Chapter Four
"How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment they are utterly
consumed with terrors."
Psalms 73:19
The remainder of the trial passed as Draco suspected. Witnesses were called but not much testimony was needed. Snape took the stand at one stage and testified that as a spy in the Death Eater's ranks working for Dumbledore, he had often dealt with Malfoy on Death Eater business. However, the Malfoys had been part of the inner circle which Snape had not been and so Snape could not offer proof of their involvement in the Gillamoor Camp project. In order to obtain this, the veritaserum had been put on both Lucius and Narcissa.
Draco's face had grown increasingly pale and drawn as the questioning under the truth charm went on. Details of Voldemort's activities at Gillamoor made Draco glad he had not eaten at all that day. He pressed shaking fingers into his eyes and merely listened, unable to watch as the words he was hearing came out of his parent's mouths. When the prosecution asked about Voldemort's experiments on the Muggle-born prisoners, Draco listened with horror as his parents recited a litany of tortures that they had personally inflicted. Draco realized that not only had his parents known about the activities at Gillamoor, they had participated in the atrocities too.
The details made Draco's eyes water. He felt sick. The final straw was the images the Aurors magically projected of the victims that had been found at Gillamoor the day after Voldemort had been defeated. Had it been only just over a week ago, Draco wondered dazedly? There were images of the man he had seen close up in one of the cages. He was lying on his back on a stretcher ready to go to the Wizarding hospital. Draco could count all of his bones.
The jury's decision was swift. It took them barely five minutes to come back with the verdict. The vote was unanimous - guilty as charged. The judge sentenced them to the Dementor's Kiss and Azkaban for the term of their natural life.
The light in the Court room dimmed as two Dementors swept into the room. The pompous, condescending and supercilious sneers were suddenly missing from Lucius and Narcissa's face. For the first time in Draco's life, he saw them look afraid. Lucius' eyes darted around the room as though looking for Voldemort to suddenly appear and save them. Narcissa merely looked white and faint.
The prisoners were led away by the Dementors and a group of Aurors. "Voldemort will be back!" Lucius hissed furiously at the gallery as he left. "Avada Kedavra can't kill him and when he does come back, he will avenge us and all the Death Eaters you persecute!" He glared one last time at Dumbledore who was sitting in the back corner of the gallery. The old wizard met this glare calmly and without so much as flickering an eyelash.
Draco sat very still in his chair, feeling as though he had just been battered for hours. Emotionally, he felt both numb as well as black and blue. His eyes were still closed and he was breathing carefully when he heard a knock on the door and it opened. He was expecting Snape but it was actually Dumbledore.
"It was either very brave or very foolish to put yourself through that Draco and I'm not sure which it is," the old wizard commented kindly as he came in.
"Both, I suspect," Draco said quietly.
"Yes. I think you had best go back to Snape Manor now and try and rest. I suspect you're feeling rather battered at the moment," Dumbledore suggested, his blue eyes sparkling down at his former pupil.
Draco was amazed that Dumbledore had so accurately guessed his thoughts. "Yes," he agreed faintly, getting up and feeling surprised at how cramped his muscles were after sitting all day.
Dumbledore gave him some floo powder from an ornamental oriental jar on top of the fireplace mantel and saw him off. Draco did not see the grave look on his old Headmaster's face as he left in a whoosh of green fire.
* * *
Snape came to see him mid-morning the next day. "You realize now that your parent's sentence has been carried out that you are the heir to the Malfoy fortune," he said, pacing around the sitting room with his robes swirling around him.
Draco watched this energetic performance from an armchair in front of the fireplace. No, he realized, he hadn't actually thought about it at all since he got back from the trial. He hadn't been able to think about anything but the images of the prisoners and the descriptions his parents had given of their roles in the atrocities at Gillamoor; that and what his parents would look like without their souls. Those thoughts had paraded through his head all night and he'd woken up with purple shadows under his eyes, having slept for less than an hour all night.
"There is paperwork with the Court-appointed lawyer that needs to be signed as soon as possible. I'm sorry Draco but that means today," Snape continued, glancing at the boy from under his heavy black brows.
Draco merely nodded. "That's fine," he said calmly. "Can I go now? Might as well get it over with. There are other things I'll need to take care of now," he added.
Snape nodded. "What other things?" he asked as he took out some floo powder out of the jar on the mantel.
"I will have to defer University for a semester. With the Ministry wanting information from me and with taking over the estate, I don't think I can handle University as well," he explained coolly.
