Title: Saint Valentine
Characters/Pairings: Albus Dumbledore, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Forum: The Golden Snitch
Challenge: Adopt a Reindeer
School/House: Mahoutokoro, House Mizu
Prompts: Write about Valentine's Day
Points: 10 points
World: Post-Hogwarts AU
Word Count: 2,083
A/N: I wanted to write a Valentine's Day story that had to do with love but wasn't necessarily romantic. I also wanted to draw on this hagiography surrounding Saint Valentine himself. So there is love, but also death, destruction, and revolution. After all, happiness can be found even in the darkest of places. ;)
XXXX
It seemed appropriate that he'd be arrested on Valentine's Day.
As Albus Dumbledore was unceremoniously carted away by two Aurors-Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick, class of '95 and '94, respectively-he smiled that the couple he'd most recently wed had managed to evade their grasp.
After all, Hermione Granger had cat-like reflexes, and she'd whisked away her new husband seconds after she heard the 'crack' of the Aurors arrival.
Dumbledore wasn't quite that quick-he was no longer the spring chicken he had once been-but he also put up no resistance when the former Slytherin Quidditch stars arrested him for violating miscegenation laws. He submit to their Incarcerous, though he could have easily broken his restraints, and calmly accompanied them to the Ministry of Magic, where he was processed and put into a holding cell.
His conviction was all but certain. He wasn't looking forward to Azkaban, though he hoped his incarceration there would be brief-either through the repeal of the laws or his death. The newest Minister for Magic, Lucius Malfoy, had reinstated the Dementors as keepers of the wizarding prison, and he had too many memories of bonding star-crossed couples to escape their notice.
If the miscegenation laws were not repealed by that summer, he would be likely be little more than a husk of a man.
XXXX
"Order in the court!" cried Percy Weasley, Assistant to the Undersecretary of the Minister for Magic. The boy had gone far since his graduation from Hogwarts three years before-he was instrumental to both Minister Malfoy and the Undersecretary of the Minister, Dolores Umbridge. His adherence to Ministry edicts had severed the boy from his more progressively-minded family, and despite working in the same building Percy had not spoken with his father in more than a year.
Dumbledore allowed himself a small smile. Percy played his part well; he was the deepest mole the revolution had in the Ministry, and aside from Dumbledore only one other person was aware of the boy's true loyalties.
Another reason Dumbledore had allowed himself to be taken: Hermione Granger knew too much about the structure of the revolution to be captured, especially now with so much to lose.
"We will commence with the trial of one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," Minister Malfoy drew languidly. "Charges?"
Percy stood and unrolled a scroll. "Twenty-three counts of unauthorized bonding, which are in violation of the Miscegenation Laws."
"How does the defendant plead?" asked the Minister, glaring at Dumbledore.
"Guilty as charged, Minister Malfoy," said the old wizard, though his voice betrayed no regret.
The gallery broke out in loud whispers. Dumbledore's eye caught Rita Skeeter's Quick Quill moving so rapidly it could catch fire. The gleam in the blonde journalist's eyes was one he'd seen before, usually followed by a torrid story in the following day's Daily Prophet.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the Wizengamot, as the defendant has admitted his guilt…"
"Ahem." It pleased Dumbledore beyond belief to use Umbridge's own tic against her. "Madam Umbridge, I do believe I am allowed to make a statement."
"Given the circumstances, that will be unnecessary," said Umbridge in a sickeningly-sweet voice. Her pink cardigan peeked out beneath the edges of her Wizengamot robes, which matched the small pill-box hat she wore. She looked away from Dumbledore to address the gathered legal body of the wizarding world. However, she was prevent from further addressing them, not by Dumbledore, but by Percy Weasley.
"Point of order, Madam Umbridge, but Mr. Dumbledore is right. To prevent his opportunity for a statement would be in violation of our due process laws and would leave his conviction open to a mistrial."
