Ultimatum

Chapter 13
The Hearing

“The next hearing will be for the future rights of ones Draco Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy and Blaise Zabini,” the judge at the head of the courtroom said. There were fifty of them in a circle around the heads of the three people in the middle of the floor. Harry knew what the three of them were thinking, that it was one of the worst positions to be in, it made you feel little, insignificant, minute. “If this court finds you guilty you will spend the next twenty five years in Azkaban prison. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

Harry thought that Draco looked more depressed than he had ever seen the blonde wizard. Mrs Malfoy was just hugging her son, like he was the last thing that would keep her on this earth and also showing her sympathy for him for losing his love. Blaise looked slightly angry, like he had done absolutely nothing wrong and only wanted to be on the outside of this court room so that he could see Ginny again. Harry trusted what Hermione had said, that these three didn’t deserve what they were going to get.

“I have something to say for them,” Harry said, standing up from his seat near the head judge.

“And what is that?” the man asked in a voice that made anyone feel small. But Harry wasn’t going to fall for that. He was not small, he was the saviour of the wizarding world and damn it, these old men were going to listen to what he had to say!

“My best friend, who was captured by the death eaters about three and half months ago told me that these three people deserved to live in freedom.”

“Then your best friend should make a statement himself,” the man said.

“She is incapacitated,” Harry said loudly to mock the man who was acting superior. “She was hit by the killing curse by Theodore Nott, who was a practicing death eater. I killed him on the spot.” He looked at the man as though he would make a comment and then continued. “She was a prisoner of the death eaters so would know better than any of us what happened in that house. I trust her judgment and I think that since I’m the reason that you’re sitting in that high chair today instead of being in one of Voldemort’s dungeons yourself, you should trust me.”

The old man looked shocked that Harry would say such a thing to him, but then got his wits about him and began talking fast to the man beside him. Finally, he raised his head and spoke to the whole Wizengamot. “Those who believe that these three are not guilty, shoot green sparks into the air,” he said, looking at Harry who deliberately stuck his wand up and spoke the incantation to shoot green sparks. The old man counted. “Majority rules, this court finds Narcissa Malfoy, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini not guilty of death eater activity. They will be on a probationary period of one year from today and with good behaviour will be given back full rights under the law of the Ministry of Magic. If any suspicious activity occurs said persons will be given the sentence of the guilty verdict. Next!”

Harry grinned. He loved that defeated look in the man’s eyes. He looked down to the three people in the middle of the circle and found that Narcissa was now crying with happiness as she hugged her nearly immobile son. Draco looked as though he had not heard a thing that had happened and wouldn’t have cared even if he had. Blaise looked relieved and Harry was happy that he could do something for Blaise and Narcissa. Now he just needed to make Draco feel better about being out of Azkaban.

Harry met the three down at the exit of the building. Draco looked at him with red eyes, barely taking in that it was Harry Potter that he was looking at. “Thanks Potter,” he said with a slight crack to his voice. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I did, because I promised Hermione that I would.”

Draco seemed to become even sadder at that statement and suddenly he couldn’t keep in anymore everything that he had been thinking about for the last two weeks that he had been in Azkaban. “We were engaged, you know?” Draco said as he looked at Harry. “I had just asked her to marry me, we were going to have a wonderful future together. And the baby, Merlin, we were going to be parents, and my mother was finally going to be a grandmother. We had even picked out names, if it was girl, it was going to be Narcissa after my mum and we were still arguing over a boy’s name. Hermione wanted it to be Harry,” Draco looked up at Harry. “She thought you were dead. And I wanted it to be Sebastian.” Draco looked back down at the ground and began crying again. “How can that happen so fast? One minute you’re arguing over what to name your child and the next both her and the child are gone? It’s fucking magic, two words and someone’s dead, and I just want to get away from it all, away from magic and London and Wiltshire. I just want to move somewhere far away where no one knows me and no one will care about the pain that I’m going to endure for the rest of my life. I just can’t stand this fucking place any longer.” He looked down at the ground in silence.

After a few moments, when Harry was sure that Draco was done venting he said, “You have to stay here.”

“Why?” Draco asked.

“For Hermione.”

“For her funeral, of course, but then I’m leaving.”

“She’s not having a funeral, Malfoy, she’s alive.”

Draco looked dumbfounded at Harry. “How?”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hermione felt as though she was swimming. She felt as though she was swimming through a world that didn’t really exist. There was lots of light and it was very pretty.

But suddenly, she felt like she was drowning. She started choking on the water that before had been passing through her lips with absolutely no trouble. She closed her eyes and tried to hold her breath so that she wouldn’t suck in any more water.

Her eyes jerked open and she sat up, coughing and choking into her hands, wondering why no water was coming out. She stared ahead of her and saw that there was no water anymore. She felt unusually heavy; she wasn’t floating in the water anymore. Gravity had pulled her back into a bed.

She looked up away from her hands to find a very immaculate hospital room and to her side, a very startled brunet.

“Hello, Hermione,” Harry said happily.

A/N: I feel really bad about it taking so long to get this chapter up. Someone had just left a review that said that they were happy that I got the chapters up so quickly and then I stopped posting. I’m so sorry.

~Temptress