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Tansy nodded and started making the tea and setting up the tray. Draco went to the corner cabinet and unlocked it with his wand. He pulled out the small vial of the potion he took for his headaches and downed it. Draco sighed in relief as the pressure let up its vice-grip on his forehead. |
He locked the cabinet back up and turned to find Tansy about to lift the loaded tea tray. He plucked the tray from her grasp. |
"I've got this. You go enjoy yourself." |
Tansy started wringing her hands again, "If you're sure you don't need anything else, Master Draco?" |
Draco smiled down at the elf. "Go," he said gently, "You've earned a night off. Go have some fun." |
"Thank you, Master Draco," Tansy said. She was gone in a "pop" leaving him standing alone in the kitchen holding a tea tray. |
Draco made his way back to the study. Molly looked up at him guiltily as he walked into the room. The normally vivacious woman looked haunted and much older than the last time he saw her. |
Draco sat the tea tray on the coffee table. Hermione leaned forward to pour for him and Molly and handed each a cup before taking her own. |
"How's your head?" she asked quietly. |
"Better," he replied, squeezing her knee. |
He arched his eyebrow in silent communication. Why is she here? his look clearly said. Hermione shook her head slightly and frowned. You're not going to like it, she returned. |
Draco sighed and took a fortifying sip of his tea. He was content to wait out the Weasley matriarch. He could guess what her intentions were in coming here today. They may have disowned their son, but he was still their son. |
Molly set down her cup and saucer with a slight clink of the china. Draco watched her over the rim of his own cup as she took a deep breath. Draco imagined he could visibly see her gathering her courage around her, like a warm blanket on a cold, winter's day. |
She gave them a pleading look as she started to speak, "I hope that you'll both hear me out. I know I have no right to ask this," she paused and took a deep breath. Draco could see the tears welling up in her eyes. "Please have mercy on my son." |
"Molly...." Hermione started in a pained voice. |
"I know he didn't mean it," Molly pleaded, "I know he's sorry. He can't have meant to kill you, Hermione. Not Ron." |
Draco hated this. He hated seeing the pain and desperation on Molly Weasley's face. She just couldn't fathom that her son would be capable of trying to kill his wife. Draco hated the pain that would follow tomorrow as Molly Weasley was forced to realize how far her son had fallen. |
"Molly," Hermione started again. |
He could hear the tears choking her voice. He felt sorry for Molly, but he was starting to hate her as well for putting Hermione through this. Draco set his cup down and took Hermione's from her. She leaned into his chest and started to cry. Draco drew her into a protective embrace. Hadn't she already been through enough at the hands of this family? Hadn't Hermione already given enough? |
"He's not sorry," Draco said softly to Molly, stroking Hermione back, "As much as it pains me to tell you this, he did mean to kill Hermione. And me." |
Molly started to shake her head in denial. Tears were streaming down her face. |
"Molly, I'm sorry. I know you don't want to believe it. What parent would?" Draco said kindly. |
"Please," Molly pleaded at him, her hands clasped together in front of her, "I'll give you anything. I'll get down on my knees and beg. Just have mercy on my son." |
Draco swallowed hard. He was uncomfortable with this. He couldn't give her what she wanted. It wouldn't be right. His whole family would forever be looking over their shoulder in fear of Ronald Weasley. Minerva would probably relapse and start having nightmares again. He wasn't going to put them through that. |
He settled his face into stern resolve. It wasn't right that she was putting them in this position. Her son attacked them. Almost killed Draco. Traumatized Minerva. Caused worry and grief for his family. |
"Molly, I'm only going to say this once," Draco said in a hard tone, ice laced with steel, "There will be no mercy for Ronald Weasley. He attacked Hermione with the intent to kill her. Had I not stepped in front of her, she would be dead, along with our unborn children. I am not the man my father was. I'm not cruel or unfeeling, but I won't ask for leniency for someone that tried to kill my soulmate or our children. He's going to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban. You need to accept that." |
Molly's eyes narrowed at him in anger, "This is all your fault," she spat, "If you hadn't flaunted your relationship around for everyone to see, none of this would've happened." |
Hermione burst from his embrace. He thought he could see sparks fly from the ends of her curly hair. She rounded on Molly. "How dare you!" she growled at the woman. "How dare you try to place blame on us for his actions!" |
"I'm sorry," Molly said, trying to placate Hermione's anger. |
"Get out," Hermione ground out, "Get out of our home." |
"Please, Hermione," Molly tried again, rising from her seat, "How would you feel if it were one of your children? Wouldn't you do anything in your power to try to save them?" |
"I wouldn't place the blame on the victims," Hermione spat at her. |
