Chapter 26

It had been 3 weeks since aurors from the Ministry had come to Hermione's family home and placed Draco under arrest. The entire Ministry had been in chaos as they took their time to debate and decide who should become the new Minister of Magic. Thankfully, Kingsley had been selected, but he had to follow protocol. He couldn't show favoritism...to anyone. Therefore...for 3 weeks...Draco had been stuck in Azkaban prison, and for some reason, they were not treating him like a normal prisoner. He barely received food, basic care and his magical energy was starting to fade again. He wasn't allowed to see any visitors. His only hope was to wait for his trial date and hope that Hermione would be there to save him.

Hermione had gotten all the evidence needed to clear Draco of all charges, but his trial wasn't to be held instantly. They wanted to do a mass trial with all the collected Death Eaters at once. Unfortunately, despite Hermione's arguments, Draco was still considered one of them. There were too many witches and wizards who were still in disbelief that Draco was indeed a good person. Since Hermione's evidence couldn't be revealed until the trial, she and Draco both had to just sit still and wait. It didn't help that Ron Weasley, the biggest accuser, was making his own list of evidence to condemn Draco.

The morning of the trial came and all Hermione wanted was to see Draco's face. She had been prevented from visiting him in Azkaban, but she had heard of how horrible the conditions were and given Draco's most recent health scare, she was desperately worried about him. She had tried to keep herself distracted over the past 3 weeks by cleaning, putting her parent's house back together, moving Draco's belongings from the Malfoy Manor and into her house, even helping Narcissa move her own belongings into Severus's small house. The Malfoy Manor had become dark and lonely after the two women were done, but it had always been dark and lonely in a way.

As expected of Hermione, she had arrived at the Ministry an hour early. As she headed down the elevator to Court Room 10, her entire body was shaking with nervousness. She already had a contingency plan in place with Harry if things didn't go according to plan for them, but she hoped that it wouldn't be needed. She hoped that the Council and the Wizengamot would see the truth. Still, it didn't hurt to have a back up plan in place.

"Hermione." Harry's voice brought her out of her head as she stopped in her tracks to see him there early...surrounded by everyone she held dear to her heart.

"Wha...Why are you all here so early?" she asked softly.

"Because you are, my dear." Professor McGonagall walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "We figured you would be here at least an hour or two earlier, but with no one around, you would just be sitting here, anxious."

"Thank you." Hermione breathed out.

"Don't worry Hermione." Luna spoke up. "They have no real proof that Draco is one of those evil Death Eaters."

"I hope not." Hermione swallowed back more unshed tears as she moved to her seat at the front of the Defendant's table.

After thirty minutes of sitting with her friends, Professor Snape and Mrs. Malfoy appeared. The matriarch pulled Hermione into a tight hug, kissing her temple softly before sighing. Now, her army was complete; Harry, Luna, Dean, Professor McGonagall, Severus, Narcissa, Sirius, and Madame Pomfrey.

Other people had begun to arrive. The Council and Wizengamot seats were being quickly filled up. As the start time neared, Ron Weasley walked in with a flood of people behind him, a few that Hermione actually recognized as her fellow classmates. She glanced over at Harry who was glaring at Ron directly. There was no doubt now that whatever friendship they had left had been completely obliterated. Hermione's eyes met Ron's briefly and the hatred she found in them caused her to reel back in surprise.

"Prick." Harry muttered under his breath.

"I believe the correct term is 'bigot', Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall corrected.

A soft hush had taken over the room as Minister Shacklebolt walked into the courtroom, taking his seat at the top of the council's section, overlooking the entire room. Hermione looked up, trying to read the look on his face but it was clear that he was remaining neutral in this entire situation.

"Today will be a historic one as we plan to sentence at least 30 Death Eaters and former followers of the deceased dark wizard, Lord Voldermort." Kingsley stated as he cleared his throat. "Please bring forth the first ten."

Hermione sat up firmer as Draco was the first to be brought in along with 9 others, each of whom she knew she had fought against at one point. Draco looked around quickly before resting his eyes on Hermione's face. A loud sigh of relief could be heard as their eyes met, the love they felt for each other could be felt around the entire room. It made Harry and Narcissa smile while Ron began shaking with anger.

"First up for evaluation is Mr. Draco Malfoy." Kingsley instructed as he gave a small smile to Hermione.

Hermione's eyes widened as she realised what he was offering her. He was giving them a chance to get Draco's trial over and done with instead of prolonging and waiting for others to finish first. An auror stepped forward and pulled on Draco's chains, unhooking them from the other Death Eaters before dragging Draco, unceremoniously, to the center of the courtroom. Once he was under the main light, a loud gasp escaped Hermione's mouth at the true sight of Draco.

His cheeks had sunken in and he looked like he was just skin and bones. It was as if he hadn't eaten a thing or even slept for the past 3 weeks. The anger in Hermione rose up once more as she shot a look at Kingsley for some sort of explanation, but Kingsley looked just as shocked and surprised as the rest of them. Her eyes roamed around before landing on the smug face of Ron Weasley. He had something to do with this.

It was time to win.

It was time to end this once and for all.

"Let us begin the questioning with the battle at Hogwarts." Kingsley began.

"No!" Hermione snapped as she stepped forward. "My name is Hermione Granger and I am here to represent Draco Malfoy. If you really want to determine his innocence, then I believe you will need to start from the beginning. Our first year at Hogwarts."

"How?" a council member wondered.

"Before Professor Dumbledore...passed away...he taught me...Harry...and Draco how to use pensieves." Hermione began. "I can extract every memory you would need, right here in front of you so you know that it hasn't been tampered with."

"We do not have a pensieve present." another councilman shouted to her. "Besides that is a tool for very advanced witches and wizards. Not many of us are able to use it yet."

