A/N: This is my very first fic and I am extremely nervous about it. Any
feedback you could give me would be great. I want to thank my wonderful
beta Mystique for taking up this story and for helping me in my time of
need.
After this chapter, I will flashback to the Hogwarts years-where the mass of the story will take place, but it will go back and forth between past and present.
Holding back the years,
Thinking of the fear I've had for so long.
When somebody hears,
Listen to the fear that's gone...
Holding back the tears.
There's nothing here has grown.
I've wasted all my tears,
Wasted all those years.
Nothing had the chance to be good
I'll keep holding on...
-Simply Red
~~
Hermione Granger was sweating. She never sweated. In fact, she was once noted as exhibiting cool intellect under pressure. This would have been fine and good, but the situation she found herself in now was beyond pressure. The twenty-two year old ex-Gryffindor picked up her quill and began writing on the parchment in front of her that was already cluttered with words like "heresay" and "fallacies".
"Are you okay, Hermione?" whispered the blonde sitting next to her. "You're shaking."
"Y-yes Draco, I'm fine." But the truth was that she far from being fine. She was sitting in the Ministry of Magic, defending an old enemy at a hearing that could mean death for the ex-Slytherin. Not only that, but she about to cross-examine her best friend, a witness for the prosecution.
In her sixth year at Hogwarts, Arthur Weasley became the Minister of Magic after Cornelius Fudge resigned from the post. More like booted out, she thought to herself. The redheaded patriarch of the Weasley family was known for his fondness of all things Muggle. Therefore, the Ministry adopted something close to the Muggle legal system. Not everything was the same, of course, in place of a judge and jury was the Minister himself. Instead of a business suits, briefcases, and pens-- robes, stacks of parchment, and quills were used. And of course, that fact that witnesses often apparated onto the stand and a blast of blue sparks out of the tip of a wand demanded silence in the room instead of a banging gavel. Things were a lot less formal in this setting than in a real muggle courtroom.
"-your witness," she heard the opposing advocatus (wizard attorney) say as she snapped out of her reverie.
Hermione took a deep breath, stood up and walked over to the witness stand. She couldn't help but smile as she approached her best friend of over ten years.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter." She grinned wider at the bemused look on his face.
Harry raised one eyebrow and smirked at the business-like tone in Hermione's voice. "Good afternoon to you too, Miss Granger," he said with a small nod.
"How ARE you?" Hermione had to ask; she hadn't seen Harry in ages. Well, it seemed that way, it was really only a few months.
"Good. You haven't been over for months, Hermione. We've missed you." He had such an earnest look on his face that she felt a stab of guilt.
"I know," she sighed, "Been busy with my job and all, but we'll catch up soon, I promise. I've missed you both terribly too, tell Susan-" A quiet cough brought Hermione back to reality. She'd almost forgotten where she was and why she was there.
She looked up at the kind face of the man she once thought of as a second father with an apologetic smile. "Sorry Minister, I'll move on."
He studied her with sad eyes before he replied. "Thank you Miss Granger. Whenever you're ready."
Let the questioning begin. "Mr. Potter, where were you on the night of 6 August 2002?"
"On a mission with my partner. We were informed by a reliable source that the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange," he practically spat out the woman's name, "was holed up in a warehouse on the outskirts of Bristol."
"What did you see when you arrived at the warehouse?"
"We found Draco Malfoy, wand raised, hovering over the body of-of...her, along with the bodies of Dean Thomas and his wife Parvati Patil-er-Thomas."
"Did you actually see the accused kill anybody?"
Harry gave her a withering look. "No."
"Thank you Mr. Potter. That is all." She gave Harry a small smile, as he step down from the stand to show there was no hard feelings. Relief washed over her as he returned it before he dissapparted.
Hermione walked back to her seat with a feeling of dread. She knew what was coming next and she didn't know if she could handle it. Just then, a stubborn voice, which sounded amazingly like Professor McGonagall, came into her mind. 'Of course, you can handle it. Can I? Yes! You are
Hermione Granger. Record holder for most NEWTS in the history of Hogwarts. But it's been three years. You faced down Lord Voldemort and lived. You CAN do this.'
"Witness for the prosecution, Auror Ronald Weasley."
She froze. She heard a "pop" and knew that Ron was now on the witness stand. As Justin Finch-Fletchly began to question him, she heard his voice and closed her eyes, but refused to look up. Hermione hadn't heard that voice for almost three years and she felt like a bucket of cold water was thrown over her head. Merlin, she missed him. Tears began to sting the back of her eyes and she started to shake. She couldn't do this.
But just as these thoughts formed in her head, the soft voice of Arthur Weasley pierced through them.
