Chapter 21

Once I'd returned to my seat, both mine and Draco's witness statements dealt with, things seemed to speed up. Harry was called up as George's main character witness next and asked to recount his own interpretation of his brother-in-law's behaviour and personality before and after Fred's death.

I frowned slightly at the fact that any mention of the war was omitted from the Wizengamot's questioning but was more than a little appeased when Harry stared challengingly back at every turn and said what they would not. They could hardly argue with the Chosen One over how much of an effect the war had had on those who had fought in it and on those who had lost their loved ones.

It all seemed to be going smoothly, I could see from the faces of most of the Wizengamot that they were reacting the way we wanted them too, they were beginning to empathise. It didn't take long for Harry to be finished, direct as ever when he was fighting for what he believed to be right.

Then the last witness for the case was being called, the Healer from St Mungo's that the Wizengamot had chosen to evaluate George's mental state. He was relatively young, with sandy-brown hair and a look of someone only just learning how daunting life can be, but trying to appear as if he had figured it out long ago. I hadn't met him before of course, neither had anyone else as according to court rules in case someone tried to sway his judgement.

I was fairly confident that he would conclude that George should not be held entirely responsible for his actions, however a feeling of apprehension was inevitable as this last testimony would be the deciding factor in the case. At least it should all be over soon and despite my instinctual worry, I couldn't really imagine that anyone could come to the conclusion that George was completely mentally healthy.

"If you could state for the court your findings on the state of Mr. George Weasley's mental health please, as according to the interviews you conducted with him Mr. Gullen,"

"Yes, sir," he began, licking his lips and clearing his throat briefly, a small betrayal of his nervousness. "After an extensive interview process it is my opinion that Mr. Weasley was fully cognitive of his actions and that far from being borne out of any mental delusions or instabilities, they came solely from a almost vicious desire for revenge. In fact I would say that he was as sane as you or me, merely less moral"

Tense silence followed, the pressure of the air seemed to intensify tenfold within the few moments it had taken for Gullen to complete his sentence and I suddenly felt as if I couldn't get air into my lungs fast enough. My eyes simply froze, staring at him as if I were willing him to change his mind whilst behind them my brain tried to process what I'd heard, flares of synapses producing half-formed thoughts that turned to ash almost as soon as they began.

It was only chance, therefore, that I caught it, everyone else was looking around at others. As soon as the courtroom began to erupt with the noise of a small crowd all talking at once, Gullen's gaze shifted nervously to a figure sitting on the far side of the room and an almost imperceptible exchange of nods was made.

Everything started to make sense again, he was lying to the court, if he really made a proper evaluation of George he most likely came to the same conclusions as everyone else. For some reason though, Gullen was now conspiring to send George to Azkaban.

Why?

If I can just figure that out then I may be able to present my theory to the Wizengamot and stop Gullen's testimony from being accepted.

A renewed sense of purpose quickly overtaking the lost helplessness of a moment ago, I attempted to scrutinise the figure on the far side of the room, trying to guess who it was.

"What is it?" I heard Draco say , so close to my ear that I could feel his breath, presumably he was trying not to attract attention to the fact that I had noticed something but it still managed to send a shiver of warmth down my spine. Ignoring it, I answered in a whisper from the side of my mouth,

"He nodded to someone on that side of the room, think about it, the only way a person could come to the conclusion that George is perfectly sane is if they were utterly incompetent or lying and personally I don't think the Wizengamot would have chosen someone so completely stupid."

"True, so who is the person he nodded to?"

"The man sitting three seats in from the left as far as I could tell, can you recognise him? He seems familiar but he's too far away, I can't see him properly so I can't think of a name." I muttered in frustration, risking a small glance at Draco while he looked, trying to discern from his expression whether he knew the person or not. He only seemed slightly puzzled but otherwise passive, it could be incredibly annoying how well he managed to school his features sometimes.

"I'm not sure, I have an idea but unless I get a closer look I don't want to make any assumptions,"

"Alright, we'll have to figure out a way to do that then, in the meantime, how on earth are we supposed to convince Cartinson that Gullen's testimony is false? We can't let George go to Azkaban, we just can't." I whispered vehemently, my eyes now fixed on the Weasley's, my extended family. Molly looked like her innards had just been ripped out.

"I know, we won't. Trust me, I'm going to try something and I hope to Merlin it works," Draco answered soothingly, only a small bit of worry seeping into his voice at the end. Turning my head, I watched as he actually stood up and cleared his throat to catch the attention of the Wizengamot and in fact the whole court.

