Bow Down

"Draco Malfoy, you stand accused of working for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, of committing almost a dozen murders, including those of Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy, and of using all three Unforgivable Curses. How do you plead?"

Harry listened to the strong voice of Rufus Scrimgeour as he accused Malfoy of crimes against the Wizarding World. The Boy-Who-Lived watched the trial from his elevated seat behind the Minister, a grim expression fixed on his face.

"I didn't do it!" Malfoy shouted suddenly, his nervous voice echoing throughout the large room. Harry distinctly heard Ron mutter an incredulous remark under his breath from where he sat behind Harry. A moment later, Hermione's "Shh!" reached the boy's ears.

"Mr. Malfoy, there was an eyewitness who saw you murder both men," Rufus replied, sounding almost bored. "What do you say to that?"

"I didn't do it! I would never kill my f-father..." Draco's voice broke off as he looked to the floor, a faraway look in his eyes.

"Why doesn't he just say he was under the Imperious Curse?" Ron muttered into Harry's ear, leaning forward slightly.

"Dunno," Harry replied vaguely. "I s'pose it's too late to say that now, he should've thought of it before." He grinned then, feeling a small amount of vindictive pleasure at watching one of his worst enemies squirm.

Draco's voice suddenly broke through again, just as loud as before, ringing throughout the place. "And why would I kill Snape? He was my favorite teacher- I have no motive!"

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy," Scrimgeour said, leering slightly, "don't you think we thought about that?" He turned and addressed Harry and the dozens of people seated behind him who had come to watch the trial. "We have recently discovered that Severus Snape was indeed not a Death Eater, but was working undercover for the Order. Being a Death Eater himself, I have no doubt that Mr. Malfoy here," he addressed the nervous eighteen year old with a wave of his hand, "killed him in order to move up in his ranks.

"As for the murder of his father," he continued, "we have also recently discovered that he turned traitor against You-Know-Who. It is possible that Draco killed him on His orders, or perhaps for the same reason that he killed Snape, to move up in status." Suddenly Scrimgeour turned, so he was looking down at Malfoy again, who was locked in place by chains. "So which was it? Why did you kill him?"

"I told you, I didn't kill anybody!"

Rufus inhaled deeply for a moment, his face starting to turn a light shade of pink. "All right, then. Perhaps it is time we bring out the witness.

"Would Mr. H. Potter please come forward?"

Harry stood up and, to his slight embarrassment, everybody behind him began to clap. Trying not to grin, he moved forward into the seat beside the Minister so that he, too, was looking down at Draco.

"Please state your full name."

"Harry James Potter," Harry replied, a bit monotonously.

"Would you please tell us what you saw the day you defeated You-Know-Who?" As he said this, Scrimgeour looked at Harry a bit more interestedly.

Harry cleared his throat and began to speak. "After I killed Voldemort," many people winced at the name, although they knew he was dead, "I saw Malfoy- that is, Draco Malfoy- standing in front of Lucius Malfoy. He- Lucius, I mean- was pleading for his life, and he said something along the lines of 'I'm your father, how could you kill me?'"

"LIAR!" Draco roared suddenly, attempting to jump out of his seat but the chains held him back. "That never happened! I would never- he wouldn't beg, none of this is true, it doesn't make sense-!"

"Silencio!" Scrimgeour said, pointing his wand lazily at the blonde boy below him. "Please, Harry, continue."

"Well, then Draco said, 'This is for the Dark Lord,' and he cast Avada Kedavra on Lucius, and he fell to the ground, dead. He ran off really fast, so I went to follow him- to stop him, obviously- but he was pretty far ahead of me. But then Snape jumped in front of him, I guess to try and stop him, too, but Malfoy cast the curse on him, too, and continued to run. I got caught up in another fight and couldn't follow after that," he finished, feeling a bit embarrassed. He didn't want to sound like he was trying to be a hero.

