Finding Hermione

By: eBookDragon

Chapter 35

The Trial of Ronald Weasley

January 14th

Draco both dreaded and longed for this day. He was confident that at its end, Weasley would be gone from their lives. Draco would be able to raise Minerva and Rose as his own without worrying about Weasley undermining him. The blight of Ronald Weasley would be out of their lives. Draco had been willing to share, albeit reluctantly, but he would've done it if that was what was best for the girls.

Hermione would face him one more time – one last time. He didn't want her anywhere near Weasley. Irrational as his fear was, he worried that Weasley would attack her again. But this was the last time they would ever have to see him again. Then Ron Weasley could fade into obscurity. A bad memory of their past.

Draco and Hermione arrived at the Ministry early. They were currently in Draco's office avoiding the press in the atrium. Hermione was unable to sit still while they waited for the start of the trial. She paced nervously around his office. He was thankful that it was more spacious than her old office in the DME and she didn't have to dodge furniture.

Draco's office at the Ministry was decorated similarly to his study at home. Shelves of books lined one wall. Large magical windows lined the wall behind his desk, depicting the snowy gardens at Malfoy Manor. His desk was a duplicate of the walnut executive desk he'd had before he got the partners' desk for he and Hermione to share. Black leather chairs were positioned in front of his desk. Across from the bookcase was a seating area with a black leather sofa and matching armchairs.

Draco sat at his desk and opened The Prophet while Hermione paced around the room and was not surprised to see an article about the upcoming trial on the front page.

Ron Weasley On Trial Today

By: Luna Lovegood

The Wizengamot and Magical Law Enforcement will decide the fate of Ronald Weasley today. Weasley is one of the three people responsible for bringing down Lord Voldemort. He was the friend of Harry Potter and husband of Hermione Granger. After the Second Wizarding War, Weasley briefly trained to be an Auror with Potter, but dropped out before his training could be completed. After that, Weasley played keeper for the Chudley Cannons until his retirement a few years ago to become a coach.

Weasley was arrested on December 23rd for attacking his wife, Hermione Granger, in the home of his longtime mistress, Lavender Brown. Draco Malfoy stepped in front of Granger and was almost killed in the attack. A source tells me that had Malfoy not stepped in front of Granger and taken the curse meant for her; she would now be dead.

Granger and Weasley have been separated since September when Granger found out about Weasley's longtime affair. Granger attempted to do the right thing in continuing to allow Weasley access to their children, despite finding out that Weasley had been keeping the affair from her for years through the use of Memory Charms.

Shortly after the separation, Granger asked the Minister of Magic to grant her a divorce from Weasley on the grounds of spousal abuse. Shacklebolt denied her request, citing that a wife was the property of her husband. When news broke of Hermione Granger's relationship with Draco Malfoy, Granger was given an ultimatum by Shacklebolt to return to her home and husband or lose her job. Granger chose her own safety and tendered her resignation as Head of the Department for Magical Education.

Dear reader, this story is much more than other reporters will have you believe. It is more than a jealous husband trying to kill his wife's lover. It is more than a former Death Eater tearing apart a happy family. This is about equality. This is about everyone having the right to feel safe in their own home with their spouse. This is about the Minister of Magic himself refusing to see to the safety of a person in need to further his own antiquated ideas of marriage and the place of women in our society.

The time has come where we as a society need to reevaluate how we treat each other. It wasn't that long ago that many of us fought a civil war and defeated those that believed there were those among us that were worth less because of their parentage. Will we now have to fight again for gender equality?

Many of you will argue that the two issues are different – that it is wrong to kill people because of their blood. How is this different? How is it acceptable to tell a woman that she is the property of a man? How is it we accept that it is wrong to kill Muggleborns but right to force a woman to stay in an abusive relationship with her husband? How can we argue against the enslavement of Muggleborns but justify that a woman is the property of her husband?

As we await word on the fate of Ronald Weasley, it is a time for introspection. A time to look at the women in our lives, our mothers, sisters, and daughters and ask ourselves if we would want to subject them to the same treatment that Hermione Granger has been subjected to.

Draco must have made some noise because Hermione was at his side in a moment peering over his shoulder at the article. He handed the paper to her, and she took it from him and leaned up against his desk while she read the article.

Draco took in her appearance. Hermione had tamed her hair up into a French twist that gave her a sophisticated look. She accentuated this with minimal makeup, pearl earrings and a strand of pearls. Her navy blue sheath dress accentuated her figure in a tasteful and understated way. Her cuff glimmered in the light from the windows. The press, or Luna more like, still hadn't commented on the significance of the cuff on her wrist.

