THE MINISTRY
NATASHA STUMBLED ON HER TWO FEET AS SHE ARRIVED AT THE MINISTRY. Clenching her jaw, she looked around. Wizards and Witches walked all around her, a few of them stopping and staring at her. “Alright,” The Auror who was holding her arm said, “Back off the girl. I have to take her in for questioning.” Ignoring the murmuring, Natasha rolled her eyes as the man dragged her off to a room for questioning.
Shoving her down in a chair, Natasha bit her tongue to keep her from snapping. “Someone will be in to question you soon.” He said before leaving the room. Looking around, Natasha accessed the room she was in. It seemed like a basic integration room – a two-way mirror on one side of the wall. Settling herself in her chair, (as best as she could) she stared down at the mirror with a calm look on her face.
She could hear the door open behind her, but she kept looking in front of her. The shuffling of papers could be heard as the man who came to integrate her shuffled through them, looking for something. Sitting down, he placed the papers down in front of him and picked up a folder. “Hello, Miss Romanoff,” The man started off, and the first thing she noticed was the heavy accent. “I’m Kingsley Shacklebolt. I’ve been informed you ended up performing illegal magic, and in front of muggles – no less. Now, it says here you ended up using the killing curse.” He glanced up from his papers, locking eyes with her.
She could feel light prodding on her mind, and she strengthened her shields within her mind. She didn’t know what he wanted to do in her mind, but she wasn’t taking any cases. “I was forced to take action. Nothing else was working, and I had to protect my little sister.” She replied, her voice calm and leveled.
He tilted his head to the side, his eyes curious when she mentioned her younger sister, “Sister? That young girl back at the scene was your sister?” He questioned. Humming in response, he took out a quill and scribbled something down on a piece of parchment. “If you don’t mind me asking, but… how is she your sister? As far as I’m aware, James and Lily Potter only had one child – you.”
“I’ve lived a lot of lives before I became Natasha Romanoff. She happened to be in one of them, and we were in a family for three years.” She told the black man, who nodded and wrote down some more things on his parchment. “The thing that was chasing us… It was just out in the open, and it was just there for her. I tried using all the spells I could think of that weren’t illegal – but…” Letting her bottom lip quiver, she willed up fake tears in her eyes and let one fall down on her face – a look of guilt on her face. “--Sir, I didn’t wanna do it! But it gave me no choice! It wouldn’t leave her alone and… she was so, so scared. I had to do something! All the other spells kept bouncing off of it!”
Kingsley stared at her with a look of sympathy on his face. Reaching over, he placed his hand over her hand. “Miss Romanoff, we can all tell that this was just a misunderstanding. However, you will have to go on trial for exposing magic to muggles. I will make sure that everything turns out okay in the end.” His voice was genuine – he genuinely wanted to help Natasha. Giving the man a watery smile, she squeezed his hand and closed her eyes. “I’ll have an Auror take you home, and you’ll be here early tomorrow for your trial. Have a good night, Miss Romanoff.” Standing up, he gathered his files and walked out of the room. The Auror who took her to this room appeared in the doorway, waving his wand. The bounds that were keeping Natasha to the chair disappeared, and the young Auror grabbed her arm, apparating her away.
Pushing down the nauseous feeling that consumed her body, she gave the young man a smile, who had taken her back to the crime scene. “I, uh… I don’t know where your house is.” He stuttered out.
Giving him the most convincing smile, she placed a hand on his shoulder and tilted her head to the side in a coy manner. “I can take it from here, sir.” She whispered, her lips turning up in a flirtatious smile. He gulped, his face lighting up like a light blub, and stumbled away a few feet – apparently forgetting he had magic. Gesturing to his wand, his face lit up even more and he quickly spun on his feet – disappearing from the area.
Rolling her eyes, she turned on her heel and started to make the long walk home. Maybe she should hot-wire a car? It’s not like she could use her wand – the ministry on her ass right now.
Sighing tiredly, she continued to walk home.
Fixing her hair in the mirror, Natasha pursed her lips as she situated herself. “I can’t believe you’re going to trial… this is bullshit!” Yelena complained, sitting on Natasha’s bed with her arms crossed – a pout on her face. “You only did what you had to do!”
“Yeah, well, be glad they’re at least giving me a chance to defend myself. If I was anyone else, It would have been straight to jail for me.” Natasha replied, opening up her lipgloss. “I doubt they got anyone to defend me, so I guess I’ll have to do it myself.” Shaking her head, she threw her lipgloss on her makeup vanity and turned around, holding her arms out as she modeled for Yelena. “How do I look? Ready for court?”
Yelena hummed, nodding her head as she looked over her older sister, “Yes, It’s really giving me, ‘Please-Don’t-Send-Me-To-Jail, I-am-the-girl-who-lived’.” Letting out a snort of amusement, Natasha ruffled Yelena’s hair as she walked out of her bedroom.
“Bye, Yelena!” She called out as she rushed downstairs, “Make sure you eat breakfast!”
“Gosh, yes! You’re such a mom!”
With a shit-eating grin on her face, Natasha blew up a kiss up the stairs as she stepped in the floo. “Love you, Yelena!”
The last thing she saw was Yelena flipping her off as green flames engulfed her figure. Arriving at the ministry, Natasha was so glad she decided to arrive an hour early; it would be hell trying to navigate through all these people. Sighing through her nose, she began her journey to the courtroom – her heels making a clicking sound every time she moved.
