Chapter 14: Trail and Error Part 2
The rest of the morning passed in a blur to Ginny. Uriel told her tale, and they watched her part of the Pensieve defense. Ginny hated reliving the events of the Van Alan's murders, and she knew Uri hated it even more. After they saw what Uriel had seen that day the court could hardly keep quiet…Harry Potter a murderer, it seemed to be too much for some. By the time the court broke for it's first recess everyone was talking. Draco, Ginny, Blaise, and Uriel exited the courtroom, desperately needing to get out of the stuffy building. They had planned on going somewhere quiet for lunch, but the second they stepped out into the sunshine all hell broke loose.
A mob of loyal Harry Potter supporters yelled, and tried to force their way toward both Draco and Ginny. They called them liars and jeered at them for trying to bring down their hero, thankfully the Auror's knew what a circus it was going to be and they were on hand to try and control the crowds. Draco, Ginny and Blaise broke through the rabble and came out on the other side…Uriel was not so lucky.
The unknown Malfoy child had been held back by a horde of members of the press who were all taking pictures of her and shooting questions at her, none more prominent and forceful than the mistress of sleaze journalism herself…Rita Skeeter.
"Ms. Malfoy…I've been hearing rumors that you're really the love child of Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange…is that true? Or worse the illegitimate daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange and You Know Who…are you the child of the most evil Wizard our World has ever seen?"
Blaise and Draco quickly tried to fight their way through the pack, Ginny stood back not wanting to get in their way, but she could see the panic on her friends face, and the tears she was trying to hold back.
"So your adoptive parents were murdered the other day Ms. Malfoy…where were you when it happened?"
"Are we supposed to believe that the Malfoy family went almost thirty years without announcing your birth to the Wizarding world?"
"Do you have the Dark Mark Ms. Malfoy?"
"Did you help You Know Who?"
"What is your relationship to Harry Potter Ms. Malfoy?"
Draco Finally reached his sister, while Blaise and some of the other Auror's were trying to control the mass of people bearing down on them.
"Mr. Malfoy what did your sister do to make Lucius Malfoy send her away?"
"Mr. Malfoy is she really your sister, or does she happen to be your cousin, or even your half sister?" Rita Skeeter asked.
Draco was loosing his patience and he got to his feet and raised his wand, casting a Silenco charm on all the reporters he quickly took advantage of their surprise and whisked his sister out of the crowd and to where Ginny and Blaise were now waiting. They didn't have the time or the luxury of going back to France so Draco apparated them to Malfoy Manor where they knew at least they would be safe inside, and they wouldn't have to face anyone.
The second the touched down in the Manor Patches appeared, automatically alerted to when a Malfoy entered the Manor. Draco put him to work right away making them some lunch.
"Oh what a circus, oh what a show, the Wzarding World has gone to town, over the death of their hero Harry Potter," Blaise rubbed his eyes. "I knew it was going to be bad, but I had no idea it would be this bad."
"Well our family still isn't exactly popular around the Wizarding World," Draco reminded his friend. "I guess the public sees her as another scapegoat no matter how innocent my sister my be."
"Uri," Ginny began, but got no further when the older girl held up her hand.
"Gin, don't apologize; I volunteered for this, I knew what I was getting myself into," Uri told her. "It was hard for me to face the press, and all of the finger pointing, especially from Rita Skeeter. I know who I am, I know what is right, and as long as I have those two things in my head I'll be fine."
Blaise gripped her hand in his. "Your done on the stand. They have asked you every question that they can, you won't have to go back up there I promise. Draco is next and then Andromeda and Ginny you will be the last to testify, to put the nail in his coffin so to speak."
The four ate in a comfortable silence, each of them thinking about what was going to happen next, and that this trail could go for days. After they had finished eating Blaise was on a Floo call with the Ministry, trying to get them all permission to apparate directly into the court so they could save themselves anymore attacks from the mobs outside. Uriel went to take a quick nap to try and get some of her strength back; both Draco and Blaise insisted that she no longer needed to be in the courtroom but she told them she wanted to be, if only for emotional support.
Draco and Ginny sat quietly together in the conservatory trying to savor their last few moments of peace before getting plunged back into that crazy sideshow of a court.
"Draco," Ginny finally spoke. "There is something I need to tell you. That day when you ended our relationship, our tryst, or whatever we had while we were at Hogwarts…I was coming to see you so that I could end things with you."
Draco looked at her, a little shocked at what he was hearing.
