Harry Potter:Bonds of Hope

Chapter 12: The Trial of Lucius Malfoy

"You don't have to come with me, Harry. I'll be fine," Severus said gently, although there was a slight grin on his face as Harry fidgeted nervously again.

They were standing next to the cot their baby boy was asleep in, still in the depths of Gringotts, and preparing to leave him there for the day, with Healer Greyclaw, so that they could go and witness the trial of Lucius Malfoy. Neither of their testimonies were needed, thankfully, because they had both given memories of what they had seen; obviously Severus had a lot more than Harry did, including the ones of him healing Narcissa and Draco, and the one of Lucius threatening him and making him swear a vow to never tell anyone, and many more. But Harry had the one of the events that started all of this. The memories had been authenticated by the goblins also, which was a plus because it showed that they weren't tampered with, and that they were valid.

And Harry wanted to go, needed to really. He needed to see the man be punished for what he did to his baby.

But he was nervous. And perhaps a tad scared. In the eighteen days since Draco's birth Harry hadn't left his side once, and now he was leaving. For hours. And he really didn't want to. But he needed to. He needed to support Severus. And he needed to know that Lucius wouldn't cause any more trouble for them. He needed to witness it.

They were prepared. Harry had pumped some milk for Draco to drink whilst they were out. Healer Greyclaw would be there every second with their little one. There were warrior goblins around just in case anyone thought it the perfect time to try and get to Draco. King Ragnok and a warrior goblin would be coming with Severus and Harry just in case anyone thought it the perfect time to try something with the two of them.

They were prepared.

And yet, it didn't stop his nerves. It didn't stop his fear. It didn't stop him from over-thinking.

Were they prepared enough?

Were they safe?

Was Draco safe?

Harry sighed, running his hand down his face tiredly, "No, Severus. I need to be there. For you. And to know that he is being punished for what he did to our baby. To Narcissa. I need to go. I need to be with you. And… This gives us the perfect opportunity to properly go baby shopping for some bits for his bedroom, and just for him, really. I know we've owl ordered stuff, but I want to go in person, too, and maybe we can look in some muggle shops, I know they have some cute baby clothes and such,"

Severus raised an amused eyebrow, though his eyes still weren't as… full of life and fire as they used to be, "And what, prey tell, will we tell the muggles when they ask why two teenage boys are buying baby stuff?"

"If they ask, we can just tell them we are going shopping for our baby brother whilst mum is on bedrest," Harry said, his lips quirking up at the sides slightly.

"Perhaps you really should be on bedrest, Harry. You have been sick a lot the last few days," Severus said, worry seeping through his voice.

Harry smiled at Severus, "I'm feeling okay today, Sev. You need me. And I need to know. And I really do want to go baby shopping. He needs toys, and books, and cute clothes, and…"

"I'll have you know, young man, that he already has cute clothes," Healer Greyclaw growled from the doorway.

"Well, yes, he does look adorable in plain white onesies, but he needs more than just those. And I'm his mum, I want to actually pick some things for him," Harry pouted, and it was worth it to hear Severus' small chuckle.

"Are you sure you want to come, Harry? Your health is a lot more important," Severus said nervously.

"I'll be fine, Sev, I promise. I want to be there, for you," Harry said, his voice gentle as he looked at his soulmate.

"Okay," Severus breathed, "But if you start feeling ill the warrior goblin will bring you straight back here," his voice was stern, and yet not.

"Okay," Harry smiled.

"Okay,"

They turned back to their son and both kissed him gently goodbye.

"You do have everything you need, right?" Harry asked Healer Greyclaw nervously.

The healer goblin chuckled knowingly at him, "I have more than enough, Harry. The trial shouldn't take too long given all the evidence available. And unless you get lost in the shops the shopping shouldn't take too long either. Draco and I will be fine, I promise. However, if you two want to make it to the Ministry on time then you ought to be leaving, now. King Ragnok and his warrior are waiting in the floo room for you,"

"Right, okay," Harry sighed nervously as he turned to look at Draco again.

"Draco will be fine, Harry," Severus said, smiling slightly as he placed his hand on the small of Harry's back.