"It's your witness, Miss Granger."
Hermione's head snapped up at the sound of elder Weasley's voice. She gulped hard and took a deep breath. As she braced her arms on the table in front of her to push herself up, she realized her knees where trembling. She walked slowly to the witness stand, looking deliberately anywhere but at Ron. When she finally walked as far as she could go, she lifted her eyes to meet his. A breath caught in her throat as she saw the whirlwind of emotions in his eyes. It was something she had never seen before. In the swirling depths of blue, his eyes looked happy and sad, nervous and excited, devastated and relieved all at the same time.
They continued to stare at each for what must have been only a few moments, but felt like much longer. Hermione was known as someone who always spoke her mind, but when she opened her mouth address Ron, nothing would come out. She tried again-SAY something, you nit. Hello, Mr. Weasley, how are you this afternoon? Hey, Ron. Long time, eh? Come on, say something...anything! She continued to open and close her mouth wordlessly looking exceptionally like a goldfish, she suspected. Until finally, one word escaped that was so quiet and breathy, it sounded very close to a sigh.
"Hi." Hermione inwardly cursed herself for sounding so pathetic. She still loved Ron; she couldn't deny that, not with him sitting right in front of her looking as handsome as ever, his red hair cut short and stylish. But that didn't mean he had to know that.
"Hi," Ron replied with a small, sad smile on his lips. The former Head Girl practically melted into the floor when she noticed he still had those dimples that kept her mesmerized for so many years. He proceeded to look her up and down, as if burning the image of her into his head. He lingered on the curve of her hip for a moment before he titled his head slightly and caught her eye again. "It's been a long time, kitten," he said in a low, rumbling voice. Hermione realized, to her shock, it sounded positively seductive.
"Y-yes, it has," she said before she could stop herself. She winced at the squeaking quality of her voice. And damn him for making her stutter. She needed to put a reign on her emotions and take charge of the situation. Hermione lifted her chin defiantly and asked her next question in very controlled voice. "On the night in question, you arrived at the abandoned warehouse with your partner Harry Potter. Is that correct?"
Ron must have noticed this, because the expression on his face turned into one of indifference. "Yes," he said in an almost bored voice.
Hermione, sensing that the slight innuendos and longing looks had come to a end, seized this opportunity to get down to the business at hand. She began firing off questions as if Ron was merely a normal witness and not someone she had a long and tumultuous history with, he responded in kind.
"Who arrived first, you or Mr. Potter?"
"I showed up before Harry. He went around back to check to perimeter and I walked up directly to the top floor."
"When your partner arrived, you already had Mr. Malfoy in custody, is that right?"
"Yeah, I did." Ron seemed quite proud of this fact.
"Please, tell us exactly what you saw."
"Er-right well, when I opened the door, there was explosion and I heard a load of screaming, followed by what sounds like two bodies hitting the ground. When, the dust cleared, I saw Malfoy with his wand raised, standing over the bodies. That's when Harry came in."
"So, you didn't actually witness Mr. Malfoy attack anybody?"
Ron looked at her as if wondering why she was even questioning his credibility. "Well, it was obvious, wasn't it? Malfoy pointing his wand at the victims, towering over him like some great bloody Death Eater. There was blood on his robes, Hermione! I had to take him in, didn't I?"
"Well, that is what we are we are here trying to determine," Hermione responded curtly and as an afterthought, she added "and I would prefer if you called me Miss Granger."
Ron was livid. His face and ears turned a deep shade of maroon and began to sputter indignantly. "Y-you CAN'T be serious! After everything we've been through, you can't possibly expect-"
Hermione was not about to go down that road, so she decided a change in tactics was in order. "When did you first meet Draco Malfoy?"
She asked the question so abruptly, Ron could do nothing but give a shocked "What?!"
Justin Finch-Fletchly spoke up at this. "I object, Minister. This line of questioning has no bearing..."
Being the educated advocatus she was, Hermione interrupted his objection with what she thought was merely common sense. "I am attempting to show that a pattern of prior animosity towards Mr. Malfoy by Mr. Weasley could have provoked the witness into making an unfounded determination.
In order to provide a logical pattern, I must start from the beginning."
Arthur Weasley, up to this point, seemed to be enjoying himself immensely watching his youngest son and former girlfriend bickering like old times. In fact, he was listening to them; head propped up on his fist with a small, wistful smile of his face. When he was addressed directly, however, he looked to be caught off guard. Pulling himself out of his stupor, he gave a meek reply. "Okay-er-I mean, I will allow it."
Hermione gave the Minister a respectful nod before turning back to Ron. "Mr. Weasley, please tell us when did you first meet the accused?"
