The Enemy's Ball

28. Trials and Tribulations P1

"...So you are aware of your charges?" Minister Fell said.

Draco glanced at Mcgonagall, who was sitting just across the room from him. She had announced her place there as his own personal lawyer, and Draco had had another realization that Gryffindors really were amazing people. She nodded, so Draco answered. "I'm aware. Aware of how wrong and ridiculous they are," he added that last part in his head.

"And therefore the consequences?"

Draco's head snapped up but he bit his tongue when Mcgonagall shot him a sharp look. "My student and I are both well aware of the ministry's accusations, as well as the repercussions that follow. However, we needn't be, seeing as young Mr. Malfoy is not guilty of any of them. In fact, I am inclined to ask why this trial is even occurring. The young boy has done nothing wrong." Mcgonagall, of course, knew Draco's charges and therefore exactly why a trial was being held, but Draco admired her almost Slytherin way of retrieving more information.

The minister looked around nervously at his colleagues. Some looked away just as timidly, but one stepped forward. "I will remind you that it is our place to ask the questions, Ma'am" the same official from before said.

"Then get on with it already!" Harry said from behind Draco. Draco sighed, what an idiot.

"Mr. Potter, please refrain from speaking if you are not in the witness box. We will have you removed from the court if we must," Fell said.

Draco heard some grumbling and a thump and then a muffled, "Hermione!" and he was grateful for Granger's tact at keeping her friends in line.

"Ahem," the minister said. "If we could get back on track?"

Mcgonagall sat straight in the chair besides Draco's chained one. "I wasn't aware we were in charge of this conversation. Mr. Sopex has already mentioned twice that we are not the ones asking the questions. So do move on," she said.

Minister Fell looked flustered again, and he shuffled his papers around. "We will list the charges from least offensive to the worst. You will have five minutes in between to defend your client. Charge One: Breaking your parole."

Mcgonagall raised an eyebrow, "How has my client broken his parole?"

The official in the back, Mr. Sopex, stepped forward again. "He wasn't supposed to miss any of his classes at Hogwarts."

"And he hasn't."

"He was late on the first day of school for Potions."

Mcgonagall glanced at Draco, who bit his lip. She sighed, "You can hardly count that as breaking parole. He missed no instruction."

"The charge still stands."

"Then I request you hear the reason why."

The minister looked around, "Fine."

Draco cleared his throat, "I was late to Potions on the first day because of Harry Potter." His mouth drew into a hard line and he fought off the guilt of using Harry as a scapegoat. Potter would forgive him though, he knew. That is, he would if Draco didn't get thrown in Azkaban. A shudder wracked through him but he fought it off.

Murmuring from the stands and then, "Harry Potter, is he lying?"

Harry's footsteps and then he was in front of Draco, facing the Minister. "It is true sir. I caused Draco to be late."

"How?"

An auror that had been standing off to the side until then, walked Harry to the witness stand. Harry walked in and sat down, facing Draco. He tilted his head in a silent question and Draco allowed the corners of his mouth to quirk up slightly. Harry seemed satisfied because he answered the question. "I stole his bag," he said simply.

"That's not a good enough- what?" The minister asked.

"I stole his bag. It was in our shared dorm room and I summoned it and he had to get it back from me before we could go to class. If you check the records you can see that I was also late on that day," Harry explained.

The Minister blinked and looked around, again. Mr. Sopex shrugged. "Right, well, then I suppose that charge can be removed since it wasn't your fault," the minister said, looking very conflicted.

Mcgonagall nodded. "It was never a real problem anyways," she muttered.

The Minister didn't seem to hear her, because he continued on, looking more confused by the second. "The next charge is being a follower of You-Know-Who."

Now that Draco could see Harry's face, he understood why Hermione had to whack him to keep the peace. Harry looked, for lack of a better term, extremely angry. Draco glared at him, hoping that it would be enough to keep him quiet. As flattering as it was that Harry was so upset on his behalf, Harry wouldn't be able to help anyone if he couldn't keep himself calm.

Mcgonagall tsked, "That charge was already refuted in Mr. Malfoy's previous trial. He was declared not-guilty, a victim of circumstances far out of reach."

The minister shuffled his notes once more and cleared his throat. "Yes, well since he broke his parole the charge was reopened."

"We just declared him to be innocent of that. Certainly that would equate to the other charge being dropped." Mcgonagall said.

This time, all of the ministry officials looked at each other, some turned noticeably red, and they all looked embarrassed. "Yes, I see. Then um," Fell looked around again, "charge dropped."

Harry grinned from his seat and Draco bit his lip not to match it. It wasn't fair that Harry's emotions were so contagious. It made it very difficult to maintain a cool facade when Harry was so ecstatic.

But the happiness didn't last too long, because the minister began to read the last charge. Harry's smile fell, and Draco blinked hard. Mcgonagall's hand clenched Draco's shoulder in what would be a comforting way to anyone else, but to Draco it meant that she was not as sure of the outcome of this accusation. Draco felt the frigid chill of despair wash through him. He met Harry's green eyes and knew the Gryffindor saw right through him.

Draco was scared. He was terrified because their ability, or lack thereof, to prove his innocence on this next charge was the only thing standing between him and Azkaban. If they lost this trial, he would be sent to spend the rest of his life besides real death eaters. Besides criminals, murderers, his father. All the bad wizards you can think of. He would be sent to stay there. Forever.

Harry saw all of this in Draco's eyes, and despite the circumstances, he couldn't bring himself to panic the way Draco was inside. He knew that Draco would make it through this trial, and come out innocent. And if he was declared guilty, which he wouldn't be, Harry would do anything to keep him from going to Azkaban, he wouldn't allow it. 

He tried to send these emotions over to Draco, but the blond was too far into his own panic. Harry wished more than anything that he could get out of his seat and go over to Draco and just hold him close, comfort him, kiss him softly- WHAT. Harry's head slipped from his hands and he fell face first onto the podium in front of him.

He knew he had a kind of crush on Draco, because of the soup incident, but he didn't realize it was so strong. He thought it might have just been a flip of the enemy to friend switch, making his feelings all out of whack. Or something. He never thought it was strong enough to make him want to kiss Draco. He brought his head up from the podium and blinked as his eyes refocused through his glasses. He saw Draco's still terrified face, and luckily only Hermione and Ron were staring at him. No one else saw his moment of revelation.

He shook away his thoughts, they would have to wait until later. Right now he needed to focus on helping Draco before thinking of anything else that involved the Slytherin.

"Your final charge is the murder of Nymphadora Tonks," Minister Fell read off.

Updated: June 2nd, 2021

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Hello! This chapter is broken into two parts because, well, mostly because I haven't written the next part yet, but alsooo because I enjoy cliffhangers very much. Haha sorry... but not really. 

ALSO HAPPY PRIDE!!! <3

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