Harry nodded but didn't remove his eyes from his baby.

At least, not for another minute or so. He sighed and kissed Draco's forehead one more time before pulling his eyes away and walking over to the door.

The sooner they left the sooner they would be back with their baby.

Everything would be fine.

Draco would be fine.

He breathed shakily as Severus stepped up beside him and placed his hand in the small of Harry's back.

"He'll be fine," Severus said.

"I know," Harry nodded, "Thank you for looking after him for us, Healer Greyclaw. We'll be back,"

"Have fun," Healer Greyclaw grinned, "But not too much fun. Severus, if you touch one hair on my baby's head then you know exactly what will happen," she glared at Severus, though there was a smirk on her face.

"Nothing. Nothing will happen," Harry said quickly before grabbing Severus' hand and dragging him out of the room, "Sorry about her," he muttered as they walked down the hall.

"It's okay, Harry. You deserve someone who looks after you like a mother," Severus said, smiling slightly.

"Hm," Harry smiled back at his soulmate, "She really won't do anything, though. Ever since we found out about me being a bearer she hasn't stopped nattering on about how many grandbabies I can give her. And it's a bit hard to do that if she tortures my soulmate to death. Even if she did, though, and I eventually found someone I thought worthy enough to have children with, I wouldn't let her in their life, and I would take Draco as far away from her as I could,"

"And I'm worthy enough to have children with?" Severus muttered so quietly Harry could barely hear him, but he did and he turned to Severus with understanding eyes.

"Of course you are, Sev. Not only are you my soulmate, but you are you. I know we haven't had the best relationship before this whole series of events, but I do know that no matter what happened, no matter what you said or did to us, you were also always trying to protect all of us, from everything and everyone. You did more to protect us, to make sure we were safe, than any of the other teachers did. You actively tried to stop Quirrell, multiple times, whilst everyone else was running around the castle, because you realised that it was a trap. You actually taught us something useful in the duelling class with Lockhart, you made the potion that unpetrified everyone. Even though you didn't get credit for it, it was fairly obvious it was you who made it. You tried to protect me from Sirius last year, even if he was innocent of those crimes, you didn't know that. You thought he was dangerous, and was coming after me, and you kept warning the Headmaster about Remus and Sirius, and you were right to,"

Severus looked at him in shock.

"I mean, I like Remus, don't get me wrong. He was a decent teacher in the classroom. But he also thought that Sirius was guilty, that he was coming after me to kill me. And even after Sirius broke into the school, the first time, and the second time in which Ron could have been stabbed, he didn't think to tell anyone that Sirius was an animagus, that he knew seven secret passageways into the school. Even about the map once he had confiscated it from me. He thought Sirius was guilty of mass murder, that Sirius was coming to kill me. He thought that everyone in the school was in danger, enough danger to apparently warrant dementors being placed at the school, and not once did he tell anyone what he knew. It could have led to the truth sooner, it could have led to Sirius actually being free, to Pettigrew being captured properly. But he didn't think to do anything with the information he had and, therefore, put everyone in danger. Especially when he didn't wait the few minutes it would have taken for you to get to him with his potion before running after us. Imagine if there were students in the forest that night, other than us, students who were innocent and just wanted to have some fun, or fool around together in privacy. They could have been hurt because of his carelessness that night,

"You spent all year making sure he was safe to teach. Because, yes, he may be just a regular man ninety-nine percent of the time, but one night a month he is dangerous. And that potion makes him safe. And he forgot to take it. It didn't stop you from coming after me, though, when you had awoken and found out that I had gone after Sirius, you still ran through the forest to look for me, despite the insane werewolf that was also running around. You got me, Sirius and my friends to the castle safely. I am sorry about that, by the way, I just wanted to know the truth,"

"It's okay, Harry. But that doesn't explain why you apparently think I am good enough to raise children," Severus said quietly as they finally made it to the floo hall of the bank and saw King Ragnok and his warrior waiting for them by a fireplace.

"You do everything you can to protect children, to keep them safe. That is more than enough to make you worthy to have children. But you also deserve the best, Sev. You deserve happiness, a good life, a life you want. And if children are what you want then that is what you deserve. Plus, you are amazing with Draco," Harry said, although there was so much more that he wanted to say with that.

