[HP] Three thousand days of innocence

On its own, Harry's statement was unremarkable.He said they saw Draco in the Room of Requirement when they were looking for Ravenclaw's diadem, saved him from the fire that burned Crabbe, and later saw Draco trying to prove that he was still standing on Tom's side. Riddle on one side, grappling with a Death Eater in vain.It paints a more complete picture of the various events of the Battle of Hogwarts - although only a rough overview of what happened that night - but there is no evidence to convict Draco.

Ginny was shocked.She had expected Harry to take any opportunity to slander his old nemesis, but Harry, like Katie, was calm and composed on the witness stand, and Padma looked utterly ridiculous by comparison.

His testimony was mainly related to Narcissa's wand. "I saw him with a wand in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts," Harry answered Harper's question. "When I asked him, he told me it belonged to his mother. During our scuffle, the wand fell off and rolled under a pile of debris. After a few minutes, we escaped from the room. My friend Hermione · Granger Weasley picked it up. She returned the wand to Malfoy out of sympathy, because she knew that if Malfoy walked through Hogwarts unarmed, he would be sentenced to death. She pities him."

As he spoke, he looked at Draco haughtily.

"Was that the last time you saw the wand?" Harper asked.

"No," said Harry. "After the battle and Tom Riddle died, I saw Narcissa Malfoy holding it."

When it was Ginny's turn, she stood directly in front of Harry with her hands clasped behind her back. "Aside from Draco Malfoy himself," she said, "you were the only one who witnessed the death of Albus Dumbledore. What did you think of Mr. Malfoy's actions that night?"

Harry glanced at Draco, then replied bluntly, "Although Dumbledore is unarmed and weak, Malfoy is not capable of killing him."

"Then why do you think he can kill Colin?"

"Because he could be ruthless and reckless in endangering people's lives with necklaces and poisons," said Harry, frowning. "He did it easily, too. At the end of our sixth year, he couldn't just kill a person. That's okay. I think he was more than capable of doing it the night of the Battle of Hogwarts."

Ginny raised her eyebrows, remembering what Ron and Hermione had told her about meeting Draco at Malfoy Manor. "What about when you were captured by the Snatchers during the war? Didn't you meet Mr. Malfoy?"

Harry's brow furrowed even tighter. "Yes, I have."

"Explain the situation to the Wizengamot."

Harry looked up at Kingsley. "Ron, Hermione and I were caught by the Snatchers for saying Tom Riddle's name," he said reluctantly. "His name was a taboo back then. We were taken to Malfoy Manor, tortured and questioned until they noticed the scar on my forehead. Narcissa Malfoy asked Draco to identify me and he...didn't I."

"No?" Ginny asked. "Why not? You were in the same year at Hogwarts. He must know you."

"I don't know," Harry whispered. "I don't think he recognizes me. I've been put under a spell to hide who I am."

"But you said they still noticed your scar," Ginny pointed out.

"His father, Lucius. Not Draco."

"What about Ron and Hermione? Are they in disguise?"

"No."

"Has Draco identified them?"

"No."

Ginny resisted the urge to stamp her foot.Harry knew exactly what she wanted him to say, but he just wouldn't. "No problem," she said, returning to her seat as Harry left the witness stand.

She felt groggy.It was a consequence of lack of sleep last night, but she couldn't doze off in court at the Wizengamot.During the lunch break of the court, Ginny ran to the cafeteria of the Ministry of Magic, ordered a cup of coffee, and drank it immediately.

Her family and John also came to the restaurant. "Today is almost over," John whispered to her, leading her to a table. "Hold on, hold on a little longer."

She smiled at him and sat down beside her mother. "Thank you for coming," she said meaningfully. "I have no idea--"

"I told you, we'll all be here," said Percy dryly. "When did I lie?"

"Thank you very much, Percy," said Ginny, squeezing his hand across the table.He blushed and muttered that family members should support each other.

