What Comes After

It was 5 am BST, the next morning, when Harry and Kingsley returned to Hermione's holding cell and rapped on the door.

"Five more minutes", was the grumbled reply.

Harry chuckled and shook his head, then nudged Kingsley with his elbow a couple of times. He got the message and pulled out a set of keys specifically used to unlock the cell. The key made a clicking noise as it was turned in the key slot, alerting them both that they were able to enter.

They pushed the door ajar only to see Hermione lying a few feet away on the aforementioned cot.

'That cot looks really uncomfortable.', Harry thought.

Hermione's actions bore credence to that theory since, just in the short time since they had entered the room, she had adjusted her positioning three times. Currently, she was on her back and her arms were crisscrossed behind her head. She was obviously still half-asleep but, yet, restfulness alluded her. The bags under her eyes were a testament to that.

'I should probably try to go wake her up again.'

Harry walked over and tapped her arm.

"Wake Up, Hermione!"

She did not budge. 

Harry shrugged. "I guess it's your turn Kingsley."

He gave Harry a look, rolled his eyes, and sighed. He reached into the pocket of his robes to collect his wand. After performing some basic summoning spells with it, he was able to procure a megaphone. He turned to Harry and whispered, "Watch this..."

Click.

"HERMIONE GRANGER!"

She shot straight up.

"Oh, Hi Harry! Hi Kings! Welcome back! I hope you didn't have too many issues getting me up this morning."

Harry face palmed while Kingsley chuckled, the mirth showing on his face.

"Not" he paused "....too many"

She blushed.

"Well....um.....any who....now that I am up, what is first on the itinerary for today, food or the logistics of my near imprisonment?"

He pondered that for a moment.

"We will start with breakfast, as I've heard from the muggles that it is the most important meal of the day."

He turned to address Harry.

"You remembered that basket in my office, right?"

For a second, Harry was perplexed. Then, he recalled the item.

"Oh yes, of course. That basket."

He reached into his own robe pocket and pulled out a shrunken picnic basket. A few wand waves later and the basket was back to its normal size. He opened the left flap of the basket lid and pulled out some chocolate chip muffins, Hermione's favorite. The other side of the basket contained bananas and bottled tea. 

He distributed the items to his friends and they sat down to enjoy one of the last meals that they would have together in a while and chat.

While they talked, Harry kept glancing over at a stack of ink-filled pages and empty envelopes peaking out from behind the cot. 

"Um...Hermione..." he interjected into the conversation

"Yes, Harry?", she answered, after stopping mid-way into trying to take another bite of her muffin.

"....What are those?"

"Oh! Those are the letters I was mentioning to both you and Kings yesterday."

He looked perplexed again, so she took the bite she'd delayed.

"How many letters are there Hermione?" It was Kingsley this time.

Truthfully, there were fifteen. Three were for Kings and/or the Wizengamot, one was solely for the Wizengamot, two were for Harry, one was for the Weasleys as a whole, one was for Marietta Edgecombe, one for Ronald, one was for George, one was for Molly, one was for Professor McGonagall, and one was for Ginny. The last two were for her own person and a dead man. She did not know whether all of them would actually be needed, but she made them so as to cover her bases.

"Twelve..."

She could see the shock in their eyes, so she continued.

"Some of them are for each of you actually, but..."

 She paused to briefly consider how she wanted to phrase her next statement.

"...look", she sighed, "...even though, there's three of us here, I'd rather not do an unbreakable vow between friends. The letters, each one, are geared towards specific anticipated circumstances. If you are given the letters without context then they will just confuse and/or aggravate you. Thus, I'd ask that the letters be only given when the original letter says to give them and not a minute prior. I also ask that you not be tempted to open the letters for either yourselves and/or others before that time. The times will be delineated in Kingsley's first letter and he will be the one to distribute the letters. That is, if you accept the responsibility Kings?"

He straightened his posture and nodded his acceptance.

"Great! Now that that's settled..."

She was cut-off by Harry.

"But...why the secrecy and methodicalness?"

She looked pained and plead.

"I really wish I could explain it to you right now. However, when I ran through, in my head, the potential times of when to reveal this information to you, it always seemed to work best in doing so after you receive the second letter, the one that Kingsley shall give to you after you visit me in Azkaban the first time. If you could wait until then, then that would be great."

 He understood, but at the same time he didn't. Thus, all he did was nod and silently consider the potential reasons for this within the confines of his own mind.

