Chapter 11: The Trial and Escape

Jasmine let out a yawn as she woke up in her bed and sighed. She didn't really feel like getting a shower on her own and wished that Parvati was here.

But she also knew why the castle was practically empty with the attacks that had happened. Two students, one cat, and the ghost, it was easy to see why no one wanted to stay here.

Jasmine knew that Hermione and the Weasley had only stayed here because she had no option but to stay here. But she wasn't sure why Draco and his two goons had stayed at Hogwarts.

And although both her and Hermione were pretty sure that Draco wasn't involved, she was suspicious of why he had stayed at Hogwarts. Jasmine sat up and removed the collar from around her neck, and stuffed it back under her pillow.

Rolling out of bed, Jasmine grabbed jeans, a top and a jacket and got dressed before ripping some paper from her notebook and writing a note for Hermione.

Checking that she had her invisibility cloak and map. Jasmine left the note on Hermione's bedside table and left the dorm room, and entered the common room and left the house.

Jasmine loved to explore, and Hogwarts was massive. Just walking from the Gryffindor tower to the great hall took over 10 minutes. Not to mention there were tons of unused rooms and secret passages to explore.

Jasmine didn't plan on going to breakfast today. She didn't want to have to put up with Malfoy. And she also knew that Hermione would want to know how her date had gone and who it was with.

A part of Jasmine was scared to tell her that she had gone on a date with a Slytherin and that it was a girl she had a date with. Jasmine was pretty sure that Hermione wouldn't care, but a small voice whispered to Jasmine that Hermione would hate her.

So if she could put it off, then she would until she thought of a good way to tell Hermione.

With nothing to do, Jasmine decided to go looking for the kitchens as she had heard the twins talking about it being under the great hall.

So the entrance was no doubt in the basement layer of Hogwarts. For a moment, Jasmine was tempted to try looking at the Murader's map before she stopped herself.

It would ruin the adventure if she just looked at the map. With a goal in mind, Jasmine made her way to the ground floor and took one of the many entrances into the basement.

She wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for. Many of the secret passages were hidden by paintings or statues that needed passwords, and some even needed spells cast on them before they would open.

As she walked along the hallways, she kept her eyes out for any portraits that would be big enough to hide a door. The closest thing that she found was a pile of barrels that she couldn't move at the end of a hallway.

The barrels were no doubt odd, but Jasmine didn't have any way of finding out what was odd about them other than she couldn't move them.

Jasmine realised she hadn't really thought her exploration out very well, given she didn't know any charms to help her find hidden things. She would need to ask Hermione or Professor Flitwick about charms that could help her.

Or maybe Daphne could help her. After all, she had helped her when it came to learning some basic duelling spells. But there was also the chance that Daphne wouldn't know any charms to help find secret passages.

"Jasmine?" a voice called out that she recognised as Daphne.

"Hey, Daphne," Jasmine said, turning around.

Jasmine wasn't surprised to see that Tracey was with Daphne.

However, what did surprise her was that Tracey was dressed as a maid in a black and white dress and apron. Jasmine couldn't help but stare at Tracey.

She didn't look worried about anyone seeing her. She just stood quitely behind her mistress, looking completely relaxed and quite happy to do so.

"It's rude to stare, Jasmine," Daphne admonished.

Jasmine found herself blushing and looking away quickly.

"Sorry, good morning Tracey," Jasmine greeted, and the girl just gave her a smile.

"I am going to get breakfast. Would you like to join me?" Daphne asked.

"In the great hall?" Jasmine asked, shooting another look at Tracey.

"No, I don't want to have to put up with Malfoy hitting on me," Daphne said, looking disgusted with the prospect.

"Right; other than you two, there is only Draco and his two trolls," Jasmine said, smirking.

" Trolls are smarter than those two. So breakfast?" Daphne asked.

"Yes, breakfast sounds nice," Jasmine agreed as she felt her belly rumble quietly.

"Good," Daphne said, reaching out and taking Jasmine's hand and leading her down the winding corridors.

