29. Chapter 29: A Price To Pay

Chapter 29: A Price To Pay

"Where are your daughter and her husband? Did we not make it explicitly clear that they were to turn up for questioning?" said Baron Burnel, smugly.

Lady Granger didn't dare meet her husband's eyes. Lord Granger spoke as boldly as he could.

"They have escaped from us, Your Excellency. It is my understanding that my daughter does not want anything more to do with this family."

The envoy frowned. "Lord Granger, may I remind you that defiance of a royal edict has grave consequences."

"What more do you want?" Lady Granger said, despairingly. "My husband has already signed over our lands!"

"It is not up to you, a mere Lord of the Manor, to question the intentions of those higher above you in station" said the envoy. "That itself is an act of defiance."

"Father Lorenzo has provided the parish register here, you can check it yourselves to see they are proper wed!" Lady Granger thrust the book at them.

"I am not interested in that!" said the Baron in frustration. "Bind them." he said to his armed guards, who stood around the room. Fanhope and Audley, ever faithful to Lord Granger put their hands on the hilts of their swords but Lord Granger shook his head at them.

"M'Lord!" a servants rushed into the hall. "She has returned!"

"What is this?" said the Baron in irritation. Lord Granger looked equally puzzled.

"Who do you mean, Thwaites?" he asked his servant, who was out of breath with running.

"Lady Hermione! She has just ridden into the manor!"

A murmur passed through the hall. Lady Granger caught her husband's eye and her face drained of colour. Footsteps were heard outside the Great Hall.

"Let my parents go."

"Hermione!" Lord Granger could not believe his eyes. He had thought that his wife would have helped their child escape, but here she was, in the flesh!

"Hermione!" said her mother. "What are you doing here?"

"Obeying the orders of the King, and of my parents" Hermione said.

"Release them" said the envoy to the Baron. The Baron reluctantly commanded his men to do so.

"It is wise that you should come, child" said the envoy. "Or your parents would have suffered greatly."

"I could not let that happen to them" Hermione said, "I serve my King and my parents. Now, tell me, what is it you want of me?"

The Baron made a face, "Where is your husband?"

Lady Granger held her breath. Hermione felt her cheeks redden.

"He is... dead" she said.

Lady Granger put her hands to her mouth in horror.

"You know it is a sin to lie, child. Are you hiding your husband? You have nothing to fear from us." the envoy said.

"Where the deuce is that low-born husband of yours?" the Baron said, not quite as politely as the envoy.

"He is dead." Hermione repeated, louder this time. "And I have a witness."

"Who?" said the envoy.

"Mary Ludlow, my nursemaid. My husband Draco drowned in the lake near Goringsbury a week ago. His body was never found."

""Tis true" said Mary Ludlow, from behind Fanhope. "My poor mistress went out of her mind, I had a time of it soothing her."

The envoy and Baron exchanged looks. Lord and Lady Granger kept perfectly still.

"Very well," said the envoy. "So you are a widow now, Mistress Hermione."

"Yes" she said, "You still haven't told me, how I might assist you."

The Baron pounded the table with his fist in irritation. "You are worthless to me, Mistress Hermione! I care not about the status of you or your marriage! My business was with your husband- but now it appears he is dead!"

"What business could you have had with him?" asked Lady Granger.

"Lord Granger, maybe you can answer your wife. If she were to shame you by choosing the affections of a base-born stableboy over yours, what would you do?"

"I would..." Lord Granger bit his tongue.

"Precisely."

"You wanted to harm Draco, didn't you?" Hermione said, her eyes gleaming. "I knew it. You were so humiliated at being upstaged in your affections by a stableboy that you wanted to take it out on him, didn't you?"

"Mistress Hermione..." said the envoy, "Do not presume..."

"I presume nothing!" Hermione said. "Ask him yourself!"

"When you coupled with that wretch, did he smell like dung from the stables?" laughed the Baron.

Hermione clenched her fists.

"How dare you..."

