a/n1: Hello my dear readers! I am glad y'all liked the glimpse of the Wilkins ;) I proudly present to you the first part of the trial. Betaed as always by viv-heart who just posted the second chapter to her amazing kinda Muggle AU 'Question of Mortality', check it out! :)
Upon entering the Ministry of Magic on Wednesday morning Hermione bought her first Daily Prophet in ages. They didn't have a subscription at Grimmauld Place and she herself had ended her subscription in sixth year. But she wanted to see what they had to say about Draco's trial and whether someone had captured a picture of her an Pansy.
When Hermione saw the front page she very nearly shredded the paper to bits. Who had allowed that terrible vermin of a woman to write again! And most importantly, who had allowed her to make front page while slandering a war heroine!
"Oi, 'Mione, what's up? You look downright murderous," Ron said looking over her shoulder. She turned to him and saw him going white with rage. "I thought you taught that bug a lesson?"
"Obviously it didn't stick," Hermione answered venomously. She cast a Tempus charm -there were still two hours until the start of the trial. She had wanted to do some things at the Ministry, but they would have to wait.
She went over to the reception desk and smiled at the witch there. "Good morning, I was wondering whether it would be possible to inquire if a person is a registered Animagus or not."
"Miss Granger," the reception desk lady exclaimed when she saw who was asking. "Of course, please go up to the Office of the Secretary for Magical Law Enforcement. They will direct you to the Animagus Registry."
"Thank you," Hermione smiled and turned to the lifts.
"You know you sounded a lot like Mrs Malfoy there," Ron remarked catching up to her.
"Well, she nearly always gets what she wants," Hermione remarked coolly while entering the lift. She looked down on the newspaper again. 'War heroine fraternizing with the enemy? Golden Girl seen with Pansy Parkinson!' She had hoped to make a head-line, but not like that! There were pictures of her talking to the Malfoys after Draco's hearing, Pansy and Hermione leaving the Leaky Cauldron and saying goodbye at the floo.
"Should I come with you and make sure that you don't kill her?" Ron asked cautiously but she could see he was smiling.
"No, go and visit Percy. He could need some positive feedback," Hermione said sounding much calmer again.
"Alright. Do you think Harry already decided when he wants to start Auror training?"
Hermione looked up. "No, I don't think so. But…Pansy mentioned something yesterday. You probably should ask him yourself."
"Will do," Ron said and left the lift at International Cooperation. "See you later!"
Soon after Hermione entered the Animagus Registry. She had been here once, back then Skeeter hadn't been registered and Hermione hoped she had failed to do so since. The wizard who worked here didn't seem to recognise her and Hermione was rather happy about that. It wouldn't do for gossip to get out that she had consulted the registry after that article.
There were three new names on the parchment. One of them was Penelope Clearwater who was able to turn into a snowy owl with three black dots over each eye. Hermione didn't know who the two others were but she was certain that Rita Skeeter wasn't a pen name.
The Ministry official flinched when he saw her smile but she didn't care. She still had her leverage and she would not hesitate to use it.
But maybe…Hermione stopped her train of thought. Charging in there, threatening Skeeter would be awfully obvious and dangerous. She was a war heroine and had a reputation to lose. Maybe she should consult the older Malfoys first. Nobody would question her arriving with them, especially not after that article. Hermione snorted, they would be delighted.
-0-0-0-
Minutes later Hermione stumbled out of the living room fireplace at Tonks Cottage. Andromeda appeared at the door seconds later, her wand drawn.
"I am sorry, Andromeda, I didn't have time to announce my visit," Hermione said breathlessly. "I need to talk to the Malfoys."
"Is it about the article in the Prophet?" Andromeda asked, concern evident in her voice.
"Partially," Hermione answered while brushing the soot from her robes.
Andromeda stepped back into the hall and the younger witch followed her into the kitchen. The Malfoys sat at the table, their backs ramrod straight and expressions tight. A pile of paper shreds laid on the table next to Narcissa.
"I see you read the article as well," Hermione said while sitting down on the free chair.
"Indeed," Lucius drawled while Narcissa vanished the pile of paper. "Narcissa got a bit...enthusiastic."
Draco snorted. "I hope you will sue the Prophet, Hermione. Denouncing the girl who saved their arses on the first page like that…"
"Language, Draco," Narcissa reprimanded. "Do you still have leverage on Miss Skeeter?"
Hermione watched the Malfoys closely. This was the pureblood family that had housed Voldemort and his Death Eaters, these were the people that had watched her being tortured. Not the happy family she had met on Monday, baking scones and singing. These were politicians, or to be precise, lobbyists who directed the politicians.
Looking over to Andromeda Hermione realised that even if the woman had married a muggle-born and didn't go into politics she had been raised to do this as well. Seeing her sitting next to her sister, Hermione saw the politician's daughter she had been. The politician's wife she could have been but chose not to be - even a blue-haired baby on her arm couldn't hide that.
