The Trial
Chapter 1
Hermione groaned against a headache. Three years after the end of the second wizarding war and she was again caught at a crossroads. To testify to the truth, or to leave to rot.
Hermione knew in her mind that Draco Malfoy was not responsible for his attempts to kill Dumbledore. Knew that a scared teenager, with his family essentially hostage in their own home, was trying to act in their best interest. Or just trying not to die himself, Hermione groaned at the thought. Regardless, the way that he treated her, the blood supremacy throughout their entire schooling spoke volumes of the man he may or may not grow into.
Hermione wished the blood supremacy stopped after school, wished that the reality of the wizarding world was as inclusive as she dreamed it would be. But reality remained the same after Voldemort as it was before.
Muggleborn witches and wizards were looked down upon, the bias was more hidden now, but everywhere she went, as the most well-known muggleborn in wizarding London, there were those who watched her a little too closely, those that made sure to qualify every achievement she made with “For a muggleborn”. Even now, trying to find a career that suited her extensive talents, regardless of being a recipient of a first-class Order of Merlin, was difficult, with more rejections than offers. By luck alone she was able to receive her position as a Auror, and even that was by her association with the famous Harry Potter.
Turning back to the issue at hand, Hermione stopped in front of the court room leading to the Wizengamot. The group was prejudiced and corrupt themselves, but to turn any suspicion away from their money and families they have insisted upon this witch hunt after Voldemort fell.
Starting with those the highest in his ranks, Rabastan Lestrange, Agustus Rookwood, Antonin Dolohov, and Lucius Malfoy, the Wizengamot gave each a life sentence in Azkaban within less than 3 months of the Battle of Hogwarts. Apart from Lucius Malfoy, who was given ten years, due mostly to his sob story regarding the protection of his family and thorough renouncing any ideals of blood supremacy.
Since the expediting of those sentences, the Wizengamot has dragged its feet in the court room, gathering as many followers of Voldemort as they could. The Carrows, Greyback, Yaxley, Crabbe, Goyle, McNair, anyone who had the dark mark was gathered and thrown into prison to wait while Wizengamot dragged out the media circus as long as it could last. Every month a new death eater was on trial and their photos and obscene headlines made sure everyone showed up to the final hearings.
Every death eater family was interrogated heavily, and those in the sacred twenty-eight with death eaters in the family were dragged through the mud so those without marked death eaters could stick up their noses and continue to pretend to be better than muggleborns. Even now, 12 of the 28 families were or currently are on trial for holding the same ideals as every other family in the sacred 28.
After working their way through the known and high-ranking death eaters, the Wizengamot turned their focus to the families of the death eaters. Narcissa Malfoy was held in Azkaban for nearly a year before being put on trial and exonerated herself, and now they’ve saved the most scandalous for last.
So no, the world hadn’t changed. The sacred twenty-eight still bribed and waved their money as a magic wand to get out of whatever issues they landed themselves in, by sacrificing 12 of the families the other 16 reigned supreme. Manipulating the Wizengamot and capitalizing off the chaos following each trial.
Three years since the battle where the golden trio saved his life along with that of the young Goyle. Three years since Hermione thought she paid the life debt back to Malfoy for pretending not to recognize them. Three years since they buried family and friends, picked up the shards of their lives and tried to move on. But the circus never seems to end and no matter what Hermione can’t seem to escape the dreaded title of “Golden Girl”. Sworn to do whatever is right, no matter the consequences. Merlin, she hated that name.
She had been asked to testify in front of the Wizengamot for several other trials, depending on her involvement with those on trial. Today, she knew exactly what they wanted to hear. Had been pulled aside by Kingsley himself asking her to testify on Malfoy’s involvement in Dumbledore’s murder. The Chief Warlock had met with her as well, to all but say that they wanted her to lie on the stand and declare Malfoy a murderer. As the last of the death eaters on trial, they wanted her to stand up and lie about what happened on the Astronomy tower that night and let Malfoy take the blame while the Wizengamot painted themselves as the heros for “eradicating blood prejudice”.
Harry had initially been asked to testify, however, when it became clear what they were asking him to do, he stood up and declared them all corrupt as they attempted to use the Malfoys as a scape-goat. After the head of the Wizengamot came to Hermione, she knew they weren’t going to stop until they got someone to say what they needed to. Harry was ready to slaughter her after hearing her acceptance of their summons, he had already been close to quitting as an Auror due to the Wizengamot meddling in his department, but after their request he slammed down his resignation the next morning and walked out. Hermione watched as Ron followed suit, but stayed her hand instead of following after them.
Knowing what the Wizengamot were trying to do, spurred her into action. Pulling whatever information she could on the members, she was ready for them to try to put a child into prison, regardless of what she said. Harry and Ron were always quick to action, but she was slow and methodical in her approach to everything, and this was no different.
Taking a steadying breath, Hermione the evidence of all corruption in hand. She was going to end this catastrophe for once and for all.
Hermione entered the quiet chamber as the chief Warlock sat in his throne going through the beginning hearing formalities.
