Although the sun shone brightly, Narcissa shivered as she neared Azkaban. Her trembling hand knocked on the gate. "Narcissa Malfoy requesting entrance."
She hesitated before stepping through as the gate slowly swung open. Narcissa closed her eyes trying to control her breathing as she walked quickly past the Dementors that lined the corridor. She had gone this route before, pleading with the Minister of Magic to save her husband from the Dementor's kiss. But the powers of be had not listened. Somewhere Lucius was here in the dungeons. Had it been 3 years since her last visit with him?
***
3 Years Earlier
"Lucius it's me Narcissa."
She reached in her pocket for a handkerchief and wiped the drool from his face.
"Draco will be graduating soon….Draco tell your father."
Draco had sat there quietly, not saying a word. He looked at the walls, the flickering torchlight, anywhere but at his father.
"We've had some work done on Malfoy Mansion." Narcissa continued. It wouldn't be helpful to have told him that most of their property had been sold, and that she and Draco now lived in what was once the Gardener's cottage.
Lucius eyes focused on Narcissa and she felt a small stirring of hope until his mouth opened and out came a babble of nonsense, "thabu glinit" Lucius grinned and clapped his hands excitedly.
"Sounds like a damn baby." Draco rose from his chair and kicked at the ground.
"Don't talk like that in front of your father!" she scolded him.
For the first time Draco had raised his voice at her, " Why not, he can't hear you and he can't see you either. Are you that blind mother! He doesn't even know you're here. You're wasting your breath talking to him!"
"Why you ungrateful…..!" Narcissa overturned her chair pointing a shaking finger at her son who stood a head taller.
"I hate him mother. I hate him!"
For the first time in Narcissa's life she raised her hand against her son. As if in slow motion she watched her hand smack him smartly across his face. The resounding slap echoing in the small room. For a long moment she stared at her son as he brought up his own hand to feel the burn along his cheek.
Narcissa fell to her knees not caring if she lost control. For too long she let the world see a face that looked as if she had not a care in the world. The burden was too much, it felt as if it would crush her chest and kill her. How she missed Lucius's strong arms which would hold her at night and whisper how much he loved her, telling her how everything would be all right. Despite the rumors that swirled around the Malfoy family, Narcissa always felt secure with Lucius as her foundation. Her beloved Lucius - was nothing more than an empty soulless shell. It was up to her to pick up the pieces and raise their son on her own.
"I can't take it anymore!" the sobs shook her violently not noticing when her son knelt down and held her.
"I'm sorry Mum, Please don't cry."
***
Present Day –Azkaban
Reaching the desk she handed over her handbag to a guard that stood at the desk leading to the visitor's area.
"You can't take this with you." the female guard remarked whose badge read Edgecombe. "It's not allowed."
"It's only a blanket!"
"And it's not allowed, this prisoner isn't to have these either." Edgecomb pulled more items out of the handbag which included boxes of candies, cleansing items such as shampoos, writing materials consisting of parchment and quills and books to help her son pass the time.
"Just one book won't cause any harm!" her cool voice now replaced with exasperation.
"I'm just following the rules Mrs. Malfoy. I'll keep these here, you can retrieve them after your visit. Oh, by the way, I will need your wand."
Narcissa sighed in resignation handing over her wand and following the guard down a maze of hallways. Stopping in front of a metallic door, the guard chanted a lengthy spell before the door glowed bright, allowing entrance.
"The prisoner will be arriving shortly." With that the guard turned, her heels clicking sharply down the hall.
Narcissa surveyed the room. The exact room she had been in 3 years prior. She sat down on the ancient chair that wobbled a bit, its one leg shorter than the other and patiently waited for her son. Hearing the jangle of chains she shifted her gaze to the door.
The door opened and Narcissa's heart seemed caught in her throat. "Draco!"
A burly guard shoved a battered Draco harshly into a chair, "Try anything Malfoy and you'll be on the receiving end of this," The guard drew Draco's chin up with his baton, "AGAIN."
