Chapter 25: The Trial

The following day was one full of tension as Hope ate breakfast in the kitchen, knowing full-well what was going to happen today. Her parents had told her that she would be expected to be there, as she was a key witness in the case. Allison would be there briefly, but only to testify and then return to St. Mungo's. Hope was nervous for a number of reasons.

One, she had no idea what to expect. She knew nothing about the Wizengamot or what would happen. She hated public speaking, and Hope knew that they'd put her in the center of the room and have to tell them what happened to her; something she didn't want to think about at all. Her whole life, her parents had protected her from the reporters cornering her and questioning her for the paper. This would be the first time she would speak for herself.

Second, she'd have to talk about Drew, and she'd have to watch her mother as she talked about her. She knew that her mother carried a terrible guilt with her, and that she personally blamed herself for bringing Drew into their lives. She had heard her father try to dissuade her from such thoughts, but it seemed not even he could help her. On top of this, she wasn't eager to relive her time at Malfoy Manor.

Her father came into the kitchen, dressed in emerald robes. "Hope, you'll need to go get dressed in your nice robes, please. We need to be at the Ministry in an hour." Hope thought he looked stressed.

"Yes, Dad." She shoved the rest of her toast into her mouth and hurried from the kitchen. She knew that he was under a lot of stress today, and didn't want to further agitate him.

"Harry, I'm going to drop Ben off at my Mum's," Hope heard her mother call from upstairs. As Hope headed into her bedroom, she thought about how much she envied her little brother. Having been with the Aurors for a long period of time while the fight was going on, they already had his testimony. He was too young to present him before the Wizengamot anyway.

Hope shut her door and quickly went to her closet to get out her good blue robes. They were a pretty dark blue colour. She pulled them on and then went to her vanity, plopping herself down onto the little bench. She stared at her reflection for a long moment, wishing she didn't look so tired. She had dark circles under her eyes and a haunted look reflected in her eyes.

With a sigh, she began brushing her hair and then pulling it back into a simple ponytail. Straightening her robes, she stood and hurried back to her closet to find her good black dress shoes. Once they were on and buckled, she cleaned up her bedroom for lack of anything better to do. She was too anxious to read a book, and yet she didn't want to just wait around for her father to tell her it was time to go.

She brushed her teeth, and then returned to her bedroom to make her bed. She'd finished fluffing her pillows when her mother called her name from downstairs. With a deep breath to calm herself, Hope left her bedroom and descended the stairs.

"You'll go with your father," her mother told her in a dull voice. "We'll disapparate in."

Hope opened the front door, and with her parents behind her, they walked out into the bright sunshine and went straight out to the disapparating point on the edge of the property. When they arrived at the small maple tree where the wards ended, Hope took her father's arm and with a loud crack, she vanished alongside him.

The Ministry was buzzing with activity, as always, but there was a heavy tension in the air. Most people stopped to watch the Potters walk past but this time, Hope didn't care. She heard murmurings and felt people staring and saw them pointing, but she didn't care. Since coming back alive from Malfoy Manor, she realized that people liked to gossip about the legacy of the Potters. And while she felt it should annoy her, it was nice to know who she was. It was nice to know that she had not only lived up to expectations, but she had formed her own identity by surviving.

Hope glanced at her parents who both wore serious expressions as they walked across the Atrium. She noted that they walked a distance apart, and that they seemed very rigid in their postures. She wondered if they were mad at each other.

The trial was to be held in the largest room that they had, owing to the sheer number of people attending the trial. The room was a buzz of noise as Hope and her parents entered. They were quickly ushered to the front row in the center of the tiered seats. Lexy came in with her mother shortly after, and Allison and her mother, about five minutes later.

Five minutes to the trial's beginnings, the officials of the Wizengamot had taken their seats and Aurors entered, taking positions around the room for security. There were plenty of people here that she didn't recognize, including some that she thought were just Ministry-affiliated gawkers who had come to watch.

The Minister for Magic was a middle-aged wizard with short black hair and prominent features. He had piercing blue eyes, a strong jaw and a muscled body beneath his expensive formal robes. He raised his wand and with a shot of red sparks, issued quiet.

"Calling this court to order, Minister for Magic, Jonathan Portakus, and the Wizengamot, on this day of January 1st will hear the case of one Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy has been accused of the following: high-treason in the form of Death Eater activity, the abduction of former Ministry-employed witch Miss Isabella Coy, as well as an accomplice in her murder. Second-degree murder of Miss Drew Hennold and the kidnapping of Mr. Benjamin Potter."

Three more Aurors entered through a side-door with Draco Malfoy in-between them. He wore silver bands around his wrists and plain black robes. He was brought before the Wizengamot, his face in a hard line.

"Mr. Draco Malfoy, son of former, deceased Death Eater Lucius Malfoy: with the charges pressed against you, how do you plead?"

There was a small pause before Draco answered in a clear, grave voice. "Guilty."

There was a murmur of interest.

"And do you intend to plead your case, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I do."

The Minister nodded; his face a professional mask. "Present your case to the court."

Draco was led over to a seat in the center of the room, where he sat with his back to Hope and the viewers, but facing the Wizengamot. He seemed very small before the rows of people staring down at him, scrutinizing and forming their judgements before he'd even opened his mouth.

"I plead guilty in the charges laid against me. I was under the charge of Drew; she issued the orders to kidnap both of the Potter children, and to fight against them and whoever stopped us. I realized too late that she was using us... and I turned against her. I saved my own daughter and then killed Drew before she killed Harry Potter and his daughter."

Draco paused to let the Wizengamot process his statement before he added. "I'm guilty of the crimes, but I would hope that my actions can at least earn me some leeway in terms of my daughter."

