A/N - Hello dear readers. Here's the new chapter. As I said last week this one wraps up a loose thread from the end of Part 2. It's not a major loose end but it's still one that I thought should be dealt with.

Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.

"Normal Speech"

"Telepathy"

9) DEFENDING DRACO

It had been a long summer for British Magical Justice as the trials of the captured Death Eaters and their supporters dragged on over the months that followed the battle at Hogwarts. By now things were starting to wind down as almost all of Voldemort's inner circle had been sent through the Veil of Death and many of the lower ranking Death Eaters had been sentenced to Azkaban for terms of varying lengths depending on the severity of their proven crimes.

Voldemort's fate was still up in the air. No one could agree on what the proper punishment for him should be. Some people suggested the Veil but others objected that such a punishment was much too quick for someone who had caused so much death and suffering over the years. The dementors had all been sealed away so his soul (what was left of it) couldn't be given to them. As for just locking him away in Azkaban for the rest of his life, well no one could agree on that either, especially as the risk of him escaping would always be there and was probably greater where he was concerned than with other people.

A final decision on what to do with Voldemort continued to be postponed as his questioning never seemed to end. There were any hardly any trials that happened where he wasn't called as a witness in some capacity, whether that meant revealing things that his former supporters had done, or giving background on certain spells or curses, there always seemed to be more information to be gotten out of him.

Now, however, as the summer was drawing to a close, the cases that were being heard concerned mostly lower level supporters and outlying possible crimes, including by people who were still underage. These turned out to include Draco Malfoy and many of his fellow Slytherins. After Voldemort's defeat Malfoy Manor had been searched and a large number of parchments had turned up with many of the dark wizard's notes. A few of them referred to his "Hogwarts Fifth Column" and contained the names of the students whom Malfoy had recruited on Voldemort's orders to help when the latter invaded the school.

"Charles" Dumbledore mentally called Xavier the weekend after Harry arrived back at the school, "are you there?"

"I'm here old friend" said Xavier, "what can I do for you?"

"For me personally? Not much" said Dumbledore, "I'm contacting you to possibly help young Draco Malfoy."

"Why?" asked the professor, "what's happened to him?"

Dumbledore quickly explained that young Malfoy was facing a charge of collaborating with Voldemort. Since he was still underage and hadn't participated in the battle he would be having a hearing at the DMLE in front of Amelia Bones rather than a trial in front of the Wizengamot.

"I see" said the professor, "do you want me to testify on Malfoy's behalf?"

"Yes please" said Dumbledore.

"Give me the details and I will be there once I've contacted young Mr. Malfoy himself" said the professor, "he should know about me." Dumbledore agreed with this and the two broke contact. It was still early in the day in New York and Xavier knew he could contact Malfoy without bothering him at some inconvenient hour.

"Draco Malfoy?" the professor sent his thoughts out, "it's Professor X. Can you hear me?"

"Professor?" Malfoy's reply came at once. He sounded surprised.

"Yes" said the professor.

"This is a surprise" said Malfoy, "what can I do for you?"

"Albus told me about your upcoming hearing" the professor answered, "would you be willing to have me come and testify on your behalf?"

"You would do that?" asked Malfoy sounding even more surprised as if he couldn't believe that anyone would help him in such a way.

"Of course I would" said the professor, "you helped save Hogwarts. Without your letter who knows what would have happened? Are you still keeping what you did a secret?"

"For the most part yes" said Malfoy, "although it's not like anyone will believe me if I tell them. They'd think I was just trying to get out of trouble."

"Maybe not if you tell them" said the professor, "however if I tell them and show them your letter, which I still have, they might well be more inclined to listen."

"Okay" said Malfoy, "but please don't let it become known outside of the hearing. Many of my classmates and peers are children of Death Eaters who have been executed, just like my father was."

"Have no fear of that" said the professor who said good-bye to Malfoy before breaking the connection. Without pausing the professor summoned the X-Men to his office for a meeting. There was no training that day so they weren't in uniform.

"Thank you for coming so promptly" said the professor as the members of the team took seats in the office.

"Of course professor" said Scott, "what's going on?"

The professor explained what was happening with Draco Malfoy's upcoming hearing and that he had offered to give testimony on young Malfoy's behalf.

"That would be a good thing" said Sirius, "considering who Draco's father was and with his exposure to Voldmort he's going to need all the help he can get. Your testimony will carry weight."

"Our testimony" said Xavier, "I would like the team to come to the hearing with me although I don't expect everyone to speak. Just you all being there will send its own message."

"Is this all really necessary?" asked Bobby, "doesn't Madame Bones know that Draco was the person who told us about the attack?"

