Will You Ever Return to Me?

Chapter 8.

March 2000, Ministry of Magic.

In his fourth year, Harry fell into Dumbledore's Pensieve, and watched the trials of Death Eaters after the first war. He had never imagined that one day, he'd end up in the same chair, bound and awaiting the verdict... for doing something he didn't remember doing.

Percy Weasley--the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement--came to see him and suggested he could get him a reduced sentence if he confessed to killing Malfoy. Harry was tempted, but refused--while he didn't regret Malfoy's death, he couldn't remember killing him, and he doubted that he'd cast a memory charm on himself. He wouldn't plead guilty.

Ron and Hermione visited once, and it was painful. Hermione was silent the whole time, and Ron looked at Harry like he was an exotic animal, and muttered, "How did you get caught?"

Harry begged them not to come to the trial, to spare themselves more pain, and in the end, they reluctantly agreed. They wouldn't see him get convicted, at least.

Harry attempted to bring up Draco's domestic abuse, but Ginny's testimony killed that defense, if it ever was one, as she denied being beaten. She also (truthfully, Harry had to admit under oath) claimed he'd tricked her with a sleeping potion and declared his intention to kill Malfoy aloud. Harry did remember that he also remembered leaving to go to Malfoy Manor... and then... nothing. He certainly didn't remember arriving.

He was also forced to identify the Firebolt, the invisibility cloak, and the wand found on the Malfoy estate as his own. That clenched the case. The wand's last two spells were a Memory Charm and a Killing Curse. In part, this convinced even Harry himself that he indeed had flown to the Malfoy Manor, located Draco, killed him, and then erased his memory to avoid prosecution. If I did that, he mused, it didn't work out too good.

"All in favor of acquittal?" the Minister of Magic asked the rest of the Wizengamot.

One hand--Percy Weasley's--came up.

"All in favor of conviction?"

Everyone else voted now.

"Harry James Potter, you have been charged with and found guilty of murder of one Draco Lucius Malfoy. Under the Unforgivable Act of 1894, I sentence you to life imprisonment in Azkaban prison."

Two Aurors led him out of the courtroom. At the exit, he looked up and met Ginny's eyes. He had the urge to shout out that he loved her, to demand to know why she covered up for Malfoy to sent him to prison, but something rose in his throat to suppress his voice and tears welled up in his eyes.

That's the problem, he thought bitterly. I love her--even now, even after all this. I have no idea why, but if she, right now, declared her love for me, I would run into her arms and forgive her for everything. Even though my mind tells me a thousand times over that I shouldn't.

Harry sighed. That was a hypothetical, and it would remain a hypothetical. His real future could be summarized in one word. Azkaban.