Disclaimer: As normally mentioned, I just own this fanfic. The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling, no copyright intended!
Chapter Fourteen
After half an hour passed by, everybody filed back into the courtroom to get Dumbledore's and Lockhart's trials out of the way. During the recess, Harry was outraged to learn that Dumbledore (under the effects of Veritaserum) had confessed to have been paying the Dursleys to 'look after him,' on the condition that they treated him like one of their own. Amelia revealed to Harry that when Dumbledore also confessed to have known that Harry's godfather, Sirius Black was supposed to get custody and that the Dursleys weren't even named guardians, she assured Harry that a trial for Sirius would happen soon (since he never received one). Once everyone was back inside the courtroom, the court session resumed (with Minister Fudge banging the gavel three times to signal it). Dumbledore looked much older than his debatable age of 150, and he was in gray prisoner robes instead of his usual colourful ones. He was put into the defendants chair and placed in magic suppression shackles.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," said Cornelius. "How do you plead?"
"Guilty." stated Albus.
Harry was surprised that his now former headmaster was pleading guilty. He thought Dumbledore would've tried the same tactic the Dursleys did during their trials. Charges against Albus were multiple counts of child endangerment, kidnapping Harry, multiple counts of bribery (for paying the Dursleys to look after Harry), ignoring what the Potters' will mentioned, and multiple counts of corruption. Then the Wizengamot went over the charges so they could decided on Dumbledore's punishment. Then Augusta handed a piece of parchment to Cornelius.
"Well, Albus," said Cornelius, after he finished reading what was on the parchment. "Since you decided to plead guilty, it has been decided that you will be sentenced to 45 years in the Gringotts prison mines instead of Azkaban."
Cornelius banged his gavel to signal the end of Dumbledore's trial and the start of his sentence. Albus was taken from the defendant's chair and led away. Then Gilderoy was brought in and placed in the defendant's chair and secured with magic suppression shackles.
"Gilderoy Lockhart, how do you plead?" asked Cornelius.
"Not guilty!" said Gilderoy in overconfidence.
Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation, as did everyone else. Charges against the incompetent former defence teacher included unauthorized healing of Harry's arm that resulted in his bones being removed, harassment of Harry Potter, assault on a Hogwarts student (though indirectly, since tossing the snake into the air at the Dueling Club angered it to contemplate attacking Justin Finch-Fletchley), multiple counts of fraud and multiple counts of plagiarism (both of those were admitted by Lockhart under the influence of Veritaserum).
"We find Gilderoy GUILTY!" chorused the Wizengamot.
"Gilderoy Lockhart," stated Cornelius. "You are hereby sentenced to fifteen years in the Gringotts prison mines, then another fifteen years in Azkaban!"
The minister banged his gavel, thus signalling the beginning of Lockhart's sentence. The fraud was complaining that he should've been let off the hook (as all celebrities do, or so he thought) as he was taken away. As a result of being exposed as a fraud and a plagiarist, Lockhart was also consequently stripped of his achievements. After returning to Hogwarts, word about Lockhart's plagiarism and fraudulence was quickly spreading. All the teachers were ecstatic and relieved to hear about that, and the punishment Lockhart received. As Harry, Hermione, Neville, Lee and the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch players returned to Gryffindor Tower to kill some time before lunch, they spotted Ron (whose face was bright-red in extreme embarrassment) trying to rip up some parchment.
"Why do I keep getting mash notes?" Ron ranted. "That Bulstrode just won't relent! Those mash notes seem to appear outta nowhere when I sleep!"
"Relax, Ickle Ronnykins," chorused Fred and George in unison. "It's nothing to be ashamed of! Everyone knows you have the hots for Millicent!"
"Yeah, it's no wonder your face was bright-red!" Lee blurted out.
"Tell us, Ronald, what kind of ring will you pick out for Millicent?" taunted Harry.
"What about where you'll take her for the honeymoon?" Oliver joined in on the taunt.
"How many children will you and Millicent have?" Neville also joined in.
Ron couldn't take it anymore, so he ran out of Gryffindor Tower (with the mash notes still in his hands) and tried to find an isolated part of the castle to escape the taunts and steer clear of Millicent. This, however made Ron realize that he shouldn't have left the tower, because he had crossed paths with Millicent, much to her delight and Ron's disgust.
