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Let Love In

Otter

Since none of us were at Hogwarts for this year, Harry, Ron and I just watched everyone else testify against the Carrows. When I heard Teri's testimony, I couldn't help be thankful that I wasn't at Hogwarts this past year. I knew that if I'd been at Hogwarts, I would've gotten detention for no good reason and Ron probably would've gotten himself beaten up--or worse. Going on the Great Horcrux Hunt is better than being Cruciated any day.

Neville, Ginny and Luna were called up after Draco sat down. None of them looked at the Carrows as they took their seats, but Luna tossed her hair over one shoulder and Ginny fiddled with her silver bangles.

"Mr. Longbottom, as leader of the renegade group called Dumbledore's Army, did you have any knowledge of the detentions?"

"Yes. Snape sort of warned us over the blog that detentions would get more severe, but none of us knew how bad it really was until Draco told us over our blog."

"I always knew he was a traitor," Alecto said.

"No you didn't!" Ginny said. "You don't even know what you had for breakfast this morning!"

"Of course I do!"

"Then what did you have?" Luna said.

"Toast."

"It was porridge, you dolt!" Amycus said. I'm sure that if he hadn't been chained, he would've smacked her.

"Order, order," Shacklebolt said when he could control his laughter. "So. You all knew about the detentions."

"Yes."

"And, as purebloods, were any of you ever subjected to the Cruciatus Curse?"

All of them said no.

"When we got detention, they beat us up," Neville said. Spectators in the courtroom gasped and muttered.

"Beat you up?"

"Yes. It started around...well, around Easter break, I guess. None of us were doing what they wanted us to, so to try and get us to comply, they'd punch us a few times."

Shacklebolt looked at the Carrows, who looked away. "Did you witness the Carrows baiting Muggleborns into detention?"

They all said yes. "What Drake--Draco--said about that poor kid getting detention for farting in class is true," Neville said. "I was there."

"They did worse than that," Luna added. "You know how he told you about the quiz? Well, they'd do stuff like that all the time. They'd catch a Muggleborn in the hallway, reprimand them for something insignificant, then give them detention when they were late for class."

"Yeah, or they'd bump into them in the hallway and knock all of their stuff out of their hands, and then say it was their fault," Ginny cut in. "They were mean."

"Draco did it, too!" Alecto said. "He'd go up to Mudbloods and call them names!"

"He called me 'filthy Mudblood,' which I've heard a billion times, so it doesn't mean anything anymore" Teri said from the sidelines. "And the rest of the time he'd say stuff like 'my wet shoes bark at the moon--'"

"--which is really only an insult if you're criminally insane," Neville finished. "Draco was on our side all along."

Shacklebolt thanked them, then went back to his stand. "Well, given this mountain of evidence, I say it merits a life sentence in Azkaban. What do you think?" he said to the wizengamot. They all nodded and murmured their agreement.

"All in favor...?"

Unanimously, they raised their hands. Shacklebolt nodded, and the dementors came and took them away. Neither seemed able to say anything, but the DA had plenty to say.

"See ya later, losers!"

"So long, fatsos!"

"Thanks for the memories, even though they weren't so great!"

The last one was from Draco, and everyone laughed. Of course, our laughter died when the dementors brought in the next Death Eater: Lucius Malfoy.

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Since I had been locked in the Malfoys' cellar for four months, I had to testify against Lucius, too. Right away I knew that this trial wouldn't be fun like the Carrows' had been, although the look on his face when he saw Draco dressed like a hippie was priceless. Me and Draco were called up together, so I just stayed where I was as he read the charges: two counts of murder and three of using the Cruciatus Curse to get information.

"Miss Lovegood," Shacklebolt said. Court procedure was starting to get a little annoying. "While imprisoned in the Malfoys' cellar, did you overhear anything?"

"Not at first," I said. "At first, I was too busy trying to escape. Later on, though, I heard stuff--mostly mundane, about the weather and whatnot."

"Did you hear anything...incriminating?"

"Well, one day I heard him come in, and he and Bellabit--Bellatrix Lestrange--were near the cellar, and she asked 'Is he dead?' and he said yes, and she said 'The Dark Lord should be pleased,' and he said 'I hope so.'"

"Do you have any idea why he'd hope He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would be pleased with him?"

I thought about saying "Well, he's a friggin' Death Eater," but Draco interrupted with "You have to understand that my family wasn't exactly on the best of terms with Phi--You-Know-Who. Not that it excuses anything, but I'm guessing Dad was just afraid for his life."

"You're guessing?"

"Dad didn't really tell me much when he wrote me at Hogwarts."

"Did you find out more when you came home for Christmas and Easter?"

We both knew he did, but I knew he wouldn't want to say so. "Yes," he said very quietly. "Yes, I did."

I've never seen Lucius Malfoy look so betrayed. "Draco..."

"Mum told me about it when I got home. It was a few days later, 'cause I had the flu, but she...she told me that Dad had gotten some information that would help us, and that one of the people who'd been getting in our way was dead. Not that I was happy about it, but...you know..."

"You were plenty happy about it," Lucius snapped.

"No I wasn't. I was acting."

I guess he was too tired or shocked or something to argue, because everyone was quiet for a minute or two. Finally, Shacklebolt thanked us, and we sat down. Draco put his head in his hands.

"I can't believe it," he moaned. "I'm sending my own dad to prison."

Nobody said anything as Harry, Ron and Hermione were called up.

Yes, I'm making up charges based on what we know of Lucius and Phil. How did you know?