Hermione spent the upcoming two weeks leading up to Draco's first set of trial obliviating witnesses of the mass murder he committed at Hogwarts when Snape and Moody were killed. Most of the people she paid visits were her ex-professors, just like Snape and Moody once were. She didn't know exactly who else could've seen Draco murders, so she took the list she had written herself and visited every single member of the Order that was still alive, disguising her true intentions with a shawl of a friendly post-war visit. She knew everyone would find it suspicious if she came to talk to them just because, so she came up with a story that after the war ended her whole worldview has changed, so everything that happened after she moved in with Draco was just a misunderstanding. She felt no guilt obliviating Slughorn or Flitwick, but she did have doubts about using magic on Professor McGonagall who was always very kind to her; but the moment she started asking about Draco and "when is he going to get punished", Hermione realized she won't be able to leave her be.

She worked fast and with little struggle because nobody ever suspected she could do something like that – they might've thought she was a traitor, but no one truly believed her to be a criminal – so that's what she became. The only person she didn't get to catch was George Weasley.

It was one of the last visits before the first trial that she met with Amita and Draco in Azkaban. Upon receiving the news, Amita did not spare praise for Hermione.

"Such great news! I knew you could do it! This will make our work so much easier," Amita told them. "Now, the first trial is tomorrow, and there will be little of what we can do to fix your reputation, Draco, as what's done is done. The prosecutor will mots likely try to draw a portrait of a criminal that started off young – he will talk about your family, about your sixth year at Hogwarts. He will talk about the first people that you killed and there will be no way for us to deny it, since the prosecutor will have more proof than needed. The most important thing for you tomorrow will be to not deny anything. When they ask you if you killed someone and if you actually did, you must say it. Denial won't help because everyone already knows the truth. Tomorrow, you agree with everything the prosecutor says, except when it comes to your relationship with Hermione – you will tell them a story of how you fell in love with her when the war started and that ever since you wanted to be with her, but only in the end could you marry her. Is that clear?"

Draco, who was silent the whole time, nodded grimly when Amita finished her monologue. His face betrayed no emotions, but Hermione could see he was nervous.

"Hey, don't worry, it's going to be alright," she tried to reassure him when Amita left to give them some much-needed alone time. "We did everything we could, now the most important thing for us is to stick to our story."

When Draco looked up at her he looked angry, but Hermione tried to ignore it.

"Swear to me that you will do nothing else to save me from what's meant to be," Draco demanded quietly. "Swear to me, Hermione."

She realized why he was angry now – he didn't like that she messed with his case.

"Alright," she said. Then she leaned into him so that only he could hear, "And you mustn't tell anyone about my ring, okay? Not even to Amita. Swear to me, Draco."

He stared at her for a beat. "I swear."

She kissed him goodbye.

When the day of the first trial came, Hermione felt all jittery. The courthouse was full and overflowing, Hermione hadn't seen so many people in one place in a lng time. She never considered herself to be a socially anxious person, but now she definitely was. There were people that were complete strangers to her, many of them journalists, but quite a lot of them she did recognize, a few of them none other than the surviving Weasley family members whose eyes on her were no less than judging and condemning. The only person in the whole courtroom that Hermione felt comfortable with was Amita, whose extroverted and optimistic personality made Hermione feel better when the seats all around got filled with people who most definitely came here to behold Draco Malfoy's downfall. Hermione must've been the only one in the entire world hoping to take him home.

The trial started, and Draco was brought in enclosed in a miniature type of jail that resembled a bird's cage. Hermione gasped when she saw him, sitting there with his head down, his hands and ankles chaned up tightly together. The rest of the mass of humans all exhaled as one, followed by a heap of murmurs. Hermione felt Amita's soothing arm on her shoulder.

Amita was right – the first trial was meant to be a sort-of retelling of Draco's life to make him out to be the villain in the end, and there was nothing she could do to change that. When the names of Draco's victims came to the light of day, Hermione desperately tried to pay them no mind, although her heart still ached for all of those inoccent lives. She couldn't let that cloud her mind though: the only thing that mattered to her now was him. Draco didn't speak and didn't even react when the prosecutor spoke; he seemed unaffected by the details of his murders now retold to him in dry law language, he appeared to be unbothered by the cage he was in, or the handcuffs, or the hundreds of eyes on him, hungry for every little element, for even the tiniest reaction from the criminal accused – they got the elements to put into their puzzles, but not the reactions. Draco seemed uncaring and even bored. He looked straight ahead with unseeing eyes, his answers were clipped and short, yes or no, with no added information, and even the extra questions from the prosecutor did not lead him astray. Only when the trial ended did Hermione realize she was tense and on the edge of her seat the whole three hours.