"But you!" she said to Ron, changing the subject. "Why did you drop the charges? What happened? Why didn't you tell me your plan?"

Ron sighed. "I know," he said. "I made a decision at the last minute, but I've thought about it a long time, and Hermione and I have discussed it." He shifted in his seat and looked at Percy, who nodded. "We thought it would increase your credibility that I drop the charges. You know, if it looks like we're on your side, everything else is bullshit."

"That's great," Bill said in amazement. "Especially for you, it's amazing."

"Thank you." Ron said coldly.

"I personally informed Kingsley of his revocation this morning," said Percy. "I think it's a brilliant plan. So," he leaned forward, eyes sparkling.Ginny knew that Percy liked politics, and had learned many ways to interpret and twist the letter of the law. "You've gone through oral testimony. Are you ready to confront Yaxley's memory?"

"Ready," Ginny said confidently. "I have plenty of precedents and facts to deal with them. I should be fine. I still don't understand, though, why he was allowed to testify from memory?" She looked at them. "Yaxley is a Death Eater. How can he be considered a credible witness?"

"His lawyers have made a deal with the Wizengamot," said Ron angrily. "Yaxley is willing to give everything he knows in exchange for a reduced sentence. He has 60 years left in Azkaban, but that's 60 years, not a lifetime."

"Before joining Tom Riddle, Yaxley was on the board of St. Mungo's," Bill added. "I think that still makes him respectable."

"And he's not crazy like everyone else," their father said. "That's why they kept Lestrange from testifying, wasn't it? Yaxley stayed sane against all odds." He shook his head sadly. "It's always astounding to me that logical and rational wizards and witches could be persuaded to join the Death Eaters."

As they ate, the topics kept changing, including the testimony of Dennis, Katie, Padma, and Harry on the stand, and how the Wizengamot would react to their testimony.While Ginny's family made fun of Padma's performance, John bowed his head and had some private words with Ginny.

"Simon brings his love and his apologies," John whispered to her. "He decided to go to work this morning because yesterday with his dad ... he was exhausted."

"I can imagine." Ginny smiled sadly. "I would never have asked so much of him if I had known, but I am grateful for what he has done for Draco."

After the lunch break, they returned to the courtroom, with Ginny in the defense seat.The members of the Wizengamot came back from lunch one after another, and some chatted happily, as if they didn't care about the world, as if they couldn't throw a young man into a cold cell with just one word.Ginny shuddered at the thought, and she immediately put the thought behind her.The coffee she drank seemed to at least restore her alertness.She could watch Yaxley's retrieved memory lucidly.

The picture eye that had been on the floor before had been placed on a small table in the center of the room, just behind Draco's chair.A vast white silk screen stretches from the floor to the high ceiling, ready to receive projections of thoughts and memories for all to see.Draco was ushered in again, and Ginny found him craning his neck to look at the curious contraption, a curious expression on his pale face.

With the Wizengamot, audience, and witnesses in place, Kingsley tapped the gavel. "The afternoon trial has officially begun," he announced. "We'll have a healer from St. Mungo's"—Ginny saw the wizard in the pale green robes as she sat down—"extracting Ofeus Canis Yaxley for Hogg From the memory of the night of the Battle of Watts, it has been confirmed that Colin Creevey died abnormally that day. After the extraction is completed, all audience members present will use the screen eyes to view the extracted memory." Kingsley looked around colleagues. "At that point, when all the evidence for the prosecution and defense has been presented, the Wizengamot will begin discussing the fate of Draco Malfoy. Do you all agree?"

People made a sound of approval.Kingsley gestured to the guard witch, and the door to the detention room opened.Ginny saw Yaxley for the first time in weeks.The man held Draco's entire fate in his handcuffed hands.

