the devil's advocate

iv. cynical hallelujah

jessamine palmer had defended
six former death eaters:
             (she had managed to keep
              three away from azkaban)
the other three had been released
        in less than two years
                  and had been doing
community service ever since
draven parkinson was one of those death eaters

he owed her his freedom
                     and his honor
                     (and she knew it)

in the end,
that whole pantomime:
       walk into a a forbidden club
                  ask for a muggle drink
was a demonstration of
                                             power
they called her
the devil's advocate in the
newspapers
                    (behind her back)
but she was the devil herself
         lying tongue
             machiavelli's soul
                  faustus' fatal flaw
                        brutus' betrayal
                             lilith's pride
          lucifer herself

very well,
draven parkinson had fought
                                      (and lost)
the war
he had learned
some battles
are meant to be lost

the barman prepared
her drink                 (martini, dry)
and parkinson's mouth twitched
near the tender flesh of the scar
enjoy your poison
                  (mud-blood, dirty blood)

he left as jessamine
raised the glass and felt
the bitter taste of gin on her lips;
                           cynical hallelujah
      (this is what the blood of God
        tastes like)

the peering eyes of
the prejudist purebloods
                         (lucifer, cain, judas)
       avery
          carrow
              rossier
                  shafiq
                     malfoy (etc.)
followed every one of her moves

they hated her blood but
they loved to watch her bleed
(hypocrites)

they wouldn't hurt her
as long as they needed her
     and jessamine was indispensable

the end of the war
hadn't brought peace,
only more chaos
and injustice:
     people starved on the streets
         the sick got sicker and died
              the children slept under
                   their parents' corpses
and the enemies didn't disappeared (they merely hid)

it wasn't unexpected
when the first revolt arose
the enemies were
            the unforgivables
            demons
            sinners
if they wanted mercy
they shouldn't have demanded
                                                           blood

the people didn't want justice
the time for justice had ended
long ago

they wanted blood
and the vile satisfaction
it brought
to their broken souls

jessamine palmer had quickly seen
a new business opportunity there
           (after all,
             every devil needs an advocate)