"I apologise for the interruption Minister Cartinson, but would it be possible to take a small break from the proceedings? I have just received news of some new evidence that has come to light and I wish to brief you on it before it is presented to the whole court."

I almost had to stifle a small laugh that threatened to break loose when I watched the affect Draco's words had on everyone, it seemed there was one wave of uproar after another in this case. Most people just seemed confused, others angry but most satisfyingly of all, Gullen seemed scared.

Harry leaned in next to me, noticing that I wasn't quite as surprised by the turn of events as everyone else, "Mind filling me in on what you two have got hidden up your sleeves?"

"I'll tell you in a minute," I whispered back, "Let's just see if this works first."

As I watched, Cartinson looked at Draco as if trying to assess what it was he had in mind and her shrewd eyes glanced briefly at Gullen before appearing to reach a decision. Ignoring her chattering colleagues, most of whom were divided between looking disapproving and looking curious, she nodded, confirming her answer before she had even said anything.

"Alright Mr. Malfoy, I'll agree to a fifteen minute break but if you're only wasting my time, I have no qualms over banning you from my court and striking any testimony you have given from the records."

Draco smiled courteously and bowed his head slightly, "Of course Minister,"

"Meet me in the adjoining office in a few minutes, the rest of you are dismissed for the time being,"

Noise erupted around the room as everyone began to move from their places, discussing the turn of events as they went. Realising this might be my chance, I snuck around a baffled Harry and made my quickly through the crowds whilst trying to be as inconspicuous as possible and keeping my eyes fixed constantly on my target.

With quick shuffling steps I dodged around people in the crowd until finally, I was near him. It only took a glance from this close to realise who it was and everything seemed to click into place. So as not to draw any more attention to myself than I may have already, I continued walking out of the court without going back to find Harry and Draco. I could trust that they would find me outside but I had to hope that I would find Draco and be able to tell him before he was called in to see Cartinson.

The corridor outside the courtroom was in chaos when I reached it and no longer caring who saw me I pushed past people frantically, casting a small spell that allowed me to see above everyone's heads. Thankfully it didn't take too long and I located both Harry and Draco standing near the stairs talking together.

"It was Calhoun's brother, Seth" I said when I reached them, assuming that Draco had already explained what I had seen to Harry as he showed no confusion.

"Calhoun? As in the first guy who was taken? I heard he wasn't even that involved in the war," Harry commented.

"He wasn't, it was Seth who was actually a Death Eater but he went into hiding as soon as any rumour of the vigilante group started to spread. My guess is George's group caught Calhoun and hoped Seth would follow. He didn't of course, he cares far more about his own skin than that of his family." Draco answered

"But why is he here if not for revenge?" I asked,

"He may be heartless when he thinks he's in danger but now that he's not, he'll do everything he can to avenge the damage he feels has been done to his family's pride. He wants to see George shunned from Wizarding society. Putting him in Azkaban is the most effective way of doing that whilst making sure he'll suffer at the same time," I gave Draco an inquisitive look and he shrugged slightly, "I met him once before, he may be quite young but he enjoys clinging to the oldest ways of pureblood thinking."

"I don't imagine there's a way of talking him out of it then, if he's like that?" Harry asked, Draco just shook his head.

"Then our only option is to find proof that he's influenced Gullen's testimony while Draco stalls for time," I said, eyeing a man who looked fairly official making a beeline towards Draco.

"Mr. Malfoy, Minister Cartinson is ready to see you now if you could come this way please?" he asked as he arrived in front of us, confirming my suspicion, Draco nodded to him and with a swift meaningful glance to us, was gone.

My gaze lingered for a moment before I turned to Harry, "I guess we have work to do," I said, and Harry smiled slightly.

"I can't see how we'll fail when you've got that glint of resolve in your eye," he teased.

Overdue I know, but I'm on christmas holidays now so I have a break from essays! Finally! As brilliant as uni's been, finding space between work, friends and recovering from hangovers isn't the easiest thing :/ but I have my chair and I have my metaphorical superglue and I will be glueing myself down till I get through all the random things I've been meaning to write during the next three weeks, which should include more quicker updates of this :) hope the slightly longer chap makes up for the wait this time and Happy Solstice for yesterday, (or the day before rather given its past midnight,) for those who celebrate it and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it for Friday and Happy Holidays for those who don't celebrate either :) ~xx~