Falter - A Fred Weasley Sequel

19. Tried and Untrue

They weren't allowed inside. Addie had blinked at the Auror standing outside the doors to the Court Room, boiling with rage. Before she could attack the man who dared to tell her she couldn't be there for her friend, Fred stepped in, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently leading Addie away.

"It's just how things are done," Fred explained as they moved to the other side of the corridor. "There's nothing we can do."

"But she's being interrogated in there!" Addie protested. "And she's in there alone, and so scared, and I know they're intimidating her, trying to get her to confess. She needs someone in there, someone to support her! I promised!"

"And when she comes out, she'll see you right here, and will know you supported her the whole time."

Addie huffed. She didn't like it one bit. But the Auror was watching them with a careful eye, and Addie knew she shouldn't get into any more trouble than she had to.

They sat for what felt like hours in that dark little hallway, under the Auror's watchful eye. No one else came in. No one came out of the room. She couldn't hear a single thing inside. The silence was starting to drive her absolutely crazy.

And just when she thought she couldn't take another second of it, the large door creaked open, and out slipped the last person she wanted to see in the world.

Thomas. And at the sight of her he grinned a wicked grin and beckoned for her to follow him. She stormed after him, Fred trying to pull her back but without luck. She caught up with him at the elevators, and the three of them stepped inside. Thomas turned to Addie, still smiling.

"I'm surprised to see you hear," he said. "Although I guess you do have a history of associating with Death Eaters."

"You know she's innocent," Addie growled. If it hadn't been for Fred keeping a firm grip on her, she would have pounced at him. She wanted to attack, to really hurt him. But the Ministry of Magic was not the place to do that.

Not when he was apparently in the Ministry's pocket.

"It doesn't matter what I do or don't know," he said. "All that matters is what I told Kingsley. And he wants to avenge his friends deaths so badly that he believed me in a heartbeat. It was almost too easy."

"How many innocent people have you sent to Azkaban?"

Thomas shrugged. "Not too many, actually. A few people that got too close to the truth about me. I've had to turn a lot of my fellow Death Eaters in, unfortunately, to get Kingsley to trust me."

"He said Thomas Wright's in Azkaban."

Thomas smirked. "Oh yeah, poor guy. A Confundus charm and an Imperius Curse were all it took. And just like that, the Ministry wasn't too worried about Thomas Wright."

"Why the hell are you doing this?"

Thomas shrugged. "Partly because it hurts you. Partly because it's kind of fun. You should have seen her in there, chained to the chair, sobbing as she tried to tell everyone she was innocent. It was quite the show."

"You're sick."

Thomas didn't look concerned. "Maybe I am."

"I'm going to make sure they find out about you," Addie said, trying to twist out of Fred's arms. But he held on to her tight, keeping her far enough away for Thomas that she couldn't grab at her throat. "I'm going to make sure you pay for everything."

"Sure you will. Let me know how that goes."

"I will."

Thomas looked like he was having too much fun with this. He turned his gleeful gaze on Fred. "How are you, by the way? Not feeling so good anymore, are we?"

"I'm great, actually," Fred said, his tone low, dangerous.

"I'm sure you are. Have the seizures started yet? That's the beginning of the end, I tell you."

The elevator pinged, and a mechanical voice announced that they were on the third floor. "Well this is my stop," Thomas said. "Good luck, Fred. I mean it." He turned to Addie. "And remember, I told you how to fix this. It's only going to get worse. Much worse."

And he was gone.

****

"We had him!" Addie said. "We could have taken him right there! Why would you stop me?"

They were taking the elevator back to the court rooms, where they hopefully would catch Charlotte as she exited.

"Believe me, I wanted to. But the last thing we need right now is for either of us to end up in Azkaban with Charlotte."

Addie was entirely convinced in that moment that it would have been worth it.

An hour later, the door creaked open again, and this time Charlotte was escorted out by Kingsley in chains. Her eyes were red, tears still wetting her cheeks, but when she caught sight of Addie, a ghost of a smile crossed her face. "You came," she said, her voice hoarse.

"Of course I came," Addie said, rushing forward before anyone could stop her and throwing her arms around the girl. Charlotte's hands were shackled, so she couldn't hug back, but Addie knew she appreciated it anyways.

"The Wizengamot will be making their decision," Kingsley said. "I will allow Charlotte to remain out here with you, but I'm going to need to confiscate your wands to ensure there are no escape attempts."

Addie and Fred handed them over, and helped Charlotte to the ground. She leaned back against the wall heavily, staring down at her chained hands. "It went horrible," she said before Addie could ask. "Absolutely horrible. They wouldn't listen to a word I said. And then Thomas testified, and no matter how much I tried to say he was lying, they wouldn't listen. He had this whole story about how I did it. About how I fooled everyone. And everyone seemed to think it made sense."

Addie glared at Kingsley, who stood against the opposite wall listening. He met Addie's gaze coolly, seeming unaffected by Charlotte's story.

They had only minutes to talk before Charlotte was brought back inside to hear the verdict. And when she came back out, she was still in chains.

Charlotte had been sentenced to life in Azkaban for the murders of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks.

Charlotte refused to look up at Addie and Fred as she was led by Kingsley down the hallway. Her shoulders were slumped in defeat, and Addie knew she was crying by the way her body shook. Addie tried to reach her, but the Aurors wouldn't let her through.

"We'll get you out!" Addie yelled. "We'll fix this!"

But Charlotte's head remained down, and soon enough, she was out of sight.