"I was scared," the redhead confessed. "I loved you so much, but you were the enemy…I had just lost my brother, and so many of my friends. I knew that if I told my family I was in love with you that I would lose them too. What's happening to me is all my fault, I have no one to blame but myself."
Draco just brought Ginny close to him and kissed her.
"None of this is your fault Gin, you did what you thought would be best for you and your family, none of you had any idea that the war would jade him this much," Draco hated that she blamed herself. "As long as we're confessing things I might as well tell you that while it seemed like I was being selfless letting you go back to Potter, I wasn't. I was ashamed after everything that happened; I could hardly look at you, let alone expect you to still love me. I thought that if I let you go back to Potter I could buy myself some time and make myself acceptable. I had no idea that within the month he would propose and within the next three you would be married. I figured that you would date him and I would try to become a man who was worthy of you and then I would swoop in and steal you for my own."
"We have both made so many mistakes," Ginny told him, smiling.
"It doesn't matter," Draco assured her. "The past is past, and now we can move forward. Yes we've both made mistakes, but without them we wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't take away what we have now for anything."
Ginny kissed him deeply, having never felt like this for anyone else before. They didn't stay like that for long. They knew they had to leave and go back to the court so they headed up to the library.
"We have permission to apparate in and out of the building," Blaise informed them. "So now we can minimize our interaction with the outside world until the trial is over."
Uri was waiting in the library with him. They all took a deep breath and apparated away right into the court. Draco, Uri, and Ginny took a seat in the crowd while Blaise went to make sure Andromeda was alright and still ready to take the stand.
In due time the court came to order and Kingsley took his seat again.
"Call your next witness Mr. Zabini," he nodded to him.
"I call Draco Malfoy to the stand," Blaise told the court calmly as the whispers and talk began to start up again.
Draco kissed Ginny on the hand and took his place next to the Minister. Ginny gripped Uriel's hand tightly and prayed that this would all be over soon.
"Please state your name for the court," Blaise asked his best friend.
"Draco Lucius Malfoy," Draco responded.
"Would you please describe your relationship to Ginny Weasley-Potter."
"She and I formed a friendship during my fourth year at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry and during the years we maintained our friendship even with all the adversity set against us. Then in my seventh year she and I began a romantic relationship that lasted the year up until the war's end. We then broke up and didn't speak for many years after that until we met one day in Diagon Alley. It was there that I met her child Emily Potter for the first time and I offered them both my aide and asylum."
"Why would you need to offer her that Mr. Malfoy?" Blaise asked.
"She told me that she was having some problems with her husband. She didn't elaborate much at that time, only that she and her family were not seeing eye to eye, and she was in need of a friend. I offered to be that friend, and after that day Ginny, Emily and I would meet often for lunch, or other outings. During all this time my offer of help and protection stood firm and not long after that Ginny took me up on that offer."
"Will you please tell the court what happened the night of April eighteenth?" Blaise looked Draco down, interested to hear everything at once.
"I was at home alone all night, and then around two am my house elf woke me up and told me that Ginny was in my study and that she was hurt. As a healer as well as a friend I was up immediately and tending to her wounds. I offered her a place to stay and she put her sleeping daughter in one of my guest rooms at Malfoy Manor and after I healed her to the best of my ability she went to bed as well. After she left I put my first memory of that night in my own personal pensieve thinking that it might be needed for just such an occasion."
"We would like for the court to watch that now," Blaise addressed everyone.
The memory played and the assembled people in the court whispered and made many oh's and ah's. Ginny had to admit that seeing herself like that was very hard. Her injuries were much worse than she had thought they had been and if she hadn't gone to Draco, who knows what would have happened. Still she had never considered herself weak but every day that she made some excuse not to leave she had been. After the court had calmed down and the memory was over Blaise spoke again.
"And has Ms Weasley-Potter been in your care, and under your roof since?"
"Yes, she and her daughter have been staying with me at Malfoy manor until it was broken into over a month ago."
"Do you have any idea who broke into Malfoy Manor?"
"No," Draco responded. "But to break through our wards someone would have to be a very great Auror."
"Where did you go to after the Manor was compromised?"
"To an old house of Black that belongs to my Mother, its location is secret and protected by a Fidelius charm. Since then we all have been living there, Ginny, Emily, Uriel, Narcissa Malfoy and myself."
"So why help Ms. Weasley-Potter, Mr. Malfoy?"
"I lost her once, years ago because I was trying to be the better person, and I do not want to lose her again. I have loved Ginny Weasley for years, and one day, when this is all over, I hope that we will be able to start our own life together."