This startled the Minister ever so slightly that it broke through his tone and expression. "And what terms would you be like to propose?"

Draco turned slightly in his seat, his eyes finding Lexy in the front row, his face unreadable. He turned back and answered in a hopeful voice, "Weekly, if not monthly visits with her. And after Azkaban, I'd like visitation rights. I've spent far too many years without her in my life, and I'd like to redeem myself and raise her properly."

Hope stared at Lexy, watching her friend who was looking at her father with wide, glassy eyes. Hope was touched; she couldn't believe this man actually had a good side to him. After years of hearing terrible stories about the Malfoys, it looked like Draco was finally trying to do the right thing.

The trial continued in which Draco was pressed for information about the battle. Hope listened for what felt like hours while Draco told them everything without restraint. It seemed he really wanted amnesty from his actions. He told them how Drew had planned to only kidnap Hope and told them it was for revenge on the Potters. He explained how Drew had ranted that her years of playing the part of Ginny's best friend had been for nothing when Harry had rescued her from Drew's clutches, and Voldemort had been defeated.

He then revealed that in truth, Drew had uncovered some rare magic involving a special stone that would help her perform a transferral of magic charm. It took her years to find it, but once she got it, I think she decided to inherit the powers of Voldemort. The spell would be able to somehow summon the powers of Voldemort if his killer's blood would be spilled. Once she found out that Harry and his daughter shared a strange magical connection of powers through her scar, she decided to use Hope's blood, figuring that a small child would be a much easier target than Harry Potter.

He told the court that he had also assisted in the kidnapping of Isabella Coy, who told them how to perform the charm and confirmed that Hope's blood would be effective. Since Harry had nearly died years ago and transferred his own powers to his daughter, his powers and life resided in Hope. Killing Hope would be the same as killing Harry.

Hope had a hard time listening to all of this. Her parents both had a hand on her throughout the story, as they listened with grim expressions, both thankful that Hope was safe, and yet terrified at what had nearly happened. Lastly, Draco talked about kidnapping Ben due to the fact that Drew feared his prophetic powers would reveal everything to his parents, and in turn, the Ministry.

"She lied to all the Death Eaters involved. We were all under the insane impression that Drew's spell would bring back Lord Voldemort. She didn't clarify that it was only going to bring back the spirit, if you will, of his abilities, and allow for Drew to inherit them."

"That will be all. The Wizengamot now summons Hope Potter to the stand."

Ginny patted her daughter's arm reassuringly and Hope rose shakily to her feet, swallowing the lump in her throat. The room went silent as they watched Hope walk from her seat to the center of the room. Draco was tugged to the side of the room where he was guarded by a small group of Aurors.

"Please tell us how you ended up in Mr. Malfoy's Manor and the things you encountered there, Miss Potter. Please remember to speak the truth, as this case depends upon it."

...

The day of court was very long. After Hope told the Minister everything that she could remember about being at the Malfoy house, including the fight in the yard, she was allowed to return to her seat. Her father was next to the stand, where he told them how he managed to get through the house and find the fight outside. He repeated his and Draco's conversation, and then how he brought his daughter back himself. Captain Jenn Ritlann's testimony followed his, and then Commander Ziles. Lexy and Allison were the last testimonies to be heard, and much briefer than the others.

Lexy's testimony was rather short as her story wasn't all that long. Lexy simply told the Wizengamot what she told Hope about her father coming to her rescue and delivering her home safely. She then was questioned about her relationship with her father up to this point.

Allison's testimony, however, interested everybody as she was pressed with many, many questions about her side of the story, as well as how she was able to keep herself and Hope alive during the fight. When asked to demonstrate her powers, though, Allison was able to produce a very small arc of a shield, and no more, having still not recovered fully from utter exhaustion.

Hope was surprised that her mother wasn't called up to the stand, and she made a note to ask her parents why that was. Still, looking at her mother's ghostly pale face she thought it was probably for the best. She didn't look well at all, and Harry kept his hand in hers, squeezing it every so often as if to reassure her. Perhaps the court had all the information they needed, or perhaps they had old evidence from the first time that Drew had kidnapped someone, and her mother at that.

"We will re-convene in twenty minutes with our decision," the Minister announced in almost-bored voice at the end of everything. There was a lot of shuffling and murmuring and Hope breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally over. Her eyes found Lexy's head amongst the crowd, and it shocked her to see that she and her mother were moving closer to Draco.

Her mother seemed to be keeping her distance, but Lexy was having a conversation with him. She was positioned a fair distance from him, hugging herself and looking cautious, but Hope thought it could be attributed to the Aurors who were standing around them, watching, listening and waiting for Draco to do something stupid.

"I think your friend may want to give her father a second chance," Hope looked at her father, regarding his interested expression with confusion.

"You hate him... do you think he deserves one?"

"I don't think either of us hate him, Hope." Harry told her quietly.

"He saved you," Ginny added softly, her eyes shining. "In spite of everything he's done before this..." she shrugged, smiling slightly.

"Do you think he deserves one?" Harry asked her curiously.

Hope looked back over at Lexy who was now smiling slightly. "I think maybe he does. Maybe he's changed since he met her. He was alone before, remember? Maybe he just needed a kid."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother lean into her father's embrace and her father kiss her mother's head. They had always been like that; affectionate in the slightest way. Always touching each other, always there for each other, and she'd never realized how much of a comfort it was. She had never lived how Lexy did, without a father. Lexy deserved to have her father in her life, and if he was willing to change his life for her as he claimed he would, if the court would let him have rights, why shouldn't he be given a second chance?