Chapter 586: Ch 612 - Entry of Madam Bones~

"Quiet, boy!" One of the senior members of the Wizengamot barked down at him, slamming a wooden gavel against the stone bench.

"Or what?" Lucifer challenged him instantly, his eyes flashing with a dangerous amusement as he leaned his head back against the wood, "I let myself be brought down to this dungeon today under my own terms... I can just as easily excuse myself and walk right out that door if your tone fails to please my ears."

"You are already in serious legal trouble, Morningstar, casting an advanced, Patronus Charm right in the middle of a heavily crowded Muggle inhabited area!" The old Interrogator shouted down to him, his hands shaking slightly.

A sudden ripple of low murmurs and whispers was heard through benches about him having successfully cast a Corporeal Patronus at his age.

"Yes, because a rogue Dementor targeted me," Lucifer said smoothly, his voice a calm contrast to their shouting, "Much like one conveniently showed up for Harry Potter a few months ago under your watch."

"You are currently standing in an official Ministerial Hearing to decide your fate at Hogwarts and your entire place in the British Wizarding community!" the Interrogator bellowed down at his chair.

"A Ministerial Hearing? I honestly thought this whole room was just a three-ringed circus," Lucifer joked dryly. When the words left his lips, a series of heavy, rusted iron chains magically slithered out from the arms of the chair. They wrapped themselves very tightly around his chest, his arms, and waist with a loud, metallic clatter.

Lucifer merely let out a rich laugh, feeling immensely amused by just how tight they were forcing the bindings against his skin.

"How cute, humans. You actually think it will hold ’me’ inside this room...." Lucifer asked the court, a creepy, unsettling smile spreading slowly across his lips as his eyes glowed a vibrant shade of blood-red.

"Alright," The brown-haired wizard sitting directly across from his chair stated loudly, clearing his throat to break the sudden fear hitting the front row. "Let’s get this trial underway."

"Funny how you call this a formal trial with it happening a mere ten minutes after my illegal apprehension by your Magical Law Enforcement agents, but sure," Lucifer relaxed his muscles into the cushions, letting the chains hold in place for now. "We’ll go with your pace, human."

"I told you before, Minister," Umbridge whispered loudly to Fudge’s shoulder, not caring a bit about being overheard by the locked room. "The Morningstar boy here is nothing but trouble. Miles more dangerous than Potter has ever been to our administration."

Cornelius Fudge didn’t say a word in response to her prodding. He merely sat rigidly in his high seat, a look of profound, suffocating concern breaking out behind his eyes, but it was not the caring or sympathetic kind of concern. His intense worry was strictly for his own physical well being, and whether or not he would actually make it out of this dungeon alive today if Lucifer suddenly decided no one in this room was worth his "remaining time."

Cornelius Fudge was starting to thoroughly regret the Ministry’s decision to revoke Lucifer’s Adult Wizard status.

xxxxxx

"You, Lucifer Morningstar, are on trial for the use of underage magic outside of school, and in front of many Muggles. You claim it was because of a Dementor, but do you have anyone who can back up your story?" Shuberforth asked, his voice echoing off the stone tiers.

Lucifer thought seriously if he truly wanted to drag Hermione into this den of bureaucratic vipers. She would gladly defend him in this chamber, as he was justified in his use of the ’Patronus Charm’ in presence of Muggles to protect her life.

"I do; Hermione Granger was present with me while I cast the Patronus Charm to send the Dementor away."

"Rufus Scrimgeour," Shuberforth said, his blue eyes shifting over to the scarred, fierce-looking wizard standing by the heavy iron doors, "Take a few of your enforcement team and bring in this Hermione Granger immediately."

"I’ll tell you what I told the ones whom I allowed to apprehend me in the park," Lucifer said, his voice carrying a sudden, freezing vibration that drew every eye in the Wizengamot directly onto his chained form, "Hermione is exceptionally dear to me.... If she has even a hair disturbed on her head, or slight discoloration of skin from rough handling, I will not hold back. I will break these chains, and kill you, Rufus."