"I found out about this garbage when I arrived at the Ministry. I went straight to the Animagus Registry and looked it up. She isn't registered. At first I wanted to apparate right into her office at the Prophet and threaten her into obedience. But then I thought, what would the Malfoys do?" Hermione confessed sitting just as straight as they did.
"We are compromising you, 'Mione," Draco smirked.
"Probably," Hermione admitted. "But if I just threaten her, especially now and at the Prophet it would attract too much attention."
"You thought 'Let's ask the Slytherins how they would do it'," Lucius said coolly, his eyes watching her every movement.
"No, I thought 'Let's ask my politically well versed friends for advice'," Hermione answered calmly and was rewarded with a barely concealed expression of shock. "You were all raised either by politicians or lobbyists and I wasn't. I did my best to learn it over the years, but there is still so much I don't know. And let's face it, you are probably the best at this game."
"So what can we work with?" Narcissa asked trying to diffuse the tension a bit.
Hermione got out the article and they started analysing it for possible openings they could exploit. Andromeda was reluctant to participate at first, but everything she had learned as a child kicked in somewhere along the way and she participated in the discussion.
One and a half hour later they had a plan and had to hurry to be punctual for the trial.
At exactly eleven o'clock Percy Weasley stood up and announced the entrance of the Chief Sorceress. Professor McGonagall entered the courtroom while everyone stood up. She commanded silence and opened the hearing.
"Last week we heard the indictment and defence presented by Miss Granger," McGonagall announced. "Mr Shafiq, if you would repeat the indictment to refresh our memory?"
The Head of the DMLE did just that and Hermione was happy that there was a Silencing Charm between the spectator's places and the rest of the courtroom once again. The difference was that this time the witnesses were sitting at the side where they would be able to step forward and answer questions from the Wizengamot.
"Miss Granger, we would like to begin our further questioning of the witnesses with you," Mr Shafiq said finally and she stood up from her seat next to Draco.
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" McGonagall asked the formal question.
"I swear," Hermione answered easily.
Cassius Parkinson was the first one to ask a question. "Miss Granger, how was your relationship with the defendant prior to the events during and after the Battle of Hogwarts?"
"To be totally honest: horrible. We were from rivalling houses and he was taught to hate me early on. Furthermore I was friends with a Weasley, so there was also family rivalry involved. I surpassed him in every subject - without me he would have been the best in our year. All this resulted into many arguments that sometimes even turned into violence," Hermione answered calmly.
"So why did you decide to defend your bully?" Mr Parkinson asked with glittering eyes. His posture and voice completely relaxed he could have fooled some into thinking he didn't care. But he asked what nearly everyone in the room thought.
"Because he was sentenced to death with the other Death Eaters even though he defected. Because I remembered Sirius Black being sent to Azkaban without trial despite being innocent just because of the lack of evidence. I didn't want that to happen again," Hermione said defiantly.
Many in the Wizengamot raised their eyebrows at the mentioning of Sirius but those who had been in the Order nodded in thought.
"I would like to ask a question," a nearly bald, but young looking man said. "How did you come across the Life Debt law? It has been declared darkest magic in the fifties and therefore isn't found even in the Restricted Section of the library in Hogwarts."
Hermione nearly laughed. Did they really think she didn't have access to any other library?
"When Dumbledore told Harry about the horcruxes Voldemort made, I started researching about them in every book about dark magic I found. Including those still in the Black townhouse library. 'De leges vitae and potentiae magae' is written in Latin but I learned to read the language as fluently as English in my first two school years so that wasn't a problem. The book didn't say much about horcruxes but I have eidetic memory, therefore I remembered the part about the life debts anyway."
"So you admit to accessing forbidden material? Normally one would need a license for reading these books," the man said.
"I know and I plan on acquiring one as soon as the Ministry is back to normal," Hermione said with a nearly innocent smile. She heard Narcissa snort at that and she saw Mr Parkinson hide a smile behind his hand.
"Are there any other questions relating more directly to the testimony of Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes, Chief Sorceress," Mr Weasley spoke up. "Would you please tell us how the defection of Mr Malfoy happened? In the testimony you only told us that it happened during the evacuation."
"There was so much I had to tell, I probably forgot to go into detail," Hermione said a bit embarrassed and indeed she had talked for nearly three hours recounting her encounters with quite a number of Death Eaters and suspects. "Well, during the evacuation Harry, Ron and I entered the Room of Requirement to destroy the horcrux located there. We were followed by Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. After a short argument we started duelling.
Crabbe cast the Fiendfyre curse but was unable to control it. The fire quickly devoured the piles of furniture and other stuff. We all ran to save our lives. Harry, Ron and I were able to find three brooms but the others didn't have as much luck." Hermione swallowed. The memory of the roaring fire and the stench of burning furniture tried to take over her consciousness.
