"No, stop!" Draco shouted as he rushed forwards,
"Draco!" Hermione yelled, "Tell them it wasn't him!" Hermione was on her knees sobbing into her hands,
"Minister, think about it, Harry Potter, a death eater?" Draco asked,
"Mr. Malfoy I would beg you to keep your own business to yourself, he was caught at the scene of the crime!" the Minister said matter of factly, "Mr. Potter was seen leaving the room mere minutes before the DeathEaters appeared, he only returned once the DeathEaters left, I am a smart man Mr. Malfoy it does not take a genius to put two and two together" the Minister replied. Draco tried hard not laugh;
"You put two and two together and came up with five, Minister!" Draco shouted, "Did it not occur to you that Mr. Potter destroyed Voldemort and that it is part of his duty to hunt the Death Eaters until every last one of them is in Azkaban?" the minister looked flabbergasted, Draco could see the situation ticking over in his head,
"Test his wand!" Hermione yelled, "That will show you!" the minister nodded slowly,
"Mr. Potter hand over your wand!" he demanded, Harry handed over his wand;
"Priori Incantato" the minister whispered, Harry's wand emitted a greyish fog, as the fog cleared the Dark Mark loomed above them, Hermione gasped
"Harry, tell me it is not true!" Harry did not say anything; he stared at the ground, "It can't be true!" Hermione said, "Harry, tell them it's not true"
"Out of my way Miss Granger, this man will be taken to Azkaban" the minister said,
"No! he's been imperiused" Hermione argued, the minister would not listen to her, instead pushed past dragging Harry with him, quickly disapparating.
"What the bloody hell is going on?" Draco shouted,
"Oh, it's totally unfair, Harry and I were just talking about what happened when all these Aurors appeared and started shouting that they had tracked the Dark Mark to Harry's wand" Hermione sobbed,
"Right, I'm going to the ministry" Draco replied, he pulled his cloak tighter around him,
"I'm coming too" Hermione said, Draco turned on the spot and appeared in front of the ministry.
"Minister, I demand that you release Harry Potter at once" Draco said, marching into the Minister's office, "Do you not realise that the free wizarding world that we live in today is because of the man you just arrested?"
"Mr Malfoy, I am aware that Mr Potter was the reason You-Know-Who is no longer but the evidence speaks for itself, and Mr Potter has not denied it, rather than told us he cannot remember what he had been doing" Hermione paled,
"Arthur…..Mr Weasley, Harry is like a son to you, you of all people should believe him when he says he cannot remember" she whispered, Mr. Weasley inspected a burn mark in his desk,
"It is out of my hands, Hermione, unless we find the person who imperiused Harry to conjure the Dark Mark, I am afraid Harry will be trialled and sent to Azkaban."
"Then I will find out who did it, if you will not" Hermione said, with that she turned and disapparated, Draco following quickly after her.
"Hermione!" a voice yelled as Draco appeared in front of their home,
"Ron, it's Harry, he's been arrested for casting the Dark Mark at the ball, he's been imperiused and your father won't release him" Hermione cried, she flung her arms around Ron's neck,
"It's ok, I'll speak to him" Ron whispered, "Come inside now and have a cup of tea" Ron led Hermione into the house with Draco following close behind,
"It's all so unfair, Harry didn't conure it, it's like the Quidditch World cup all over again, wrongfully blaming Harry" Hermione sobbed, "Oh Draco, I owe you an apology, I thought, when I saw your face, I assumed the worst"
"It's ok" Draco whispered rubbing her back,
"Wait, Hermione, you say you saw Malfoy under one of those masks?" Ron asked standing,
"Yes, but it wasn't him" Hermione answered, Ron drew his wand,
"A Malfoy never changes its spots" Ron spat,
"Ron, no it wasn't Draco, it was somebody else" Hermione cried,
"Oh he's
done a good number on you, Hermione, he's even fooled you into
thinking that somebody had taken Polyjuice Potion to impersonate
him?" Ron said, he was smiling but the smile was malicious, almost
maniacal.
"Ron, stop you don't know what you are saying"
"Oh I know what I am saying alright, he's fooled everyone into thinking that he is innocent in all of this, that someone took Polyjuice Potion to fool you into thinking that it was he under the Death Eater mask, then this someone imperiused Harry and made him cast the Dark Mark, no I will not believe it, he has taken everything from me, he stole you from me at school, then again now and now he's a Death Eater and you are willing to believe him over me, your dearest friend" Ron yelled, he face was as red as his hair,
"It's an interesting theory, Ron" Draco started coolly, "You seem to have given it a lot of thought"
"A lot of thought" Ron yelled, "A lot of thought, oh yes, it took me months to figure out the best way to have you arrested and to get you away from Hermione, I knew I needed to wait until the ball, then I would show everyone the Death Eater that you really are" Hermione had turned white,
"It was you!" she yelled, "Incarcerous" thick ropes shot out of her want and wound themselves around Ron, the colour drained from his face
"What are you doing?" he asked,
"You set this up to try and make me think that it was Draco who was the Death Eater, but I would never have believed this of you Ron, this makes you worse than a Death Eater."
"We'll take him to the ministry, he can confess their and tell his best friend that he Imperiused him and forced him to cast the Dark Mark" Draco said,
"What makes you think I am going to confess?"
"You forget, Draco owns The Apothecary, he is also the best potion maker since Snape" Hermione replied, "And I know you never learnt how to fight it."
"Veritaserum?" Draco asked, Hermione nodded. Hermione turned on the spot with Ron disapparating to the ministry, Draco following closely behind them.
Once at the ministry they again barged into Arthur Weasley's office,
"Minister, we have caught the culprit behind tonight's fiasco" Draco announced.