a/n:
Thanks viv-heart for betaing (check out her Deamus-fics if you like, they are adorable ;))
Have fun! It is rather much talking today, hopefully it isn't too much!
"Draco! Darling, wake up!"
A female voice penetrated the sleepy state of mind Draco currently enjoyed. He grumbled a bit but relented finally and stretched his arms and his back. The ministry- provided cots weren't exactly good for his back and he really hoped he would be out as soon as possible.
The second this thought had crossed his mind he was very aware which day it was. His hearing would be today! It would determine whether or not his death sentence had been rightful. They probably would also discuss his other crimes as well.
Draco's mother had been convinced that at least for his hearing Granger would agree to plead the case for the defence and she had been right. Granger had written a few days ago and told him, that she was already writing the defence and that he shouldn't bother.
While he put on his formal robes, which a house elf had brought this morning, Draco silently prayed to the good god, Dagda, to watch over him.
When he turned to his parents his father had put an arm around the shoulders of his mother. He had never seen them show so much affection towards each other and smiled at the unexpected picture. At half past ten sharp a guard came to their cell and lead them through the Auror Office to the lifts and from there down to the Department of Mysteries. For the first time in his life Draco Malfoy felt claustrophobic. May it be because his wrists were in magical bindings or because he didn't have his wand and was going to his hearing. He felt like the walls were coming closer and closer. Suddenly he felt a small hand on his shoulder and looked down to see his mother smiling confidently up to him. He relaxed a bit before he entered the room and his parents were lead to seats on the opposite side of those of the Wizengamot.
Draco himself was lead to a chair in the middle of the floor and when he sat down iron chains snaked themselves around his wrists and ankles. He felt how they not only restrained his wrists but also his magic and the claustrophobia returned. To distract himself he analysed the Wizengamot. Most of the ancient seats were unoccupied and some would stay forever, such as the Gaunt's and Black's seats. The Gaunts were completely extinct with Tom Riddle dead and the Blacks only existed in the female line. He thought bitterly that the seats of families who were loyal to the Dark Lord but had no children should be removed as well.
Draco noted in confusion that the Minister of Magic was sitting in his familial seat and not as the Chief Warlock, but who else would take the post instead? Granted, Albus Dumbledore had been Chief Warlock without being Minister but he had also been the saviour of the wizarding world. Hopefully the father of the Weasels wouldn't take the seat. He had just entered the room with one of his sons but he went to take the familial seat he hadn't been allowed to take in the last years because of his position against Cornelius Fudge. The younger Weasley took the seat of the court clerk.
When Professor McGonagall entered the court room with purpose Draco shrunk back in his seat. The witch never liked him, mainly because he was Slytherin and Seeker and therefore the direct opponent to her beloved Scarhead Potter. The moment she took the seat as Chief Warlock (Draco wasn't quite sure what the female title was, since he had never heard of a woman to take the position) he was sure that if he wouldn't die, he would be send to Azkaban for years. She had the right of veto and this Wizengamot wasn't paid by his family. On top of that a good half of it seemed to be from the Order or their allies, so he was pretty sure that his sentence was already set.
Ten minutes before the beginning of the hearing Hermione Granger barged in, carrying a black, leather-bound tome and parchment rolls in one arm and looking through her bag for something with the other. Her robes billowed behind her reminiscent of a certain potions teacher and Draco chuckled at the thought. Professor Snape would have never been in so much disarray in front of so many people.
Finally she pulled out a wand and conjured a table and a chair for herself next to his chair. She smiled at him in greeting and settled down, sorting through her things.
"You are lucky, the head of the prosecution was completely neutral in the war and is a Ravenclaw. He will go for the facts and will be hopefully not too prejudiced," she said quietly and Draco nodded a bit relieved.
"Who is it?" he asked after a second.
"David Arif Shafiq, he is the new head of DMLE," Hermione answered just as Professor McGonagall opened the hearing. Draco tried to remember what he knew about the Shafiqs other than that he wasn't related to them closely. When the first rumours of the rise of the Dark Lord were told they had left the country for "business" in Spain and were obviously back now. Interestingly enough he didn't remember a David Arif Shafiq from a pre-Dark Lord ministry and he had often accompanied his father to the ministry when he had been younger.
Hermione exhaled slowly when Professor McGonagall opened the hearing. She was the first witch to ever be elected to this position and it had been named Chief Sorceress - Chief Witch obviously sounded too plain for the Ministry officials. Hermione had already read the indictment but she still listened closely when Mr. Shafiq stood up and read it aloud.
