~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chapter 21:  Defending Your Life ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Draco drank his coffee as he stared inside the muggle church.  His one hand clutched a memo from Shacklebolt saying that Granger was out of the hospital and staying with Potter and Weasley.  Suddenly the coffee wasn't appealing anymore so he walked outside and dumped it before walking back in.  The muggles had bought the story that they were ordinary detectives from London investigating a missing person case.  He had been in Prague for a week after volunteering himself to the case, partially to find out what happened to Granger, but mostly to annoy Potter.  Immediately upon arrival, Montgomery's story of Hermione's mugging didn't fit.  They had found her purse underneath a stairwell that still had her wand and money inside.  A closer inspection of the staircase itself revealed splintered wood and a broken beam.  So far, Draco figured that Hermione was attacked near the bottom of the stairwell, losing her purse, then her attacker dragged her upstairs into the bell tower.

"Here you go sir" an auror handed Draco his daily bundle of mail from the office, the Daily Prophet, and a medium sized parcel.  Draco looked at it.  "It's the victim's purse.  The lab has gotten all it could off of it, it can now be returned to her."

Draco stuffed his mail and the parcel in his robes and opened the paper.

"Murza!" Draco called out to the auror.  "Get me a portkey or a floo connection to London right now!"

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Despite how late at night, or early in the morning it was, the ministry was in pure chaos when Ron and Harry arrived.  After dodging reporters in the main office area, who pelted them with questions, they managed to make it to Kingsley's office.  He sat behind his desk with a parchment in his hands looking less than pleased about being at the office in the middle of the night.

"Where is she?" Harry asked him.

Shacklebolt just sat there staring at the both of them, contemplating his next choice of words.  "What went wrong?"  His voice was straining of control.

"What?" Harry asked.

 "I'm asking what happened that made her march over to Fudge directly and expose this whole thing!" Kingsley was now yelling.

"I-we-we had a little disagreement" Harry pathetically revealed.  "I knew she was mad at me, but I never thought…"

"Exactly, you didn't think!"

"I thought she was going to be mature about this.  I didn't think she was still hanging on to school-girl insecurities!"

"Yes, well her school-girl insecurities have landed you all in some serious shit!  Her school-girl insecurities have handed Fudge an early Christmas present!"

"What are they going to do to Hermione?" Ron asked.

"What do you think he's going to do to her?  He's throwing her to the lions!  He's already scheduled an impromptu hearing with the Wizengamot! "

"The Wizengamot?  When?" Harry asked with panic in his voice.

"It's set for this morning at nine o'clock."

"But she doesn't remember anything, she can't defend herself!" Ron exclaimed.

"We'll destroy the files of evidence against her" Harry thought aloud as he paced the floor.

"I tried to get to the files when I first heard, but it was too late, they were already gone."

"Gone?  What do you mean?"

Kingsley sighed, stood up from his chair and walked around his desk to face the two men.

"This" he began, holding out the rolled parchment in his hand, "is an order directly from Fudge." He sighed.  "Harry you know that Fudge has been after you for a long time."

"No.  No he can't do this.  No way."  Harry ran his hands through his hair.

"You and Ron are to be immediately stripped of your auror badges and all the privileges and titles that go along with it."

"What?!" Ron was floored.

"I'm sorry.  I tried to fight it.  I told him that we couldn't lose two of our best aurors, especially at a time like this."

"No, he can't do this" a dumbstruck Harry repeated.

"He can and he did" came a voice from behind him.

"You!  What are you doing here?" Ron nastily asked his brother Percy.

"As his assistant, Minister Fudge has asked me to come down and make sure that his orders were followed through.  You have obviously informed Harry of this news and I'm assuming that he was just about to turn in his badge" Percy said with an air of conceit.

"I have it all under control, Mr. Weasley, they were just about to do this" Shacklebolt said.

"Oh, no not they, just Potter.  I managed to pull my weight and convince Fudge that my brother should only get a suspension."

 "Bet you would just love that, wouldn't you.  Telling Fudge that you personally saw Harry Potter hand in his auror badge?" Harry said nastily.

"I don't know what you're implying, but I can assure you that I'm not happy that because of you, my brother's promising career was nearly in shambles, bringing shame to the family."

"The only shame the family has is sharing the same blood as you!" Ron shot back at his brother.

