Broken

“I would have given you all of my heart

But there's someone who's torn it apart

And he's taken just all that I had

But if you want I'll try to love again

Baby I'll try to love again but I know

The first cut is the deepest

Baby I know the first cut is the deepest

But when it comes to being lucky he's cursed

When it comes to loving me he's the worst

I still want you by my side

Just to help me dry the tears that I've cried

And I'm sure going to give you a try

And if you want I'll try to love again

Baby I'll try to love again but I know

The first cut is the deepest

Baby I know the first cut is the deepest

But when it comes to being lucky he's cursed

When it comes to loving me he's the worst

I still want you by my side

Just to help me dry the tears that I've cried

But I'm sure gonna give you a try

'cause if you want I'll try to love again

Baby I'll try to love again but I know

The first cut is the deepest

Baby I know the first cut is the deepest

When it comes to being lucky he's cursed

When it come to loving me he's the worst”

The heavy oak door thudded behind Harry as he entered the Wizengamot. He was nervous about this meeting. The Ministry of Magic had ordered an inquiry into the events of earlier. Harry’s mind whirled with ideas as to why they wanted to meet. He never had much faith in the Wizengamot. After they had tried and almost expelled him before his fifth year at Hogwarts, he had held the firm belief that the people who ran it were fools. Now he was being forced to face them again. If this were for anything else, Harry would tell Fudge to forget about it. But this was for Ginny. Harry desperately wanted Ginny to come back to his world. So no matter what, he was going to try.

The members of the group looked up as the door thudded behind him. Amelia Bones clicked her tongue and Fudge looked at him in an annoyed fashion. Harry casually adjusted his dress robes to convey the feeling that this meeting meant nothing to him. He didn’t want them to think he was nervous or had something to hide. Fudge would jump on his feelings of inadequacy in seconds and send him off the Azkaban.

“Mr. Potter, you are late.” Amelia Bones looked down her nose at Harry.

“I am truly sorry. I got lost in the hallways on my way here. I haven’t been in this room since my fifth year, if you remember?” Harry looked into Fudge’s eyes and quirked an eyebrow at him. ‘Remember when you made that big mistake, you arrogant bastard?’

Fudge cleared his throat. “Yes, well. That’s of no consequence here. We have asked you here to clear up a matter of great importance to us.”

Harry leaned against the hard oak chair that the Wizengamot provided all the people who testified before them. They hadn’t asked him to sit and so Harry wouldn’t. “And just what is that matter?”

“The death of Draco Malfoy and what Ginny Weasley had to do with it. We found a wand in her possession.” Amelia Bones looked at Fudge strangely. Harry wondered if she had known Fudge was going to bring that point up.

Harry sighed heavily and sat down in the oak chair. “I gave it to her.”

Fudge nearly exploded. “How could you give someone who has lost their privilege to practice magic a wand? It’s against the law! You should lose your aurorship for this!”

Harry shrugged noncommittally. “Fine, take away my aurorship. I’ll still have money to live on. Or have you forgotten that I’m independently wealthy?”

“The Ministry freezes your assets and garnish your wages.” Fudge glowered down at Harry from his perch.

“You have no right to do that. You know that, Mr. Fudge.” Harry looked up at Fudge on his heightened seat and thought he looked like a vulture.

“I know no such thing. I’m the Minister of Magic, who should know the law better than I?” Harry heard Amelia Bones snort.

“Oh really? Then you know as well as I that the ministry cannot do something like that.”

Fudge’s face went even redder, but he knew that he was defeated. “Fine. But you still haven’t explained the matter of the wand. Why did you give one to Ginny?”

“I had been watching her for a few days. I noticed that Draco was also trailing her as well. She was a defenseless witch. I had no idea what he would do to her. I didn’t want him trying anything and Ginny would not be able to defend herself. I gave her the wand and told her that she was not supposed to use it under any circumstances other than if someone attacked her.” Harry leaned against his chair and felt that his back was sweating. He hoped his nerves weren’t showing to Fudge.

“You had no way of knowing what she would do with that! You were directly violating wizard law!”

“Minister Fudge, if I may be straight forward with you? I considered Draco Malfoy a greater danger to the world than Ginny Weasley. While doing my observations I noted that she was studying to become a muggle healer. She had built a life for herself as a muggle. I have no reason to believe she would abandon all of that to become an outlaw.”

“Even so, you gave her a wand when she shouldn’t have had one.” Fudge’s face was red and shiny. He was out of breath from his ranting and looked ready to kill.

“I’m not going to argue with you on this point. There has to be some reason why you wanted me here, besides to tear me off a strip about Ginny. What is it, minister?” Harry rubbed his hands on his thighs and prepared for the inquisition he knew was coming.

