Chapter 5:

Harry twitched uncomfortably in his seat. He had done a great many impossible things in his life. He had survived the killing curse twice, he had broken in and out the impenetrable Gringotts bank, he had even survived 11 years with the Dursleys, which Harry personally thought should be on the top of his Chocolate card achievements. But sitting between a polite Mrs Malfoy and a curious Hermione who were engaging in the strangest conversation which ricocheted between small talk and the workings of the Wizengamot was driving Harry a little insane. He leaned his upper body back as much as the chair allowed him and continued to bob his head and make affirmative noises at the right places hoping that neither witch had noticed that he had tuned them out a long time ago.

"So..., the members of the Wizengamot have complete authority over which cases they try and which they don't?"

"Yes, but they are compelled to listen to any witnesses who are willing to speak. That is precisely why I was never detained. When Mr Potter kindly stood in as my witness and spoke in support of my release, the Chief Warlock having listened to the witness accounts, sanctioned my release papers."

Hermione looked unconvinced.

"But then why didn't they do the same for Draco?"

Harry who had started paying attention to the conversation again when Mrs Malfoy mentioned his name, spun around and stared at Hermione, confused by the question and a little shocked that Hermione had not only used Malfoy's given name but had also asked Mrs Malfoy such an awkward question.

"I'm sorry Mrs Malfoy, I didn't mean to intrude" Hermione whispered, realising that perhaps she was being a little too presumptuous.

"No no, not a problem. Also, please call me Narcissa."

Narcissa sat up straighter, her elegant posture in direct contrast to her location and unfortunate position. Staring down at her lap, she gently unclasped her hands as if debating something. Then she looked up and smiled at Hermione. Strangely enough instead of appearing annoyed, she had a look of surprise mixed with a bit of curiosity written on her face.

"As you may have noticed from his folder" she tilted her head meaningfully at the folder on Hermione's lap, "Draco, has been accused of a lot more serious crimes. I am really grateful that atleast he gets a trial and has had such wonderful witnesses speaking for him."

Harry nodded awkwardly, although he couldn't help think that the dark mark probably had an important role to play in Malfoy's situation.

Hermione on the other hand, was focusing on the second half of Narcissa's statement. "Wonderful witnesses! Witnesses in plural. Who else was appearing as a witness for him" she wondered.

Almost on cue, a soft floaty voice appeared.

"Hello Hermione. Hi Harry." Luna paddled over and sat down next to Hermione.

Nice to see you too Mrs Malfoy. You look much nicer than you did when I saw you at your dungeon." she added seemingly not noticing Hermione and Harry's panicked expressions of her statements.

"Lovely to see you too Luna. Thanks for being here" Narcissa responded without skipping a beat.

Hermione perused the folder in her lap. Malfoy had been accused of 33 different crimes. The first one was his attempted murder of Professor Dumbledore and Harry had already stood up to the jury as they cross questioned him on his evidence of the evening. While his testimony should have immediately absolved him of the crime, they were still debating it amongst themselves. It appeared almost as if they were stalling for time, hoping that they would find something unsavoury by accident.

The folder contained a number of allegations of him using the Unforgivable crucio curse mostly as punishment against the Hogwarts younger students but surprisingly Luna and a first year called Michael Bovett, a Hufflepuff were both here to speak on his defense. Luna explained how it was common knowledge that Malfoy was terrible at casting the unforgivable curse and it was mutual convenience to both the students and him that they never discuss how his punishments were more of an acting practise. Hermione who had always known Malfoy to be an excellent wandsman was a little surprised at hearing this. And sure enough Harry confirmed her suspicions by adding "He's always been all bark no bite. You really have to mean it, to cast the curse."

The last few allegations in the folder were rudimentary. Breaking into Borgins and Burke, stealing potion ingredients from an apothecary in London. Hermione found herself reliving the several months she had been on the hunt for Horcruxes. Between the three of them, Harry, Ron and herself, they had committed several such misdemeanours, although she was loath to admit it.