Taking a seat, she surveilled the room, all Wizengamot were in place with Gobwroing lording over in his head position as Chief Warlock. The Room was filled to bursting with Skeeter in the corner with her quick notes quill, surveilling her right back. Disgust filled her for the gossip writer, as she quickly turned her head to the center of the room. Framed by a cage, not seen for three years, sat Draco Malfoy. Chained to the inside of the cage with a familiar sneer set on his face. It was a bad day when Hermione found herself agreeing with his disgust of the farce of a trial they were putting him through. He had filled out since school, still gaunt from time spent in Azkaban, but muscular, as though he put all the time to good use.
“Mister Malfoy, you are hereby charged with conspiracy to murder and the murder of Albus Dumbledore, how do you plead?” Gobwroing looked mildly pleased at the words, as though he had already had a sentencing in mind.
Malfoy continued to stay silent, somehow, even from a cage and shackles, looking down his nose at the Wizengamot.
His representation stood up, clearing his throat, “He pleads not guilty your honor,”
The room broke out in uproar, people screamed at Malfoy for his misdeeds and threw things at the cage. Hermione felt her heart speed up.
“Order!,” Gobwroing glared at the crowd, “I will not have my hearing descend into chaos,”
What a joke, Hermione thought, He’s putting on a good show for a crowd.
Hermione turned her gaze back to Malfoy in the middle of the room, only to find him unfazed and staring back at her with cold eyes.
“Now, Mister Malfoy, strangely enough, your memory taken from that night does not show what actually happened, it appears to have been doctored in order to censor the worst of the memory and obscure it from view,” Gobwroing continued on as though nothing happened.
Hermione felt trapped in Malfoy’s gaze on hers, hearing the Chief Warlock in a distant place. If he heard the words of the chief warlock, he seemed anything but surprised.
“To remedy this lack of evidence, we summon Hermione Granger to testify what happened that night,” Gobwroing declared, the slightest bit smug.
Hermione jerked her gaze from Malfoy as she saw a look of disgust and betrayal cross his face.
Gobwroing looked at her, and Hermione felt frozen. She was about to blow up her entire life and career for someone who bullied her time and time again. Was this really what she wanted to do? It would be easier to let him rot. Let him stay in Azkaban along with her conscience.
“Any time now Ms. Granger,” Gobwroing nudged as she realized she had been frozen for a minute in her seat.
Moving quickly, Hermione took to the floor, desperate to look anywhere but at Malfoy. Running sweaty palms down her jumper, she straightened the stack of papers she held in her hands and turned to the full power of the Wizengamot.
“If you would be so gracious, I have a memory to show from the night that Professor Dumbledore was killed,” She addressed them, Gobwroing looked confused and before they could refuse the true memory of that night Hermione acted quickly and took a vial out of her pocket. Unstopping it and using her wand to throw the memory into their reactive charm on the ceiling.
Gobwroing looked furious as Harry’s memory of the Astronomy Tower played out. His view through the floorboards showing everything that happened that night as Snape pushed Malfoy out of the way and cast the unforgivable himself.
The room broke out again as Gobwroing looked down on her, he knew Harry had been there that night and wanted him to testify to a lie.
The memory came to an end and Hermione steeled herself while Gobwroing yelled at the crowd and the upset Wizengamot members.
“Harry Potter gave me this memory himself,” She announced, circling the court to address all fify-six members of the Wizengamot, “The Chief Warlock asking me to testify today against Draco Malfoy was unlawful and corrupt. I was not on the Astronomy tower that night, but I think everyone can see for themselves, Malfoy did not kill Dumbledore,” Her temper grew, and anger began to flush her face.
“The Chief Warlock came to me to ask me to lie today, and I refuse to play into his agenda,” feeling her magic flare in her along with her anger, she threw her evidence allowing her magic to guide it to the desks of each of the council, “As you can see from the information I brought along with me today, I have found the source of the doctored memory that came from Draco Malfoy. It was Chief Warlock Gobwroing himself who found the memory and ordered it doctored, by this written testament from the department of mysteries, Obturator Singlo, was ordered to find the memory and censor it, otherwise his position would be terminated,” Hermione watched at each and every Wizengamot member picked up her sheet and read, her heart raced with every word regardless of her calm exterior. “And to further show evidence, I have the memory Obturator Singlo gave to me, verified by a third party as legitimate,”
Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out another memory as Gobwroing watched on in terror. Using her wand to whip it into the charmed ceiling, she watched as Gobwroings own face filled the ceiling.
“Now, you need this job, yes?” He probed Singlo.
“Yes, Sir, but I don’t think it’s right to doctor memories like this, sir,” Singlo argued.
“I am your Chief Warlock,” the face in his memory turned tomato red, surprised that anyone would argue with him, “You will go into the Auror evidence, receive the memory of Draco Malfoy from June thirtieth 1997, and erase the segment that shows Snape killed Albus Dumbledore,” the sweat in his memory version seemed to pour off him in buckets, much like now.
“And you will do this, Today, if you want to keep your position, and keep your wife out of detainment,” Gobwroing, growled under his breath at the obturator, “Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” the close up of Gobwroing’s face got slightly smaller, as though Singlo took a step away from the threating warlock.