But that could wait as they greeted their friends and floo'd to the Ministry.

…

Lucius Malfoy was dragged into the room and he was snarling at everyone and everything. Especially Severus and Harry when his eyes landed on them. But soon he was chained to his seat in the centre of the round courtroom, the magic of the seat subduing him slightly, though he still glared.

"Lucius Abraxas Malfoy," Albus Dumbledore started, sounding rather resigned, though there was a hint of anger in his eyes as he stared at the blonde, "You are brought here, under trial via Wizengamot, for charges of murder, domestic abuse, child abuse, child endangerment, rape, child sexual assault, attempted line theft, terrorism, and torture, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty," Lucius spat.

"What a surprise," a cold, chilling voice chuckled that Harry instantly recognised.

Golden, powerful magic swirled through the room, the wind blowing everyone's hair out of place, apart from Severus' and Harry's, as well as Amelia and Kingsley's, who were all welcomed warmly by the magic as everyone looked around in confusion, and almost fear.

Soon enough the magic calmed and two powerful beings appeared in the room, both looking rather fierce even if the face of one of them was covered by their cloak.

"Hello," Death chuckled as everyone looked at them with fear in their eyes, apart from the four that was already acquainted with him anyway, "I'm Death, and this is my dearest sister, Lady Magic,"

And didn't that revelation shock everyone. Harry could swear he saw a few people faint, and many more looked like they wanted to, including Dumbledore himself. The dearest Chief Warlock.

"Now, I have to say that the two of us, and our other siblings, are all very disgusted with the British magicals at the moment. Although, truth be told, we have been disgusted by you all, with very few exceptions to that rule, for many a decade now. And when I say all, I do mean all. I don't care what side of the war you were on, are on, whatever the case may be, but you are all idiots who don't even realise what you are doing," Death said, his anger ringing through the air as he spoke, his fierce, cold magic running over everyone.

"I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand," Dumbledore said, his voice gentle and yet his eyes definitely not, and although he looked like he wanted to say more, he couldn't.

"Of course you don't, Albus," Lady Magic said, her voice both gentle and fierce, "And yet it is you who we have the most issues with,"

Again, the shock on everyone's faces was almost comical, especially Dumbledore's, though he was clearly trying to not show his anger.

"Other than Lucius Malfoy, of course, dear sister," Death said.

"Oh, yes, Lucius Malfoy. The man we are all here to see be finally imprisoned for his crimes," Lady Magic said gleefully.

"I have committed no crimes," Lucius sneered.

The blonde, once aristocrat, squeaked in fear as Death kneeled in front of him in the blink of an eye, and the way Lucius' eyes widened in terror Harry briefly wondered if he could see the cloaked figure's face.

"You have committed all of the worst crimes that you could possibly commit, and more. You raped your wife, your child. You paid others to do the same. You abused them both horrendously. You paid the boys your son, your little boy, was housed with to torture him. Not all of them, of course, but the ones that would happily do so. All whilst you stayed at home and tortured your wife. It was an arranged marriage, I know. You didn't love her. She didn't love you. But you could have found something to make you both happy. Like most other couples in your position do. You should have. She did nothing wrong. Draco did nothing wrong. And yet you hurt them. Tortured them. Day in and day out. And we saw it all. We saw everything. The way you forced Severus to take that vow to not mention anything to anyone or he would lose his magic, and potentially his life. The way you forced him to make a vow to not save your wife and son from you. He did everything he could to heal them, to keep them safe for even brief periods of time, and yet he now hates himself even more because the woman he loved as a sister is dead. Murdered by you. Because his godson was being raped and tortured by children in his own House at school and he knew nothing,

"You forced your wife into servitude in the worst way possible. Killed her in the worst way possible. I really do hate that method of torture, of death, by the way. I may be Death, my job may very well be to collect your souls and lead you to the afterlife, but by Merlin, do I hate it when some idiotic shrew of a man thinks it is okay to go after children in the way that you did to your own fucking son. And I hate it even worse when you decide to use such a terrible torture device to kill your wife. She deserved better than you, than her parents for forcing her to marry you. Draco deserved better than you. Your ten other children deserved better than you,"

The gasps that went around the room at the last statement seemed to bring a silence that would have enabled you to hear a pin drop if one were to do so. If only for a few seconds.