"I warned you long ago that Potter would bring you nothing but trouble, and now look what's happened.  In the short time that he's been back you're associating yourself with criminals and nearly ruining your career."

"HERMIONE IS NOT A CRIMINAL, SHE'S MY FRIEND!"

"She broke the law!"

"What law, there is no law!"

"She committed a crime against the minister, and a crime against the minister is a crime against the ministry.  I can assure you that she will pay."
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" roared Harry as he lunged for Percy but Ron and Kingsley held him back.

"You forget your place Potter!  Now, turn in your badge!" Percy said as he stepped away from the lunging Harry.

Harry tore off his badge and threw it at Percy.  "There!  Take that to your minister while you grovel at his feet and kiss his ass!  Or better yet, while you take it in the ass!"

"Harry that's enough!" Kingsley ordered Harry, then he turned back to Percy.  "You got what you wanted, now leave."

"Mind your manners, Potter" Percy spat out.

"She won't go to Azkaban.  I won't allow it." Harry said quietly as he grinned maniacally at Percy.  "You can tell Fudge he has my word on that."

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Hermione looked at the file in front of her.  She couldn't remember doing any of the stuff this file said she did.  She was a criminal.  She briefly thought about how she had stolen a car back in Prague, the crime had come to her easily, she should've expected this.  But she was still in a dazed state, hours ago she was intimate with her friend who clearly didn't return the feelings only to be yanked here and find out she was a wanted criminal.  She closed the thick file and sighed.  She hated the woman who was smirking at her across the table.

"Had enough?" Cho asked her.

"Why are you doing this to Harry?" she asked Cho, her dislike for her growing by the second.

"Oh, this isn't about Harry, not entirely."

"What's this about then?"

"This is about you.  Did you really think I would just stand aside and let you have him?" Hermione glared at the woman as she continued to speak.  "Did you really think he has feelings for you any more than friendship?  He sees you everyday because he's working on your case.  You've even somehow managed to convince him to take you home, sleep in his bed."  Hermione's dislike for this woman grew to loathing.  "Were you hoping that he might join you?  You've been after him a long time, Hermione.  You even managed to convince him to break up with me back at Hogwarts."  She leaned toward Hermione and whispered in her ear.  "But in the end, it's me who he will turn to, it's me who will know him in every way that you wish you could."

"Is that why he's not sorry that he broke up with you?" Hermione asked, a triumphant smile on her face.

Cho snapped back as if she had been spit in the face.  She gave Hermione a calculating look then suddenly she reached out and hit her across the face.  Hermione wasn't expecting it, taking the full force of the blow and tumbling off the chair and onto the ground.  The door to the holding room opened and an auror ran in.

"Cho, you are out of order!  Leave immediately!"

"See you around Hermione, or maybe not."

Hermione's side of her face felt like it was on fire and that it might explode.  Kingsley helped her up as two other aurors walked in.

"Are you alright?" he asked and she nodded.  "They're ready for you" he said apologetically.

Hermione sat chained to a wooden chair in the middle of a round room.  She felt exposed, scared and alone.  The doors opened and witches and wizards filed into the room, whispering excitedly.  She scanned the crowd for a familiar face, a friendly face, anything to make her feel like she wasn't alone in the world.  Quickly she found the familiar red hair of Ron Weasley.  She gave him a small smile, he smiled weakly back.  Where was Harry?  Ginny and Neville had entered the room and sat next to Ron.  She began to feel a little better.  Kingsley walked up beside her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going to be right here throughout the whole thing."

Despite how crowded the whole room was, it suddenly became quiet and cold.  She looked around her and saw two cloaked and hooded figures standing by one of the doors.  She couldn't see their faces, but Hermione felt like she was being drained of what little happy thoughts she had. 

"Dementors" Kingsley shuddered.  "I was hoping that they would give you a fair trial."

Hermione looked back at the cloaked figures called Dementors, she looked up at her friends in the crowd.  They, too, were eyeing the Dementors with concern.  A red haired wizard called everyone to attention.

"Hermione Granger, you are hereby charged with crimes against the Ministry of Magic, what say you to these charges?" he spoke aloud for everyone to hear.

Hermione looked around nervously.  "I-I don't know.  I can't remember doing these things."