Hermione gently shivered. It was nerves, she realised. The second allegation against Malfoy was his role during the events in the Manor on the night that she was tortured. He was being held accountable for his role in aiding Bellatrix in her torture of Hermione. While personally, Hermione thought that he should be held accountable for his inaction, she was there to give evidence that he didn't willingly participate and that he didn't actively aid his aunt during that period. Before Hermione had handed her memories to the ministry, Harry had viewed them in the pensieve that they found in Grimmauld Place. When he came out of the memory, he had given her the longer hug and apologised for not sufficiently supporting her in the aftermath. Hermione didn't blame him at all. He had been distraught over Dobby and she had been too! Harry had then assured her that anyone who saw the memory would testify that Malfoy looked closer to passing out that he did to torturing her. Further, he had put up no resistance when they retrieved their wands. It should be more than sufficient evidence to exonerate him, but Hermione realised that she was more nervous because she would have to relive that memory if they cross questioned her.

The strange thing about the trial so far was that they hadn't let Malfoy speak for himself so far. He had remained tied up in the cage, passively watching the proceedings of the court. When she had brought that up, Luna who was sitting on the other side of her shrugged and said "They probably already have his evidence".

"The court will reconvene in 30 minutes after a lunch break." ruled the Chief Warlock.

As the entire courtroom began to empty and a general buzz of people's conversations began to fill the room, Hermione noticed the Chief Warlock, also known to most as the Minister of Magic and more fondly to Harry and Hermione as Kingsley lean down and talk to a pudgy old man with unnaturally thin lips. She had noticed that while this man had not openly participated in the trial, he was clearly leading the investigation with his opinions as everyone appeared to revere him almost as much as they did Kingsley.

"Who is that? she asked Harry.

"Oh that's Selwyn" replied Perkins, who had come to the witness stands to take them for lunch. "A special ministry lunch is being served right outside for the witnesses" he added.

"Mr Perkins, is there any way I can talk to my son?" Narcissa interjected.

"I think you better ask Magda, Mrs Malfoy" replied Perkins pointing to the witch standing at her post as Ministry security near the jury.

Narsissa excused herself from the group and walked down towards the front of the courtroom. Hermione who had been following Narcissa's progress, felt a tingle go up her spine. She looked to the side and was startled to see both Kingsley and Selwyn looking straight up at her. She closed her eyes tightly, opened them and looked again. The two officials were talking animatedly to Narcissa."I thought I..." she started.

"Hermione c'mon" Harry pulled at Hermione's arm. "I'm hungry" he grumbled.

Hermione must have imagined it. As they walked towards the exit, she quickly spared a glance towards the cage which housed Draco. Two aurors appeared to be opening the cage. They must be taking him out for lunch. She watched as the cast various spells at Malfoy, presumable to free him. Suddenly Hermione realised that Malfoy would be stepping out. She was filled with a sudden panic. She didn't want to see him, not in his current state. It felt uncomfortable like when you trespass on someone sleeping or walk in on someone taking a shower. It felt personal. She also realised that she didn't want Malfoy to see her.

Having decided that they should leave before he steps out of the cage, Hermione turned around and taking Harry's hand, speed-walked towards the door.

"Hermione! Whoa!" yelped Harry.

"I am hungry too, so let's go" she rambled, following Perkins out of the door and dragging poor Harry along.

As they piled their plates with food, Perkins explained a bit more about Selwyn. "He's a big deal around here. He was kinda like a double agent. Made a lot of death eaters think he was on their side but fed Kingsley a lot of information about their doings. He has a whole lot of dirt on the bunch of them and he is definitely going to make them pay."

Perkins seemed happier and a lot more chatty after digging into his fish and chips. He was also drinking a glass of alcoholic butterbeer, the adult kind and Hermione wondered if that was even allowed. Perkins volunteered a lot more information about the jury. Apparently, there was still a Wizard's Council within the Ministry that made important decisions regarding policy and law in an effort to maintain the economy and they were intervening with the court process quite a bit.

