On top of the charges of Grandfather Willow being a Horcrux, came the accusations surrounding the alleged, "Malfoy Crystal." Miles Daffin claimed in an interview with the Daily Prophet that it was a mysterious dark artifact. The interview was conducted from inside a cell in Azkaban, since Daffin was a small time offender that had gotten himself mixed up running small illegal errands for Voldemort. The Malfoy lawyer, Mr. Tordoff, went on record denying this claim and accused Daffin of making it up, in hopes of getting his sentence reduced.
Daffin's account was so mysteriously lacking in verifiable details that I had hoped that it really was made up and that it would go away quickly. Unfortunately for that idea, Bradley Upshaw jumped on the bandwagon, claiming the crystal to be the source of the Malfoy's untold riches. He was another two-bit criminal, this one awaiting his trial and out on bail, released on his own recognizance, due to the overcrowding in the Ministry's jails. Upshaw had taken advantage of Death Eater reign by sneaking into newly vandalized stores, absconding with as much merchandise as he could, and setting up his own shop to sell the stolen goods. There were even a few claims that he'd been part of the actual vandalisation, working with the Death Eaters. That would make him a Death Eater trying to turn on a known Death Eater, Lucius, for a reduced sentence.
Upshaw was able to give about as many verifiable facts as Daffin. The first rule of any Auror investigation, after the sacred code of the partner that was, was that all statements had to be checked for validity. The witness' story had to contain details that could be proven true. Sometimes this was as simple as whether October nineteenth was a Tuesday or not. If Upshaw said Lucius showed up at his shop with untold riches on Tuesday October nineteenth and the nineteenth happened to be a Sunday, which it was, the statement was false. This was especially true if there were Order of the Phoenix records staking the place out which ruled out the event happening any time in the month of October. If a bloke couldn't come up with a single true fact off of the top of his head, then there was no reason to believe the statement was true.
The discrepancy in the day of the week, the only independent fact Upshaw mentioned, threw serious doubt on his entire statement. If it had been just him and Daffin blowing hot air, the whole crystal nonsense would've blown over a lot sooner. But rumors breed like decaying dementors and criminals facing time in Azkaban spin tales as fast as they can. One day the Prophet reports that so and so said this bloke did such and such and the next day every wizard in Azkaban is claiming to have heard something about it.
In Lucius Malfoy's case, Elliott Avery, Fowler Trowbridge, and Gunther Meddock, all three young lower level Death Eaters, were willing to testify that they overhead Lucius Malfoy discussing the crystal with Gilbert Nott. The three claimed to be present at a certain house, scoping out the scene, prior to a known Death Eater attack, when they heard snippets of a discussion between Lucius and Gilbert regarding the crystal. They had no details on the actual nature of the crystal or any crimes committed with it, but the Death Eater attack panned out exactly and all three told the same story when separated. Three witnesses singing the same tune, however vague, automatically lends credibility to the statement. Add in an independent fourth witness and it becomes veritable fact.
Gilbert Nott was Theodor Nott Senior's little brother, which placed him rather high up on the Death Eater ladder and subject to life in Azkaban or even the kiss, depending on the exact nature of the evidence against him. Nott Senior was killed fighting during the war, making him the perfect scape goat for little brother Gil. Gil had previously claimed everything from his older brother made him join, to he was imperiused, and had attempted to name every name in the book. The trouble for Gil was that most of the names in his book were dead or already convicted, so it was no wonder he came up with evidence against Lucius. Gil had overheard Lucius and his brother discussing the sale of stolen gems. He admitted to having asked Lucius about it at the same time and place the three lesser Death Eaters had previously given.
If Gil Nott was the only one who claimed that his older brother and Lucius had discussed the crystal, his account could be discounted, given his reputation for saying anything that might save his skin. But the fact that three other Death Eaters, who had little connection to him, overheard this discussion, proved that a discussion had at least taken place. Whether the discussion included the mention of stolen gems or not was a fact only Gil was testifying to; without it, all we had was that a crystal was discussed. What kind of crystal and its relation to stolen gems was not overheard. At this point, it was still rather easy for the Malfoy Lawyer, Mr. Tordoff to deny all accusations of wrongdoing.
The next day brought Old Mr. Featherbottom's statement. Mr. Featherbottom proved to be the witness with the most information, although the credibility of said information was questionable at best. He insisted that the crystal was an instrument of burglary, enabling the family to steal precious jewels easily and that he'd personally fenced some of these jewels back in the day. One of the few things Prosecutor Temby could prove was that Featherbottom was a criminal and a known fencer of stolen jewelry. The rest of his statement produced no leads and no one was ever able to link a case of theft or lost jewels to the jewels given to Featherbottom by Lucius.