She got to meet Draco two days later, and only with Amita chaperoning them.

"You did everything great, Draco," Amita said. "But next time try to show a little bit more emotions. We don't want the jurors to think you're some kind of psychopath unable to feel empathy and atone for your misdeeds."

Draco gave her a look. "What kind of emotions do you want me to show off?" he gritted through his teeth.

"Well, you know," Amita shrugged. "Normal, human emotions." The stare he gave her turned even more vile. "Yeah, no, not that, this is exactly the look we want to avoid, not show, okay? This," she gestured to her falsely widened smile, "this is a human emotion." She pretended to be sad. "And this is a human emotion. We need the last one. You must look involved in your trials, like it matters to you that people see who you truly are."

"I don't care what people see."

"Well, your wife and I care what people think about you," Amita reminded him.

Draco's eyes slid to Hermione, and his gaze softened slightly.

"Alright," he said.

Amita sighed with relief. "Good. Now our other problem is that there are a lot of people who want to see you in jail, Draco. Any idea who might want the opposite?"

Both Draco and Hermione shook their heads.

Amita sighed again, but not with relief. "We'll have to think of something else then. Next comes everything that happened after the Battle of Hogwarts. Anything you might want to tell me that could help the case?" she asked.

Draco didn't say anything.

"Actually," Hermione intervened. "I think you should show everyone what happened to your parents. People might understand you better if they know what happened to you and how it all happened."

Draco's merciless gaze did not spear her either. "No."

"We could use the Pensieve—"

"No."

"But it could do lots of good—"

"No."

"Draco, I think Hermione's idea is great. It will be hard, and it will be painful, but you won't win if you don't show the truth," Amita said.

Draco did not say anything. Neither of the women pushed the struggle forward.

They needed to find witnessess, Amita said. People who could say that Draco wasn't „all that bad". Only two people came to mind – Luna and Cho. Unfortunately, there was little help of that too.

The second set of trials stretched through three days, lasting from two to four hours. It was the vital part of the case, one that could determine whether Draco will walk a free man or if he'll be executed for killing and supporting Voldemort. The most important thing was to prove that Draco was not a supporter of Voldemort, that he was working with the Order the whole duration of the war, and that he only attacked a few people because he had to protect Hermione – that's where their love story will come to play.

The cage was back again, and the courtroom now was full to the brim with curious people who wanted to see the High Reeve on display firsthand.

They started with the Pensieve. The prosecutor asked Draco of how his parents died, and Draco barked out a short answer that satisfied no one, so one of the guards took out his memories. Luckily, Draco did not fight back. Unfortunately, the memories were so gruesome half the people left the courtroom, and even Hermione felt sick. the part of Draco killing his parents was more cold-blooded than heartbreaking and it definitely did not give him more points. The prosecutor sneered spitefully.

Amita rushed to help out and invited firstly Luna, then Cho to talk about working with Draco during the war. Luna spoke of Draco firstly as Blaise's friend and then named him a war hero out of the blue, without even mentioning the death of Voldemort. Sadly, Hermione had forgotten how strange Luna looked in an official setting with her big, dreamy eyes, long unwashed hair and an incessant need to talk of the most random things at the worst times possible, so it's quite evident that her fondness for Draco was taken as a sign of small-mindedness rather than a loveable trait the Malfoy heir actually possessed. Cho testimony was short and calm, she spoke only of the night she helped Hermione heal Draco and kept most of her opinions about him to herself, saying only that he seemed as a "very tortured young man" to her.

Amita then turned the interrogation from Draco's past to his relationship with Hermione. He told them the fake story the three of them had panned out, but his answers were a bit longer and his speaking manner seemed a bit less detached, it was clear he wanted to talk about Hermione, and he didn't feel flustered when he had to say how much he loved her.