A visible wave of shudders rippled through the entire courtroom. Even senior warlocks of the Wizengamot seemed particularly on edge, shifting uncomfortably in their plum-colored robes. They all knew his history; they knew with terrifying certainty that he could and would back up his words with bloodshed.

Scrimgeour himself didn’t seem outwardly fazed, offering Lucifer a cold look of professional disregard, though his hand subtly twitched near his holster. He said nothing as he turned on his heel and disappeared through the oak doors.

"Now, Mr. Shuberforth," Umbridge addressed the interrogator across the aisle, her voice cutting through the silence as she adjusted her pink cardigan, "You should know that the Granger girl is his close associate. She will likely say anything to exonerate Morningstar here from expulsion."

"In the same manner how the Ministry will say anything to deny the return of Voldemort?" Lucifer asked rhetorically, causing several older wizards in the front row to visibly recoil at the forbidden name.

Umbridge was not amused in the slightest, her pasty face tightening into a hideous, toady look, "You are close friends with Potter, Morningstar. Why am I not even slightly surprised you blindly believe his delusional drive?"

Lucifer opened his mouth to speak a lethal rebuttal when the distinct, sharp ’pop’ of someone apparating echoed right in the center of the courtroom. Scrimgeour had returned, pulling a wide-eyed Hermione Granger straight out of the vortex.

"Lucifer!" She yelled when her eyes registered chained form. Disregarding the armed guards entirely, she rushed across straight to his chair, her voice dropping a whisper, "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"I’m fine, pet," Lucifer offered her a reassuring, normal smile, "Nothing is wrong with me."

"Ms. Granger," Shuberforth spoke up loudly, demanding decorum, "It has come to this court’s attention that you were accompanying Mr. Morningstar during the usage of underage sorcery today. Is that the truth?"

"Yes," She said, turning her body to face the upper tiers, her chin lifting as she spoke with clarity.

"Is it true that Morningstar performed the advanced Patronus Charm?"

"Yes! A silver snake flew straight from his wand," Hermione stated proudly, a series of astonished whispers and awes rippled through the benches at the mention of the form, "It drove away the rogue Dementor that had suddenly appeared to attack us."

"So you claim that a Dementor appeared in a Muggle park? Can you prove that it appeared, Ms. Granger?" Shuberforth asked skeptically.

"We---" Hermione started to explain, but she was sharply cut off by Umbridge’s mocking voice.

"Of course she cannot provide proof. Like I previously stated to the Minister, she will say anything that keeps Morningstar from receiving a well-deserved, serious punishment," Umbridge smiled maliciously, no longer putting on the fake, sugary facade she utilized in front of the school common rooms.

"I quietly wonder, do you simply like the annoying sound of your own voice, Umbridge?" Lucifer said casually from his chains, his eyes onto her short frame, "Because you honestly won’t shut the fuck up."

"You insolent little—" Umbridge screeched, instantly leaping to her feet, though it wasn’t particularly obvious she was standing given how terribly short her proportions were, "How dare you speak to High Inquisitor in that disgraceful manner!"

"We aren’t inside the school gates right now, toad. You’re just Cornelius Fudge’s Senior Undersecretary at the moment," Lucifer denied her academic title outright, ruthlessly displaying her lack of wits to the watching court.

Before Umbridge could utter another word of outrage, the heavy iron doors of Courtroom Ten swung wide open with a loud groan.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry I’m late, everyone. I ran into an awful bit of magical traffic near the lifts."

Lucifer turned his head and saw a certain grey-haired witch stepping onto the stone floorboards, her monocle glinting under the torches. A dark smirk touched his lips; he would have to mentally thank Makima’s surveillance network for timing this arrival so precisely, "Good afternoon, Madam Bones."