"Farringer leads the council. The auburn haired fellow with the glasses who kept telling the lawyers to speak faster."

Harry sniggered. "That was hilarious! What was his problem?" he asked.

"He leads the council ain't he. He wants to end the trial today, parade the boy's punsh...punshment as evidence that, that all is right with the world."

Hermione frowned. Perkins was definitely drunk. He was starting to stutter and slur his words. While she was tempted to stop him from drinking, she figured she was curious to know more about this council.

"Isn't that illegal?" she asked Perkins.

"Hahahahhaa...cough cough" Perkins whose butterbeer had ended up in his nose tried to get his breathing back in control. He wheezed loudly and apologised "Sorry y'all. I shouldn't have had dis drink". Harry and Luna were in tears. Michael had disappeared behind his mother a long time ago and they were the only ones in the room. Hermione frowned disapprovingly.

"Ms Granger," Perkins straightened up as he cleaned up the mess he had made with his wand and tried to look presentable. "Why do you think Lucius got away after the first war? The Malfoys own so many companies that if anything were to happen to them, the economy would collapse."

"Why can't the government just seize their companies and sell them to government or private individuals" she countered.

"Because no one can afford them. It's sad but it is still a fact that the richest families in England are all probably pureblood elitists and deatheaters."

"That's not true" Luna countered.

"I didn't mean you any disrespect Ms Lovegood" hurried Perkins wide-eyed, afraid that he had hurt her feelings by not considering her family.

"No disrespect, I meant the fact that the Flint family could probably buy the Malfoys out and while they are not very nice, I wouldn't call them deatheaters."

Perkins looked almost impressed that Luna knew this but that was before Luna added "I know that because father wrote an article about the number of earwigs the Flint family planted in the Malfoy potions warehouses in a bid to fight the growth in the nargles population."

"I don't know about the nargles" he replied, giving Harry a look that suggested exactly what he thought of her idea "but blimey I completely forgot about the Flints. Luna is absolutely right. They also own a lot of stuff but I still don't think anyone could afford to buy out the Malfoys"

A loud bell rang, making Hermione almost jump out of her seat. "That's the sign. It's time to reconvene I'm afraid" added Perkins.

"Ugh, I hope it ends soon" grumbled Harry. "I miss Ginny".

Hermione rolled her eyes and lightly pinched his hand. "Hey lovebird, the longest Wizengamot trial lasted 3 years and 1 month" Hermione teased, raising an eyebrow at Harry.

"Noooo, you're making this up aren't you? You're winding me up. That has to be it. Hermione tell me the truth. You don't think will take 3 years do you?" Harry's voice had progressively gotten louder and more whiny with every question.

Hermione was doing a bad job of keeping her laughter in. "You're right! I was lying" she said inbetween chortles of laughter.

Harry sighed with relief and tried to pinch her hand in response. "What are you, five?" she giggled. "I lied! The longest trial lasted 3 years, 1 month and 12 days." she continued bursting into fresh peals of laughter at the sight of Harry's long face. The longest trial was actually closer to 3 months and 12 days but sometimes it was worthwhile to make facts up and behave like a silly teenager.

While lunch break had definitely livened up their moods, entering the courtroom felt sombre. Hermione almost likened the feeling to one that students have when they are entering the exam room ahead of a tricky OWLS exam. Narcissa was already seated in the witness stands and Hermione felt like something had changed, although she couldn't instantly put her finger on it. As she walked to her seat, she had the same feeling that she was being watched. This time instead of Harry, she sat next to Narcissa and was a little surprised to find that Narcissa did not even acknowledge her. Narcissa's face looked pale and white. Remembering that Narcissa had probably met with Draco, Hermione leaned forward trying to see if Malfoy had returned to his cage.

Surprisingly, he wasn't seated there. "Perhaps, he was just a slow eater but what if something had happened" Hermione wondered, feeling a little discomfort at the thought.

Kingsley waved his wand thrice and each time, the same loud bell rang out accompanying his wand movements.

