Bleeding Hearts

When Draco woke up again, he was lying in a dark room with a sick feeling in his stomach and he sat up, and his long blonde hair fell in his face. "Sh--Shit!" he gasped as he realized that he was in Azkaban.

"Hey! Malfoy! Wake up!"

Draco's gray eyes fluttered open and he took in a sharp breath of air, simultaneously jumping to his feet.

His hair had grown out over the years and he had discarded the gelled back look. If he had been at his best, it would have been tied neatly at the back of his neck, but he was disheveled and dirty.

"Where am I?" he demanded, edging away from Potter, who was watching him over the rim of his glasses, his hand rested calmly on his wand. I could have sworn that a Dementor was swooping down at me!

"The Burrow, we're going to keep you here until your trial at the Ministry in a few days," Harry replied and suddenly smiled knowingly. "Ginny's here."

Draco looked down coldly at Potter. "Who?" he sneered, even though it nearly killed him to say it in that tone. "Is that another Weasley?"

"You tell me," Harry replied.

Draco followed Harry's piercing gaze and his eyes fell on a large slip of parchment. With a large, scrolled 'M' on the top. Draco had seen that insignia since before he could remember, and his pulse slowed to a sluggish pace and he stumbled over his own words. "Give me that back!" he cried out and lunged for it.

Harry swiped it and ducked out of the way, holding his wand straight at Malfoy and holding the slip of parchment high over his head. "Down, Malfoy!"

Malfoy growled under his breath and got to his feet slowly. Ron Weasley poked his head in the door and his evil glare landed on Malfoy.

"You're awake!" Ron snapped and Draco wondered vaguely if he was going to get the shit beaten out of him. "I ought to kill you!" Ron continued, and stepped forward until the two were nose-to-nose. "You stay away from my sister, you damn Death Eater!"

Draco was silent, he didn't dare give a comeback, Potter had his wand pointed at his heart, and Draco was willing to bet that Potter knew the Avada Kedavra curse at the drop of a hat. A fleeting bit of wondering passed his thoughts; did Potter kill Voldemort with the same curse that killed Potter's parents?

"Huh?"

All three boys turned at the sound, and Draco unconsciously took a step backwards.

"Nothing, Gin, go back outside, okay?" Harry said, and ran a hand through his hair, and smiled at her.

The reaction was instant and Draco's hand twitched. Ginny blushed, grinned, and did as asked.

"I've always avoided your sister," Draco snapped. "I wouldn't do anything different, she's a Weasley," he sneered, giving Ron an arrogant look.

For that, Ron hit him across the face, and Draco went crashing into the floor. "We're not in school, any more, Malfoy! There aren't any rules that say I can't kill you for what you say!" Ron bellowed.

"Tell us the truth, Malfoy, is what you wrote on this letter the truth?" Harry asked, and held it up for viewing.

Malfoy looked over at him. Blood was dripping from his nose and lip, and he wiped it away, eerily calmly, as he stood up. "It was my suicide letter. I was about to die, Potter. Who would care if I told the truth?"

"Is it the truth!" Harry snarled.

Draco jumped at the sound and then shrugged. "Yes."

"Do you swear?"

"I'm not lying, Potter!" Draco returned angrily. "I was about to kill myself! Why, pray tell, would I lie?"

"You keep denying now that you love Ginny," Harry replied readily.

"Shut up," Draco said coldly and sat down on the couch he had been sitting on again heavily. "You don't know what I think." He hung his head. He could not deny, to himself, that he loved Ginny...to tell anyone else, Kami, he had spent years burying it under rage and jealousy...there was no bloody way he could have her, not after all he'd said and done. In a few days, it wouldn't matter, he thought, I'll be in Azkaban, and I'll never have to worry about that again. "Just...shut up, I'm begging you, Potter!" He raked his hand through his thick hair and threw his head back, letting out a hiss of pain.

A few hours later, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasleys were eating dinner at the table. Malfoy was upstairs, and refused to eat a bite, but not because he didn't want food made by Weasleys.

Harry looked over at Ginny for a moment and then up at the stairs. His mind was telling him Malfoy should get the Dementor's Kiss - his heart, however, was being a treacherous little bitch.

"Who is going to testify against Malfoy at his trial?" he asked Hermione.

"We are, Harry, and so are Viktor, Faith and Scott."

"Ginny, could you take some food up to Malfoy? I'm sure he'd eat something if you told him to, and you'd have to pretty much order him to do it," Harry said.

"Me?" Ginny said blankly, and dropped her fork. "Why would Malfoy do anything I told him to?" (A/N - Nobody had shown Ginny the note.)

But her mother shoved a tray into her hands and gave her a push towards the stairs. "Go on, honey, you'll be fine."

Ginny sighed and shrugged. "Okay..."

