Chapter 9: Trials
Wizengamot Trial Chambers, Ministry of Magic, London, England
November 27, 1981
"State your name." The voice of Bartimus Crouch Sr. demanded.
"Lucius Abraxas Malfoy." Lucius said from his position seated upon the chair before the Wizengamot. He wore a standard set of white robes given to him weeks ago, soon after he had been taken into custody and shuffled into a Ministry of Magic Holding Cell to await his trial on charges of in sighting rebellion against the government. He was chained to the chair; a move he did not think was truly necessary. He was a Malfoy, far from stupid. He was not going to try to bolt from the room with so many Auror's present who would love a chance to fire nasty spells at him. No he was a Malfoy and he knew how to play this game. It was politics and he was a political creature.
"Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, you are brought here before this august body to answer to charges of in sighting rebellion against this government, of torturing Muggles, and of bearing the Dark Mark." Amelia Bones read the counts against him. "How do you plead?"
Lucius looked up at the court around him and only briefly let his eyes wander over the men and women of the Wizengamot. Some longed to support him and that he would use. Others, like Albus Dumbledore wanted to see him receive the Dementor's Kiss. He knew why of course, Dumbledore was clever, too clever. He knew that letting a Malfoy live was a bad idea. He would see the line finished, even down to his little daughters if he could. Unlike most, Lucius held no delusions about Dumbledore.
He let his eyes reach the gallery and they locked upon the gray eyes of his wife. He held her gaze for several long moments before he uttered honest words to the court. "I plead guilty."
He heard the gasps of surprise. He knew from his spies that he was the first of the Death Eaters to issue a plea of guilty. He had truly shocked the court. He ignored the urge to look at the others in the court and instead kept his gaze focused upon the gray eyes of his wife. 'Cissa, his beautiful Narcissa was crying but she did not look away from him.
"Order." Came the cry of Madam Marchbanks.
The court settled and then Madam Marchbanks called out to him, forcing his gaze to turn to her and away from Narcissa. "Heir Malfoy, you are aware that you have just claimed to be guilty?" She asked with some surprise.
Lucius hung his head a moment as though ashamed but then he seemed to pull upon years of good breeding and sat up straighter and nodded to Madam Marchbanks. "I issue a plea of guilty because I am in fact guilty. I should be held accountable for my actions."
A murmur went through the crowd at his words.
"Tell us Heir Malfoy how you came to be a Death Eater." Madam Marchbanks demanded of him. The crowd settled, all too eager to hear just how he came to be in the service of He Who Must Not Be Named.
"I was seventeen the first time I met the man who styled himself as Lord Voldemort." Lucius spoke calmly. "I found him to be a rather charismatic figure. He spoke of wanting to make changes to the government. I liked some of his goals. I had often lamented that while I was a student at Hogwarts I was banned from celebrating the old practices. I could not visit the old shrines that still exist at Hogwarts. No one tends the old shrines anymore and they have fallen into decay. Instead of celebrating Samhain, I had to sit with children and watch them overindulge in sweets at a Muggle Feast known as a Halloween Feast. As a lover of history yourself Madam Marchbanks I am sure you could understand my turmoil at the loss of our culture. The government was passing more and more restrictions every week that made it illegal for those of us who cared about our past to live as we did just twenty years before. In the government's idea of making things easier for Muggle-born's they put a choke hold on Pure-blood's. Lord Voldemort talked of changing things, finding a way to ensure that those of us who kept to the Old Ways would still be able to keep to continue with our traditions."
"I can sympathize." Madam Marchbanks admitted freely. "So he lured you in due to your passion for the preservation of your history?" She asked of him.
Lucius nodded his head in agreement. "Yes. He was very charismatic. In many ways he reminded me of Headmaster Dumbledore when he spoke." Lucius said feeling quite sly as he saw the startled looks on many faces. "Headmaster Dumbledore is a very good man and he feels very passionately about the rights of people. He has often spoken in favor of the rights of Muggle-born's. He Who Must Not Be Named sounded quite similar when he spoke in favor of the rights of Witches and Wizards to know about the past and the Old Ways."
"I see." Madame Bones said with a slight frown. "Did you know that He Who Must Not Be Named would want you to kill Muggles or Muggle-borns?" She asked of him.
Lucius shook his head no and was thrilled to be able to admit that much was true. Voldemort had not made him aware that he would expect such from Lucius until after he was already a marked follower. "No, I did not know that he had such a violent agenda." Lucius admitted. "I am a Malfoy and as you may be aware of my family history, we are political animals. We like politics in one way or another and we have long served our community from various political posts in the Ministry of Magic. We have served our community faithfully. He Who Must Not Be Named engaged me from a political angle. He made me believe that he too was of a political mind and that the changes he wished to bring forth, he wanted to bring forth in a peaceful manner through the natural peaceful and political means within our government."
"When did you discover that He Who Must Not Be Named was not the politician that you had thought of him?" Madam Marchbanks asked of him.
