Chapter Five
Harry was grateful that Corvus had given his hand a comforting squeeze as he walked past. The steps seemed very loud as he stepped through the silent courtroom, his shoes clicking and echoing on the polished marble.
He settled himself in the seat, looking around to find his family looking down at him, smiling encouragement. It helped, he smiled back feeling slightly less afraid.
"Mr Potter, please, in your own words, say what happened the night of May 2nd 1998. Including your interaction with Mr Davis." Kingsley said.
Harry could feel everyone staring down at him, and took a very deep breath, "That night… I can't say it was the worst night in my life… I think that still belongs to the year before, when I thought my baby sister was going to die. However… however the night of the 2nd comes close. People were dying everywhere. I couldn't stop it, or even help… Dad, Professor Snape, was nearly killed, Luna's father… there was just so much death everywhere and nothing that I could do. I was sure we were going to loose. That everyone would die… Voldemort, he said that the fighting would stop for an hour and that it wouldn't start again if… if I gave myself up. I was to come alone… I was terrified but I went."
Harry looked over to Elizabeta. She had a very angular but beautiful face and the palest green eyes he'd ever seen. He tore his gaze away, he couldn't look at her or Davis as he told them how their daughter died.
"I was going to walk alone." Harry said, "I knew if I told my family or friends what I was going to do they would stop me… I ran into Mr Davis's daughter, Tracy. She offered to walk with me…"
"Just to clarify, Tracy Davis was Mr Aaron Davis's stepdaughter. Not daughter." One of the Wizengamot witches said haughtily.
Harry glared at her, "No. He was her father, he is her father and she his daughter, as much as Severus Snape is my father. He looked after her when she was ill, or hurt. He loved her… blood means very little in these matters." he said firmly.
Severus and Lily beamed down at Harry. They new that the fact Tracy was 'only' his stepdaughter would be used against him and were unspeakably proud of Harry for standing up for their love.
"Please continue, Mr Potter." Kingsley said, trying to suppress his own smile.
"We talked a lot…" Harry said, trying not to cry as he got slightly lost in the memories, knowing what was coming, "I… from what Tracy told me. They never thought they were hurting anyone… she was scared. Scared to live life in a world she didn't understand any more. She was about to turn back, when… when… when… Voldemort killed her. It was quick… neither of us saw it coming."
"Was Mr Davis there?" Kingsley asked.
"Yes." Harry said softly, "He looked shocked, broken… in a second, his world had been stolen from him, by the very person who he'd trusted to protect her. I was taken to the clearing and Mr Davis looked… it was clear he wasn't able to process what had happened. I was killed… quick and painless but…" he had no desire to put his talk with James, all the things they'd discussed; it wasn't for public record, "When I woke up, I was laying on the ground. I could see that Voldemort had been thrown backwards and everyone was confused. I lay very still, knowing that if I moved… that Voldemort would just try and kill me again. Didn't really want to take the risk that the blood magic would protect me a second time."
"Mr Davis was still present? He hadn't left, or run to his ste… daughter?" The same witch from before asked.
Harry shook his head firmly, "No, no he was definitely still there."
"But you couldn't look around." the witch pointed out, "He just so happened to be in your line of view?"
Kingsley glared over at the witch who looked rather annoyed at being at the trail at all, "The court will remind Madam Prewett that Mr Potter is not on trial, there has been no evidence of him telling untruths and the Wizengamot, while free to ask questions, should do their best to make sure they are not leading questions. Please continue, Mr Potter."
"I knew that Mr Davis was still there because Voldemort asked someone, ordered someone, to make sure that I really was dead. Mr Davis was the one who stepped forward. He leaned over me, checked that if I was breathing, and of course I was… he… he could of just said that. He could have turned me in, wouldn't of mattered how still I lay I couldn't stop my pulse. But he didn't. He put a paralysing spell on me, so I wouldn't be caught out, and lied to Voldemort. He said I was dead, something which would have, most certainly, caused his instant death. Had he been discovered."
"Have you anything else to add?" Kingsley asked.
"No." Harry said, "I didn't see Mr Davis again until after the battle… just… just that Mr Davis saved my life, and I will always be grateful for that. As I'm sure are my family and friends."
"Then you may return to your seat." Kingsley said, "Thank you."
Harry gratefully stood up and hurried back to his seat, "Well that was horrible." he whispered to Corvus.
Corvus gave him a small smile and nodded, "Tell me about it… I was second guessing and over thinking everything I said."
"Mr Davis, you will now be questioned." Kingsley informed him, "You must answer the questions truthfully, and not stray from the topic, do you understand?"
Davis nodded, "Yes… I do."
"Good." Kingsley said, "Do you deny that you are a Death Eater, and bare the illegal symbol that is the Dark Mark, namely a snake and skull, a picture of which is to be marked in the transcripts."
"I cannot." Mr Davis said, managing to give a small shrug despite the chains, "It's forever scarred on my arm. It's faded slightly over the last year and I hope it'll fade more but it'll always be there. I wouldn't lie about it in any case."
"Please recount the night of 2nd of May, in your own words." Kingsley said.
Davis nodded, "I… I'd never been out with the Dark Lord before, I hope this isn't too off course but I think it's important to know, I didn't know what to expect and I was horrified by the sights. I didn't fire a single curse during the battle… I couldn't bring myself to. It's one thing to plan these things on paper, where none of it is quite real, another to see it in person. Bellatrix Lestrange heard someone coming. She was fretting that her husband, Rodolphus and her brother in law, Rabastan hadn't returned… nor had any of her children, although I'm not sure she cared so much about any of them, just that the Dark Lord was angry at them for not returning."