Of course that claim had more lowlifes popping up out of the woodwork. Lucius was well known to the jewel fencing crowd and welcome among the other jewel thieves, as attested by pretty much every wizard in Ministry custody for these crimes. But they were a shifty lot and their testimony was famous for being unable to hold the weight of the parchment it was written on. While there were plenty of accounts of Lucius being seen talking to or hanging out with them, there were no accounts of him participating in heists or ever linking himself to provable thefts. He never claimed to have jewels that were known to be hot, he never bragged about breaking into this place or that, and he never said who or where he had stolen from.
Temby insisted that the crystal existed, the Malfoy family still had it, and that Featherbottom's story was accurate, despite the fact that the ancient wizard had a reputation similar to that of Mundungus Fletcher. But Temby did not find it, nor prove that it was dark, or that it ever existed. There were only three suspicious facts that could be proven against Lucius. One, he had once had a conversation about a crystal with Gil Nott. Two, a large number of diamonds passed through his possession over the years. And three, when asked where he was getting them from, he liked to evade the question.
In the end the testimony of a dozen wizards was discounted as hearsay. Lucius' alleged crimes and the allegation of owning an instrument of thievery were ruled irrelevant in the cases against Draco, Narcissa, and Abraxas' tree and thrown out of court; a separate case would have to be brought solely against Lucius if Temby really wanted to press the matter. Then the prosecution's case was all down to whether or not Abraxas Malfoy's tree was a Horcrux.
The best defense was a good offense and that was where Mr. Rook came in. Rook was the defense attorney the Weasleys helped with hiring and he focused on using the media to convince the public that Temby was the leader of a baseless witch hunt that was wasting taxpayer money. Temby, livid over the leniency of Lucius' sentence and in a rage, went on several drunken rants in bars about how he was going to make the Malfoy family pay. All of Temby's witnesses were unreliable and some outright false. The few that could be proven, were incredibly vague with no actual proof of wrong-doing.
The beginning of the end for Temby came in the form of proof that he'd paid Featherbottom to testify, which was clearly against the law. To top it off, the whole thing was irrelevant to the case against Draco, Cissy, and Grandfather Willow. These were all exclusively allegations against Lucius, who had already been tried and convicted and had no charges pending. A week after the start of the investigation, the case was dropped. The headline the Prophet ran with was a direct quote from me: "Temby started a witch hunt; the Malfoys are innocent!" There was more than enough evidence for the article backing this claim up and plenty of witches and wizards willing to testify.
As for the Horcrux allegations, the unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries were instructed to study the possessed willow tree. Their preliminary tests on the tree did not show indications of being a Horcrux. There was a fundamental difference in magical signatures between the two types of objects. Although the tree did set off Dark Magic detectors, it wasn't evil in the sense that a Horcrux was, with a signature much closer to that of a ghost. And the spirit was whole, never fractured, without even the healed scar left behind from committing a murder. Abraxas Malfoy it seemed had never killed anyone. This was new magic and therefore difficult to define, but clearly it was different. The Horcrux charge too was false and the Malfoys consequently innocent.
Temby's removal from all cases related to the Malfoys was made permanent and further investigation of his misconduct was ongoing. Auror Ferrel was reassigned and reprimanded only for being overzealous with the investigation, since he was just doing his job. Draco's and Narcissa's house arrests were reinstated. The egg and the tree were released into my custody. But, the original accusations of Death Eater activity stood, pending the appointment of a new prosecutor willing to take the case.
Wizarding law worked slightly different from Muggle law. Where a Muggle prosecutor might be ordered by someone higher up to take a case to trial, the same was not true of wizarding prosecutors. Instead they could bid and jockey for a case, or hold out for an increased wage. If public opinion was such that no one would dare come forward and risk their reputation prosecuting someone wildly believed innocent, then the case could be dropped and the accused released free and clear.
A month later, when the original trial date was set and no prosecutor had come forward, due to the intense media pressure to let Harry Potter's family off, the Warlock in charge dropped both cases. Draco and Cissy were finally free and cleared of all charges.
The first thing they did with their freedom was to take me and the egg out to visit Grandfather Abraxas and tell him the good news. It was the tree's first time meeting his great grandegg. We were nervous at first about the creature inheritance being shoved into Abraxas' face, when before the racist was always able to pretend that his family was perfectly pure.
It turned out that there was nothing to fret about. After a round of joyous greetings and twiggy hugs, the tree simply reached a branch out to the egg, picked it up, and swayed it gently in the breeze, before returning it to the nest.
Once the greetings and hugs were out of the way, Abraxas first vented about all of the awful Aurors and Unspeakables who had passed through his clearing and trampled his saplings. "Those saplings were like children to me! They took my Lucius away and then they murdered my willow babies!"
