The press had been abuzz since Ron had been wanted for questioning by the Ministry, and Draco had been in hospital. They had linked the two incidents long before it was officially confirmed that they were connected, and Ron's eventual arrest only fanned the flames of interest in the media. And once it became obvious that this time there would be no guilty plea and private sentencing, and instead a trial would be needed, the press went wild. For weeks leading up to Ron's trial, various media outfits carried reports on the upcoming trial, and rehashed the dramas of the past.
Hermione and her family had been constantly harassed by the press to tell their side of the story, but they had all declined the offers. After all, Ron's trial would reveal everything and since there was no reason for it to be a private trial held behind closed door, plenty of media would be in the courtroom to witness everything that happened. Several Weasleys had also been approached, but they'd also kept quiet and refused to get drawn into the melee the media were currently creating. The press had plenty to write about without anyone involved in current events giving them more information to play with.
On the morning of the trial, Hermione got ready with a sense of trepidation lurking in her stomach. The previous time Ron had been arrested, everything had been dealt with without her involvement. Aside from giving a statement to the Ministry, she hadn't been required to do anything else. She hadn't had to face Ron, or speak about what he had done while he was in the same room. everything had been handled in private, and she'd just learnt about the results after they had been delivered. But this time was going to be different, this time she would be present as Ron's trial played out, and she would witness firsthand what sort of sentence her former friend would receive.
Hermione's only consolation was that the trial wouldn't be a long one. It had been explained that unlike muggle trials that could last weeks, or sometimes months, a magical trial was usually held in a matter of days. Both sides had already submitted their arguments to the Wizengamot, and the trial was merely a chance for them to question the witnesses they had chosen to call to boost their respective cases. Although since excessive witnesses were frowned upon by the Wizengamot, the prosecution case rested with Hermione, Draco and Daniel and from what she'd gathered the only witness for the defence would be Ron himself.
Although even with a short case, Hermione was still uncertain of how she would handle things. In fact, she still wasn't sure if she would even be present in court once she had given her evidence. Until she had given her evidence, she couldn't be present in court, but once she'd taken the stand, she would be able to sit in the public gallery and watch the rest of the trial take place. Hermione just wasn't sure if that was something she wanted to do, or if once she'd been in court she would stay away and get the verdict and sentencing from Lucius and Narcissa, who had already vowed to be there every day as the wizard who had almost killed their son stood trial.
As well as being nervous for herself and Daniel, who had also been called to give evidence, Hermione was more worried about her husband and what testifying would do to him. Draco was still recovering, and despite his insistence that he was getting stronger every day, Hermione knew he still tired easily and was far from full strength. She was just praying that the stress of the court case wouldn't prove too much for him and trigger a relapse. In one way a bit longer before the trial would have been appreciated, but in another way, it was good that it was all happening so quickly. At least this way they could get it all over with and get Ron out of their lives once and for all.
"Are you ready?" Draco called, poking his head into the bedroom, where Hermione had been standing in front of the mirror for the past ten minutes.
"I guess so," Hermione said, smoothing down her hair one final time and grabbing her bag.
With her husband, she headed off to the Ministry of Magic, grateful that the Ministry had arranged for a floo connection directly into a set of offices a few floors away from the courtroom. No doubt the Ministry would be packed with people trying to get a seat in the courtroom, and Hermione was pleased that she and Draco didn't have to try and get through the rush. This way they could prepare for what lay ahead in peace, and didn't have to worry about the press trying to get a comment from them.
"Once the trial is underway, you'll be moved down to a room beside the court," the witch who had greeted them upon their arrival explained. The witch worked in the law department, and she was their point of contact throughout the trial.
"Are we likely to be needed today?" Draco asked.
"I don't think anyone will be needed until late morning, or even early afternoon," the witch replied. "Mr Malfoy, you will be the first to testify, and going from previous experience, I do think you will be needed today. Mrs Malfoy, I don't know whether you or your son will be called first, so I can't say about you. I also can't say if you and your son will both be called today. It will all depend on the prosecution case."
