Chapter 23. The Trial Pt. 1

POV Draco

The air was thick with nervous energy as Draco pulled on the final pieces of his dress robes. Hermione hadn't spoken all morning, which worried him, but he wanted to give her space to breathe. If he was nervous he couldn't fathom how she must be feeling. She had been on edge ever since they received their owls on Wednesday with their instructions for arrival at the Ministry and information on how the proceedings would go.

"They are going to show my memories to the entire court room!"

"It's the easiest and quickest way to use them as evidence. There are 50 members of the Wizengamot, if they each take turns in a Penseive for every memory, the trial will take months."

"I don't want you to see that! You've seen enough! Plus it's not the business of anyone else who feels entitled to attend! That's my body on display!"

"Hermione I know, trust me. I don't want anyone to have to see it anymore than you do, but that's how how it works. You want the weasel to go to Azkaban right?"

"Yes."

"Then we have to be strong. When he's gone, behind bars forever, then we will come home and you can break down all you want! I'll hold you, make you tea, whatever you need! Right now, though, you have to find that Gryffindor bravery that I lo—admire so much!"

"Alright."

They had also been visited by Auror Dawlish that morning who had come by to inform them that Weasley had been in an "accident". It seemed he, possibly with the help of Potter, caused serious damage to himself in an attempt to prevent his memories from being extracted. Potter was placed on leave pending a formal investigation, but Draco had a feeling he wasn't involved. His belief was that Potter was a git who didn't deserve Hermione as a friend, but he also believes that Potter thinks Weasley is innocent and therefore wouldn't help him cover up his crime.

"Hermione?" He called, opening the door to their room, "Sweetheart, are you ready to go?"

She was sitting on the bed, her back to the door. Even though he couldn't see her face, the gentle shake of her shoulders told him she was crying. Quickly crossing the room, he planted himself on the bed beside her, and wrapped her up in his arms against his chest.

"I can't do it, Draco. I can't face him, any of them."

He rubbed small circles on her back, "Yes you can Hermione, we've talked about this. You have so many people there for you. Me, Pansy, Theo, Fred and George." He placed a kiss to the top of her head, relishing the smell of her lavender and honey shampoo, "And don't forget Hagrid, McGonagall and Pomfrey. You have an army of supporters Hermione. You've got this."

He waved his wand, cleaning up her face and helped her reapply her makeup charm. Placing a quick kiss to her lips, he stood, and reached his arm out for her to take. They had been granted permission to directly into Minister Shacklebolt's office, hoping to avoid the press. Rita Skeeter turned out to be an ally but he didn't trust the others, he was grateful that she was the only one allowed in the court room.

Small victories.

Stepping into the floo, he pulled her in close. It was safe for her to travel by floo, but Draco always had this mild sense of foreboding that lingered from the war, and he wanted to ensure her safety. He called out their destination and felt the squeeze as they were quickly pulled into the network and discarded into the Minister's office.

"Ah. Mister Malfoy, Miss Granger, good to see you, although I do wish it were under much better circumstances."

"Good morning Minister, how is your wife?" Hermione asked, flicking the soot off her clothes with her wand.

"Divine as ever. She had planned to be here today, but she was pulled into an emergency at St. Mungo's and asked that I told you "good luck" for her."

"Please pass on my gratitude."

"I shall." He said, and a somber expression appeared on his face, "How are you feeling, Hermione? Truly? This must be a mountain for you to climb emotionally."

"I don't know how I'm feeling sir. One minute I'm feeling strong, like I have it all under control, the next, it's like I'm drowning."

He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile, "I wish I had the cure-all words to make you feel better, but I know that the reality is your world is falling apart and you should be allowed to feel bad and process that."

"That's what I told her this morning."

"See, Hermione, Mister Malfoy knows what he's talking about. Now, I have to get down to the court room, make yourselves comfortable, my secretary will come retrieve you when it's time."

"Thank you Kingsley." Hermione said and he gave a nod before shutting the door behind him.

--

A half hour passed before the secretary Lorna came to get them. Once she arrived, Draco quickly stood, taking Hermione's hand in his own to guide her out the door. He kept her tight against his side, ready to push himself in front of her if any members of the press discovered them. She was about to feel like a spectacle enough, he wanted to keep the fallout as minimal as possible.

As they approached the door, Draco halted her movements, turning her to face him, "Remember, we have you, you are safe, he can't hurt you anymore. It's time to take control."

She nodded and he planted a kiss to her lips before nodding to the Auror at the door to signal that they were ready. He followed her through the open door, and squeezed her hand reassuringly before he turned to go take his seat next to Theo and Pansy. As he approached, he noticed Fred and George had taken the seats behind them, and were receiving substantial glares from the flock of Weasleys that sat across the room.

"Hey Drake, some welcome home party huh?" Theo said, trying to ease some of the tension.

He received a smack on the back of the head from Fred, "Hey, we're the jokesters here. Earn your own title."