"Hello there, Lucifer," Amelia Bones greeted back calmly, her sharp eyes instantly frowning as she witnessed the unusually tight, rusted iron chains binding his torso, a severe restraint protocol worse than what they utilized for highest-rated death row prisoners of Azkaban.

"What on earth are you doing here, Amelia?" Umbridge asked in a sharp, almost demanding voice, her fingers tightening around her clipboard.

"My job," Amelia said flatly, her voice completely non-chalant as she adjusted her robes, "I would have been present here sooner, but I only just heard about this sudden disciplinary hearing a minute ago. I was at home talking to Susan, my niece, about what specific gifts she had gotten Hannah Abbott for Christmas, when I received an emergency tracking owl. The message informed me of one Lucifer Morningstar’s immediate apprehension by the Ministry’s Department of Magical Law Enforcement, ’my’ department, to be precise. I should have been informed about this operational deployment the when it happened, Ms. Umbridge."

She narrated the facts with a dangerous level of reprimand.

"I think the idiots simply got sidetracked by their own panic," Lucifer joked dryly from his chair.

"How can you possibly find the nerve to joke at a literal trial like this?" Hermione asked him in a tight whisper, she was already torn to papers wide gloo with anxiety.

"What’s significantly more, there is an established legal process that must be followed under the Ministry, and no wizard or witch in this room, except for myself, seems to care about it today," Amelia Bones ridiculed the front bench, her glare hard. "A snap trial happening the same day of Mr. Morningstar’s use of underage magic? A Corporeal Patronus, no less... Susan told me about his casting capabilities, if you were wondering. And Mr. Morningstar was apprehended by an enforcement squad mere moments afterward. That is not how my Department operates, Minister Fudge."

Cornelius opened his mouth to stammer out a defense, but the sound only came out as a garbled, nervous piece of gibberish under her gaze.

"I believe this procedural overreach happened once before, back in July, did it not?" Amelia asked the courtroom at large, her voice carrying across the tiers, "Harry Potter was accused of the same infraction. The critical question that should be asked by the Wizengamot is this: ’Why did three Ministry-controlled Dementors go rogue and attack these two specific underage wizards on their holidays?’ They are the designated guards of Azkaban prison; they should not be wandering off from their North Sea posts unaccompanied by an official handler."

Shuberforth seemed to visibly squirm in his high interrogator’s seat under Amelia’s fierce gaze.

"Unless there is some hidden, ironclad piece of evidence that this court is withholding, I see no valid reason why Mr. Morningstar should not be allowed to walk out of this room freely today, given that law states... he was well within his emergency rights in using Underage magic to defend his life," She stated firmly, her glare darkening toward the podium. "Now then, Minister, may I speak to you privately in your office before I return home for the holidays?"

Amelia walked straight up to the wooden chair and tapped her wand sharply against the metal. Instantly, the rusted iron chains went limp, dissolving their constriction and falling off his clothes with a loud clang.

Lucifer stood up to his height, stretching his shoulders. He turned his face to look down at Amelia, "Thank you for your timely arrival, Madam Bones. I would have hated to resort to slaughtering my way out of this room today."

"It’s a good thing I received that owl on time, Lucifer, otherwise I wouldn’t have shown up at the Ministry at all, and we might have lost our brilliant ’Minister for Magic’," Amelia said smoothly without a shred of consequences at her words, ignoring how the man was flinching, knowing he was exposed.

She then shifted her sharp gaze, looking between Hermione’s close posture and Lucifer. "You two truly make a match," she said suddenly, a rare smile softening her face.

Hermione’s cheeks instantly flushed a noticeable shade of vibrant red, Wh—what m—makes you th—think that, Madam Bones?" she stuttered rapidly.

"Susan actually told me all about you when she was recounting Morningstar’s snake Patronus last month," Amelia said, a knowing smirk tugging at corner of her lips, "She stated to the house table that you both were pretty close, behaving like an old married couple. And just looking at the way you’re standing guard over him right now, I can see my niece was right," She narrated, evaluating the pair with an expert eye, "There probably isn’t a thing that Lucifer wouldn’t do to protect Hermione, and I think she’s right, not that I need to tell either of you that truth."