"It was when I quite happily informed him that my wife, Narcissa, was pregnant once more. Narcissa and I have suffered the loss of several children but this time the Healer insisted that she go into confinement immediately and it seemed that everything was going well. Narcissa had passed through the first trimester with no problems. I finally let myself believe that everything would be alright and that I would not lose this child as well and that my wife would be well throughout the pregnancy and delivery." He explained to the court. "I met with He Who Must Not Be Named and other like-minded individuals and shared my good news. It was that night that I was taken into greater confidence and I learned just how truly militant the man's plans truly were." He looked down in shame.
"I wanted nothing to do with such militant means and I told him that. I tried to persuade him that he could not let himself do such things. That it might take years, even decades to make the changes that he so desired, but that it would be worth it over time." Lucius licked his dry lips as he looked up at the court. "I honestly thought I could persuade him. I honestly thought that he had just grown tired and desperate due to lack of progress. We all of us have moments of frustration and I let myself believe that in his case it had gone to a horrible extreme." Lucius shook his head. "It had not. No. It had been his plan all along but I had been too naïve to understand it." He sounded disgusted with himself.
"Then what happened Heir Malfoy?" Albus Dumbledore asked of him.
Lucius took a deep breath and continued. "I knew too much. Of course I knew too much and I was refusing to join him. I was sure he would kill me then and there. His followers spoke of it, their wands drawn and at the ready to kill me. I thought about Narcissa and worried about what would happen to her but I did not beg for my life. There would be no point. They would never trust me if I suddenly changed my mind due to my fear of death." Lucius explained. "He Who Must Not Be Named silenced his followers and then he told me that he would kill me but he believed I would be far more useful alive. He then cast the spell upon me." He fell silent and a shudder went through him with the memory.
The court was hanging on his every word. Lucius let them hang on the precipice, let them wait. He struggled with the memory of how it had felt for his mind to suddenly be violated with a word. He remembered how Voldemort had aimed his wand at him and said the word of the spell and then he had felt the dark presence in his mind, tearing into his memories, digging through his mind and studying his experiences. He had attempted to fight back, to throw the man from his mind, but his efforts had been for naught. There was no way he was strong enough to withstand the onslaught of Voldemort's power.
"What spell did He Who Must Not Be Named cast upon you?" Madam Marchbanks asked of him.
"Imperio." Lucius said it in a hoarse whisper. The court was eerily silent for several long moments and then the voices began to speak each over the other. Lucius did not try to make out the words. He looked up again to the gallery and locked his eyes with Narcissa. His sweet wife was crying and he knew then that she truly believed him. She now knew that his months of neglect, his affair, even being marked with Lord Voldemort's mark, were all due to his being under the Imperius Curse. He wished he could hold her and apologize properly. He wondered if he could beg the court to give him the chance to hold Narcissa and apologize to her before he was led away to Azkaban Prison.
He cast a swift glance to his father, seated beside 'Cissa. Abraxas face was perfectly blank. His father had a firm social mask and he would not give away his thoughts or feelings in this venue. While Lucius envied his father his social mask he despised not know what the older man was thinking. Regardless he trusted that his father would protect Narcissa and his little girls while he languished in prison. He had been permitted to speak with Abraxas only once while he had been in the holding cells. It had not been a private conversation, two Aurors had stood in listening to their every word. He had begged his father to swear to watch over 'Cissa and the girls and Abraxas had sworn to do so. He had also told his father that he never wanted 'Cissa to be permitted to set foot in Azkaban Prison. The idea of his beautiful love in that horrible place was intolerable.
"Heir Malfoy." Bartimus Crouch spoke over the din and the people began to settle down.
Lucius braced himself to deal with Bartimus Crouch. The man had been very ruthless in his persecution of Death Eaters.
"You pled guilty and yet you claim that he cast the Imperius Curse upon you." Bartimus Crouch began. "Why?"
Lucius looked ashamed even as he forced himself to meet the eyes of Crouch. "Because I did those things under the effects of the Imperius Curse. I hurt people that I never would have hurt. I did things I never would have done." He confessed with his voice full of shame and remorse. "I must be punished for the bad things that I did." He said in a voice that sounded full of resolve and strength. "I must atone for what I was made to do."
Sympathetic murmurs arose from the gathered crowd and he knew in that moment that he had won. He had won the popular vote. Crouch had thought to make an example of him and so had been willing to open this trial to the public. Lucius's trial was one of the first of the Death Eater Trials to be so open to the public. He somehow thought now that it would also be the last.
Crouch murmured with Marchbanks and also with Madame Bones. Then Crouch nodded and rose. "This court shall adjourn for two hours to review the evidence. It shall return with the verdict."
Lucius looked up once more at Narcissa and kept his eyes focused on her as the Aurors came to collect him and return him to a holding cell. He did not put up a fight and let himself be removed. He kept his dignity, his head held high. He was a Malfoy. The Malfoy Heir. He would weather this storm and come out the stronger.
