Don't Think I Can Fight This Anymore

To Whom it May Concern,

The trial for Miss Evelyn Finch will occur on December 18th, at 11 o’clock in Courtroom Three. She is being charged with the murder of known Death Eater Rodulphous Lestrange, and the court will decide if Miss Finch is a stable member of society, given her record. Her full military record will be reviewed as evidence. The events included are as follows :

The torture of an innocent, Mrs Dahlia Drawlish
The murder of Thomas Greene, Death Eater
The arson of Malfoy Manor
Attacks on three wizards under the influence of the imperious curse
Twenty-nine muggle-borns rescued and safely smuggled to France
Countless raids on muggle hunting parties
Three muggle children rescued in Manchester from fiendfyre

Any other evidence to be reviewed during the trial must be submitted before the end of the work day on December 17th to the Office of Magical Law Enforcement. Miss Hermione Granger will serve as defence of the accused.

-Earl Ferrins
Department of Magical Law Enforcement

“And believe me,” Hermione spat as George and Charlie scanned the memo together. “I had to fight him to have him include the good things in her file. This won’t be easy.”

“Who said it would be?” George asked.

“It should be!”

Hermione was all fired up, and Charlie finally got to see the terrifying side of her that his youngest brother had always talked about it.

“It’s open and shut self-defence! Stable member of society. Ferrins deserves the title unstable.”

“Why is he doing this?” Charlie asked.

“He was a coward, during the war.” Trip said quietly. “Stayed at his desk, got in line with the status quo. Believe me, I understand those who couldn’t stand up and fight. But in some people...well, he’s just a coward. The worst kind, too. Hates those who had the nerve to stand up and say no, especially people like us who voluntarily got involved. Voldemort didn’t have much of a presence in the Americas. A squad just like ours managed to take all of his followers in Canada out in about two weeks.”

“He wants to make an example out of Evelyn.” Ian said, not looking away from the river outside the window. “She’s Canadian, she had no business being here, unless she’s a bloodthirsty monster.”

“But she’s not.” Charlie insisted.

“We know that.” Hermione said kindly. “But that’s how Ferrins is going to make it look. He’ll use her military file, all the awful things she did under the command of people like Scriminor, to show everyone it’s not safe to have her just up and walking around. And then he’ll probably push for execution.”

The door opened and revealed a slightly surprised looking witch. “A Mr Finch is here?”

Ian’s brow furrowed as he turned around. “Send him in.”

A tall young man walked in. Charlie recognized him instantly, and not just from the photographs he had seen. He had his sister’s silky brown hair and the same pink bow lips. The same round face and pale skin. But his eyes were warm brown that seemed to take over the room..

Daniel.

Ian crossed the room. “Why are you here?”

“Well, who the hell did you expect?” Daniel snapped. “My father?”

“You shouldn’t take leave for this.”

“And you shouldn’t use military channels to send messages. You’re retired, remember?”

Ian sighed and shook his hand. “Alright. Have a seat.”

Daniel beamed around the room. “Hey, Trip. Oh, George! How’s the joke shop doing? Hermione.” He snatched her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Engaged now, I see. Ah, should have moved sooner. You’re as beautiful as ever. And this must be Charlie.”

Charlie stood and shook his hand, lost for words.

“I’ve been meaning to meet you.” Daniel said cheerfully, his smile growing impossibly wider. Then he sat down between Charlie and Hermione. “So, what are we doing? Breaking her out? Bribing the jury?”

“We’re building a case.”

Daniel sighed. “Boring.”

“Evelyn is refusing to testify.”

He rolled his eyes. “The contrary commando, as always.”

Trip snorted. “Forgot we used to call her that.”

Daniel reminded Charlie of Fred. The way he instigated and bounced off the walls, pronounced following the rules as boring. No wonder George spoke so highly of him. He wondered if George saw the similarity.

“Where is she?” Daniel asked. “Incase I do have to break her out?”

“She’s not in Azkaban, thank God.” Trip supplied after Ian turned away again. “They’ve got her locked up in the cells near the courtrooms at the Ministry. Everyone knows it was self defense, even if she did go after him. They’ll try to get her on insanity and war crimes.”

Charlie stopped listening, instead looking at Sherlock laying by his feet. Since Evelyn’s arrest two days before, he had been lethargic. He was staying at the Burrow, but Molly couldn’t convince him to eat anything, or chase the gnomes. He just sat by the kitchen door, waiting for Evelyn to walk through it. Occasionally, Charlie found himself doing that too. Or looking to the skies for an owl from her.

