Saving Granger
By - Keshia Kay Mansell
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Last Time:
"I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't of saved me when you did, Draco." she said tenderly. She leaned back so she could see his liquid-silver eyes. "You've helped me so much."
"I'm sure I can help you even more." he said in a husky voice as he leaned closer. When their lips touched, it was like a brilliant flame. Each felt the excitement that was behind it and each understood what it meant. Things between them would never be the same again.
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Chapter 8: Court And Confrontations
Present Time:
It had been a whole week since Draco had kissed Hermione and they had gotten considerably closer in the last seven days. Hermione couldn't help but feel like she was loved again. Draco had taken her out to dinner nearly every night (still with the concealment charms on) and he had even paid for her to have new prescriptions to keep her tremors from attacking her. Life was going good.
But in the deepest parts of Hermione's mind lingered thoughts of the Weasley's betrayal towards her. She understood that Ron was their family, but she still felt a pain in her heart because she knew they didn't believe her. Even Ginny, her best friend, had abandoned her and broke Harry's heart because of it. Hermione felt like everything was her fault. But then Draco would calm her and cause her to see the better sides of life. She hadn't been joking when she had said that she wouldn't have known what to do without him.
Today was the day that Hermione was to go to court. At the moment she was in front of her bathroom mirror fumbling to get her purl earrings on. Once she had them on, she stepped back to observe her reflection. She wore a crisp-looking green business suit that made her look as if she was to be the lawyer instead of the plaintiff. Her normally frizzy brown hair was now tied in an elegant bun that rested on the back of her head. Around her neck lay a matching purl necklace that Draco had bought for her a couple of days ago. On her feet she wore a pair of black pair peep-toe pumps that accented her calf muscles nicely.
"How do I look?" She asked her reflection.
"Fabulous." her reflection replied with a sly wink.
"I quite agree." Draco smiled as he entered the room. He wore a black suite with a silver business tie that made his eyes seem to glow. His blond hair was slicked back with ease.
"You look quite charming yourself, dear." Hermione smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. Even through his suit she could feel his muscular arms. Quidditch had done him well.
"I'm glad you think so." he smirked as he gently kissed her on the lips. When her pulled back he said, "I just came to warn you hat the portkey leaves in ten minutes."
"Ok, hold on one second and I'll come down with you." Hermione said as she quickly grabbed her purse from her room. Then they walked downstairs hand-in-hand. In the living room sat their portkey. Hermione could tell because it was the only dirty thing in the whole house: an old boot.
Both she and Draco grabbed a hold of the rancid looking object and waited. "5... 4... 3... 2... 1." Hermione felt an uncomfortable pull from her navel. The world seemed to swish before her eyes. "Let go, Hermione!" Draco's voice rang through the chaos. She would have fallen if he hadn't grabbed her just in time. She smiled a quick thanks to him.
After they regained their senses, they walked about a block through Muggle London until they stood before a broken down telephone booth. Draco looked a little confused when Hermione led him to it. "I always thought that the Ministry would think of something cooler then this… thing." he frowned as Hermione took two coins from her purse that were labeled Ministry of Magic.
"This is a telephone booth, Draco. And it has to look like this. The Ministry wouldn't want muggles running around the Ministry now, would they?" she chuckled. Then she took out a piece of paper that had little numbers on it. "Here Draco, hold the receiver while I dial us in." Having no idea of what she was talking about, he did as he was told. He watched as she dialed the numbers 2,4,4, and 2. Almost immediately the booth was filled with a woman's voice.
"Welcome to the Ministry o Magic. Please state your name and business." the cool voice directed.
"My name is Hermione Jean Granger, accompanied by Draco Lucius Malfoy and we are here to atened at trail between myself and Ronald Arthur Weasley." Hermione answered calmly.
"Thank you. Please take the badges below and attach them to your robes."
Below, just as the voice had said, two badges appeared at the dispenser in the booth. One was labeled Hermione Granger, Abuse Hearing and the other Draco Malfoy, Abuse Hearing. Once they had attached the badges to their outfit's the booth began to shutter and slowly descend downward. Hermione giggled when the booth finally stopped. Draco's normally calm complexion was now meek and pale.
"Problems, dear?" Hermione asked innocently.