People around her murmured, wondering why on earth a young girl was at the ministry without any parents. Of course, Remus and Sirius did offer to come, but since Sirius was still a criminal, she had to decline. And with Remus, well… she didn’t want him being a mother-hen in the courtroom. Hell, even Clint said he would come with her, but there’s no way in hell she would ever let Clint go to court with her; he would just make jokes the whole time!
Giving a nod to the guard who was guarding the door, he let her in and she made her way over to her seat, looking up at the ministry workers with a confident look on her face. She could see a toad-like woman blanch at the girl, but Natasha paid her no mind.
“We are here today for the disciplinary of Rosa Lillian Potter or Natasha Josette Romanoff, on the 12th of August – current resident in Manhattan New York. She’s being tried for underage magic, performing magic in front of muggles, and using one of the unforgivable’s. Miss Romanoff, how do you plead?”
Tilting her head to the side, she studied all the people in front of her. “Guilty.” She said after a few moments. The toad-like woman stood up, a smile on her face, “See! She pleads guilty, case over–”
“--However, It was all in self-defense. I was desperate, and none of the other spells were working. I will even show you my memory of the night if you so please.” She smiled, tilting her head to the side. The man on the podium hummed, intertwining his fingers as he looked over her charges.
“It says there was a young girl there as well and seemed to know you, Miss Romanoff. Can you confirm?” He asked, locking eyes with the red-head. Nodding, she replied to his question, “Yes, I do know her. She’s my younger sister – Yelena. She was the reason I was forced to take action. If I were just by myself, I would have tried other spells but the creature after her. For what reason, I do not know.”
Minister Fudge hummed, considering her claim. However, the toad-like woman was not satisfied with Natasha’s answer. She stood up, slamming her hands against her chair. “But, Minister! She used an unforgivable – the killing curse–”
“--The Unforgivable’s are only illegal on humans. It says nothing about creatures.” The woman blinked in shock, her mouth hanging open as she stared down at Natasha. She could see some of the other Wizengamont’s members leaning forward, while the others either looked bored or seemed to not care. “As prejudice as it is – that law has not been changed since the day it was made in 1788. So, there’s no way I’d gotten it mixed up with because there’s nothing to mix it up with!”
Man, she was taking great pleasure in watching that woman’s face scrunch up in irritation.
“What about the underage magic, then? Hm?”
One of the Wizengamont’s members cleared their throats and a woman with brown hair stood up. Natasha couldn’t tell why, but the woman seemed familiar to her. “Come on, Dolores. We’ve let off many underage magic users before. Young Natasha simply acted in self-defense for her little sister.” Natasha already liked this woman – you could just feel the power radiating off of her.
“The girl’s not even her actual sister! James and Lily Potter only had one child! Minister, she’s sick if she thinks that muggle girl is her sister–”
Rolling her eyes, the woman who stood up for her interrupted the toad-woman, “Dolores, haven’t you heard of the thing adoption? Or found family? Yes, the girls aren’t related but from the reports from the interrogation – Natasha was very honest. She said, and I quote,” Clearing her throat, the woman lifted up her file and opened it, “‘I’ve lived a lot of lives before I became Natasha Romanoff. She happened to be in one of them, and we were in a family for three years.’”
“Well–!”
Standing up from his podium, Minister Fudge cleared his throat with an uncomfortable look on his face, clasping his hands together, “Dolores, I believe we have enough information. All in favor of keeping the charges on Rosa- Sorry, Natasha Romanoff – raise your hand.” A few members only raised their hands, Dolores being one of them, “And all of the favor of dropping her of all charges!” The rest of the members raised their hands, “Then I free Natasha Romanoff of all charges, so mote be it!”
A flash of light filled the room, and once it went back to normal – they were calling in the next case. Standing up from her seat, she dusted off the fake dirt from her skirt and made her way out of the courtroom – catching eyes with the brown-haired woman who defended her. Having a silent conversation with their eyes, Natasha sent her a nod of appreciation.
Stepping out of the floo, a tiny body slammed into her and hugged her tightly. “I knew you would be okay!” Yelena’s voice was muffled as she shoved her face into Natasha’s stomach. Shaking her head with a fond smile, she ruffled her sister’s hair affectionately and looked up, locking eyes with Remus, who was taking a picture of them. Raising an eyebrow, she gave the sandy-haired man a curious look.
He shrugged, holding his palms up in the air, “What!” He exclaimed, “I want to start a family picture book. This could be labeled, ‘Natasha-got-freed-of-all-her-charges! Whoa!’” Letting out a loud snort, Natasha covered her mouth as a smile spread across her face.
Sirius slung his arm over Remus’ shoulder, leaning upon his toes to give the man a kiss on the cheek. “Or we could call it, ‘Nat-broke-the-law-and-didn’t-go-to-jail, yay!’ I honestly think that would be a better name.” Sirius teased.
“Hey,” Natasha defended herself, “In my defense, I break the law all the time for my job and–” feeling her phone buzz in her skirt pocket, she pulled it out and looked down at the contact, “Speaking of work, I gotta take this call.” Giving them a smile, she walked out of the room.
Flipping open her phone, she brought the flip phone up to her ear, “Fury?” She questioned, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“I need you fully packed in 2 hours for a mission in Budapest. Congrats, Agent Romanoff – you’re taking down the red-room.”
Pulling the phone away from her ear, she blinked down at it in shock. Did he… did he just say what she thought he said, “Sir, what?” Her voice was in disbelief.
“We have details on where Dreyko will be, and you and Agent Barton will be the ones to take him out.”