"The public prosecutors of the Wizengamot hereby charge Draco Lucius Malfoy, born 5th June 1980, currently in custody at the Ministry of Magic, before the Wizengamot with the violation of the decree 616 from 1717 about the so called Unforgivable curses and evading his death sentence for that because of an unproven Life Debt claim. Participation of unknown amount in a terroristic organisation called "Death Eaters" with the aim to destroy the existing order of the British wizarding community and to install the self-titled Dark Lord Voldemort as sole leader. The voluntary participation in torture, rape and murder of prisoners at Malfoy Manor on thirty-six occasions. As well as plotting and attempting the demise of former Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and thereby cursing and severely injuring Miss Katie Bell and Mister Ronald Bilius Weasley and using the Imperius curse on Madam Rosmerta Parocheus, owner of the Three Broomsticks."
Mr. Shafiq looked up from the indictment and took a sip from his glass of water and Hermione risked a look at the wizards and witches of the gamot. Some looked bored, some disgusted and one rather pug-faced man looked like he didn't believe what he had just heard. The crowd of the reporters and spectators was thankfully behind a silencing charm because Hermione was rather sure, that otherwise they would call Draco names or would try to influence the Wizengamot.
The head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement continued to read. "Spokesperson for the defendant and witness for the defence: Hermione Jean Granger. Further witnesses for the defence: Harry James Potter, Ronald Bilius Weasley." It had been difficult to convince Ron to testify. But finally she had promised him, that he only needed to testify Draco's defection in the Battle.
"Luna Lovegood," Luna had easily agreed to testify that Draco had kind of saved her from further torture when she was brought to the Manor.
"Narcissa Malfoy."
"Witnesses for the prosecution: Mike Proudfoot, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Rabastan Lestrange, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, Garrick Olivander, Ronald Bilius Weasley, Katie Bell, Rosmerta Parocheus."
Draco shivered at the mention of the younger Lestrange brother and Hermione remembered that Narcissa had written her, that Rabastan had been intended to become first Andromeda's husband then hers. But she had already been in love with Lucius Malfoy at that point and her parents preferred the richer Malfoys over the Lestranges. Since then Rabastan tried to disgrace them at every turn and over his time in Azkaban he only got worse. Narcissa had written that Rabastan had liked to threaten her in front of Draco when Lucius had been away on occasion.
Hermione reached for Draco's arm and lightly put a hand on it to calm him down. She got a smile in return and she refocused on the Wizengamot. She bolted from her seat as she noticed that it was her turn to speak.
"I, Hermione Jean Granger will plead the defendant's cause. I will discuss every point in the indictment in the presented order," she took a calming breath and smiled at the Wizengamot. "First point. The defendant did indeed use the curses specified in the decree 616. But he used them during the Battle of Hogwarts during which the use of said curses was allowed for the Order of the Phoenix and their allies, as well as those who defected during the fight. Which he did after Vincent Crabbe cursed the Room of Requirement with Fiendfyre. Witnesses for the defection are Harry James Potter, Ronald Bilius Weasley and myself, Hermione Jean Granger. This means that the Unforgivable curses used are unpunishable."
"I rescued the defendant from the Room of Requirement and the Fiendfyre that was out of control inside it in the last second. This lead to the evasion of an unfairly given death sentence. My argumentation to the first point should make clear why the sentence was unfair. But I will explain the Life Debt situation anyway." She opened the heavy tome on her table and pulled out a roll of parchment with the translation.
I remembered reading about a law on life debts in the book "De legis vitae et potentiae magae" and looked into it after my return to the Black townhouse. The law written in Latin can be translated as: If one saw the grim reaper amidst the horrors of war and evaded his scythe at the hands of someone else, his life and limb henceforth belong to his saviour. He alone decides about weal and woe of the debtor, whether he lives as a freeman or a slave, or dies the death of a foe."
Hermione looked up to the Wizengamot. The members of the ancient families were looking intrigued, save for Mr. Weasley. He had already known about the law as she had asked him whether evidence from illegal books was legal in this case. The pug-faced man, probably Cassius Parkinson, smiled a little and nodded. Mr. Shafiq looked torn but she couldn't say between which emotions.
"This should prove my actions as dark, but still legal. Therefore the second point becomes irrelevant."
