and saying that she was sorry and that she wouldn't allow anything like that to happen again. About a year later, I was visiting the ranch when Jessica was brought to her father by one of the other parents. Jessica had a bloody lip and a swollen eye. Apparently, a few of the other boys had decided to pick on Casey because he was so small. Jessica, the woman said, took on all of them."

Without grinning, Riley, his back to Jessica and Casey, asked Molly, "Did she win?"

Molly nodded. "The other boys were in worse condition, the woman said."

Riley nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. That will be all."

When Molly left the courtroom, Riley said, "I call Mr. Marcus Potter to the stand."

The security detail poked his head out of the doors of the courtroom. A moment later, Marcus Potter was allowed to enter the room. He took the witness seat and looked at Riley. He was by far the calmest witness the chair had housed today.

"Please state your name and position to the court."

"Is his position even relevant, Investigator?" Vallen complained. She surprised Riley with the label of respect she had so freely offered, causing him to smile inwardly for a second.

"Yes, it is. It's important to note Mr. Potter's position to note how serious he took the news that Mr. Weasley brought to him. He is more highly qualified than to take on an abuse case. It is important to note that he did it despite his position because of how much he, himself, thought the charges to be serious and difficult to handle considering Mr. Ziners' national and international position."

When she just stared angrily at him, Riley looked at Melovic. She nodded. Riley turned back to Marcus.

"Please state your name and position to the court," he repeated.

"Marcus Potter, Head of Major Cases, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Ministry of Magic in England."

"Where are you on the chain of command in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry?"
"I am third in command."

Riley nodded before turning the direction of his questioning. "How long have you known Jessica Ziners?"
"Since she was four. I was taking a meeting here in America with some fellow Aurors. She," he grinned, "crashed the meeting."

"How did she crash the meeting?" Riley asked without grinning.

"Again, I ask the relevance," Vallen sighed.

Marcus held up his hand before Riley had a chance to respond, causing the Interrogator to give Marcus a curious look, but the Auror was looking at Melovic.

"Madam Secretary, if I may answer Headmaster's Vallen question..." Marcus' hand slowly and awkwardly went down. Riley, his eyes on Marcus, barely covered his grin. The awkwardness was an act solely for the benefit of Melovic. Riley knew he was in the presence of a genius and duly took note of Marcus' actions for future references in his own interactions with Melovic.

"Yes, you may, Mr. Potter," Melovic responded, almost beating Riley's grin back to his face.

"This story demonstrates one side of Jessica that I got to know. It is important to see this side I knew, as well as the other side that I knew, because it plays directly into my decision to investigate Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's allegations."

Satisfied, she concurred. "Continue with your answer to Mr. Haderson's question."

Marcus nodded at her before turning back to Riley. "We were at a meeting. Daniel Montgomery was there as well. I had gone to school with Daniel, so I knew him. At that point, I didn't know him well, but I knew him. I also knew his sister, Madeline. I knew she had had two kids, one being a young girl.

"When Jessica came in, she walked in like she owned the place. She looked around the table until she spotted her Uncle Danny, who, by the time she spotted him, had turned beat red. Jessica did not notice. She screamed his name, ran to a chair, jumped on it then jumped on the table, ran right across the table, and leapt onto Daniel's lap. After giving him a hug and a sloppy kiss, she sat in his lap, looked around the table, and said, 'Hi!' Many at the table replied in kind. It was only a second later when Jeffery Ziners walked in the room. I had my back to the door, so I didn't see him at first, but I noticed an immediate change in Jessica."

Riley was sure Marcus hadn't noticed, but Riley had, having kept an eye on her. During the trial so far, Jessica had not once looked up, but now she was. She was avidly listening to Marcus' story.

"She froze, a panicked look in her eyes. I remember thinking, 'a toddler shouldn't look know that panic.' I turned to see what had caused it. Jeffery Ziners was standing in the doorway, wearing a patient grin. He didn't look any different from other fathers. But, yet, this little girl was panicked.

"Jeffery started towards his daughter. She went to him, though she never let go of that look. Even when he smiled at her. There was nothing different in that smile. Jeffery was as human as the rest of us in that room. Nothing denoted anything different in Jeffery Ziners from a normal, loving father. Except that little girl's eyes.

"I didn't know anyone in that family that well. I kept my mouth shut."

"How would you describe Jessica Ziners?"

"She is a precocious child, smart-mouth at times, a bit out-going, and friendly. She and my son get on well. Both love Quidditch and are very competitive. Despite that, they manage to still get along, which says something to character of both children."

"How would you describe Casey Ziners?"

"Extremely intelligent. More soft-spoken than his sister, but he doesn't take any flack from her. A quick wit, also like his sister. He's friendly when you get to know him, but he appears a bit standoffish at first."

"How would you characterize the relationship between Miss Ziners and her brother?"

"Jessica's very protective of Casey. One time, when my son James and I had run into the Ziners in Hogsmeade, I noticed something interesting. Jessica was talking to James about joining the Quidditch team at Hogwarts when they were old enough. They had another month before they even started their first year at Hogwarts, but yet they were talking about it," Marcus chuckled. "Anyway, I was talking to another Auror. Jeffery was in the store across the street, and Casey was waiting outside the store for him. When Jeffery came out, he started talking with his son. Though James kept trying to talk to her, Jessica's attention had noticeably moved. She kept an eye on Casey, almost like a mother. And though I had taken note of this that particular time, it didn't surprise me. Jessica was always like that with her brother.

"What I found particularly interesting about Jessica's protectiveness of her brother at this time was the fact that he was with their father."

"Did you note any other peculiar behavior Miss Ziners had around her father?"

"She usually became extremely quiet around him, obeying orders without question. That could mean that he was just a strict father, but I always wondered. Both kids would be grounded for many months at a time for just minor things. But, again, each parent is different.

"I also could name a number of mysterious wounds, but your honors have those in my official report," Marcus nodded to the Supreme Interrogators. "All of it together made me wonder about the possibility. It was Mr. Weasley's stop at my office that urged me to check on my own gut feeling."

Riley questioned him about his visit with Arthur Weasley, and Marcus' subsequent visit to the ranch and questions about the wounds of branding irons. Marcus also spoke of Lily Evans' letter and how that only reaffirmed his commitment to investigating the situation to the fullest. Riley questioned him on everything.

Then Riley asked about Christmas Day. He asked what he saw as he and Daniel had ascended the hill, what they had seen upon entering the study, and about bringing the children to Hogwarts.

And, to the surprise of everyone but the one sitting in the witness chair, that's precisely where he stopped questioning Marcus Potter. He never asked him about anything that happened at Hogwarts. He just asked him where they had brought the kids. Then he excused him from the witness chair.

"Your next witness, Mr. Haderson?" Melovic asked when Marcus left the courtroom.

"Headmaster Albus Dumbledore."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jessica's eyes move to Vallen. She expected the woman to object to this witness, but Vallen kept her mouth shut. Riley had already fought this battle with her last night. He had also fought this battle with Melovic and with Andorra, but neither showed a sign of it.

Albus Dumbledore took the chair and looked even less nervous than the last witness. He merely smiled expectantly at Riley.

"Please state your name, your position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and how you know the defendants."

"That's a good number of questions, Interrogator. Let me see if I can get them right..." Riley smiled. Dumbledore looked off to the side, "My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I am the current Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Both defendants are students at that same school. Jessica is a second year student, Casey is a first year student, both are members of the Slytherin House, and both are awaiting their finals pending the outcome of this trial."

"I'm sure they enjoyed that reminder," Riley said with a smile. "Were you at Hogwarts this last Christmas Day?"

Albus nodded. "Yes, I was. I was eating dinner with some of the other professors, the students who hadn't gone home for Christmas Break, and some of the parents."

"Did you know that Mr. Potter was going to bring the defendants to Hogwarts that day?"

Albus nodded. "Yes. Mr. Potter and I had discussed it in advance. Prior to his getting an Order of Removal, he had asked me my thoughts on the matter of whether or not Jeffery Ziners was abusing his children. After Mr. Potter concluded in his own mind that removing the children was the best option at the time, he discussed with me the possibility of moving the kids to the school temporarily. He suspected it wouldn't be that long."

"Why not?"

"He suspected their uncle would take custody once the initial shock wore off for all parties involved."

"Mr. Potter asked you your thoughts on the matter of the child abuse. What *were* your thoughts on it?"

"If you're asking me if I had ever seen something to make me suspicious, no, I had not. Other than my instinct...the change in demeanor of both children..." Here, Dumbledore gave an extremely uncharacteristic pause. His eyes briefly flickered to the children, causing Riley to look at them as well. From the angle that the Supreme Interrogators were sitting, they would never have noticed it, but Albus and Riley both would have. Though she had resumed her stare-down of the floor, Jessica's eyes did move and for one moment in time, she looked at Dumbledore in curious surprise.

"Other than those two things," Dumbledore continued as though he had not paused, "I did not notice any other signs of abuse."

Riley wanted to back Dumbledore's gut up with making a mention of his teaching experience and his experience as an Auror, but that was beyond the limitations of the scope of questioning the Supreme Interrogators had allowed him. He didn't worry too much about it because he knew every one of those Supreme Interrogators knew of his record, even if they didn't know the exact number of years he had exerted at each profession.