The memory faded quickly. Hermione was left facing a silent court. Gobwroing sat sweating on his pedestal, glaring at her.
She took a deep breath as the room went completely silent, stunned with the public confirmation of new information, “Now, what I can attest to, is Draco Malfoy’s bravery in the face of Voldemort’s most trusted, Bellatrix LeStrange. During the second wizarding war, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and I were captured,” She felt her chest tighten at the memory, “and promptly brought to the Malfoy manor where Voldemort was currently in residence,” Hermione could feel Malfoy’s surprised eyes bore into the back of her while she addressed the Wizengamot, “During this time, I was tortured, by Bellatrix LeStrange, regarding where we found the sword of Gryffindor,”
Gasps sounded around the court room. It was a known fact that she had been tortured during the war, but she refused to speak on it, and the known parties were dead before they could be tried. Airing out the dirty details of her darkest day weighed on her chest. Her throat constricted while she forced herself to relive the horrible memories.
“Before we were able to be identified thoroughly, I jinxed Harry with a stinging hex to cause his face to swell and make him unrecognizable when we were captured,” The eyes of the Wizengamot looked down on her.
“Upon arrival to Malfoy Manor, we were confronted by each of the Malfoys along with Bellatrix LeStrange. I identified myself as Penelope Clearwater and Harry as Vernon Dudley. Having gone to school with Draco Malfoy for six years at that point, we were acquainted with one another, he knew my face and name as well as knowing Harry well enough to identify, even with a swollen face. Regardless of recognizing us, he declared that neither of us were known to him, he recognized Harry Potter had been captured during the war and intentionally misidentified him,”
She paused, waiting for the entire Wizengamot to fully comprehend the full implications of what she had just stated. Heart pounding in her chest, she knew that there was still a chance she’s aired all this for nothing.
“There is no proof!” Gobwroing sprang from his seat, finger pointed directly at her, “Fellow members, you can not really be entertaining this foolish girl’s accusations,”
Another member wearing black and a scowl across her face “Herbert, sit down, we’ll deal with you in a moment,” Her declaration seemed to chastise Gobwroing into sitting, looking like a petulant child on his throne, “However, Ms. Granger, he is correct, your word alone would not be enough to indicate a moment of this magnitude,”
“I understand, your honors, allow me to present one more memory to the court,” Hermione felt her throat constrict as the woman nodded for her to proceed.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione slowly used her wand to wrench the memory of that night straight from her head. The one piece of evidence she had no desire to use.
Pushing it towards the ceiling, she refused to watch. Hearing the memory play out as she hit Harry with the stinging jinx, parading in-front of the Malfoys. Hearing every scream from her own throat, as she felt every cut from Bellatrix’s knife once more. She closed her eyes as the scar on her arm burned replaying the memory, as though it were fresh again. She clenched her sleeve, trying to use the pressure to subdue the enchanted mark.
“Enough,” the same Wizengamot member pulled the memory back from the enchantment broadcasting it to the courtroom, “We understand.”
The woman stood resolutely, turning to face her fellow, Wizengamot members, “In light of this new evidence presented, I think we have enough information to make a decision. All in favor of convicting Draco Malfoy for the murder of Albus Dumbledore?” Her voice rang out across the court.
Hermione glanced to Malfoy at her right, his gaze bored through hers from his confinement, his representation sitting uselessly to the side. No hands raised for his conviction.
“Very well, the defending Wizard is hereby declared exonerated from the charge of the Murder of Albus Dumbledore. All in favor of convicting Draco Malfoy for the conspiracy to commit murder?” the Member continued to the second charge.
Hermione turned back to face the room, feeling her heart in her chest. Less than half the Wizengamot raised their hands in favor of conviction. The Woman Wizengamot member nodded, “Very well, Draco Malfoy you are hereby exonerated from all charges, and you are free to go home,” Her authority echoed throughout the chamber, the crowd quiet and on the edge of their seats, “Allow this to be a lesson to all of us, that even in the darkest of times, even in the most dangerous of situations, with everything at risk, there is still a way to do the right thing, a way to stand up for what is right regardless of threats, a moment of kindness that can change everything,” She nodded towards Malfoy, “Even the outcome of a war.”
The room was silent, a moment of recognition happening for everyone, that should Malfoy had pointed out who they were in Malfoy Manor so long ago, they would be living in a very different world now.
Hermione looked to Malfoy, sitting in his cage looking back at her, eyes wide, shocked by her actions.
“Now, Aurors, please release the defending Wizard and take the Chief Warlock into custody for gross misconduct and use of power, as well as tampering with classified materials,” as soon as the voice of the Wizengamot spoke, the room erupted into chaos. Hermione tore her eyes from Malfoy, using her wand to send the evidence to the desk of the speaking member. The room swarmed with people, and she saw Narcissa Malfoy, tears streaming down her face looking at her with a stunned silence matching her son.
Releasing a final breath, Hermione turned and left the court room, pushing through the sea of reporters and outraged faces in her way. Determined to put the war behind her once and for all.