31. Chapter 31

Hello lovelies. Here we go again. Thank you all for the continuing support. I also want to sent a special shout-out to one reviewer, who gave one of the sweetest reviews I've ever read "ahhhLove". Thank you very much. I read it five times.

Shout-outs to all the reviewers in general. I read every single one, and they all make me very happy. You guys are the best readers ever. I truly mean that.

Enough of that. Here's the chapter.

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Hermione's question rang throughout the courtroom. Draco raised his eyebrows, and fought a strange desire to laugh. Out of everything that they had just seen, Hermione was most worried about her fake identity?

Nott looked surprised as well. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't that. He coughed once before responding.

"What's it to you?" He practically spat the words at her.

Hermione wasn't put out. She leaned forward and hissed at him so menacingly that the hairs on the back of Draco's neck stood straight up.

"Who was she?"

Neck sighed, though he looked slightly frightened. "She was just some girl who had your first name."

Hermione slapped him across the face again. No one interfered. "What did you do to her?"

There was a red handprint on the side of Nott's face now. He looked straight at Hermione when he spoke. "We kept you for so long because we wanted to find a girl with your name and age in some remote corner of the world. We found the Masons in Canada. It was perfect. So, we orchestrated a car accident for her and her family. Then we sent you to the hospital in her place."

Hermione was shaking with rage at this point. Her face was bright red, and her eyes were narrowed at her target. Leaning in towards Nott, she whispered. "You'll regret that." The words carried throughout the entire courtroom.

Hermione turned her back on Nott and stormed back to where Draco and Potter stood. She didn't make eye contact with them. She looked back up at Kingsley, who had taken his seat again.

Kingsley stared down at Nott with nothing but pure hatred on his face. It was strange to see Kingsley like that, for he was well known as a pacifist.

Kingsley glared down at the death eater, before raising his head and addressing the courtroom at large. Potter made his way back over to the auror section, and Draco and Hermione sat back down.

"My fellow ministry officials. I request that the memories of Nott Sr in relation to the Hermione Granger case be archived as evidence." A guard walked over to the pensieve and collected the memories.

"Nott Sr will now be tested with veritaserum to make sure his testimony was correct." Another guard walked over to Nott and dumped some veritaserum down his throat.

Kingsley stared down at Nott. "Nott, do you swear that these memories are true, and unedited?"

"Yes," Nott rasped.

"Are they the only memories you have that relate to the Hermione Granger case?"

"Yes."

Kingsley nodded. He had known they were true from the beginning. "Then, Mr Nott, we shall continue." Kingsley took a deep breath. He seemed to be deeply unsettled by what they had seen. Draco didn't blame him. Draco wouldn't be having a good night's sleep for a while.

The rest of the people in the courtroom were giving Kingsley their rapt attention. No one was moving. They were waiting for the minister to speak. Kingsley shifted through some papers in front of him before speaking.

He kept his eyes on his papers. "The contents of the memories were deeply unsettling. I won't describe them in detail, but I will give you all a brief overview. The memories demonstrated that seven death eaters attacked and captured Hermione Granger outside of Hogsmeade seven years ago. What are the names of the names of those death eaters, Mr Nott?"

Nott kept his eyes fixed on the ground. "Myself, Avery, Rodolphus Lestrange, Mulciber, Travers, Rowle, and Yaxley."

Draco swore under his breath. He knew all of those men, and he knew them all very well. They were merciless. They were monstrous. Draco wasn't sure any of them were sane.

Kingsley nodded. "Who brought the seven of you together?"

Nott stared at the ground. "Yaxley."

"Who led you all against Miss Granger?"

"Yaxley."

Kingsley evaluated Nott. "Would the attack have happened without Yaxley's influence?"

Nott shook his head. Murmurs filled the courtroom. Everyone was whispering to each other.

Kingsley banged his gavel, drawing order. Before Kingsley had the chance to say something else, a voice rose from the auror section.

"Permission to question Nott."

Damn Potter.