"No" said Xavier, "for his own safety Draco wanted his name kept out of it. Albus told Madame Bones that a reliable informant told him about the pending attack but didn't tell her who it was for safety reasons. She'll find out from us when we tell her and I will show her the letter Draco wrote to me."

"If I know Amelia that will convince her" said Sirius, "will anyone else be at the hearing?"

"Albus will be there" said Xavier, "and I believe he said that Draco's mother Narcissa will be there too as his guardian."

"Narcissa's my cousin" said Sirius, "Andromeda and Bellatrix are her sisters."

"Bellatrix Lestrange?" asked Warren, "that crazy woman that Neville killed?"

"The very same" said Sirius, "those sisters are so different from each other. Bellatrix was stupidly crazy. Andromeda broke away from the family to marry a muggleborn and was disowned for it until I brought her back into the family. Narcissa is very much a pureblood princess but from what I know about her she never liked Voldemort and didn't take his mark. She only put up with him because Lucius was such a big supporter of his but from what Andromeda wrote to me some time ago she was quite happy when Voldemort was beaten."

"Good for her" muttered Jean.

"The hearing is on Wednesday at the ministry" said Xavier getting things back on track, "when we're there I'll be the main speaker since Draco wrote to me. None of you have to say anything unless you want to. You can think about it between now and then." Harry raised a hand.

"I'd like to say something" he said when the professor looked at him.

The day before Malfoy's hearing Sirius portkeyed Harry, the rest of the team, and Professor Xavier over to Potter Castle to spend the night so as not to be too out of sync with British time the next day when they needed to go to the ministry. Harry found it a bit ironic that he had only been back in New York for less than a week before he was off again on another trip but at least this trip wasn't for pleasure and would only last for two days.

The team were all quite impressed with Potter Castle. Hank, in particular, was very interested both in its history and its design as a medieval fortress. He spent a lot of that afternoon prowling around the various parts of the castle and inspecting it in detail. He also was very taken with the library although Harry refused to let him see the Necronomicon and wouldn't point out where in the library it was kept.

Harry made a point to introduce the team to his parents' portraits and Professor Xavier in particular spent some time getting to know the Potters.

The next morning Dumbledore arrived at the castle to give Xavier a portkey to the hearing.

"I need to go on ahead of you" the old wizard said, "to let Amelia know that some witnesses will soon be arriving. Come as soon as you're all ready." With that Dumbledore apparated away.

Xavier told the X-Men to suit up and join him so they could all pop over to the hearing. As soon as the team was there they all took hold of the provided portkey and the professor spoke the activation phrase.

The X-Men arrived in a conference room in the DMLE. To say that their arrival was a surprise to most of the others in the room would be rather accurate. There weren't that many people there. Director Bones was there to preside over the hearing. Dumbledore was there to act as a witness and an advocate for Draco Malfoy who was accompanied to the hearing by his mother Narcissa. She seemed to be quite surprised to the see the X-Men arrive. Two aurors were also present for security reasons but they were both known to the X-Men as one was their colleague Moody and the other was Nymphadora Tonks. There was no court reporter as this wasn't a meeting of the Wizengamot for a full trial but Director Bones did have a dicta quill to write down everything said in the hearing on a stack of parchment that she had.

Director Bones was the first one to recover from the X-Men's unexpected entrance.

"Hello" she said addressing the team, "X-Men, Professor X, this is a surprise. What brings you all here just now?"

"We're here to be witnesses in defense of Draco Malfoy" said the professor which made Bones' eyebrows go up.

"I see" she said, "in that case should we actually have a hearing or should I just acquit him now?"

"You should have the hearing" said Dumbledore, "while having the X-Men come to young Malfoy's defense should be enough to acquit him I think you should know exactly what their reasons are for doing this. It's important for you to learn it."

"Very well" said Bones accepting this statement, "then let's begin. I'm very interested to hear this case now." She called the hearing to order, began the dicta quill writing, and addressed Draco Malfoy directly.

"Mr. Malfoy" she said to him, "you are accused of working for Lord Voldemort and attempting to recruit people at Hogwarts to his cause to help capture the school when he attacked on this past June 10th. How do you answer this?"

"It's not a simple answer Madame Director" said Malfoy, "do you want me to swear a magical oath before I tell you my story? Or take some veritaserum?"

"You would do that?" asked the head of the DMLE.

"I will if I have to" said Malfoy, "hopefully it won't be necessary because there are others who can confirm my story but if you want me to I'll do it."

Amelia Bones gave Draco Malfoy a long, penetrating look.