"Can you describe for the court the events that occurred after the Ziners children arrived at Hogwarts?"

Dumbledore did. As he described in detail Daniel Montgomery's struggle with his niece for her life, Riley noticed that all of the Supreme Interrogators - with the exception of Andorra Dumbledore - had stopped taking notes. Even Vallen looked deeply interested in what Dumbledore was saying.

He described the struggle and the shock that caused the adults unable to move for a period of time. He also described a young student's courageous journey to put a halt to Jessica's attempted suicide. He made sure to subtly add in his opinion that Jessica Ziners' actions were not that of a cold-blooded killer but the acts of a person feeling a deep remorse.

When the Headmaster finished, Riley asked directly (and quickly, fearing he would be stopped by an objection from the Supreme Interrogators), "You've had experience as an Auror. You have seen a person after they murdered another person. What is your assessment of how Miss Ziners responded to her actions of having murdered her father?"

"There are two ways they can be viewed," Albus responded thoughtfully. "The first is the most obvious, but though obvious, it does not mean that it is any less likely. The first assessment can be that Miss Ziners realized she was going to get into trouble for her actions and thought death would be better than what other punishment could stem from her actions.

"The other assessment is a bit more complicated and could not be arrived at without knowing the facts as we have them here, thereby making it much less obvious. Her brother was being slowly tortured to death. If their father regularly abused them, she may have learned the only way you can fight force is with force. And honestly, at that moment, there may have not been another way."

Riley nodded. "Thank you, Headmaster Dumbledore. You are dismissed."

Dumbledore merely nodded before exiting the courtroom.

Riley called on Minerva McGonagall next. This got a slight response from Jessica in the form of a small, startled jump, but she didn't look at him. Once seated, Riley asked McGonagall of her position at Hogwarts and how she knew the kids. He then proceeded asking her opinion on the kids, which were far less favorable than the ones before her. And then Riley asked her about Christmas Day and what happened at Hogwarts. She talked about the attempted suicide and how Jessica could have killed every person there with the way she was acting - which was out of control, in her opinion. Then Riley asked her what she thought was going through Jessica's head. She told the same story Dumbledore had and then about comments Jessica had made afterwards about the evil within her. That's when Riley excused her.

"I next call Special Assistant to the Minister of Magic Amelia Black."

Riley forced himself not to react when Jessica turned to him in surprise.

When Amelia was seated, Riley proceeded to ask her opinion on the Ziners kids. Her opinion was less concrete because she had only officially met the children the day of the incident, but Amelia supplied the opinion of her son, which was far less favorable than McGonagall's.

Then Riley went on to the real reason Amelia Black was up there. He wanted her to talk about cleaning Casey Ziners up after the attack. For that fact, he could have chosen either Black or the school nurse, Pomfrey. He had gone with Black for two reasons - she had a layman's point of view when it came to the wounds and she had little to no opinion on the children. He wanted to attempt balance the scales that way.

Riley first asked her of her assessment of Jessica's attempted suicide. Black said that she thought it looked like Jessica was disgusted with her actions, her opinion of that only being reinforced by her overhearing Jessica's repeated acceptance of the forthcoming punishment, not denying her guilt in the least. Jessica thought she was a murderer, and that was that. They should lock her up and throw away the key. Those very things coming from her forced Black to think that all Jessica was doing that day was saving her brother, not killing a father with a criminal intention.

And then Riley got to Casey's injuries.

"You helped clean up Casey Ziners, did you not?"

Black nodded. "Yes. He was extremely bloody. We had to use four full sized towels before we managed to make him examinable."

Riley went over to his table. Out of the far bag, he removed several bloody materials.

"Are these the towels that you used to clean up Casey Ziners?" Riley asked the question as he held up each towel for her to see.

Black nodded.

When Riley went to reach for the bloody items at the bottom of the bag, Melovic sighed loudly, drawing Riley's annoyed attention.

"What is the purpose of showing us the bloody towels, Interrogator?"

"The facts of what happened are not in dispute, Madam Secretary," Riley said, "but Miss Ziners' intention is. I want to give the Supreme Interrogators the view that Miss Ziners had that day. I will come back to the towels and the next item in my closing statement. For now, I want it verified in front of you that these items are indeed what I will present them to be."

"So be it," Melovic waved away.

"Thank you," Riley said before holding the last two items up. "Were these the clothes that you removed from Casey Ziners on Christmas Day?"

There were some gasps from around the courtroom, but Riley didn't bother to see who it was. He knew the clothes were sickening. As he held them in front of his face, he could smell the stale blood. It was made even more sickening because of the size. The t-shirt was small. Up at the collar, you could tell that the shirt had once been blue. Now, it was black and dark red. Next, Riley held the pants up. They were little trousers, the suspenders still attached. The suspenders use to be a tan, but you couldn't even tell what color the trousers use to be.

They were clothes any regular little kid could wear. And they looked like someone had been murdered in them.

Black slowly nodded. She didn't look detached anymore, though she didn't shed a tear. "Yes, they are the clothes we removed from Casey Ziners on Christmas Day."

Riley nodded, carefully folding the clothes and setting them on the table.

"You're excused," Riley said. Melovic called a lunch break then. After the break, Riley called Rohan Figg to the stand.

Once Rohan Figg was seated in the witness chair, Riley commanded, "Please state your name and profession."

"Rohan Figg. I'm a Healer at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I work in the Spell Damage Department, with a specialty in Dark Magic."

"When did you first meet Jessica and Casey Ziners?"

"This past Christmas Day - December 25, 1972."

"Can you describe how this first meeting came about?"

"It was a busy Christmas Day. All sorts of mishaps, you know." Rohan grinned briefly. "Anyhow, it was evening when an old school mate of mine - Stephen Medley - came to St. Mungo's to retrieve me. An eleven-year old boy had been severely injured, and it was suspected to be from the Cruciatus Curse. Stephen described the wounds to me, and I suspected that he was correct in suspecting that they were from the Cruciatus. And, to be perfectly honest, though I rushed, I suspected that it was already too late. Something you need to understand about the Cruciatus Curse is that, held on too long, it cracks the skin before it will every touch the brain, but when it starts to crack the skin on the forearms," at this point, Rohan pointed to his own elbow and downwards, "Just as it starts to do this, the brain will, at the same time, start to shut down, one function at a time. At fewer than three centimeters below the elbow, the victim is usually completely brain dead. When Stephen retrieved me at St. Mungo's, he told me that the skin just below Mr. Ziners' elbow was starting to crack."

"You proceeded directly to Hogwarts?"

Rohan nodded. "Right after I grabbed my medical bag, we went to Hogwarts. I went straight to the Hospital Ward. Madam Pomfrey - Hogwart's school nurse - along with Brittany Potter, Amelia Black, and Molly Weasley, were tending to the children.

"I first examined the boy, since he was in immediate danger. I found that, yes, he was hit with a prolonged Cruciatus Curse. The cracks were just short of one centimeter below his elbow. Considering his height, weight, and age, I suspected that he was more than likely never going to wake up again and more than likely going to die within twenty-four hours."

"But he survived," Riley said.

Rohan nodded. "Miraculously. The boy found a reservoir of strength somewhere. I am very glad for it. But Mr. Ziners will have lifelong effects."

"What are these?"

"He may experience seizures. His hair has gray streaks through it now, mainly along the edges. He currently experiences and will continue to experience temporary lapses in which he ceases all actions for the space of about ten or so seconds."

"And Miss Ziners. What were her injuries?"

"She was beat with the Striking Curse. She suffered one large facial wound across her right cheek and one large head wound on her left temple. I believe that at some point she fell. While on the ground, she was hit at least once, and this caused the left side of her head to beat against the ground, knocking her temporarily unconscious."

Riley nodded, so intent into his pacing that he was only sparing Rohan a look and a stop when the Healer started answering a question. "When you examined both children, you noticed something else; isn't that right?"

Rohan nodded. "On Mr. Ziners, I noticed that the Cruciatus he received on Christmas Day was not his first prolonged one. He had scarring on his chest and on his back, which I believe to be in the range of four to six years old. There are also other scars on Mr. Ziners, including a particularly ugly one on his ankle that would currently be only nine to ten months old. I imagine he got it just before the start of this last school year. He also was beat pretty severely across his back with what I would guess to be the Striking Curse. I believe that this could have happened a year or two ago as well, but I believe that some old wounds were reopened, which makes the aging of the wound harder to determine. The newer beating was probably just a day or two before Christmas Day. There were a number of scars, Mr. Haderson. These are just some of them. Of all of them, I can tell you that kids have scars, but Mr. Ziners either had a death wish or these were inflicted upon him in the form of torture."

"And Miss Ziners?"

"She had a considerable less number of scars, though they held a similar story as her brother's. She has also been the victim of a few prolonged Cruciatus Curses. Though her brother received worse beatings, she definitely had more Cruciatus' than he did. She has a terrible scar on her back that has been reopened so many times that I sincerely doubt it will ever stop giving her pain. I can tell that she has - or someone has - been treating her wounds like any Healer would, but nothing could have stopped that particular pain that she will experience for the rest of her life.