Jasmine blushed slightly as she held Daphne's hand but found herself smiling.

"Is there some secret way to know where you are down here?" Jasmine asked, already feeling lost.

"The artwork mainly. Most first years get lost coming and going from the common room for the first month or so," Daphne said.

"The first month?" Jasmine said, shocked.

"Is it not the same for your common room? Come to think of it, I have yet to go to visit your common room or bedroom. Seems a bit unfair, given you have been to mine?" Daphne said, looking at Jasmine.

"I don't have a private room, so you may have to use my invisibility cloak the entire time," Jasmine said, looking worried that Daphne would be offended.

"Didn't you tell Hermione about us going on a date?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I did... I just didn't say who it was with," Jasmine said, trailing off quitely.

Daphne just raised her eyebrow again, no doubt looking for an explanation.

"Hermione would have spent ten or fifteen minutes asking questions, and I was in a rush to meet you," Jasmine said

"I see," Daphne said, opening a door Jasmine recognised as the room where they practised duelling.

"You eat breakfast here?" Jasmine asked, surprised.

"The kitchen is a 40-second walk from here. It's the painting with fruit in a bowl." Daphne said, walking over to a table that looked just big enough for all three of them to have breakfast at.

"If you tell Tracey what you want for breakfast, she will go tell the house elves our order," Daphne said, sitting down.

"Err can I have pouched eggs on toast, please," Jasmine asked Tracey.

"Of course, im sure the house elves won't mind. I shall be back in a few minutes, mistress," Tracey said, sending a warm smile to Daphne, who smiled back at her.

Jasmine watched her leave the room before she turned to Daphne and walked over to the table.

"Is it okay for her to be walking around dressed as a maid?"

"Of course, why wouldn't it be?" Daphne asked, confused.

"Isn't it a secret about her being a slave?"

"Secret? Who said it was a secret? All the staff know that Tracey is a slave, and most of the smarter students in our house know." Daphne said, not looking as if she cared about people knowing.

Jasmine was left unsure of what to say, and the room feel silent.

"Would you be able to teach me any more spells?" Jasmine asked.

"Duelling spells?"

"Ya, I was looking for secret rooms before I met you, but I'm not really sure how to find them," Jasmine said, blushing.

"I can teach you a basic revealing spell, but if you want more than that, you will need to ask Professor Flitwick. I can also teach you one or two new duelling spells if you want," Daphne offered.

"Yes, please," Jasmine said happily.

The door opened, and Jasmine found her wand slipping into her hand. Jasmine looked at the door before putting her wand away when she saw that it was Tracey.

Jasmine watched as she walked over to the table and thought she looked cute dressed as a maid. Jasmine found herself wondering how often Tracey dressed up as a maid and if she wore any other costumes.

She remembered that she saw Daphne looking through costumes at Astolfo's store.

"The food will be ready in a few minutes, mistress," Tracey said.

"Thank you," Daphne said, gesturing to the seat next to her, which Tracey took.

"How long have you been learning to duel, Tracey?" Jasmine asked, remembering how good she was at duelling.

"It wasn't long after I became Daphne's slave, so maybe 5 years now?" Tracey said.

"5 years ago, how did you have a wand?" Jasmine asked, confused.

"There isn't a law saying you need to be 11 to buy a wand. Most parents wait until you start Hogwarts before buying their kid a wand, or they will let you use a family wand from ancestors."

"So you both had wands before Hogwarts?" Jasmine asked, looking at the both of them.

"Yes, but we only did very basic spells. It was the year before we started Hogwarts we learned useful spells for if we were attacked. Im sure Susan was the same," Tracey said.

"Best not tell Hermione, or she would be angry that some people got a head start," Jasmine said, knowing how annoyed the girl would be.

"It wouldn't be safe for muggleborns to use magic without supervision. It's why students can't use magic over the summer, or at least the muggleborns can't," Daphne said.

Jasmine raised her eyebrow at that. She knew she was allowed to use magic at the Weasleys as no muggles lived in the house, but she always thought it was more of a snub towards muggleborns.