Draco had taken up residence in Charlie's old room, and had locked the door. Ginny knocked on it twice and from inside came a very pissed off "What!!" He did not open the door, and Ginny rattled the knob again. "Leave me alone! I don't want any food! That's what the damn locked door is for, weasel!" Ginny knocked on it again, then pulled out her wand.

"Alohomora!" she said and tapped the knob. It unlocked, and she opened the door.

Malfoy stood up and glared at her. He was silent though, and Ginny could have sworn he was blushing the tinsiest bit. She knew her brother and Harry and Hermione were supposed to take him to the Ministry, but why they didn't, she had no idea. Maybe the cell blocks in Azkaban were all taken up? That was actually a pretty comforting thought.

For some reason they had brought him to the Burrow after a brief visitation to the Ministry, and had never offered a real reason for it. It was always something vague when she asked.

"You need to eat, Malfoy. Eat."

Draco's passive face changed instantly and he became defensive and shifted restlessly. "No. Go away."

"I'm not going to go away until you eat something, Malfoy!" Ginny snapped and set the tray down loudly, making the plates dance. "You need to eat!"

He was very silent and his pale gray eyes were cold and unreadable, sort of like a dead person's eyes. That was what totally emotionless eyes looked like. "No."

"Yes, Malfoy! Now sit down and eat a little!" Ginny said, and stood up, and crossed her arms. "I meant it, Malfoy! I'm going to sit up here until you eat!" She refused to be afraid of his icy stare. Tom had been worse.

"I don't want to eat a damn thing, Weasley!" Draco snarled and swept his hand out to the side. "I was about to kill myself when your dear little Potter and his friends ran in on me! I don't want to eat and don't care if I die because of it!"

Ginny glared at him and took a deep breath. She raised her hands up and spread out her fingers. "Okay, fine. Be a stubborn ass! No skin off my nose..." She turned around and walked out, leaving Malfoy alone.

He stared at the closed door for several minutes, then down at the tray of food. He sighed, and at the same time shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, weasel, I'll eat," he snarled, then sat down and picked up the fork.

It was three days later, the time being right before Malfoy's trial (by fire).

People who were testifying against Malfoy came in first of all, Viktor Krum was there with his usual surly look, and a pair of Muggles arrived a second or two later out of thin air.

Faith had a long black coat on that trailed her ankles, and a bright red scarf around her neck that matched her eyes creepily well, and generated more than a little whispers.

In this war, there had been a lot more Muggle involvement. Neither Faith nor her fiancé, Scott, were affiliated with the Muggle military, however, and were just...somewhat unusual Muggle civilians.

Harry pulled the three newcomers to the side, and Viktor looked down at Harry with a somewhat irritable gaze. His plan had been to go find Hermione.

"Listen, I need you to listen to me, okay?" Harry said, and looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping.

"Y'got our attention," Scott said. "What is it?"

"Well, I need to you to..."

Five minutes later, Draco Malfoy was dragged into the court, looking pale and nervous, but at the same time calm.

The court judge shifted his papers and peered down at the young man through half-moon spectacles. His blue eyes suddenly widened. "Draco Malfoy!"

Malfoy instantly recognized the voice. Albus Dumbledore. Holy SHIT. Draco gulped and shifted his weight to his other foot and crossed his arms, and watched Dumbledore.

Dumbledore was still Headmaster of Hogwarts, but had been appointed to this job temporarily, as much as he did NOT want to take it. He was selected because he was known to be very fair, a thing that lacked a little the first time Voldemort fell.

Draco watched a familiar redhead scuffle up to whisper in Dumbledore's ear, and Draco watched Ginny shuffle off again, throwing him a rather surprised look.

"First witness I call, Faith Morrison."

Draco looked to the left and realized that Faith Morrison was one of the Muggles at Malfoy Manor.

"Aren't you a Muggle?" Percy Weasley said from the sidelines.

"Yeah, gotta problem, prissy?" she replied loudly, and tossed her head back, and looked up at Dumbledore. She looked very uncomfortable, and kept fidgeting.

Dumbledore spoke next. "How did you become involved with the Order of the Phoenix, miss Morrison?"

"Some Death Eaters attacked my home - God knows how they found it it's in the middle of nowhere," she replied. It was obvious she was trying to make herself feel better by laughing a bit.

"By 'in the middle of nowhere,' what do you mean?" Dumbledore asked.

"Mmm," she said, and looked at the ground. She looked at her hand. "About fifty miles away from the nearest farthest-out rural road," she replied finally. "I live in a cabin in the middle of the woods in Saskatchewan, which is in Canada. When one of the Death Eaters mentioned England as part of where they were, Scott and me took off for England. We then met Mr. Harry Potter and things went from there."

"And how did you arrive in England, miss Morrison?" Dumbledore asked. "By plane?"

