[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV
Ministry of Magic.
...
...
Severus stood still for a while without saying anything at the defendant's bench, while he watched the men crowd into their seats. He couldn't help but notice eyes very close to him — Hogwarts professors still looked at him as if he were some kind of enigma, one they had never seen before. Severus couldn't blame his former colleagues for such thoughts, after everything that had happened.
Among those familiar faces, he also noticed the peculiar gazes of Euphemia Potter and Fleamont Potter — perhaps because their son, James Potter, had spoken about having suffered because of him at Hogwarts in their last year, probably without mentioning how he himself had been the target of all the Marauders years before. Not that it mattered.
There were also some people from the previous year's seventh year, who certainly hadn't joined the Death Eaters but who had been victims of Severus — or, at least, knew some whom he had killed or who had been beaten at school. They looked at him with fear and anger, and would do anything to try to incriminate him. But he doubted that would happen.
Other students from earlier years looked at Severus remembering that bullied and antisocial boy who had lived with a book under his once enormous nose; the transformation had left them quite disturbed.
Then, some time later, the people at the main bench finally entered. They had probably discussed everything he had told Vicência at her Prince mansion.
"Well, let's begin," announced Vicência, as everyone was already settled.
Severus did not fail to look at Esteve Vujin, who was still staring at him with a small smile, silently mouthing words like "good luck."
"Now, first, let's talk about Voldemort before we continue," announced Vicência, and everyone fell silent. Certainly, Severus's actions in defeating him in front of the Ministry, and later killing him sometime after in Azkaban, were somewhat confusing. They wanted to understand.
At least, most didn't understand — they didn't know about the Horcruxes, except for Severus himself, Dumbledore, and Rosária, who was also involved with Severus in the search for the Horcruxes. No one knew his true intentions.
Severus then began to explain that he had captured a snake that was linked to Voldemort and discovered that there was a piece of his master's soul in it. When he summoned it with his powers, he realized it was only a part — a fragment of Voldemort's soul, but several pieces were in other places — and then he was questioned about it by one of the specialists on the subject.
Severus ended up sparing Slughorn from a scandal, since it had been he who had given the hints that led Voldemort to seek eternal life. It would have been terrible, perhaps the greatest secret of Hogwarts's Potions professor. Severus kept that to himself, and he could see Slughorn sighing, even with his hands trembling slightly when he spoke of that detail, yet never mentioning names. Slughorn was relieved that Severus had not condemned him.
He owed the professor a great deal, so he would never do such a thing to him.
In any case, the name "Horcrux" was quickly mentioned by everyone, along with questions. No one knew exactly what it was; Severus knew after reading a specific book about the darkest kinds of magic.
Then Severus explained what it was: fragments of the soul that, when the body dies, prevent the soul from crossing to the other side. Voldemort had used this as an "anchor" to bind himself to this world — so that he could be resurrected when his body was destroyed.
After that, he had his battle against Voldemort. He didn't kill him immediately because he didn't know what might happen and didn't want to take the risk. So he only damaged the Dark Wizard's body, rendering it useless, and also cast a set of magical runes that prevented him from committing suicide, in case he tried to destroy his own body to escape with the main soul.
Severus wanted him to remain in Azkaban, where he would no longer pose any danger. After that, he went after all the Horcruxes.
Thanks to the shadow he had summoned, he managed to discover every location where each of the fragments was hidden. With that, Severus found them one by one.
When he finished the last one, there was no longer any reason to keep Voldemort alive. He was too dangerous and possessed enough knowledge to inspire new Dark Wizards to arise with that rotten idea of "blood purity." Severus made it very clear that it was nonsense — something that would only lead to the destruction of their own world, with Muggles eventually rebelling against wizards.
In the end, the conversation extended for two hours since they had restarted, dealing only with Voldemort. The questions kept expanding, and Severus had no hesitation in saying that he himself had killed the Dark Lord.
"What do you intend to do with the Dark Lord now that he has become your servant?" asked a man.
"I will use him to protect this world from the war that is to come," replied Severus.
"And what guarantees that you won't want to dominate us in the future? Many here believe you won't, but you have too much power," said Miss Longbottom, mother of Frank Longbottom.
"I do not intend to remain in this world if I am no longer needed here, Lady Longbottom," replied Severus, leaving the people surprised and uneasy. Certainly, they were not at all comfortable with the idea that other worlds existed — even more so knowing that creatures from them could destroy them, according to Severus's words.
"This gives us grounds to talk about everything that was declared before. We would like to ask you some questions, Severus Prince," said Vicência from the top of the main bench.
"Of course, Lady Vicência. I understand your doubts. You may question me. I will do my best to answer and clarify them," said Severus in a cordial tone.