"She is correct."

"L--Lucifer....." Hermione stuttered out in a panic, her face burning. This boy was practically going to give her a cardiac arrest with so much happening over span of a few minutes.

Lucifer looked down at her flushed features, then turned back to face Amelia Bones. "Oh, before I forget to mention... could you see about getting official Adult Wizarding Status permanently reinstated? It’s fine if Cornelius Fudge throws a tantrum about it, I’m just asking to see if your Department can convince to sign the waiver? Give him a Chocolate frog, if you must?"

"I’ll see what I can do regarding the file after Christmas," Amelia said, smiling warmly.

"Okay, perfect. So... how do Hermione and I get back to her family home from here?" Lucifer asked, looking around the dark chamber, "Normally I would just Apparate her and myself straight back to the patio, but if my Adult Status is currently gone from the logs, I can’t very well without getting into legal trouble with the Improper Use’s Department again."

He knew for a fact that Hermione truly wouldn’t be in the mood to endure a long broom flight, wings or handle his ’Shadow Traversing’ ability right now, they weren’t meant for mortals, and might severely trapped them into his nothingness, and to be exact, neither was he.

"I’ll gladly cover the transit for you," She said, turning her face across the courtroom. Scrimgeour was still standing rigidly by the pillar, watching their huddle. "Rufus, could you step over here for a moment, please?"

Scrimgeour walked over to join them, his dark robes billowing behind his boots in a smooth glide that was not much unlike Severus Snape’s classroom stride, "Madam?"

"Take these two teenagers straight back to park where Mr. Morningstar was apprehended, would you?" Amelia instructed him.

"Of course," Scrimgeour said in the most unenthusiastic, raspy voice he could possibly muster. He held out his arms. "Grab hold tightly."

Lucifer and Hermione each firmly grabbed onto one of his forearms. With a sudden violent ’crack,’ the courtroom vanished, and they were instantly ’Apparated’ straight back to the snowy park clearing, which was void of Muggles due to the earlier memory modifications.

Scrimgeour then Disapparated away into the grey sky just as fast as they had arrived, leaving them alone on the path.

"Well, I guess the bloke didn’t want to stay with us for a cup of hot tea," Lucifer joked dryly, adjusting his winter jacket.

Hermione immediately slapped him sharply on the arm, her chest heaving as the residual stress broke, "How can you possibly find the nerve to joke again, Lucifer Morningstar?! Your entire ’future’ at Hogwarts was almost ruined in corrupt, unfair Ministry trial!"

He just casually shrugged his broad shoulders. "Hey, Hermione..."

"W-what?!"

Hermione’s cheeks became a noticeable shade of red. Even though the freezing winter wind was howling through bare trees around them, they hadn’t been back in cold air long enough for the climate to be the cause of her blush.

"I wasn’t joking earlier in front of the court. I am entirely in love with you."

Her face fell into a quiet, stunned thought for a long moment as the words registered against her skin. It was a solid three minutes of silence before she finally looked back up into his handsome face.

Without a word, the bushy-haired girl wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, pulling face down to bring their lips together in a loving passion that felt amplified by close call of trial.

They separated a beautiful moment later, their breaths fogging together in the dusk, "Come on, let’s go straight back home," She murmured, her hand sliding down to securely lock her fingers through his, "Mum must be wondering where we vanished to."

"Probably, yeah," Lucifer smirked down at her, "Obviously, we leave this incursion out of our explanation for what we did this afternoon."

"Obviously," Hermione grinned widely back up at him before pulling his hand, leading way back toward the gravel driveway.

Despite the terrifying events that had just transpired under the Ministry torches, she felt as though nothing in this universe could put damper on her current feelings of elation.

xxxxxxx

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