"The court has now reconvened in the case of Malfoy vs the People. During the lunch break, the jury met with Mr Malfoy to hear his full testimony. That testimony, in addition to all the witness testimony will be made available to public access in due time."

He took a deep breath. The journalists were scribbling away, flashes went off as photographers continued to click. Time seemed to slow down. Something had changed. Hermione wasn't sure what but she didn't like how nervous Kingsley seemed to look. And then suddenly, she could have sworn that Kingsley had quickly looked up at her. She blinked in confusion.

"The Wizengamot will no longer try Mr Malfoy on any of the other 32 allegations considers him not guilty in each of them." The entire courtroom erupted in shouts and loud shrieks. Kingsley waved his wand once more. This time in addition to the loud annoying bells, he had also added a sonorous' spell to his voice.

"For case 1, regarding Mr Malfoy's alleged attempt to murder Albus Dumbledore, Mr Malfoy has accepted a plea deal which sees him pay the Ministry a sum of 10000 galleons.." he continued drowning out the complaints from the crowd.

"Thats nothing" mumbled Harry looking almost as confused as every other person in the courtroom. Hermione noticed Mrs Malfoy clutching her hands tightly, sitting deadly still and continuing to not acknowledge her.

"In addition to the monetary fine, Mr Malfoy who now has full ownership of Malfoy Industries will work closely with the Ministry to ensure the prevention of an economic recession by providing access of the Ministry into the operations of the company. In addition, any profits made by the company for the next 20 years will be used for rebuilding of the economy."

"What does this mean" whispered Harry leaning over her shoulder.

"It means the Ministry is going to interfere with the runnings of the Malfoy industries" Hermione whispered back. The courtroom was in complete uproar but the jury appeared to not pay any attention.

"Is that good?" checked Harry.

"Not sure." Hermione quickly mumbled back. She didn't really understand the motivation of the ministry. The ministry was very clearly taking advantage of Malfoy and while that may be good if the company was corrupt, it just wasn't right if they were just using Malfoy for their own means. Hermione turned to look at Narcissa. She was so still and white that she reminded Hermione of a ghost. Hermione had no idea what she must be feeling but this meant Malfoy was free right? Why then did Narcissa look so terrified.

"Finally, to make sure that Mr Malfoy truly has learnt his lesson and will no longer engage with extremist groups or show prejudice of any form, we have invoked the 'Poena Magus' clause.

And just like that, there was compete silence. Kingsley looked a mirror image of Mrs Malfoy. Deathly still. Selwyn on the other hand looked almost triumphant. Harry turned to look at her, but Hermione just shook her head at him. She had no idea what that was and why everyone looked so shocked.

"What kind?" came a sharp voice from within the journalists. Hermione recognised Rita Skeeter by her weird glasses and long nails from the distance.

This time Kingsley didn't speak. A loud and elated voice replied "Poena Magus Matrimonium".

"Did he just say Matrimonium, like marriage? Thats insane right" Harry gaped openly at the courtroom.

Before Hermione could reply, she suddenly felt someone grab her hands. "I'm so sorry my dear" whispered Narcissa before embracing her infront of the hundreds of white camera flashes. She then stood up tall, looked straight at the jury as if to show that she was not intimidated and then smartly marched off the witness stand, nodding to Harry, Luna and Michael on the way out.

Hermione vaguely heard someone say that court was adjourned but she was rooted in her seat. Confused and completely lost about the questionable turn of events, she found herself in the unusual territory of uncertainty. She felt like speeding upto the Hogwarts library and researching this 'Poena Magus' clause. What did Narcissa mean? Where was Malfoy? And why did Kingsley and Selwyn keep staring at her. Now atleast that mystery was solved. She knew that she hadn't been imagining this. They were openly staring at her now. Not at Harry, not at the witness stand but at her. Hermione stared back in irritation. She did not like not knowing and she was going to find out what all this meant.

Author's note: I don't really know much about how a court works and have taken lots of liberties since no one really knows how the Wizengamot works. Hope you like this chapter.