Umbridge pursed her lips, and Dumbledore cheered internally. Percy had managed to insult him, shoring up the young man's cover, while thwarting Umbridge and Malfoy and affording him the opportunity to speak in front of the entire Wizengamot-and the public gallery.
Just as they had planned.
Minister Malfoy frowned in distaste. "Proceed, Mr. Dumbledore," he said resignedly. Then he narrowed his eyes. "But keep your statement short. The witches and wizards of the Wizengamot have better things to do than listen to you justify your illegal actions through some supposed 'greater good.'"
Dumbledore nodded, and then turned to face not the Wizengamot, but the gallery behind him.
"Ladies and gentleman of the Wizengamot," he intoned, gesturing to the group that he was ostensibly addressing, "I am guilty of violating laws: I am guilty of violating unjust laws. The Miscegenation Laws that prevent a Muggleborn witch or wizard from marrying a pure- or half-blood are simply the latest instantiation of Lord Voldemort's pureblood ideology."
The crowd gasped at the name of the recently-destroyed Dark Lord.
"The Dark Lord has been defeated!" cried Anise Selwyn. The witch was grasping at the pearls around her neck, horrified that Dumbledore would be as uncouth as to speak Voldemort's name aloud.
"But his goals for the wizarding world remain," said Dumbledore. "The vilification and eventual eradication of muggleborns from the wizarding world. These Miscegenation Laws are the first step toward such a world.
But, ladies and gentlemen, these laws are wrong. It is wrong to prevent two people from being together because of blood status. Our esteemed Minister would have you believe that miscegenation leads to the destruction of the wizarding world, the destruction of our history and culture. But I ask, who better to teach Muggleborns the ways of the wizarding world than those of us who have been raised in it?"
Dumbledore turned back to Minister Malfoy, a twinkle in his deep blue eyes.
"Who better to teach the smartest witch of her generation, Hermione Granger, a Muggleborn, than her new husband, the son of the Minister for Magic, Draco Malfoy?"
The courtroom erupted.
XXXX
By the time Hermione had stopped chain Apparating, Draco was sure they were in Fiji.
She whipped out her wand and did one final sweep for tracking charms.
"I think we're safe, but to be sure we should keep our glamours on and avoid using magic for the next twelve hours." The curly-haired witch frowned. "Maybe a full day."
Draco wrapped his arms around the witch's waist. A quick glance told him they were not, in fact, in Fiji, but in a resistance safehouse in northern Scotland. There were few markers of their location, but Draco recognized the McGonagall tartan draped over the couch.
"That's not going to happen," he whispered in his wife's ear. "Because it is my wedding night, and I want you to look like you, not"-he waved his hand up and down at her, gesturing to her curly blonde hair and green eyes-"this witch." He kissed her neck. "And we will be casting a contraception charm. I want to enjoy my wife for a bit before we start our own Quidditch team."
She smiled and lightly hit his shoulder. "No Quidditch team. I'm not Molly Weasley."
He murmured his agreement into her neck. "No, I wouldn't marry a ginger, would I?"
She lightly hit him again, and then relaxed into his arms. "I'm worried about Albus."
Draco nodded. "I know. But everything is going to plan, Hermione. This is what is supposed to happen." He pulled her toward a doorway that, he assumed, led to the bedrooms. "Now let's go celebrate Valentine's Day, wife."
XXXX
Three days later, Sirius Black came through the Floo, his hand covering his eyes. "Are you decent?" he called.
Hermione, who was sitting on the couch reading, rolled her eyes. "And if I said I wasn't?"
Sirius dropped his hand, his eyes wide. "Really?"
"Leave my wife alone, Black," said Draco, sauntering into the room and setting his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Do you have news?"
The older wizard smiled wanly and dropped a stack of papers on the coffee table. "As expected."
Hermione picked them up and quickly flipped through the front pages.
Albus Dumbledore Arrested for Illegal Bonding Ceremonies!
Malfoy Miscegenation! Malfoy Heir Weds Muggleborn?