Snape's black eyes darted over the boy's face. He merely nodded again, "that sounds sensible," he said bluntly and they flooed over to the Courts once more.
By the time Draco had finished with the paperwork with the lawyer and had seen the University Dean about deferring, it was dinner time. He had eaten by himself every night at the Snape Manor and he knew that would not change. Snape was not about to give up his evenings with Hermione for the sake of his company. Snape was a very conscientious guardian but Draco had not been expecting any emotional support and it was just as well as none was forthcoming. He wasn't even sure that he wanted Snape's emotional support. The man still intimidated him and the less he had to do with him, the better as far as Draco was concerned.
Severus-the-first and Hermatica had been good company though, and usually came into the dining room while he was eating or if he was in a sitting room on his own. They didn't always talk to him although mostly they did, catching up on the news about the Death Eater trials.
As he ate rather unenthusiastically that evening, he thought over what the lawyer had told him. He could move back into the Malfoy estate at any time now that the paperwork was taken care of. He would certainly never need to worry about money again. He decided to go back to the Manor tomorrow. He would miss Severus-the-first and Hermatica but that was a minor consideration. He had a lot of plans in the back of his mind for his own estate and he wanted to get moving on them immediately.
* * *
"He's not sleeping and he's not eating very well either," Snape said, his deep voice gravelly and unusually relaxed as he sat in front of the fire at Hermione's house. The house was currently under contract and she would be moving to a cottage at Hogsborough, a suburb on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, within the month. For the time being, Snape was apparating to her house each evening from Hogwarts.
"How can you tell?" Hermione asked, not adding the obvious fact that Snape never spent any time at Snape Manor in order to see Draco regularly.
"I took him up to the Courts today to get the paperwork for his inheritance taken care of. He's got purple shadows under his eyes, as dark as bruises. He also looks thinner and he wasn't exactly robust to begin with," Snape explained, his lips thinning as he recalled it. "He saw his parent's trial and sentencing, you know," he added quietly.
Hermione's eyes grew wide. "He didn't." she breathed, feeling shocked that he would even be allowed to put himself through that. "Why was it allowed?" she demanded.
"Dumbledore thought it was important for Draco to know the full truth about his parents and for him to get a sense of closure. He knew that Draco would never see his parents again after the trial. I think he wanted the boy to know exactly why," Snape said meditatively.
"It sounds cruel to me," Hermione murmured, shaking her dark head and still looking shocked.
"His life has been cruel, Hermione," Snape replied.
"Seems to be going around," Hermione commented, her grey eyes caressing Snape's face as she recalled the sketchy details she knew about his own upbringing.
"Quite," he agreed, thinking about Hermione and Harry's families too.
"Poor, miserable shit," Hermione commented, still thinking of Draco.
"Hermione!" Snape objected. "How are you supposed to help me by making friends with the boy if you think of him like that?" he asked sternly.
"Hey, he didn't call you 'Mudblood' for seven years," Hermione said pointedly.
"That kind of prejudice is easy enough to fall into taking into account his up-bringing," Snape said, almost self-defensively.
"Be that as it may, I still didn't have to like it. I did invite him to my eighteenth birthday party, you know," Hermione said.
"Did he go?" Snape asked with interest. He hadn't known Hermione had invited him.
"Did you see him there?" she asked.
Snape smiled thinly. "I wasn't exactly looking for him when I arrived. I had other things on my mind," he said, his deep-set eyes narrowing meaningfully as he looked at her.
"Yes, I had noticed," she replied, smiling then looking away shyly. The memory of those few days and nights was still fresh enough in her mind to make her feel self-conscious. Then she was annoyed with herself for being embarrassed.
Snape smirked to himself when he saw her glance away but it made him feel oddly affectionate too. He reached out one hand and took hers, gently playing with her fingers.
"Well, he didn't go to the party. I imagine a Gryffindor do was all too much at that point. In fact, I'm not sure he will ever be able to get over his Gryffindor prejudices in order to mix with my friends," she said, recovering her poise quickly. "Think about it - Harry Potter! He hates Harry and always has and if he's going to be my friend, he's going to have to be Harry's friend too," Hermione said flatly.
A sneer flickered across Snape's face at the mention of Harry. He didn't like him either but he was prepared to tolerate him for Hermione's sake. "You'll have to find a way around that," Snape said smoothly but he suddenly seemed tired of talking about Draco. "Why are you sitting all the way over there in that chair when you could be sitting here?" he asked, indicating his own.
Hermione smiled, got up and went and sat in his lap twisting her arms around Snape's neck and lifting her face for his kiss.
