August [j.p]

040- With you, I serve

Only 20 minutes to sleep
But you dream of some epiphany
Just one single glimpse of relief
To make some sense of what you've seen
-
epiphany

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Relief flooded August as she sat down next to Adalet, but the trial was far from over.

"Will Odille Williams please come to the stand." Adalet called into the room.

Her mother, dressed to the nines, walked with the self-confidence of someone who never lost.

Odille Williams never lost, but today she would.

"What is your name?" Adalet had a look of steel in her eyes.

"Odille Flamel-Williams Gordjin."

"What is your relationship with my client?"

"I'm her mother."

"And what is your relationship with Maximillian Gordjin."

"He is my husband."

"Why does your daughter not share his surname?" Adalet rifled through her documents as she stood up in front of Odille, unflinching.

"He's not her real father. Her father abandoned us as soon as he could. He left me with a premature baby and a family who disowned me-"

"This is a narrative, you've answered the question." Adalet interrupted her, knowing that she could not bring the audience and the jury to take pity on a desperate mother.

"What age was Augustine when you married Maximillian?"

"She was four."

"And did your daughter ever raise any concerns about him to you?"

"Augustine loved Maximillian." Odille replied.

"The answer is not responsive to my questions. Did she raise any concerns about him?"

Her mother stared at Adalet with shameless hatred. No one ever made Odille speak when she didn't want to.

"Did Augustine Williams ever raise any concerns about Maximillian's behavior to you?" Adalet repeated more firmly.

"Whatever Augustine said was never to be trusted, she was a manipulative child and she would lie to get her way. She would lie if it meant Maximillian would leave."

"Didn't you just say that Augustine loved him? If she loved him why would she want him to leave?"

Silence. It was so thick August presumed she could cut it with a knife.

"Did your daughter raise any concerns about Maximillian's behavior?" Adalet asked again, her voice a pitch higher and more forceful.

"Yes." Her mother begrudgingly answered.

"And did you ever see these concerns come to light?"

"No."

"Mrs Williams, Odille if I may, I'd like to draw your attention to a Sunday afternoon in 1973."

"How old was your daughter that year."

"Thirteen." Odille said after a pause.

"Thirteen." Adalet echoed her "Do you know what thirteen year olds are supposed to be doing on a Sunday afternoon during their school break? They're supposed to be outside up until all hours causing innocent trouble with their friends." Adalet turned to look at the jury, "What was Augustine Williams doing that night?"

Her question was only met with stubborn silence from her mother, she would always protect him. But August knew that she could protect herself so instead of flinching, instead of cowering she looked over and met the eyes of her mother. The same brown eyes that stared at her in the mirror, except her mother's were hard and closed off.

"I don't recall that evening." Her mother said.

"27 March 1973." Adalet egged on. "Would you like to admit it, or shall we prolong this game of silence that you'll lose?"

"As I've said, I don't recall. The only event that strikes me as familiar is that on the 27th if March it's James Potter's birthday. But I believe that is of little significance to you."

Odille knew exactly where to strike and where to poke. August felt the breath leave her lungs and her heart start racing. She wished for her mother to fall dead on the stand, for the earth to swallow her whole.

"Do you remember the day your daughter was born?" Adalet redirected.

"Of course." Her mother answered.

"Could you tell us more about that day?"

"Her father and I were unprepared, we knew nothing of children or childbirth and my only consolation was that I still had 3 weeks to read up on it. I was cooking supper when I felt my water break and we raced to a muggle hospital, my husband was a muggle. It was the longest 15 hours of my life, the most pain I ever felt. But when I got to hold her for the few minutes before she was swept away by nurses I knew it was all worth it."

"How did it feel, holding her for the first time?"

"I thought she was the most precious thing and I loved her more than anything."

"As a mother myself, I know that moment all too well. The feeling is so overwhelming, you will do anything to keep your baby out of harms way. I made an oath on the day my son was born, that I would lay my life down for him." Adalet was no longer the cold attorney, emotion cracked her voice and love shone through on her face.

"If you made the same oath as I, then now is your chance to fulfill it. What was Augustine Williams doing 27 March 1973?"

It seemed as if Odille was having some internal struggle, her mouth kept on opening and closing. Her hands fiddling with her ring.

"She was in her room."

"In her room, doing what exactly?"

Odille took a deep breath and her next words sent tremors into the courtroom.

"She was in her room, being sexually assaulted by my husband."

Tears fell down August cheeks and her chest heaved. The words of truth that she had waited so long for we're finally uttered and sent out into the world.

It was freedom. It was so much pain but it was freeing. These shackles of untruth and lies no longer bound her. She was free to go out into the world knowing that she was not just a survivor but she was believed.

"Please state the offender, your husband's names."

"Maximillian Gordjin."

"No further questions."

Adalet walked back to where August sat and squeezed her shoulder affectionately.

"Even when your voice shook and you stuttered on your words, you still spoke up and I am so proud you did."

Augustine smiled up at her through the tears before she turned to meet the eyes of her mother. She nodded.