"That sounds fair," Scrimgeour mused, as Draco thrashed violently against his restraints. "Finite Incantatem," he whispered, pointing his wand at Draco once more. "Something you'd like to add?"

"That's not true! I have proof, he's lying!"

"And what proof would that be?" Rufus asked, looking at Draco disdainfully.

"My memory! I can show you all, I wasn't anywhere near where Snape or my father died!" Scrimgeour raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose you'd like a Pensieve, then?"

"Yes!" Draco nearly shouted, and Harry felt slightly annoyed at the relief he heard in Malfoy's voice.

"Very well, if it pleases the court?" Nobody objected, so the Minister sighed. Pulling out his wand, he muttered something and conjured up a Pensieve out of thin air. Levitating it towards Malfoy, he asked, "Do you know how to use this?"

"Yes," Draco responded. "I'd anticipated this, I have the memory here, Sir." He pulled a small corked vial out of his pocket and poured its contents into the stone basin. After a moment, in which Harry craned his neck to see the swirling contents of the Pensieve, Draco looked up at Scrimgeour.

"Er, I don't see how everybody would be able to see this..."

The Minister rolled his eyes and pointed his wand at the Pensieve. He muttered a string of curses and suddenly, the room around them dissolved. Harry heard many people around him gasp and figured out that they were all inside the Pensieve now.

"Draco, Potter's done it!" shouted Crabbe, running towards Draco, who was standing in the midst of a chaotic scene.

"I know, I saw! I'm going to find my father!"

He ran in the opposite direction, and the court followed. The present Draco, who had been previously tied down to a chair, was now standing between two Aurors, his arms tied down, pinned to his sides.

As the people moved, Hermione whispered to Harry, "I wonder where he's going with this?" Harry simply shrugged and continued walking.

After a moment, Draco was standing in front of his father. "Did you hear what happened?"

Before Lucius could answer, however, a great cloud of smoke erupted before them and the two Malfoys were obscured from sight.

"Yes, I saw it," Lucius' voice said. "Thank Merlin it's over."

"Father, how could you turn traitor? Avada-"

"NO, Draco!" Lucius suddenly shouted, though nobody could see him. "How could you kill your own father?"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Suddenly, they were all pulled from the scene and Harry found himself seated exactly where he had been before in the courtroom. He looked around and saw that everybody had looks of nervous confusion on their face- including Malfoy, who was once again trapped in his chair.

"Somebody- Somebody messed with my memories!"

"Obviously," said Scrimgeour, sounding bored once more. "Only a very powerful wizard can alter someone else's memories."

"The Dark Lord must've done..." Draco muttered, and he seemed to be talking more to himself than anybody else.

"Aha, I guess your old buddy wasn't as wonderful as you thought he was. When he goes down, he takes his followers with him."

There was a bit of scattered laughter at these words. Draco, on the other hand, didn't seem to find the comment amusing.

"I'm telling you, I'm not a Death Eater!"

"So explain the Dark Mark on your arm. Explain why Mr. Potter witnessed these murders."

"Potter must be lying! He hates me, he always has! For all we know, it could've been him who killed Snape and my father! We all know he's capable of it! And I- I was a Death Eater. I became one in sixth year, but after Dumbledore died I started spying for the Order."

"A lot of good that did," Harry suddenly burst out. All eyes turned to him and he continued quickly, "We didn't get any information from you at all!"

"A very good point," Scrimgeour said. "I believe we're near an end to this trial-"

"WAIT!" Draco shouted. "Check Harry's memories! You'll see I'm not lying, you'll see what really happened-!"

"Enough of this nonsense," the Minister hissed menacingly. "You've wasted enough of our time, and you're not going to waste any more. Who here believes this man to be guilty?"

Almost every hand went up, with the exception of Vincent Crabbe, Draco's only friend that remained alive after the war.

"Very well. Draco Malfoy, I sentence you to life in Azkaban. Court dismissed!"