Hermione hummed as she closed the paper and set it back down on his desk. "Interesting," she said, "An article about Ron's trial and less than half of it is actually about Ron."

"Maybe I should run this over to Weasley's cell," Draco teased darkly, "Get him all riled up about how unimportant he is in his own trial."

"What if he gets off?" Hermione asked nervously.

Draco drew her into his lap and was both pleased and nervous by how willingly she allowed herself to drawn down to him. She bit her lip as she looked down at him, looking for reassurance.

"We've already got a contingency plan in place, remember?" he reminded her.

"I hardly think the dungeons constitutes a contingency plan," Hermione responded drily.

"He's not getting off," Draco said, rubbing her back.

A knock sounded at the door, and his mother poked her head in before swinging the door open wider. She looked very similar to Hermione in a black sheath dress with diamond studs in her ears, a simple diamond necklace, and her blonde hair upswept in a chignon. Draco found it a little odd how closely their styles matched, but he knew it was all for show for the trial. The Malfoy family standing together.

"It's time," his mother said as she came into the room.

Hermione slid off his lap and smoothed down her skirt. Draco moved to the hook by the door and took his black Wizengamot robes off the hook with the large gold "W" emblazoned across one side and the Malfoy seal across the other. He swung the robes around to drape over his shoulders and fastened them closed. Hermione reached up and smoothed down the material to lie flat over his suit. Draco drew his arms through the wide sleeves of the robe.

The hallways around the courtroom were lined with press and spectators. MLE guards were keeping the people pushed back to allow those with a legitimate reason for being there in first. A flurry of flashes went off at their arrival as the photographers and reporters noticed them.

"Mr. Malfoy, how do you think the trial is going to go today?" a young female reporter asked earnestly. Draco idly wondered how old she was since she appeared not that much older than Minerva.

"I have every confidence that we will see justice done today," Draco answered.

"Justice for you, maybe, but what about justice for Mrs. Granger?" the young journalist said, then turned her attention to Hermione, "Mrs. Granger, are you upset that Ronald Weasley will not face trial for his abuses against you?" the reporter persisted. Draco admired her pluck.

The question got a flood of whispered comments among the reporters and spectators. Reporters stood poised with pens in hand to take Hermione's answer to the question.

Draco stood back so that Hermione was the focus of the group. He and his mother flanking her, supporting her, rather than the two of them supporting him as they'd done when they walked down the hallway to the courtroom.

Hermione gripped his hand tightly and smiled slightly up at him. Now was the time to start their campaign. "Yes, I am," she started. "I am disappointed that my husband was allowed to obliviate me for years and will receive no punishment for his actions. I am disappointed that there are women all across Britain who are in similar situations with no way to escape abusive husbands." Her voice rose and rang off the vaulted ceiling, "I am disappointed that the women in our society are still viewed as the property of our husbands by our government and many of those that are responsible for making or changing the laws."

Cheers and applause rose up from the crowd. Draco noted the faces that were approving of Hermione's speech, mostly the younger lot, and those that looked on reproachfully.

Someone started shouting at the back of the crowd, "Stand aside! Let us pass! Prisoner coming through!"

The photographers all had their cameras poised to witness the meeting of these two groups. Ronald Weasley appeared in the center of four MLE guards, still in his rumpled clothing that he'd been wearing for weeks, though his face wasn't bruised like it had been yesterday. Someone had covered Harry's tracks after Draco and Hermione left.

Sparks of blue fury landed on Hermione and Draco when Weasley finally caught sight of them. His lip curled up in a snarl, especially when Draco put an arm around Hermione.

"Still a crusading bitch, I see," he shouted at Hermione. "If only you knew the things I did to you," he snarled cryptically, "You wouldn't be so quick to use your so-called abuse for political purposes."

The group of reporters heard him, unfortunately. They started directing their questions to Weasley, asking him what memories he had removed from Hermione. Weasley opened his mouth as if he wanted to divulge the information only to close it again when words refused to pour out. A look of angry frustration crossed Weasley's face as he realized that he wouldn't be able to answer the reporters' questions.

Hermione looked shaken by his statement. Until Draco saw Harry's knuckles yesterday and spoke with him about the reasoning behind it, neither one of them had considered the extent to which Weasley had obliviated Hermione. He, like Hermione, had thought it was only to keep her from finding out about Lavender. Harry found out yesterday that it was much more sinister than that, but refused to divulge the information, going so far as to ensure that Weasley couldn't disclose the secret either.

Weasley was pushed into the courtroom by the MLE guards. Draco saw his mother grasp Hermione's hand tightly behind her back, out of view of the cameras. Draco watched with concern as Hermione pushed down her feelings about Weasley's cryptic revelation and let her face resume a neutral expression once again.