Hermione nodded, her thoughts turning to Daniel, who had yet to turn up. He still hadn't arrived when they were escorted down to the Department of Mysteries, where the trial was taking place. Since both she and Daniel were part of the trial, the restraining order had once again being lifted for as long as she and Daniel were in the Ministry, meaning they could be only a few doors away from where Ron's trial was taking place, and then later on, be in the same room as him.
Hermione was just wondering where her son was as she and Draco settled in the room they'd been directed to, when the door opened and Daniel entered. Hermione could instantly see that her son was troubled, and she hoped that it was just the stress of the trial that was getting to him. She really hoped that everything that was going on wasn't starting to affect his marriage.
"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Hermione asked, sliding along so that Daniel could sit between herself and Draco.
"I guess so," Daniel replied with a sigh, slumping down between his parents.
"You don't have to do this, Daniel," Draco said softly. "If it's going to cause too much trouble for you, then don't do it. We can speak to the Ministry and explain that you're not comfortable with this."
"We don't want this to affect your relationship with Victoire," Hermione agreed, nodding along with her husband's suggestion. "Your happiness is more important to us than anything that is happening here at the moment. No matter what happens in that court room, Ron is going back to Azkaban."
"No, I want to be here," Daniel insisted, displaying the stubborn streak he had inherited from his mother. "Vic understands that I need to do this. She fully supports me in this."
"So why do you look like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders?" Hermione asked in concern.
"I just feel bad that it's all gotten so damn complicated with Vic's family," Daniel admitted. "We had a good talk when we got engaged, and nothing was supposed to change. Our marriage wasn't supposed to trigger this sort of reaction."
"No-one could have predicted things would turn out like this," Draco pointed out.
"You're right, but I still feel bad," Daniel said quietly. "I'll be honest, I don't think what's going on with Ron will affect Vic too much as they've never been close. But I don't think either of us expected her to lose her relationship with her grandmother. Even though I said I wanted nothing to do with Molly, I was more than happy to let her come to the wedding at the beginning. I even thought that maybe in time, I would come to accept her as part of our lives. Maybe I would have even reached the point where I was comfortable joining Vic at family celebrations. I was willing to give her a chance. All I wanted in return was for her to respect my decisions."
"It's not your fault that Molly didn't take the olive branch you offered her," Hermione informed her son. "You can't be held accountable for her behaviour. No-one expected it, not even her family. I know Bill and Fleur believed that she'd long since accepted the mistakes she and Ron had made in regard to you, and had made peace with the fact you didn't want her in your life. If they didn't see this coming, how can you have been expected to know what was going to happen?"
"I can't," Daniel admitted with a sigh. "But knowing that doesn't make things any easier. Vic is heartbroken by how things are turning out with Molly, and there's nothing I can do to help her. I wish I could just tell her to forget about what is going on and hold onto her grandmother, but I can't just dismiss Molly's actions. She had proven time and time again that she can't be trusted where I'm concerned, and she certainly doesn't think clearly when I'm in the picture. I know in my heart that I could never trust her, and I don't want her toxicity in my life. I most certainly couldn't trust her with any children Vic and I might have. Who knows what sort of poison she might feed them about our family. But by cutting her out of my life, Vic is the one who ends up hurt."
"Victoire was the one who made the decision to cut Molly from her life," Hermione said softly. She'd spoken to her daughter-in-law only a few days previously, and while Victoire was certainly hurting about cutting Molly from her life, she'd also admitted that she knew deep in her heart that it was the right decision for both her and Daniel. "Like you, she feels as if she wouldn't be able to trust Molly, especially not with any children you would have. She understands that Molly made her own decisions and sealed her own fate, Daniel. She does not blame you for any of this. Not in the slightest."
"I hope you're right and this doesn't tear us apart," Daniel muttered.
"It won't," Draco predicted. "The pair of you will emerge from this stronger than ever. Trust me when I say that its things like this that prove how strong your relationship is. Things may seem tough now, but when you come out of the other side, still together and stronger than ever, then you'll know you can handle anything together."