The only visitors Evelyn was allowed where Hermione and Ian. But from what they said, they weren’t much of visits. Evelyn barely spoke. She had shut herself down, and was refusing to defend herself at the trial. She thought she deserved to be locked up.

The only real statement they had gotten from her was when Ian had asked, “Were you looking to die?”

She had given him a signature glare. “I was prepared to. But I didn’t want to, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“Charlie.”

Charlie looked around at Ian. He was holding out a file. A photo of Evelyn in her military uniform was stapled to the front.

“I don’t want it.” He said instantly.

“Trust me.” Ian said softly. “The things they’ll talk about...it’ll be less of a shock, if you know before hand.”

“I need to go over the file with you, Forest.” Hermione said, opening her own copy. “I need documented information on everything she did in the war, and why she did it.”

“I’ll help.” Trip said, pushing away from the wall he was leaning against and walking over to sit across from her. “I was usually partnered with her for everything we had to do.”

“I should go let Syl know what’s going on.” George said, standing.

“She should not have gone after Lestrange by herself.” Hermione said, pulling a long piece of parchment next to her files. “They’re going to beat that to death. We need to make it clear that there was no time for her to wait the half hour it took for the aurors to get there.”

“Charlie, you mind taking me back to my sister’s apartment?” Daniel asked suddenly. “I can’t remember where it is.”

“She’s got all kinds of locks on it.” Charlie said, swallowing a dry throat. “No one’s been able to get in. You can stay at my parent’s place, like Sherlock. Come on.”

~*~

Molly was slightly surprised with the arrival of Daniel Finch, but she immediately set him up in Bill’s room and told him he was more than welcome to stay until Evelyn’s release. Charlie told everyone he was going to take a nap and locked himself in his room. He sat on the floor and slowly opened Evelyn’s file.

He had never believed her, when she said she had done horrible things. But she hadn’t lied, she hadn’t exaggerated. Was it different when she was under orders? He thought of the hard eyed woman who had rescued him. She seemed nothing like Evelyn. Not the Evelyn he knew.

But there was good in there too. There was the record of how she charged into a burning building to save muggle children. Attacks on Death Eater meetings and hunting parties. There was a list of people she had safely smuggled out of the country, where they had a chance of survival.

Charlie closed the file and left his room, trying to sort through all the information. What she had done in the past didn’t matter to him. Why should Ferrins care?

Daniel was sitting at the kitchen table and watching the light snowfall outside. He clutched a mug of tea in his hands.

“Your mother had to do some shopping.” He said, seeing Charlie enter the room. “She said she’d be back later.”

Charlie nodded and sat across from Daniel, then rubbed his eyes. Sherlock was watching the door again. The trial was too soon and yet too far away. Finally, he voiced what had been bothering him all day.

“Why won’t she defend herself?”

Daniel sighed, and thought for a moment. “Did she ever tell you why she doesn’t talk to our dad?”

Charlie frowned. “She said he’s career military and...he saw her discharge as a sign of weakness.”

“Well, it took her a good month of listening to him berate her before she actually left.” Daniel said grimly. “She moved back home for a bit after the discharge, Mom wanted her there. But Dad...he was awful to her. Finally I came home on leave and in the middle of dinner he just started shouting at her. I guess it had been like that every night but i wasn’t around to see it. He said terrible things. She was a coward, she had no place in the army if she was going to desert. Why couldn’t she be more like me and stay. Mom was silent, Evelyn was crying.”

Charlie tried to imagine Evelyn crying, and couldn’t.

“He lost two children that day.”

“What do you mean?”

Daniel scoffed. “You think I sat there and watched him yell and scream at my big sister and did nothing? My sister, a war hero, a dueling champion and a beauty queen, reduced to tears for the first time since she was six? Hell no. I got up and punched him in the jaw, then dragged Evelyn out myself. I convinced her to come back here, to England, that night. She was prepared to take it. Just like she is now. Thinking she deserves the worst because she did a bad thing to do a right.”

Charlie thought about the way Evelyn was always so guarded. Never telling him what she felt. Refusing to let herself be happy.

“The point I’m trying to make is, Evie’s worst enemy is herself. It’s the only thing she needs saving from. So no, she won’t defend herself at this trial. Hermione won’t just have to convince the jury that Evie is a good person - she’ll have to convince Evie too.”