"But not to worry, Mistress Hermione, it seems God has settled the score. When servants try to overstep their position in life, they tend to meet with sticky ends. His body rots in the lake now, and the score is settled."

Control yourself. Hermione thought. Just don't say anything that you'll regret and soon this awful man will go away and you can use the extra Reverse Thyme Eliminus in your pocket to return home to Draco.

Hermione said nothing.

"Well, if that's all you want of my daughter, perhaps you'll leave my house now." said Lord Granger. He appealed to the envoy, who seemed the more reasonable of the two. "Our household has fulfilled all the terms of the broken engagement and you have no further business with us."

"Well, I believe all is in order" said the envoy. "Your Excellency, we should go."

The Baron gave an oily grin.

"Yes, I don't see why not, there is nothing left of this pathetic Granger estate that could be of any use to me. Oh, and Lord Granger, don't bother trying to increase your lands again, you will find the neighbouring counties very un-cooperative. It seems many of them have less than pleasant memories of your daughter's hospitality towards them."

"Show them out" Lord Granger said to his servants.

The Baron paused by Hermione on his way out.

"So lovely, and yet...so foolish" he said, "My deepest sympathy on your...loss." He raised her left hand to his lips. Hermione shuddered as his lips met her hand. The Baron paused as he lowered her hand. His grip tightened around her fingers, and his eyes grew wide.

"What is this?" he gasped, staring at her fingers. "Where did you get it?"

Hermione tried to pull her hand out his grasp but his grip on her was vice-like.

"What business is it of yours? Let me go!" Hermione said fiercely.

"What is the matter?" Lord and Lady Granger hurried over, with the envoy close behind.

The Baron was pale. "This ring...where did your daughter get it?"

"'Tis her wedding ring!" said Lady Granger. "This is a trinket from Lord Mannerly that she gave to her husband out of charity before they were wed. Her husband, being poor, used it as their wedding ring. What's the surprise in that?"

"'Tis not Mannerly's ring" said the envoy, himself turning pale.

"Nay, Mannerly's crest is that of a snake and a swan, not a dragon and a snake" said The Baron, twisting Hermione's hand closer to get a better look at the ring.

"Let me go!" said Hermione.

"What is the matter with the ring, your excellencies?" asked Lord Granger in irritation.

Baron Burnel wrenched the ring off Hermione's finger and she yelped in pain.

"Give it back!" she said.

"This ring..." said the Baron, holding it out of her reach "This ring belongs to one of the most feared servants of the King."

The envoy crossed himself.

"You're crazy!" said Hermione. "It is my husband's ring!"

"Who does it belong to then?" asked Lord Granger.

The Baron and the envoy exchanged looks.

"It is the seal of the Witch Hunter" said the envoy quietly.

"Witch Hunter?" Lady Granger said faintly.

"One of the King's most secret servants. A terrible, man, called only when needed to root out witchcraft among God's people, a pale horseman who travels by night..." said the Baron in hushed tones.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Oh come on..."

"Silence, girl" her father said, his brows furrowing in worry.

"He is a foreigner that comes and goes as quickly as the wind. Some say he is a mysterious Frenchman, some say he is the Angel of Judgement himself come to rid us of witchcraft...His seal is a dragon and a snake, and I would know that ring anywhere. How did you come by it, woman?" asked the envoy.

"I'm telling you, it is my husband's!" Hermione insisted. "I lied to you all at the flogging...it is not Lord Mannerly's, it really was my husband's all along! Ever since he was born it has belonged to him, and he has worn it round his neck on a cord! But who would have believed us if we had told you that?"

"What is your late husband's name?" asked the envoy suddenly.

"What?" Hermione looked confused. "Why do you wish to know?"

"Just tell them, daughter" said Lady Katherine in hushed tone.

"Draco...Draco Malfoy" said Hermione.

"Seize her!"

******************************************

"SILENCE!" roared Tiberius Ogden. "This is your last warning- if you reporters cannot control yourselves, I will have you banned from the courtroom!"