Kingsley considered this. "Granted."

Potter leaned forward in his seat, appraising the situation. Everyone's eyes were on him. Potter seemed to be attempting to understand something. When he spoke, he sounded very confused.

"Were any of you at the battle of Hogwarts?"

Draco raised his eyebrows. That was a very strange question, given the actual situation, though he did suppose it was valid. Potter wanted to know how these death eaters had escaped.

Nott shook his head. "Most of us had been sent away, to spread the influence of the Dark Lord in other countries."

Potter raised an eyebrow. "Most of you?"

Nott shrugged. "I'm fairly sure Yaxley was at the battle."

Potter glared at Nott. "How did he get away? I was almost certain all the death eaters at the battle of Hogwarts were captured. I assumed Hermione's attackers hadn't been there."

Draco considered that valid. He had been pretty sure that all the death eaters who had been present at the final battle had been caught. There had been so many left over to capture because only about half of all death eaters had been present that night. The dark lord had had many followers.

So how had Yaxley escaped? It would have been nearly impossible. Draco raked through his memory of that day. Yaxley had been there, he was sure of it. He had fought the death eater himself. That was until his parents had arrived…

"Oh fuck," Draco said. His voice carried through the courtroom.

Kingsley turned to him, and raised an annoyed eyebrow. "Anything to add, Malfoy?"

Kinglsey was eyeing Draco, waiting for a response. But Draco couldn't respond. He could barely breathe. He was staring forward at the wall, trying to wrap his mind around what he had just realized. But he couldn't.

He knew how Yaxley had escaped.

When the battle had recommenced, after Longbottom had cut Nagini in half, Yaxley had attacked Draco. Yaxley believed that he had betrayed the death eaters. Draco had defended himself, and a duel had erupted.

It had been a fairly even duel. Draco was able to hold his own. However, he had started to tire. Yaxley was going to win, Draco had known it. However, luck had been on Draco's side, or so it seemed at the time.

His parents had been searching for him, screaming his name as they ran through the great hall. They had eventually spotted him. Lucius, in an attempt to save his son, had sent a jinx at Yaxley. The death eater had stumbled, which gave Draco a chance.

They had been standing near the side of the Great Hall. When Yaxley had stumbled, Draco hadn't hesitated. He had sent a final jinx at Yaxley. This jinx was all Draco had left. It had been so powerful that it had sent Yaxley flying out the window.

Draco had assumed he'd been killed. But Draco had forgotten. He hadn't disarmed the death eater. Just sent him flying. Yaxley had his wand to cushion the fall.

That's how Yaxley had escaped the battle of Hogwarts. Draco had given him his ticket right out. The other death eaters hadn't escaped because they had all been trapped in the Great Hall when the Dark Lord had fallen. Yaxley hadn't been.

Because of Draco.

Draco felt suffocated as the full weight of that realization hit him. He had been the reason Yaxley had been on the loose. If Draco hadn't sent him out of the window, Yaxley would've still been in the Great Hall when the Dark Lord was killed. He would've been captured immediately. He wouldn't have been able to get a gang of death eaters together to get revenge on Potter.

He wouldn't have been able to take Hermione.

It was his fault that Hermione had been taken. No other death eater besides Yaxley had made an attempt to hurt her. Yaxley was the only one who was insane enough to do it. He had the motive, and with Draco's help, he had acquired the means.

Draco had basically kidnapped Hermione himself, or at least it felt like it. When he had sent that final jinx at Yaxley, he had considered using the killing curse. He had never killed of his own free will, but a death eater seemed like a good place to start. But he couldn't do it. He had settled on a powerful jinx, designed to knock Yaxley unconscious. It hadn't done that though, it had simply thrown him out the window. He could've ended it then and there.

But he hadn't.

When Draco had found Hermione in Canada, he had thought that he had been Hermione's saviour. After years, he had been the first person in the magical world to locate her. Potter hadn't done it, but Draco had. He had found her. He had saved her.

But he had condemned her as well.

