"Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation."
The gavel landed harshly over the sounds of Dolores Umbrige's outbursts of gravely yells. Two hulking aurors escorted her from the court, one of them casting a silencio, immediately muting her snarling.
Harry watched each scene quietly from the last few rows of the circular courtroom, under the guise of many glamours. His middle-aged appearance was inconspicuous and he came alone. None of the others were willing to go, and Harry himself said that he wouldn't. But the temptation was too strong.
"Bring in the prisoner, Draco Malfoy!" called the judge.
Harry leaned forward onto the railing before his seat, straining to see past the heads of the crowd of wizards. He heard murmurs featuring phrases such as 'straight back to Azkaban,' 'as worthless as his father,' and 'a truly ruthless young man' from people who hardly knew Draco at all.
Finally, Draco stepped forward, flanked by aurors instead of faithful cronies and looking weaker than ever. It was likely that he hadn't been given a change of robes since the final battle at Hogwarts a month ago and his hair was a grimy mess. His eyes were rimmed with dark circles and fading pinkness, as if he'd cried until tears no longer came. To put it simply, he looked resigned.
Draco was set down onto the center chair, the familiar gold chains snaking up his limbs and binding him to his seat. He hardly flinched.
The room had gone silent, awaiting the words of the judge. Draco eyed the occupants with apparent disinterest, but his eyes stopped abruptly on Harry, lingering for many seconds until the judge cleared his throat and announced "Draco Malfoy, you have been brought before the court to present evidence to the Ministry of Magic regarding a Mr. Lucius Malfoy and his crimes against wizarding and muggle society alike. Do you have such evidence?"
Draco simply nodded, but did not speak. People eyed him anxiously for a few seconds until someone yelled, "Well, get on with it!"
The sound of the judge's gavel overwhelmed the rising murmurs of the audience. "And what evidence do you have against him?"
Harry cringed. This whole case was hardly necessary. Many others could have testified against Lucius Malfoy. Perhaps they could not provide as much evidence, but this was cruel. A son, Harry suspected, forced to testify under threat of torture or death or long terms in Azkaban. Some would say that desperate times called for desperate measures.
Harry knew otherwise.
Draco cleared his throat. "I have witnessed the torture and murder of several muggles by my father's wand," Draco said in a dull, monotonous voice. "And I have seen him murder many witches and wizards, aurors as well."
"Can you give me the names of these muggles and wizarding folk?" asked the judge.
Without pause, Draco rattled off many names, specifying whether muggle or wizard, in such a way that Harry considered the use of veritaserum a possibility in making Draco talk. He could hardly believe his eyes and ears. Draco Malfoy, proud, stubborn Draco Malfoy, was speaking against the one person he admired and respected most. Only something drastic could have triggered such unusual behavior.
As Draco's long list came to a close, Harry noticed that his eyes had become glassy and overly moist. Draco began blinking many times, jutting out his chin in defiance to the swelling tears.
"Is that all?" the judge called, gazing through his glasses at Draco.
"Yes, sir," came Draco's hollow voice.
"Very well." After a few brief conversations between the members of the high council, the judge turned to face Draco and stated with disdain, "Your testimony has been deemed sufficient. You are free to go."
The chains reluctantly slinked away from Draco's wrists and ankles, leaving him free yet unarmed. He silently stood up, his head turned to the floor as he heard the rising shouts of those of the court who yelled things like 'Such filth!' 'Free to go! Why I never…'
Harry stood quickly, running to catch up with Draco, clutching at the two wands in his pocket.
Once out in the corridor, Harry glanced to either side to see where Draco had gone. He saw his hunched form and hurried to follow him. "Malfoy," Harry called.
Malfoy stopped and turned to Harry, gesturing to the nearby bathroom. Harry nodded and followed him inside to avoid the oncoming throng of people.
After casting a locking and silencing charm upon the room, Harry turned to Draco to find him eyeing him warily.
"Who are you?" he asked slowly, his eyes roving over Harry's figure.
"It's me, Harry Potter," Harry responded. He silently removed the glamours and revealed a face much like Draco's in the way of dark-circled eyes and gaunt skin.
Draco sighed. "Potter, what do you want?" he asked, hostility absent from his voice.
"Here," Harry answered, pulling Draco's wand from his pocket. "I… I thought you might want it back."
Draco's gaze shifted from Harry to the wand in Harry's hand and back again. "Why should I take it back? You could have done a myriad of things with it in the time it's been with you. Why should I trust you?"
"Because Malfoy. Why else would I have saved your life?" Harry said, thoroughly annoyed.
Draco also became angry, showing his first emotion to Harry in the past month. "Oh yes, Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world. How good, how noble of him to try to save his enemies for their stay in Azkaban! How great it is that he kept Draco Malfoy alive to betray his own father and condemn him to the dementors!" The tears that had barely been contained in the courtroom now came rushing forth, spilling uninhibited from Draco's eyes and down his dirt-caked face.
Harry gulped and looked away, realizing his mistake, yet not knowing how to rectify it. "You didn't deserve to go through with that. You aren't even a death eater, are you?"
Draco seemed to have felt the wetness on his cheeks, for now he was anxiously rubbing it away, afterwards folding his arms across his chest. "No. I never took the mark. I was supposed to take it after our victory."
Harry took a deep breath to calm himself, wondering how he was going to extricate himself from this awkward situation. Solutions eluded him.
"Draco-"
"It's Malfoy to you, Potter," Draco spat, old rivalry returning to his voice.
"Malfoy, don't be a fucking child! We're grown men, out of school, out of Hogwarts."
Draco glared. "And you expect me to forgive you? After what you've done to me, to my father, to my family?"
Harry paused before saying, "I believe it would be best for both of us if we just forgive and forget. There's no use holding grudges anymore."
Malfoy stared at the floor, contemplating his next response. Finally, "Alright Potter. You're forgiven."
Harry let out a sigh, whether in relief or annoyance at Draco's petulance, he wasn't sure.
"But if you expect me to forget, you're very much mistaken." Draco stormed quickly from the room after these words, silently breaking the locking charms, and leaving Harry flummoxed.