Draco rose from his seat and stepped between the two women. He guided Molly over to the fireplace, "Molly, it's been a very stressful day for us. I empathize with you, but we're not going to be swayed. It's time for you to go. I can't have you continuing to upset Hermione." |
"He's my son, Draco," Molly murmured weakly. |
Draco took a pinch of Floo powder and threw it into the fireplace, "I know. I don't know what I would do in your shoes." |
He gave Molly a little nudge, encouraging her to step into the fireplace. She stepped into the green flames and looked regretfully at the two of them before calling out, "The Burrow." |
"The nerve of the woman," Hermione huffed behind him. |
Draco crossed back over to the sofa and sat beside Hermione again. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into his embrace. |
"Don't think too harshly of her," Draco said soothingly, "She's a desperate woman." |
"I know," Hermione murmured, "I just can't believe she tried to blame us." |
Trying to change the subject, Draco said, "Want to hear some interesting news?" |
"Sure," Hermione replied with a shrug. |
"I found out before I walked in here that Tansy is going on a date," Draco said enthusiastically. |
Hermione squealed and clapped her hands in joy. "Now that is good news. I wonder who it is. We'll have to make sure she takes regular time off. Oh, what if he's not free? That's just not right, we'll have to make sure he's freed." |
Draco let her ramble on about house elf rights. They would find a solution to any potential problems with Tansy's beau if it arose. He was just glad that the light had come back into her eyes again. It had been an exceedingly long day. |
Draco went to get Rose from school. He placed an order for dinner at Samorn's Thai Kitchen. After Samorn's son delivered the food and left the house, Draco closed down the Floo for the house. No more visitors for today. He wanted to relax with Hermione and Rose and enjoy a quiet evening watching movies, just like the Muggles do. |
Finding Hermione |
By: eBookDragon |
The Trial of Ronald Weasley |
Draco both dreaded and longed for this day. He was confident that at its end, Weasley would be gone from their lives. Draco would be able to raise Minerva and Rose as his own without worrying about Weasley undermining him. The blight of Ronald Weasley would be out of their lives. Draco had been willing to share, albeit reluctantly, but he would've done it if that was what was best for the girls. |
Hermione would face him one more time – one last time. He didn't want her anywhere near Weasley. Irrational as his fear was, he worried that Weasley would attack her again. But this was the last time they would ever have to see him again. Then Ron Weasley could fade into obscurity. A bad memory of their past. |
Draco and Hermione arrived at the Ministry early. They were currently in Draco's office avoiding the press in the atrium. Hermione was unable to sit still while they waited for the start of the trial. She paced nervously around his office. He was thankful that it was more spacious than her old office in the DME and she didn't have to dodge furniture. |
Draco's office at the Ministry was decorated similarly to his study at home. Shelves of books lined one wall. Large magical windows lined the wall behind his desk, depicting the snowy gardens at Malfoy Manor. His desk was a duplicate of the walnut executive desk he'd had before he got the partners" desk for he and Hermione to share. Black leather chairs were positioned in front of his desk. Across from the bookcase was a seating area with a black leather sofa and matching armchairs. |
Draco sat at his desk and opened The Prophet while Hermione paced around the room and was not surprised to see an article about the upcoming trial on the front page. |
Ron Weasley On Trial Today |
By: Luna Lovegood |
The Wizengamot and Magical Law Enforcement will decide the fate of Ronald Weasley today. Weasley is one of the three people responsible for bringing down Lord Voldemort. He was the friend of Harry Potter and husband of Hermione Granger. After the Second Wizarding War, Weasley briefly trained to be an Auror with Potter, but dropped out before his training could be completed. After that, Weasley played keeper for the Chudley Cannons until his retirement a few years ago to become a coach. |
Weasley was arrested on December 23 rd for attacking his wife, Hermione Granger, in the home of his longtime mistress, Lavender Brown. Draco Malfoy stepped in front of Granger and was almost killed in the attack. A source tells me that had Malfoy not stepped in front of Granger and taken the curse meant for her; she would now be dead. |
Granger and Weasley have been separated since September when Granger found out about Weasley's longtime affair. Granger attempted to do the right thing in continuing to allow Weasley access to their children, despite finding out that Weasley had been keeping the affair from her for years through the use of Memory Charms. |
Shortly after the separation, Granger asked the Minister of Magic to grant her a divorce from Weasley on the grounds of spousal abuse. Shacklebolt denied her request, citing that a wife was the property of her husband. When news broke of Hermione Granger's relationship with Draco Malfoy, Granger was given an ultimatum by Shacklebolt to return to her home and husband or lose her job. Granger chose her own safety and tendered her resignation as Head of the Department for Magical Education. |