"I can also tell that Mr. Ziners has been treated as well, but I could find no medical records, here or in Britain, that match the most severe of the wounds on either of these children."

Riley nodded thoughtfully before asking, "Do you have experience with things other than Dark Magic?"

Rohan nodded. "Yes. I have some training in psychology. Healers have to have some training in it. I have particular training in trauma victims."

Stopping completely, hands clasped behind his back, nose slightly in the air so he could look through glasses that had slipped down his nose a bit, Riley inquired softly, "And your assessment of these children?"

"If you are wondering if I would consider them traumatized children, I would not. They have been abused their entire lives. They know no other way to live. Were they terrified of anything, not regular fear but the fear of death and torture akin to what an undercover Auror has to live with? Yes, they were, but like every good Auror, they learned not to show it. They also convinced themselves that they didn't feel it, but it's there, ever present in their minds, especially in Jessica's mind.

"Jessica is *extremely* protective of her brother, as I'm sure others have already told the court, but this isn't a normal protectiveness. This is an over-protectiveness. A child generally doesn't have this level of protectiveness over a sibling unless something has taught them to have it."

"Is there something else you noticed about the Ziners children?"

Rohan nodded. "It seems, at times, that Jessica's protectiveness is born out of some duty, almost like a guilt.

Giving him a grim smile and nod, Riley excused him from the chair.

"I call Mark Halmer to the stand."

Mark entered swiftly, as though he had been waiting by the door and listening at the crack for his name. But Riley knew better. Mark already knew he was behind Rohan in the witness list and had probably already had his hand on the door, waiting to feel for the security guards movement on the other side.

"Please state your name, rank, Investigative Marks, and involvement with this case."

"Mark Halmer, Level Black Lieutenant, Eight Marked Investigator, and I assisted in the investigation on the death of Jeffery Ziners."

"When you first entered the scene, what did you notice?"

"That Casey Ziners was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. I initially thought he was dead until I realized that Danny Montgomery wasn't weeping. I figured then that he was alive. The next thing I noticed was Jeffery Ziners. Though he wasn't lying in a pool of his blood, I was pretty sure he was dead."

"And why was that?"

"What caused myself and some others to enter the house was that Andre'a Kay had been looking out the window, at the house on the hill, at the time that a green light had come from the windows on the east side of the house. We figured that someone had used the Killing Curse. As I looked over the scene, seeing Jeffery on the floor, I saw that he must have been the victim. The only one standing was Jessica Ziners. She was bloody and panting, a crazy look in her eyes. I've seen that look before. It's the look of someone who's killed for the first time.

"When Danny first noticed Jessica, he started towards her as he was - on his hands and knees. She backed away as though in fear, which was surprising. Danny treated those kids better than anything in the world. She had no reason to fear him, and she knew that."

Riley nodded. "And after they left, we examined the scene. Can you expound on what we found?"

Mark nodded. "Jeffery was dead. He had been beaten before he had died, but after the examination of both Jessica's and Casey's wands, we discovered that it was not them that had beat him. There were also a number of items broken in the study. We determined that the things had been broken before the children ever entered the scene. After examining Jeffery Ziners bank records, we can only make a guess as to who had beaten him."

"What was our guess and how did we arrive at that conclusion?"

"We believe that Jeffery Ziners was banking this Lord Voldemort. Jonathon Ziners, the brother of the deceased, was arrested and convicted of treason involving this Lord Voldemort. We discovered that Jonathon Ziners had been leaking information to him. All through our investigation of the former secretary, we kept wondering why this Voldemort, who's proven to be a considerable foe, would ever trust Jonathon Ziners. Jonathon Ziners isn't the type of guy that could handle the particular mission we discovered him on without help from someone else. Neither of his two assistants - who were also convicted of treason - could have been the brains of the operation. We figured that maybe one of them was cleverer than he appeared, but then we figured Jeffery Ziners into the mix.

"Jeffery Ziners was incredibly intelligent. He had very good business sense and was also very good at charming people in order to succeed in his business ventures. He was the perfect 'brains' for Jonathon Ziners' operation. We are figuring that Jeffery introduced this Voldemort to Jonathon and when Jonathon became Secretary, he became the player in the game that we convicted him for. Jeffery Ziners would also have been the perfect go-between. Living on Department property, it was not unusual to see the brothers in contact. And Jeffery Ziners held frequent parties and saw several guests in his home, as well as traveled the world to parties and other business engagements. He could have easily made contact with this Voldemort, and no one would have seen it as out of the ordinary.

"Going on this hunch, we examined Jeffery Ziners' bank records, along with other business documents. What we could make of it - which wasn't much - told us that it was probable that he was financing Voldemort."

"You each have a copy of the bank statements," Riley said, looking at the Supreme Interrogat, before turning back to Mark. "Could you give us an example of an oddity in his bank records?"
"One week before each attack in America that we have attributed to this Voldemort, there was a sizeable money transfer. Then, two days before each attack, all business stopped. Jeffery Ziners took no business meetings the day before and the day after each attack. All of this tends to be evident that something big was going down. But the most incriminating piece of evidence was seven very large sums of money going through Brazil. Our accountants investigated that trail. After Brazil, it went to Germany, then Albania before making its way into Gringotts Bank. All seven made it into the same account."

"Was there anything significant about this account?"

Mark nodded. "There was. Luckily, we didn't need to sweet talk the goblins to figure out what was special about this account.

"It's was closed by the Ministry of Magic after we interrogated Jonathon Ziners. It was a known account of this Lord Voldemort."

Starting his pacing again, Riley said, "But back to the day of Jeffery Ziners' death. Assuming that it was Voldemort that had done the beating, what would have enraged him that day, enraging him enough to beat Jeffery?"

"We imagined that Voldemort's strongest connection to Jeffery would have been the money. Jeffery had a bigger source to money than his business though. It was his wife's money. She had more money than he did, much more. We would also learn that Madeline Ziners had a set of books that had been passed down in her family. These books, according to Madeline Ziners' family members, contain working spells and potions that the family has kept under wraps because they believed the spells and the potions were too dangerous to be released to the world at large. This is something we imagine a man trying to start a war would want.

"Christmas Day, we found a copy of Madeline's will on Jeffery's desk. Upon investigating, we discovered it was actually a different copy than the original will. It was written one week after the first, which had been written on the day Casey was born."

Again, Riley held up the will he had shown Molly Weasley. "Is this the will we found on Jeffery Ziners' desk?"

Mark took it and looked it over carefully. His friend's close perusal nearly made Riley smile. It was an act to help him with Melovic and to prove to her that they were not taking this case lightly.

"Yes, this is the will that was located on Jeffery Ziners' desk on Christmas Day."

Again, Riley handed the will over to Melovic. "Secretary Melovic, can you verify that this is the same will that Molly Weasley identified as being the second will, the same will that she identified that she had given Jeffery Ziners herself, and the same will that you earlier identified as the will that the Supreme Interrogators examined last night?"

Surprisingly, Melovic gave it the same perusal this time as she gave it not only four and a half hours before, when Molly Weasley had been on the stand. "I, Secretary Tatianna Melovic, verify that Investigator Mark Halmer has identified the will that Mrs. Molly Weasley verified as having been a copy of Madeline Ziners' second will and also as the will Mrs. Molly Weasley gave Jeffery Ziners. I also verify that this is the same will that the Supreme Interrogators examined in the Examination of Evidence as being the second will of Madeline Ziners."

Riley took it back with a whispered thanks before setting the will back on his table. He had just realized that Melovic was examining the will so thoroughly again because she had wanted to make sure he didn't switch the wills. And though he didn't know why she thought he would change it and though he knew that it could have been perfectly innocent, he still thought to himself that Melovic was continuing not to trust his judgment on this case. And that was when Riley had his first doubts...about his conclusions...about if he could pull this case off.

As an Auror, doubts were a deadly thing. In a physical battle, doubts were dangerous. And they were no less dangerous here. This courtroom was just as deadly of a battle, especially when the majority of the Supreme Interrogat didn't trust him, especially on this case.

Riley had spent part of last night reminding himself not to let his heart got involved today. Because, today, it would be apparent. And it would let down the defendants. But the dangerous part here, in this psychological game between him and Melovic, was not the threat to Riley's job and professional life. The danger here was the loss of Jessica and Casey. And the frustration was that he was battling his own supposed allies for the lives of these kids.

And in that instant, his back still to the bench of the Supreme Interrogat, filling his glass with the pitcher of water, Riley thought, *this is exactly what Jessica felt, though she felt it much more for the stakes were much higher*.

His eyes concentrating on the glass as he swung it back, his eyes on the glass in an attempt to avoid making eye contact with his boss in the back of the courtroom, Riley thought to himself, *if Jessica could do that, I can do this*.

He set down his glass down and turned back to Mark. His friend was giving him a curious look, one that Riley ignored.