"None at all." Draco glared playfully at her. "But they could have warned us that it would do that."
Then they both stepped out of the booth and into the Ministry of Magic. Not really sure of where to go, Hermione and Draco decided to wait in front of a large Fountain. The Fountain contained large statues of a Wizard and Witch standing boldly as they were surrounded by a Centaur, a Goblin, and a House Elf - all with awed looks on their faces. Hermione observed the fountain with a doubtful look on her face.
"Look here," she said to Draco as she pointed at the large characters, "they've got it all wrong! Centaurs and Goblins don't look up to wizards and witches! Oh, and that poor House Elf! What were they thinking!?"
"Um… I'm not entirely sure, but your gaining a lot of attention. I say we should try to figure out where Potter is and get out of here. If the Daily Profit gets a picture of you, they'll have kittens!" Draco said nervously. People were beginning to stare and point at them. It wasn't every day you saw a perfectly healthy dead which, unless she were a ghost of course.
"We'd better get a move on, then. The hearing starts in thirty minutes!" Hermione informed him. "Lets go to the elevator. If we go to the Auror Headquarters, we should be able to find him."
"Good thinking!" Draco said as they rushed madly through the crowd to get to the elevators.
Once they were finally on, they watched as other various witches and wizards hurriedly entered and exited. Much to the couple's pleasure, many were to busy with their jobs to recognize the famous duo. But unfortunately for Draco, the memos seemed to be extremely attracted to him. Every time the elevator opened, his head was pelted by at least ten of the blasted things. By the time they got to 'Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services' Hermione was rolling on the floor with laughter and Draco was throwing various jinxes at the offending memos.
"Hermione, Draco, I was just about to come find you!" Harry's smiling face came into view. Then he looked at Draco's ripped suit. "What in Merlin's beard happened to you?"
"Memos." Draco replied moodily as he repaired his suit with his wand and Hermione erupted in another fit of giggles.
Um… ok." Harry smiled uncertainly. Then he gave Hermione a friendly hug. "We still have quite a bit of time. Why don't you two come with me to my office for a cup of tea?"
"Sounds good!" Hermione said cheerfully. When they got to Harry's office they took few seconds to look around. The walls were covered with posters anywhere from Quidditch to at-large wanted Wizards. There were even a few Muggle posters here and there. Next to an enchanted window at the far end of the office sat a desk with a name plate that read Harry James Potter, Head Auror. Harry motioned to the two chairs that were in front of it as he seated himself behind it. "Where is Neville at?" Hermione asked curiously.
"He is going to meet us in the courtroom. He had some notes to gather up." Harry explained. Hermione nodded in an understanding sort of way. But Draco looked at her oddly; she was being a little too cheerful for someone who was about to enter court. Something was up.
"Hermione, are you all right?" Draco asked carefully. He did not want her to have any mood swings.
"I'm fine. I'm great, actually." When both men looked at her as if she had grown two heads, she knew she needed to clarify herself. "Today is the day that I'm going to make sure Ronald pays for everything he did to me. Today he'll get justice." she said strongly.
"Don't worry, Hermione. We'll get him, I promise." Harry's eyes shone with honesty.
"He's right." Draco smirked as he put an arm around her. "The Weasel is going down!"
"Speaking of wich, it's about time we head down to the courtrooms." Harry said as he stood up.
"Do we have to take the elevator?" Draco practically whined. Harry nodded in such a way that you would have sworn he had said, 'Well, duh!' Draco shook his head and muttered "Damn, and I just fixed this suit too." Harry gave a curious look to Hermione who whispered 'memos' under her breath. Harry only smiled as he led them to the elevator, where sure enough, Draco was once again pelted by numerous memos.
"I really can't say that I know why they did that to you Draco." Harry was saying after the got off at the Department of Mysteries floor.
"I bet they just couldn't resist that Malfoy Charm he's always carrying on about." Hermione joked as Draco sent her a death glare. Then, realizing the stupidity of the conversation, they all busted up laughing.
There laughter soon died though, as they began walking down the spiral staircase that led to the courtrooms. When the reached Courtroom 10, Neville was standing outside of the door with a folder and the tape recorder that Draco had given him last time they had met.