Dear reader, this story is much more than other reporters will have you believe. It is more than a jealous husband trying to kill his wife's lover. It is more than a former Death Eater tearing apart a happy family. This is about equality. This is about everyone having the right to feel safe in their own home with their spouse. This is about the Minister of Magic himself refusing to see to the safety of a person in need to further his own antiquated ideas of marriage and the place of women in our society. |
The time has come where we as a society need to reevaluate how we treat each other. It wasn't that long ago that many of us fought a civil war and defeated those that believed there were those among us that were worth less because of their parentage. Will we now have to fight again for gender equality? |
Many of you will argue that the two issues are different – that it is wrong to kill people because of their blood. How is this different? How is it acceptable to tell a woman that she is the property of a man? How is it we accept that it is wrong to kill Muggleborns but right to force a woman to stay in an abusive relationship with her husband? How can we argue against the enslavement of Muggleborns but justify that a woman is the property of her husband? |
As we await word on the fate of Ronald Weasley, it is a time for introspection. A time to look at the women in our lives, our mothers, sisters, and daughters and ask ourselves if we would want to subject them to the same treatment that Hermione Granger has been subjected to. |
Draco must have made some noise because Hermione was at his side in a moment peering over his shoulder at the article. He handed the paper to her, and she took it from him and leaned up against his desk while she read the article. |
Draco took in her appearance. Hermione had tamed her hair up into a French twist that gave her a sophisticated look. She accentuated this with minimal makeup, pearl earrings and a strand of pearls. Her navy blue sheath dress accentuated her figure in a tasteful and understated way. Her cuff glimmered in the light from the windows. The press, or Luna more like, still hadn't commented on the significance of the cuff on her wrist. |
Hermione hummed as she closed the paper and set it back down on his desk. "Interesting," she said, "An article about Ron's trial and less than half of it is actually about Ron." |
"Maybe I should run this over to Weasley's cell," Draco teased darkly, "Get him all riled up about how unimportant he is in his own trial." |
"What if he gets off?" Hermione asked nervously. |
Draco drew her into his lap and was both pleased and nervous by how willingly she allowed herself to drawn down to him. She bit her lip as she looked down at him, looking for reassurance. |
"We've already got a contingency plan in place, remember?" he reminded her. |
"I hardly think the dungeons constitutes a contingency plan," Hermione responded drily. |
"He's not getting off," Draco said, rubbing her back. |
A knock sounded at the door, and his mother poked her head in before swinging the door open wider. She looked very similar to Hermione in a black sheath dress with diamond studs in her ears, a simple diamond necklace, and her blonde hair upswept in a chignon. Draco found it a little odd how closely their styles matched, but he knew it was all for show for the trial. The Malfoy family standing together. |
"It's time," his mother said as she came into the room. |
Hermione slid off his lap and smoothed down her skirt. Draco moved to the hook by the door and took his black Wizengamot robes off the hook with the large gold "W" emblazoned across one side and the Malfoy seal across the other. He swung the robes around to drape over his shoulders and fastened them closed. Hermione reached up and smoothed down the material to lie flat over his suit. Draco drew his arms through the wide sleeves of the robe. |
The hallways around the courtroom were lined with press and spectators. MLE guards were keeping the people pushed back to allow those with a legitimate reason for being there in first. A flurry of flashes went off at their arrival as the photographers and reporters noticed them. |
"Mr. Malfoy, how do you think the trial is going to go today?" a young female reporter asked earnestly. Draco idly wondered how old she was since she appeared not that much older than Minerva. |
"I have every confidence that we will see justice done today," Draco answered. |
"Justice for you, maybe, but what about justice for Mrs. Granger?" the young journalist said, then turned her attention to Hermione, "Mrs. Granger, are you upset that Ronald Weasley will not face trial for his abuses against you?" the reporter persisted. Draco admired her pluck. |
The question got a flood of whispered comments among the reporters and spectators. Reporters stood poised with pens in hand to take Hermione's answer to the question. |
Draco stood back so that Hermione was the focus of the group. He and his mother flanking her, supporting her, rather than the two of them supporting him as they'd done when they walked down the hallway to the courtroom. |
Hermione gripped his hand tightly and smiled slightly up at him. Now was the time to start their campaign. "Yes, I am," she started. "I am disappointed that my husband was allowed to obliviate me for years and will receive no punishment for his actions. I am disappointed that there are women all across Britain who are in similar situations with no way to escape abusive husbands." Her voice rose and rang off the vaulted ceiling, "I am disappointed that the women in our society are still viewed as the property of our husbands by our government and many of those that are responsible for making or changing the laws." |