"No, we flew by ourselves," Faith replied a moment later, after sorting out what Dumbledore had said. "Planes are slow."

"She's a Muggle, she can't fly using a broom," Percy said. He was now the Minister of Magic, himself.

Faith's eyes rolled skyward and she sighed. "Permission to demonstrate just how we got here in England?"

"Granted," Dumbledore said.

Faiths' heels lifted from the carpeted ground and a great hum rose up from the stands and Faith floated up in the sky, and flew over to glare at Percy. "I spent a year learning how," she said and was obviously proud of it.

"And just how did you learn to fly?" Dumbledore asked. (A/N - This is in here because both Faith and Scott had entered the Order of the Phoenix at the spur of the moment, and nobody knew anything about them. In other words, nobody knew where Scott and Faith lived, how they found out about Death Eaters, and how they got to England, and a bunch of other stuff. *backstory*)

"You see if you can live out in the sticks for a long time and not get bored stiff. I can manipulate the energy in my body. Oh, and I've tried to teach a wizard or two - seems they can't figure it out. But both Scott and me know how. But learning...that's a thing I can't explain no matter how long I try."

Faith landed in the same place she took off from and examined her cuticles.

Dumbledore smiled. "Harry tells me that you didn't just fly, you used a sword?"

"Yes. Another result of being bored out of my mind."

"And a...lightning bolt?"

"That's a result of manipulating the charge current in my body," Faith replied. Dead silence. "Uh...Muggle stuff." There was a collective 'oh' from the crowd.

"And did you ever have reason to use any of your 'powers' against the defendant?"

"No, it was the booby traps in his house that gave us hell."

"Who was there with you?"

"Well, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, my fiancé Scott Garabet. That's all, oh, and Viktor Krum came too, but he was left at the front door to make sure no Death Eaters made a surprise entrance."

"What kind of defenses did you encounter in Malfoy Manor?"

"Well...the most I could remember was a boggart. It transformed into my worst fear."

"Which was?"

Faith shut her mouth and blushed, and looked down at the ground. "Umm...I'm sorry but it's embarrassing..."

"This is on a record," Dumbledore said calmly. "It's required that you answer these questions."

"Oh, fine. Mynithgdngtchr," she muttered and fidgeted some more.

"What?" Dumbledore said.

"My ninth grade English teacher." Her face held a defensive air, and everyone realized that Faith hated to speak in front of a lot of people, or even be around a lot of people.

"But nothing very life threatening?" Dumbledore said calmly, as if expecting an agreement.

"Well, unless you count a creepy pink marshmallow who can turn you into chocolate an' candy, no sir." At the obvious need of a straight answer, "No, nothing particularly life threatening."

"Thank you, you may step down now, miss Morrison."

"Right." She walked off quickly, people made a nice wide alley for her to walk in.

"Next witness - Hermione Granger."

The witnesses were all called forward, until Harry Potter remained.

"You and Draco knew each other well in your school days?" Dumbledore said, and that was an understatement. "Quite the enemies, if I recall correctly."

Harry nodded. He had grown up, but his knobbly form had grown up to be a very slender, bony, but still gorgeous, body. He looked as if he was unnaturally thin, but then, he also looked as if it were supposed to be that way, and his skin was a healthy tan color, not anywhere near as pale as Draco and Faith (They looked almost like vampires, they were so pale.). "Yes, sir."

"Could you please describe to the court and the press," Dumbledore said, glancing briefly at the hoards of reporters jostling to get the best picture (and only staying away because Faith and Viktor had positioned themselves in their way, to keep them from interfering with Harry's testimony) and making a considerable noise. As Dumbledore addressed them, they shut up to an embarrassed silence. "How exactly, in what condition did you find Mr. Malfoy in?" Dumbledore asked and looked down at Ginny Weasley, who seemed very interested.

"I found him standing in front of his mirror with his wand pointed at his head, apparently about to commit suicide," Harry replied.

"And just what did you do to Malfoy to wrest his wand away?" Percy injected rapidly.

"I cast 'expelliarmus' on him, which stunned him a little as well as got the wand away from him."

"What happened after that?" Dumbledore asked.

"He tried to knife me," Harry replied. "Faith got Malfoy on the back of his hand, and he dropped the knife. He attacked me and Ron hit him, knocking him out. Then we brought him to the Ministry, then brought him to the Burrow because there wasn't any place to keep him there."

Dumbledore's eyebrows came together the slightest bit. That, was a flat out lie. But he trusted Harry, and while he didn't quite know what Harry was thinking, he was figuring it out 'as we speak,' so to say.

"And what did Mr. Malfoy do when he was under your care at 'The Burrow?'"

"Sat in his room, mostly, and refused to eat except when Ginny Weasley made him."

The inquiry continued, Draco's case easily taking the prize for 'longest, and most boring deliberation of them all,' and finally, the jury came out of recess.