"There you guys are! We've only got about five minutes before the doors open. The Wizengamot is really strict on tardiness, so I'm glad your early." Neville rambled. It was easy to tell he was excited. He really did love to be involved in big cases like this and to be an old friend's lawyer was like the icing on the cake for him. Anyone to see him couldn't help but smile.
But when the door behind him gave a small click and opened, it was all seriousness from then on. After they were sworn in, the four of them made their way to the left side of the room. Neville and Hermione were seated in the front, while Draco and Harry sat right behind them on the witness bench. Above them Hermione could see the Wizengamot members filing into the room. Her stomach plummeted when she saw all of the members with red hair. She decided to take interest in one of the walls instead.
Then the man the she dreaded the most entered the room. To say that Ronald Weasley looked pissed would be a serious understatement. He was positively radiating with hate when he saw Hermione sitting at the plaintiff's bench. "YOU FUCKING BITCH!" he shouted at her. "HOW DARE YOU FUCKING DO THIS TO ME!"
Some Aurors that were standing by immediately swarmed him until he calmed down. Hermione shivered as she remembered all of the terrible things she had to go through. But when she felt Draco give her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder, she suddenly felt more confident. She was no longer alone in this.
Hermione watched as a shrewd looking witch stood before the court. "Will the court please rise as the Percy Weasley, the Minister of Magic, takes his seat." They all stood and watched respectively as Percy entered the courtroom and took his seat. Then the witch spoke again. "This court is now in session on a matter of abuse with Hermione J. Granger versus Ronald A. Weasley. You may all be seated."
Hermione couldn't help but to feel like all eyes were drawn to her. Though she understood their reasons, she still wished that they'd find someone else to look at for a while. She watched as Neville stood up. Their side would go first.
"I'd like to call Miss Hermione Granger to the stands first." Neville said loudly so all of the Wizengamot could hear. There was a murmur of excited whispers throughout the room as she seated herself at the podium. Percy had to silence the court before they could continue. "Now, Miss Granger," Neville started. Is it true that you were engaged to Mr. Weasley?"
"Indeed, I was." Hermione answered. She was glad that he was starting out easy on her.
"Good, good. This must mean that you had strong feelings for him, am I correct?" Neville paced in front of her.
"Yes, in the beginning I did have feelings for him." she answered honestly.
"What made him change?"
"Well, I believe it all started when we couldn't agree on a wedding date. Ron wanted to get hitched right away, but I didn't want to. I wanted to wait until I knew I was ready. That was the advice my parents gave me anyway…before they died." Hermione's voice strained as she fought for control over her emotions. She refused to cry in front of all these people and she certainly wouldn't give him the pleasure.
"Go on, Miss Granger. Tell us about your first encounter in which your ex-fiancé acted against you." Neville urged her on.
"We were having another argument over the wedding dates, you see, but this time it was different. I've never seen Ronald angry like that. I especially didn't expect him to hit me!" Hermione said in a voice that was now angry. Then she seemed to be lost in thought.
"With the court's permission I'd like to play a tape that was recorded one night after Miss Granger was found by Mr. Malfoy. On it, she describes this incident and many others including how she managed to escape by staging he death." Neville asked. He didn't think it was a good idea for Hermione to be intimidated by all of these people during her testimony.
"Very well, Mr. Longbottom." Percy said with a wave of his hand.
"Thank you, Minister." Neville said as he pushed the 'play' button on the recorder. During the two hours that it played the whole courtroom seemed to get very cold. Everyone's eyes were on a very pale looking Ronald Weasley as they observed his reactions to the revelations on the tape. Every once in a while random witches and wizards could be heard gasping in an appalled manner. When the tape was finally done playing, Hermione looked at Neville.
"No further questions, our honor." Neville said as he sat down.
"Miss Brown, do you have any questions for the plaintiff?" Percy asked, still looking rather green from what he had just heard.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." Lavender Brown smirked. Hermione glared at her coldly. "Miss Granger, why did you stage your death? I mean it is quite odd. Why not seek help at the Ministry?"
"I was under control Lavender. I had no other choice." Hermione said flatly.
"No need to get touchy, Miss Granger. It was just a question." Lavender retorted. "But I must disagree with you. There is always another choice."
"Like dying from being beaten to death?" she replied cooly.
"No, like calling out for help."