A murmur rose amongst the crowd as reporters' quills scratched feverishly.

"Yes, I have heard of this supposed condition of yours, however, there's nothing in this file here about it.  For all we know you could be faking it to get out of trouble."

"I-"

"No matter, let me refresh your memory of these incidents."  The wizard took out Hermione's file. "Desecration of property of the Ministry, sabotaging Ministry events included speeches and elections, breaking and entering, defacing Ministry property" the wizard closed the file, "shall I continue?"

"I told you.  I-"

"-don't remember" he finished for her. 

"Do you have any medical records of this condition?" a witch asked her.

"I have them right here, your Honors" said a voice from the side of the room.

Hermione looked over to see Dumbledore and Harry walk in.  Harry's face showed a flicker of panic when he looked past her toward the Dementors.  She could hear quills scratching away.

"Miss Granger was treated by Madam Pomfrey, whom I have brought along.  Her records show that Miss Granger has been obliviated."  Dumbledore passed the file over the witches and wizards in the front of the room.  He then turned around and sat down at a table next to her with Harry.

"Even so, we have enough evidence here to convict her of-" the red haired wizard continued.

"Evidence that I motion to have thrown out" came a voice from the other side of the room.

A venerable looking wizard in fine robes walked in the room and took a seat at a table on the other side of Hermione. She noticed the look of shock on Harry's face.  The quills were scratching at such a furious pace that she was sure that some parchments would catch fire.

"Oh goodness, that's Mendelian Wadsworth!"

"What's he doing here?"

"How can she afford him?"

Hermione heard some people say in the stands.

"I am here to provide representation of Miss Granger.  As you can see, she has been obliviated and therefore is unfit to stand trial on account that she cannot defend herself of these alleged crimes."

"We have evidence--!" shouted Cornelius Fudge.

"Evidence that I am moving to dismiss."

"On what grounds?" asked the red headed wizard?

"On grounds that the evidence you are presenting is just mere hearsay.  Tell me, is there an official report anywhere in that file?"

"We have pictures!" Fudge cried.

"You have pictures of her on the street, not caught doing any crimes.  Surely, you cannot convict someone of walking down the street."

Harry was beyond curious at this point, he knew very well that in that file there was incriminating evidence against Hermione in it.  The file had been in his office and no one knew where to find it or what exactly was in it.  Except…

Harry scanned the crowd, there in the shadows in the back stood Draco Malfoy.  Malfoy must have gotten to the file and picked it clean, getting rid of the evidence.  Harry mentally kicked himself for not doing this sooner.

"She is a well known member of the Underground!"  Fudge's face was turning red with anger.

"You have no evidence and no testimony to this accusation."

"Give me that file!" Fudge leaned over to Percy and yanked the file from him rummaging through it.  The other witches and wizards in the Wizengamot looked at him in shock.  "It was here, I tell you!  This is a conspiracy!  An outrage!"  He was throwing the contents of the file all over the place.

"Cornelius Fudge!  You are out of order!  Set yourself back in order!" a witch banged a gavel.  "I want order in this room!"

The noise in the crowd settled down as Fudge tried to compose himself and take a seat.  Hermione could still hear the quills scratching away.

"Your honors, as my client is unfit to defend herself of these accusations, I am asking the court to dismiss these charges."

Dumbledore sat up from his chair and stood with the other wizards in the Wizengamot as they gathered to discuss.  Hermione felt like she couldn't breathe.  She looked over at Harry who kept glancing up in the stands, an unreadable look on his face.  Hermione followed his line of sight and her heart suddenly leapt to her throat.  There he was standing in the back, Draco Malfoy.  She couldn't believe it, she hadn't seen him in so long.  His gaze locked with hers as they stared at each other for a few tense moments.  They both looked away as the Wizengamot finished their discussion.  Hermione noticed that Harry didn't look too happy.

"It will be alright dear, don't you worry" Wadsworth assured her.

"We have decided that due to the defendant's inability to defend herself properly to this circumstantial evidence; that all charges against Miss Hermione Granger be dropped and that she is to be let free." Dumbledore said aloud.

