The Crown of Thorns was a notoriously painful way to die. The wizarding way, that is. When placed atop a witch or wizard's head, it would dig in its poisonous spines and constrict its red vines slowly, always slowly. It hadn't been used for execution since Morganna was vanquished by Merlin. But that was before. Chains clanked together quietly as Dennis Creevy released a rattle of his own from his bleeding throat. He slumped forward with surprising softness after that, the brown eye that peeked between the mess of harsh red glassy and empty. There were no more before her. The face of the judge twisted from a disgusted grimace to an equally-disgusted false smile. He waved a gnarled hand, stiff with arthritis, and Rookwood shuffled forward and sent Dennis' body through the open door to the left where the other body had disappeared to. Judge Nefrus hacked out a cough before breaking the painful silence, "Please step forward, Eloise Thompson to face the charges waged against you." _ Harry Potter AU in which Voldemort wins the battle of Hogwarts and England falls. Major TW for death, torture, swearing, sexual content, age gap etc. This book is not meant to be fluffy and sweet, but a dark and gritty retelling of a story in which evil triumphs over good. That being said, I'm a sucker for a happy(ish) ending and I won't go kill off everyone by the end. Just, you know, a couple people.