Shades of Grey

Shades of Grey

Chapter Fourteen: The Verdict

"There is no person so severely punished as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse." - Seneca.

Ginevra sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace and let out a long, protracted sigh. She had been restless all morning, waiting for Harry and Kingsley to arrive at the Hollow to pick up Draco. She folded the piece of parchment in her hand, unfolded it to read it, and then folded it again. The message itself was unimportant; it was the feeling of dread that it stirred inside her.

The letter had simply stated that Kingsley Shacklebolt and Harry Potter were to be expected at Godric's Hollow at nine in the morning, sharp, on December 18, 1998, to deliver sentence and final verdict to internee, Draco Malfoy. She wanted to toss the official document into the fire and watch it burn and turn into ash, hoping that if it disappeared so would the charges against Draco.

Ginevra set down the letter and sighed once more. She bent over and rested her weary head in her delicate hands. She had been up since dawn, awake with worry. In her heart, she believed that she feared this day more than Draco did. On one level, it was because she was going to see a boyfriend who had left her out here - all alone - for almost seven months, but on another, much more important level, she found herself dreading what Draco's sentence would be. She knew that he had done horrible things and should be penalised in some way, but she also believed that, internally, he was punishing himself more than any prison ever could. More than anything, she wanted Draco to not go to Azkaban.

With determination, she lifted her head, rose to her feet, and walked over to Draco's cell. She brought her knuckles to the door and knocked lightly. There was no response.

"Draco?" she asked softly, and then she heard the soft shuffle of shoes on the hard, wooden floor.

"Come in," he answered, and she quietly unlocked his door and stepped inside.

She found him in front of his small armoire, taking his clothes off the hangers and folding them neatly, placing them inside a medium-sized duffel bag. It was a simple act of packing, yet it made her heart sink to the pit of her stomach.

"They should be here within the hour," she stated dolefully, and he nodded his head with his back to her. "Packing already?" She frowned as he shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"I doubt they're bringing a Dementor with them to perform the Kiss right here, Ginevra," he answered with a cheeky grin as he turned to face her and saw how her frown had deepened.

He placed the bag on the floor and leaned back against the counter beside the closet, looking at her thoughtfully, even kindly.

"No matter what the verdict is, I highly doubt I will be staying here," he clarified in softer tones, his grin removed.

"Yes, I know, but--" She swallowed hard and shook her head, trying hard not to let her voice waiver. "It's going to be very odd, you know," she said with a faltering smile, "not having you around to pester and annoy me."

He laughed softly and shook his head as he leaned back on his elbows. "It was a grand arrangement, wasn't it?"

"It almost felt like we were a proper married couple," she quipped dryly, and he nodded his head.

"Yes, no sex, no kisses, and not a single 'I love you'. It was a proper marriage indeed," he cracked back, and she let out a strangled laugh.

The laughter petered off, and they both looked down, unable to continue the forced revelry. Instead, Ginevra stood on one foot, bringing the other behind to awkwardly scratch at her calve.

"I, uh," she began shyly, and he looked up. She could feel the blush rising to her cheeks. "I wanted to give you a gift." She lowered her foot and began to walk over to where he stood.

He gave her a puzzled look as she brought her hand up from behind her back and offered him her soft leather-bound journal. He reached out, tentatively, to receive it, opening and closing his mouth without saying a word.

"But this is yours," he finally stated, hesitantly handing her back the book as he stared into her caramel-coloured eyes.

She shook her head and pressed it back further into his hands, letting her fingers linger on his. "You appreciated it more than I ever did or could," she stated, and the blush finally rose to her cheeks. "You wrote in it just as much as I did. It's your journal too, Draco."

His eyes lightened, and he smiled, the kind of smile that made your knees buckle and the air rush out of your lungs. It was genuine and sweet, two adjectives that she had begun to associate with the altered boy standing in front of her. No, not a boy. This was a man.

"Thank you, Ginevra, I--" He glanced down at his feet and cleared his throat. "There's nothing I can give you that would mean as much as this does to me."

Ginevra smiled brightly and stood tall, bringing her hands behind her back. "But don't you see, Draco?" she asked with an upward inflection, and he glanced over at her to see her bright, warm face beaming up at him. "You just did."