"On the train to Hogwarts, first year," he said with a roll of his eyes.
Hermione was not to be discouraged and continued her line of questioning. "What happened during this exchange?"
"He came into the compartment where Harry and I were sitting," he replied and then smirked as he added, "having just been interrupted by some bossy, little know-it-all with hair bigger than her head."
Hermione narrowed her eyes and gave Ron a dark look. "Very amusing," she said, making it clear that she thought it anything but amusing. Her hair was still an extremely sore subject for her and he knew that.
"I thought so," he shrugged, not seeming to notice her anger. He went on to say. "He apparently wanted to make an alliance with Harry, but he told Malfoy to bugger off." Ron grinned at Draco as he included off-handedly, "and then he insulted my family."
Hermione glanced at Malfoy and she saw him looking wide-eyed at Arthur. Apparently, even he knew that insulting the Minister of Magic's family was probably not the best thing to do, especially when said Minister was deciding the outcome of your life. She felt bad for Draco, she really did, but she had to keep digging up his past misdeeds in order to prove her point. So, she went on.
"Did he continue to insult you throughout the rest of the year?"
"You know he did," Ron answered. Off Hermione's sharp look, he muttered scathingly, "I mean, yes, Ms. Granger."
"And second year? Did this behaviour continue? You did try to hex him, didn't you?"
"He called my girl a mudblood! I had to do something, I couldn't just stand there and let him get away with it, could I?"
"Ah, but she wasn't your girl at this time, was she?"
Ron's face suddenly got very serious. He peered into her eyes with an almost pleading look. "She's always been my girl."
Hermione was completely dumbstruck. Did he really mean that? Could it be possible that he still loved her as she loved him?
"Okay." It was an affirmation of acceptance. Maybe it wasn't too late, she thought to herself. All they need was some time alone to talk things over and then they could move on...together. She smiled up at Ron and he smiled back, his eyes unusually shiny. She was just about to suggest that they meet for tea, when she remembered he was sitting on a witness stand. The trial!
Pulling herself together, she tried desperately to get back on track. "Uh...I mean...that is," she sputtered helplessly.
She tried again to speak, this time successfully; "This pattern of insulting each other went on for years, correct?"
"Yeah, up until sixth year." Ron looked away when he said this, he seemed to suspect where this was leading and was reluctant to go there.
"What happened during sixth year that changed your view towards each other?"
To be continued...
After this chapter, I will flashback to the Hogwarts years-where the mass of the story will take place, but it will go back and forth between past and present.
Holding back the years,
Thinking of the fear I've had for so long.
When somebody hears,
Listen to the fear that's gone...
Holding back the tears.
There's nothing here has grown.
I've wasted all my tears,
Wasted all those years.
Nothing had the chance to be good
I'll keep holding on...
-Simply Red
~~
Hermione Granger was sweating. She never sweated. In fact, she was once noted as exhibiting cool intellect under pressure. This would have been fine and good, but the situation she found herself in now was beyond pressure. The twenty-two year old ex-Gryffindor picked up her quill and began writing on the parchment in front of her that was already cluttered with words like "heresay" and "fallacies".
"Are you okay, Hermione?" whispered the blonde sitting next to her. "You're shaking."
"Y-yes Draco, I'm fine." But the truth was that she far from being fine. She was sitting in the Ministry of Magic, defending an old enemy at a hearing that could mean death for the ex-Slytherin. Not only that, but she about to cross-examine her best friend, a witness for the prosecution.
In her sixth year at Hogwarts, Arthur Weasley became the Minister of Magic after Cornelius Fudge resigned from the post. More like booted out, she thought to herself. The redheaded patriarch of the Weasley family was known for his fondness of all things Muggle. Therefore, the Ministry adopted something close to the Muggle legal system. Not everything was the same, of course, in place of a judge and jury was the Minister himself. Instead of a business suits, briefcases, and pens-- robes, stacks of parchment, and quills were used. And of course, that fact that witnesses often apparated onto the stand and a blast of blue sparks out of the tip of a wand demanded silence in the room instead of a banging gavel. Things were a lot less formal in this setting than in a real muggle courtroom.
"-your witness," she heard the opposing advocatus (wizard attorney) say as she snapped out of her reverie.
Hermione took a deep breath, stood up and walked over to the witness stand. She couldn't help but smile as she approached her best friend of over ten years.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter." She grinned wider at the bemused look on his face.
Harry raised one eyebrow and smirked at the business-like tone in Hermione's voice. "Good afternoon to you too, Miss Granger," he said with a small nod.