Cheers and applause rose up from the crowd. Draco noted the faces that were approving of Hermione's speech, mostly the younger lot, and those that looked on reproachfully. |
Someone started shouting at the back of the crowd, "Stand aside! Let us pass! Prisoner coming through!" |
The photographers all had their cameras poised to witness the meeting of these two groups. Ronald Weasley appeared in the center of four MLE guards, still in his rumpled clothing that he'd been wearing for weeks, though his face wasn't bruised like it had been yesterday. Someone had covered Harry's tracks after Draco and Hermione left. |
Sparks of blue fury landed on Hermione and Draco when Weasley finally caught sight of them. His lip curled up in a snarl, especially when Draco put an arm around Hermione. |
"Still a crusading bitch, I see," he shouted at Hermione. "If only you knew the things I did to you," he snarled cryptically, "You wouldn't be so quick to use your so-called abuse for political purposes." |
The group of reporters heard him, unfortunately. They started directing their questions to Weasley, asking him what memories he had removed from Hermione. Weasley opened his mouth as if he wanted to divulge the information only to close it again when words refused to pour out. A look of angry frustration crossed Weasley's face as he realized that he wouldn't be able to answer the reporters" questions. |
Hermione looked shaken by his statement. Until Draco saw Harry's knuckles yesterday and spoke with him about the reasoning behind it, neither one of them had considered the extent to which Weasley had obliviated Hermione. He, like Hermione, had thought it was only to keep her from finding out about Lavender. Harry found out yesterday that it was much more sinister than that, but refused to divulge the information, going so far as to ensure that Weasley couldn't disclose the secret either. |
Weasley was pushed into the courtroom by the MLE guards. Draco saw his mother grasp Hermione's hand tightly behind her back, out of view of the cameras. Draco watched with concern as Hermione pushed down her feelings about Weasley's cryptic revelation and let her face resume a neutral expression once again. |
"Let's take our seats now," Draco murmured to them, wanting to get Hermione out of the spotlight for a few moments before the trial began. |
He guided them over to the benches faced the tribunal. Harry walked in with two of his Aurors that Draco remembered from yesterday. A petite, red-head and a large, craggy man flanked Harry. All three were dressed in the formal Auror robes, their black military style jackets with capes attached by a gold chain made for an intimidating sight. Harry acknowledged Draco with a stiff nod of his head and moved past him to sit beside Hermione. The redhead sat on the other side of Harry, while the large man took up a seat beside his mother. |
The Minister of Magic's podium dominated the center of the half circle of benches. Wizengamot members flanked either side with Magical Law Enforcement judges arrayed in a half circle around the Minister and Wizengamot in the benches above. |
Judges in their gray MLE robes started filling in the seats behind him. Draco was surprised to see so many. Very rarely did so many judges show up for a trial. They mostly drew lots to divvy up the workload. Usually, the Wizengamot didn't participate in trials either unless the actions of the person on trial were particularly heinous or the accused was famous. For this particular case, one of the Golden Trio was on trial, and most were here for spectator value rather than any real desire to ensure justice was done. |
Theo strolled into the courtroom with Daphne on his arm, both draped in Wizengamot robes. Greg wasn't far behind them. Blaise, Tracey, Hannah, and Neville were seated on the other side of the Minister's podium, near the witness stand. |
Draco spotted Percy Weasley among the group of adult Weasleys seated across the aisle from them, also in his robes. Draco noted that Ginny was absent. Molly Weasley looked distraught; her face crumpled as she leaned heavily on Arthur. |
Minister Shacklebolt strode into the courtroom from a side door, black Wizengamot robes billowing out behind him. The front doors of the courtroom slammed close, thus starting the proceedings. He shot a look of disgust in Weasley's direction, bound in the center of the room, and curiously, a glare in Draco and Hermione's direction. Draco considered that the Minister must blame them in some way for this entire debacle. |
Minister Shacklebolt banged his gavel on the podium in front of him, calling the courtroom to order. Silence fell across the room. Shacklebolt stared down at Weasley from his elevated perch. |
Shacklebolt looked sternly down at Weasley before addressing him, "Ronald Bilius Weasley, you are on trial today for the attempted murder of Draco Lucius Malfoy. After reading the dictation of your interrogations, it is clear that you attacked on the afternoon of December 23rd with the intent to kill. Your failure in the attempt does not lessen the consequences." |
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