The Dark Lord Voldemort had been dead six months, and the Wizarding world was slowly beginning to recover from his brief, but devastating, reign of terror.

The Ministry of Magic was in an uproar, not only because of the multiple trials of Death Eaters that were currently underway, but because of the massive shakeup in the Ministry's own ranks. Nearly a hundred Ministry employees were included as defendants in the trials of Death Eaters, and it was doing absolutely nothing to aid in repairing their rather tattered reputation.

Currently, the Ministry of Magic was regarded by most of the Wizarding world as a laughingstock, hardly credited as a governmental agency, and spoken of in tones of utmost disgust and loathing, even as the skeleton crew of actual upstanding Ministry employees and officials worked around the clock to restore order, and ensure that justice was being served in the way it was intended following the war.

Until things were more settled and an election could be held, Kingsley Shacklebolt was acting Minister of Magic, and at the moment he was presiding over everything being done at the Ministry with an iron fist, unwilling to allow any detail to slip through the cracks after the complete cock-up that was the justice system under previous Ministers Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour.

He was adamant that there would be absolutely no favoritism or bribery on his watch, regardless of who was being investigated, and that included the trial of Severus Snape, previous Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, member of and spy for the Order of the Phoenix, accused right hand of Lord Voldemort, and murderer of Albus Dumbledore.

Personally, Kingsley was furious with Snape, and if he hadn't had the responsibility of governing the recovering Wizarding world on his shoulders, he would have been only too happy to corner Snape down a dark alley some night, but nothing was that simple anymore.

Especially with the Wizarding world's Savior, Harry Potter, insisting on Snape's innocence. Or, more accurately, not innocence exactly, but extremely extenuating circumstances that turned the murder of Albus Dumbledore into an actual suicide, nevermind that his death had absolutely been from a Killing Curse from Snape's own wand.

Kingsley could fathom no realistic explanation for how Dumbledore's death could have possibly been suicide, but he was unable to dismiss Potter's testimony, and as such, the Savior would be an integral part of Snape's defence, loathe as the Minister was to allow it.

It was six months since the Dark Lord's fall, and it made Kingsley's head hurt just thinking about how long it would take for the Wizarding world to even begin to function in anything resembling normalcy again.

One thing was certain; nothing would ever be the same.