The remainder of the trial passed as Draco suspected. Witnesses were called but not much testimony was needed. Snape took the stand at one stage and testified that as a spy in the Death Eater's ranks working for Dumbledore, he had often dealt with Malfoy on Death Eater business. However, the Malfoys had been part of the inner circle which Snape had not been and so Snape could not offer proof of their involvement in the Gillamoor Camp project. In order to obtain this, the veritaserum had been put on both Lucius and Narcissa.
Draco's face had grown increasingly pale and drawn as the questioning under the truth charm went on. Details of Voldemort's activities at Gillamoor made Draco glad he had not eaten at all that day. He pressed shaking fingers into his eyes and merely listened, unable to watch as the words he was hearing came out of his parent's mouths. When the prosecution asked about Voldemort's experiments on the Muggle-born prisoners, Draco listened with horror as his parents recited a litany of tortures that they had personally inflicted. Draco realized that not only had his parents known about the activities at Gillamoor, they had participated in the atrocities too.
The details made Draco's eyes water. He felt sick. The final straw was the images the Aurors magically projected of the victims that had been found at Gillamoor the day after Voldemort had been defeated. Had it been only just over a week ago, Draco wondered dazedly? There were images of the man he had seen close up in one of the cages. He was lying on his back on a stretcher ready to go to the Wizarding hospital. Draco could count all of his bones.
The jury's decision was swift. It took them barely five minutes to come back with the verdict. The vote was unanimous - guilty as charged. The judge sentenced them to the Dementor's Kiss and Azkaban for the term of their natural life.
The light in the Court room dimmed as two Dementors swept into the room. The pompous, condescending and supercilious sneers were suddenly missing from Lucius and Narcissa's face. For the first time in Draco's life, he saw them look afraid. Lucius' eyes darted around the room as though looking for Voldemort to suddenly appear and save them. Narcissa merely looked white and faint.
The prisoners were led away by the Dementors and a group of Aurors. "Voldemort will be back!" Lucius hissed furiously at the gallery as he left. "Avada Kedavra can't kill him and when he does come back, he will avenge us and all the Death Eaters you persecute!" He glared one last time at Dumbledore who was sitting in the back corner of the gallery. The old wizard met this glare calmly and without so much as flickering an eyelash.
Draco sat very still in his chair, feeling as though he had just been battered for hours. Emotionally, he felt both numb as well as black and blue. His eyes were still closed and he was breathing carefully when he heard a knock on the door and it opened. He was expecting Snape but it was actually Dumbledore.
"It was either very brave or very foolish to put yourself through that Draco and I'm not sure which it is," the old wizard commented kindly as he came in.
"Both, I suspect," Draco said quietly.
"Yes. I think you had best go back to Snape Manor now and try and rest. I suspect you're feeling rather battered at the moment," Dumbledore suggested, his blue eyes sparkling down at his former pupil.
Draco was amazed that Dumbledore had so accurately guessed his thoughts. "Yes," he agreed faintly, getting up and feeling surprised at how cramped his muscles were after sitting all day.
Dumbledore gave him some floo powder from an ornamental oriental jar on top of the fireplace mantel and saw him off. Draco did not see the grave look on his old Headmaster's face as he left in a whoosh of green fire.
* * *
Snape came to see him mid-morning the next day. "You realize now that your parent's sentence has been carried out that you are the heir to the Malfoy fortune," he said, pacing around the sitting room with his robes swirling around him.
Draco watched this energetic performance from an armchair in front of the fireplace. No, he realized, he hadn't actually thought about it at all since he got back from the trial. He hadn't been able to think about anything but the images of the prisoners and the descriptions his parents had given of their roles in the atrocities at Gillamoor; that and what his parents would look like without their souls. Those thoughts had paraded through his head all night and he'd woken up with purple shadows under his eyes, having slept for less than an hour all night.
"There is paperwork with the Court-appointed lawyer that needs to be signed as soon as possible. I'm sorry Draco but that means today," Snape continued, glancing at the boy from under his heavy black brows.
Draco merely nodded. "That's fine," he said calmly. "Can I go now? Might as well get it over with. There are other things I'll need to take care of now," he added.
Snape nodded. "What other things?" he asked as he took out some floo powder out of the jar on the mantel.
"I will have to defer University for a semester. With the Ministry wanting information from me and with taking over the estate, I don't think I can handle University as well," he explained coolly.
Snape's black eyes darted over the boy's face. He merely nodded again, "that sounds sensible," he said bluntly and they flooed over to the Courts once more.