All the events in their lives were so interconnected. One small mistake, one small choice can change the fate of everyone. It had been Draco's choice that had changed everything, though he would have never realized it at the time. He shouldn't be blaming himself, how would he have known? But it was Hermione. Just the idea that he had had some hand in helping her kidnappers nearly sent him to his knees.

He didn't want to deal with this revelation. It was crushing him. He turned and looked at Hermione. She was eyeing him strangely. Draco, without thought, reached out and stroked her face. A woman had never meant this much to him, except of course his mother, he mused softly. Hermione leaned into his hand. Draco swallowed hard. He turned back to Kingsley, and spoke. His voice quivered slightly as he addressed the minister.

"I know how Yaxley escaped." Saying the words out loud made them sound so much worse.

The courtroom filled with whispers once more. Kingsley banged the gavel.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy. Enlighten us. How did Yaxley escape the battle of Hogwarts?"

Draco stood up.

Draco opened his mouth. He almost copped out. But he couldn't. He needed to be truthful about this.

"I was duelling Yaxley during the final battle." The whispers filled the hall once more. Draco shot a look at the auror booth. Potter looked confused, and Blaise's jaw had dropped.

Kingsley stuttered over his words. "You duelled the leader of the attack on Hermione Granger?"

Draco nodded. "I duelled him, and I almost lost. But my father came and sent a jinx at the bastard…sorry, minister. Baboon. He was caught off guard. I then, using a powerful jinx, managed to send him flying out a window. That's how he escaped the battle of Hogwarts. He wasn't in the Great Hall when the Dark Lord fell."

Jaws dropped all around the room. Cameras from the reporters flashed. Hermione turned white. Kingsley tried to form words, but couldn't manage it. Potter looked dumbstruck, and Blaise looked mind-blown.

Well, fuck me, Draco thought.

Potter was the first to speak. "You are the reason Yaxley was out on the loose?" He sounded very angry, even by Potter standards.

"I thought he was captured," Draco muttered, though everyone could hear him. "I honestly haven't thought about Yaxley in seven years."

The courtroom grew silent for several moments. Then, strange laughter filled the air.

It was Nott. He was laughing so hard he had lost the ability to breath. The shackles were still restricting him from standing up, but his body was shaking with laughter.

"It's your fault, Malfoy," he choked out between guffaws. "I see you with that mudblood bitch. How does it feel to know it's your fault? We wouldn't have gone at her without Yaxley. You sent him right to us."

Draco felt the guilt once more. It was so painful he forgot how to breath. The courtroom had gone silent. But then, a voice sounded out.

"It wasn't Draco's fault."

It was Hermione.

She had turned away from him, and was looking straight at Nott. Her voice was soft.

Nott laughed in her face. "Sorry to break your heart, mudblood. But your lover here is at fault. Without him, we wouldn't even been here. Maybe he even planned it."

The courtroom filled with gasps. The accusation against Draco sounded in his ears, over and over again.

Hermione took several more steps forward. She had a strange expression on her face. "You're wrong." Her voice was so sure. "Draco didn't do this to me. You did." Her voice was so powerful. "Draco set Yaxley free, sure, but not on purpose. Draco didn't force you to raise your wand against me. He didn't make you attack me. You did that yourself. Don't blame another man for your evil."

Nott glared at Hermione, who was only a foot away from him now. Then he spat in her face.

The courtroom erupted in roars. Hermione didn't need that. She wiped the spit off her face, and punched Nott in the face.

The resounding crack that followed was Nott's nose breaking. The courtroom froze.

"That's for the Masons," she hissed. She returned to where Draco was standing, and she wrapped an arm around his waist. Cameras flashed. Draco pulled her close.

Draco looked around the room, and eventually his eyes landed on Potter. Boy wonder looked beyond angry as he looked at Draco and Hermione. But, with Draco's new revelation, that made sense.