"What else of significance did we find on Jeffery Ziners' desk?"
"Casey Ziners' wand. We called forth his previous spells only to discover minor spells, such as Lumos. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"We also examined Jeffery Ziners' wand, which we removed from the floor near his hand. We discovered the Cruciatus Curse obviously. We also discovered the Impediment Jinx and the Striking Curse, which is consistent with the Healer's report and both interrogations of the kids. We then went to Hogwarts to look at Jessica's wand. That is when we discovered that she had the Killing Curse, then the Slowing Jinx. The Killing Curse was evident that she did indeed murder her father, but the Slowing Jinx is what was intriguing. That is not an automatic curse before you kill. It's usually the Killing Curse, and that's it. We pondered the possibility of Jessica having used that to stop her father but based upon their positions upon others entering the room and their own versions of the story, we believe that that was not the case. Jessica Ziners thought out a way to murder her father, and she followed through with that plan on December 25, 1972."

Riley nodded at him. "Thank you, Mr. Halmer. You're excused."

Mark grunted and nodded as he left the witness chair. Just as the two had planned, Mark did not look at the kids nor did he look at their team as he passed them.

Riley turned back to his table. For the other witnesses, he had barely glanced at his notes, but, for this one, he grabbed them. The sheet was marked with the words 'Casey Ziners' on top.

"Next, I call Casey Ziners," Riley said, turning back to the Supreme Interrogat. He was surprised to find Melovic's eyes on him rather than the Auror leading Casey up to the witness chair. Her look was unreadable, causing Riley to move his own eyes to the kid in the chair.

"Please state--"

"My name and occupation for the court. I know. Casey Ziners, student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Mr. Ziners," Andorra said, her tone strictly business and her eyes only looking at the papers before her. "Please let the Interrogator finish his own question before you answer."

Casey had turned to Andorra as she had spoken, and his eyes stayed on her, his look almost startled. "Sorry."

"Mr. Ziners," Riley said, by way of trying to stop possible problems for Andorra, "how were you related to Jeffery Ziners?"

"He was my father."

"How are you related to Jessica Ziners?"

"She is my sister."

"How much older is your sister than you?"
"One year to the date," he replied with a smile.

"You were born on the same day one year apart, right?"
Casey nodded. "August 6."

"Are you close to your sister?"

"Very close. There's not a lot of kids on the ranch, so we play with each other."

"Is your sister protective of you?"
"Yes, she is. It's kind of annoying at times, but..." he glanced at Jessica, "...it comes in handy sometimes too."

"Mr. Ziners, had your father ever hit your sister?"
Casey paused a long time before nodding his head. "A few times he has. Usually he only uses the Cruciatus Curse on her. Sometimes the Striking Curse just to get her in line, but when it was a punishment, it was the Cruciatus Curse."

"You heard Molly Weasley talk about your sister putting some ointment on a wound on her back about two years ago. Do you remember her talking about that?"

Casey slowly nodded.

"Do you know what that injury was from?"

It was even slower than before, but he still nodded.

"Can you tell the court?"

Casey glanced at the Supreme Interrogators before looking at Jessica then back at Danny. He looked back at Riley. Riley feared that this would happen, that Casey would clam up with an audience.

Riley took a step over so that he blocked Casey's view of his sister and only gave him a partial view of his uncle. "Mr. Ziners, just look at me. What happened that gave your sister the mark on her back just before she started Hogwarts?"

Though his eyes held themselves on Riley and Riley alone, he was quiet so long Riley feared that was it, but finally the boy spoke, his voice quiet.

"It was just before Dad and Jessica were going to go to Lily's house. Lily lives in England. Dad invested in her father's business. They were going to have a meeting then going to go get Jessica's things for Hogwarts before she was going to stay the week before school with Molly and Arthur. We were at Uncle Jonathon's house. There was a party going on. We didn't know anyone at the party except for our cousin, Maria, and her friend, Harriet, so Jessica and I stuck together. I was following Jessica into the kitchen to get something to drink when I tripped over my shoelaces. I broke one of Aunt Jaclyn's vases. She wasn't around, but Uncle Jonathon was. He and Dad were both in the kitchen. Uncle Jonathon pushed Jessica out of the way in order to grab at me. He held me up by my arm, screaming so much in my face that my face was drenched in his spit. Dad grabbed me from him and held me up against the refrigerator by my shirt. He kept pounding me into the refrigerator. I remember getting this really bad headache from it.

"Anyway, he did something, I don't really know what, but it...it really made Jessica mad. She spit at Dad. I don't know why she did that. She should have just stayed out of it, but she never did ever stay out of things.

"Anyway, Dad dropped me onto the ground and gave Jessica the Cruciatus Curse. She was on the ground, her body moving from the Cruciatus, and I remember Uncle Jonathon laughing at her. He kept telling her that she looked like a fish.

"I tried to get up and beat up Uncle Jonathon, but he hit me back down, and I blacked out."

Riley looked down, biting his lower lip, before asking, his voice almost hoarse, "Why didn't you try to beat up your father?"

When Riley looked up, he saw the same jaw movements that the boy's sister had when she was asked something that upset her and she couldn't find a way to answer. When Casey finally responded, his voice was low, "Because he would have killed me. He wouldn't kill Jessica. As much as he did to her, he wouldn't kill her."

"Why were you so sure of that?" Riley asked this, turning to his table for another sip of water.

Casey didn't answer until Riley was looking at him again. "Because she was Jessica. I was disposable. She was not."

"Why wasn't she disposable, Mr. Ziners?"

Casey's eyes moved to his sister's, who had surprisingly been looking at her brother his entire questioning thus far. Riley purposely stepped into the sibling's line of vision, causing the boy's eyes to go down. When he looked up, he seemed to have a bit more confidence, even though his answer would appear to negate that.

"I don't know, Sir."

*Liar*. This was the first time Riley was sure that they were lying to him. They may not know whom their dad was funding, but they did know that Jessica had something to do with it. And where there was one lie, there were others.

Riley's next question was slow. "Are you sure about that?"

"Something about plans for her," Casey suddenly blurted out. "But we could never figure out what that was. That's why Jessica was always getting in trouble for eavesdropping. She was trying to figure it out. That's why we were outside Dad's study that day!"

Riley glanced back at Jessica, to see a stunned look on her face. She seemed surprised at her brother's exclamation.

He would never once ponder that that surprise on her face denoted the thought *hey, that's a good lie* rather than the one he thought - *I can't believe he just told him*.

Riley turned back to Casey, and examined the facts of the abuse with him, the torture, and his sister's protectiveness. He would then lead into Christmas Day - their father's mood, the reason for their going to the study, the knocked over statue, the words of their father that provoked his sister's attack, his sister's unconsciousness, then the Cruciatus and his own unconsciousness.

"I didn't really realize what was going to happen. I knew that it made Jessica mad and desperate, but I didn't know what it was. Jessica kept walking towards Dad even though he kept striking her. It was as if the strikes didn't faze her at all. She just kept walking. And then Dad did the Impediment Jinx. She stopped moving and Dad hit a Striking Curse at her side, knocking her over. And then he started to beat her badly before smacking one so hard across the side of her face that her head hit the ground, and she blacked out."

"What were you feeling at this moment?"

"I was surprised. Usually, it was just a few strikes for Jessica, but he was really laying it on her."

"Were you surprised when he knocked her unconscious?"

Casey shook his head. "No, he had knocked her unconscious before."

"And then after she was knocked unconscious, what happened?"

His face remained towards Riley, but his eyes flickered elsewhere. "Dad turned on me then. He mumbled something about Jess then told me to say hi to Mom as I left the world the same way she did. That was when I first realized that I shouldn't be there. That's when I realized that Dad was going to kill me. And Jesse couldn't protect me this time."

Casey pushed his glasses up his nose and then took to staring at his feet.

"I've never been so terrified in my entire life," he said quietly. "I always knew that I would die early, but when it came right down to it, I was scared. I was scared of how much it was going to hurt."

"How much did it hurt, Casey?" Riley asked in a similar quiet voice.

"At first, it was like usual," Casey replied. "You know, when you've had it done so many times, you can eventually have some thoughts while it's happening. You get use to the initial pain. But then he kept going and going and it started to hurt worse than ever before. And I kept thinking that this time, when I blacked out, I wouldn't be waking up." Casey gave a sharp swallow and though Riley couldn't see it, he knew then that the boy was starting to cry. He wiped at his eyes as if he was wiping something out of it, trying to act manly. But his voice betrayed him. "And as stupid as it was, I knew that I should be happy that I was going to see Mama again, but I kept praying to God that I wouldn't die because Jessica needed me. That's how it's always been. I need Jessica, and she needs me. It's how we survive. And when I died, she wouldn't have me. But then the pain from the Cruciatus was so bad, and then I knew I wanted to die."

"And then what happened?"
"I blacked out."

Riley nodded and resumed his pacing, which he had stopped.

"What's the next thing you remember?"

"I woke up at Hogwarts, and this weird man was leaning over me, asking me my name and my birth date. I remember asking him if I could only tell him one middle name because I had so many of them."

Riley smiled. "And what middle name did you tell him?"

"Jackson."

Sighing and biting his lip before speaking again, Riley asked, "Mr. Ziners, would you mind removing your shirt so the Supreme Interrogators can see your wounds?"

