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“Again Ms. Granger. Say it again.”
“I am guilty,” Hermione said in a raspy voice.
“Guilty of what?” He waved his hand. Annoyed at her tight lipped response.
“Of ...Murder. Of Magical theft, Fraud.
“AND!”
“….being a Muggleborn.”
The prosecutor gave her a nasty look. “The court does not recognize this term. Must we continue to remind you.”
“Mudblood. I am guilty of being a Mudblood.” She held the sob that threatened to break out of her throat. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
Are you saying this of your own accord? Through no magical or other coercion?”
“I am.”
“Do you hereby testify that you and you alone were responsible for helping the blood traitor and terrorist Harry Potter in his attack on the Dark Lord.”
“ I do. Ronald Weasley had nothing to do with it.”
“Very well. The court rests your honors.”
The nearly packed Wizengamot remained if not silent than unintelligible, a spell of buzzing bees keeping their murmurs to themselves until a verdict could be reached.
The solicitor, Euewan Creevey (no relation) for Ms. Hermione Jean Granger looked straight ahead, neither glancing at his client nor the prisoner Ronald Weasley who hovered unconsciously above the assembly.
Chief Warlock. Lucius Malfoy raised his wand and the buzzing ceased.
“We find the defendant guilty of all charges. Her crimes are severe and while the court recognizes her youth it cannot be an excuse for her socially deviant behavior. We sentence Ms. Granger to a life befitting her crimes. She is therefore stripped of her personhood and is to be remanded to the custody of the Malfoy family so that she may begin a lifetime of reparations.”
Hermione tried to remain stoic. She had expected Azkaban, the Kiss. Her Solicitor Mr. Creevey had been quite frank about her fate but he had never mentioned Slavery as a possibility.
“When it comes to the crimes of Ronald Billius Weasly the court finds him guilty of 3 of the 976 charges brought against him. The most grievous of being a blood traitor, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and fornicating with a Mudblood.”
“NO! You can't.” She screamed at the cold faces looking down at her. “I told you it was me. It was my fault. Ron had nothing to do with it. He’s a pureblood. I tricked him. I used imperious on him.”
“SILENCE!” Boomed Lucius Malfoy.
She looked to Mr. Creevey but he wouldn't make eye contact with her. He had sworn to her that if she pleaded guilty he could save Ron. That she was a lost cause. Doomed by her relationship to Harry and her parentage. But that her sacrifice could give the man she loved a chance at a new life.
Lucius Malfoy continued. Ignoring her outburst.
“Mr. Weasley will be sentenced to 3 years in Azkaban and if properly rehabilitated may rejoin wizarding society with the full use of his wand. This is final.” Using his wand a golden gavel came down hard in the air and the assembly was adjourned.
A few muttered the sentence was far too light but most knew not to question the choices of the Chief Wizzengamot.
The two guards that had led her in were now forcefully shoving her back into the small waiting room she’d come from.
Mr. Creevey followed suit. Giving nothing away with his stoic expression.
Once in the room the guards forced her into a seat in front of a plain looking desk and did not reapply the shackles she’d been kept in since her capture.
Both exited the room swiftly. Eager to be away from the infamous Mudblood terrorist she imagined.
“You promised me Mr. Creevey, was it all a lie? Does Lucius Malfoy own you too? Was I that foolish.”
Mr. Creevey moved to take the seat opposite her behind the desk. looked at her with his tired but capable eyes and spoke as though she hadn't just shouted at him.
“Fred and George Weasley were both executed last night. Charlie and Bill received the Dementors kiss the Monday before last and through the skin of his teeth Percy managed an acquittal. 3 years is better than I’d hoped. When he’s served his sentence he won't just have his freedom but he’ll be able to keep his magic.”
“I know I deceived you but did you really think they were gonna just let him walk out of the courtroom.”
“Percy got an acquittal.”
“Only after he revealed the location of several resistance fighters. Would you have done the same?”
She opened her mouth to disagree but knew that as much as she loved Ron she could never pay such a price.
It was the best that could be done.
“So what happens now?”
“Now” came the cold and dangerous voice of Lucius Malfoy “you will be coming with me. You should thank your lawyer. I was ready to send you both to the bowels of the Dementors pitt when he proposed this solution. A lifetime of indentured slavery for you while your inbred boyfriend is forced to live his life with he guilt of what you’ve sacrificed. That is if he makes it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“3 years for a boy like him. Who knows. My money's on him cracking after the first week.”
“He won't. He’ll survive. He’s stronger than you.”
Mr. Malfoy smirked. “We shall see.”
Grabbing her wrist she barely registered what was happening before she felt the tell tale pull of side along apparition.
Her vision blurred as vertigo took hold of her and she toppled to the ground.
The icy marble floor made the bones in her cheek crack at the impact of the fall.
Lucius sighed before dragging her to her feet. Her hands automatically went to where her face had hit the floor. She could already feel her cheek swelling.
He once again grabbed her arm and dragged her through the house. It was night and the large manor reeked of ominous horror. She tried not shudder at the paintings, each more violent than the last that surrounded her every step.
He led her past closed door after closed door. They climbed one staircase after another and the longer their journey the more her head throbbed.
Finally they seemed to reach their destination. It was a greenhouse of sorts that had a spiral staircase in its center. Presumably leading to the roof.
The humid air caught her by surprise, the floral smells making her head swim.
Malfoy dropped her arm and raised his wand.
Her arms automatically attempted to shield herself from pain but he had only performed a simple scourgify. The dirt and mud caked from her stint in the ministry holding cell whisking itself off her with fervent ease.
Her skin felt itchy as the spell stripped her body of needed oils as well as dirt.
“I don't want your filth tainting the environment any more than it already will Mudblood. ”
She was about to ask what the hell they were doing but he gave her such a threatening look that she involuntarily closed her mouth.
They stood silently for another moment. Lucius was clearly waiting for something.
She heard it before she saw it. The soft rhythmic sounds of something slithering through the dense plants. A twig snapped and then a branch moved to her right. Whatever it was it was taking its time as it moved closer to them.
Finally a green tentacled limb shot forth and extended itself so that it was eye level with Lucius. The elder Malfoy took his hand and gently rubbed the green appendage. She saw him press a kiss to the tip several times. Whispering things she couldn't hear. Even as close as they stood to one another.
Several more vines appeared. Smaller than the first. Wrapping themselves around Lucius who didn't seem at all perturbed to being held in such a way.
It occurred to her that the vines were incapacitating him.
She bolted. Her legs darting towards the door. She zig zagged in case he attempted to throw a curse at her. She reached the handle of the Greenhouse door in record time and pulled. It was open she was, AHHHH!!!
A scream shot out of her mouth as a vine coiled itself around her ankle and pulled.
Her head hit the floor for a second time that night and she groaned as it slid her prone body back across the floor.
Several more vines curled themselves around her arms and legs. Standing her up but leaving her with little room to struggle.
“Very Stupid little Gryffindor”. Lucius pulled himself away from the vines reluctantly.
“What is this? Let go of me”. Hermione thrashed in her bindings trying to wrench free from the tentacles holding her. The humidity was making her sweat but the bindings didn't give an inch. She wasn't going anywhere.
“Let me go Mr. Malfoy. Let me go right now!”
“You will regret giving me an order slave. Your place is to follow my commands not to give them”.
“Darling. Show the girl her proper place”. A feminine voice could be heard but she saw nothing but the vines and Lucius.
A moment later and the vines had somehow turned her upside down. Twirling her in the air and leaving her completely vulnerable.
Slave I’d like you to introduce you to my wife Narcissa Malfoy.