All the Ghosts are Screaming

1

Harry

He's been told that he has a bit of a saving people thing.

It wasn't an issue, really, other than the fact that Voldemort sometimes used it to his advantage, and Harry never thought it was something he needed to fix. After the war ended, he didn't really think he would ever be in a position where he needed to save someone again- there would be no bad guy to kidnap the people he loves, no evil monster lurking in the shadows to drag away innocent bystanders.

It would just... be. Still and peaceful and as ordinary as Harry could force his life into becoming, and he wouldn't have to save anyone until he was ready.

He really, really meant that.

"This is horrible," Ginny whispered beside him. They're sitting at the very back of the court room, watching the proceedings happening in the front. "This isn't even a fair trial."

"What did you expect?" Harry didn't like it either, knowing what he does about the man on trial. The Draco in school was proud, and he would have never stayed silent under the scrutiny of the hundreds of faces staring down at him. Post-war Draco hadn't even spoken, just slumped in the chair, his long fingers picking at the rusted chains that were spilling from the sides of the chair. (The chains had not bound him to the seat, just clinked a bit. Ginny had said this was a good sign.) "They want someone to blame."

"That's the problem, isn't it?" They'd broken up over two months ago, after two weeks of heated love that felt stilted and wrong, until the night where she had cried and explained how she loves him, but the things they went through must have shaped them so they don't fit together anymore. About how the year apart meant that maybe they shouldn't have tried to pick up where they left off. And also the being in love with Luna thing.  That was most of it. "They're blaming everyone but themselves."

He still loves her just as much as he did before, but now its in a different way. He loves her but beyond that he knows her, so he knows that the way she bites down on her lip means that she's angry and stopping herself from showing it. "It's going to work out. Draco will pull through."

He covered his hand with hers, and they watched together, waiting as round after round of witnesses and statements rolled through the courtroom. It would have been easy to knock them all apart, after all the people speaking in his favor -Harry had said how he was a massive git but not a criminal, Hermione gave some argument based in the muggle justice system how he shouldn't be tried based on the sins of the father, and Luna, Dean, and Ollivander had all gotten on the stand to speak about how he risked his life to bring extra food to them down in the dungeons. But Draco didn't show up to fight.

He didn't bring a lawyer. He didn't speak up in his own defense. He just sat there, pale skin turned sickly under the shine of the lights, waiting as his sentence got handed down to him. It always hurts to see what the war turned them all into, but this was by far the worst.

"Do you have any last comments, Mr. Malfoy?" Kingsley was presiding over this as a special favor to Harry. Ron thinks he's crazy, but he hadn't seen what Harry had seen- the guilt that builds in the shadows under Draco's eyes, a hand shaking as he was forced to torture or be tortured, a boy that wanted his father's love but only got pain. "Nothing to add to the court?"

Speak up, Harry wanted to shout down at him. Beside him, Ginny leaned forward, clearly waiting to see what would come next. Come on, Malfoy, show them what a harmless git you are.

"Then we proceed with the sentencing." Kingsley stood, his voice magically magnified to project across the court, and dozens of cameras flashed at the same time. The images would find their way to the front page of the Daily Prophet tomorrow. (Which Dean had taken over as editor, so it actually reports the facts independent of the ministry.) "I'm sentencing you to probation, on the condition that you can stay with someone who is in good standing with the wizarding community. Could you give the court the name of some such person?"