"Let's take our seats now," Draco murmured to them, wanting to get Hermione out of the spotlight for a few moments before the trial began.

He guided them over to the benches faced the tribunal. Harry walked in with two of his Aurors that Draco remembered from yesterday. A petite, red-head and a large, craggy man flanked Harry. All three were dressed in the formal Auror robes, their black military style jackets with capes attached by a gold chain made for an intimidating sight. Harry acknowledged Draco with a stiff nod of his head and moved past him to sit beside Hermione. The redhead sat on the other side of Harry, while the large man took up a seat beside his mother.

The Minister of Magic's podium dominated the center of the half circle of benches. Wizengamot members flanked either side with Magical Law Enforcement judges arrayed in a half circle around the Minister and Wizengamot in the benches above.

Judges in their gray MLE robes started filling in the seats behind him. Draco was surprised to see so many. Very rarely did so many judges show up for a trial. They mostly drew lots to divvy up the workload. Usually, the Wizengamot didn't participate in trials either unless the actions of the person on trial were particularly heinous or the accused was famous. For this particular case, one of the Golden Trio was on trial, and most were here for spectator value rather than any real desire to ensure justice was done.

Theo strolled into the courtroom with Daphne on his arm, both draped in Wizengamot robes. Greg wasn't far behind them. Blaise, Tracey, Hannah, and Neville were seated on the other side of the Minister's podium, near the witness stand.

Draco spotted Percy Weasley among the group of adult Weasleys seated across the aisle from them, also in his robes. Draco noted that Ginny was absent. Molly Weasley looked distraught; her face crumpled as she leaned heavily on Arthur.

Minister Shacklebolt strode into the courtroom from a side door, black Wizengamot robes billowing out behind him. The front doors of the courtroom slammed close, thus starting the proceedings. He shot a look of disgust in Weasley's direction, bound in the center of the room, and curiously, a glare in Draco and Hermione's direction. Draco considered that the Minister must blame them in some way for this entire debacle.

Minister Shacklebolt banged his gavel on the podium in front of him, calling the courtroom to order. Silence fell across the room. Shacklebolt stared down at Weasley from his elevated perch.

Shacklebolt looked sternly down at Weasley before addressing him, "Ronald Bilius Weasley, you are on trial today for the attempted murder of Draco Lucius Malfoy. After reading the dictation of your interrogations, it is clear that you attacked on the afternoon of December 23rd with the intent to kill. Your failure in the attempt does not lessen the consequences."

Draco could hear Shacklebolt drumming his fingers on the podium as he looked pensively at Weasley. He continued with his address with a more thoughtful tone, "The thing I am having trouble deciding is if your actions are a result of mental instability and you should receive treatment instead of a prison sentence. Whether therapy will help return you as an upstanding, productive member of society."

Shouts of protests rose up across the room among the spectators and tribunal alike. Shacklebolt banged on his gavel, the sharp raps echoing across the room. His booming voice called for order and threatened to clear the room.

Hermione had turned ghostly pale. She gripped his hand, so hard Draco felt the bones grind together. All hope of stoicism had fled her expression. She looked terrified. And enraged. Harry was visibly incensed. His face was a mottled red. The redheaded Auror beside him was having a difficult time restraining him. Draco thought his own expression probably mirrored Harry's. It would be a cold day in Hell before Draco allowed Weasley to skip by on a reduced sentence in the psych ward at St. Mungo's. Draco was mentally preparing everything they would need to kidnap Weasley from St. Mungo's and install him in the Malfoy dungeons.

Draco noted that the Weasley family stayed silent throughout the commotion. A hopeful expression had entered Molly Weasley's countenance at the prospect of her son being sent to a psychiatric ward at St. Mungo's instead of prison.

The room quieted, and Shacklebolt spoke again, hints of anger in his voice, "We will hear testimony before deliberations, and a vote is taken. We'll start with," Shacklebolt scanned the room. His gaze lighted on Hermione before he spoke in a cold voice, "Hermione Granger."

A buzz traveled around the room as Hermione stood from her seat. She was still pale, and Draco noticed the tremor in her hand as she smoothed down her dress. Draco squeezed the hand he held and mouthed "Have courage" to her. She nodded and straightened her shoulders, once again the proud Hermione Granger. A hush descended the room as she walked past Weasley without looking at him and made her way to the witness box perched near the Minister's podium.

Hermione sat down on the chair provided and looked up at Shacklebolt waiting for him to begin.