Hesitating only a few seconds, Casey glanced at his sister and then the Interrogators before nodding. He stood up and set about unbuttoning his shirt. The whole courtroom - including a rapt Ignatius - stared at the boy's chest as each button came undone. When he took his shirt off, there were some gasps in the audience. The scars was strikingly visible against the little boy's pale white skin, the pale white skin a silent testimony to hours upon hours sitting silently in his room for no reason whatsoever except as a punishment for some supposed sin. The scars varied from long to short, broad to thin, but they all looked to be trying to make a path to his heart.

His upper arms showed a similar story, a story that made it just a quarter of an inch beyond his elbow.

Casey turned around to show jagged scars across his back, these much uglier than the front. They were thicker and bigger, as though the skin on the back pulled apart much easier than it did on the front.

Finally, Casey turned back around. "Can I put my shirt back on?"

Riley nodded and the boy did it with a grateful look.

"I've got scars on my legs as well," he said as he sat back down. "And, no, I won't drop my pants," he said with a grin then offered, "but I can pull the pant legs up some."

Riley nodded again. "If you would."

As he did so - this task seemingly tiring - he said, "It took me many months to recover from the incident on Christmas. Even now, I have to take it easy." He was able to pull up his pants up to his knee on his right leg. He held his leg out straight for the Supreme Interrogat to look at. The scars varied here as they had on his chest. After half a minute, Casey pulled the pants leg down and then went to work on the left leg. He was already out of breath and the left pants leg didn't help any. After a minute of trying and only getting it up a quarter of the way past his calf, he gave up. "Sorry, I think my leg is swelling again."

"That's alright," Riley told him. "Can you tell us some of the side effects to your injuries?"
Casey nodded. "Okay. There's the swelling in my legs. I've got a potion I can take for that, but it's gross so it's sometimes hard to take it all. I also have these lapses where I completely blank out and lose all muscle control. Rohan said that he thinks they will lessen as I recover more, but he isn't sure." Casey bit his lip. "I sure hope they do. I can just see myself taking a test and falling onto the floor. That would be embarrassing, and the professors will probably think I'm cheating or something and just leaned over a little too far.

"What else is there?" Casey thought a second before touching at the gray hair just above his right ear. "There are these gray streaks. I think they're kind of cool, to tell you the truth."

Riley grinned. It was only a second later when he frowned. "Casey, did you know that your sister had planned out a way to murder your father?"

He hesitated but finally nodded. "Yes, I did. She told me."

"When was that?"

"When we woke up the morning after the day that Mama had died."

"Did she know then how she was going to do it?"

Casey shook his head. "No."

"When did she think of how she was going to do it?"
Casey scratched at his ear before he answered. "When you guys came over to tell Father about the results of the investigation of Mom's death, he forced Jessica and me to lie on our beds. He didn't always do that, but this time, he did. He had some of his own house elves watch on us so that we didn't move. He did something. I don't know what it was, but it made it so we could hear perfectly well what you guys said. It was so, he said, that we could hear that he was all-powerful and you guys wouldn't ever be there to help us. It was after we were released from our rooms the next day that Jessica would tell me that she had a plan on how she was going to do it."

"What was the plan?" Riley asked, his voice steady and strong.

"The Slowing Jinx then the Killing Curse. At first, I wanted her to use the Cruciatus Curse, but then she explained to me that she couldn't do that, why she couldn't do it."

"Why couldn't she do it?"

Casey swallowed, looking at his sister for a minute before looking back at Riley. "Even with Dad, she didn't ever want to see someone die that way again."

Riley slowly nodded. After a few seconds of silence, he asked, looking at the Supreme Interrogat, "Did Jessica ever practice?"

Casey nodded. "Yeah, on me."

Riley looked back at Casey curiously. "On you?"

The boy laughed softly. "Yeah, on me. Obviously, she didn't do the Killing Curse. She practiced the Slowing Jinx on me. As far as I know, the first time she ever said the Killing Curse was in the study on Christmas Day."

Riley bit his lip for a second before he asked, "In your opinion, Mr. Ziners, who knows your sister the best?"

"Me," he answered without hesitation.

"And in your humble opinion, Mr. Ziners, do you think in your sister's heart of hearts, that she had wanted her father dead?" Riley was taking a bit of a chance asking this question. He knew that Casey would answer that he was the one that knew his sister best. But Riley was counting on Casey's adult-like personality, a personality that came through loud and clear in his answers, would lend some credence to his opinion, making up for the lack of age that would surely work against him with the Supreme Interrogators.

Casey paused a very long time as he thought of how to word his answer. This made Riley smile. There was going to be no pretentious bullshit here. Casey was not going to give a childish answer - but nor would he gave an adult one, one showered and decorated with a pretend objectiveness. Casey was giving this question the thought that it was due.

"That is a hard question to answer," he replied finally, "because there are two answers to it. Yes and no. I believe that Jessica did want Father dead. But I don't think it was so much a revenge for Mother as you might think. There was that - you can't get away from it - but there was also the fact that she just wanted him to stop. To stop everything. But then there is the no. I don't think Jesse wanted to kill him. Dad is the murderer. Jessica always tells me that I look the most like him, but that she really is the most like him. And when she killed Dad, she thought that that was the final step to becoming exactly like him. She didn't want to be the one to take that step. But she was the only one that was there to take that step."

A ghost of a smile floated across Riley's face, but it never amounted to more than that. He was very proud of the boy right now. That very well could be his closing statement. But Riley had something more planned for the statement.

"Thank you, Mr. Ziners," Riley said and excused him from the stand.

As Jessica Ziners traded places with her brother, Riley kept looking at the witness chair, his hands behind his back, his mind clear. When he noticed that Jessica was just about to turn so she could sit, Riley walked over to his table. He set down his notes for Casey and looked at his notes for Jessica. However, rather than picking them up, he merely turned them so he could read it from this side of the table.

Riley turned to Jessica, starting back into his pacing.

"Please state your name and your occupation."

"I'm assuming this is the point that I say I'm Jessica Ziners, and I'm a student at Hogwarts."

Riley nodded. "Very good, Miss Ziners."

"Thank you," she said with a nod, her chin jutting up as she looked at Riley.

"You heard what your brother said. Is all of it true?"

"Yes, it is. Except that I should have stayed out of it. I wasn't ever planning to stay still and let Father murder Casey."

Riley only nodded, surprised that he himself didn't have to lead her into it. Leave it to Jessica to jump right into the heart of the matter.

"You weren't planning to stay still and let Father murder your brother. That sounds like you might have had experience there. Had you 'stayed still' before?"

The jaw started working, but she never answered.

"Please answer the question, Miss Ziners," Andorra said.

Jessica glanced at Andorra before looking at her hands. "Yes, I had."

"What happened as a result?"

There was a long pause, but everyone with authority let her have that.

"Someone died."

"Who died?" Riley pressed.

"Mom died."
"Your mother died in an accident, Miss Ziners--"

Jessica shook her head. "She didn't. Do I have to go through this again?" Her question was directed to Tatianna. "Riley took notes when he interviewed me. Can't you just read about it?"

"Miss Ziners," Melovic said, "we have to hear you tell it."

Jessica looked down.

"You said your mother didn't die in an accident. Can you please elaborate on that?" Riley prompted

"What does 'elaborate' mean?"

"Can you please describe what you mean by that?" Riley repeated.

Jessica swallowed the lump in her throat, her eyes straying to her uncle. Riley couldn't help it. It was a natural reaction. It was not a reaction born out of his trial experience, for that was severely lacking. It was a reaction born out of questioning witnesses. Whenever they looked for some comfort - some help - from someone, he was to place himself between the suspect and that source of comfort. That suspect was only suppose to be answering him alone of their volition, not the urging of some third party. But, at this moment, this present moment, when Jessica turned to her uncle, Riley stepped in between them, blocking her line of vision.

And he couldn't help but think he just violated a rule with Jessica when she gave him a steely look.

But Riley did not move. He needed her to tell him the story again, but, this time, in more detail. He needed to hear every gory detail, and he didn't think he would unless Jessica could not see her uncle.

And Riley would receive what he desired most.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"But, Sir, do you not want to see it? I know you want her on our side, but she's now unpredictable. Do you not want to see her go down?"

Tom Riddle turned to his servant. He was a most loyal one. He would have chosen no other because of the task he had laid down for this family, from the father down to the last son. They also knew of his deepest secret - his problems with Miss Jessica Ziners.

"She will not go down today. And trust me, when she goes down, I will be there, for I shall deliver the fatal blow. But today is not that day. I am sure she will survive."

"Pardon me, Master, for I do not doubt your powers and your knowledge..."

"But what?" Tom growled at the man bowing at his feet.

For a moment in time, he looked up at his master. "She would not serve you well, Master."

"When the time comes, she will serve me excellently. And I will see to it the time comes, but today is just a test for her. She will become a more formidable opponent as a result of this trial, but she will also become a more formidable ally when the time comes. If the Supreme Interrogat pardons her today, they will be less likely in the future to see any evil deeds she may commit. I vow that that lack of foresight will hurt them rather soon."

"And if she manages by some great rarity to elude your power? Not that I think she will."