"I see you've been enjoying my mash notes, Ronnie," said Millicent with a smile on her face. "Which one is your favourite?"
Ron didn't answer the question and instead, he turned around and ran off. But Millicent was in tow, much to the amusement of the students who were witnessing the ordeal. Ron carelessly tossed the mash notes away as he continued running off in hopes that Millicent would see them and pick them up. Unfortunately for him, Millicent still continued the pursuit (since she knew she could just give Ron more mash notes). All too soon, lunchtime was approaching and the student body began to mosey over to the Great Hall. While on their way to the Great Hall, Harry, Neville and the Gryffindor pranksters came across Draco and he had Daphne pinned against a wall. Pansy was watching it gleefully, while throwing occasional glares at Daphne.
"What're you doing, Malfoy?!" Harry demanded.
"Ah, Potter," said Draco smugly, once he turned his attention to Harry. "I'm glad you strolled by and it was to tell you that you lost and I won!"
"I seriously doubt that," said Harry irritably. "And having Daphne pinned to a wall? You've just barked up the wrong tree once more!"
"I'll prove to you that I'm making the right choice, Potter!" said Draco with arrogance in his voice.
He put his lips up to Daphne's and kissed her, right in front of Harry (who couldn't believe what he had just witnessed). Even Neville, Fred, George and Lee were watching in utter shock. Daphne was clearly trying to break free from Draco's clutches by squirming, but he tightened his hold to prevent 'his girl' from escaping. Daphne kicked Draco in the groin with her knee, forcing him to loosen his grip.
"Oooohhhhhh!" Draco squealed as he covered his groin with his hands.
Pansy angrily tried to come to Draco's defence by throwing Daphne onto the stone floor. As Pansy's hand touched the shoulders, Daphne quickly turned around, grabbed one of Pansy's wrists and proceeded to twist it.
"AHHHHHH-AHHH-AHHHHHHHH!" Pansy cried out, squeezing her eyes shut tightly as a crunch-like sound was heard.
Then she grasped her injured wrist once Daphne let go. Daphne was far from finished, since she punched Pansy in the stomach for good measure. Draco recovered a bit to look up and see Daphne wiping her lips with her arm (much to his shock) and walking up to Harry. Draco couldn't believe that Daphne started giving Harry a smile when she walked up to him, and Harry returning the smile. Then Daphne kissed Harry on the lips, much to his excitement and Draco's fury. Harry was blushing when he and Daphne stopped kissing, while Draco's face was red with anger. Harry felt his legs giving out because of his excitement from kissing Daphne and he fell backwards, but luckily Fred and George caught him before he could risk suffering a head injury. Draco got up and started stomping over to Daphne, until…
"What is going on here?" asked Professor Snape as soon as he strolled by.
"It was Draco and Pansy, professor," stated Daphne. "They cornered me just to give Draco the advantage. Then when Harry and his friends strolled by, Draco kissed me on the lips without my consent, in front of Harry especially! Then when I retaliated by kicking Draco in self-defence, Pansy tried to throw me to the ground, which forced me to retaliate in self-defence again."
Harry, Neville, Fred, George and Lee nodded their heads when Daphne finished. Professor Snape turned his attention to Draco and Pansy, and gave them a nasty glare. For the first time ever, Draco and Pansy were looking utterly terrified (as shown when they widened their eyes).
"Well, congratulations you two, you've just earned yourselves a trip to the isolation room in my office!" said Snape sarcastically. Then he continued in an angry and disappointed voice. "You'll be eating your meals and be spending the rest of the day there, too. You also won't be going back to the Slytherin common room tonight. Now go!"
Snape motioned with his thumb to prove to Draco and Pansy that he meant business. The two bigoted Slytherins nodded their heads uneasily and started reporting to Snape's office, getting more and more scared by the second. As they walked away, Draco and Pansy felt their lives flashing before their very eyes. After Professor Snape finished checking over the others, he started heading to the Great Hall.
'I do wonder what may have happened with Mr. Potter!' thought the potions master. 'He looked like his body had given out and fell backwards. The Weasley twins holding him up must be proof.'