"Is that how it was for you two last time?" Daniel asked, looking between his parents. "Did all the drama with Ron prove that you could face anything as long as you were together?"
"Pretty much," Hermione confirmed with a smile. "Given our relationship was still so fresh at the time, the stress could have pulled us apart. But it didn't, it brought us closer together. It can be the same for you and Victoire."
"And you have the added bonus of being together a lot longer than your mother and I were," Draco added. "Not only are you and Victoire married, but you have years of friendship behind you. This is not going to pull your apart, Daniel, I would bet my life on it."
Confident that they had bolstered their son's spirits, at least for the moment, Hermione changed the subject and asked Daniel about work. He was still chattering on about a new potion he and Severus were experimenting with when their court liaison officer entered the room and announced they were ready for Draco.
"Good luck," Hermione said, giving her husband a kiss before he headed off to tell the world about how he'd nearly lost his life when Ron had stabbed him.
From the moment Draco left to give evidence, Hermione was unable to settle and Daniel struggled to get her to sit down for more than a few minutes at a time. It didn't matter how many times he assured her that Draco would be fine, and that he could hold his own against anyone, she still couldn't relax. Her husband may have been the victim, but she dreaded to think what sort of tactics Ron's legal team might use to try and make Ron seem reasonable. For all she knew, they were conducting a self-defence case and would try and turn the entire thing back around on Draco.
Draco was gone for well over an hour and by the time he did return to the room, looking slightly shaky, Hermione was well and truly worked up. Although the sight of her husband did little to soothe her nerves, as even though he was hiding it pretty well, she could tell he was troubled by something that had happened in the courtroom.
"How did it go?" Daniel asked, urging both his parents to sit down.
"It's not an experience I would like to repeat in a hurry," Draco said, taking hold of his wife's hand as they sat down next to their son.
"What happened? Was it brutal? How was Ron's defence team? Did they try and turn it around on you?" Hermione questioned.
"Mum, slow down and let Dad explain in his own time," Daniel said, reaching out a calming hand towards his mother.
"Sorry," Hermione apologised.
"It's fine," Draco assured her with a small smile. "Weasley's defence team actually weren't that bad. After all, my original statement seems to support his claim that he didn't mean to stab me."
"So what did happen?" Hermione asked.
"I was asked about the stabbing, and then I was asked about what happened the first time Weasley was arrested," Draco explained. "A lot was made of the fact I had been the one to catch him when he tried to take Daniel, and there was a lot of questions about Weasley's feelings regarding me seeing myself as Daniel's father."
"Which you are," Daniel said firmly. "And I am not afraid to tell the court just that."
Just as Daniel finished speaking, the door opened yet again and this time he was summoned to give evidence. It would seem he would get his chance to address the court, sooner rather than later. After wishing their son good luck, Hermione turned her attention back to Draco, positive that there was something he hadn't yet shared with her.
"It sounds like the Ministry are going with a vendetta motive," Hermione remarked.
"Yes," Draco answered with a sharp nod of his head. "Especially as they questioned me about Hogwarts, specifically sixth year and the bottle of poisoned mead that Weasley somehow ended up drinking."
Hermione gasped at the reference to her husband's past, specifically an event he felt particularly guilty about. Hermione knew that the actions that haunted Draco the most, were the ones when innocent people had gotten caught up in the mess he'd been in with Voldemort. On the surface of things, the poisoned mead and the cursed necklace had been crude attempts Draco had made on Dumbledore's life, but Hermione knew they were much more than that. They had been a desperate way of proving to Voldemort that he was working on the impossible task he'd been given, so that he wouldn't take his impatience out on Narcissa. Hermione also knew they had been a cry for help, aimed towards Dumbledore, or someone else who might have been able to help Draco escape from the darkness Voldemort had been drowning him in.