"The third point is especially interesting as the whole case is dependent on the fact that the defendant is supposed to be a Death Eater. Let's go back in time to the summer of 1996. Not only did Lucius Malfoy fail to bring the prophecy to Voldemort," nearly everyone in the Wizengamot flinched at the name, "he also got caught and imprisoned along with everyone else save for Bellatrix Lestrange. Voldemort couldn't punish him directly, so he chose a punishment that would hurt Mr. Malfoy differently. He brandished his son, Draco Malfoy with a Dark Mark and a seemingly unfulfillable task: to kill Albus Dumbledore. If he failed, his parents would be tortured and killed right in front of him. He had no other possibility than to try his best if he wanted to ensure their safety. The defendant was forced to join the Death Eaters under duress. In the first possible moment, during the Battle of Hogwarts, he defected. He should go unpunished, as he did not choose to be a Death Eater. Witnesses for this statement are Narcissa Malfoy and I," Hermione looked to Draco. His expression showed his distress as she explained his situation to the Wizengamot. She hoped it would help his cause. After a sip from her water glass she continued.
"Fourth point. The defendant did not participate in thirty-six occasions where people were tortured, raped or murdered. It was not even possible as he was at school for most of his time as Death Eater. He attended ten meetings over the time of his membership and had to participate in another four. The first was his initiation where he was forced to kill a muggle girl under the implication that otherwise his mother would be killed. The second time at his seventeenth birthday, he had to torture a muggleborn man or he would have been tortured himself. The third occasion was on Christmas 1997 when Luna Lovegood was brought to the Malfoy Manor after being kidnapped from the Hogwarts Express. This time he was threatened that his mother would be raped, his father tortured and he himself would have been killed. He was supposed to torture Miss Lovegood for information about Harry Potter but knocked her out "accidentally" after ten minutes. The last time was at Easter where he was supposed to identify Harry, Ronald and me. He didn't, even after his father tried to convince him. He had to watch while I was tortured but was unable to do anything to help. Main witness is again Narcissa Malfoy, but also Luna Lovegood and me." Hermione got continually used to the monologues and relaxed slightly. She had needed two Calming Draughts in the morning to be even able to apparate.
Hermione had expected to be questioned on this part but either the members of the Wizengamot really had no questions or they wanted to hear her out first. She went on to the pre-last point.
"Fifth point. The defendant did not choose of his own free will to try to murder Albus Dumbledore. He was forced to do it by Voldemort as his parent's life and sanity were at stake. Furthermore he was underage during the whole time of plotting and finally trying to murder the headmaster and should therefore not be hold accountable for these actions." Finally something to be explained easily.
"The last point. The defendant neither intended the cursing of Katie Bell nor the poisoning of Ronald Weasley, therefore it should be considered an accident. At the time when he used the Imperius curse he was in a constant life threatening situation and still underage. He can't be hold accountable for that either." Although it was extremely stupid, Hermione thought. "All witnesses are ready to testify under Veritaserum. Are there any questions left?"
Professor McGonagall checked the Wizengamot but no one seemed to have further questions. "Alright, the Wizengamot will retire for deliberation. We will continue in an hour." With her words everyone rose and the gamut left the room to a chamber which lay behind their seats. The chains around Draco's wrists and ankles slithered back into the chair and Hermione saw him relax.
Narcissa worried her lip. She had been in these courtrooms often enough to know, that the deliberation chamber could only be accessed by members of the Wizengamot and only through the door in the courtroom. She still had the nagging feeling that something would go wrong. Maybe it was only motherly instinct but she was nervous. Not being allowed to leave her seat and talk to Draco so she couldn't influence him or Hermione was only adding to her distress. It annoyed her to no end but she knew that those were the rules.
To relax herself she leaned her head on the shoulder of her husband. Over the course of the last week they had gotten more affectionate towards each other, thanks to the small space they had to share. But also because for the first time in their life no one could dictate their lives.
At first Voldemort had demanded their full attention and in his circles affection was considered weakness. After his "death" she had had a feeling that he wasn't truly gone and Lucius had been sure that he would come back as well, so they had stayed within the old Death Eater circles to protect themselves and Draco. Her husband hadn't been the only one to claim Imperius and she supported him fully.
What she said to Hermione at their first true encounter was true though. She had been too weak to keep her husband away from Voldemort and now she regretted her decision to stay in those cold hearted pureblood circles. If she had risen Draco differently would he have defied the Dark Lord earlier? It was too late.
When Lord Voldemort came back he had decided that he would live in Malfoy Manor as it was the most comfortable and Narcissa had been too weak again to grab her husband and son and defect. But she had considered it, even wrote a letter to her sister Andromeda. She did never send it though as she feared it would be intercepted.
Suddenly she felt Lucius straighten beside her and became aware that the members of the Wizengamot came back in before the time was up. Not necessarily a good sign for the case.
I am sometimes a little cruel *laughs evilly*