Once they made it to the Great Hall, Harry and Daphne decided to join Tori at the Ravenclaw table (with Tracey joining them not long after). Neville went to join Hannah at the Hufflepuff table while Fred, George and Lee joined the Gryffindor chasers at the Gryffindor table. Tori pulled out a Daily Prophet article from her pocket.
"Daph, you and Harry need to read this!" said Tori ecstatically, handing the parchment containing the article to her sister. "Daddy sent our house elf to me to give it to me! He thought you and Harry wanted to be surprised by it."
Daphne took the article and showed it to Harry. They started laughing as they began reading it, and it said:
Lucius Malfoy, Dead!
Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, age 38, was found dead in a Ministry holding cell in the early hours of February 25th. A bed sheet was found wrapped around his neck, and Lucius' face had a dark, pale colour. His body was taken to St. Mungo's Hospital For Magical Maladies And Injuries, where attempts to revive him proved unsuccessful and Lucius was pronounced dead at 9:00 AM. His death has been reported to have been a suicide. Lucius was awaiting trial for his crimes in regards to his connection to a strange diary that had been in Ginevra Weasley's possession for most of the Hogwarts school year. Narcissa Malfoy (nee Black) declined comment on her late husband's death.
"Looks like Luci couldn't handle the pressures of taking responsibility for his actions!" Daphne deduced.
"Pretty much," stated Harry. "But good riddance for trying to discredit the Weasleys."
"Yep, but the weaselette got herself into redundant trouble for trying to frame Hermione for her wrongdoings," said Tori. "But ole Luci committing suicide, that was taking the easy way out."
"A death sentence is also too easy," said Tracey. "Luci should've been sentenced to manual labour in the Gringotts prison mines, like Dumbledore and Lockhart."
"That may have been a sentence he was likely to face," Harry guessed. "After all, he hated to do things the muggle way, so what better way to sentence him to something he would've dreaded!"
Ron still didn't make it to the Great Hall for lunch, and Millicent was absent as well. This led the student body into guessing that they may have found an empty classroom or something to snog. Fred and George saw that as an opportunity to taunt Ron once they were all back in Gryffindor Tower. Harry and Daphne also began telling Tracey and Tori about what Draco and Pansy did and how Professor Snape gave them a paralyzing glare once he realized what had happened. The Ravenclaws sitting nearby were the first to hear and they began talking about what fate Professor Snape possibly had in mind for Draco and Pansy. It didn't take long for word to quickly spread throughout the Great Hall and the students were giggling like crazy.
After lunch ended, Harry returned to Gryffindor Tower to wait and see if Ron would turn up. For the same reasons, the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team (along with Lee, Neville and Hermione) also returned to their common room. It was a few minutes after walking back into Gryffindor Tower when the portrait guarding the entrance opened up again and in walked Ron. He was wobbling around as if he was losing his balance and his hair was all messy, much to the amusement of all who happened to be in the common room.
"So, how did the snogging session with Millicent go?" asked Harry in a taunting manner.
"I wasn't… snogging… that… snake!" Ron wheezed.
"Sure you weren't, Ickle Ronnykins!" said the twins sarcastically. Then they taunted Ron once more. "Maybe you were also enjoying her poetry that she more than likely read to you!"
"No I wasn't," said Ron hurriedly. "I was dre-eading every second of it!"
"Ha, you paused for a second when you said the word 'dreading,' Ronald," Oliver mocked. "So you must've been enjoying it!"
"You know," said Harry slyly. "Maybe I can talk to Professor Snape and McGonagall to see if we can invite Millicent in, so she can read the poetry for you in front of all of us!"
"If not," said Hermione, joining in on Harry's idea. "We can always talk to them about having Millicent actually read the poetry to you in the Great Hall during meal times!"
Ron screamed and ran up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, much to the amusement of all in the common room. They were all just rolling around on the floor, laughing in hysterics. Harry was able to relax and have fun, then he started revisiting the memory of Daphne kissing him on the lips and how nice it felt (which was making him grin). Harry still had no idea that there were still some surprises waiting for him.
To be continued!
Author's note: I'd like to thank the user 'Jeff Is Me' for suggesting that Draco kiss Daphne on the lips, have her retaliate by kicking him, and then Daphne kissing Harry on the lips, making him blush and Draco turning red with anger.