Everybody stood up, stretching and muttering around Harry. He alone remained in his seat. He stared down at Malfoy for a moment before looking to the Minister. "Sir, do you think I could have a moment to speak to Malfoy alone?" At Scrimgeour's skeptical look, Harry added, "He's unarmed, I think I can take care of myself."

Rufus sighed. "Yes, of course. All right everybody, clear out!" He turned to Harry and said, "There will be two Aurors waiting outside the door. If you need help, or when you're finished, just give them a shout, and they'll escort him to Azkaban."

Harry nodded and waved to Ron and Hermione, who were giving him perplexed looks as they left the room. Harry remained where he stood for a moment, making sure he and Malfoy were completely alone, before descending the steps and moving close to Draco.

"What the hell was that?" Draco shouted angrily. He was shaking, Harry noticed, and looked more pale than usual.

"What?" Harry asked calmly. "Oh, you mean my evidence? You know what it was, Malfoy. That was me, helping the Wizarding World, as always."

"You made it up, dammit!"

Harry let out a hollow laugh. "All right Malfoy, you got me. I made it up."

Draco's eyes widened at this; he seemed to be expecting a different answer. "Why? Why would you do that? You know I was on your side, Potter, it was you I was giving my information to!"

"Yes, and that was a mistake. It seems to everybody else that you gave no information at all."

Draco's eyes widened more; he had just seen a manic gleam in Harry's eyes that sent shivers down his spine. "You messed with my memories!"

"I sure did. It was easy, too. I had to make it look like a sloppy job, of course, or they would suspect me." Harry leaned in close and whispered in Draco's ear, "The Golden Boy doesn't make sloppy mistakes."

Draco fought against his restraints for a moment, but to no avail. "So you didn't witness any murders at all? You made it all up and they took in every-bloody-word-of-it!"

Harry let out another dry laugh. "Not exactly, Malfoy. You see, I destroyed all my own enemies. Voldemort first, then Lucius, then Snape, and now you. Of course, I'll be destroying you from the inside as you rot away in Azkaban, so it'll be more fun this way."

"You killed them?" Draco asked dumbly. He seemed to be in a state of shock. "But why? My father and Snape were on our side-"

"Maybe so, but they were, and always will be, enemies. And also-" he examined the wall behind Draco's head interestedly, a smirk dancing across his lips menacingly. "I don't want anybody trying to come between me and my power."

"Your power? You mean-?"

"That's right," Harry said, almost pleasantly. He looked Draco in the eye and continued. "I used Voldemort's idea about the Horcruxes. Of course, why use seven when there are so many more things you can turn into a Horcrux?"

He pointed his wand at Draco and closed his eyes. A silver light flowed from the tip of Harry's wand and to Draco's heart. He was silent for a moment, and Draco found that he was unable to move. Finally, Harry raised his wand again.

"There, I've just made you into a Horcrux. In order to destroy me, you'll have to be destroyed, interestingly enough. And, of course, I've made at least a dozen more objects into Horcruxes." He looked at Malfoy's face for a reaction, and saw that the blonde boy before him looked stunned. "Oh, and I'll be looking for more, of course."

"You won't! I'll tell someone-!"

Draco's shouts were cut off when Harry raised his wand against Draco's mouth. "If you tell anybody, you will die." He closed his eyes once more, and Draco saw the entire conversation he had just had with Harry flash through his memory in the span of one second, along with a jolt of pain.

Harry opened his eyes again, and Draco saw a hint of red in them. His face, once so full of life and happiness, seemed to be drained of all joy for a moment. Draco shivered; Harry Potter looked quite intimidating, with shadows passing over his eyes and an angry smirk on his face.

"Bow down to the next Dark Lord, Draco." Suddenly, Harry turned and walked through the door, leaving Draco to be taken away to Azkaban, to dwell in his own thoughts in silence for the rest of his life.