Draco wanted to smile, but his nerves were so pulled tight, he was sure with one misstep he would be placed in the Janus Thickey Ward next to Longbottom's parents. He had been working on occluding with Hermione since the nightmare incident. It was harder with the bond, truthfully it felt nearly impossible. It was as if they had to occlude for two people. Luckily yesterday, they had figured out that they could organize and barricade away some memories to help ease the nerves, they just couldn't fully occlude.

"How is she?" Pansy asked placing her hand on his knee.

"I'm worried about her no matter the outcome. She's been betrayed by nearly everyone she loves, and there's nothing I can do to ease the pain."

"We will help her together Drake, all of us, we're her family now." Theo placed his hand on Draco's other knee.

"Us too. Fuck the Weasleys, can we change our name to Granger?" George said, nearly shouting.

"Or better yet, what about Malfoy, or Nott?" Fred chimed, throwing a wink at Theo.

A blush crept across his friends face so intense that Draco couldn't help but notice it.

Fuckin hell, if Theo fucks a Weasley, even a good Weasley, I'm going to throw myself into the Black Lake to be eaten by the Giant Squid.

"Hey what about Parkinson?" Pansy blurted out, clearly offended by the offer not extending to her.

"Sorry honey, not really my type. You can try George though, maybe he'll take your offer."

George elbowed his brother in the ribs, causing him to cough. "I was only trying to—"

A loud clanging startled them all silent, Draco froze, he knew that sound; the last time he had heard it, he thought he would be spending the rest of his days behind bars. He turned to see the cage slowly rising from the floor, the grimy weasel strapped to the seat inside. Glancing at Hermione to make sure she was okay, he noticed her leg shaking profusely. He closed his eyes, and tried to send any calm energy he had to her through the bond. When he opened his eyes back up he noticed her leg slowly relaxing. She turned and caught his gaze, a grateful smile on her face for a moment before it fell and she turned back to the center of the room.

The weasel looked feral, he was silenced with a charm but you could still see him looking towards them screaming. His face was still swollen from his "accident", and his face was completely purple from the nose up.

"You think he's screaming at us or you mate?" Fred asked, leaning between him and Theo, "I imagine it's us. Also have you noticed Potter isn't here?"

Draco head jerked to look at Fred. No, he hadn't noticed. He scanned the room checking for signs of Potter, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. He saw Hermione notice his actions and he tried to send a thought of Potter to her, but it didn't work, so he touched his forehead where Potters scar would be, hoping she would understand what he meant. She must have figured it out cause she began to scan the room herself, only to look at him again, confusion plaguing her face.

"Today were here to determine the fate of one Mister Ronald Weasley on the accusations of sexual assault and attempted murder."

Draco had been so focused on Hermione, he hadn't noticed Kingsley call the start of the trial. He sat quietly as the Minister listed off the witnesses; Draco, Theo, McGonagall and Pomfrey were to be called for the prosecution while Potter would be the only witness for the Defense. Draco wanted to feel good about their odds, but he still had this niggling feeling that things could go wrong for them. Potter had a lot of pull being the chosen one, while he and Theo were marked Death Eaters. However, it was mentioned that Potter was to do his statement via Patronus from a secure room due to him being under investigation as an accomplice to Weasley's attempt to destroy his memories, and Draco couldn't help but hope that fact would work in their favor.

"The Wizengamot calls to the stand Hermione Jean Granger."

Draco snapped to attention, his eyes fully trained on her form as she made her way up to the stand.

"Miss Granger, the Wizengamot asks that you swear full truths and understand that lying under oath to the court will be punishable by imprisonment, do you so swear?"

"I swear it."

"Now Miss Granger, could you tell us what happened that night? From the moment you arrived at the ball please."

This is going to be a horribly long day.

Draco sat stiff as a board as Hermione recounted every event of the night. Once in a while she would glance his way, and he would try to send calm energy to her, but he was so nervous, he worried he was making things worse. Once she was to the end, they allowed her to return to her seat.

"The Wizengamot calls to the stand Ronald Bilius Weasley."

Theo and Pansy both placed their hands on his knee to calm him, and Fred and George clapped him on the shoulder.

"Mister Weasley, the Wizengamot asks that you swear full truths and understand that lying under oath to the court will be punishable by imprisonment, do you so swear?"

The silencing charm was removed and he saw Hermione shudder hearing Weasley's voice.

"I swear it."

"Mister Weasley, please tell the members of the Wizengamot your events of the night. Start from when you first spoke with Miss Granger."

"I was there outside the Great Hall with my date Lily. We all lined up to do the Grand Entrance, I honestly hadn't even noticed 'Mione was there yet. Once we're inside and dancing, I see her dancing with Viktor Krum. I was confused because she had told me that Viktor was a bit of a poofter. So I felt the need to talk to her, I care about her and I didn't want to see her hurt. She needed to know she was barking up the wrong tree, so I went up to her and tried to talk to her, but she just screamed at me. Harry was there too, he walked out with me to go find my date. We were gone for maybe half an hour and when I came back, that was when I saw her dancing with Malfoy."