Without preamble, the Minister started his questioning, "What was your purpose for being at Lavender Brown's townhouse on December twenty-third?"

Hermione took a deep breath and answered the question in a clear, firm voice, "We, Ronald Weasley and I, came to a visitation agreement for my daughters over the holiday break. That day was the first time Ronald was allowed any unsupervised visitation with either of my daughters."

"You say you weren't allowing Ronald Weasley unsupervised visitation," Shacklebolt stated, then asked, "Why is that?"

Hermione glanced over at Weasley; her mouth tightened in anger. "He attempted to kidnap my daughter, Rose, in early November. She was afraid of being around him after that."

"How can a father kidnap his own child?" Shacklebolt asked incredulously, looking around the room for support.

Feminine murmurs of outrage rose up around that question. Quite a few men looked disapproving at the Minister. The fear of not knowing where your children were was not something the lifelong bachelor would understand.

"When he has no intention of letting the mother of his child know where she is," Hermione answered sharply. "Minister Shacklebolt, I am not the one on trial here. Ronald Weasley attacked with the intent to kill. By his own admission, he planned on killing me, then Draco Malfoy, and then tell my daughters that we abandoned them." Hermione looked beseechingly at the Minister, "He planned on killing us. He almost succeeded in killing Draco."

"But was he driven to his actions by your very public affair with Draco Malfoy?" the Minister retorted.

Hermione gripped the front of the stand. Her eyes narrowed at the Minister. "Draco and I are not some extramarital fling. Ronald Weasley was abusing me, prior to my finding out about his affair on the Hogwarts platform on September first."

Hermione looked over at Draco and her expression softened. "Draco saved my life. Not just on December twenty-third when he stepped in and took a curse meant for me. That day on the platform, he saved me from a lifetime of abuse, of eventually losing all sense of self as Ron continued to obliviate me. He saved me a few days later when I confronted Ron about his infidelity and Ron once again tried to take my memories away from me."

"So, you're with Mr. Malfoy out of some sense of gratitude?" Shacklebolt asked.

Hermione's gaze snapped back to the Minister in irritation. "I am with Draco Malfoy because he is my soulmate. We love each other and he treats my daughters as his own."

"That's quite a dramatic statement," Shacklebolt scoffed, "I'm sure many young witches have made that claim about some young wizard at some time or another."

A round of patronizing chuckles resounded throughout the room from the older men.

Hermione rolled her eyes at them. She brandished her cuff at the Minister. "Do you see this cuff, Mr. Shacklebolt?" At the Minister's nod, she continued, "This is no ordinary bauble. This cuff acts as a magical identifier for the males of the House of Malfoy. It only shows up when they've kissed their soulmate. Draco Malfoy is my soulmate."

Gasps of surprise resounded throughout the room. Draco's friends on the Wizengamot all displayed a myriad of expressions. Elation from Tracey. Daphne looked like she wanted to punch him for not telling her sooner. Theo was trying to hide a smile behind his hand so as not to draw the ire of his wife. Blaise was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

"As interesting as your tale is, Mrs. Granger," Shacklebolt drawled in a bored tone, "I fail to see how that relates to this case."

"Quite right, Minister," Hermione answered smartly, "I also fail to see how my relationship with Draco Malfoy has any bearing on this case, but as you are the one that brought it up, maybe you would like to clear that up," Hermione answered with impertinence, causing the Minister to huff in annoyance.

"How had Ronald Weasley acted when you dropped off the girls?" Shacklebolt asked, trying to regain control of the situation.

"Relieved to see them, and angry at Draco and I," Hermione answered.

"You took Mr. Malfoy with you to drop off your children. Don't you think that's rather like pouring salt on an open wound?"

"Being as how I was taking my children over to his mistress' house, I didn't really stop to consider how Ron would feel about seeing Draco," Hermione answered archly and titters of amusement followed her answer, "And there was no way I was going to be alone with Ron, given his proclivity for using Memory Charms to get his way."

The Minister looked irritated by her cheek but continued with his questioning, "How did he seem to you when you returned later that day?"

"Angry again, which wasn't abnormal for our interactions, but it seemed like a different type of angry."

"How so?" the Minister prodded.

"Usually Ronald was a bit irrational in his anger, just lashing out, asserting that I was his property and trying to get me to fall in line. His anger was different. Determined. More focused."

The Minister nodded at her answer. He looked down at the stack of papers and shuffled them around. His eyebrows rose minutely as Shacklebolt read whatever was there. He looked over at Hermione then and asked, "I see in this statement from Lavender Brown that your daughters disappeared from the Brown residence shortly after the attack and were found at Malfoy Manor when Auror Potter went looking for them. Did you leave to take the children away?"