~*~

Harry arrived with Kingsley at Godric's Hollows the following morning. Ginny had opened the door hesitantly, almost shyly. He had to summon all of his will power not to leap forward and embrace her in a tight hug, swinging her about the air. There before him was his sweet and beautiful Ginny. It had been seven long months since he had last seen her, and time had been good to her. She was still a little too skinny for his liking (he supposed it was because she had not been treated to her mother's delicious cooking for quite some time), but she appeared longer, more toned, any trace of baby fat now gone. She looked older.

Harry stepped across the threshold first and leaned in to plant a chaste kiss on her freckled cheek, but she turned her head and went over to Kingsley instead. He frowned as he watched her take the tall, dark Minister's hand. Kingsley, in turn, shook Ginny's hand warmly and thanked her for her invaluable service to the Ministry. Harry decided to ignore her slight, for now, and settled for a curt 'hello' as she barely inclined her head towards him in acknowledgement. After the required formalities, she immediately showed them to Malfoy's cell and opened it.

Inside, Draco was dressed in a pair of casual black trousers and a grey cashmere jumper. His trademark platinum-blond hair was uncharacteristically long, like his father's, but it was tied back in a forest-green-coloured ribbon. His eyes were dark and penetrating, and there was a long white scar that cut from beneath his right eye that curved down his jaw towards his ear, accentuating his pale, pointed face. He looked simple yet elegant, young yet seasoned. He was sitting on the end of his bed with a packed bag beside him.

Harry was taken aback. This was not the Draco Malfoy he had remembered from school. This eighteen year old looked like a man, a man who had seen hard battles with himself. He looked bigger and muscular, unlike his slender form from his days with him on the Quidditch field. While Harry had not been out and about this last year getting exercise, he was fairly certain that Malfoy had because the blond was bigger than Harry now, almost twice his size.

What truly caught Harry's eye, however, was the long white, jagged scar that Malfoy sported. He hadn't noticed it during the battle at Hogwarts, and no one made mention of such a disfigurement when they arrested the boy in question. Ginny wrote no note informing him that Malfoy had been injured. He was unsure of when the blond would have received such a scar as it didn't appear to look new - it was already white and faded. On most, such a physical mar would have looked unattractive, but, on Malfoy, it suited him. It somehow made his more aesthetically-pleasing features stand out.

"Draco Malfoy," Kingsley Shacklebolt addressed the Slytherin formerly, shaking Harry from his own musings. "We have come to release you from your incarceration at Godric's Hollow."

Harry observed how Malfoy's brow creased and then furrowed in confusion.

"All charges against you have been summarily dismissed," Kingsley explained as he straightened his back and looked down at the brooding blond.

"Dismissed?" Draco voice was laced with scepticism. "But, I tried to murder Dumbledore," he said, looking mightily confused. "I almost killed that Bell girl!"

"And you put Madam Rosmerta under the Imperius Curse," Kingsley added in an exceptionally low voice and then cleared his throat. "That was the only crime of which we could absolutely charge you with."

Malfoy nodded his head impatiently, as if indicating Kingsley to continue.

"We were going to take you to court and charge you as a minor where you would have served a light sentence in a juvenile facility--"

"Then why am I not going there?" Draco asked impatiently, cutting Kingsley off. "I have been imprisoned here for nearly eight months. Was there not a reason for this?" He shook his head in a rueful manner and laughed pitifully. "You just want to let me go unpunished?"

Harry opened his mouth and then closed it, looking over at Kingsley, who glanced down and frowned at him thoughtfully. It appeared as though Malfoy did not understand why he was not being punished. Did he believe that he needed to be? Did he want to be?

"Let me get this straight, Malfoy," Harry began, addressing Draco for the first time. "Do you want to go to prison?"

He didn't understand why the Slytherin was protesting this. He knew that a man could change in prison, but he didn't see Draco Malfoy as the type who'd want be punished. This was definitely not the boy he once knew in school.

"No," Draco replied curtly, not even bothering to look in Harry's direction. His focus was on Kingsley alone. "I just want to know why the charges were dropped."

Harry shook his head and glanced over at Ginny, who was leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest. She was frowning deeply, staring at Malfoy, who didn't even bother to make eye contact with her.