Hermione grabbed for the stack of letters, took one out from middle, and handed it over to Kings.

"Kings this is the first letter that I wish to deliver. However, this is the only one I will deliver myself. Would you take a look over it and tell me what you think about it really quick?"

"Sure", he replied.

"I'll help too!", added Harry, peering over Kingsley's shoulder to read the letter in tandem.

Once they both finished reading, they both looked up.

"Hermione this is..."

Kingsley pondered the right word.

"Interesting"

"And, completely unnecessary!", was added from behind.

Kingsley continued, "Hermione, are you sure this is what you wish to say, it's certainly unconventional?"

"I've given a lot of thought and even if it may be unnecessary, or even unconventional, then I'd still like to say this for myself."

"Very well. I'll let the judge know tomorrow about the letter."

"Thanks Kingsley! Oh! And here's the stack of remaining letters for your safe keeping."

She handed them over to him and they were slid into the, now empty, picnic basket. It was re-shrunk, letters and all, and placed in his robe pocket.

"Now that that is settled we must get you ready for the trial."

He turned around.

"Harry, did you get that mauve dress that was sitting on the chair in my office?"

"Which dress? There was no mauve dress on the chair."

"That's impossible!"

He apparated out of the holding cell in a flash of smoke and returned just as promptly.

"I cannot believe someone jacked the dress! I'd thought maybe I'd just misplaced it and forgot about moving it, but the Accio charm was fruitless. If I ever find out who did it, I'll...."

"It's all right Kingsley. I have a Mauve dress at my place. I know I cannot leave here, but my place is connected to the FLOO Network. Harry has been in my apartment, so he should be able to retrieve it for me."

"Sure thing, Hermione! I'll be back in the next half hour. See you then!"

Hermione waved to him as he left, then turned back to Kingsley. 

"Now that he's gone, Kings, would you mind going over my options for cellmates with me?"

"Wouldn't you prefer to wait until Harry gets back to do that?"

"No actually. I have a certain selection in mind and I am worried that he'd be too concerned with my choice and would aptly guilt me into another, unwanted path."

"And you don't think I'd be?" He looked affronted.

"It's not that I don't think that you would be, but at the same time I think you'd, at least, respect my opinions. But...anyways...the options?"

"Yes, uh...as you may recall, most of the Death Eaters were men and the majority of Azkaban inhabitants are Death Eaters. Thus, there are a lot of empty cells in the womens' section. The only people currently in there are Delores Umbridge, Rita Skeeter, Alecto Carrow, and a couple others you've never met."

"And in the mens' one?"

His eyes bugged out.

"The mens' one? Don't tell me you're actually considering...", he trailed off.

"It's not safe. I wouldn't be able to protect you. It'd be..."

She interjected.

"No less dangerous than putting me with the women. In many ways, less so. Multiple women in Azkaban, that you mentioned, have vendettas against me. They'd be equally as likely to try and kill me and would not necessarily have any innate reason to keep me alive. Plus, for my plan, I need access to logical people. And while I've never bought into the stereotype of women being illogical simply on the basis of their sex, I do think that emotions can cloud judgement; and, in these tumultuous times, the men would be more likely to keep their emotions in check to, at least, talk to them. So please, what are my options?"

"Fine....It looks like in the mens' side of Azkaban there is only a single available cell on the 2nd floor of the tower."

"I'll take it."

He held up his hand to try and stop her.

"Wait, you didn't hear who your cellmates are though?"

"Since, it's the only option on that side, then it won't make a difference. But, if it cannot be helped, then please humor me."

"Malfoys, the both of them, Nott Jr., Rowle, Dolohov, Yaxley, the Younger Lestrange..."

"Even officially knowing the names, I'd still take the cell, and that's final. I am glad though that Harry wasn't here to he...."

At that moment, Harry walked back in with the dress in his hand.

"What did I miss?"

They shared a looked and replied together, "Nothing".

Harry didn't look convinced, but didn't want to pry.

He handed the dress to Hermione and both he and Kingsley turned around so she could change. It only took her a minute.

"How do I look?"

Dropped jaws were her answers. She smiled and walked past them and out the door. Once she'd made it out, she looked back over her shoulder.

"Aren't you guys coming?"

Nervous laughter followed before they collected themselves and exited the cell.

They each took a hold of one of her hands.

"C'mon. Let's get you to your trial"

And, they were off.