As her father said, he was clearly sane.His clothes were worn but clean, with a tear at the hem carefully mended.His face was clean-shaven, his long light-brown hair fell back, and his eyes were piercing, barely concealing a fanatical intelligence.He was ushered to a small table between Draco and Kingsley, and he sneered at Draco as he passed.

Draco froze immediately.Ginny saw him frown and tilt his head to one side, looking thoughtfully at the man in front of him.Draco stared at everyone as they entered, and Ginny knew it was because he might be trying to remember who they were, but he saw something wrong with Yaxley's reaction.She pondered the difference.

Meanwhile, Yaxley knelt on the dais between two guards as the therapist stepped in front of him.

"Therapist Moss," Kingsley said, "please begin retrieval."

The therapist nodded to him, then turned to Yaxley. "Take it easy, I'm fragile," Yaxley said, grinning.Moss gave him a dark look, then pointed his wand at Yaxley's temple.A silver thread like a spider's silk was quickly extracted, connecting the tip of Moss's wand to Yaxley's head, glowing in the bright courtroom.It stretched a full foot before breaking off.

Moss, seemingly oblivious to the weight of the memory floating in front of them, walked directly to the eye of the frame and inserted the tip of his wand into the back of the device.There was a buzzing sound from the eye of the screen, receiving this memory, and then there was a crisp sound.

Kingsley nodded. "Mose Healer," he asked, "is the memory in place, ready to watch?"

"Yes, Chief Wizard," Moss replied.

"Please take Mr. Yaxley away," he ordered, and Yaxley was immediately led out of the courtroom.

Ginny wasn't surprised to find that her hands were wet and a drop of cold sweat was trickling down her back.She rubbed her hands against the robes and took a deep breath.Draco seemed to be doing the same.She wished she could know what he was thinking.

After Moss therapist returned to his seat, Kingsley extinguished all the lights with his wand, and the picture eye opened.Draco's chair swiveled, Ginny thought, as if they were in a Muggle cinema, watching the latest movie.

The memory begins somewhere in a hallway at Hogwarts, where Draco is wrestling with a Death Eater.Ginny looked at him in surprise as a boy: haughty pointed face, fine robes, fear in the gray eyes.There was also the clothes he was found wearing, a white Oxford shirt and black trousers, the shirt and black school robes were charred by magic fire, and there were untreated burns on the exposed arms.

"I'm Draco Malfoy!" Draco's voice was thinner than it was now, but it was clearly his voice.He wrestled the masked Death Eater as if his life depended on it.Maybe it is. "I'm Draco, I'm with you!"

Before the Death Eater could answer, three pairs of disembodied feet appeared in the corridor.Ginny recognized the battered pair of sneakers that belonged to Ron.The Death Eater fell stiffly to the ground suddenly, and Draco breathed a sigh of relief, looking around.At this moment, an invisible fist hit him in the face, and he jerked his head away, tripping over the stunned Death Eater and falling on top of him, momentarily unconscious.The three pairs of feet gradually walked away, and Ginny could clearly hear Ron shouting in the confusion: "This is the second time we have saved you tonight, you double-faced bastard!"

Something fell from the Invisibility Cloak onto Draco's lap, and the trio disappeared completely.Draco looked at it and picked it up - his mother's wand.He touched the blood from his mouth, looked at his bloodstained fingers, and looked at his wand.He seemed to have absolutely no idea what to do.

Yaxley came quickly, also wearing the black Death Eater cloak, though he was hoodless and the mask was tilted over his hair. "Little Malfoy," he said, "the Dark Lord needs your help and you stand by?"

Even though Ginny knew she was watching eight years ago, she still found herself thinking, no, Draco!Don't listen to him!

Draco looked up at Yaxley warily through his tousled blond bangs. “They thought I was disloyal,” he said, his voice clearly bluffing. "I just had to knock Travers down. He tried to kill me."

Yaxley laughed out loud and kicked the unconscious Travers. "If he wanted you dead, boy, we wouldn't be standing here talking now.