The hordes of witches and wizards lining the walls, each with a scribble pad and pencil in hand, immediately stopped jostling and whispering. All the press of the wizarding world was represented – The Daily Prophet, Witches' Weekly, The Evening Star, Vague, News of The Wizarding World, Hag Mag, The Quibbler,the list went on. None wanted to miss the socialite case of the year – a pureblood dissolution of engagement.

Tiberius Ogden gave them a piercing glare. Above the rows of reporters, the gallery was packed with curious witches and wizards, many of them pureblood. The heat was stifling.

"All right, all right, let's move it along...Suit No. 412 of 2005: In the matter of dissolution of engagement between Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini, heard this seventh day of November, 2005... Case for the plaintiff?" said Tiberius, a trickle of perspiration running down his face. He could not recall having such a packed courtroom in years.. "And hurry it up, it's like a zoo in here!"

"Yes, Your Honour" Mollock stood up, next to a beaming Roberto Zabini. "We apply for half the property of one Draco Malfoy as our legal right under the terms of the broken wizard engagement. Of the substantial assets- these include four out of eight properties in England and France, 50% of the shares in sixteen companies listed at Annex A of the bundle you see before you, twelve race horses, twenty riding horses, eight carriages, a magical yacht, and three muggle cars. Current total value..."

The reporters trembled with anticipation, their pens poised anxiously over their scribble-pads. No one had ever known the actual size of the Malfoy fortune before.

"... some thirty one million seven hundred and fifty thousand galleons."

There was a collective gasp in the courtroom.

"Great horny pixies!" breathed Ron, clutching Harry. "No wonder Malfoy was always such an annoying prat!"

Harry himself had to swet his mouth in shock at the size of the Malfoy fortune.

"Well, what do you say Mr Malfoy? Do you challenge this?" Tiberius had already lifted his gavel, and was waiting to close the case.

"No, he can have it" said Draco, dryly. "I break the engagement."

"Not that he's going to do badly with only another thirty one million galleons left..." muttered Ron.

"We also apply that Malfoy appear before the Pureblood Practices Council and that he accept the consequences of chastisement thereunder."

"Well, Mr Malfoy?" asked Tiberius.

"I do not object" said Draco. "Isn't it strange, Mr Zabini, that you are the head of the Pureblood Practices Council?"

The reporters murmured.

"Yes, but only after your own father got sent to Azkaban." Zabini retorted.

"Will the plaintiff and defendant avoid speaking out of turn!" said Tiberius. "Well, if that's all..."

"Wait." said a woman's voice. "What if I wanted to break off the engagement as well?"

"Blaise!" said her mother faintly, "What are you doing?"

"I said, what if I wanted to break off the engagement as well? Would that cancel out the terms of breaking the engagement or does it mean that the Malfoy's get half of our fortune?" Blaise Zabini stood up from where she was seated on the opposite side of the room from Harry and Ron.

"Blaise, you will be silent!" said her father.

The reporters began murmuring again.

"Miss Zabini, why do you want to break off the engagement?" one of them from The Evening Star shouted. "Are you really breaking it off?"

Tiberius turned in fury to them "I have warned you before...one more word in my courtroom..."

But the reporters were all abuzz now, and the rest of the courtroom as well. Ron blushed to the tips of his ears.

"Miss Zabini, why didn't you speak up before?" said Tiberius, "Stand up so we can hear you properly."

Shyly, Blaise stood up.

"I...I...was scared of...of...my father before..." she said, uncertainly.

"Well that's understandable, the poor child," said one of the witches in the courtroom to another.

"...and...I didn't r-realise how much Draco had to give up..."

"I'm warning you daughter...." said Roberto Zabini. Blaise's mother swooned away and had to be revived by her friends Angela Crabbe and Barbara Flint.

"Let your daughter speak" said Tiberius. "And if you try any retribution on her later, it will be the worst for you, Mr Zabini. Go on, Miss Zabini."