"If you come from a magical family, then there is a fully trained witch or wizard to watch over their kids. If something goes wrong, then they can fix it or get them to hospital via the floo or apperation muggle parents can't," Tracey explained.

"There is nothing stopping Hermione from hiring a tutor to teach her over the summer. As long as she does, then she can use magic with her parent's watching her," Daphne added.

"Can anyone get a tutor?" Jasmine asked.

"If you can pay for one, yes, but once they are teaching school-level magic, they need a certification, so they are too expensive for most normal families," Tracey said.

"Can't you just hire them for one day if you wanted to show your parents what you learned?" Jasmine asked, wondering if it was an option for Hermione.

She could imagine how disappointed Hermione's parents must be to not see the magic that their daughter is learning. At least they didn't have to pay to go to Hogwarts, or she was sure many muggle parents wouldn't send their children.

"No, they usually want hiring for the entire month. It usually costs around 400 Galleon per month, which is about £2000, something most parents won't pay."

POP!

Jasmine jumped at the loud noise before she recognised it as the sound that house elf Dobby made when he had visited her at her Aunt and Uncle.

The house elf placed the plates on the table. "Will that be everything?"

"Yes, thank you," Tracey said, smiling at the house-elf, who vanished with another pop.

"Never going to get used to that," Jasmine said, looking around to ensure they were alone.

"They are not that. If it wasn't due to him delivering food, then he wouldn't have popped into the room," Daphne said as she cut up her scrambled eggs on toast.

"It's still creepy to know they could just pop up out of nowhere," Jasmine said as she cut up her pouched eggs on toast.

"Have you ever seen a house elf to pop into a room other than just now?" Tracey asked.

"No, but invisibility is easy to do," Jasmine said, cutting the pouched eggs open and smiling, seeing the yolk was still runny.

"Says the girl with an invisibility cloak," Daphne said, rolling her eyes.

"Im sure you can afford one," Jasmine said back as she ate her breakfast.

"Not worth the money. It's not like people keep them in the back room they need to be specially ordered. It's much easier to learn the disillusionment charm," Daphne said.

The group fell quiet as they ate breakfast. After finishing breakfast, Tracey stood up and collected the plates.

"Will you be practising with us, Tracey?" Jasmine asked.

"Practice?" Tracey asked, confused as Jasmine remembered that she wasn't here when Daphne offered.

"Im going to teach Jasmine some new spells, but you already know them," Daphne said to Tracey.

"Do you need me to stay, Mistress?" Tracey asked, looking at Daphne.

"Not if you don't want to," Daphne said, pulling out her wand.

"Then I shall see you back at the room, Mistress," Tracey said with a bow and left the room.

"Right, we will start with the duelling spells and then go onto the revealing charm as I need to set some stuff up," Daphne said.

"Okay," Jasmine said, following Daphne to the area of the room that had training dummies.

We can use the dummies for two of them, and for the 3rd, we will need to cast on each other," Daphne said.

"The first one is a charm. We will learn next year, but you should be able to do it now. It's called the Carpe Retractum charm, and it's a modified version of the summoning charm." Daphne explained.

Jasmine nodded. Even if it was the first time that she had heard of the summoning charm, she could work out what it did via its name.

"The incantation is Carpe Retractum, and you jab your wand at what you want to pull towards you, and you can even tug back quickly if you want more force in the pull. Like so."

Daphne turned around and jabbed her wand at the dummy before saying the incantation. A glowing orange energy trail shot out of Daphne's wand and wrapped around the dummy.

With a tug of her wand, the dummy flew toward them before crashing to the ground.

"You turn," Daphne said, standing to the side for Jasmine.

Jasmine walked up to where Daphne was just standing and watched as the dummy got back up and rolled to where it was initially.

Jasmine stabbed her wand at the dummy and said, "Carpe Retractum," only for nothing to happen.

Jasmine felt her face getting hot, and she could feel Daphne's gaze on her, and she felt the urge to run from the room in embarrassment.

"Close your eyes," Daphne said to the side of her.