Draco shuddered, but kept his footing. "But you know I follow the Dark Lord, don't you?" he pleaded anxiously. "I was the one who brought the Death Eaters into Hogwarts last year, and I helped kill Dumbledore. How else can I prove—" He choked up, his eyes filled with mixed emotions. "How do I prove my loyalty?"

Yaxley glanced at him with a smile. "Ah, loyalty," he said. "If your allegiance is genuine, there is no need to prove it."

"But they don't believe me!" Draco yelled petulantly, stamping his foot like a child. "I'll prove it to them, and they will know!"

A light flew over their heads, lifting Yaxley's cloak. "We should go, young Malfoy," he said. "You're going to prove your worth as a Death Eater to me, so you won't be under suspicion again."

There was an ominous tone in Yaxley's voice, and Draco was so anxious that he didn't seem to hear it.They left the corridor, running past the two dueling men, avoiding the disgusting thing Peeves threw at them.Hogwarts was in chaos, and there was a dull explosion in the distance, and the walls of the ancient castle were blown open, pouring in more Death Eaters, acromantulas, or other terrible things.

As expected, they met Colin Creevey.

Yaxley stopped suddenly and looked towards the junction of the corridor, where the thin and small Colin was standing there alive, while McNeil and the formidable Percy were fighting fiercely beside him.Percy was cursing, his movements graceful as an orchestra conductor.One of his glasses was missing a lens and he had a gash under his cheek.McNeill had no chance at all.

"It's for Fred!" he yelled hoarsely, sending the Death Eater flying backward. "This! It's for my brother, you ruthless killer!" Percy's wonderful performance made Colin's eyes widen in horror and admiration.

Unfortunately, his back was turned away from Yaxley and Draco.Yaxley sneered and waved his wand at Colin.Colin was caught off guard by a rope, and Yaxley dragged him away from Percy and the other Order members fighting at the end of the corridor.To Colin's credit, Colin struggled along the way, though he lost his wand.Ginny saw it on the floor not far from Percy's feet.

Yaxley flicked his wrist again, unhooked Colin, and cast the Cruciatus Curse on him.There were sad murmurs in the courtroom as Colin screamed, and Ginny bit her lip.The memory of Draco backed away from the struggling Colin with tears in his eyes.Ginny could see that Draco now knew what Yaxley wanted him to do.

Yaxley finished Cruciatus and turned to Draco. "Have you used the Unforgivable Curse?" he asked, as if talking about the weather.

"Of course I did," Draco said reluctantly.

"prove."

Draco hesitated for only a second before raising his mother's wand. "C-Cruciator," he said, and Colin fell to the ground, writhing in pain again, but not as badly as under Yaxley's wand.

"Again!" Yaxley urged, a sinister gleam in his eye. "You have to come from your heart, kid!"

"Crucio!" Draco said more confidently, and Colin struggled again in pain.

"Try something else," Yaxley smiled at him. "Mix it up. What's your favorite curse?"

Although tears were streaming down his cheeks uncontrollably, Draco laughed along with him. "I like this," he said, and Colin started clutching at his throat as if choking.His face was terribly red.

"Good!" Yaxley said, patting Draco on the back. "Lucius taught you well."

Draco let out a sob, but held it back.Ginny watched in horror as he used all the hexes and curses on poor Colin that school boys used to attack each other.During the process, Dennis urged his parents out of court, and Mrs Creevey could barely walk without the support of her husband and son.Ginny was very sad, and she was surprised that they could continue watching.

After what seemed like a long time, Yaxley in memory beckoned Draco back.Colin was sobbing uncontrollably now, begging for mercy, begging to live, and no one in the Order noticed his plight.It was impossible for them to pay attention, because Ginny could hear Percy still shouting in the distance, and the others must have been delayed too. "You know what you need to do now," Yaxley said.

"What?" Draco called, looking back at him dumbfounded. "You mean kill him? I've never used the Killing Curse on anyone, I can't!"