Draco had already resigned himself to the death sentence, and was lounging back, awaiting sentencing. He shut his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, he almost fell backwards.

"You really should have eaten more, Malfoy, you're as white as a sheet and you look sick," Ginny said rather stiffly and Malfoy turned away from her, staring agitantly at the stained glass windows. "I'm sorry this happened, Malfoy," Ginny said and Draco turned back to her sharply.

"What?"

"Those last days in the Burrow, you seemed more human than you ever did at Hogwarts," Ginny said and shrugged. "You actually got pretty nice."

Draco couldn't answer and kept his face turned away from her. "...Thanks," and he turned back.

Ginny hesitated for a moment and suddenly threw her arms around his neck. Draco staggered and she let go as quickly as she'd grabbed him. His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide. "We--Weasley!"

But before he could snarl at her, Ginny turned to Dumbledore, who had come back, and then glanced over her shoulder at the returning crowd. "Break a leg, Draco," she said and walked hurriedly off.

Draco's wandering attention was dragged back by Percy's furious chatter, which stayed clear of the hug between Draco and his younger sister. Draco looked back up and a deathly chill washed over him and he shuddered violently. He only got that feeling around Dementors, which he had loathed ever since his third year at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore was speaking now. "...And due to the evidence presented today at this court, and new evidence just now brought to light, and because of recommendation by a very reliable source, Draco Malfoy is sentenced to five years on parole. His estate and bank accounts will remain under his name. He is to report once a month to Azkaban for..."

That was all Draco heard. All he understood was that he was not going to Azkaban, and that he was not going to be given the Dementor's Kiss. He collapsed on the spot, and all hell broke loose.

All at once, three Dementors wandered in (they had obviously expected Malfoy to be given the death sentence), the press got up it's guts and ran by Faith and Viktor, and, just like at a major sporting even, the crowd burst into screaming and stuff, and poured into the large, clear, square of space and pandemonium (generated by the Dementors) erupted.

Faith groaned, held her temples gently and looked over at Viktor. "And people wonder why I live out in the sticks," she snarled seriously.

Krum looked down at her and raised his eyebrows. "Ees zaht so?" he said and crossed his arms, looking surlier than usual. "Ve must find Malfoy before eez crushed," he said as Harry came up behind him.

"It worked!" Harry said with a small smile on his face.

Both people stared at him. "Vat?" Krum said, and his mouth opened in a wide 'o.'

"We found this in Malfoy's room, Harry wanted to give him a second chance, Dumbledore agreed with Harry," Ron said and passed Krum the suicide note.

"Harry, what do you mean you wanted to get Malfoy out of Azkaban!" Hermione hissed, dragging Harry out back with the rest of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Am I hearing right? Did you just help Malfoy out?" Sirius said blankly, moving out of the way so that Draco could be dragged out, very much unconscious. "He didn't deserve it!"

"Harry, people who are desperate enough won't care that they get second chances! They'll kill themselves anyway because they've given up hope already!" Hermione said and shook her head.

"Did you happen to miss the passage that said he'd kill himself even if he was given a reprieve? Because of...ah...certain circumstances?" Faith said, suddenly stopping because Ginny had arrived.

Lupin sighed. "Harry, I really hope you know what you're doing. Malfoy never was one to see the good in anything even when it's thrown in his face."

"Out of curiosity, Harry, just how did you manage to convince the jury that Malfoy could be trusted with just a parole?" Hermione asked.

"I used to watch old Muggle court shows when I lived with the Dursleys. So I decided that if I could manage to convince the jury that Malfoy was a victim of circumstance, that I could get him off."

"Him? A victim of circumstance?"

"Ze zuicide note," Krum said.

"Right, there was a passage in there that absolutely denounced Voldemort, in it he even apologized for hurting so many people."

"You specifically asked that I demonstrate flight for the board, why?" Faith asked.

"To keep their minds off of the case, I knew that a Muggle flying - especially one without any apparent support - would distract them long enough for me to make a convincing argument with Dumbledore during court's recess. And it worked, they were more concerned with how you flew than worrying about Malfoy's punishment."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing," Ron said.

"Should we take Malfoy back to his home?" Hermione asked.

Draco's eyes fluttered once and he felt as if he'd just been run over. "What happened?" he demanded.

"You were given five years of parole, that's what happened!" Harry replied.

Draco vaguely remembered that but was in no way grateful. "Shit."

"Harry just saved your life, Malfoy! You should be a little more graceful about it!" Hermione snapped.

"Well excuse me," Draco said in a mock-sincere voice.

"You're a lot nicer when you're facing death, Malfoy!"

Draco turned sharply and shut his mouth tightly.

"And what if I am?" he asked coldly and turned. "Stay away from me, Weasley!" he snarled and stormed off, and the darkness of near midnight swallowed him up, hiding him from view.