Minister for Magic Disowns Son, Files Arrest Warrant
Hermione reached for Draco's hand without looking up and, finding his long fingers, squeezed. She imagined his face was as stoic as ever, but she knew he was struggling with the loss of his family.
"What are people saying?" asked Draco with no emotion.
"No one has explicitly come out against your father. However, given that his platform is preserving wizarding traditions, his supporters aren't pleased with your disownment-especially as there is no other heir to the Malfoy family."
"And his opponents?" asked Hermione.
"Openly calling for a review and repeal of the miscegenation laws, citing your marriage as an example of their ineffectiveness."
"Just as we planned," muttered Hermione.
Draco leaned down and kissed her head. "I love you," he whispered in her ear. "Never doubt that."
Sirius smiled at the couple. "A few more days, and we'll be ready to move you to a long-term safe house," said Sirius. "So enjoy your privacy while you can."
Draco groaned. "Don't tell me we're staying with Weasley."
Hermione perked up, a hopeful look in her eyes.
Sirius grinned. "Of course you're staying with Ron. He and Sally send their regards and look forward to catching up."
"Are Susan and Justin there as well?" asked Hermione.
Sirius nodded. "Along with Fred and Katie. Dean and Pansy emigrated to the US last week, so you're lucky a bedroom opened up and you won't have to snuggle up on the couch to sleep."
Four days later, the couple's good mood was dampened when the unexpected happened.
They arrived at the safehouse to find their fellow fugitives sitting around the kitchen table, grim.
The Daily Prophet lay open, and Hermione stared at the front-page headline, horrified.
Albus Dumbledore Sentenced to Dementor's Kiss!
XXXX
Percy Weasley watched as the dementor approached the greatest wizard of their time.
He felt all the goodness of the room sucked away by the shade-all his love for Audrey, all his devotion to his family and the revolution, all his hope for a better future, destroyed by the evil before him.
'This is the way the world ends,' he thought, as the dementor leaned in to the uncowed Dumbledore. 'Not with a bang but with a whimper.'*
Moments later, the great Albus Dumbledore fell to the floor, now nothing more than a beating heart in a soulless body.
XXXX
The execution of Dumbledore was not the signal of strength and warning to dissidents that Minister Malfoy had hoped it would be. Rather, it was the beginning of the end for the Miscegenation Laws and the pureblood elitists who backed them.
The protest outside of the Ministry days after Dumbledore's execution turned violent. One of the casualties in the crossfire was a young, halfblood child whose parents-a pureblood woman and Muggleborn man-had protested the laws that would have kept them separated had they been on the books a decade earlier.
The following day, the front page of the Daily Prophet featured a picture of the dying child wrapped in his parents' arms.
After that, Minister Malfoy never stood a chance.
Within two weeks of the protest, the Minister had been ousted and exiled to the continent, the Miscegenation Laws had been repealed, and those who had been fugitives due to the law had been pardoned.
Percy Weasley had assumed the role of Minister for Magic, his role in the revolution having been revealed by Dumbledore's right-hand woman, Hermione Granger. Dolores Umbridge, among others, was stripped of her position in the Ministry, and Draco Malfoy was reinstated as the head of the Malfoy family by a unanimous Wizengamot vote.
XXXX
"Happy Anniversary, Hermione," said Draco, squeezing his wife's hand.
She kissed him on the cheek and smiled softly. He had not wanted to bring her here, at least not today, but she'd demanded it. She said they owed it to him to be here, especially on Valentine's Day.
Hermione kissed her husband's cheek and then walked forward, a small bouquet of white carnations in her arm.
She set them in front of the gravestone, the cold wind whipping around her. She set a sticking charm on the bouquet, so the flowers would not fly away. "Happy Valentine's Day, Professor. Thank you," she whispered, for everything."
After a few moments of silence, the couple turned and walked away from the simple gravestone in Godric's Hollow.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
13 August 1881 - 22 February 1999
"Do not pity the dead. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love."
XXXX
*TS Eliot, The Hollow Men