As he sat in his Ministry Appointed Holding Cell, he went over ideas for how to improve his standing in society once more. He did not believe that he would serve a long sentence in Azkaban Prison. The public sentiment would not allow for him to serve more than a few months in that horrid place. So instead he would have to appear solemnly repentant and trying to find absolution for the sins he was forced to do.
He would give money and time to charities. He would give money to Saint Mungo's Hospital of Magical Maladies. He would gently politic for the Old Ways to be favored. That he would have to do delicately. Dumbledore favored the Muggle-born's and he preferred their stupid insidious little holidays.
It was a relief that Lord Voldemort had been defeated. He had been defeated by a toddler, Harry Potter, on the first birthday of his daughters Lyra and Arya. Lucius had felt the release of the curse upon him and it had left him feeling disoriented, as though he were awakening from a terrible dream. It had been more frightening to realize the dream was his reality.
That the Dark Lord was defeated on his daughter's birthday seemed a strange omen. He was probably being foolish. He was not the sort to believe in omens and portents of prophecy and yet he could not shake the thought that the defeat of the Dark Lord on his daughters first birthday held some sort of meaning.
He would have to take a little bit more of an interest in the education of his three daughters. He could not remember the last time he had held any of his three daughters. He felt a touch of guilt over the thought. He was not a good father to them. They found his father preferable to him. He had seen how Arya and Satyra would cling to Abraxas with Lucius in the same room with them. Lyra would stare at him as though watching his every movement. Of course she could not be though. She was a year old. Satyra was only five months old now.
He let his musings of his daughters go once the Auror's returned to take him to the court room. He acted once more like the model prisoner giving his guards no trouble to complain of. He was chained once more into the chair. Though once more he felt it exasperating. They had to know that it was unnecessary. Still he supposed there were some fools who might try to run away right into the spells of the Aurors.
He looked once more to the gallery and saw Narcissa smiling at him. It had been a long time since she had smiled at him in such a way and he felt triumphant that she believed in him. He forced himself to pay attention to the court when Crouch began to speak.
"It is the hard argued decision of this court that Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, Heir to House Malfoy is innocent of the charges of being a willing follower of He Who Must Not Be Named." Crouch sounded quite sour about the decision which told Lucius plainly that Crouch had wanted to convict him.
"Lucius Malfoy was a victim of the self-styled Lord Voldemort." Crouch continued. "This court grants him his pardon and thanks Heir Malfoy for being willing to take responsibility for actions that were beyond his own control. Court is now dismissed."
Lucius smiled as he felt the chains slither off of his body. He arose slowly as an Auror came to stand beside him. "Come Heir Malfoy and we shall get your wand and your clothes."
Lucius nodded politely to the Auror. "Thank you." He said politely. "I do appreciate the great care you and your fellow Auror's have taken of my person."
The man said nothing to that as he led him from the court room. Lucius was swiftly processed. His favorite pair of black dress robes was given to him to change into and he was happy to oblige. He was then led through the Auror Headquarters and past an angry sneering Alastor Moody. Lucius fought against the urge to smirk at Moody's angry expression and instead carried on following the Auror to the Ministry Atrium. Several members of the press were there waiting for him. The Auror then presented him with his wand and Lucius felt relief to be able to hold it once more.
"Lucius!" The voice of Narcissa called out to him and he turned to his left toward her voice to see her fighting her way through the crowd. He smiled at her as members of the crowd made way for her and she came to him. Knowing the press was watching them Lucius gripped her tightly about the waist and then he lifted her spinning her in the safety of his arms. He slid her body down against his encasing her in his arms and then before the people milling about in the Ministry Atrium and before the cameras of the press he thoroughly kissed his wife, devouring her lips and drinking deeply from her as though he were a man dying of thirst and she was a well of the sweetest nectar.
A soft moan rumbled in her throat and Lucius groaned in response. He needed to curb this wild behavior now. He could not very well take his wife on the floor of the Ministry Atrium. He reluctantly broke the kiss but pressed his brow to 'Cissa's. "I love you." He murmured. "I am sorry Cissa. So sorry."
"Oh Lucius!" Narcissa murmured to him even as the press kept taking pictures of them and members of the press tried leaning closer to understand what they were saying to one another. "I should have known. I should have realized. You became distant and you did not seem like yourself even when you visited me. I should have realized that he had done that to you. If I had realized, then your father and I might have been able to help you." She murmured swiftly."
Lucius shook his head in the negative, enjoying touching her, enjoying having her back in his arms and adoring him once more. "No 'Cissa. You are not to blame. Nor is father. It was me. I was foolish, naïve. I should have never trusted someone I did not know well so very easily."
"Let's go home Lucius." She murmured to him. "We have a lot of catching up to do."
There was a plea in her voice and a promise in her eyes and Lucius was all too happy to give in and allow her to take him home to Malfoy Manor.