Catharsis

Chapter Eight: Fallout

One month after the war

"Rise."

Hermione stood, Draco on one side of her, Harry and Ron on the other.

The cool air of the room tucked deep beneath the ministry pebbled her skin, causing her to wrap her arms more tightly around herself as she shivered.

"Bring in the defendant."

The audience craned their necks as they all tried to get a good look at the young woman being escorted in by two aurors.

Pansy Parkinson was clad in a deep green dress that clung to her as if it were made specifically for her. Knowing Pansy, it probably had been. She flicked her dark hair over one shoulder with an elegant hand, looking for all the world as if being on trial in front of the full wizengamot was something she did every day.

"Miss Parkinson, you are being tried today for crimes against the Wizarding and Muggle communities, including the following- "

Kingsley spent the next ten minutes reading the full list of crimes she had been accused of before finally asking her how she plead.

"Not guilty."

She kept her chin held high, meeting Kingsley's gaze as if she were a queen and the courtroom was her dominion rather than the other way around. Hermione would be lying if she didn't admit to a small part of her being impressed.

Kingsley gave a small smile, as if he too were impressed with the woman in front of him.

"You may be seated. We will begin."

Kingsley motioned to the witch at his right, and the trial officially began.

The trial lasted nearly ten hours total, most of it so boring that Ron began falling asleep next to Harry and only stayed awake because Harry delivered a sharp jab from his elbow to Ron's ribs.

The Wizengamot would list a charge, ask Pansy for her defense, and determine whether or not she was guilty of that charge.

Most of them were easy to disprove, she had been at Hogwarts for her seventh year and had multiple witnesses confirming her location there during most of the attacks.

Hermione couldn't help but pay attention with bated breath, however, waiting until she was called for her testimony. She wasn't even sure if Pansy knew that she was speaking on her behalf. But Hermione had been in Malfoy Manor for months, had been dragged before Voldemort's vicious congregation, and she hadn't seen Pansy once. She couldn't in good conscience let her be sent to Azkaban for something she didn't do, even if she couldn't stand the arrogant witch on trial.

And more than that... as much as Hermione disliked Pansy, no one deserved to be sent to Azkaban for nothing more than being a schoolyard bully.

Hermione's hands were shaking nearly uncontrollably where they were clasped tightly in Draco's own, when Kingsley finally called her name to come forward. She didn't hear him at first, so focused on running through what she was going to say in her mind over and over that everything else had faded. Harry had to nudge her shoulder gently to bring her attention back.

She flushed and stood, Draco squeezing her trembling hands once more before he dropped them and made her way down from the raised bench she had been sitting on down to the dropped floor below.

Each step was deliberate, slow. Her knees were unsteady and the last thing she needed was to fall face first in front of most of the wizarding community and ministry. Her burgundy dress swished softly around her as she descended, the sound nearly imperceptible amongst the whispers that had broken out in the courtroom upon hearing her name.