AN: I do not own Harry Potter
Beta Services Offered by : DreamStallion33
Chapter XXVIII: The Setup
Luna's robin's egg blue robes and lively face brightened the dismal corridors of Azkaban more and more with every step she took. Her hair bounced on her shoulders and her black attaché case barely contained it's contents, with little snatches of parchment peeking out like an interested tourist. The calls and whistles of various prisoners followed Luna on her journey, occasionally she would give a smile and a wave, other times her face was unreadable as she passed people whom she had fought years ago.
Cell two hundred and sixteen was the one she was seeking, and she found it with relative ease. The guards had given her full authority over the prisoner, given her connection with Harry, and she donned a serious and authoritative demeanor, the mindset of a true lawyer.
Draco had not been in Azkaban long, a mere four hours according to the prisoner log. Luna had talked to Hermione only briefly before setting off for the prison, and it was a short Owl at that. So it was that Luna found Draco hunched on a bed with his knees to his chin, his body was trembling, as if he were cold, she felt nothing of the sort. She rapped on the wall near the small separation of the bars, and he looked up at her, his eyes wide.
"Luna?" his voice shook, and it was no wonder, Luna could only imagine what he must be going through. "I'm surprised to see you, here of all places…" he said, getting up as his knees popped from lack of use. He walked to the bars and put extended a hand to Luna's outstretched hand.
"Draco, answer me truthfully." She raised her eyes to his and waited for his commitment.
"Of course, I will." His eye twitched.
"Did you murder Astoria?" she stopped touching his hand for this moment, the kind gesture had served its purpose.
"I don't know what happened, I can't think…" his lips moved wordlessly.
"I believe you are innocent, and so do Harry and the kids. We're all behind you." She said, sitting her attaché case down. "There is something more to this isn't there, Draco?" Luna asked, her voice lowered, not wanting to attract the attention of unsavory types.
"I loved my Astoria, I had no reason to…" he stumbled. He turned his head, Luna watched him like a child watches an animal.
"Draco, I think you will object to this outright. I am going to represent you in front of the Wizengamot. I believe I can clear your name of this, as well as ensure that Scorpius is well cared for until you are in the general population again."
It was a sign of just how desperate he was, or perhaps it was a sign of how poor he was, that he accepted Luna's offer almost instantly. "I wouldn't know how to repay your kindness…if it's money you want…"
"Think nothing of the money. But I do have a list of requests that you would need to fulfill upon your release." She counted off, not waiting for his approval. "I want you to take excellent care of Scorpius, as you have always done, he is going to need you more than ever now that Astoria is gone."
"Well obviously I would do that," he looked past Luna, as if hoping to see his son behind her.
"Secondly, there is the matter of the Chain." She stopped speaking, and allowed her words to register with him.
Luna at first thought she hadn't spoken loudly enough, several moments passed and she was just about to comment when his lips parted."That's right," he almost whispered, his eyes coming back to hers now. "What of that?"
"Since the custody trial never came, the Unbreakable Vow has been nullified, making you the true owner of the Chain of Submission. Upon clearance of your name, Draco Malfoy, I want that chain. Those are my fees, do you accept them?"
He bit his lip, and shook his head. "No."
"No?" she replied, a note of disbelief in her voice, thinking she had been rather reasonable.
"I want you to also find out what happened," he sat down crossed legged, separated from Luna by the bars. "I have this whole span of time where I can't remember some things. It's like I've lost my mind, some may even have called it bloodlust…a crime of passion maybe…if I've truly lost my mind, and I'm really a murderer, I can't be around my son…" he turned his head, Luna began to wonder if he had started crying.
"Draco, you are not a murderer, I am not sure what happened yet, but you are not the type."
"You don't know that, you don't know what I'm capable of." his voice cracked.
"Yes, I do." Luna touched his arm. "Tell me everything you can remember," Luna said, taking out a quill and parchment. She wrote neatly on her parchment as he divulged the story to her, she asked him for details to everything, from the foreplay to the final breaths. Some of her questions caught him off guard, however.
"What do you mean, did I finish before she died?" he looked appalled.
"Not letting her be satisfied can drive any woman to murder. Did she finish, and did you?" Luna had stopped writing now, and instead she poked him through the bars with the quill, a black mark appearing on his grey robes.
He ran his fingers through his hair, sweat was running down his face. "She always finishes…" he frowned, eyes closed, "…finished first, I had to make sure…always…"
"Ok. What happened after you had both finished?" Luna flipped the parchment over, to cover the other side in her notes. She shook the quill, and the ink turned from black to purple, much more cheerful now, she smiled.
"Then it was black. It was all I could remember, then I came to, I was on top of her…I had been bleeding, my neck was dripping with blood. I think it was the blood loss that broke her Imperius Curse." His breaths were deeper now, Luna could see him reliving it and she hated that she had to make him do so. "she started yelling at me, saying that she knew what I had done, who I had fucked. She called me a whore, she said she knew it all along, knew that I was a horrible person. She kept on saying that the only reason she agreed to see me again was so that she could kill me."
Luna stopped writing, and stared at him, what he was saying did not jive with what she had heard from Astoria when they met. "Go on, Draco."
"She scratched at me again, and then I blacked out…I think it was the loss of blood, that had to be it, then I came to…I had my hands around her throat, I was watching as her eyes were swallowed up by fear…then I just kept shaking her, and shaking her, I couldn't stop!" his voice had been steadily rising, growing more uncontrolled. "I had to, she was trying to kill me….she wanted me dead…"
"Draco, I want to ask you something." Luna put away the parchment, and the quill, and she leaned in close, so that her nose was mere inches from his.
"What?" Draco shook his head.
"You say that your blood broke the Imperius Curse. Tell me something, when did Astoria place the Imperius Curse on you? If it was broken, you would be able to know when you were placed under it's influence. There would have been, according to theory, another blackout period." She looked at him, and couldn't help the smile that broke across her face.
His face was full of concentration, as if he were going over the story again in his head. With every passing second Luna felt more hopeful, she had come to realize a few undeniable facts during her questioning, a few facts that nobody else would know.
She had talked to Astoria, had comforted her in the streets of Knockturn Alley, Luna knew that Astoria wanted to repair her marriage, not sever it. She knew that Astoria was not capable of murder. She also realized that the only time Draco mentioned blackouts were after the mutual cum fest. She had to be sure that this was the whole story however, she could not mess anything up.
"I…I…I can't remember blacking out any other times…the only times I did black out were after we had came together…Luna…" he sounded jubilant, as he got to his knees and crawled as close as he could towards her. "Luna…it wasn't rape at all…I was willing…" his voice shook with excitement, before it sounded fearful. "was I setup? Luna, do you think so?"
Luna smirked. "Draco, I think you were most definitely setup." She got to her feet, and he looked surprised.
"Where are you going? You can't be leaving?" he jumped to his feet.
"You stay right there Draco," she grabbed her case and tossed her hair to the side. "We're getting you ready for court. Don't worry now, soon, your name will be as clean as mine."