Tom smacked the man across his face. Some blood started to drip from the man's nose. Tom brought his finger down to pick up the blood with his finger. He looked at the blood in fascination, as he answered, "Never fear for that, My Servant. I always have a plan."

The servant did not wipe at his own blood, knowing his master enjoyed the sight, for it reminded him of his power. "Do you not want to be there, Sir, just to see it for yourself?" he asked, referring back to the trial.
Tom shook his head. "No, I have some eyes and ears there for me."

"Ignatius Malfoy? I do not believe him worthy of such a task, but if you think he is worthy, then I am blind."

Tom laughed and shook his head, smiling at the man at his feet. "No, no. Ignatius is not worthy, but I let him think he is. He still has many things to give me. No, no. I have someone much more worthy of the task. The best part, My Dear Servant, is that no one, including Miss Jessica Ziners, has a clue that my eyes and ears are in there, that someone much more worthy than Ignatius Malfoy, is watching over the Ziners children, ready to strike shall the children feel the need to...say things they should not."

Tom laughed as he looked back at the blood on his fingers.

"No, no, Miss Ziners will never be sure if she's escaped from me because she never will escape for me. She will look me in the face and be blinded to that fact. She will never think that among those most trusted beings surrounding her uncle is one waiting for my order to attack."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Her voice was steady, her eyes elsewhere, as she talked about the living conditions in the home. The fear, the beatings, the general idea not to disobey 'Father'. She talked about how she and Casey were generally safe during that time, as though the smacks they received were a matter of fact.

While she spoke over the communication between her mother and her, she never elaborated on it, never offering anything about the "Clearing Paper", and Riley never asked her about it. Last night, Riley had also asked the Supreme Interrogat not to ask her about it, in private explaining to Andorra and Melovic the invention that Maddie had desired to keep secret. As an Unspeakable herself, Melovic could appreciate that desire.

She spoke quietly about her first attempt to reach her uncle. She talked about the dead house elf sadly and the first attempt on her brother's life with anger. She spoke of waiting patiently for six months, and then she spoke of how 'Father' thwarted her plans once and for all.

And then she spoke about walking into the lab.

"She was tied to one of her tables. Casey was already down there."

"He never once tried to untie your mother while he was down there alone?" Vallen asked, drawing Jessica's attention away from Riley for the first time.

Instead of answering, Jessica looked down at her knees. Finally, though, she looked up again and looked Vallen in the eyes. "He was six, Ma'am. And if Father had caught him in middle of untying, he would have died. Mama would have known this and told him not to do it."

"Miss Ziners," Melovic said by way of catching her attention. When she had it, she didn't let it go as she asked, "Was anyone else in the lab when you first entered, other than your mother and your brother?"

There was a pause and then, "No, Ma'am, there was not."

"Are you sure?" Melovic pressed.

No pause, no hesitation whatsoever. "I'm sure, Ma'am."

Melovic seemed done, so Jessica turned back to Riley. Riley was caught up in looking at her, trying to find a sign she was lying, so caught up, it took him a minute to realize she was waiting for him to speak.

"Please continue," Riley said.

Jessica closed her eyes for a second and swallowed before she opened her eyes again, showing a surprising sign of vulnerability. It was gone in less than a second.

"Father told me to sit next to my brother. I did. Casey wanted to know what was going on, but I didn't tell him. Mama kept looking at me, telling me to be strong, that it wasn't my fault. When she didn't shut up when Father told her to, he smacked her. When she still didn't shut up...I kept telling her to be quiet and he was going to let her go...Mama just shook her head. She told me she loved me and told me to be strong, to protect myself, and to protect Casey. Father then silenced her. But Mama didn't stop looking at me and Casey. She kept smiling and trying to talk, but she had no voice. She started to cry. I kept trying to get up but every time I did, Father pointed his wand at Casey. Mama looked like she wanted to yell at Father, but nothing was ever coming out. That's when I noticed that Father was talking to me." Jessica's eyes were now not just staring into space, but at her lap, her hands making angry, powerless gestures until she started into what 'Father' had said to her. She sat on her hands then, as if reminded that she shouldn't speak with her hands.

"I caught him mid-speech. 'Look what happens when you want to open your big mouth, Jesse. This is what happens. You murder Mommy. You couldn't just stay out of it. It's your place to be with me, Jessica. Not with your Mommy or your Uncle Danny. Me. Me. It's all about me.' Me, me, me," she growled. "That's all he ever saw. Me and money. They sound a lot alike, I always thought. Then it was 'wham'!" Jessica slapped the arm of the witness chair, making everyone - including Riley - jump. She gripped the arms of the chair with each of her hands then, the grip so tight her knuckles turned white. Her next word was whispered. "Crucio." She shook her head. "Mom shook. I think I screamed. Casey grabbed his knees and started to hum as he rocked. He use to do that...during other times, just to block out the sound. It didn't work this time. This time, when Mama was screaming in pain, she was right there and we couldn't block it out.

"When Father hurt Casey before, I didn't see it happen. It was right there, but I was so intent on trying to not look at it, I didn't watch it happen. I didn't watch the Cruciatus shrink his skin until it broke. But that time in the lab, it was right in front of me. I couldn't stop Father because he would just look at Casey, and I knew he would kill him as well. All I could do was watch Mama's skin shrink." Jessica held her hands up and watched her own hands in fascination as they made gestures to what she spoke. "It tightens against the bone," she interlaced her fingers and squeezed them together, pulling them apart at the same time. When she noticed that the inside of her fingers had turned white, she flipped them over so Riley could see the whiteness. Looking him in the eyes, she said, her voice painfully matter-of-fact, "Then suddenly, it snaps apart," she yanked the hands away from each other. "Blood starts gushing to the surface and falls out, dropping on the table. That's got to hurt, doesn't it, Riley?" When he didn't answer, she shook her hand, glancing down. "That's right. You don't answer the questions. You ask them." She sighed before continuing.

"Father paused from time to time. He turned to Casey and said the Killing Curse. He missed Casey on purpose. He did it a few more times on Case, only stopping when I stood in front of Casey. He would start the Cruciatus Curse on Mama, and then would stop it. Every time the Curse would hit her and her body would jump. I remember Mama's head falling towards us. She was still alive. Blood was dripping out of her mouth." Jessica stopped, biting her lips, her eyes closing, causing tears to come from her eyes. "She wanted to die then I think. She had to be hurting a lot. And Father just kept making her body jump."

Jessica took a shaky breath, her eyes remaining cast downwards. "I remember Father pressing his face close to Mama's, moving her face so she was looking at him. He whispered, 'I won.' I don't know what that meant, but he took the Silencing Charm off. She gave this little noise, and Father put his wand to her throat and finished her off with the Cruciatus Curse." Jessica paused a long time, her eyes off to the front of the Supreme Interragot's bench. Finally, she managed to continue. Her voice was dull.

"Father told me to stand up and take off my robes. When I had done that, he told me to take off my t-shirt. He pointed his wand at Casey, so I did that. He unbuttoned the front of Mama's dress. He then asked me for my t-shirt. He rubbed it over Mama's body before handing it back to me. As he buttoned Mama's dress again, he told me to put the t-shirt back on. I didn't want to, but he told me I really didn't want to be responsible for two deaths today. I put it on like he asked. I put back on my robes. Father prepared the room. He untied Mama's hands and ankles." Jessica paused a moment before saying, "He had a list of ingredients for the cauldron. He mixed something. When it was ready, he brought us out of the room. It was a couple of minutes later. We hadn't heard it, but Father knew it had exploded. He brought us back into the lab and told us to sit in front of Mama's body. The table had broken in half, but Mama was still on it. There was potion over everything. He told us to sit down. We did. He then said something, I don't know what, and then he left the room, locking the door."

When she stopped, Riley asked, "How long were you in there?"

Without moving her head, she looked up at him. The tears were still in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "I don't know. It seemed forever."

"When would you take your blood-soaked t-shirt off for the first time?"

"Three days later."

Riley walked over to his table, knowing he had Jessica's full attention now. He reached inside the bag that had sat closest to him as he had waited for the trial to begin. His hand rested on the bag's contents a moment. Finally, though, he took a deep breath and pulled the contents out. He turned and held up a blood-soaked t-shirt to Jessica.

"Is this the t-shirt?"

Jessica fairly jumped. "Where did you get it?"

"That doesn't matter," he said, not about to give Casey Ziners up to his own sister, "Is this the t-shirt that your father soaked in your mother's blood?"

When Riley started towards her with the t-shirt, she started crawling up the back of her chair. He stopped, and she calmed down.

"Yes, it's the shirt," she said tensely, watching the shirt as though she thought it was going to attack her at any second.

"Miss Ziners, you have to examine the item with your own hands in order to be sure," Melovic instructed.

Jessica never once took her eyes off the shirt as she shook her head. "No, I don't. See that dark curve," she pointed towards the collar and followed it down to the edge of the stitching of the right sleeve. "That's the shirt."

"You appear to have spent quite some time with the shirt," Vallen said quietly.

Jessica nodded, her eyes still glued to it. "Whenever I got severely out of line, Father use to make me lie in my room with it lying over my face. Once when both Casey and I *really* got out of line, he made me wear it around the house. He kept pointing out that idiotic curve of dark red to my brother."