"You can do it, so do it," Yaxley ordered. "He's a nasty Mudblood who pollutes our world with his presence. He doesn't belong to us. They shouldn't have let him in Hogwarts at all.

Draco raised his wand and looked at Colin on the floor.Colin was unconscious and unaware of what had happened.

"From the heart, boy," said Yaxley, staring at him intently. "He steals magic from good purebloods like you and me. He's not as good as you. He's rubbish, scum. He's committed a crime against the wizarding world, and he should pay for it. He must die."

"I can't," Draco said, tears welling up again. "Anything but this."

"You can do it, I know!" Yaxley urged him. "I know what you can do. You're not a Mudblood lover, are you?"

"No," Draco said angrily, "never. They don't belong to us."

"That's right," Yaxley said. "Use your convictions. He's not a real wizard. Get rid of him!"

The 20-something Draco in front of her had long since stopped watching.He lowered his head as far as the iron chain allowed, closed his eyes tightly, and muttered something in a low voice.

But the boy Draco in memory, the Draco who just wanted to be accepted and safe, raised his wand even though he was crying.He had a look of anger, fear, and shock, as if he couldn't believe what he was doing, but decided to do the best he could.

Ginny couldn't believe it either.No, she begged, don't do it, don't...

"Avada Kedavra!" Draco cried, raising his wand.

Colin's body twitched one last time and lay there motionless, just as Juliette Sanderson had done when she had flashbacked Narcissa's wand earlier.

The screen dimmed instantly and the lights came on, and Ginny blinked, trying to adjust to the light.There was no sound in the courtroom except for the sound of Draco's chair being swiveled back into place.Draco kept his head down, his lips moving, muttering to himself.Ginny wondered what he was doing.Dr. Walcott had said that he had taught Draco stress management methods, and she was almost certain that the Battle of Hogwarts had spurred him into dissociative fugue - he must be using those methods.

"The court is adjourned now," Kingsley finally said. "The Wizengamot is to discuss the evidence presented and make a decision. We will reconvene in two days." He tapped the table with his gavel.

Before the guards could take Draco away, Ginny ran straight over and knelt in front of him. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I—um—maybe," he stammered, blinking his eyes down. "I need to meditate. I need quiet."

"You will," Ginny reassured him, hoping she could touch him without arousing suspicion. "It will be quiet in your cell."

He looked up at her with wide gray eyes. "That's me," he said softly. "That's me. I did. Damn."

"Stop thinking about that, you need to meditate—"

"I know him, the man," Draco continued, pointing his chin to where Yaxley had been kneeling. "I've met him before and it wasn't the name he told me. I would definitely remember names like Overius Yaxley."

Ginny was taken aback, her heart pounding. "What? You mean—"

"I'm trying to remember," Draco said, biting his lower lip.

Two guards stepped forward and began to undo the chains. "Think about it, Draco," said Ginny eagerly, "think about it—"

"What do you think I'm doing?" he snapped. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know, but I just—my memory might not be as good as it used to be—oh!" He straightened up and held out his bound hands to her as the guard helped him to his feet. "Paris!"

"You met him in Paris?"

"He calls himself Richards," Draco said, and Ginny trotted after him as the guards began to lead him away.The closer they were to the exit, the faster he spoke. "Yes, I went through the scrapbook John gave me last night - it had pictures of me in Paris, I was studying cooking and living in Montmartre - it had pictures of him, you can use that as evidence, but When the guards saw it, they took it away and they said I was not allowed to have any personal belongings other than my clothes."

They have reached the door.Draco turned to her one last time before heading downstairs. "Scrapbook," he said.

"Scrapbook," repeated Ginny.She remembered that it came with the suitcase.If it was confiscated, it was probably at the guard station next to the holding cell.

"Find him in Paris," Draco said, and was pushed down the steps, with the door closing behind him.