Restoration

Chapter 31

***

The feeling of the morning sun touching her cheeks had become a distant memory, as she tried to pretend that the light bulb in the tiny interrogation room gave her the same sensation. She clung to the moments that she felt most emotional about and could paint them in front of her eyes with ease. And to make sure she never forgot about them, she created a system in her head.

First memory. The acceptance letter from Hogwarts.

Second memory. Winning her first quidditch game.

Third memory. Winning duels with Bellatrix.

Fourth memory. Anthony and Luna.

Fifth memory...

What was it again?

Elara tried shifting realities and visiting the other Draco a few times in the beginning, but once that drained her completely she shattered all walls she had put up to protect herself from any intruders who wanted to tiptoe around her thoughts. She had done it in hopes of the other Draco somehow managing to contact her.

And then he did - and she saw the other Anthony as well. Or so she thought. Lost in her delirious mind, powered by the sheer will to get out and beat the crap out of the Draco in her reality for betraying her, she wasn't so sure what was real and what was not anymore. She briefly remembered the other Draco beginning her to give him a clue, to give him the name of someone who would know about her and be able to help her out. And since she thought he wasn't from her reality, she thought "It can't really hurt if I tell him, can it."

Every morning someone would come into the room Elara was kept in and force her to answer the same questions, and after she responded with the unchanging answers, they would perform all sorts of spells to get the truth they wanted to hear out of her. It didn't stop them when she screamed, convulsed in pain, not even when she collapsed for a few moments and held her breath. Togrus became obsessed and infatuated with her in the last few weeks. He was convinced Aurelia Rosier, an adult who had escaped from Azkaban had transfigured into a young Elara and kept up the farce until he came along.

And no matter how hard Eunomia Greengrass fought with the ministers and failed multiple lawsuits for crimes against a minor, they seemed to have listened to Togrus first, ignoring her demands and systematically denying her lawsuits. Her daughter, Daphne, was aware that the Ministry had been poisoned with malicious people for years, and she explained to the group that Elara had a very small chance of ever getting out.

"Case number 7438: Elara Morgaine Dotson," Barnaby St.Clair, the judge, welcomed everyone in the courtroom.

Elara had been brought into the biggest courtroom in the Ministry, unknown to her. The case had gained a lot of attention in the media in the last few weeks, forming two very different sides and supporters. The first ones followed Togrus's accusations and agreed with him, while the other side, which used their voice to accuse them of abuse in the newspapers, viewed Elara as innocent. And upon hearing that the trial would be pushed forward, everyone cleared their Thursday morning schedules. Togrus had scheduled the trial to happen two weeks faster than initially planned because that means that all witnesses, who were vouching for Elara, wouldn't even hear about it, let alone be able to testify for her.

"I will be defending the minor, your honour," Eunomia Greengrass stood up, staring at drained Elara who was barely able to sit upright on her chair, which was placed in the centre of the room.

"I predict we will all be able to get our morning coffee in no time," Togrus grinned to the news-reporters, who had gathered all around the room.