Harry's heart clenched in pain at the thought of what Narcissa had been through. 10 children. She had lost 10 children because of this… monster. He couldn't imagine the pain she had been through, and he prayed to Merlin and all the gods that had ever been created that he wouldn't ever have to experience that kind of pain. He didn't think he would survive it if he lost a child.

"Ten," he heard Severus mutter painfully next to him and he turned to his soulmate to find a shine to his dark eyes as he looked down at the floor in front of them.

Harry held his hand and squeezed gently.

"I deserved better," Lucius snarled.

"You deserved bugger all," Death snarled right back, "You had a wife who would do anything for you. She would have loved you, eventually, if you had been a decent husband. She gave you your heir, and would have given you more children also, if you hadn't killed them all. She was healthy. She was a bloody good mother no matter what she thought of herself. She did everything she could to protect, love, and look after Draco. And yet she still hated herself, thought herself a horrible parent, because of you. And if you don't get the worst possible punishment here today then I will suck out your soul myself, before I take you all the way to the deepest pits of your darkest dreams,"

"Let's not be too hasty shall we?" Dumbledore said, "We haven't even seen the evidence Madame Bones claims to have, yet,"

Then Death was in front of Dumbledore, and by the gasp and fear in his eyes Harry imagined that he might be able to see the figure's face also.

"As if you don't already know most of it, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,"

Honestly the looks on everyone's faces were bordering on comical at that point and Harry was both trying not to laugh, and trying to fight down his anger and fear that the Headmaster he used to care about may have actually known at least some of what was happening to Draco. His baby.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Dumbledore said, trying to remain calm but there was a slight shakiness in his voice.

"You, as Headmaster of Hogwarts, have control over the wards. You can feel them. And the Founders added wards that no one can remove, even though you have tried to, multiple times, because they are solely focussed on keeping the children safe," Lady Magic said as she stood next to her brother, facing Dumbledore with a menacing glare.

"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Dumbledore said, blinking owlishly at the two menacingly powerful figures in front of him.

"There is a ward, created by Salazar Slytherin himself, that alerts the Head of the school when a student is being hurt by others, whether that other is another student or an adult. It tells you where they are, which student is being hurt, by whom they are being hurt, and how they are being hurt. You know, so you can go, stop the incident and punish those involved correctly. And make sure the student is healed appropriately," Death said, almost as if he was speaking to a toddler.

Severus sucked in a breath beside him and squeezed Harry's hand tightly.

"You have tried to remove this ward a good few hundred times since nineteen seventy-one. Before then there weren't enough incidents for the ward to bother you all that much, not that you cared enough to go and stop the incidents, of course, but they didn't occur often enough for you to be annoyed by the wards. Not until one Severus Snape arrived at the school and was bullied, horrendously, by your favourite Gryffindors, whilst also being abused by his own housemates for being a half-blood Slytherin as they tried to convert him to their side of the war after realising how talented he is,

"You knew everything that Severus Snape was going through in that school. And you did nothing to help him. Just like you knew everything that Draco was going through in that school. And again, you did nothing to help him. Just like you do nothing to help any of the students you are meant to look after and protect. Rather, you throw them head first into a war they should have no place in with minimal training because anyone that would actually be good at teaching them how to defend themselves would rather not be subject to a curse that means they will either perish, or be met with some rather questionable challenges at the the end of the year," Lady Magic said, her voice rather ethereal, and yet stern.

"The curse isn't my fault," Dumbledore said firmly.

"No, you didn't cast the curse, but you turned the boy into the man who cast it, and then did absolutely nothing to try and get rid of it," Death said.

"Whatever do you mean?" Dumbledore said, aghast at the insinuation.