"No," Hermione answered, not offering further explanation.

"Then how did they disappear?" the Minister persisted.

"They were taken by the Malfoy house elves back to the Manor," Hermione answered with a sigh.

"So you called them?"

"No," Hermione answered again.

The Minister was getting frustrated with her answers and lack of explanation. Draco could see the vein at his temple starting to throb in annoyance.

"Then how did they know to take your daughters away moments after the attack?" the Minister asked impatiently.

"They were already there," Hermione answered.

"Why?" the Minister barked.

"The two house elves were there for the protection of my daughters with instructions to take them away should they be in any danger. Since the two house elves knew that Draco and I were at the Brown residence and that Draco had been hurt, they would've taken them to the Manor and Narcissa Malfoy," Hermione answered succinctly.

"So the children's unsupervised visit wasn't actually unsupervised?" Shacklebolt asked.

"No," Hermione answered.

"And you say that they were there for the protection of the girls?"

"That is correct."

"When you took them over to the Brown residence, did you feel that they were in any danger?" Shacklebolt asked.

Draco was getting impatient with this line of questioning. It wasn't even centering around Weasley's attack. It seemed to Draco that the Minister was trying to win sympathy for Weasley.

"I wouldn't have taken them over there if I thought that Ron might be a danger to them, but I wasn't taking any chances. Rose was reluctant to go and Minerva was pretty adamant about not going. I convinced them to go and give it a try but told them that they could leave if they hated being there."

"Since they appeared to have stayed the duration of the visit, am I correct in assuming that things went well?" Shacklebolt asked.

"Minerva got into an argument with Ronald at some point. Rose seemed to enjoy her time, mostly playing with Lavender's youngest children."

"What did Minerva get into an argument with her father about?" Shacklebolt asked.

"According to Minerva, Ronald was giving her a hard time about Draco teaching her to fly. Minerva became angry with Ronald because he was the cause of her initial fear of flying. Draco helped her conquer her fears, and their flying lessons made an appearance in the paper. She told Ron that Draco was a better father than he was."

"So this argument is probably what led Ron to attempt to take your lives. A desire to remove the competition in his children's lives."

Hermione stood up and pointed angrily at the Minister, the cuff on her arm sparkling in the light of the room, the reds of the alexandrite seemed to further accentuate her anger. If her hair had been down, Draco could imagine that it would be crackling in her fury. "Don't you dare try to place the blame for his attack," she pointed angrily at Weasley, "on my child. He is responsible for his actions. He should be held accountable for them and for you," she pointed back at Shacklebolt, "for you to try to say that he did it because of a mental illness is ludicrous. This attack is the culmination of a long line of abuses. He obliviated me for the majority of our marriage, but I won't get justice for that. By his statement, before we walked into this courtroom, he's done worse to me than try to cover up his affair with Lavender Brown, and I won't get justice for that either. I asked you for help, Minister Shacklebolt after I found out that he was obliviating me and you wanted nothing to do with it. You shooed me out of your office, saying you weren't going to get involved because it was up to the husband to discipline his wife as he saw fit. The only reason he's on trial now is because he almost killed Draco Malfoy and I'll be damned before I let him walk away without punishment for at least that."

Hermione turned and gazed up at the MLE judges sitting there watching her, "I can see by your faces that many of you still agree that a woman is the property of her husband." She gestured to the room at large, "This is what happens when we allow domestic violence to go unchecked. When we continue to allow a husband to abuse his wife, the violence escalates and people die. Families are torn apart. The children are traumatized."

She turned to face the crowd and Weasley, "We cannot allow this man to go free. We cannot allow him to attack and cite jealous rage or mental instability as the reason for doing so. We were not lenient on the Death Eaters at the end of the last war and we cannot be lenient now."

Heads were nodding among the crowded courtroom. Harry leaned over and whispered in Draco's ear, "That was bloody magnificent."

"Enough!" Shacklebolt boomed, "You're excused, Mrs. Granger."

Hermione left the witness stand with the shadow of a smirk on her face. Her hands were trembling though, from nerves or adrenaline Draco didn't know.

"Draco Malfoy, to the witness stand, please," Shacklebolt announced.

"How the hell am I going to follow that?" Draco murmured to Harry before he stood up.

Draco caught Hermione gently around the waist as she moved by him to resume her seat. He could see the lines of irritation and worry clouding Hermione's face. She was probably starting to doubt that Weasley would go to prison. He cupped her cheek as he gazed down and asked her if she was okay. Draco received a slight nod, and he let her go sit down between Harry and his mother.