New questions, and even some repeated ones, arose: they wanted to know about him, about his past life, whether he was Morou or Severus Snape. Accusations about his time at Hogwarts surfaced — some shouted that he was a cold-blooded murderer, that he shouldn't be part of society after eliminating so many Dark Wizards. Others defended him, including Dumbledore, surprising as that might have seemed.
Severus remained at the center of the bench, listening to people shouting at each other while Vicência tried to maintain order.
'Will this never end?' he thought.
He knew it was good to go through with it, since people were increasingly uneasy about his presence in the wizarding world after what he had done to Voldemort and his followers. That was why he wanted to settle everything in that courtroom. He didn't want to leave the wizarding world in panic — or at least tried to comfort them a little.
But it was all quite tedious, and Severus honestly didn't care whether they condemned him as a villain or glorified him as a hero. His expression showed boredom and more serious concerns than the opinion of the wizarding world.
He didn't mind becoming everyone's enemy — and he would live without caring if he was being watched, only fighting those who dared to confront him or harm his companions... certainly, the people there knew that very well.
Five hours had passed. It was already late afternoon, and the journalists kept sending new reports to their editors the entire time, in order to publish more newspapers.
There were at least five of them: The Quibbler, The Daily Prophet, and three others — some as famous as The Quibbler, others even worse. After all, The Daily Prophet dominated the stands.
"Well, I think we should start announcing the result," said Vicência. "Would anyone like to speak about Severus Prince?"
A hand immediately rose. "Let me say a few things."
All eyes turned to Steve Vujin. No one dared to interfere, knowing that this investigator could uncover everything about their lives if they took him as an enemy — and even pass that information to their rivals.
"I want to say that, regardless of people seeing Severus as a murderer, a terrible monster who uses dark magic or necromancy, it was he who solved a growing problem in Great Britain in recent years. Severus Prince may have killed, in total, more than three hundred people. However, he spared thousands of innocents who would have suffered. Students who could have died in Hogsmeade, tortured by Dark Wizards; the spiders that killed a student and could have killed more; the werewolves and Dark Wizards who were invading the Muggle city, slaughtering innocent people as if they were cattle."
"Or even when he destroyed Voldemort's organization, slaughtering them before they became too dangerous — to the point that we no longer mourned the deaths of Dark Wizards, but rather the corpses of innocent Muggles and Muggle-borns, simply because they hadn't been lucky enough to be born pure-blood. After all, no one chooses how they're born, do they?"
He spoke, leaving the place in complete silence.
"Regardless of what is decided today, to me, Severus Prince was a hero. No matter how much dark magic may be involved, he still chose to fight and protect others from evil people. It is not dark magic that defines who he is, but his character. I hope everyone remembers that."
With that, he ended his speech, while whispers began to rise throughout the room.
"Do you still feel comfortable with someone who has killed more than three hundred people? His soul must be in shambles by now!" someone shouted.
"But he saved thousands of people too, you fool!" another retorted.
"Well, even after Severus simply defeated the most powerful Dark Wizard of our time, along with his followers, all by himself… He saved ten times more. I don't think his soul is scarred," said Dumbledore.
His uncle, Alaric Prince, raised his hand at that moment. "I know that my grandson, Severus Prince, is about to revolutionize the potion industry. His idea is to make potions cheaper so that people can more easily buy them. In addition, he gave me two vials of new potions."
Alaric took them and placed the vials on the table. "One is for people who suffer from the werewolf curse — lycanthropy — its name is Dog-Killer Potion. And the other is an antidote for dragon pox — a formula even gentler and easier to produce, capable of saving lives of all ages!"
He announced this, shocking everyone, while Severus merely arched an eyebrow. He had given those potions, along with their recipes, to his uncle a few days earlier — but he hadn't imagined Alaric would use them in his favor at the trial.
That certainly caused a stir, as people seemed pleased to hear it, earning him more positive votes and changing many opinions at that moment. Severus might be a killer, but if he truly brought benefits to the wizarding world… could they really call him a monster? Hadn't he only killed evil people?
"Order! Order!" Vicência began banging the gavel once again. "Well… Lord Prince, do you have anything else to add?" she asked.
Severus was suddenly looking to the side, but he didn't seem to be looking at anyone in the audience. "Lord Prince, do you have anything else to add?" Vicência repeated in a louder tone.
Severus seemed not to care, until he began slowly turning his head toward her.
"Listen, Lady Santos… do you remember what I said at lunch at the Prince mansion?" he asked.
Vicência frowned. There were so many things he had said, but one specific remark quickly came to mind.
"No…" she murmured.
"I must go. Things are really tense in that realm," said Severus.
Before she could do anything, he disappeared — leaving only a shadow in his place, which quickly sank into the floor and vanished, while those present stood stunned, wondering what had just happened.
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