“We need to be sure that it was your wand that killed Draco Malfoy and not Ginny’s. Please hand me your wand.” Fudge put his hand out to take Harry’s wand, as if he just expected Harry to do what he said.

Harry looked at Fudge like he was insane. “Are you joking? You are accusing me of being liar? I’m an auror in your service, sir. Someone you are supposed to trust implicitly. Now you are questioning my honor? I’m offended.” Harry knew he was being over dramatic. However, he was going to need to put on a good show if he was going to be believed.

Fudge quickly backpedaled. “No, Harry. It’s not like that at all. However, the Ministry is going to have to deal with the Daily Prophet. We need all the details. I want to assure the public that we looked into this matter as fully as possible. I don’t want anyone to accuse me of favoritism because of who you and Miss Weasley are. Come Harry, it’s a simple spell. You aren’t afraid, are you?”

Harry shook his head and sighed. He handed his wand to Fudge. He had sudden visions of Fudge snapping his wand. “Priori Incantem,” Fudge murmured quietly. A jet of green fog spewed forth from his wand, showing Fudge that the unforgivable curse had come from his wand. Fudge reluctantly gave Harry back his wand. A feeling of security fell over Harry like a thick blanket once it was in his hands again.

“Now, tell me about Draco’s death. What happened?” Fudge placed a small pain of glasses on the end of his nose. He summoned a quick quotes quill with a flick of his wand. “This is December 3. I am Cornelius Fudge. I am interviewing Harry Potter concerning the events that led to the death of Draco Malfoy.” The quill flew over the piece of parchment writing in blood red ink. “You understand you are being interviewed, right Mr. Potter?”

Harry closed his eyes and silently prayed this would be over soon. “Yes.”

“Alright, Mr. Potter. Please tell me about the events that led to Mr. Malfoy’s death.” Fudge looked over his glasses at Harry and he was reminded of how Dumbledore used to do the same thing. It was a pity that the affection he felt for Dumbledore was not felt for Fudge, he rather hated the man.

“I had followed Ginny into the café where she worked. I noticed that Draco Malfoy was also there, bothering her. I went over and made my presence known. That’s when Draco began to choke Ginny and threaten me. In fact, he threatened both of our lives. I was finally able to distract Draco long enough to draw my wand. I told him to release Ginny. He refused. I ordered him to hand over his wand, which he also refused to do. Finally, when I saw that it was going to be his life or mine, I made the awful choice. He was beginning to say the words to perform the curse on his own. I was simply quicker.” Harry finished his story quickly, looking at the wall behind Fudge. He was trying to imagine the events as he told them.

Fudge cleared his throat and caught Harry’s attention. “You say he tried to perform the curse on you?”

Harry nodded and licked his lips. “Yes.”

“When we performed the same spell on Mr. Malfoy’s wand, we found no evidence of him performing this curse.” Harry could hear the quick quotes quill scribbling their conversation. The room was utterly silent while they waited to hear his answer.

“He didn’t get to perform the curse, did he? It was never truly performed. Therefore his wand wouldn’t have record of it.” Harry stood up from his chair and looked at Fudge. “Listen, it’s been a long night. I’ve had to kill someone. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. You know what happened, you have evidence to back up my statements. What more do you want?”

Fudge and Madame Bones looked startled to see Harry’s sudden decision to leave. “This interview is not done, Mr. Potter. You need to stay until the end.”

“It’s over for me. I have told you everything that you needed to know. I’m tired, hungry and feeling sick. I’m going home now. This interview is over.” Harry began walking to the door. He heard a chair clatter to the ground. Apparently Fudge was so angry, that in his haste to stop Harry he had knocked over his chair. Harry looked back and saw Madame Bones grab his arm.

“Stop, Cornelius. He’s right. There is no need for this. We have the evidence and we don’t need to draw this out. Let him go.” Madame Bones looked sympathetically in Harry’s direction and smiled at him. “He was a hero tonight. He saved Ginny Weasley’s life.”

Suddenly Harry was reminded that Ginny had yet to get her wand back. He walked quickly to Madame Bones and stopped in front of her. “What about Ginny? Will she be able to practice magic again?”

“I’m sure she can. After all, she helped you defeat Malfoy tonight as well. If she had been loyal to Voldemort all this time she would have helped Malfoy. Instead Malfoy nearly murdered her tonight. We’ll return her license in the morning.”

Harry heard what sounded like a snort from Fudge and looked angrily in his direction, as if he was daring Fudge to say something. Fudge looked away from Harry. He knew that he had been beaten. He was made the wrong decision in taking away her license in the first place. Fudge stayed quiet and looked at the ground. Harry looked back at Madame Bones and smiled. “Thank you,” he said simply and left the room.