"...as I was saying...I d-didn't realise how much Draco would have to give up...and I now realise that it's true love between he has for her. Why should custom stand in its way?A-And why should he make that sacrifice for t-true l-l-love and n-not m-me? A-After all, I t-too l-l-love somebody else..." she looked at Ron, who was about as red as the robes on the wizengamot. He looked so pleased he might burst. Harry grinned.

"WHO IS IT?" roared Roberto Zabini, looking like he might have a heart attack at any moment.

"R-Ron Weasley" said Blaise, smiling at Ron.

The reporters, who were having a field-day up till now, muttered among themselves that it was a pity Ron was a pureblood, or it would have been so much more exciting.

"Well," Tiberius said, chewing a pencil, "I believe that if both sides wish to break off the engagement... hmmm... I think the party who first confirms his wish to do so is at the losing end...Warbeck v Diggory, 1789 stood for that point. This ensures that both sides are not eager to be the first to end the engagement. I'm sorry, Miss Zabini."

Mollock and Zabini looked relieved.

All this time, Edward Montague was whispering fiercely to Draco, "She said you loved someone else? Who is it? So this is why you wish to break off the engagement!"

"It's Hermione Granger" muttered Draco, to his lawyer, "The girl who was sent back with me."

"For the last time Draco, I'm asking you, to think carefully about breaking off your engagement for this girl...there's nothing I can do to help you get back your money or place in Pureblood Society!"

"Edward...you don't understand...she's my wife we were married when we got blasted back to the past...."

Edward Monatgue's eyes widened. "Why the hell didn't you tell me before?"

"I...she..." Draco couldn't find the words.

"Oy Mr Malfoy! Miss Zabini said yer were in love with someone else, 'oo is she?" yelled a witch from Hag Mag.

"Miss Cratchett! This is the final straw! You will ..."

But Tiberius Ogeden was cut short by Edward Montague's shout, "Your Honour! Stop the proceedings! My client is was never engaged to Blaise Zabini!"

Edward Montague had to repeat his shout several times for Tiberius to understand him. The courtroom was on fire with noise. Tiberius banged his gavel on the table and shouted for silence to no effect. Finally, he whipped out his wand and pointed it at the courtroom.... "SILENCIO!"

The effect was immediate. Everyone found their voices not working.

"That's better" said Tiberius. "Now, before I lift the spell, I want you all to agree that no one is to speak unless I give him permission to."

The courtroom nodded.

"Finite Incantatem"

There was a low murmur that faded into silence. All eyes were on Draco and Mr Montague.

"Mr Montague, you will explain your shocking statement to the courtroom" said Tiberius.

"My client has just revealed to me that he was married on October 8, 1486 to Miss Hermione Granger."

The courtroom was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Several pureblood witches swooned away at the news. Lucius Malfoy's only son marrying a muggleborn? Impossible!"If that is so, it follows that for all time after that, they were married....including in the year 2004 which is when..."

"...our engagement was made!" exclaimed Blaise. "Oh Ron! It's going to be okay!"

"Miss Zabini, really!" Tiberius said, furrowing his brow. "Continue Mr Montague."

"...As you know, if a man is already married, he cannot be engaged to another unless formally divorced by this court....which my client never was. My client was never engaged to Blaise Zabini. There was no engagement ever, because all the time, my client was married to Miss Hermione Granger!"

There was a deadly silence in the courtroom.

so mote it be, you've wish'd it well...

The words echoed in Draco's mind...never engaged to Blaise Zabini...never engaged to Blaise Zabini... and as he replayed the words over and over in his mind, he could smell fernseed, and fresh thyme, and roses...

"But you took her away..." Draco didn't notice he was talking to himself "Not this way! Not like this...damn you! Damn you!"

we fay folk like to have our fun

but fear ye not, your wish is done

"Outrageous!" shouted Roberto Zabini. "Where is your proof of this?"