"She was taught very well by Dumbledore." Professor McGonagall said as she stood up slowly. "I also happen to have Dumbledore's pensieve here with me, with his own memories still intact."

A loud gasp was heard around the courtroom. It was tradition for pensieves to be buried with their owners upon their death. From her left side, she could see Severus smirk slightly as everyone in the courtroom began to discuss this surprising revelation.

"Order!" Kingsley shouted as he banged the gravel on his desk. "Order! Professor McGonagall, it was customary...almost an unspoken law really...that pensieves are to be buried with their owners. Did you dig this up?"

"Kingsley Shacklebolt!" Professor McGonagall snapped. "I am not so crude or crass that I would dig up someone's grave site! I have his will here that states his specific request for us to keep his pensieve and use the memories as they are needed. Hence the use of them in this trial!"

A soft silence wafted around the room after McGonagall's reprimand. All eyes were on the new Minister to see his reaction, but Kingsley just nodded his head and waved in his hand to allow them to continue with the evidence.

"I will place my memories into the pensieve and use the pensieve to show my memories to everyone present." Hermione explained as she took out her wand and pointed it to her temple while Professor McGonagall floated the pensieve in front of her.

As she moved her memories into the pensieve, soft murmurings began to surround them as her memories began to appear in the air in the middle of the courtroom for all to see. Hermione looked over at Draco. Their eyes met as the first memory played slowly. The memory of their first meeting in their first year, followed quickly by their progression of friendship...the summers spent together...the conversations they add...the fear Draco expressed about leaving his mother with his deranged father...the good memories...the bad memories...and even the ones that still made them smile at each other.

Memories from the last world cup came up next, and even though Harry had heard the truth, seeing it first hand now made him appreciate Draco more than anyone could imagine. Her memories drifted to the battle at the ministry in their 5th year. Even Ron had to look over at Draco this time as he realised that Draco had hurt more Death Eaters in secret than anyone else. He even stopped one of trying to kill Ron. Hermione's eyes were glued to Draco's as their discussions about having to kill Dumbledore appeared. Everything that happened after … the forest ... how Draco saved her at Malfoy Manor … everything pertaining to his case up until the time the Ministry Aurors invaded her parents home and took Draco away was shown to all that was present in the courtroom.

Silence.

No one in the room spoke a word as everything they had just seen began to sink in. Hermione even noticed that some of Ron's followers were slowly backing away from his group. Kingsley looked just as surprised as everyone else. He was lost for words.

"He should be arrested for killing Dumbledore at least!" someone from the Wizengamot shouted.

"No. He did not kill Dumbledore." Severus stood up and moved to stand next to Hermione, giving his godson a sympathetic look. "I killed Dumbeldore. Draco only disarmed him. I shall show you my own memories and my conversations with Dumbledore."

Pointing his wand to his temple, no time was wasted as Severus pulled out a long thin memory string and threw it into the pensieve. The memories took them all back to the night of Harry's parents murder. Harry stood up slowly as his body shook, seeing Severus hold his mother in his arms as he stood in his crib, crying. The love Severus had for his mother was clear for all to see. Harry watched as Severus picked up the baby in the memory and held him close to his chest, whispering "I will always protect you now." into the baby's ear. Tears began to fall from Harry's eyes as something pricked deep in the back of his mind and suddenly he could remember Severus' voice from that night.

The memories moved to Dumbledore agreeing to help Severus with everything. Severus' memories took them through the dealings of every year at Hogwarts leading up to the 6th year. He showed them how Dumbledore was already dying from a curse found on the fake horcrux locket. It was then revealed that Dumbledore knew about Voldemort's plan to make Draco kill him. Begging Severus to do it instead in order to spare Draco's innocence made Draco finally turn his head to look at his godfather. The final memory showed Severus killing Dumbledore to prove his fake loyalty to Lord Voldemort.

Silence. Again.

Everyone in the room knew about the ongoing war with Voldemort, but no one knew how much sacrifice had been made and how affected those involved really were.

"May we see...Draco's memories?" a woman from Ron's group stood up to ask softly, breaking the room's silence.

"I think that would be a good idea." Kingsley stated as other council members murmured their agreement.

Fear appeared in Draco's eyes as Hermione turned to look at Kingsley for permission. The minister nodded his head at her as she sprung forward and gently touched Draco's cheek.

"Draco." she whispered. "I'm here. Look at me babe...look at me. Listen to my voice."

Draco, body shaking from fear and exhaustion, slowly turned his head to look down into the pleading eyes of the only good thing he ever had in his life. Hermione gripped his hands tightly, wanting to pour all the love she felt for him into his body, but instead something else happened...something that no one in the wizarding world had seen for decades…

A bright red light erupted from the palm of Hermione's hand as her magical energy actually began to flow into Draco's body. Draco slowly began to hold Hermione's hand tighter as he began to feel stronger. The red light moved around their hands first before slowly moving to cover their entire bodies. As Hermione looked weaker, Draco looked stronger, but then it was reversed...back and forth the energy went until it settled on both of them, making them both feel stronger than before. As the light began to fade from them, Hermione and Draco were both breathing heavily, their eyes locked on each other.

"I...I have never seen that...for at least...80 years." an old Wizengamot member stated.

Most of the council members and the entire Wizengamot had stood up to see what was happening to Draco and Hermione. Hermione closed her eyes and pressed her head against Draco's, not wanting to move.

"Soulmates." the old Wizengamot man stated before he stood up quickly and shouted in terror. "No one touch them!"

A/N

Hey all, so I'm realising that I really shouldn't give you guys a specific upload date because real life always comes first and sometimes it gets busy, especially when you have a 4 year old super wild boy. I hope you guys liked this chapter and see you next time!