"That is all Minister," Blaise announced taking his seat again.
It was then that Harry's lawyer finally got up.
"So Mr. Malfoy," Edmond Mondo began. "Have you had any romantic contact with Ginny Potter before her stay under your roof?"
"No," Draco stated plainly. "Ginny would never be unfaithful to anyone, even someone who had been doing her harm. She made a promise when she married Harry Potter and she kept that even when he beat and bruised her."
"And what about now, has she been unfaithful since she has come to be living with you?" Mondo asked. "I see that she is no longer wearing her wedding or engagement rings from Mr. Potter, and she has a ring on her right ring finger. Is that ring from you Mr. Malfoy?"
"To this day Ginny has not cheated on Potter, she and I have had no sexual contact, no physical relationship, any touch we have is for comfort. Yes I did give her the ring, but it was given with a promise that I will wait for her, no matter how long that may be."
"You don't consider that cheating Mr. Malfoy?"
"No I do not, because Ginny considered her marriage over a long time ago, when he raised his hand to her for the first time."
"Why did you lie to Harry Potter when he came looking for his wife that first day at St. Mungo's?
"I was protecting Ginny," Draco answered simply. "Harry Potter is dangerous and Ginny does not need to be anywhere near him, let along putting Emily Potter in that danger."
"Well Mr. Malfoy it really wasn't your decision to keep Mr. Potter from Mrs. Potter or their child…was it?"
Edmond Mondo sat down back at his own little table looking pleased with himself and Kingsley told Draco to step down. Draco went back to where Ginny and his sister were sitting, and took hold of Ginny's other hand. It was Andromeda's turn next and then it would be hers.
The court continued to whisper as Andromeda Tonks walked into the courtroom her head held high, and took the same seat next to Kingsley that her nephew and niece had taken before her.
"Please state your name for the court," Blaise began.
"Andromeda Black Tonks."
"Please explain your connection to this case Mrs. Tonks."
"Harry Potter used my grandson to murder the Van Alan's; he placed him under the imperious curse and had him murder those two innocent Muggles," Andromeda got out before she lost her composure.
The court was in an uproar by this point. Kingsley called everyone to order and Blaise automatically played Teddy's pensieve memory. Once again Draco, Ginny, and Uriel watched in horror as Harry Potter played with his godson's emotions and then placed him under the curse using him as a conduit to murder the parents of someone he thought had done him wrong.
There wasn't much for Blaise to say after that memory, so he yielded the floor to Mondo.
"Mrs. Tonks, I thought you were estranged from the Malfoy family, having chosen to marry a Muggle."
"My sister and I are adults and we can work out problems just as well as anyone else can," Andromeda informed him, having regained her composure, knowing she needed to be strong for her family.
"Things have been hard for you, haven't they Mrs. Tonks," Mondo continued. "Raising your grandchild with no help, husband, daughter, and son-in-law, all killed in the war."
"It has not been easy," Andromeda responded, her temper starting to flare, she knew what was going to be asked next.
"Did any of the Malfoy's pay you to stand up here and testify against your own grandson's godfather?"
"No," Andromeda insisted. "I am doing this because it is what's right. If Harry has turned into a monster than I will do whatever it takes to keep Teddy safe, no matter what Dora and Remus wanted. What if I was to die? Should I leave my young grandchild in the hands of a man who has beaten his own wife, and would have beaten his own daughter?"
Mr. Mondo didn't answer, but Andromeda wasn't finished.
"You all can sit here and still proclaim Harry Potter a hero, because he was, but no longer. He has changed; you have all seen the evidence of that right here and in the memories of multiple people. We just got free of a mad man who wanted to bend us all to his will, Harry Potter has been given an extreme amount of power and if we let him go unchecked he could become even worse."
Without waiting for Kingsley's word Andromeda excused herself from the courtroom, and Uriel went after her to make sure her aunt was alright.
Ginny knew that it was her turn; there was no turning back, no running away. It was now or never, if she didn't do this there were so many people who would face tremendous loss. Uriel would lose justice for her parents, and would have wasted risking her well-being to get Harry's confession. Blaise would probably lose all credibility as a lawyer and maybe more than that. Narcissa would lose Emily who she had become so attached to and maybe lose her sister again. Andromeda could very well lose Teddy if Harry was cleared and found her unfit. Draco would lose that light in his eyes and the smile of when he was happy, and Draco would lose his future as part of a happy family. Still Ginny and her daughter would still lose the most; if Ginny didn't go up and face him, and do her best to put him away she and Emily would lose their freedom and everything that went with it.