"I gave you a gift, Albus Dumbledore. I gave you the gift of being a bearer. And yet you've gone against your instincts, your magic since before your sister died. All for your greater good. All for what you think is right. No one else can have an opinion. No one else can show you differently. No one else can do anything against your desires, lest they be labelled as evil. No one can be sorted into Slytherin, at the age of ELEVEN, without being labelled as evil. They are children. Children you should want to look after and protect, and yet your magic is so twisted by your mind, and everything else you have done, that the gift I gave you doesn't even affect you anymore. Yes, you still have a womb, but your magic has twisted. So far beyond what I could ever have imagined someone could twist their magic," Lady Magic said, her voice filled with pain and yet a fierce anger.

"And yet, I'm not the one who created Horcruxes," Dumbledore snarled, causing many a gasp to ring out.

"No, you didn't. Thankfully, otherwise you would be far more deranged than you pretend you aren't. But Tom wouldn't have created Horcruxes if someone cared enough to help him. Maybe someone like you, a bearer, a teacher, someone with the power to help him, to care for him. Someone to get him away from the issues that caused his fear of death in the first place. That was what he needed, Albus. Love. Care. Compassion. Everything that Tom did, all of it, it lies on the shoulders of you and the other staff members at Hogwarts when he was a child. And his mother, I suppose, but that is neither here nor there. He was born, he was a child, and yet no one helped him in the ways that truly mattered, the ways that were truly needed. Education is nothing if the child isn't safe. If the child isn't loved, cared for, protected then nothing matters," Lady Magic said, almost gently.

"He was a monster who wanted the muggles, and the muggleborn dead," Dumbledore growled.

"He was a child!" Death barked, "He wanted no one dead, not even his abusers. The people who thought he was the devil reincarnate because of his magic. He just wanted to be safe. He just wanted a family. Like every orphaned child, he wanted a family. And he could have had it, if someone had gotten off their arse and removed him from that hell, especially once the muggle world war started and there were bombs being dropped around the orphange he was forced to return to,"

"Children aren't monsters, Dumbledore," Lady Magic said, "No matter what House they are sorted into. No matter what they might believe in. They aren't monsters. With love, and patience, and care, he wouldn't have become the monster we all know him as. He would have gone into politics, as was his right. He would have made good changes for this country, but you didn't want to lose your power, especially after you defeated your ex, if you can call it a defeat,"

Again, another bombshell that left the room gasping.

"How dare you reveal that?" Dumbledore snarled, pulling his wand out.

"What? The truth. Grindelwald and you were madly in love with one another. You had plans. All the same plans that Grindelwald had during his war. You wanted to rule over the world together. You only stopped, if you can call it that, when your sister died at your hand," Death said, and everyone watched as Dumbledore paled drastically.

"How do you know which of us killed her? We couldn't tell," Dumbledore muttered.

"Because I am Death. I know all. I see all. I know exactly what kills everyone who dies. It was your spell that killed her Dumbledore. Not your lover's, and not your brother's. Yours. But I guess all of this is besides the point. We are here for a trial, are we not," Death said, and Harry thought he could hear a grin in his voice.

"Right," Amelia said shakily, looking between the figures, Dumbledore, Severus and Harry in shock, "We have been able to compile a lot of evidence against Mister Malfoy which we will show you all now,"

And then the trial actually happened, with Lucius snarling away in his seat, and most everyone else trying to pretend that the two spectral beings weren't just standing to the side, watching in anticipation as they looked at all the evidence, and eventually listened to Lucius talking about everything he did to his wife and son, and even some of the things he did as a Death Eater, under Veritaserum.

When it was time for the Wizengamot to vote on the verdict it was a, thankfully, unanimous agreement that one Lucius Malfoy deserved nothing less than twenty years in Azkaban, the deepest depths of it with the most dementors, followed by ten years of working in the mines of Gringotts, followed by the Kiss. Supposing he made it that far, of course. But given the pleased look on Lady Magic's face, and the overwhelmingly glad feelings emanating from Death, he supposed they would be working to ensure it happened.

And Harry was glad of that. The man had hurt his baby, and his soulmate's sister in all but blood. Terribly so.

"We'll be back, Dumbles," Death said cheerily after the blonde was dragged, kicking and screaming, out of the room.

Then the beings were gone, leaving only a menacing chuckle and silence in their wakes.