Draco waltzed over to the witness stand, letting the Malfoy arrogance and entitlement show in his posture and walk. These people needed a reminder of who he was, it seemed. Draco made a show of adjusting his Wizengamot robes as he took his seat at the witness stand. He looked expectantly up at the Minister.

Shacklebolt gazed down at him, the animosity evident in his eyes. Draco was always one of the few people not afraid to stand up to the Minister.

"You interfered in the marriage of Ronald Weasley and his wife, Hermione Granger on September first?" the Minister asked as his opening salvo.

So that's how he wanted to play this then.

Draco looked up at the Minister with narrowed eyes, "What is the relevance of this question on these proceedings?"

The Minister's lip curled into a sneer as he said impatiently, "Answer the question, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco arched an aristocratic brow at the Minister and answered him, his voice dripping with disdain, "Mr. Shacklebolt, I refuse to answer that question as it has no bearing on this trial."

"Mr. Malfoy, did you seek to provoke Mr. Weasley by parading around your affair with his wife?"

Draco heaved a sigh of great reluctance, "Mr. Shacklebolt, my relationship with Hermione Granger is not relevant to this trial but I'll deign to answer your question as that seems to be your primary focus for this trial. As she stated earlier, our relationship isn't an illicit affair, certainly not like Ronald Weasley's own relationship with Lavender Brown. In answer to your question about whether we sought to provoke him, no. Ronald Weasley and his feelings meant very little to us in our daily lives."

Draco could hear the Minister huff a little under his breath. Draco could tell the crowd and the tribunal were getting impatient with this line of questioning. There was much shifting around and mutterings every time the Minister asked a question that seemed to focus more on his relationship with Hermione than the attack. The crowd didn't seem to like how the Minister was treating the victims of this case.

Keep it up, old man, Draco thought, you'll be out of a job soon if they really start taking Hermione's side.

"On the day of the attack, what did you and Mrs. Granger do?" the Minister asked.

Draco left out their early morning activities. No one needed to know that they'd made love in the early hours of the morning, that he'd probably gotten her pregnant then.

"We had breakfast with the children. There was an argument because Minerva didn't want to go to Ronald Weasley's house."

"Why?" the Minister interrupted.

"She said she had a bad feeling. She also didn't get along very well with Fred Brown," Draco answered.

The Minister gestured magnanimously. The old goat needed to be knocked down a peg or two. "Continue, please."

Draco answered him in a succinct voice, "After breakfast, the girls got ready to go. At nine o'clock, Hermione and I took them over to Weasley's house. He was there waiting for us."

"What was his mood like?" the Minister interrupted again.

"He seemed relieved to see the girls."

"Why do you think that is?"

Draco allowed himself to sound thoughtful by the question. A hint of hesitation entered his voice as he answered. "I'm not sure. He'd had a visit with Rose earlier that week but he hadn't seen Minerva since the first Parents' Day at Hogwarts. She was distraught and didn't want to talk to him. I think maybe he thought they wouldn't come over or Hermione wouldn't hold up her end of the agreement. I think he said something to that effect to Hermione."

"Then what happened?"

"He and Hermione exchanged words. She reminded him about their agreement." Draco held up his hand imperiously when Shacklebolt looked like he wanted to interrupt again. "When they discussed visitation over the holidays, she stipulated that he and Lavender not talk badly about Hermione and myself during the girls' visit and that the girls weren't forced to stay if they wanted to come back home. Weasley got mad about this. Didn't like to be reminded that he had to play nice for the sake of the girls. Asked us to leave since it was his time with the girls."

"After that, what did you do?"

"We left. Went back home. Scorpius and I had some Christmas shopping to finish up. We went back to the Brown residence at five like they'd agreed on. Weasley was waiting for us. His behavior was off. He was usually snarling at us, lashing out at any perceived slight. He was more determined, focused. The girls weren't in the room when we got there. He told us they were helping pick up the playroom. Hermione turned slightly and he pulled his wand out. I stepped in front of her just as he cast the curse. I fell in a heap on the floor. Thought I was dying. I probably was. Felt like my chest had been ripped open. The last thing I saw before everything went black was Ronald Weasley advancing on Hermione. She was on the floor, focused on me. I thought for sure he was going to kill her. That we were both going to die at the hand of Ronald Weasley and leave our children orphaned."

Draco let his emotions show. A Malfoy usually didn't let anyone see behind the carefully erected façade that they presented to the world, but he let the courtroom see his anguish. The fear he'd felt for her as he lay dying. How he'd felt when he thought her dead. He looked over at Hermione, who was wiping tears from her eyes and longed to go over and embrace her. To envelop himself in her scent. To feel her heart beating next to his.