"Please go on." Kingsley said.
"It wasn't a Lestrange though." Davis said, tears pouring down his cheeks, "It… it was Mr Potter and… and Tracy. I saw a flash of green light… and Tracy fell… Harry, Mr Potter, caught her and lowered her to the ground… I felt my heart break. My… I only ever fought to keep her safe. She was… when the Dark Lord tried to kill Harry, there was a huge explosion and we were all blown backwards. I didn't think twice, going to check on Mr Potter when the Dark Lord demanded that someone did and I was truly very relieved to find he wasn't dead. As Mr Potter said, I placed a paralysing spell on him, I didn't want him to flinch or anything and give it away that he was still alive."
"You say you didn't fire a single spell during the battle." Kingsley said, "Is that completely true?"
Davis sighed and lowered his head, "I cast a few in defence only, and never at a person."
Kingsley nodded and jotted something down, "Did you fight at all during the second part of the battle?"
"No." Davis said, "When the Dark Lord started fighting again, I just… I hugged the tree line and hid. I was wanted to go back into the forest, to find my Tracy but the world was spinning. When Mr Potter was shown to be alive again, the Dark Lord was furious… I knew that I would be dead if I was found but I… I just couldn't move… I, to an extent, I just did not care any more. All I could think of was how much pain I was in, knowing Tracy was dead."
There were a few murmurs through the courtroom and members of the Wizengamot before the room grew silent once more.
"Mrs Elizabeta Davis, would you please come to the witness chair." Kingsley said.
Harry watched the graceful woman in front of him stand and walk, almost glide, down the steps and seat herself on the very edge of the chair, her ankles crossed to the left and hands folded carefully on her lap. Her eyes kept flitting over to her husband's and it was clear that all they wanted to do was embrace each other.
"You requested that the Wizengamot look again at your husband's case after he was found guilty and sentenced to forty years." Kingsley said, reading from a sheet of parchment, "We have heard much evidence of his crimes, and of his more redeeming actions. Please present your statement to us."
Elizabeta carefully took a sheet of parchment from her bag and placed a pair of reading glasses on the end of her nose, "When I married Tracy's father, I was quite sure that I was in love. He doted on me, showered me with affection… I was from a well regarded pure-blood family, as was he, so it was no surprise when we married quickly. I fell pregnant within a year and… and he became very controlling. When he attacked me I knew that I was in danger, but when he threatened to hurt my unborn child I knew that I had to leave. I… I never expected to have a normal life again. I moved back in with my rather unimpressed parents and had my child, Tracy. When she was a little under a year old I met Aaron. He was wonderful to me, and just as importantly, if not more importantly, wonderful, loving and kind to Tracy." she paused to wipe a tear from her eyes and took a deep breath, "I was afraid to love again, but slowly… very slowly, Aaron showed me there was nothing to fear. We married a few months after Tracy's third birthday and she took his name when she turned seven."
"What was her original name?" a wizard asked, "For the record."
Elizabeta looked at him firmly, "She made me promise never to speak it. She had begged for years to become a Davis and had often told me that she felt like Aaron's daughter and no one else's. She never even wanted to meet my first husband. I will keep my promise to her, and you may refer to her only as Tracy Davis, as was her wish."
"Very well." the wizard said, "Please continue."
"I know some of the pain Aaron felt, when Tracy was killed." Elizabeta said, "As she was my child as well… but I wasn't there. I wasn't forced to watch it happen. Everything Aaron ever did was to protect her. To allow her to live in a world that cherished her, as much as he did. He was mistaken with his methods, we both know that now, but he was… he was only trying to save her and he paid for those mistakes with her life. The thing that was most precious to him. Thank you for listening to our plea today."
"Is there any more evidence or testimony that anyone here present feels that the Wizengamot should hear before taking a vote?" Kingsley asked, the question was met with silence, "Very well. Members of the Wizengamot, please follow me."
Harry watched as the Wizengamot filed from the room to discuss the case. He lent back against the wooden bench, wishing he could nap for a few minutes.
"They wont be long." Corvus told him, "There is some weird time warp thing on the room, they're never more than a few minutes."
Corvus was right, and it was less than five minutes before the Wizengamot went back to their seats.
"Mr Aaron Davis," Kingsley said clearly, "We have reached a decision. The original sentence has been over turned, replaced with the twenty months you have already severed in Azkaban prison and two years under house arrest."
Elizabeta let out a tearful sigh of relief, clapping her hand over her mouth to try and muffle the sound.
"The details of this will include random checks, weekly meetings with an Auror to monitor your progress and magical tracing, which will alert us if you stray from your house. It will also require you to take daily potions that will limit your magical abilities." Kingsley told him, "It will all be provided to you, in writing, and you may return home this very day. Guards will you please remove Mr Davis's restraints."
The guards quickly removed the chains from Davis, who stood and flexed his arms that were aching from being bound for so long in one place.
Elizabeta rushed from her seat and flung her arms around her husband, sobbing into his shoulder and he clutched her to his chest.
Harry watched for a moment before nudging Corvus, "Come on, we should go."
Corvus nodded and stood up, walking with Harry from the courtroom, the great door slamming shut behind them as the last of the witnesses and supporters left.