"Tell me your story first" she said, "if I need you to tell it again with either oath or truth potion I will but maybe that won't be needed. So tell me about what happened between you and Voldemort."

"Very well" said Malfoy and he began to tell Director Bones his story. He told her about how he had grown up in a pureblood supremacist household where he had been indoctrinated – mostly by his father – in the dark pureblood mind set. Voldemort, his war, and what he stood for had been romanticized for him when he was growing up and he had been taught to revere the Dark Lord and his cause. This had lasted until earlier that year when he actually met Lord Voldemort in person and learned what an axe-crazy person he really was.

"I thought he was supposed to be this wonderful leader who would lead us to a new golden age of pureblood supremacy" said Malfoy, "what he actually turned out to be was this mad maniac who would have gotten us all killed. He tortured and killed his own people for the slightest failings and even sometimes for fun. I still get nightmares when I remember how he had a bunch of his followers take turns torturing the same person. And this was someone my father said I should look up to? This was someone whose ranks I was expected to join?

"Back when Magneto and his Brotherhood invaded Hogwarts Lightning said to me that it didn't matter how pure or tainted my blood was if I was dead. I didn't really understand what he meant until after I met Voldemort. Joining the dark lord would have meant becoming a sadistic killer and / or torturer. I, I can't do that. I like feeling smug and superior, but I can't kill anyone. I can't commit murder. I was told I was going to be marked as his follower as soon as I was of age, whether I liked it or not. I had no idea how to get out of it that wouldn't have led to me being tortured and killed myself.

"I was summoned home over Easter break by my father and it was after I got home that I was given a task..." Here Malfoy explained how Voldemort had ordered him pass information to his house mates and get them ready to support Voldemort when he attacked Hogwarts. In effect he was being ordered to recruit new followers to the Death Eater cause.

"I spent some time worrying about what I could do or who I could tell to warn people about this attack" said Malfoy. "I couldn't go to the headmaster. There's no way people wouldn't notice if I did. No matter how stealthy I might be about it very little stays secret at Hogwarts. I might have been able to tell Professor Snape but he had been exposed as a spy against the Dark Lord."

"Why didn't you come to the ministry?" asked Director Bones, "more specifically why didn't you come to the DMLE and speak to me personally?"

"For the same reason I couldn't go the headmaster" said Malfoy, "people would see me. I'd heard enough from my father to know that there were hidden supporters of the Dark Lord working here even in the DMLE. I didn't know who they were and if one of them saw me word would get back to the Dark Lord and I didn't want to think about would happen to me then. Besides, I'm still a kid. Would you have believed me?"

"Yes" said Madame Bones but she didn't elaborate instead asking Malfoy, "so what did you do?"

"The problem I had was to get the information of the Dark Lord's plans to someone who could do something about it without anyone else knowing the information came from me" said Malfoy, "I needed someone whom I wasn't known to be connected with who could pass on the information I sent them to the people who could do something about it while at the same time keeping my name out of it.

"Eventually I realized that Professor X was such a man."

"And how do you know him?" asked Madame Bones.

"I don't really" said Malfoy, "before today we'd only met in person once and that was the day when he came to Hogwarts and healed Professor Snape of Cruciatus insanity. It's not a secret that Professor X and the headmaster are old friends. I think that was even mentioned in the Prophet once – "

"It was" said Dumbledore.

"Also" continued Malfoy, "people knew that Lightning and I were enemies – "

"No, we're not" said Lightning. Malfoy shot him a rueful smile.

"I know we're not enemies now" he said, "but almost the whole school saw our duels the first time we met. Hardly anyone knows how things are between us today."

"This is true" conceded Lightning with a brief nod of his head.

"I also had an interesting encounter with the whole team earlier that same day" continued Malfoy, "which didn't go well for me. That was my own fault though."

"Minerva and Severus told me about that" put in Dumbledore, "I'm glad you see that now."

"My point" said Malfoy "is that as far as I could tell no one would associate me with the X-Men on friendly terms, which meant that Professor X was my best hope. I wrote him a letter telling him everything I could about the Dark Lord's plans and sent it off with my owl hoping for the best. The professor contacted me telepathically the next evening to tell me he'd gotten the letter and he had passed the information on to the headmaster. I was very relieved to hear it."

Director Bones turned to look at Professor X.

"Are you able to confirm Mr. Malfoy's story?"

"Yes" said the professor, "as Mr. Malfoy said, I only met him on that one occasion after healing Professor Snape and then only for a few minutes. We could not be said to be acquainted with each other to any degree."

"Understood" said Director Bones.