"How often did you have to lie with it over your face?" Andorra asked.

"Right away after her death, it was once a day. It then started to get fewer and fewer."

"When was the last time you wore it?"

"November of 1972."

"But you were at school then," Andorra protested.

"Father told me if I didn't wear it, he would know. He would then kill Casey. It was just one night." Riley could tell none of the Supreme Interrogators bought her rationalization.

Riley set the shirt on the table without folding it. "Miss Ziners, when did you decide to murder your father?"

"We had just lain down for the night, the night after Mommy died. We were at Uncle Danny's, lying on his bed. Casey was lying, curled in a ball. He didn't even take off his glasses. He just laid there, looking at me. I was sitting up, on the other side of the bed. Uncle Danny was standing in the doorway, asking if there was anything else we needed. It was the moment I had tried for. It was the moment that Mama had died for. Trying to think fast, I opened my mouth to...to say it...but Father walked in then. He pushed past Uncle Danny and sat next to me on the bed, grabbing me in a hug. He kept saying, 'It's going to be alright, baby. It's going to be alright.' Father was hugging me so tight I thought he was going to break me. When I tried to turn to Uncle Danny again, Father put his mouth right on my ear and whispered, 'Your brother needs your help more than anything now. You need to calm down for him, for his own life.' And then he started to rub his hands up and down my back, dragging the blood across my back.

"I remember being terrified. I cried for my mommy. Father kept patting me and saying 'Good girl. Cry. Make him believe you have a heart.' I wanted to kill him then. I wanted him to die." Her voice kept changing so much, light, matter-of-fact, sad, and deadly, that it held her audience captive. Riley knew that she didn't notice any of it, her eyes seemingly wild, moving about the room randomly. Most of the time, she probably didn't even realize she was in a courtroom.

"I couldn't tell Uncle Danny. That's when I realized that was impossible. I couldn't leave Casey's life in Father's hands. There was only one way to stop Father. It was to kill him."

"Was that when you decided how you were going to kill him?"

Jessica shook her head. "No. I decided how I was going to do it when they came to tell Father that they determined that Mama's death was an accident. I think I had hoped you guys would discover that it wasn't an accident. But you didn't. I was lying up in my room, with the shirt over my face. My face was getting sweaty. It was really making the shirt stink.

"It was like Casey had said. Father made sure I could hear what you guys were saying downstairs. I don't know the spell he used, but I could hear you like you were in the room. That made it hurt worse because I wanted so badly to tell you guys. But whoever said whatever they said, and then I was alone again, under the red. I knew when I killed Father I wanted him to see me. I wanted him to know it was me. But I also wanted to know that there was a possibility he could defend himself. Which was stupid. It would be impossible to defend yourself with the Slowing Jinx." Jessica shook her head angrily. Suddenly, she lifted her head and looked Riley in the eyes. "But I decided that I couldn't do it with the Cruciatus Curse. That was wrong."

"But that's how he murdered your mother."

"Doesn't make it right. Either way, I didn't want to see it again. The skin. It makes me sick to my stomach." She shook her head at her lap.

Riley glanced down before starting into Jessica's side of Christmas Day. They didn't repeat what Casey had already said but continued from what Casey had stopped - when Jessica regained consciousness. She talked about walking over to the desk to grab her wand and then walking back to the spot they had found her. Riley asked her why she did all that walking and not just go from the desk. She shrugged her shoulders before saying, "better angle, I guess". They moved on to the Slowing Jinx then to raising her wand, her fear of saying the words - then to what she saw - her brother and her mother. The lowering of the wand and the words came last.

And then to the question no one had asked her.

"Miss Ziners, after you were brought to Hogwarts, do you remember what happened?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I tried to kill myself."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I became like Father. I murdered for my own benefit. And because as much as Father's actions killed Mama and almost Casey, so did mine. Neither time was I able to mind my own business. Both resulted as they did. I needed to stop that."

"Do you wish that you had succeeded at killing yourself?"

Jessica paused a moment in thought, biting her lip, before she nodded. "Yes, I still think that is what I wish. But Casey keeps reminding me that I saved his life. He also reminds me that Mama died saving our lives, and that I'm worth a try at life. He also tells me that I murdered for my benefit and that benefit was to keep my brother, no more, no less, and that Dad never would have murdered for the good of another's life for less than righteous reasons. I think that he means that Dad would never have murdered to save someone else's life for the benefit of keeping alive someone who annoys the heck out of him."

Riley smiled at her joke and nodded. "Thank you, Miss Ziners. You are excused."

"One moment," Melovic said. Jessica, who had been just about to get out of the chair, stopped and sat back again. "I have one question for Miss Ziners." Melovic gave a moment's pause, giving Jessica a hard, stern look before she spoke again. "Have you ever met anyone that went by the name Voldemort?"

Jessica was silent for a moment, holding eye contact with Melovic, before she answered quietly. "No, I never have, Ma'am."

Melovic nodded, and the Auror took Jessica back to her seat.

"Unless you have another witness, Mr. Haderson, I would like to call a break before your closing statement," Melovic said.

Riley nodded his agreement. "I was just about to ask the same thing, Madam Secretary."

"Then, I will call a twenty minute recess. I would recommend everyone go out and get some fresh air. And please, do not bug Mr. Haderson in the meantime."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Is he okay?"

"We should bring him a washcloth. He's got sweat on his glasses."

"I would really like that. And please make it cold."

"Riley!" came a whisper from Andre'a. "We're not suppose to talk to you."

"You're not suppose to bug me, but a cold washcloth and a cold glass of water - with ice cubes - would most certainly not be construed as bugging me."

"Right up, Sir," Richie Thender said, jogging back into the Courthouse.

Riley was sitting on the bench right outside the main doors. He was leaning his head back on the wall of the building, looking up into the ceiling of the porch. It was a nice cool spot, but it hardly made a dent on his condition, his team could tell.

Andre'a sat on one side of him and Mark on the other. The Bensons and Chong stood in front of them.

"I can't believe what those kids went through. Right under our nose and all," Andre'a said, learning forward onto her knees.

Richie returned with a cold, wet paper towel and a glass of water with ice cubes. He gave both items to Riley, who promptly took off his glasses, laid them on his lap, laid the paper towel across his forehead, and pressed the glass of water first against one cheek then the other one, before taking a long sip, drinking most of the water.

Andre'a grabbed his glasses and started cleaning them with the edge of her robes.

"They never appeared to be abused kids," Feng said. "With the girl being so mouthy." The group did not reprimand her comment, as Feng didn't know the kids as well as the others did. "But maybe she was trying to prove to herself and to her father that she was too strong to be dominated by anyone but herself."

"You're doing good in there, Riley," Kevin said. "Know what you're going to say in your closing?"
Riley nodded. "Word for word."

"Do you think the Supreme Interrogators are going to side in Jessica and Casey's favor?" Josh Benson asked Riley.

Riley paused a second before responding. "I'm not sure. Andorra promised me a very critical eye."

"Which could go either way," Mark replied. Everyone else nodded, knowing their boss well.

"Melovic is completely unreadable. She would have been one hell of an Auror," Riley murmured into the edge of his glass as he pressed it against his face again. "I think the rest might go Jessica and Casey's way - all except Vallen and Zeckaroy."

"It looks like Vallen hates you," Feng commented.

"You have no idea," Mark replied. "Riley showed her son up in everything he did in school. She wanted Riley to rot in Hell."

"What are yeah sayin', Mark?" Drea asked with a grin. "She still wants him to burn in Hell. So does Julian Hammonds," Drea said in an imitation of a very whiny voice. To the others she explained, "Julian - the Court Scribe - was the major bookworm of Riley and Mark's Year. Julian could equal Riley in book smarts. But, to Julian's dismay, being an Auror takes street smarts and a certain prowess that Julian sorely lacked. He turned green whenever he came within spitting distance of Riley."

"As much as I'm not enjoying this trip down memory lane..." Riley said into the other side of the edge of his glass.

"You said you were worried about Zeckaroy," Mark commented.

Riley nodded. "Yeah, he looked very skeptical during most of the witnesses."

"Well, if it helps," Kevin said, "he didn't look at anything during Jessica's testimony. Just as unreadable as Melovic. That might be a point in your favor."

"Only God knows," Riley murmured.

"Where are Jessica and Casey anyhow?" Drea asked, surveying the people roaming the lawn outside the Courthouse.

"Inside still," Riley murmured. "George and Tim," he continued, referring to Jessica's and Casey's Auror-guards, "offered them a chance to go outside - and continue to offer it - but neither are taking it. They keep sitting in the chairs, staring in front of them. When I came out though, Jessica was looking her chair over, asking George and Tim if they knew anyone who had sat in her chair before her, and if they had ever seen the chains in use."

The group fell silent for a number of minutes. Richie started to break the silence but halted when Jessica walked out, Tim following with a hand on her shoulder. She stopped by the bench.

"Riley, are they going to give us our sentence today, or are we going to have to wait?"

Riley looked at her, the glass still pressed to the right side of his face, his glasses still off. "They're going to try getting your sentence to you today, but there's no guarantee."