"We will help you plant new seeds Father Willow," Cissy appeased.
After a few more explicatives aimed at the trampling Aurors, the tree was quiet, obviously thinking about this. When he looked back up, his countenance was totally changed. He requested in a graveled voice, "Now tell me what has happened to the Malfoy Crystal."
"Safe and sound Grandfather, right where Father left it before the war," Draco answered and Cissy hummed her agreement.
"Draco? You mean Temby's accusations of a dark crystal were true?" I asked.
"No Harry, the Malfoy Crystal isn't dark and it isn't an instrument of burglary," Draco replied.
"Burglary! Is that what they were saying? That's preposterous," the tree said.
"Harry, my husband did not wish others to know the source of the gems, so he lied and said they were stolen. The Malfoy Crystal was never an instrument of thievery, but of creation," Cissy explained.
"Yes, Grandfather, why don't you tell Harry the story of the crystal?" Draco asked.
The tree objected, because that knowledge was reserved for members of the Malfoy family and I had yet to officially marry in. After a bit of talk, an exception was made for me, since I had saved the family from Azkaban and was a member by blood, through our egg.
"The Malfoy Crystal was created by the noted alchemist Hades Lucian Malfoy hundreds of years ago," Abraxas began. "It is composed of diamond crystal, but it is more than just a large flawless gem. It possesses strong magics that are capable of transforming charcoal along its edges into diamond. Under natural conditions, the crystal structure of carbon that compose diamond is formed only after years of intense pressure from being trapped under the bowels of the Earth. But the magic of the Malfoy Crystal catalyzes this transformation under atmospheric conditions and requires only months. Once a year the growing edges of the crystal can be chipped back, the fragments sold to support the family, and the original crystal set to grow again, but never do the chips contain enough magic to catalyze the reaction anew."
"Wow," I replied.
"And that is how the Malfoy family has amassed such an enormous amount of wealth over the years with little work," Narcissa added with a smirk.
"There is some work to it. The charcoal has to be pure or the diamond will not be pure. And the chips do not harvest themselves, my dear," the willow tree replied.
"We haven't harvested since a few months before the end of the war. Father was always very insistent that we had to use the utmost precaution in protecting its existence and whereabouts, so we never harvest unless we are absolutely certain no one is following us," Draco added.
"Then it is time to harvest again my dear grandson. Do you think you will be able to do so on your own for the first time?" Abraxas asked.
"I don't know. I don't want to risk it," Draco replied.
"It's better to wait for your father. We won't need the money while he is away," Cissy said.
"I agree." There was a pause and then Grandfather Willow announced, "I sense a disturbance in the trees. I think someone is coming."
No one was doing anything illegal or had anything to hide, but after their ordeal with the Ministry, the family was understandably nervous. Draco grabbed up our egg, backing up again his grandfather's trunk for protection. Cissy and I stood in front of them, wands drawn and ready for a fight. We would protect Draco and the egg at all cost.
As it turns out, we didn't have to. A pale slender old woman emerged gracefully from the trees into the clearing. She had brown eyes and white hair, devoid of all coloring. Her features were regal, pointy, and bore a striking resemblance to those of Draco and Lucius. She wore a set of baroque traveling robes trimmed in antic lace and a large hat. And she was old; there was not a single bit of her that wasn't covered in wrinkles, with the heaviest concentration of winkles around her mouth and the crow's feet surrounding her eyes.
"Darwina!" Grandfather Willow exclaimed. "You came back!"
A branch lowered and twisted around the old witch, presumably Abraxas' wife Darwina, in a hug. Cissy lowered her wand and Draco shifted into a less defensive position.
"My dear Abraxas! I am so glad you are unharmed. Why, when I heard what they were considering doing to you…I was beside myself. I am ever so grateful that you survived. As soon as I heard that all charges were dropped and it was safe to return, I came immediately," Darwina said, holding onto the branch as if it were her late husband's hand.
The tree hummed in appreciation and let Darwina go. She then hugged Cissy and Draco, greeting them warmly. Watching her was like looking at an older female version of Lucius, but with a completely different personality. She was stern and proper, but warm and loving in a way Lucius would never be able to pull off.
"Mother, this young man here is Draco's suitor, Harry Potter. Harry, this is my mother-in-law, Darwina Malfoy," Cissy said.
"Thank you for rescuing my family Auror Potter. I have heard good things about you," Darwina said, offering me a hand to shake.
I took Darwina's hand and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you madam."
"It's Dowager or My Lady, not madam. One mustn't forget that I was once the lady of Malfoy Manor." Darwina said it with such pretentiousness that I could finally see how it was possible for someone like Lucius to have been born to this woman.