"It was unavoidable that I marry her," he told everyone, but mostly her. "There was a need to keep her safe, a sort of obsession. It might've been guilt at first, although I never felt guilty for anything after i was tortured, after i killed my parents." Shocked murmur wahsed over the courtroom, but Draco continued as if nothing happened. "Perhaps I felt like I owed her because of what my aunt did to her. Then—then I just needed to protect her. I was possessed with the thought of keeping her safe even though I knew I'd probably never speak eye-to-eye with her. It came to me instinctively. She gave my life purpose for most of the war time. I took her from Hogwarts because I suspected Voldemort might attack it – and before that, I'd set plenty of protective charms on the castle – because I knew she was there."

"Mr. Malfoy, are you saying that the Order of the Phoenix was safe at Hogwarts all this time not because they were trying to keep a low profile but because you were protecting them?" Amita asked.

"It was all for Hermione. All I ever did was to protect her. And I would do it all over again if I was certain that'd make her safe and sound."

Another ripple of murmurs followed his words.

This was all true, all of this he was telling her with vulnerability in his eyes, and Hermione prayed that the jury would see it too.

When the second part of trials was over, Hermione ran to Draco just as he was taken out of the cage and hugged hims so fiercely that even the prison guards didn't get the chance to keep her away – she hugged him and kissed him, crying. She made sure everyvbody saw it, that everyone witnessed how much she loved him; and that in turn they could believe Draco Malfoy could be loved. That was Amita's suggestion.

During the second and the third (the final) set of trials was a two-week gap that Hermione didn't know what to fill with because she was no longer allowed to meet Draco – he attended his sessions with Amita alone, who tried to report it all back to Hermione, but she still felt left out.

Sometime in between she heard on the radio that Kingsley Shacklebolt had become the new Minister of Magic. So she did the only thing she could think of – she went to talk to him about Draco.

Kingsley was polite to her, offering her tea, but warning her that he had little time for her, so she went straight to business.

"You need to pardon Draco for his crimes. He helped the Order. He killed Voldemort. He ended the war. Surely there must be something you can do to stop the trial from continuing."

Kingsley's face fell. He studied her for a long moment.

"Ms. Granger, that was before—"

"Mrs. Malfoy," Hermione interrupted him.

"I—excuse me?" Kingsley seemed at a loss for words.

"I'm married to Draco now, so you're to address me as Mrs. Malfoy, Minister," she explained.

"Right…" Kingsley mumbled. "As I was saying, these conditions were legitimate before what happened during the Slaughter of Hogwarts." That's what they called it now – the Slaughter of Hogwarts. Hermione didn't understand why. Nobody was slaughtered. "He was to be pardoned before he killed half of the Order."

"That is not fair. All he did was try to protect me when Snape wanted to kill me."

"I'm very sorry, but there is nothing I can do." Kingsley, however, did not seem apologetic at all.

"You're the Minister, you can do everything!"

"But not that. I'm sorry, Hermione."

Hermione went silent, studying Kingsley's face. "You once told me Harry was the heart of the Order. And then you said that I was the soul. Don't I mean anything to you?" she asked with a quivering voice – it was more an act than a true emotion.

Kingley was visibly taken aback by her vulnerability, he even seemed saddened by her.

"Of course you do, you mean a lot. You're all that's left of the Golden Trio, you're the war hero—"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't need your praise, Minister. I just want my husband back. He is all I have left. Promise me he won't get the death penalty. Promise me he won't get life in prison."

Kingsley thought for a few long minutes. He didn't lie to her and didn't say he had no power in this – he did. But she even started thinking he might not answer at all, and then he did. "I cannot promise you anything, but I will try to look into it and see what I can do. I don't want you to think this country does not support its' victors."

That's who she was – a victor. But that was merely an empty word, signifying nothing.

She stood up. "Thank you for your time, Minister. I hope you make the right call."

The third and final trial began, and Hermione felt strangely calm. She didn't know what to expect, she had no idea if she could trust Kingsley, but she knew that whatever happened, she will accept it with her head held high.

It started and ended with the retelling of the Slaughter of Hogwarts – that name still made Hermione shiver.

The prosecutor had no mercy. Or maybe he had too much mercy. His questions were sharp and clear, and Draco had nothing else to do but to answer them truthfully – and the answers were horrid, the mass of the people in the courtroom all let out the same gasps of disgust, sighs of terror and mumbles of disbelief while the full picture of the night's events was being drawn.

