Stuck With You / drarry

Azkaban

The board room was on Level 1: Minister for Magic and Support Staff. It was a large room, with an oval table controlling the space, office chairs placed to surround it, and some lamps set at even distances on the mahogany table top. The walls were dark wood, and were decorated with paintings of London and of the building they were under. On the far wall, there was a large window bewitched to display the view of London, similar to every other office window in the Ministry. Harry had been in the board room countless of times, having been a member of the Ministry board for a year and a half, ever since he got promoted to Head Auror. Evergrey was only his stand-in, mind you. The utterly tedious memories Harry attached to this specific room made him feel calmer as he now stood in front of the group of witches and wizards.

Kingsley was sitting at the end of the table, in front of the window, and seven other people were sitting on either side of the desk. Patrick was sitting closest to Harry on the right, where Harry's own seat usually was. The other six people were the heads of their respective departments at the Ministry: Arnold Peasegood from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes; Gethsemane Prickle from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures; Edward Scot from the Department of International Magical Cooperation; Percy Weasley from the Department of Magical Transportation; Hamish MacFarlan Jr. from the Department of Magical Games and Sports; and finally, Penelope Jameson from the Department of Mysteries.

The previous night Harry and Malfoy had cooked at Harry's place after midnight, but Malfoy had spent the night at home, keeping Narcissa company. That had left Harry too much time for thinking, for worrying about today, about Malfoy and their future together, pretty much everything he could possibly worry about, he did. When his alarm clock had gone off at 10am, it felt as though he had just fallen asleep, and had to take a cold shower to really wake up, along with approximately four cups of coffee. Harry took a deep breath, he felt as though he was swaying where he stood. The old grandfather clock against the wall was indicating that it was noon. It was time for him to start.

Harry straightened himself and gave a look at all the people who were there because of him. Evergrey gave him an encouraging nod. "Right," Harry started, "thank you for being here today, and for agreeing to listen to what I have to say." He had rehearsed his speech a thousand times in his head, but was still afraid of making a mess of it.

Immediately, his flow was interrupted, when Edward Scot started speaking. "Don't thank us," he chortled, "thank Kingsley for bloody forcing us to be here!" Edward was a short, plump man in his sixties, with a red face and a balding head. He was a man of reason and a fair judge of character, but his opening line did not encourage Harry about his mission. A light chuckle went across the room, Harry tried to go along with it.

"Thank you for showing up anyway," he continued, and was hoping he'd be able to finish his speech before anyone else talked over him, "I will go straight to the point. Today I want to put forth a proposition for a judge to reinstate Lucius Malfoy's previous sentence of time served in prison, rather than an execution." Harry's hands were starting to sweat, and he tried to muster every bit of confidence he had to deliver his points. He would have to reap the majority's vote in order to go forward, and right now it didn't seem all too likely. The people in front of him didn't look too happy to even be in this meeting, let alone question their original decision.

"Listen son," said Hamish MacFarlan Jr., a man in his mid-seventies, and more stubborn than Scot. He was a man of principle, and Harry already knew his head wouldn't be turned easily. "You better have a hell of a good reason for us to spare that maggot of a wizard, he's the worst of them all I reckon." To Harry's disheartenment, an agreeing murmur swept the room. Why did Lucius have to be such a snake back in the day? It made it all the harder to convince a bunch of politicians to not off him.