"But without a wand what good is that? Until that Quidditch game came along I was his slave. I had no where to go and no one to see because he wouldn't let me." Hermione snapped.
"Sounds rather weak to me. Especially the part were you ended up without money. What ever happened to the 'Smartest Witch of the Century' act?"
"Objection!" Neville interjected. "She's antagonizing the witness!"
"Objection sustained. Keep it clean Miss Brown." Percy warned.
"Fine. Now, how did you get Mr. Malfoy to take you in?" Lavender questioned with a sly grin. "Did you do hi any, you know… favors?" she suggested.
"Objection!" Neville shouted once more. But this time Percy was curious. He had known that Hermione and Draco were once enemies, so he wanted to know why that had changed.
"Over ruled. Sit down Mr. Longbottom." Neville gave him a disbelieving look before doing as requested. "Kindly answer the question, Miss Granger. Did you or did you not do any personal favors for Mr. Malfoy?"
"I absolutely did no such thing!" Hermione said completely offended by such a ludicrous question.
"No further questions." Lavender said carelessly as she sat down next to Ron.
"Miss Granger, you may be seated." Percy informed her. "Neville, call up your next witness."
"I'd like to call Mr. Draco Malfoy to the stand." Neville said. Draco gave Hermione a reassuring look as he went to the podium.
"Now Mr. Malfoy, where did you find Miss Granger and in what condition was she in when you found her?" Neville asked casually.
"Well, I was on my way to get a drink at a pub called the Witch Hazel when she practically ran into me. We both fell to the ground because of the collision, you know? So anyway, I really can't say that I really recognized her until she spoke. Then when she realized it was me, she panicked and tried to apparate out of the place."
"Then what happened?" Neville asked.
"Well, I grabbed her right before she was able to and we ended up in this really disgusting looking alleyway. She tried to hex me next, but in her poor state she couldn't move fast enough so I accioed her wand."
"Describe the 'poor state' she was in, if you will."
"Of course. She wearing some extremely ragged clothes that looked like they hadn't been washed in ages. She was almost deathly skinny and she had scars all over her. I had never seen her in such a state in my entire life. Any decent man would have been worried."
"Then what happened?"
"After I finally convinced her to come with me, which was no easy feat mind you, I wanted to know what the hell had happened. I mean, she was supposedly dead, and here I had her alive and sitting in my living room. After I found out what had happened, I got her the help that she needed, I offered her a place to stay, and I got her the medical attention she needed."
"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. No further questions."
"Miss Brown?" Percy asked.
"Yes, your honor." She nodded and stood up. "Mr. Malfoy, you came from one of the most prejudice pureblood families of our time, am I correct?"
"Yes." Draco replied in a bored tone. Every idiot knew the answer to that question.
"So why the change of heart?" Lavender quirked her brow at him.
"The answer to that one is simple, really. After my parents had died and Potter had finally rid the world of the Dark Lord, I was free. I could do and believe anything I want. Life is a whole lot different when your not in constant fear of death." The courtroom went silent after he said these few words. Even Lavender seemed shocked by it. But, she of course quickly recovered.
"What are you to Miss Granger?"
"We haven't really discussed that yet." Draco said truthfully. "But I hope that she sees me as more then just a caring citizen."
"And just what do you mean y that?"
"Over the past few weeks that she's stayed with me I've gotten to know her and truly care for her." he paused a moment to look in Hermione's eyes. "You could say that I've grown to love her." There were a few gasps from the court but Hermione and Draco paid no attention to them. They only had eyes for each other. But their loving gazes were soon interrupted by another one of Ron's outbursts.
"THAT SLUT! IS SHE SLEEPING WITH YOU TOO, FERRET!?" Ron seethed. Once again he was hit by numerous charms to shut him up.
"No further questions." Lavender said in a worried voice as she watched the Aurors deal with her client.
"Next, Longbottom." Percy ordered as he watched his brother with disgust.
"I'd like to call Harry Potter to that stand." Neville declared. All eyes watched with anticipation as their savior walked to the podium.
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A/N: Long chapter, huh? Well that should make up for how long I made you guys wait. Schools finally out so I suspect that I'll be able to update sooner. Next time You'll hear Harry and Ron's testimonies. Enjoy!
-KKM