"Yes Mother, and we are so grateful that you have returned to us alive and well," Cissy said, interceding on my behalf.
"The mountains of Romania are not too terrible. One can find life's comforts in those ancient castles if one looks hard enough. Now, let me see this grandegg of mine. I had a veela third cousin, once removed, back in the day who laid an egg. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," Darwina said.
Draco came forward with his egg. Darwina hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. Then she took the egg from him and gushed with admiration, saying that it was even more beautiful than her distant relative's egg had been.
There was a bit more catching up out there in the forest, but soon Draco, Cissy, and I left Darwina and Abraxas to reconnect in private. We went back into the house, Draco placing our egg back into the incubator, safe and sound.
Cissy went about ordering house elves to prepare for Darwina's return, which included making the old woman's favorites for supper and preparing her bedroom. Apparently Darwina was staying. One of the conveniences of having the charges dropped was that all limitations for both her and her son were dropped. They were free to perform magic, order house elves around, associate with whoever they wanted, and even leave their house.
Draco and I were busy putting our lives back together for a time. But after a few weeks, we finally had an afternoon to ourselves, with Narcissa and Darwina volunteering to watch our egg. Draco suggested a trip into the Malfoy Catacombs where the crystal was hidden, just so that I could see. The site was in the middle of a forest and heavily warded. There was a five mile walk into the tunnels of Earth, before we finally reached the chamber where the magical diamond catalyst was stored. The chamber was filled entirely with charcoal, to maximize the efficiency of the catalysis, but he knew the proper decanting spells.
And then Draco held in his hands a diamond the size of a quaffle. It was the largest, most perfectly clear diamond I had ever seen in my life. It shown brilliantly in the light of my wand, casting refractions of light onto the bare Earth walls of the antechamber.
"One day, it will belong to our child," Draco said and I murmured my assent. "I think I want this."
"What?" I asked.
"You and me. I wasn't sure…for a long time I didn't think I could want you, because you know, you're Harry Potter."
"And you're a pureblood and your father hates me."
"Partly. Mostly because you were a giant arse to me in school."
"Me?" I asked and he nodded. I couldn't believe what he was saying, so I repeated myself, my incredulity evident in my voice. "Me?" Again he nodded. "Wait, I was the arse?"
"Yes, you were," he confirmed.
"How was I the arse? You were the one who stomped on my nose!"
"After you were spying on me!"
"Spying on you doesn't justify stomping on my face."
"Oh yes it does."
"Alright fine, let's strike that incident from the record. What about all of those times you insulted me and my friends? You were always starting fights in the corridors, especially before Snape walked in, so I got in trouble and you didn't."
"That was your fault too."
"How was that my fault?"
"You refused my hand on the train before first year. You refused to be my friend. I had to insult you, just to get your attention."
"That's what it was all about? You wanted my attention?" I asked, realization dawning on me.
He nodded, biting his lip as he took the diamond back from me. "And now I have it. I never would have believed it, but you have come into my life and put my family back together again. Not only have you solved our legal problems, but you saved my grandfather and created an environment safe enough for my grandmother to come home. Soon I will have an heir and it won't be long before my father returns home. Thank you for that." As he spoke, he properly tucked the diamond back into its chamber of charcoal. Then he dusted his hands off to rid them of the residual charcoal.
"Well you have it now." As I spoke, I leaned in until our lips were touching. He leaned into the kiss and then we were snogging passionately in the dark, the only light coming from the tip of my wand.
When we broke apart, each panting for breath, I reached into my robes pocket and grasped the small square box that contained a much smaller diamond. I'd acquired it the week before and wasn't intending to use it just yet, but for some reason I'd felt the need to keep it on me at all times. I guess subconsciously I knew that the perfect moment might come at anytime and I wanted to be prepared. Since I'd made sure to buy from a source who Lucius had sold to, I knew it was a Malfoy diamond; Darwina and Cissy had both confirmed that it was the real thing, before I'd paid.
I opened the box, drawing in Draco's attention, and looked him in his wide grey eyes. "I was going to wait to ask you after an elaborate dinner made by your elves with flowers and everything," I said and dropped to my knees, holding out the box. The platinum band with the single princess cut diamond gleamed in the wandlight coming from the floor of the cave, my wand having fallen in the heat of our passionate snog. "I love everything about you, Draco Malfoy. You are gorgeous, smart, and absolutely wonderful. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
"Yes," he said, his voice trembling with emotion, holding out his left hand for me.
I slipped the ring onto his finger, before standing up and engulfing him in my arms. He clung to me as if he never wanted to let me go. After the ordeal we'd been through to earn his freedom, I never wanted to let him go ever again either. I was going to make him mine and keep him forever.
Author's Note: There you have it. Only one more chapter left now.
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