"On Tuesday April 11th" continued the professor, "I was having breakfast along with all of my students when an owl arrived carrying a letter that was addressed to me." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment.

"This is a copy of that letter" said Xavier, "I had the original duplicated and notarized by a Magical Notary in Colony Alley in New York. I believe the headmaster will vouch for it." He held out the letter and Dumbledore came over and took it from him. Dumbledore unfolded the parchment and examined it.

"I can certify" he said, "that this is a genuine copy of the original letter in all details. I can attest that the handwriting is Draco Malfoy's. Please read it for yourself Madame Director." Dumbledore handed the letter to Director Bones who read the letter to herself before giving it to Dumbledore who returned it to Xavier.

"Professor X" said Bones, "please read that letter out loud for the record."

"All right" said the professor who spent the next several minutes reading Malfoy's letter aloud in the hearing. The X-Men, Dumbledore, and Director Bones listened in silence since they already knew what was in the letter but Moody, Tonks, and Narcissa Malfoy didn't know the contents of the letter until that moment and all three of them were taken by surprise by what they heard. When it was over Tonks looked at Draco with new respect while Moody growled something about how Draco ought to get a medal.

"I'm so proud of you" said Narcissa as she hugged Draco, "you were so brave to send that letter. If the Dark Lord had found out – "

"I'm really glad he didn't" said Draco.

"Professor X" said Director Bones speaking again, "what do you think would have happened if young Mr. Malfoy had not sent you that letter."

"I have no doubt that Hogwarts would very likely have fallen to Voldemort" said the professor, "my X-Men wouldn't have known to come help defend the school. The Avengers wouldn't have been there either. Dr. Strange and the Ancient One wouldn't have come to help as well. Lastly, since I wouldn't have known anything I wouldn't have been able to tell Albus anything so he and the staff wouldn't have known either."

"That's quite right" said Dumbledore speaking up now, "it was only after Professor X warned me about young Malfoy's letter and what was in it that I began making preparations to defend Hogwarts. Without that warning most of us would have had a lie in that day as it was Saturday and professors like to sleep late as much as the students do. There would have been no one to stop Voldemort and his minions from entering the school."

"Wouldn't the wards have told you the school was being attacked?" asked Bones.

"Yes" said Dumbledore, "but remember I would have been asleep when they went off. They would've woken me up but in the time it would have taken me to get everyone else up and ready to face the Death Eaters they would already have entered the school grounds and I don't want to think about what might have happened. I fear that there would have been a considerable casualty count. Such a catastrophe was averted because we were warned in time by Mr. Malfoy's letter."

Director Bones listened to Dumbledore and nodded her head before addressing the rest of the room.

"Does anyone else have anything they wish to say?" she asked. Lightning looked over at Professor X who nodded at him. The youngest X-Man took a breath and stood up.

"I do" he said. Madame Bones nodded at him to proceed.

"Draco Malfoy and I have met a few times over the last year and a half or so" said Lightning, "we definitely didn't get off on the right foot. Madame Bones, you were at Hogwarts after Magneto and his Brotherhood tried to take the school. I believe you were even in the entrance hall when young Mr. Malfoy attempted to attack me and, well, am I correct in thinking that you saw what happened between us after that?"

"I did" said Madame Bones.

"Right" said Lightning, "if that had been my only encounter with Draco Malfoy I would have assumed he was just some spoiled brat. Actually I did think that until the day his letter arrived for the professor. I was there when that happened. All of us were. The professor read his letter out loud to us. I agree with what both Professor X and Headmaster Dumbledore have said. If Malfoy hadn't written that letter Hogwarts would probably have been captured by Voldemort.

"We X-Men fought Voldemort that day. He wasn't easy to beat nor did we expect him to be. At the same time he wasn't the worst foe we've faced. Magneto is probably more powerful in terms of sheer power (he and the headmaster did fight each other to a standstill). Prince Namor the Submariner would probably have beaten Voldemort to within an inch of his life. And as for Juggernaut – "

"If Juggernaut had fought Voldemort there wouldn't have been anything left of Voldemort afterwards" put in Iceman.

"Right. What he said" continued Lightning. "Where Voldemort ranks among our foes in terms of power level isn't the point though. He is a very powerful, evil, dangerous person who was trying to recruit Mr. Malfoy to be one of his minions in a manner that didn't allow Mr. Malfoy to say 'no.' Draco Malfoy knowingly put himself in danger when he wrote his letter to warn us about what Voldemort was planning. He knew that if he was found out he would likely be killed in a very painful manner but he went ahead and sent us that letter anyway. Anyone who would do something like that deserves respect. No one who is just a 'spoiled brat' could ever, or would ever, do what he did. He did what he had to do. Because of Draco Malfoy's letter Hogwarts was saved and Voldemort was defeated. That's all I have to say. Thank you for your time."