"Accio Mlildenstowe Parish Register" cried Draco, leaping to his feet. There was a dead silence. The room began to mutter, some people began to giggle.

"Is this all a trick?" said Mollock, looking sourly at Mr Montague and Draco.

Harry and Draco exchanged looks.

"Please, your honour, the evidence will be here soon" said Draco.

The wizengamot began to laugh, and the reporters smiled as they scribbled on their pads.

An alarm went off.

"What the..."

"Security breach! A window of the Ministry has been broken!" came a pleasant voice. "Security to Level Ten"

There was a whizzing noise and something hit the centre of the judges' stand with a BANG. It was an old book. Everyone stopped laughing.

"There is your evidence" said Draco triumphantly. "Look for October 8, 1486".

Intrigued, Tiberius Ogden began leafing through the book. Griselda Marchbanks, behind him, leaned over so far that she nearly fell off her bench. Tiberius Ogden jammed his finger onto an entry and began to read aloud.

"Ano Domnini 1486

Octo Dies In Decimus Semestris

In Regio Mildenstowe, Suffolk

Draco Malfoy Matrimonium Hermione Granger

Padre Petter Lorenzo Facio Sacramento Matrimonium

Testis Katherine Granger

Et Mary Ludlow..."

Tiberius read the words aloud, slowly and clearly. The courtroom was deathly silent. Roberto Zabini's eyes bulged. Mollock looked defeated. Blaise and Ron smiled at each other. Harry held his breath. Draco heard the familiar words and felt like he had seen them yesterday...He felt tears pricking at his eyes.

"Well, your honour... what do you say?" said Edward Montague.

The Wizengamot muttered and passed the book around to each other.

"All those who say the engagment is void, raise your right hand" said Tiberius quietly. Without hesitation, the whole wizengamot raised their hands.

"Very well, it is clear to me that the engagement was never valid. There never was an engagement because the defendant Draco Malfoy was married to one Hermione Granger while the contract was made. The defendant may keep all his property. I suggest the Enforcement of Magical Law Department and the Pureblood Practices Council work together to reform such outdated and ridiculous laws as we have seen nearly in action today. Oh, by the way" Tiberius looked at Ron with a twinkle in his eye, "I also wish Miss Zabini and Mr Weasley, the very best. Case Closed."

Edward Montague felt like all his life in Wizengamot College had paid off, this was possibly the highest point of his career. The courtroom burst into a babble of voices, it was noisier than the after-match party at the Quidditch World Cup.

"Where is your wife then?" shouted Roberto Zabini suddenly to Draco. "Produce the mudblood!"

Harry, Ron and Blaise flinched at his words.

Draco's face drained of colour and he gripped the sides of his chair.

"I said the case is closed. Please leave my courtroom...all of you...worse than a zoo..."

"Move along, move along" said the security wizards in attendance.

"Shame on you for marrying a mud- muggleborn...if Lucius were around..."

"Move along, Mr Zabini..." the security wizards drew their wands and ushered him firmly out, amidst a rabble of yelling reporters.

Blaise, Harry and Draco lingered after everyone had left.

"So, where is Hermione, anyway?" Harry said, under his breath. "What were you going to tell us before we all got summoned here by Mr Zabini?"

"Can we...go... somewhere... private?" Draco said, brokenly. Blaise noticed he looked wretchedly pale and she put a steadying hand on his arm, and Ron couldn't help but feel the slightest bit jealous.

"Wassamatter?" Ron said, testily "Why cant you tell us here?"

Draco shook his head. "Let's go somewhere private, where's the nearest place?"

"My place," Harry said quickly. "It's at 12 Grimmauld Place."

"Let's go then" Draco said, "I promise you Weasley, I've a good reason to tell you in private."

"Come on, Ron. Let's go" Blaise said, tugging at Ron's hand.

"And you better make it quick" Draco said, as he headed for the Ministry lifts "...because every minute counts."

when things come to be the faerie way

there always is a price to pay