Silence descended on the courtroom. A sniffle could be heard here and there. Someone cleared their throat behind him. Draco let his gaze drift to Weasley, bound to the chair in the center of the room. He'd hoped to find an ounce of remorse in his face, but all he saw was the fervent wish that he'd managed to succeed in killing them. Draco hardened his gaze. Even now when his freedom stood on the line, Weasley couldn't find the error of his decisions. Draco wondered if maybe he was mentally ill, not that he thought it should get Weasley out of prison.

The Minister's voice cut through the silence like a knife, "Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Malfoy. You may resume your seat."

"Auror Potter, please take the stand."

Harry stood up, his face looking grim. Harry made his way over to the stand, his back ramrod straight, his gait stiff and clipped. The sound of his heavy military boots echoed off the walls around them. The medals pinned to his uniform jingled slightly as he made his way to the stand. Harry sat stiffly in the chair. His gaze turned thunderous as he looked over at his former friend.

The Minister's voice cut through the stare-down going on between the two, "You are friends with the accused?"

"No," Harry answered coldly, not taking his gaze from Weasley.

Excited murmurs rose from the spectators.

"Why?" Shacklebolt asked.

Harry turned an incredulous gaze at the Minister. "Are you seriously asking me why I'm no longer friends with him?" Harry asked, gesturing at Weasley. "You've sat here and listened to testimony from Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. You've read the reports from his interrogations. Hermione Granger has been a true friend to me since we were eleven years old, more so than Ron, even when I didn't appreciate it much. She put herself in danger to help me defeat Voldemort. Hermione gave up her parents, erased her from their memories, and sent them to Australia because helping me was so important and she didn't want them used against us. She was never able to reverse the spell used on them. Her own parents don't know her. They never got to watch her get married. They've never seen their grandchildren. She sacrificed all those happy memories to help bring down Voldemort. For Ron to use that same spell to cover his adultery is the ultimate betrayal. He knew what she sacrificed to save our world. I could forgive the infidelity in time. Not the obliviation."

Draco could tell there were things Harry wasn't saying. More to why he wouldn't forgive Weasley but wasn't willing to say it in front of so many witnesses. Harry didn't allude once to his interrogation that had sent him into a murderous rage.

"You supported her decision to remain separated from Ronald Weasley?" Shacklebolt asked.

"I wanted to arrest him back in September when I found out that he'd been obliviating her to hide his infidelity," Harry answered. "She shouldn't have been fired from her job for entering into a relationship with Draco Malfoy," Harry said, his voice reproachful. "She sacrificed so much for the Order and the Wizarding World, and this is how you showed your appreciation, Kingsley."

Kingsley Shacklebolt had the grace to look uncomfortable at Harry's chastisement. Shacklebolt cleared his throat and looked down at the parchment on his podium. "Tell us about what happened on the evening of December twenty-third."

"I received a Patronus from Lavender Brown," Harry started.

"How do you know it was from Lavender Brown?" Shacklebolt interrupted.

Harry recited the facts of Weasley's arrest as if it were any other arrest, not one that involved longtime friends. "I taught her, along with others, how to produce a Patronus during our fifth year at Hogwarts. It was a gray squirrel. She told us to come over to her townhouse and that it was a matter of life or death. I took Artemis Fawkes and Angus Fitzgerald with me. We found Hermione Granger and Lavender Brown crouched over Draco Malfoy, both trying to stop his bleeding. Ronald Weasley was unconscious and bound on the floor. We transfigured Lavender's coffee table into a stretcher and Artemis and Angus took Draco and Hermione to St. Mungo's. I looked for Minerva and Rose and found that the Malfoy elves had taken them to the Manor. I put Lavender's home on lockdown since I was unsure of her involvement in the attack."

"And was she involved in attacking Draco Malfoy?"

"No," Harry answered, "She did not know that Ron planned to attack them. Once she realized what happened, she secured Ronald Weasley and called for help."

Murmurs rose up again from around the room. Draco understood people wanted to vilify Lavender Brown, all convinced that she'd had something to do with his attack. All convinced that she'd lured Weasley away from Hermione. Lavender Brown represented some sort of evil temptress in their minds. Not the woman she was, a woman in a difficult situation with little recourse, as much a victim of Ronald Weasley's machinations as Hermione.

"What did you do next?"

"I arrested Ronald Weasley and turned him over to the MLE. He was being held at that time for attacking Draco Malfoy. We weren't sure whether he would be charged with murder or attempted murder at that time."

"In your opinion, do you feel the attack was caused by mental illness?"