"Your father pleaded guilty to coercing both you and your mother into doing Voldemort's bidding," Harry finally explained, drawing in a deep breath. "He took full responsibility for it, so charges against both you and your mother were dropped." He sighed. "The Ministry is willing to overlook the use of the Imperius Curse as your father has convinced us that you did what you did under extreme duress from both himself and Voldemort."

"Consider your term incarcerated here at Godric's Hollow as 'time served'," Kingsley added with a bland smile.

Harry could hear an almost inaudible gasp from behind, and he turned to see Ginny covering her mouth with her fingers in absolute shock. She then lowered her hand to her heart, and the most imperceptible of smiles crept onto her lips, which gave him cause for worry, and he wasn't quite sure why.

"My mother is free?" Draco asked, sounding both relieved and hesitant.

This time he was looking at Harry. His eyes were stern, but they were not cold nor daring.

"Yes," Kingsley replied, answering for Harry, and Malfoy now turned his attention back to the Minister of Magic. "She is at Malfoy Manor right now."

Malfoy's eyes momentarily widen, and his expression softened. Then his lips twitched and curved downward into a frown. If Harry was not mistaken, the blond looked as though he was worried. Could it be that he was apprehensive about his release? Did he fear his freedom?

Malfoy cleared his throat, wiping any readable expression from his face, and looked up at the Minister of Magic. "May I go see her?" he asked politely, yet he eyed both Kingsley and Harry warily.

"Of course." Kingsley raised an eyebrow in the air. "Know that you and your family will be monitored for years," he added formally, and Malfoy absently nodded his head in acknowledgement of this fact.

"Where is my father?" he asked slowly, and Harry turned to observe Ginny's reaction once more.

She was fiddling with her wand, twirling it in her hand. She appeared lost in thought. Her smile had quickly faded away to a frown. She pursed her lips tightly as though she was about to speak but couldn't bring herself to say the words.

"He is finishing his sentence at Azkaban on charges of conspiracy, trespassing, and destruction of property," Kingsley answered in an authoritative tone, and the blond flinched.

Harry saw Malfoy stiffen as though he was preparing himself for a harsh verdict. It was odd to see the grey-eyed blond so emotionally aware of someone else's predicament besides his own. He appeared more concerned about the welfare of his parents than he did of himself.

"He will be serving fifteen years," Kingsley explained and then saw the look of horror etched on Malfoy's face. "But there will be no Dementors at Azkaban." He held up a hand to reassure the boy.

Malfoy let out a great sigh of relief at this, and, if Harry wasn't mistaken, so had Ginny.

"You have been named the legal guardian and owner of the Malfoy estates, including property and monetary wealth," Harry stated, speaking up as he cleared his throat and shook his head, unable to extract himself wholly from the odd and peculiar feeling that he held with this encounter. "You are free to return to Malfoy Manor accompanied by Kingsley here."

Malfoy glanced up, and his mouth fell open.

"Today, if you like." Harry gestured with a wave of his hand. "Or we can wait a day to depart," he offered, and Draco forcefully shook his head and stood up, grabbing his bag.

"I'd like to leave right now."

~*~

Author notes: This may or may not have been what you expected: the sentencing and Draco's choice. I figured the verdict was reasonable and logical. He was a minor when he committed his crimes, and he never officially hurt or killed anyone. His time served, ultimately, was for using the Imperius Curse on Madam Rosmerta. As for his father's light sentence, that was because they really did not have any hard evidence on him. Plus, Lucius has a lot of money, and even the new Ministry could see the value in the Malfoy services.

Yes, so this was only done from Ginevra's and Harry's PoV. I wanted to save Draco's for the next chapter. Also, I felt I had to do a Harry's PoV as it seemed the less emotional and therefore most startling way to deliver both good and bad news. You are left to wonder what is going through both Ginny and Draco's minds. I know you want to reach through the computer screen and throttle me, saying, "Why did Draco do this?" Well ... you can't, so there! *sticks out tongue*

Also, please do not hate Harry. It is not my intention to have you hate him. He is just an unobservant boy, who thinks far too much like Dumbledore (for the greater good) to see what he has (or what he has lost) right in front of him. However, you may love Draco more. ^^

Next chapter: Draco goes home. How does he deal with being a free man? What does Ginny think about Draco just picking up and leaving without saying goodbye?

I told you there'd be more angst! ^_~