"How ARE you?" Hermione had to ask; she hadn't seen Harry in ages. Well, it seemed that way, it was really only a few months.
"Good. You haven't been over for months, Hermione. We've missed you." He had such an earnest look on his face that she felt a stab of guilt.
"I know," she sighed, "Been busy with my job and all, but we'll catch up soon, I promise. I've missed you both terribly too, tell Susan-" A quiet cough brought Hermione back to reality. She'd almost forgotten where she was and why she was there.
She looked up at the kind face of the man she once thought of as a second father with an apologetic smile. "Sorry Minister, I'll move on."
He studied her with sad eyes before he replied. "Thank you Miss Granger. Whenever you're ready."
Let the questioning begin. "Mr. Potter, where were you on the night of 6 August 2002?"
"On a mission with my partner. We were informed by a reliable source that the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange," he practically spat out the woman's name, "was holed up in a warehouse on the outskirts of Bristol."
"What did you see when you arrived at the warehouse?"
"We found Draco Malfoy, wand raised, hovering over the body of-of...her, along with the bodies of Dean Thomas and his wife Parvati Patil-er-Thomas."
"Did you actually see the accused kill anybody?"
Harry gave her a withering look. "No."
"Thank you Mr. Potter. That is all." She gave Harry a small smile, as he step down from the stand to show there was no hard feelings. Relief washed over her as he returned it before he dissapparted.
Hermione walked back to her seat with a feeling of dread. She knew what was coming next and she didn't know if she could handle it. Just then, a stubborn voice, which sounded amazingly like Professor McGonagall, came into her mind. 'Of course, you can handle it. Can I? Yes! You are
Hermione Granger. Record holder for most NEWTS in the history of Hogwarts. But it's been three years. You faced down Lord Voldemort and lived. You CAN do this.'
"Witness for the prosecution, Auror Ronald Weasley."
She froze. She heard a "pop" and knew that Ron was now on the witness stand. As Justin Finch-Fletchly began to question him, she heard his voice and closed her eyes, but refused to look up. Hermione hadn't heard that voice for almost three years and she felt like a bucket of cold water was thrown over her head. Merlin, she missed him. Tears began to sting the back of her eyes and she started to shake. She couldn't do this.
But just as these thoughts formed in her head, the soft voice of Arthur Weasley pierced through them.
"It's your witness, Miss Granger."
Hermione's head snapped up at the sound of elder Weasley's voice. She gulped hard and took a deep breath. As she braced her arms on the table in front of her to push herself up, she realized her knees where trembling. She walked slowly to the witness stand, looking deliberately anywhere but at Ron. When she finally walked as far as she could go, she lifted her eyes to meet his. A breath caught in her throat as she saw the whirlwind of emotions in his eyes. It was something she had never seen before. In the swirling depths of blue, his eyes looked happy and sad, nervous and excited, devastated and relieved all at the same time.
They continued to stare at each for what must have been only a few moments, but felt like much longer. Hermione was known as someone who always spoke her mind, but when she opened her mouth address Ron, nothing would come out. She tried again-SAY something, you nit. Hello, Mr. Weasley, how are you this afternoon? Hey, Ron. Long time, eh? Come on, say something...anything! She continued to open and close her mouth wordlessly looking exceptionally like a goldfish, she suspected. Until finally, one word escaped that was so quiet and breathy, it sounded very close to a sigh.
"Hi." Hermione inwardly cursed herself for sounding so pathetic. She still loved Ron; she couldn't deny that, not with him sitting right in front of her looking as handsome as ever, his red hair cut short and stylish. But that didn't mean he had to know that.
"Hi," Ron replied with a small, sad smile on his lips. The former Head Girl practically melted into the floor when she noticed he still had those dimples that kept her mesmerized for so many years. He proceeded to look her up and down, as if burning the image of her into his head. He lingered on the curve of her hip for a moment before he titled his head slightly and caught her eye again. "It's been a long time, kitten," he said in a low, rumbling voice. Hermione realized, to her shock, it sounded positively seductive.
"Y-yes, it has," she said before she could stop herself. She winced at the squeaking quality of her voice. And damn him for making her stutter. She needed to put a reign on her emotions and take charge of the situation. Hermione lifted her chin defiantly and asked her next question in very controlled voice. "On the night in question, you arrived at the abandoned warehouse with your partner Harry Potter. Is that correct?"
Ron must have noticed this, because the expression on his face turned into one of indifference. "Yes," he said in an almost bored voice.
Hermione, sensing that the slight innuendos and longing looks had come to a end, seized this opportunity to get down to the business at hand. She began firing off questions as if Ron was merely a normal witness and not someone she had a long and tumultuous history with, he responded in kind.