Potter couldn't believe that Hermione kept on forgiving him. For the drawing room, the word mudblood, and now this. Potter had seen how terribly Draco had used to treat Hermione. It was killing him to see Hermione go back to Draco time and time again after he had hurt her. It probably killing Potter so much because he had only hurt Hermione once, and he had lost her for seven years. Draco hurt her multiple times and she came running back.

At least in Potter's eyes.

Kingsley had begun to talk to the courtroom. He was telling them about the memories. Oh yeah, Draco thought, they hadn't gotten to the memories yet.

"Seven death eaters attacked Ms. Granger out of Hogsmeade. She had lost her wand, and was too intoxicated to fight back. After a lengthy attack, the death eaters apparated Ms. Granger away to an unknown manor. Mr. Nott collected Ms. Granger's wand. Mr. Nott!" Kingsley exclaimed.

The death eater looked up. Kingsley spoke. "What happened to Ms. Granger's wand?"

Nott shrugged. "Destroyed it."

Draco clenched his hands at Nott's nonchalance.

Kingsley seemed angry as well. Glaring down at Nott, he asked. "Where did you take Ms. Granger?"

"The Yaxley family manor in Egypt." Some old wizarding families had multiple manors across the world.

Kingsley nodded, writing that down. "You held Ms. Granger there for how long?"

Nott thought for a moment. "About a month and a half," was his answer.

"Where did you bring her after that?"

Nott smirked. "We had found a muggle girl the mudblood's age in Canada with the same first name. The girl's family was moving to another city, so it was our chance. We orchestrated a car crash where the other girl, Hermione Mason, and her parents died. The mudblood was really bloody and bruised after her trip with us, so when we placed her at the scene with a fake ID, everyone thought she was Hermione Mason. The Masons had been really reclusive, so no one knew what this other Hermione looked like. It was perfect."

Kingsley tried to keep a poker face, but anyone could see the anger. "What did you do after you orchestrated this car crash?"

Nott kept smirking. "Well, the mudblood had no memory, which Yaxley had wiped. So when she ended up in the hospital in Canada, we just left her there."

"Why didn't you kill her?" That was Blaise, speaking up from the auror booth.

Nott turned to look at him. "We didn't want you to find a body. We wanted you to think there was still a chance she was alive. We wanted you to spend the rest of your lives searching, and lose in the end. Killing her would be too simple."

Kingsley took in several calming breaths. "Tell the courtroom what the point of Ms. Granger's kidnapping was."

Nott sat up a little straighter, and put on a pureblood smirk. "To ruin Harry Potter. He destroyed the Dark Lord, and needed to be punished. Potter always makes mistakes when it comes to love. It will be his downfall. We found the person he loved the most, and we took her away from him. I've seen the papers the last seven years, Potter was destroyed. His spirit crushed, and his hopes trampled. That was our purpose, and we accomplished it."

Potter had fought to keep a straight face throughout Nott's speech. Draco could see it though: boy wonder wanted to burn the death eater at the stake.

Kingsley glared down at the death eater smirking in the middle of the courtroom. Nott surely could see all the death stares he was getting from everyone in the room. However, the bastard didn't need to care, because he had his freedom.

Kingsley spoke, his voice booming out from the speaker's chair. "To summarize, Yaxley, who is imprisoned in Azkaban at the moment, led you and five others against Hermione Jean Granger. You captured her, and you tortured her mercilessly at the Yaxley manor in Egypt. Yaxley removed her memory, and you all left her in muggle Canada, in the place of a muggle girl of the same age and name, who you had killed. Do you admit all of this to be true?"

Nott smirked. "Yes."

Cameras clicked. The courtroom filled with whispers as all the officials spoke among themselves. Draco shot a look at the visitor's booth. The Weasleys looked murderous as they all sent death glares at Nott. The court scribe looked exhausted, having written down all the events that had occurred. The auror booth was also taking notes, to help them with their case. Blaise was discussing something quietly with the auror seated behind him. Potter was leaning forward, glaring at Nott, trying to make him disappear with his eyes. Kingsley was looking very angry, but trying to keep a straight face as he reigned over the courtroom. Draco and Hermione were sitting on their bench staring forward at Nott, trying to figure out what came next.