"The Slaughter of Hogwarts – a title for a battle that was nothing like the Battle of Hogwarts that occurred six years ago," spoke the prosecutor, walking back and forth down the main ground of the court all the while being watched by Draco's mismatched gray eyes. "Some may say that this title is too dramatic, that it was a just combat where both sides lost. And they would be right – to an extent." He turned his full body back to Draco. "In the record time of four minutes and twenty-seven seconds Draco Malfoy under the disguise of the Death Eater's mask managed to kill sixty-three people." A united gasp from the audience. Hermione tried to remember that night, but all she managed to recall was the physical pain and the deep emotional hurt from Snape and Mooody's betrayal. "All of them – Order of the Phoenix. All of them noble people. I'm not counting the sheer amount of number the Death Eaters themselves lost – all from the hand of their beloved High Reeve. Injured – over a hundred. Which is a stunning number when you think about the people residing at Hogwarts at the time. Do you deny these charges, Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco didn't say anything. Mentally, as always, he was somewhere else, not in this courtroom.

Hermione swallowed thickly.

That same gleeful sneer twisted the prosecutor's face. "Then I must call upon the witnesses of that night."

And here is where their failures began – the witnesses he called upon remembered either very little or absolutely nothing, and those who did remember something all admitted that the details were murky and that they couldn't possibly tell exactly who killed who – which was exactly how Hermione felt about that night. Most of the witnesses were professors and their memory loss could be blamed on old age, and the younger ones could've suffered a deep emotional trauma and be unable to recall that night for this reason, but Hermione knew the real deal behind all of this was her. Even though Draco didn't outright admit his crimes, there was no real way for him to deny it, but she still helped him because now no one could tell what really happened.

Then it was Hermione's turn to tell what happened. She exchanged a look with Amita one last time, and Amita nodded, barely noticeable, a silent agreement on what she was going to say.

The prosecutor started with the basic questions of what happened, and Hermione, just like most witnesses, admitted having little to retell because she remembered even less.

"Can you tell me how Severus Snape and Alastor Moody died?" the prosecutor asked.

"Moody gave me something to drink, I think it was a sedative. Snape wanted to kill me, but then he ended up torturing me."

"Why?"

That's a stupid question, Hermione thought. Why would somebody need a reason to torture another?

"Because he thought I killed Harry," she answered.

"Did you?"

"I think it's quite clear from all the other accounts that I didn't."

"That's right, Draco Malfoy did."

"I don't see how that's relevant," Hermione forced out. "But yes. As he told you before, it was necessary to end Voldemort."

"So, Severus Snape was torturing you. Draco Malfoy shows up. What does he do?"

"He kills them both. First Snape, then Moody."

"Would you mind giving us more details about the manner of the kills?"

Hermione swallowed. "Moody was hit by a white curse that sliced his body in two as if by an invisible blade. The same cursed sliced Snape's head. They were both dead in seconds."

The prosecutor's eyes glinted. He turned away from Hermione.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you may wonder why would a man who killed all the other people in a non-violent manner that night chose to kill the tow of the highest members of the Order so sadistically. The only thought that occurs is one of personal vendetta of a boy angry with his schoolteachers—"

"I was pregnant," Hermione blurted out. "I was pregnant, and when Snape used the Curciatus curse on me, I lost the baby. Me and Draco-we were—we were to—have a baby—" Shocked murmurs ran through the hall. She looked at Amita to see if she was doing it right, and the lawyer nodded once more. Hermione started crying all the while making sure her voice was trembling just the right amount. She could feel Draco's eyes on her, but she refused to look at him on purpose. The prosecutor turned back to her, just as shocked as everybody else. "Snape and Moody were a direct threat to me and his child. Draco was only trying to protect me, to protect his family. He might've killed his parents, but he had no choice. All he wanted was to start anew. And all I'm asking id for you to give him that chance."

There were no questions after that. The tension in the room could be cut up with a knife.

Nothing that happened after that mattered too much. Hermione wasn't even surprised when she heard the verdict – five years in Azkaban with the possibility of parole. Twenty years of house arrest following jailtime. Destruction of the wand. Probation of magic usage.

The usual.

The sigh Hermione let out was both of relief and of deep emotional hurt.

Draco wasn't free yet. But he was alive. And he was going to be with her. She'll just have to wait a bit.