Charlie nodded and studied his hands. Under the table, Daniel turned on the little pocket recorder he always carried with him. Getting Evelyn out of jail was only half the battle. He’d need something to convince her to put her life back on track.

Daniel nodded to the photo of Bill and Fleur outside Shell Cottage. “That’s a cute house.”

“My older brother’s place.” Charlie said, glancing at Fleur’s beautiful smile. “On the beach.”

Daniel sat back, relaxed. “My sister always loved the beach. Our aunt had a house in Florida, right on the water. We’d go there on vacation. Evie would get up in the middle of the night and disappear. Be no where in the house. Then you’d find her out walking in the tide, just staring at the horizon. She was a lunatic like that even when we were kids.”

Charlie laughed.

“You should take her sometime. To the beach.”

“Your sister broke up with me.” Charlie said, feeling the awful lump return to his throat. “I doubt she wants me to take her to the beach.”

“She loves you.”

“She doesn’t love me. She came for Lestrange, not me. You didn’t see her there. She wasn’t...she was the Second Lieutenant, not Evelyn.”

“Well, you love her.”

“Of course I love her.” Charlie said bitterly. He looked up at Daniel. “Look I know she’s your sister and all but...being with Evelyn is like finally finding the eye of the storm. She’s a natural disaster but you’d found the good and calm in the middle of that. She’s terrifying and enchanting and wonderful and she doesn’t care about me. But that’s okay. If she doesn’t love me, I don’t care. At least I got to stand in her rain. I’ve never loved anyone as much as I loved her and I’ll never love anyone this much again.”

Daniel was smiling slightly. “I knew the first time she talked about you.” He said. “Even then, she recognized it. You were the only one she could allow to love her.”

“She doesn’t - “

Daniel shook his head. “Right now, you’re hurt. She broke your heart to try to save you from Lestrange’s revenge. And it’s killing her that it didn’t work. But once everything calms down, you should talk. You’ve be surprised how much love she’s capable of, once she allows herself.”

Charlie didn’t have a response, but luckily his mother came home at that moment. Daniel jumped up to take the shopping from her, arguing that he most definitely would help prepare dinner. He nodded to her resigned directions, beginning to direct the chopping of vegetables.

“Have a good nap?” Molly asked, taking off her cloak as she kissed Charlie’s forehead.

He shrugged.

“You’ve got a lot on your mind.” She said sympathetically. “Why don’t you go draw for a bit before your siblings come home, that always helped you clear your head.”

~*~

“Hermione!” Ron called. “Where did you say you put the peanut butter?”

There was no answer, and Ron shuffled through the groceries in the cabinet. He was the one who had bought most of these - Hermione was the lethal combination of being a horrible cook and a workaholic. Ron tried to make a her a week’s worth of food every Sunday, beds of baked ziti or stockpots of soup, but sometimes it went uneaten.

He just wanted to make a sandwich, for Merlin’s sake. Where the hell was the peanut butter?

“Hermione!” He called again, now leaving the kitchen. “Where’s - “

But she had fallen asleep at her desk, face down on her books, notes spilling from her lap onto the floor. He bit back a smile and watched her for a moment. She worked too hard. Especially on this one. And it had been a rough week, too. Charlie kidnapped, the war officially ending with Lestrange, and then Evelyn.

He sighed and shook his fiance’s shoulder gently. “Hermione. Mione. Come to bed.”

She woke up with a start and flipped the page of the book she had been sleeping on. “No.”

“Hermione, the trial is in six hours.”

“Then that’s six hours to find something. Can you get me another coffee?”

“No.” he said firmly. “Even if you find what you’re looking for, you’re no use if you fall asleep.”

She sighed and shut the book, then exhaustedly rested her forehead on the book cover.

“Is it that bad?”

“She’s refusing to testify. To defend herself. It’s almost like she wants to be sent to Askaban.” Hermione looked like she might cry. “And I want to help her. And Charlie. It would break Charlie’s heat if...if…”

Ron firmly turned her around in her chair and grabbed her shoulders, kneeling down to look at her properly.

“They can’t lock her up, and they know it.” He told her. “And you know that. She’s got the best lawyer in the country.”

“Oh, shut up.” Hermione muttered.

“It’s like Forest keeps saying. They’re trying to make an example of her. You will get her out of this. The only question is if my idiot brother can convince her to come back.”