By the time Draco had finished with the paperwork with the lawyer and had seen the University Dean about deferring, it was dinner time. He had eaten by himself every night at the Snape Manor and he knew that would not change. Snape was not about to give up his evenings with Hermione for the sake of his company. Snape was a very conscientious guardian but Draco had not been expecting any emotional support and it was just as well as none was forthcoming. He wasn't even sure that he wanted Snape's emotional support. The man still intimidated him and the less he had to do with him, the better as far as Draco was concerned.
Severus-the-first and Hermatica had been good company though, and usually came into the dining room while he was eating or if he was in a sitting room on his own. They didn't always talk to him although mostly they did, catching up on the news about the Death Eater trials.
As he ate rather unenthusiastically that evening, he thought over what the lawyer had told him. He could move back into the Malfoy estate at any time now that the paperwork was taken care of. He would certainly never need to worry about money again. He decided to go back to the Manor tomorrow. He would miss Severus-the-first and Hermatica but that was a minor consideration. He had a lot of plans in the back of his mind for his own estate and he wanted to get moving on them immediately.
* * *
"He's not sleeping and he's not eating very well either," Snape said, his deep voice gravelly and unusually relaxed as he sat in front of the fire at Hermione's house. The house was currently under contract and she would be moving to a cottage at Hogsborough, a suburb on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, within the month. For the time being, Snape was apparating to her house each evening from Hogwarts.
"How can you tell?" Hermione asked, not adding the obvious fact that Snape never spent any time at Snape Manor in order to see Draco regularly.
"I took him up to the Courts today to get the paperwork for his inheritance taken care of. He's got purple shadows under his eyes, as dark as bruises. He also looks thinner and he wasn't exactly robust to begin with," Snape explained, his lips thinning as he recalled it. "He saw his parent's trial and sentencing, you know," he added quietly.
Hermione's eyes grew wide. "He didn't." she breathed, feeling shocked that he would even be allowed to put himself through that. "Why was it allowed?" she demanded.
"Dumbledore thought it was important for Draco to know the full truth about his parents and for him to get a sense of closure. He knew that Draco would never see his parents again after the trial. I think he wanted the boy to know exactly why," Snape said meditatively.
"It sounds cruel to me," Hermione murmured, shaking her dark head and still looking shocked.
"His life has been cruel, Hermione," Snape replied.
"Seems to be going around," Hermione commented, her grey eyes caressing Snape's face as she recalled the sketchy details she knew about his own upbringing.
"Quite," he agreed, thinking about Hermione and Harry's families too.
"Poor, miserable shit," Hermione commented, still thinking of Draco.
"Hermione!" Snape objected. "How are you supposed to help me by making friends with the boy if you think of him like that?" he asked sternly.
"Hey, he didn't call you 'Mudblood' for seven years," Hermione said pointedly.
"That kind of prejudice is easy enough to fall into taking into account his up-bringing," Snape said, almost self-defensively.
"Be that as it may, I still didn't have to like it. I did invite him to my eighteenth birthday party, you know," Hermione said.
"Did he go?" Snape asked with interest. He hadn't known Hermione had invited him.
"Did you see him there?" she asked.
Snape smiled thinly. "I wasn't exactly looking for him when I arrived. I had other things on my mind," he said, his deep-set eyes narrowing meaningfully as he looked at her.
"Yes, I had noticed," she replied, smiling then looking away shyly. The memory of those few days and nights was still fresh enough in her mind to make her feel self-conscious. Then she was annoyed with herself for being embarrassed.
Snape smirked to himself when he saw her glance away but it made him feel oddly affectionate too. He reached out one hand and took hers, gently playing with her fingers.
"Well, he didn't go to the party. I imagine a Gryffindor do was all too much at that point. In fact, I'm not sure he will ever be able to get over his Gryffindor prejudices in order to mix with my friends," she said, recovering her poise quickly. "Think about it - Harry Potter! He hates Harry and always has and if he's going to be my friend, he's going to have to be Harry's friend too," Hermione said flatly.
A sneer flickered across Snape's face at the mention of Harry. He didn't like him either but he was prepared to tolerate him for Hermione's sake. "You'll have to find a way around that," Snape said smoothly but he suddenly seemed tired of talking about Draco. "Why are you sitting all the way over there in that chair when you could be sitting here?" he asked, indicating his own.
Hermione smiled, got up and went and sat in his lap twisting her arms around Snape's neck and lifting her face for his kiss.
