Death by Innocence

Alex stared at her for a minute. Why did everyone keep telling her not to freak out when she saw her mother? Would it just be emotional to be reunited? She figured she would just wait to find out on the day of the hearing.

She and Sirius both had said the hearing was on the 16th…that was three days from then…damn…

Alex and Helena made their way back to their room to go to bed. It had been a wild few days, and they both needed their rest.

Today was the day…the day of the month of which Alex would finally get to see her parents again. They, Helena and Alex, both had to go to see Dumbledore before they left.

Afterwards, Mr. Weasley offered to take them there and they agreed.

Dumbledore would meet them there and show them where to go.

Alex dressed in a knee length black skirt and a white, short sleeved blouse. She put her hair up in a bun, just for the satisfaction of looking professional. Helena put on a pair of brown slacks and a black blouse. She just let her hair flow down her back.

They both waited in the common room. It was a Friday, and everyone else had classes. At around lunch time, Neville, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny came charging into the common room.

“You two were going to leave without even saying goodbye?” asked Harry.

“Oh, no! We were hoping you would come down and see us before Mr. Weasley got here!” shouted Alex, popping up from the sofa.

“That’s good to know,” murmured Neville.

Alex hugged Harry tight and said, “there, are you happy now?”

“Yup,” he chuckled.

Alex then hugged Ginny and Hermione.

“Don’t forget to tell us every detail when you come back,” said Hermione.

“We promise,” sang Helena.

Then Alex turned and looked at Neville. He was biting his lower lip and staring nervously at the ground. She skipped over to him and leant forward a little, on the balls of her feet.

“Whats a matter?” she asked sounding like an overexcited five year old.

“Nothing,” he sighed.

“Are you goooonna miss us?”

“More than you could know.”

Alex wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her. She kissed his cheek, leaving him blushing as red as a beet. Alex nudged his nose with hers and said, “remember that.”

She turned and walked back over to Helena. Nothing but a millisecond later, Mr. Weasley came strutting into the room.

“Hullo!!” everyone said happily.

“Hello, dad,” said Ginny.

“Hello, hello. Are you girls ready to go? I have to stop by home to get a few things so I came a little early.”

Helena looked at her wrist.

“Actually, you’re late.”

Mr. Weasley’s cheeks grew red and he looked around for something to distract him.

“Well, we best be on our way.”

As he marched to the door, Helena and Alex stopped and hugged everyone again. It was going to be very different not having them there with them.

Alex had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t even realized that they were at the Weasley’s home already.

“Just stay here for a minute girls, I just have to go grab something from the den.”

When he disappeared around the corner, Helena turned and looked at Alex.

“Are you nervous?” she asked her.

“No, I mean, not really. Well…I’m not to sure.”

“I’m not. It’s just a trial.”

“But what if we lose the trial?”

Helena hadn’t thought of that.

“I don’t know…you never know, we might win.”

“With Fudge in charge it’s a given that you’ll never win.”

Helena was about to respond when Mr. Weasley walked in and said, “I’m ready. And I have something to tell you.”

They both looked at him.

“We have to get there the muggle way.”

The place was huge! Alex was amazed by it. Helena on the other hand just wanted in and out.

Alex was so excited to see her parents that her stomach hurt. A small, dwarf like creature led them off in the right direction.

Mr. Weasley looked at his watch.

“We’re late!” he shouted.

They began rushing the little dwarf along and finally they reached their destination. Alex burst through the doors.

“With a…” Fudge had been saying.

The whole room turned and looked at her. Just about everyone from Azkaban was there. Helena took Alex’s arm and slowly led her in. Mr. Weasley was instructed to stay outside, no matter how much he protested.

“Glad you could join us Ms. Dussle, Ms. Brooks.”

Alex nodded as did Helena.

Alex looked around the room, searching for her parents. She saw them sitting on a bench near Fudge. Alex tilted her head to the side and tried to see what was wrong with her mothers’ stomach. Her mother had tears in her eyes.

Sophie, her mother, looked up at her and a huge smile spread across her face. She waved Alex over with her hand. Alex sauntered over there, not caring that hundreds of people were staring at her.

Sophie engulfed Alex in a big bear hug.

“Oh, Alex dear, how we’ve missed you!”

That’s when she realized what everyone had been talking about.

“Mum, have you gained weight?”

Sophie turned and looked at Blake, Alex’s father, and he nodded at her.

“Well, dear, before we were put in Azkaban, I found out I was…pregnant.”

Alex stared at her for a minute…trying to comprehend that…but before she could say anything, Fudge interrupted.