"Don't you dare touch my son!" Narcissa spit with much venom , clawing at the guard.
The guard that was a good 6'5 , just laughed as he pushed her back towards the chair, "You, little lady need to stay out of official business."
"I'll report you…I swear….I'll report you to, to…"
The guard raised his eyebrow, "The Minister of Magic? I doubt Arthur Weasley cares about the rights of this particular prisoner."
Tapping his baton again, he strode towards Draco, "I'll be waiting outside the door. Try anything funny Deatheater and you'll get a taste of this….." He took his baton as if it were a baseball bat and swung it towards the bottom of Draco's chair, laughing as the legs splintered into pieces and Draco fell trembling to the floor. "Not such a big man now are you! Don't forget Malfoy - your two favorite Aurors will be paying another one of their lovely visits tonight!"
"You animal" cried Narcissa. She raised her hand to strike him only for the guard to slip through the door, his awful laugh still reaching her ears.
"Mum?" Slowly he raised his head. As if it were too heavy his chin again dropped to his chest.
"My Baby, my poor baby" Narcissa cried her attention once again returning to him, She inspected his bruised face. Both eyes were swollen shut, his lips cracked and bleeding while Draco's neck was reddened with imprints of choking hands. She cursed herself for never learning healing charms. Whenever Draco had the usual scrapes and bruises as a child, she would always call for the houselves.
Instead she held her baby and did the only thing she could, she kissed his forehead, telling him that everything would be all right. "You'll be out of here soon, my son."
He managed to say spitting out flecks of blood, "I didn't do it Mum."
"Mummy knows you're innocent." She smoothed his uncombed hair back and let him cry ,something she hadn't done since he was 6. A flood of regrets hit her while she held her son, curled in the fetal position as if he were a child. Maybe if I had been a better mother and not turned a blind eye to what Lucius was doing, you wouldn't be here. If I hadn't pretended to agree with everything your father said, if you hadn't seen certain things your eyes weren't meant to see................
"They say I did horrible things to her. They said I raped and killed her but I – I didn't." Draco's breathing was becoming more labored and Narcissa sat him up leaning her son against the wall trying her best to make him more comfortable.
"Of course you didn't." Narcisssa kept her voice calm reassuring her son. It was her mother's instinct that told her that Draco was innocent. Nonetheless it didn't stop the nagging questions that plagued her mind.
"The papers say you can't remember anything from that night, Draco. Can you try to remember for Mummy? Then perhaps I can help you."
What Draco remembered he wouldn't share with his mother. The burning imprint of the dark mark, nor the burning kisses shared in his bed with a woman he couldn't remember- except for her touch.
Draco would tell her one thing he remembered. A feeling within him that left an ache deep within his heart. "I- I think I loved her mum. I loved her so much it hurt."
Narcissa looked at her son, any small doubt she had was simply erased. He had loved the Weasley girl.
***
Hermione Weasley's fingers shook as she performed the autopsy. Her assistant Susan Bones, dutifully took notes as Hermione presented the case history.
"A 20 year old woman, generally fit and healthy was dead on arrival upon evacuation to St. Mungo's. She suffered multiple blows to her head as well as stab wounds to the upper chest, abdomen and back. Vaginal lacerations are evident as well as massive bruising around the groin area. Slight Spell residual evident. Not enough at this time to determine what spells were performed on the victim. Will await further test results."
Removing her gloves, Hermione stepped back from the body. "You can go on break now, be back in 10." she nodded to her assistant.
Hermione put her head in her hands. It was all too brutal. No one should have had to go through the pain and suffering that Ginny went through. Hermione had done many autopsies on rape and murder victims and none had matched the viciousness of this attack. Malfoy was a monster. When she thought of Ginny's last moments she could feel her throat tighten, finally letting herself cry. She hadn't noticed the presence of Neville as he silently entered the room.