Suddenly, Potter stood up. All eyes turned to him. He glared at Nott, though Draco could see a smirk forming at his lips.

"Do you admit that all these events happened after the Battle of Hogwarts?" Draco could practically hear Potter's heart hammering.

Nott nodded smugly. "Yes, we caught the mudblood outside of Hogsmeade about a week after the battle."

Potter nodded, looking triumphant. Draco didn't get it, but Kingsley apparently did.

Kingsley looked surprised for a moment, and then began to think. After several moments, he began to smile. He nodded at Potter, who returned the nod and sat down.

The Minister for Magic stood up and stared down at Nott like a lion stared at their pray.

"The ministry only promised to offer you, Mr. Nott, your complete innocence in any death eater acts during the Wizarding War. The abduction of Hermione Granger took place one week after."

The smug look on Nott's face disappeared in a moment as he realized what Kingsley meant. He began to struggle against the shackles on his wrists. "No, no! We made a deal!" He sounded so terrified of what was about to happen that Draco almost felt bad for him.

Almost.

Kingsley smirked. Draco had never seen Kingsley smirk. It was terrifying.

"Mr. Nott," Kingsley boomed. Nott was still struggling in the chair. "The Wizarding War ended with the battle of Hogwarts. You have admitted to the abduction and torture of Hermione Granger, which occurred one week later. You tampered with a crime scene when you cleaned up Ms. Granger's spilt blood outside of Hogsmeade. You committed magical theft when you took Ms. Granger's wand against her will. You committed magical destruction when you destroyed said wand. The word mudblood has been outlawed, and you have said it more than five times today. You have also admitted to the murder of three muggles, whose names are as followed. Hermione Mason, Bradley Mason, and Anna Mason, from Canada. All of those are criminal offences and enough to keep you in Azkaban for the rest of your life."

Nott looked terrified and starting screaming at Kingsley. "NO! Don't send me back there! I'll do anything!"

"All those in favour of conviction?" Kingsley shouted above the screaming pureblood. The hands of every person in the room went up, including the visitor's booth, the reporters, Hermione and Draco.

Nott screamed, and Kingsley looked down at him in disgust.

"Take him back to his cell in Azkaban."

Two guards came forward, and grabbed onto Nott as the shackles released him. He was still struggling against the guards, but they were much stronger than he was.

They walked over to the doors they had entered through, but before they got there, the doors slammed open. A tall and thin man stumbled through the doorway. He had horn-rimmed glasses, and vivid red hair.

It was Prissy Weasley.

The old head boy of Hogwarts ran into the courtroom at full speed. He barrelled straight into the chair in the middle of the room. He managed to pull himself up. He stumbled over to where Draco and Hermione were still sitting. He was panting, and his face was bright red, matching his hair.

Kingsley looked down at Prissy, with a raised eyebrow.

"Minister, I have urgent news!" Prissy grasped on to Draco's shoulder, trying to catch his breath.

"Which is?" Kingsley asked. Everyone in the room seemed to lean forward, trying to hear what Prissy had to say.

Prissy finally caught his breath, and began to look up at Kingsley. For a split second, Draco and Prissy made eye contact. Draco's breath caught.

The look in Prissy's eyes was beyond fear. It was terror. Prissy wore the face of a man been hurt in a battle only to be told that the enemy was attacking again. Prissy was breathing hard not because he was exhausted, but because he was trying to calm himself down. His eyes told Draco that deep fears from the past had been reignited.

So, Draco grabbed Hermione and pulled her close. He didn't know how, but he knew what Prissy was going to say. Draco closed his eyes and cherished the few seconds he had with Hermione before Prissy spoke.

Prissy looked up at the minister. He took a deep breath and spoke. His words boomed throughout the courtroom.

"The walls of Azkaban have fallen. All the prisoners have escaped. All of them."

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