But Dumbledore had already known what was going on, and had ignored Draco's desperate attempts for a helping hand. Of course in his own way, Dumbledore was helping him, but Hermione wished that he'd actually bothered to tell Draco that, or at the very least, allowed Severus to tell him. But he'd kept both Draco and Harry in the dark, and Hermione couldn't help but feel that they both suffered unnecessarily due to the secrets Dumbledore had kept from them that final year of his life. Although that wasn't the issue at the moment, so Hermione shook her head to get her thoughts back to the present, and the trauma she knew Draco mut have gone through discussing his past in a public courtroom.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, wrapping her arm around her husband, who had lowered his head and was staring at the floor.
"Not really," Draco whispered in a broken voice. "I know what they were doing, they were showing that Weasley has a reason to want to kill me, a reason that's been festering for years. But they could have warned me about what they were going to bring up. I was just totally blindsided by it, Hermione. There I was, supposedly testifying about my near death experience, and then I was confronted with the worst thing about my past. For a moment, it was like I was on trial. It was like I was facing justice for the awful things I once did. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, if I had faced justice."
"You did," Hermione protested. She knew Draco had never been put on trial, but he'd given thorough evidence about the last couple of years of the war, and everything he'd done in that time, and the Wizengamot had made the decision about his future. "The Wizengamot dealt with your case. They weighed up all the evidence, including everything that happened in sixth year, and they decided you deserved a second chance. they decided you needed a chance to become your own person and make your own decisions in life. And look at what you've done with that chance, Draco." Reaching out, she lifted her husband's chin so that he was looking at her, and could see how much she meant everything she was saying. "You've resorted your family's reputation. You helped rebuild the family business. You raised three amazing children, all of whom adore you and they all know they can go to you with any problem and you will be there for them. You were there for me in my darkest days, and you have given me a wonderful life, Draco. You have made the most of the second chance you were given, and I am sure the Wizengamot believes they made the right call with you."
"I certainly hope so," Draco whispered. "But you know how hard it is for me to cope with the past. Logically, I know everything you said is right. But when my head gets into a dark place, I can't help thinking I didn't get the punishment I deserved. And that's what it felt like in that courtroom with everyone looking at me. It felt like I was being judged for not ending up in Azkaban."
"And did Ron's legal team make that feeling worse?" Hermione asked.
"Actually, they didn't," Draco admitted. "They only touched on it briefly when they asked me if Weasley had ever asked for charges against me to be dealt with more severely. I had to admit that he was happy with what the Ministry decided, and he never seemed to hold what happened against me."
"It sounds to me like you've done more for Ron's defence then you have for the prosecution," Hermione remarked.
"It did feel that way," Draco admitted. "But I was honest, and just answered the questions that came my way. I can see where the Ministry are going with their case, but I'm not sure it's going to stick."
"We'll find out soon enough," Hermione said. "And you need to let the past go again, Draco. I know it's not easy, but you just have to focus on the life you have now. You have earned your happiness, Draco, don't let this spoil it."
Pulling her husband into her arms, Hermione hoped she had gotten through to him. She strongly suspected that Draco was going to be quiet for the next few days as the past haunted him, but she was hopeful that in time he could once again leave the past behind them and focus on the life they shared together.
Hermione was still hugging Draco when Daniel returned to the room after giving his evidence. He also brought with him the news that the court was about to adjourn for the day, and that Hermione wouldn't be called to give evidence until tomorrow.
"How did it go?" Draco asked.
"Fine," Daniel replied with a slight shrug. "You were right about why they wanted me, Mum. After asking me about any contact I've had with Ron, and how he seems to view my role in the Malfoy family, they asked about that meeting we had after his arrest. Specifically when he said he wished he'd killed Dad. That did not look good for him."
Hermione had no doubt that Ron's words about wishing he'd killed Draco wouldn't help his defence, it just remained to be seen if they condemned him. Would it be hurtful words likely spoken in anger that got him convicted for attempted murder, or would his defence team persuade the Wizengamot that Ron had never meant to try and kill Draco? Or would there be another twist in the tale when Hermione took the stand the following day?