It's OK To Not Be Ok...Right?

3. Do you have to let it linger?

"Please stand all of you," Kingsley said as he shuffled in his chair. "Could the defence please state their names for the Ministry records?"

"Harry James Potter," Harry said first into what looked like a megaphone on the stand.
"Hermione Jean Granger."
"Sloane Tabitha Sage."

At the sound of that voice, Draco finally stole a glance upwards. He remembered it well. He haunted his nightmares and most of his waking thoughts. She was standing there looking a damn sight better than when he last saw her. Although he knew that she was in mourning. He had heard about her family.

She looked straight at him. Looked into his eyes. She didn't look away. For some reason, she couldn't. And neither could he. Did she have to let her eyes linger on him? It was like she was trying to see into his soul. He didn't have a fucking soul!

"And to be clear, you are here to speak on behalf of?" Kingsley asked.

"Both Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini," she answered finally tearing her eyes from him. He let out a breath.

"In that case, who would like to go first?" Kingsley asked.

Hermione looked a little nervous. Sloane could sense it off her. So she gave Harry a gentle nudge and tilted her head towards the room. He nodded and stepped forward. "That would be me, sir."

"Well, you have the floor, Mr Potter."

"Thank you, Minister. I know you all know who I am and my recent connection with Voldemort." There were a few gasps. One was Blaise. "Voldemort," he repeated. "The man who is nothing more than a shameless coward who had other people do his bidding and when they failed him, he either killed them or tortured them, or in the case of Mr Lucius Malfoy and Mr Agra Zabini, he chose to punish them." Harry cleared his throat. "How did he punish them? He forced their sons to take their places when they failed him and were arrested. He made both Malfoy and Zabini take the mark against their will."

Blaise listened as Harry went on talking about how neither he nor Draco wanted to become Death Eaters. How they were just scared little boys who had no choice. He began to list qualities and accounts of both Draco and his life that were similar to Harry and his own, only opposites. Harry had no choice but to fight for light just as he and Draco had no choice but to fight for dark. He explained that Blaise saved Neville and Ginny Weasley quite a few times during the 7th year and how he had written statements from both to talk about Blaise and his kindness as neither could be there.

So little red and Longbottom had spoken on his behalf. It was true during the last year he had watched as the Carrows tortured and brutally beat both and others, and it made Blaise's blood boil. He never believed in this blood purity crap. Sure, he believed he was superior, but that had less to do with blood status and more to do with social status. So when it became his job to oversee detentions, he would simply let the students rest, feed them, and tend to their wounds as long as they told everyone they were savagely beaten. The marks he gave his detention guests were all makeup and spells to make them look bad.

Harry then spoke about Malfoy, talking about how he threw Harry his wand at the final battle, and without it, Harry would have surely died. He painted Draco as a hero, and Blaise was sure if Draco was really listening, his ego would inflate. But he knew the blonde wasn't paying attention.

When Harry sat down, Hermione stood up and recounted how she was tortured in Malfoy Manor. How Draco did not give away that it was them who were in his home and how he fed and gave Luna and Dean blankets and medical supplies when they were captured. He made sure they were not harmed. She talked about how he was horrified as she was being tortured. It pained him. He couldn't watch. She knew right there and then that he did not have the same hatred that his father had. He knew he was just a boy who had no choice.