The Wizengamot lingered above them. Enid barely paid any mind to the group of wixes in plum robes who appeared to be having a decidedly heated conversation. The words were silenced by a glowing veil of privacy hanging between the elders and anyone else in the courtroom. The shimmering silvery veil had been erected at least an hour ago and Enid could tell that her client was slowly starting to give in to his nerves. Above them to the side was the overcrowded public gallery. One could see quite clearly at the front of this was her client’s wife, pale as a sheet and sat stone still and staring at the empty space in the centre of the courtroom. Everyone in the public gallery was eagerly chatting away, a few reporters click click clicking at the shutters of their cameras. For these onlookers, it was a show. For her client? Surely time had to be standing still.

A hush, and then excited whispers started to fill the room, and Enid knew this meant that the time they’d been waiting for was upon them. She turned to Leo and offered a reassuring smile.

“If this goes our way, you smile and thank them profusely for hearing your case. But you make it clear that you expect compensation for the…” she paused, considering her words, “heartache and torture. The loss of a life. They did to you what they accused you of, didn’t they? If it doesn’t go our way today? Doubtful, but we try again. New tack. Ready?” She gave him arm a quick squeeze. Either way, Enid was going home to a nice bottle or two of red wine and a nice big paycheck. Winner.

Leo had been sitting stiffly in the enormous wooden chair for all of the hearing, his wrists shackled to the armrests.  For most of the hearing, he’d stayed silent, following her instructions not to play into the part of an angry former Death Eater.  But over the past hour, he’d noticeably become more jittery, shifting uncomfortably against the hard wood.

He glanced at her as she touched his arm.  For a moment, his expression was unreadable, and then he gave her a small, nervous smile.

“No,” he replied, looking back up at the dais.  “But I don’t think that’s ever mattered, has it?”

Enid gave him a small smile. “Apparently not, my dear.”

Around them, the courtroom fell silent and above them, the veil started to dissipate. The chief warlock stood, peering down at them ready.

”Leo Ophiuchus Gamp,” she intoned.  In her magnificent plum robes, Elder Kulkarni looked stern as she stared down at them. ”Thirteen years ago, you were sentenced for horrific crimes against wixes and Muggles in this very court, but you have requested a second hearing.  After deliberating on the case that your lawyer has presented, we have reached our decision.”

Beside Enid, Leo was still.  His green eyes were locked on the Elder on the dais.

”During your first trial, the preponderance of testimony and evidence overwhelmingly swayed this body against you.  It left no doubt to your culpability and guilt.”

Behind them, a low murmuring had started again in the gallery.  Whatever ruling the Wizengamot made here today, Theodora Kingstreet had left the institution riddled with tiny hairline fissures.

”However…”

The room instantly went silent again, as if every wix’s breath had suddenly caught in their throats.  Next to Enid, the former Auror swallowed, his fingers clenching against the hard wooden arm rests of the chair.

Elder Kulkarni’s gaze shifted to Enid for a moment, and then returned to Leo’s face.  ”Based on the testimonies presented today, the Wizengamot is forced to conclude that some of that prior evidence may have been…unreliable.”

The Elder continued to speak, but such a sudden upswell of noise and emotion overtook the courtroom that there was no way to make out her words.  ”Order!  Order!” came the magically amplified command from the dais, but the crowd was beyond listening.

Enid cast a quick glance to her client, a reassuring one. This was hopeful. This was exactly what they’d wanted.

Kulkarni proceeded once the court had hushed once more.

“As such, it is the belief of our representatives here today that there is now no longer adequate proof to hold these charges against you.” If Enid didn’t know any better, she’d say the elder had a mouth full of glass from her expression and the way she was speaking. “On behalf of the Wizengamot, Mr Gamp, I would like to offer our sincerest of apologies. You are cleared of charges and are free to go.”

The chains holding Gamp in his chair suddenly evaporated just as the entire room burst into shouts and cries. Enid grinned, turning to her client. Another win to add to the record.

---

Niobe Thursby was on her feet but not as fast as Genevieve Garcia-Gamp. The Daily Prophet reporter hesitated only a moment before rushing down from the gallery to the floor. “Daily Prophet!” she shouted, throwing an elbow into the ribs of someone with credentials from Obscurus Books.

“Leo, Niobe Thursby, Daily Prophet. You’ve been freed - what’s your comment? Has justice been done?”

The former prisoner was on his feet, not far from his lawyer.  An older couple had already reached his side.  The older woman was openly bawling, tears streaming down her face.  The man was patting Leo on the shoulder, again and again.

Leo had been rubbing absently at his wrists.  At the sound of his name, he looked back, green eyes finding the reporter’s face.

He managed a tired smile.

“Waste no time, do you?” he asked, glancing at Jingleberry as he turned to face Niobe.  “I am…relieved that the Wizengamot was willing to hear my case a second time, and that they showed the good judgement to reverse what was clearly an unjust verdict thirteen years ago.  But I don’t know that you can call this justice, not after so long.”

“You can’t.” Enid interrupted, “Mr Gamp has lost over a quarter of his life to an Azkaban sentencing he never deserved. Mr Gamp is a father who has cruelly never had the chance to love his son. Nothing will ever change that, but we won’t be letting the Wizengamot off with a mere brush off. This needs to be prevented from happening again.”

Niobe’s Verbatis Quill scritched away on her notepad, and the witch herself nodded with lightly furrowed brows.

“I see. What do you think convinced the Wizengamot to clear the charges this time?” Niobe pressed.

“Theodora Kingstreet.” Enid stated plainly. “The Wizengamot have clearly finally seen sense.”

There were more people coming to the floor now, swarming towards them in jubilant conviviality.  Leo flashed a tired grin to a wizard that came over to pound him enthusiastically on the shoulder.  His green eyes shifted back to Niobe, and he gave her an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry,” he said, as he let himself be turned away back towards the celebration.  “Perhaps we can talk in more detail at a later time?”

Niobe could only agree and let the throngs have at Gamp and his lawyer. “Congratulations,” she said without enthusiasm, her mind already on Genevieve.