Jasmine followed what Daphne said and closed her eyes.

"Never forget that magic comes down to intent and will. You have to know what you want to happen and actually want it to happen," Daphne explained.

"Now I want you to picture the dummy in your mind and then imagine what I did happening," Daphne said before falling quiet to allow her to do so without distraction.

"Right, open them and try again," Daphne said a minute later.

Jasmine opened her eyes, looked at the dummy again, and played the image in her mind before casting the charm again.

This time, a glowing orange trail shot out of her wand and entangled the dummy before she gave it a hefty tug, sending it flying at them both.

Jasmine took a setback as it got closer to them before Daphne cast a bright red spell at it that made the dummy explode. The spell didn't stop and carried on through the air, hitting the wall and creating a hole in the rock wall.

Jasmine swallowed nervously at the damage that Daphne's spell had done. She knew magic could be dangerous. One of the first charms they were taught was the Severing charm, used to cut things, and people weren't an exception.

But Jasmine was sure Daphne's spell would pierce right through people easily. At the very least, the dummy and the wall didn't fare well.

"That was very well done for your second go," Daphne said encouragingly to Jasmine.

"Thank you," Jasmine said, blushing and feeling her heart beating at Daphne's praise.

"Right, the next spell is one of the most used spells in duelling and for a good reason. The Stunning Charm does precisely what it says. It stuns people rendering them unconscious," Daphne explained.

"So tell me, what is the intent you will be thinking of and want to happen when you use the charm?" Daphne asked Jasmine, catching her off guard.

"That I want them unconscious?" Jasmine said hesitantly.

"Correct, that is the intent of the spell and what you want to happen. Now let me show you the charm, and then you can have a try," Daphne said, turning to the dummy.

"Stupefy!" Daphne called out, and a shot of red magic erupted from her wand and whizzed across the room incredibly fast before hitting the dummy, sending it back a little for the force of the magic.

"Now, of course, the dummy can't be stunned, but it should work as long as you get that result. Maybe we can try with Tracey when we get back to the room," Daphne said, waving Jasmine up.

Jasmine stepped up and took a moment to focus herself before she cast the stunning charm, and the same red shot of magic shot out of the tip of her wand and zoomed across the room.

It was just as fast as Daphne's, maybe even a bit faster, as it struck the dummy sending it rolling back.

"Good job," Daphne said, looking at the dummy. "Practice the two spells while I set up for the revealing charm," Daphne said, walking over to the table.

Jasmine returned to the dummy and started practising the two spells as she thought about how she could use them with the ones she already knew.

Was there any point in using the seize and pull charm with the Flipendo charm? By the end, Jasmine had gotten the hand of using the first charm to pull the dummy towards her before she hit it with the stunning charm.

"They both look really good," Daphne said from behind her, causing Jasmine to jump.

"I have everything set up for the revealing charm if you want to give that a go?" Daphne asked.

"Sure," Jasmine said, following Daphne over to the table.

Ministry of Magic

Court Room 1

"Order! Order!" Cornelius Fudge called out.

The courtroom slowly fell silent. The courtroom was split into two sides. On one half was the Wizmagot Wizengamot, who was sat on a raised section looking down at the rest of the court.

The Minister of Magic sat directly in the centre of the raised section. And then the Wizengamot was sitting on either side of him. To the public, it may look like the Wizengamot just sat how they wanted, but it was actually broken into three political factions.

The Dark, the Grey and the Light.

Each one had its own views and aims. The Light wanted to see progress and more integration into the muggle world. The Dark wanted the wizarding world to stick to their roots and stay away from the none magical world.

The Grey was placed in the middle allowing that some things needed to change while wanting other core parts of their heritage to stay the same.

The Wizengamot was made up of 50 people in total. 11 of which came from the Ministry of Magic, with most being the heads of departments.

7 seats when to people with Order of Merlin 2nd class or above.

The last 32 seats went to lords of houses that were at least Ancient and Noble houses.

Ancient houses were all at least 1000 years old, and Most Ancient houses needed to be over 2000 years old.