She nodded and was thoughtful for a second before asking, "If I'm convicted, will they convict Casey too?"

Riley hesitated a second before replying, "I don't know. It all depends on how they see fit."

She bit her lip before nodding. "Okay, thanks," she said before turning back into the Courthouse.

Every team member but Riley exchanged a look before Richie asked quietly, "Are you sure about what you're saying in there, Ri?"

Everyone but Riley glared at him, but Richie didn't notice, his eyes on his commander.

Riley merely nodded. "At first, I wasn't. Jessica's attitude more than matched that of her father's. I knew something might have been going on, not as bad as it was, but I wondered about something. And I had the thought - she could have tried to stop him or run for help. And then I discovered that she did indeed premeditate the murder. She took her actions too far, I thought.

"But then I wondered about Madeline. And I heard about that shirt and saw it with my own eyes." He sighed as he took one last gulp of his glass, drinking the ice that had melted. He set the glass on the bench between Andre'a and himself, grabbed his glasses from her and slipped them on. His eyes stared into the distance, at the house on the hill. "Last night, I lay in my own bed with that shirt on, trying to see what she would have seen. That alone is enough to drive someone insane, smelling your own mother's blood knowing that you caused it. But Jessica had the constant threat on her brother. For five years, she walked around knowing that with every step she took, she drove Casey closer to death. I don't think any of us would have done different on Christmas Day than Jessica did. We would probably have gone further."

Riley grunted as he stood up. He walked into the Courthouse without another word to his companions. It would be but two minutes when everyone would be called in for Riley's closing statement.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"The Ziners home was a war zone. When Jessica and Casey were born, Jeffery Ziners turned it into an all-out war. Madeline Ziners was caught on enemy territory, and she was caught carrying the very weapons that could bring her to her knees." Riley knew that every eye in that courtroom was on him- including Jessica's and Casey's - but he ignored them, his eyes taking time with only each member of the Supreme Interrogat.

"I don't think Jeffery Ziners ever expected one of those weapons he wielded so effectively against his wife to turn on him, but what Jeffery Ziners thought is not up for us to determine. One of his weapons did indeed turn against him, and it was his own seven-year-old daughter. And she didn't mean for 'Father' to find out about her wavering allegiances. Unfortunately, Jeffery did indeed find out, and he wasn't willing to allow this treason.

"Jeffery Ziners was so unwilling to allow this treason that he turned his wand on to a six-year-old boy and screamed at him a curse that would kill grown men! But yet, his daughter would try again. But, again, Father would find out. And to drive the point home that 'Father' was to be obeyed, he would tie the mother of his children to a table in her own lab and torture her death, making his own children watch! But yet, this was not enough for Jeffery Ziners. It wasn't enough for Jeffery to murder his wife in the most vicious of manners! It wasn't enough for him to make his children watch! It wasn't enough to drive the point into his daughter's skull that she was responsible for her mother's death! No! Jeffery had to soak his daughter's shirt in her mother's blood as a way to make her remember vividly. Jeffery not only had to drive the point home but all the way to the core of his daughter's heart. He made her live and breathe and wallow in her mother's blood at any and every moment he chose to.

"Your honors, here was a seven-year-old girl that was forced to wear her mother's blood the night of her mother's death with salvation sleeping on the coach. She was that close to her only possible saving grace - her Uncle Danny - but yet, while wallowing in unbelievable grief, she was reminded by the cause of that grief that she had more to lose. She was a seven-year-old given the responsibility of her six-year-old brother. Every move she made could have killed her brother, the rules of the game only being known to Jeffery and subscribing to no logic whatsoever. It was a toss of the dice what could kill Casey Ziners, and all that Jessica knew was that she would cause it. She was reminded constantly that it was her actions that killed her mother. She had no reason to doubt her father's threats," Riley grabbed the t-shirt from the table and held it up. "She had this bloody t-shirt to remind her of his willingness to act on those threats, to remind her of her responsibility for the lives of those around her!

"Try to imagine what life under this shirt is like. Madeline's seven-year-old daughter spent a lifetime under this shirt, seeing red, feeling the roughness of old blood, smelling the stale substance of her mother's life force. After a couple of hours, you're really starting to sweat, the sweat runs into your eye, probably mixing with tears you refuse to shed again." Riley sighed, looking at the shirt himself for a long moment of silence before he spoke quietly, "And while the blood was still wet, Miss Ziners lived under this shirt, wore it, and slept in it. As she wallowed under this bloody t-shirt, she had time to think about what she did. Jeffery Ziners' intention must have been to create a submissive daughter, but instead, he designed his murder.

"As an Auror, you are taught that everyone has their limit. If you push, everyone will have their breaking point. What they do when they break is *never* predictable, but you can count on that they will do something. And just because the person may be twelve-years-old does not mean that they won't react like an adult might."

Riley put the shirt down and started a small pace in front of the Supreme Interragot's bench. He used one turn to move the right side of his face away from the judges and, with the sleeve of his robes, wiped off some spit from the corner of his mouth.

"After years of torture - both mental and physical - it cannot come as a surprise that Miss Ziners thought about killing her father. She had resources that other abused children did not usual have. She knew what her father was doing was wrong, and she knew that other parents did not do as he did. She knew that her uncle could offer help, if she could but get to him. But, that lesson that her father taught her in her mother's lab and later on her uncle's bed, was that Jessica could not get salvation from outside the house. She could only count on the one person Jeffery Ziners was the most hesitant to punish to death - herself!

"And so she prepared for a time that might or might not come. She prepared to murder her father. And if that preparation was the only thing between her mother's death and her father's murder, that would be the beginning and ending of the story, but it is not the only thing between her mother's death and her father's murder.

"Like every other magically-abled person, Jessica Ziners got a wand just before she started school. She was 11-years old when she started school, when she received her wand. Yet, Christmas Break came and went during her first year at Hogwarts. She had come home. She had practiced how to murder her father. Nothing happened except more abuse. She went back to school, and Jeffery Ziners resumed his life. She went home during the summer. Again, she practiced how to murder her father. Her brother was forced to torture her with the Cruciatus Curse. Other abuse happened. The summer came and went. Jeffery Ziners lived through it. And then Christmas Break happened. Jessica Ziners was home before Christmas, yet Jeffery Ziners lived to Christmas Day. It was only when Casey Ziners was in danger of dying that Jessica Ziners acted on her plan! After years of torture, it was only when her brother was going to die that she acted!

"This demonstrates self-control. Miss Ziners did not murder when her father's back was turned. She did not murder him in his sleep. She would tell you that it demonstrated her being a chicken, and in the view of the world she grew up in, she was a chicken. But in our world, the world we should accept Miss Ziners into after this trial, she did not murder her father the second she was capable because she had a moral conflict and a hesitation to murder that denotes goodness. She waited until murder was necessary."

Riley was silent a moment as he paced. The only sound in the room was his hiking boots making their way back and forth on the floor of the courtroom. When he spoke again, he resumed his looks up and down the faces of the Supreme Interrogat bench. "Some may argue that Jessica could have tried to subdue her father. She's received good grades in school. She knows some spells to do that. Even if she didn't, she could try to physically subdue him at least. We have evidence in the form of Rohan Figg's and Mark Halmer's testimonies, as well as the accountants of both children, that say Jessica did indeed try to physically stop him. She was knocked unconscious and woke up to see her brother, nearly dead. She could have used floo to get to the Department and find help, some may then argue. But Jessica herself knew that would take too long. She had seen the effects of the Cruciatus Curse. She knew what death looked like. She knew that death by Cruciatus Curse was bloody as hell. And even if she didn't," Riley grabbed at first Casey's bloody shirt and then his bloody trousers and held them up from the Supreme Interrogat to get a very good look at, "look at what she saw." He grabbed the towels and held up each one individually. "Four towels to clean her brother. That's how much blood Jessica saw." Riley set the towels down, and, still facing the table, his eyes glanced at Daniel. Daniel was staring at him, his face unreadable. Riley looked back at the Supreme Interrogators.

"It's no wonder that at that exact moment, Jessica Ziners' wand could no longer remain silent. It was that day in the lab all over again, but, this time, Jessica could do something about it. That day, in the study, Jessica Ziners defended her brother's life, and she saved it. That is not the action of a cold-blooded murderer."

Riley walked to the seat he had vacated so long ago. "Thank you, your honors," he said and sat.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

*Even without Azkaban, we'll return to a prison.*

*Without Azkaban, we'll have time with Uncle Danny. It'll still be a prison from time to time, but we'll have time with Uncle Danny.*

*Do you think we'll live long enough to see the end of Voldemort?*

His sister didn't answer him. After a moment, he realized she was staring at Melovic, which seemed to unnerve Melovic after a few minutes. Jessica glanced at Casey before looking at the floor.

*The Bloody Baron was right when he compared our fight with Voldemort to a game of chess. Except there was one thing he left out. We have an audience at the game, just waiting to knock down our carefully laid pieces.*

*There's one other problem with his analogy as well*, Casey said. When Jessica didn't say anything, Casey supplied his answer to his own comment.

*You suck at chess.*

To Be Continued...