"Please state your name for the court," she looked up at Blaise, having not even realized she had gotten to her feet and was now sitting in front of the court.
"Ginevra Molly Weasley," Ginny said clearly.
"Shouldn't there be a Potter in there somewhere?" Blaised asked.
"I haven't referred to myself as Ginny Weasley-Potter for a very long time now. I have been going by Ginny Weasley ever since Draco Malfoy and I re-forged our friendship years ago; my daughter even refers to herself as Emily Weasley now."
"Please tell us about the first time your husband hit you Ms. Weasley," Blaise asked as he began to pour her own part of the pensieve defense into the stone basin.
So Ginny spoke, telling the story that it seemed like she had told too many times to count since she had left Harry. She went back to the beginning and told about the first time Harry had hit her when she was just trying to get Emily home, and about every time since then. The court watched all of it in stunned silence and at the end Blaise spoke again.
"So what exactly are you seeking from the court Ms. Weasley?"
"Harry Potter needs help, and he won't seek it on his own so someone needs to force him. He could be a good man again, and I want him to try and fix himself, but that isn't all. I married Harry because I was in love with the image, and the hero, and I didn't realize what would happen when that novelty wore off. He and I should have never been more than friends but we were both too stubborn to admit it. My marriage to Harry Potter gave me my daughter who I love more than my own life, but neither Harry nor I have been happy. If I was to be honest it is because I have been in love with someone else since before the war ended, and now I just want Harry and I to be able to fix our lives."
"Thank you Ms. Weasley," Blaise smiled at Ginny.
"Mrs. Potter," Mr. Mondo addressed her exactly the way she didn't want to be. "Have you thought about what the expulsion of Mr. Potter will do to your daughter?"
"She hardly even noticed," Ginny refused to let this horrible man rattle her. "Harry never spent much time with his daughter so she doesn't know him all that well anyway."
"Still, without Mr. Potter your child wouldn't exist," he continued. "Is it fair to cut him totally out of her life?"
"When he can't be trusted around her yes, I think it is," Ginny fired back. "Did you not see the pensieve when he said he should have never been a father? Is that the kind of man who should be raising a child I don't think so Mr. Mondo."
"No Mrs. Potter," he replied. "But is a mother who runs away, right into the arms of another man really good for a child either."
"Watch your tone Mr. Mondo," Kingsley warned him. "It has been proven that Mr. Potter was a danger to his family, this court understands why Ms. Weasley made the decision she made."
"Forgive me Mrs. Potter," Mr. Mondo said getting back in his seat. "I was only suggesting that Emily Potter be thought of before this court decides anything."
Kingsley bid Ginny return to his seat and then was silent for a moment or two.
"I have made a decision," Kingsley finally spoke. "Before we sentence Mr. Potter, I would like to talk to Emily."
Ginny and Draco both automatically tensed up, but before they had to say a word Blaise had stood up.
"Minister," Blaise spoke. "Ms. Weasley, and Mr. Malfoy both wanted to keep Emily Weasley out of this matter. She is an innocent bystander and should not be dragged through the mud with the rest of this matter."
"Agreed," Kingsley nodded. "This is why I will come to Malfoy Manor and speak to Emily in a setting she is more comfortable in, so I can get her perspective on this whole affair. I will store the memory and it will only be shown to the council. None of the press, or anyone not involved in the final verdict will ever see the memory."
Blaise walked over to where Draco and Ginny were. "What do you think?"
"Kingsley wouldn't do this if he could avoid it, Emily will be able to talk to him. She knows him and she will be honest with him."
Draco just nodded, and Blaise turned back to the Minister.
"We agree Minister," Blaise told him.
"I will be over this evening at eight o clock, and then the court will summon you tomorrow when we have reached a verdict; everyone is free to leave until then."
Draco, Ginny and Blaise hastened out of the court room and into the hall where they found Uriel, Ron and Andromeda. They didn't have time to explain because the press was already bearing down on all of them they just told them all to go back to Malfoy Manor. The last pictures the press got was of the six of them raising their wands and apparating away.
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Okay my faithful readers here it is part two! Sorry it took so long but this chapter got written and rewritten a few times, and then my computer died so I got a new one, and had to get all of my old stuff off of my head computer. So it has been quite an ordeal for me. I tried to make this chapter a bit longer just to quench some thirsts but I drew the line here. Next chapter will give you a look inside Emily's head along with the final verdict. I have already started writing the next chapter so hopefully it will only take me a few more days so hold on until then and as always leave me some love and tell me how I did!