Noble houses required a set amount of money and even more for Most Noble status.

On the other side of the room were the public and press galleries. It was a section of the court that was rarely used as most cases didn't require the entire Wizengamot to prosecute.

Very few crimes required the full Wizengamot to be in attendance, things like murder and severe and deliberate breaches of the Statute of Secrecy and crimes of that nature.

In the centre of the room, there was a hole in the floor, and a cage floated into view, holding the accused. The moment that Peter Pettigrew came into view, the room fell silent.

All the eyes in the room were fixed on the disgusting-looking man. His skin was grubby looking, with large patches of dead skin peeling off. Small watery eyes, a pointed nose and mouse brown hair that had thinned and was full of grease with a large bald spot on the man's head.

"Peter Pettigrew, you have been brought here to be sentenced. You have already admitted to aiding He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in finding the Potters, who you were the secret keeper for," The Minister of Magic announced to the courtroom.

Almost immediately, the court's public section busts into noise as they swear and condemn Pettigrew. The press just continued taking pictures of Pettigrew in the cage surrounded by spikes.

"You are charged with two accounts of accessory to murder for Lord James Potter and Lady Lilly Potter and one charge of conspiracy of accessory to murder for Heiress Jasmine Potter."

The minister of magic waited to see if Pettigrew had anything to say about the charges. Once it was clear that he had nothing to say, the Minister of Magic continued.

"You are further charged with 12 counts of murder of the muggles on Cross Street, Obstruction of Justice in the case of Lord Sirius Black and being an illegal Animagus."

"Given that you have already admitted your guilt, we will proceed to sentencing. The court suggests life in Azkaban and calls a vote."

All for please light your wand tips and raise your wands," the Minster of Magic said, giving everyone time to do so.

Almost all of the wands of the Wizengamot were raised with the Lumos spell on the tips of the wands.

"That is a total of 50 votes for passing the sentence," The Minister of Magic said before turning to look at Peter Pettigrew.

"You shall be sent to Azkaban and remain there for the rest of your natural life with wards to stop you from tuning into the rat that you seemed to be," the Minister of Magic said and waved the guards to send him back to the cells.

As quick as lightning, two scarlet magic bolts hit the guards outside Peter Pettigrew's cell, with them both collapsing silently.

A clocked man walked up to the cell and looked down at Pettigrew, huddled on the mattress on the floor.

"Get up!" the robbed man said.

"Please don't. I haven't said anything about anyone," Peter begged the robbed man.

"Shut up! Crucio!" the robed man said as a blood-red spell hit Peter, making him scream in pain and writhe on the floor.

"It's your fault that the Dark Lord met his demise. You led him to the Potters, and now you must be punished," the robbed man raised his wand.

"Avada!" the man began the incantation for the killing curse.

"Wait, the Dark lord isn't dead!" Peter shouted as a foul-smelling liquid pooled under his legs.

The robbed man hesitated for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"When I was hiding with the Weasley boy Jasmine fought against the wraith of the Dark Lord as he tried to get the Philosopher's Stone," Peter shouted out quickly, seeing the robbed man had stopped the killing curse.

"So you say?" the robbed man said but didn't raise his wand.

"The Dark Lord broke into Gringotts. Who else but he could do so and leave no trace behind," Peter said desperately.

The robbed man fell quiet as he started pacing up and down before taking a look at the entrance. Seeming to make a decision, he pointed his wand at the two auror guards.

"Obliviate!" the robbed man said, wiping the memory of the two guards and snatching the wands of both of them.

"I shall let you go, and you will find the Dark Lord," the robbed man said, stepping into the cell and grabbing Petigrews arm.

The robbed man pulled Peter up and removed the cuffs on his wrists that would stop him from leaving the cell or turning into a rat.

"Take these wands. If you try and run, I will find you, and I shall make you wish you had gone to Azkaban," the man threatened before turning around and leaving Peter.

Peter looked around before stashing the two wands in his robes and turning into a rat, and scurrying away as fast as he could.