“As I was saying, Mr. and Mrs. Dussle are here for the accused murder of Petunia Hawthorne.”

Fudge looked at Alex and Helena and motioned them over. He looked through a stack of papers and finally found one.

“Ah, here we are,” he said.

He handed them to Alex, and gave her a quill.

“Just sign your names right at the bottom.”

“Here?”

“Yes.”

“On the line?”

“Yes on the line.”

“The dotted line or the solid one?”

“The solid one.”

“The-

“Just sign the papers!”

Ok, ok.”

Alex leaned over and wrote her name on the line, and then Helena took the quill and signed hers. They handed it back up to Fudge.

He briefly skimmed them over and then put them back where they came from.

“Continuing,” he said pointing to two chairs behind a long table, “you all know why you’re here. And you two…”

He trailed off and looked at Alex and Helena.

“Ms. Dussle, please come up to the stand,” he said.

“Me?” she asked timidly.

“No, the other Ms. Alexia Anne-Dane Martin Dussle. Yes you.”

Slowly, Alex stood up and made her way to the front of the room. She got up to a stand and sat down. Fudge turned to her.

“You’re 15 years old?”

She nodded.

“You attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?”

“Yes sir.”

“Daughter to Blake Matthew Dussle and Sophie Annette Martin Dussle?”

“Correct.”

He scanned over some papers, looked at Alex over the rim of his glasses, then to her parents. He sighed deeply and looked back at Alex.

“They were accused of the murder of a professor from Hogwarts…what do you think about the all of it?”

“I think they are innocent.”

“Why?”

“Because they are good, trust worthy people. If they were in the order themselves, why would they kill one of their own comrades?”

“Money…Jealousy. or just pure unadulterated hatred.”

“But they would never do that to anyone…and I was will them for the whole summer! Not once did they leave me with out telling me…I knew about every order meeting there was. Not what they talked about of course, but just that fact that they had a meeting.”

“You never know nothing, young lady.”

“I know enough to say that my parents are innocent.”

“Apparently not. You have no good reason as to why you think the way you do.”

“I’m smarter than I look sir. I mean no disrespect, but if anyone here knows nothing, it’s you.”

The whole room gasped at Alex’s sudden outburst. Fudge glared at her and flipped over a paper.

“Have you ever wondered why you look nothing like your parents?” he asked out of the blue.

Alex put on a look of confusion, tilting her head to the side with an eyebrow cocked.

“No, I never really paid that much attention to it.”

Alex looked over to her mother and she had a look of fear, regret, playing on her delicate features. Alex’s heart began to beat faster. Where was he going with this?

“Have you ever thought about being…”

Before he could continue, Sophie stood up and shouted, “No! If anyone should tell her…it should be us…”

Alex stared at her, ruffling her brow, praying that she wouldn’t hear what she thought she was going to.

“Alex…Alexia…my baby girl…there’s been something we’ve been meaning to tell you…for…quite some time now…”

Alex had tears forming in her eyes.

“When your father and I first married, we wanted a child so bad, but I couldn’t conceive one of our own…Alex…we adopted you from a family that just couldn’t afford you…or…,” Sophie paused and cast a quick glance in Helena’s direction, so quick that Helena didn’t even notice.

“So wh-when we-were you-you planning o-on telling m-me?” she asked with tears running down her cheeks.

“We were going to a while back, but we never got a chance to.”

“So were you just going to keep it from me forever!?” she shouted, going into a fit of hysteria.

Sophie didn’t respond. Alex began to cry and fuss hysterically. Mr. Weasley came up to her and tried to calm her down. He told her to calm down and just get the trial over with so they could go.

Once she was relaxed, fudge began to ask her a question.

“Were your parents your heroes?”

“Yes…yes they were.”

“What do you think of…the heroes of the past…?”

“I don’t believe there were heroes of the past.”

Fudge snorted, taken aback.

“The heroes of our past saved us from certain death, young lady,” said Fudge to Alex. “They were perfect in everything they did. They gave a chance at life! If it weren’t for them you wouldn’t be here right now!”

Alex looked up at him, a tear falling from her eye. “Heroes are people, and people have flaws. There is no such thing as a perfect person, so there is no perfect hero.”

She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw her mother and father looking at her. She couldn’t pull herself to make eye contact with them. There was too much going through her head. They had kept half of her life from her. Were they ever going to tell her?

Her mother was pregnant with a baby. They seemed happy as larks, even when they knew the possibility of them being thrown back in Azkaban was very high. And the worst part of the day…Alex was adopted…