Lightning sat down once he was finished speaking. He looked over at Draco who was mouthing "thank you" at him. Lightning nodded to him in acknowledgment while on the inside he was still processing the irony that, considering their past history, he, of all people, had stood up to defend Draco Malfoy in court. Of course Malfoy still didn't know who Lightning really was and the young mutant wizard intended to keep it that way. After all, Malfoy might now be friendly with Lightning the X-Man, but the same couldn't said about Malfoy's relationship with Harry Potter.

"Well said" Cyclops murmured to Lightning in a low voice. The other X-Men and the professor all indicated agreement with Cyclops.

"Do all of you X-Men agree with your mentor and Lightning?" asked Madame Bones. One by one each of the X-Men answered that, yes, they did agree that Draco had done the right thing and without his letter things would have been very different at Hogwarts. Madame Bones thanked all of them for what they said. She took a few moments to reflect before giving her decision.

"I must admit" she finally said, "that this has been a far more interesting case than I expected when I came here today. First things first: Mr. Malfoy, obviously I'm going to acquit you."

"Thank you" said Draco Malfoy while his mother looked relieved.

"But somehow that doesn't seem like enough" said Bones, "considering what you did, the risk you took, and having not only the headmaster here but also the X-Men and their mentor all come here today to testify on your behalf makes me think you should have been recognized for this. If it wasn't your own stated desire that this not be generally known I would recommend you for at least the Distinguished Magical Service Medal and maybe even an Order of Merlin. But you don't want that to happen."

"No, I don't" said Draco, "I won't deny that having that kind of recognition would be nice but I still have to go to school with the children of the other Death Eaters. Many of those Death Eaters either died during the battle, were executed after trials, or are in prison for a long, long time. And as the headmaster and Professor X both said that came about because I wrote that letter. In their eyes I would be the traitor who sold them all out. What would my life be worth after that? Whether at Hogwarts or in magical Britain at all? Maybe someday the truth can be made known but not now."

"Very well Mr. Malfoy" said Director Bones, "I'll respect your wishes in this matter. You are cleared of all charges. Everyone will know that but the record of the case will be sealed until you decide otherwise."

"Thank you" said Malfoy in relief.

"Professor X," continued Amelia, "Lightning, and all of you X-Men, thank you for coming today. You too Headmaster. This case is closed."

Everyone got up from their seats. Draco Malfoy and his mother came over to Professor X and the X-Men.

"Thank you professor" Draco said, "thank you Lightning. Thank you all for coming. I really mean it."

"I thank you too" said Narcissa whom Draco then presented to the professor and his students. Professor X took Narcissa's hand and kissed the back of it in the approved wizarding manner.

"We were glad to be of help" said the professor while the other X-Men all nodded in agreement.

"We are in your debt" said Narcissa, "as regent for House Malfoy I wish to say that if you ever need anything from us you have only to ask."

"I fully agree with that" said Draco.

After the hearing was over but before the X-Men returned to America Dumbledore visited Potter Castle where Xavier had a chat with him. Xavier learned that most of the students whose names were on Malfoy's list had any potential charges against them dropped after being questioned once.

"Most of them were still underage" said Dumbledore, "and since they were all confined to the castle during the battle none of them actually did anything. It was decided to let the matter go for them. It was only those students who were already of age who had to face actual hearings. Many of them were exonerated because they also didn't actually do anything and because quite a few of them felt that they were being pressured to join Voldemort whether they wanted to or not. There were a few of age students who were "more enthusiastic" I guess you could say and they may still face some charges but it won't be too bad as none of them had the Dark Mark yet."

"And young Draco?" asked Xavier.

"He faced a hearing because he was seen as being the ringleader for Voldemort's inside group" said Dumbledore, "and if he'd been truly guilty his underage status wouldn't have saved him. I'm very glad you and the X-Men came to support him today. My word alone might have gotten him off but it wouldn't have been guaranteed. It mattered that the whole story was told without any of it being secondhand."

"He really deserves to be recognized for what he did" said Xavier, "it's too bad that he can't be due to safety concerns, even if it's by his own choice."

"Hopefully it won't always be that way" said Dumbledore.

The next morning the X-Men went back to America and life went back to normal, or as normal as life ever can be when you're a member of the X-Men, and, in Harry's and Sirius' cases, wizards.

(To Be Continued)

A/N - That's all for this week. Meanwhile please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. Stay safe and well everyone.