Murder to Malfoy - D.MALFOY

[47]

In the wizarding world, murder trials differed greatly to the typical trials that occurred every day. Murder trials were kept a secret from the press completely and only the people who gave evidence and a few of the higher up people in the government were allied to be present. This meant neither her mother nor her father were allowed in the courtroom that would decide what happened to the man who killed their child. But Ivy and Draco were.

-

"So take us through how you found out," a man who conducted the entire room, the judge if you will, asked Ivy after she had promised not to lie and all the legal jargon that was required. She sat with Draco, side by side in the witness area with their hands intertwined where it was not visible. They did not want anyone to think anything other than the evidence they gave, so keeping their closeness a secret was a necessity advised by her father. But both desperately needed some sort of comfort, reliance, that could take over the extortionate amount of nerves they both felt inside.

She cleared her throat, making sure her reply would be clear as she didn't particularly want to relive the night more than was necessary. "At the Malfoy ball, my dress broke so I went to find a sewing kit so I could fix it. While walking to the bathroom so I could fix my dress in peace, there were a lot of people loitering around and I didn't want to stumble across the wrong type of person, I heard him talking to a friend. I don't know why, maybe instinct, but I stayed and listened. That's where I found out."

The judge looked straight at her instead of the desk, as if the words she had to say were something that they didn't already know. "Found out what exactly?"

"That he killed my brother," Ivy replied plainly, simply, in order to cover up the emotion that thickened her throat.

The judge rose a brow, "And the opportunity to tell anyone, or present evidence or even collect the evidence never arose for an entire year?"

She nodded, "I was busy... with school. An important year and I didn't want to let that connasse steal something else from me. Plus I didn't want to go to the Aurors without evidence due to things that had been said in the media about me at the time."

The judge smiled as if he felt awfully sorry for her and the events that had happened over the past year, though it was obvious he didn't care. She could just tell it in his eyes, all he wanted was for bad people to get put away. He didn't care how it affected anyone else other than the prisoner, she supposed that was good in a way. "Thank you, Miss Cadieux."

About thirty minutes of talking followed. It wasn't anything increasingly relevant, mainly just repeated quotes from what ivy had said and the playing of the recording that Draco had taken. To her surprise and gratitude, it had not been tampered with and instead remained to be the exact way it had been taken, sighs from Draco and all. Ivy remained intently listening to every word, even though her eyes hung heavy with the sleep she hadn't been able to get the night before due to pure anxiousness. She jolted awake when it was Draco's turn for questioning, wanting to hear every word.

"So it is our understanding that Miss Cadieux asked you to help collect the evidence against the prisoner, is that correct?"

"Yes," Draco replied simply, as her dad had advised him to. He made the conscious effort to not look at his father, clothes creased and dusty as he sat in a small rattling barred enclosure in the middle of the room.

"And how did she induct you to help?"

"She asked me, said it was easier to get someone on the inside," he answered, keeping with the plan they had concocted days before. It wasn't like he could tell the ruth about that situation, unless he wanted Ivy in Askban too for her near murder. So he lied to the government, under the same oath that she took, just for her.

Silence followed and only the scrawling of a pen on paper could be heard in the room. "And you did so without thinking of the consequences?" the judge asked, suspicion beginning to creep in with his voice.

"Of course. There aren't any negative consequences, he committed a murder and deserves to be punished for it. He gets away with far too much quite frankly and I am glad to have been a part of finally getting some justice for one of his victims."

"Thank you," the judge dismissed with a nod. Draco sighed and leaned back in his seat, adrenaline causing a massive deplete of energy within him.

The legal jargon returned and it had both Ivy and Draco feeling so exhausted that they could have fallen asleep right then and there. Ivy got close during the forty minutes of chatter, her eyes fully closed and her head lulled to rest on his shoulder but the banging of the cage in the middle of the room woke her up. From then on she was fully awake, having seen such a scowl from Lucius that it ran her blood cold. Draco felt so uneasy that he couldn't think of getting so relaxed that he could fall asleep, just a glance at his father would wake him up again. He had an awful feeling, one which only worsened as time progressed.

Eventually, the judge quietened the entire room with a loud bang. Everyone turned their attention toward him as he slowly spoke, "Those who believe that Lucius Malfoy murdered Antony Cadieux please raise your hands." Ivy watched with a soft smirk on her lips as every single hand in the room rose, including the ones that did not seem so convinced. Lucius just glared at Draco, not paying attention to the rising hands in the room that decided his fate. He already knew he was done for.

"Those who do not..." he trailed off into silence, no movement occurring within anyone.

"Then I sentence Lucius Malfoy to life in Askaban, no chance of release."

Ivy sighed deeply, relief flooding through her entire body as she fought the desperate urge to yell out in pure joy. She finally had what she wanted, the suffering of Lucius Malfoy for ending her brother's life. She had won and nothing had ever felt so good. She watched in utter delight as they wrangled Lucius from the cage in the middle of the room, shackles clamped around his wrists that jangled with his every movement. She could not help but grin at the sight, knowing that he was to go through the worst experience in this realm - even worse than experiencing a family death really.

Lucius was escorted directly past where Draco and Ivy stood. The guards that held his arms had to stop for the door to be opened

And that's when everything turned slow.

Ivy watched in hatred and horror as Lucius untugged a large rusty nail from his sleeve and managed somehow to wrangle himself from the bodyguard's grip. Within seconds, Draco pushed her out of the way (as this is how it had occurred in his dream) but found that the implement occurred to him instead of her. Lucius had purposely aimed for him, not her. A horrible squelching noise echoed in Ivy's ear as she watched Lucius pull the nail back out from Draco's torso, blood pouring from the wound. She did not know what to do but found her body did. She simply punched him straight in the nose, so forcefully that it could have shattered her knuckles if she did not have the correct placement. She heard the break-in his nose just as the guards managed to get ahold of him again, the abandoned and bloody nail now clattering to the floor.

Draco had paled, all blood draining onto his shirt. He wobbled then buckled, Ivy managed to partially catch him before he hit his head on anything. "I told you! I told you I'd kill you if you told!" Lucius yelled as he was dragged out of the room, sickening laughter following. His voice sound odd through the broken nose but Ivy paid it no attention. Instead, she pressed onto where he was bleeding from as hard as she could without hurting him further.

"Hey hey hey, do not close your eyes Draco," she warned, keeping pressure as tens of people began to surround the two of them while others called for the healers. She watched his consciousness falter, gut-wrenching at the very sight of his entire body slipping into unconsciousness. "No, no, no, no, please don't be..." She rose a shaking hand to his neck just as the healers made it into the room, screaming for everyone to get out of the way. She pressed gently, inwardly praying to a God she did not believe in for him to still be alive. It mirrored when she had found Antony, only this time the person was still warm and had a beating heart.

Ivy watched in pure shock, blood-drenched hands shaking, as the healers took him out of the room and directly to the hospital. The only thing was, no one would tell her if he would make it or not.