Hermione let out a breath she'd been holding and began to cry tears of happiness.  She looked over at Harry who looked equally elated, flashing a huge smile.  Ron, Ginny and Neville were shouting out whoops of cheer.  Draco had a small smile of his face.  Wadsworth clapped her on the shoulder then went over to Dumbledore to shake his hand and have a few words with him.  Shacklebolt released Hermione of her bonds as Harry ran over and gave her a huge hug, Ron immediately joined him followed by Ginny and Neville.  Hermione couldn't stop smiling, it felt great.  Harry and Ron suddenly got quiet and Hermione turned around to see Draco.  Harry stepped forward.

"Thank you for what you did" Harry managed to control the bitterness in his voice.  Ron's jaw dropped.

"I didn't do it for you" Draco replied, never taking his eyes off Hermione.

Hermione stepped around Harry to Draco.  "Thank you" she said quietly so that only Draco could hear.

Draco leaned down to whisper in her ear. "That's what friends are for."  His lips barely brushed her cheek as he pulled away.

Hermione smiled and turned to face her group of friends.  Ginny and Neville were hugging each other, Ron and Kingsley were talking, but Harry had an outraged look on his face.  He stepped menacingly toward Draco.

"Can I have a word with everyone?  We have some business to discuss" Dumbledore's voice rang over the group.

The room was empty except for the small group of well-wishers.

"Now, we all want what's best for Hermione, and do what we can to help her retrieve her memory.  With that in mind, it has been suggested that Hermione move to a more familiar location, a place that holds memories for her."

"You mean she has to move out of our flat?" Ron asked.

"It's her decision, really.  But she should move to a place that is familiar to her, like…"

"The Burrow!  She spent some time there in the summers with Harry and me" Ron suggested.

Ginny and Harry nodded their heads eagerly in agreement.

"That was years ago" Malfoy said.  "She should move back to her home."

"I have a home?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, back at the Manor."

"No" Harry said firmly.  "She needs to remember her life, she had a lot of happy memories at the burrow.  And she'll be under the protection of at least one auror, and Dumbledore knows the Weasley's and I know they would take good care of her.  We all had great memories there."

"That was over seven years ago, Potter."  Draco said nastily.  "Where were you both all this time?  She's had her own life without you, a life at the Manor."

"He kind of has a point, Harry" Neville said timidly.

"What?" Harry and Ron rounded on Neville, but Ginny stepped in.

"It is true, Harry.  Hermione does have her own life, her own home at the Manor.  Maybe it would help her remember faster if she were around things that were familiar."

"She has a home at the burrow, and friends, too." Ron said.

"Friends?  Friends like you two?  You abandoned her years ago!" Draco sneered.

"But now I'm back, we're both back in her life!" Harry was raising his voice.

"She didn't want you back. She left England to get away from you, and look what happened!" Draco yelled.

"Is this true?" Hermione asked.  Ginny bit her lip and looked away.

"There's a bit more the story, Hermione" Harry said as he glared at Draco.

"Yes, Potter, why don't you tell her?" Draco challenged.

"I don't think this is the time or the place for this discussion, gentlemen" Kingsley interrupted.  "This is Hermione's decision."

Hermione thought a bit.  "Well, I am a bit curious to see my home for the past few years."

"That is the wisest choice, I believe" Dumbledore agreed.

Harry let out a noise of disbelief at Dumbledore then walked away from the group.

"I'll get a car to take us there immediately" Draco said as he walked out of the room.

"I'll go get your belongings from my brother's flat, okay?" Ginny offered as she led Hermione out of the room.

Hermione looked back at Harry, but he had his back to her facing a wall.  She stopped and walked over to him.

"Thank you, for offering your home to me.  But I'll still see you around, right?"

Harry couldn't turn around to face her.  "Of course" he said softly.

Hermione nodded and said goodbye to Ron.

"We'll see you in a little while" he told her.

Soon everyone left the room except Harry and Dumbledore.  Dumbledore walked up to Harry, who was still facing a wall.

"Why did you do it?  Why did you tell her it was for the best?" Harry asked.

"Because it was true, she has her own home there, and a life she needs to pick back up."

"She had a life with us, at the Burrow!"

"You're right.  She had a life with you there.  But that was years ago, Harry.  Ask yourself this:  Are you trying to get her to remember a life she once had with you years ago, or the life she was leading before her tragic accident?"

And with that, Dumbledore left Harry to his thoughts.