"And what happened then Mister Weasley?"

"Well I lost it a bit. I thought she had gone a bit nutter, or maybe Malfoy had hexed her into dancing with him, so I rushed over and begged to speak to her alone. Malfoy didn't want her to, but thankfully she did. I needed to get her somewhere private in case Malfoy tried to spy, so I cast a silencing charm around us and ran through several abandoned corridors to an unused section of the castle. I figured it would give us time to talk before he might find us. But once alone, she thanked me for saving her and tossed herself at me, kissing me, rubbing her hands over my chest and through my hair. I was in shock because she hadn't acted like we were together or anything since we shared that kiss at the battle."

FUCKING LIAR!

Fred's hand squeezed on Draco's shoulder and he felt him lean forward to speak quietly in his ear. "You know he's lying, we know he's lying, the memories are all that matter, but you are one bad word away from having an accidental magic crisis. Breathe before you kill us all."

He's right.

Draco looked beside him to Theo whose eyes were black with rage, and over to Pansy who was shaking, digging her nails into his leg. He realized they definitely needed to calm down, this was only the beginning. They had to keep it together, be strong, for Hermione. He took a stuttered breath and blew it out, trying to relax his mind.

"I didn't actually really want to kiss her at first," Weasley continued, "Well I did, I just mean I felt guilty because of my date. But she was relentless and eventually I just said "fuck it" and gave her what she wanted, or I tried to at least, until she attacked me. It was all such a blur and I remember trying to grab her wrists so she couldn't swing at me anymore, but we slipped and fell, and her head hit the ground super hard. I flipped her over, freaked out cause she was bleeding and was unconscious, I tried to revive her but I got hit with that spell from Malfoy and that's the last thing I remember."

I'm going to kill him.

"Thank you Mister Weasley." The Minister said, and silenced the cage once again, "Now we will move onto the witness statements. Let's begin my calling Mister Draco Malfoy."

He stood and descended towards the pit, sparing a glance to Hermione as he passed. Her eyes were bloodshot, but no tears streaked her face. He knew she was fighting it, not wanting to give any satisfaction to the weasel. He took his seat in the witness stand and steeled himself for questioning. He had to be the better person. There was a risk his Death Eater status would be drug through the dirt, but he needed to maintain his composure.

For her.

"Mister Malfoy, the Wizengamot asks that you swear full truths and understand that lying under oath to the court will be punishable by imprisonment, do you so swear?"

"I swear it."

Questioning began simply enough. He detailed the parts of her argument with Weasley that he heard, and of when he asked her to dance. When he arrived at the soul bond part of the story, the Minister paused him.

"Mister Malfoy, I must ask, soul bonds are not a heavily researched subject in our world. In fact, almost no reputable wizard in existence has proven soul bonds to be real. What makes you claim that you and Miss Granger share a soul bond?"

"Minister with all due respect, I don't understand why the bond is even relevant. If you are looking for a reason to pull into question whether or not I and my testimony is to be trusted, I can give you a myriad of other options, like being a marked Death Eater, even if I wasn't one by choice. It's difficult to explain the feeling of a soul bond to someone who doesn't have one themselves. Maybe Professor McGonagall could shed some light on it better than I can, as she has done extensive research into soul bonds, as she had one herself. So forgive me Minister, but I don't see any reason to linger on the topic, it's only relevance is something I cannot prove yet, until Hermione is cleared fully and we can begin our own research."

"What reason is that?"

"I am under the belief that the only reason Hermione survived the attack is because she had an active soul bond. Again I cannot prove that, it's just my theory that I hope to test someday."

"Thank you Mister Malfoy, you may continue with the rest of your testimony."

Once he arrived at the moment she was determined stable, the Minister excused him back to his seat, calling upon Theo next. They didn't linger long on his, only really asking that he explain his version of what happened when they discovered Hermione. Once he was finished the Minister called for a short lunch recess.

As soon as he could, Draco rushed to Hermione and gathered her up in a hug.

"I'm so sorry Hermione. I'm trying to keep calm for you, but hearing that ginger cunt lie just rips my resolve to pieces."

"Please don't apologize Draco. It's not your fault."

"Hermione is right Drake, we were all struggling to keep our shit together." Theo said, pulling her out of Draco's arms and into his, planting a kiss to the top of her head.

"I was two seconds away from using an unforgivable! George was the only reason I was not carted off to Azkaban myself." Pansy said, mimicking what Theo had just done.

"We second and third that." Fred said, "It was about to be a Weasley on Weasley crime."

That time Hermione laughed and Draco's body relaxed; to him it was the sweetest sound in the world. Taking her hand, he led her out of the court room the group following close behind.

"Let's get some food in you. The hard part is still to come and you need to be nourished for that."

"Alright."