"Mione?"
Hermione turned around and fell into Neville's arms, grateful for his presence. "Ginny was at my house yesterday having lunch. She was playing with little Annabelle. She was laughing, Said as soon as Annabelle was old enough she'd teach her how to play quidditch. Now Ginny's lying on a cold table….Oh gods… just yesterday…I never told her how much she meant to me. "
"Ssh." He said into her hair, "She knows."
"She was not just my friend but my sister, I took her presence for granted." Hermione's sobs wracked her body . Why Ginny? Why? She was too young. So many contributions she could have made, places she wanted to travel, people she loved. Why her and not Malfoy? Why not Voldemort? Why did the innocent always have to suffer? If she had a chance to be alone with Malfoy she knew exactly what she would do. She would rip his unfeeling heart out.
"Stop torturing yourself Hermione."
Hermione stared at a point past Neville, " There is more than enough evidence just in his home to send Draco directly to the Dementor's without trial. After I present this autopsy report I don't doubt that he'll be in their clutches in less than a few days. I will be more than happy to see his life drain away for what he's done."
"Harry and Ron don't see it that way."
Hermione's eyes grew wide, "W-What? Of course they agree he has to be punished."
Neville sighed. He believed in having trial with a jury of your peers. One was Innocent before being judged guilty. Too many emotions ran through the wizarding world. Pictures of Virginia's body which had been leaked to the press had been plastered over every paper even reaching the muggle world. People from all across the globe were calling for Draco's head. " With his disdain for all things muggle, they are pushing for him to die the muggle way."
"Which is?" Hermione asked with arms crossed.
"Public hanging."
"Not quartering? No burning alive? Hanging sounds pretty painless to me but I'll be there to watch his body swinging."
Neville winced at Hermione's words.
Glancing at her watch, Hermione picked up her scalpel as Susan Bones walked back into the room. "I need to inspect the internal damage…" she whispered to Neville, " Stay with me, I can't do this alone."
Hermione's hands trembled as she took the saw, tears streaming down her face as she opened up the chest cavity of Ginny. Blood spattered her white lab coat and goggles as she took the organs one by one and weighed them carefully.
Neville stayed off to the side viewing things from afar. He would allow Hermione his presence but he didn't want his last image of Ginny to be of this.
"Susan, I'm pretty much done. You can take the rest of the day off."
"Are you sure Hermione, I can help stitch…"
Hermione's voice was firm, "No, Please go. Neville will take the rest of the notes."
Neville's eyes shot up and met Hermione's. Exactly what was she thinking? Hermione waited until Susan left the room and beckoned Neville over to the table.
"Notes? You want me to take notes? I'm an Auror not a….." Neville's mouth quickly closed.
Hermione cradled a small object in both her palms, tears at the corners of her eyes. "This is why I wanted Susan gone."
Neville felt his own tears threatening to fall. It was not more than 5 Inches yet he could make out tiny toes and fingers, even eyebrows and eyelashes. Though incredibly small it looked to be a perfectly formed baby. "It's a double murder Hermione." Neville hadn't brought up the questions of Draco's innocence with Harry or Ron. If this came out Draco wouldn't have a chance.
Hermione's lips were pursed, "This baby is about 16 to 18 weeks old and……..
"and her fiancee was on assignment when this baby was conceived." Neville finished, letting out a low whistle. His past theory confirmed. Something that Draco had done when the Aurors arrived, convinced Neville of his innocence.
"This baby definitely isn't Harry's." Hermione stared at the fetus intently, "I'll need a sample of Malfoy's blood, can you do that for me Neville?"
Neville took his briefcase from the nearby table giving Hermione a reassuring kiss on the cheek while avoiding looking at Ginny's body, "Consider it done, I was heading there anyway to question him."
She packed a bag with needles and tubes. "This can't get out Neville, not until we know for sure."
Neville took the bag, exiting the room. Summoning his broom he headed for Azkaban.