"They were climbing the piles in the hope to save themselves from the flames. Harry decided to turn back and get them out as well. I grabbed Draco and Ron managed to pull Goyle on his broom. But Harry lost his grip on Crabbe and he fell into the flames." Hermione stopped talking and took a sip from her water. Her hands were shaking. "We barely got out after that. The first words Draco said were 'I want to defect.' We had other things on our minds in that moment but accepted it. We left him there with Goyle who didn't say anything."
The members of the Wizengamot seemed shocked by her tale and Hermione glanced at Draco. He was sweating and breathing extremely fast. She put a hand on his arm and he flinched violently but seemed to calm down.
"Miss Granger, a question," Madam Longbottom said with a clear voice. "Did I understand correctly that Mr Malfoy didn't intervene when you were tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange in front of him?"
Hermione looked up to the old woman who had been Neville's second biggest fear in third year. She obviously wanted to remind the Wizengamot that he hadn't helped the muggleborn, but the pureblooded Luna. Hermione suppressed a snort.
"He didn't have another option if he didn't want to risk his own death," she answered calmly.
Madam Longbottom didn't seem exactly satisfied with the answer, but she didn't continue asking.
"I would like to ask something else," a man next to Kingsley said. He looked a lot like Marcus Flint, meaning he was probably his father Anton. "Which points of the indictment did you witness directly?"
Hermione raised her eyebrows at the question. She hadn't expected anyone from the more racist part of the Wizengamot questioning her about that. "I-," she stopped talking and frowned in thought. What had she really witnessed from the points in the indictment? "I only witnessed him evading his death sentence, because I was the one who helped him evade it. I witnessed Katie Bell being cursed by the necklace and visited Ron in the Hospital Wing after he drank the poisoned mead."
"So you never witnessed Mr Malfoy using an Unforgivable Curse, participating in any actions of the Death Eaters and only them, not their associates. You never saw his Dark Mark, you never saw or heard him plotting the demise of Professor Dumbledore," Mr Flint specified.
"That is correct," Hermione answered, realising what he was saying.
"No further questions," Mr Flint said with a tight smile.
"Wonderful, anyone else?" McGonagall asked looking around. Nobody raised their hand or said anything. "Questioning closed. Next witness for the defence: Mr Harry James Potter."
Hermione sat back down and listened while the Wizengamot questioned Harry about his testimony. They asked him about the duel in the bathroom in sixth year and the scene he had witnessed on the Astronomy Tower at the end of the same year. Hermione thought that it wasn't exactly fortunate for Draco that he had admitted to five of the six points in the indictment in front of Harry. But he did his best to answer the questions in Draco's favour.
When the Wizengamot called Ron up Hermione hoped that the redhead would keep his dislike for Draco in check. But he stayed calm and they only asked one question.
"Why are you only a witness for the defection of Mr Malfoy?" Mr Shafiq asked.
A lopsided grin appeared on Ron's face. "The rivalry and dislike between us and our families goes very deep. I only witnessed him defect and I was injured during his second attempt to murder Dumbledore. It would be hard to find many positive words for him."
With that he was allowed to sit back down. Luna was called up next and Hermione realised that she didn't need to worry about the blonde drifting from the subject when she saw her determined look.
"Miss Lovegood, you said in your testimony that you stayed at Mr Malfoy's room for most of the Christmas holidays. What did you do there?" someone asked and Hermione bristled at the implication that Luna and Draco had had a sexual relationship.
"I mostly read. Draco brought me every book I asked for. I didn't want to leave the room and didn't need to. The food was delivered to the room and the bathroom was adjoining. I missed going outside but it was safer that way," Luna answered in her dreamy voice. But her sentences were much more straightforward than Hermione was used to and she had to admit that she would need to revise her opinion of Luna.
"Where did you sleep?"
"In the bed of course, Draco was polite enough to sleep on the transfigured couch," Luna said emphatically.
The questioner refrained from asking further and Hermione was pretty sure she was glowering at the man by now.
Narcissa was the last witness for the defence and the Wizengamot had only a few questions for her. They were ascertaining once again that if Draco had refused to obey there would have been dire consequences for him and his family.
"After hearing the witnesses for the defence the witnesses for the prosecution will be next. We will take a thirty minutes break before that. Court dismissed," McGonagall said when Narcissa had settled down again.
The spectators left the room along with most of the Wizengamot, only Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mr Ollivander staying behind.
a/n2: I hope you liked it! :) What do you think the plan for Skeeter is? We won't see in action for a few chapters, since the second part of the trial has to come first, but tell me your guesses!;) On another note, I added my tumblr name to my profile so you can follow me there as well. Have a nice week! :)