Battered

Chapter 6: Meetings

Disclaimer: same as always… I only own the characters you do not recognise… everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling…

A/N: As always, thanks to all the people that reviewed! You guys make my day! And nice guesses for Draco’s reaction but guess you’ll all just have to wait and see! *wink*
Okay then, here we go!

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Recap (chapter 5):
“Right,” croaked Draco from the bathroom doorway his jaw clenched and, for some reason, hurt in his eyes, “If that’s all then, let’s get started.”
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After a slightly awkward silence, the group decided to get started on preparing their court case. Truthfully, they were rather impressed by the professional attitude Harry had taken through all of this; it made things a lot easier than they might have been.

“According to this profile, the client has only stated one day in particular that the ‘non-consensual sexual acts’ happened. This was the 15th October…” murmured Harry thoughtfully, “Malfoy, I’m assuming that since this encounter took place in one of your company’s muggle buildings that it had security cameras?”

“I think so, I’ve never really noticed them but I’m sure if there are then they’d only be in the corridors – privacy act for the clients…” he elaborated at the slightly confused look Blaise gave him.

“Hm, well I’ll have a look into that but first we need to know what the actual charges you’re up against. Let’s have a look…” said Harry, already flicking through the pages of the case file, “Ah, here it is… According to this, she’s only got you down for sexual harassment and non-consensual sex…”

“’Only’ got me down…” mimicked Draco incredulously, “what do you mean ‘only’! That ‘only’ could well mean my whole fucking career!”

“Yes, well hold on would you!” said Harry amusedly, “I just meant that if it’s possible to get clients with more than ten and twenty charges against them cleared then it should be possible for you too you imbecile!”

“Fucking calls me an imbecile…” muttered Draco grumpily looking anywhere but at Harry.

As Harry ignored him and kept looking through the folder, there was a sort of restless silence in the room until Ron of all people stood up so suddenly that everyone snapped their heads towards him.

“I’ve got it!” he yelled excitedly.

“And what, pray tell Weasley, do you ‘have’?” asked Harry, snickering at the put out look on Hermione’s face.

“I know how we can clear Draco!” he yelled

“Ron! Would you sit down and calmly tell us!” said Pansy

“Yeah, in a minute! Hermione… can you use one of those recordy thingies in a pensieve?” he asked in a quiet but no less excited voice.

“I think I get where you’re going with this Ron… that’s actually not a bad idea… we’d have to tamper with the camera a little for it to function in such a magical environment but I don’t see why it can’t be done…” murmured Hermione thoughtfully.

“I can,” said Draco, “we’d only be able to view the memory in the pensieve but not show anything like that in the courts because of the client privacy act… Remember, that’s why we don’t have cameras in the offices!”

“Well, at least we’d know what truly happened then! Let’s view it! Do you have a pensieve?” Blaise asked Harry, who seemed to be currently looking through them as opposed to at them and in deep thought. It was a look that was not synonymous with the Harry Potter they had known in school; his face was set in a thoughtful yet expressionless mask, his face in resting on his hands, leaning on the desk and his unfocussed eyes held certain wisdom in the deep pools of green.

“Erm… Harry…” tried Ron, cautiously waving his hand in front of Harry’s face, “er… wake up?”

When this did nothing to move him, the others decided to just wait it out and see if he came up with a better idea on his own. After about twenty minutes, he finally stirred only to notice the thoroughly bored expression on the others’ faces.

“Oh,” he started sheepishly, “right, well I’ve got an idea… we can watch the memory just for our own knowledge but I think, to get it across in the courts, we need some strong, solid, muggle evidence. We need witnesses… let me make some phone calls then we can get started on the real case…”

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“Wow… I never thought he could be like that,” said Hermione later that evening in her apartment, where the others had decided to stay for the time being, “he was so… professional… I mean, I really thought he’d fly off the handle at us but (and he would have been well expected to aswell!)… Oh, I don’t know… maybe it’s just me trying to find some of the old Harry in there…”

“Hermione, come here,” said Ron quietly, pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her, “it’s been nine long years; a lot must have changed in that time, especially for him… I don’t know about you but I’m not going to let my best mate (whether he wants to be or not) get away from us again… We’re just going to have to try our best to convince him to come back whenever we see him.”

“Heh, bet you’re almost glad for that crazy old Mrs Scott eh, Draco?” asked Pansy slyly, snuggled in Blaise’s arms.

Draco, on the other hand, did not appear to have heard her as he was staring deeply into the roaring fireplace.

“Right!” he said suddenly, standing up with an odd combination of determination and terror on his face, “I’m going to do it!”

“Do what exactly, Draco?” asked Hermione cautiously

“I’m going to go talk to him…” said Draco before promptly grabbing his coat and apparating away.

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A/N: *sings randomly* cliff-hanger heaven! Lalalalala! Hehe!(I so can't make up my own songs!)
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