"Who arrived first, you or Mr. Potter?"
"I showed up before Harry. He went around back to check to perimeter and I walked up directly to the top floor."
"When your partner arrived, you already had Mr. Malfoy in custody, is that right?"
"Yeah, I did." Ron seemed quite proud of this fact.
"Please, tell us exactly what you saw."
"Er-right well, when I opened the door, there was explosion and I heard a load of screaming, followed by what sounds like two bodies hitting the ground. When, the dust cleared, I saw Malfoy with his wand raised, standing over the bodies. That's when Harry came in."
"So, you didn't actually witness Mr. Malfoy attack anybody?"
Ron looked at her as if wondering why she was even questioning his credibility. "Well, it was obvious, wasn't it? Malfoy pointing his wand at the victims, towering over him like some great bloody Death Eater. There was blood on his robes, Hermione! I had to take him in, didn't I?"
"Well, that is what we are we are here trying to determine," Hermione responded curtly and as an afterthought, she added "and I would prefer if you called me Miss Granger."
Ron was livid. His face and ears turned a deep shade of maroon and began to sputter indignantly. "Y-you CAN'T be serious! After everything we've been through, you can't possibly expect-"
Hermione was not about to go down that road, so she decided a change in tactics was in order. "When did you first meet Draco Malfoy?"
She asked the question so abruptly, Ron could do nothing but give a shocked "What?!"
Justin Finch-Fletchly spoke up at this. "I object, Minister. This line of questioning has no bearing..."
Being the educated advocatus she was, Hermione interrupted his objection with what she thought was merely common sense. "I am attempting to show that a pattern of prior animosity towards Mr. Malfoy by Mr. Weasley could have provoked the witness into making an unfounded determination.
In order to provide a logical pattern, I must start from the beginning."
Arthur Weasley, up to this point, seemed to be enjoying himself immensely watching his youngest son and former girlfriend bickering like old times. In fact, he was listening to them; head propped up on his fist with a small, wistful smile of his face. When he was addressed directly, however, he looked to be caught off guard. Pulling himself out of his stupor, he gave a meek reply. "Okay-er-I mean, I will allow it."
Hermione gave the Minister a respectful nod before turning back to Ron. "Mr. Weasley, please tell us when did you first meet the accused?"
"On the train to Hogwarts, first year," he said with a roll of his eyes.
Hermione was not to be discouraged and continued her line of questioning. "What happened during this exchange?"
"He came into the compartment where Harry and I were sitting," he replied and then smirked as he added, "having just been interrupted by some bossy, little know-it-all with hair bigger than her head."
Hermione narrowed her eyes and gave Ron a dark look. "Very amusing," she said, making it clear that she thought it anything but amusing. Her hair was still an extremely sore subject for her and he knew that.
"I thought so," he shrugged, not seeming to notice her anger. He went on to say. "He apparently wanted to make an alliance with Harry, but he told Malfoy to bugger off." Ron grinned at Draco as he included off-handedly, "and then he insulted my family."
Hermione glanced at Malfoy and she saw him looking wide-eyed at Arthur. Apparently, even he knew that insulting the Minister of Magic's family was probably not the best thing to do, especially when said Minister was deciding the outcome of your life. She felt bad for Draco, she really did, but she had to keep digging up his past misdeeds in order to prove her point. So, she went on.
"Did he continue to insult you throughout the rest of the year?"
"You know he did," Ron answered. Off Hermione's sharp look, he muttered scathingly, "I mean, yes, Ms. Granger."
"And second year? Did this behaviour continue? You did try to hex him, didn't you?"
"He called my girl a mudblood! I had to do something, I couldn't just stand there and let him get away with it, could I?"
"Ah, but she wasn't your girl at this time, was she?"
Ron's face suddenly got very serious. He peered into her eyes with an almost pleading look. "She's always been my girl."
Hermione was completely dumbstruck. Did he really mean that? Could it be possible that he still loved her as she loved him?
"Okay." It was an affirmation of acceptance. Maybe it wasn't too late, she thought to herself. All they need was some time alone to talk things over and then they could move on...together. She smiled up at Ron and he smiled back, his eyes unusually shiny. She was just about to suggest that they meet for tea, when she remembered he was sitting on a witness stand. The trial!
Pulling herself together, she tried desperately to get back on track. "Uh...I mean...that is," she sputtered helplessly.
She tried again to speak, this time successfully; "This pattern of insulting each other went on for years, correct?"
"Yeah, up until sixth year." Ron looked away when he said this, he seemed to suspect where this was leading and was reluctant to go there.
"What happened during sixth year that changed your view towards each other?"
To be continued...