Harry answered in a voice devoid of emotion. Factual. Cold. Not the hothead he'd once been. "Throughout the confrontations between Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, Ron never once admitted guilt or apologized for his actions. He showed no remorse for abusing Hermione. Throughout his interrogations, he showed no remorse for his actions."

Though Harry's answer didn't exactly answer Minister Shacklebolt's question, the Minister chose to let the matter drop. With a hint of weariness in his voice, Shacklebolt excused Harry from the stand. He banged his gavel as Harry resumed his seat beside Hermione.

"The court will take a recess while the tribunal deliberates this case," Shacklebolt announced. He banged his gavel again and rose from the podium.

The tribunal filed out the side door behind him. The spectators started milling around talking amongst themselves, speculating on whether Weasley would go to Azkaban or not. The noise in the room rose to a dull roar around them.

Draco put his arm around Hermione's shoulders and bent to murmur in her hear, "How are you holding up?"

His other hand drifted to the swell of her abdomen. She wasn't showing yet, only the slight swell from her previous pregnancies showed through the sheath dress. He cupped his hand over the area, wishing he could spare her from this traumatic experience.

Her hand settled over his and she looked up at him. He could see the anxiety on her face. That she was barely holding it together. "We're doing okay."

They sat like that, both leaning on each other with their fingers interlaced over her abdomen. Harry and his mother made inconsequential small talk around them while the two Aurors kept the rest of the spectators away from them.

Draco thought that maybe Hermione had fallen asleep after a while. The early stages of the pregnancy made her sleepy. That combined with the stress of today's events, Draco wasn't surprised if she had fallen asleep.

Draco glared holes in the back of Weasley's head; somewhat hoping it would spontaneously combust. Weasley, uncharacteristically, had remained quiet throughout the proceedings. Draco had expected protestations or comments from the piece of shit bound to the chair in the center of the courtroom. Even now while they were waiting to hear his verdict, he remained quiet. He kept his head facing forward, not even looking around for his family. Draco didn't know if the Weasleys had come to support Ronald Weasley or just to be there to see what fate awaited him.

"That was quick," Harry said softly some moments later as the door opened and the tribunal started filing back to their seats.

The Minister walked out last and wasted no time in calling the room to order. Hermione sat up. She grasped his hand tightly as the gavel banged and the doors to the courtroom slammed closed.

A hush descended over the room as the occupants awaited the fate of Ronald Weasley.

Minister Shacklebolt rubbed the bridge of his nose in weariness. "Members of the MLE and Wizengamot, please raise your hand if you believe that Ronald Bilius Weasley is guilty of attempted murder," the Minister intoned.

One by one the tribunal raised their hands, some with more emphasis and quicker than others. Even the Minister voted that he believed Weasley was guilty. Draco wondered why he gave them such a hard time during their testimony if he dthought Weasley was guilty the entire time.

"Ronald Weasley, this court finds you guilty of attempted murder," Shacklebolt announced with a bang of his gavel.

A cry of grief resounded throughout the room. Draco looked over and saw Molly Weasley weeping into her husband's shoulder. Arthur tried to console his grieving wife, his lip trembling as he tried to keep his own grief in check. Draco felt sorry for them, as he had many times over the past few weeks.

"The minimum sentence for attempted murder is the same as murder. Just because you failed in the attempt does not lessen the consequences; therefore this court sentences you, Ronald Weasley, to life in prison. You will be taken from here to Azkaban by Aurors."

The once silent prisoner erupted furiously at the news that he would be spending the rest of his life in Azkaban. Draco could see him fighting against the bonds that held him to the chair as venom poured from his mouth.

"I wish I killed them!" he shouted. "That bitch deserved to die, leaving me for Draco Malfoy. Fucking that piece of shit Death Eater scum. She was mine. My wife. Mine to do with as I pleased."

The Minister pointed his wand at Weasley and said contemptuously, "Langlock."

Molly Weasley's cries of grief echoed throughout the room and drowned out the hubbub from the other spectators. Two burly MLE guards came through the side door, one holding a set of handcuffs. Weasley was forced to stand and the cuffs were snapped in place. Then in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Gone from their lives. Gone for good, with the cries of his mother echoing after him.

Draco looked down at Hermione, whom he'd clutched to his side as the verdict was read. She was ghostly pale and shaking so much she felt like she was vibrating. The joy he'd felt a minute ago at Weasley being gone from their lives slid from his face as he now worried about Hermione and their unborn children.

"Hermione?" he asked concerned, trying to get her attention on him and not on the spot where Weasley had been moments ago.

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, "Get me out of here, Draco."

A/N: Thanks for reading. Thanks to those of you that take the time to leave a review.