A/N Sorry this took so long, I've had exams and a massive attack of RL and writer's block over the last few months. Better late than never! On with the chapter...

A swift ripple of noise travelled around the room, dying as suddenly as it had begun, but Lucius could barely hear it- his mate that had been sitting so still on the very edge of his vision had risen and was walking confidently toward the front of the courtroom.

He was glorious. Lucius tried not to make it too obvious that he couldn't pull his eyes off Harry, while also drinking in every little detail- the way his legs and hips moved as he walked, the tiny embroideries on his robes, the exact shape of his gorgeous green eyes. He was so relieved that as Harry sat down in the witness box he was where Lucius could see him clearly rather than a blurred shape that he could barely make out.

Lucius realised why Doy had waited before calling Harry, as his mate did not consume any Versiteserum.

'Are you Harry Potter, of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?'

Lucius started- his mate was living in the Black house? Narcissa hadn't been back there for years, but his mate was there most days? But Harry wasn't surprised and he didn't pause.

'Yes.'

'How do you know the defendant?'

'We met when I was twelve. He insulted me and started a fight. We met again after he nearly caused the death of Ginny Weasley.'

Lucius closed his eyes in horror. To hear Harry, wonderful Harry, explain the few times they had met in such calm and collected terms was terrible. And the audience was of course hanging on his every word. How was reminding the public of how he had been blind to his mate and their apparent saviour meant to be a defence witness?

However, Harry continued in his calm cool tones.

'We met again a little over a year later at the Quidditch world cup. He threatened my friends and I. When I next met him, I was tied to a gravestone, witnessing Voldemort's rebirth with the other Death Eaters.'

The courtroom was totally silent.

'We met twice when I was fifteen- I saw him in the ministry when I was here for a hearing, and again in the Department of Mysteries the summer of 1996.'

'When did you next meet Mr Malfoy, Mr Potter?'

'Six days ago, at Voldemort's Manor. After vanquishing Voldemort, I briefly saw Mr Malfoy before passing out.'

Doy nodded.

'You gave an interview, Mr Potter, in which you claimed that Mr Malfoy was a Death Eater. When that interview was given, did you believe Mr Malfoy to be a Death Eater?'

'Yes.'

'When the interview was published, first in the Quibbler and later in the Daily Prophet, did you believe Mr Malfoy to be a Death Eater?'

'Yes.'

'Mr Potter, do you believe that Mr Malfoy is a Death Eater?'

Lucius could feel the tension of the court even as he held himself completely still, his eyes fixed straight at his mate.

'No, I do not.'

A single beat of silence was followed by utter chaos.

Lucius flinched as the press section to his right let off the noise of several continuous explosions as they all rushed to take photos, the journalists screaming questions regardless of the proper etiquette of the courtroom. Over the din of the reporters, the noise of the crowd that had been so silent a few moments ago rose from cautious whispers to impatient shouting to each other to outraged shrieks and curses.

The tension that had been so palatable had snapped abruptly and Lucius found himself at the eye of a very angry storm- in front of him the Wizengamot was either whispering amongst itself about the case or making outraged noises about the lack of respect in the now frenzied courtroom.

The cacophony of noise was only silenced again when the blast of a cannon issued from the wand of the Minister for Magic, who was shaking with rage at the disruption.

'There will be no more of that.' He said, his voice only just under control, resonating with barely restrained anger. 'Mr Doy, please continue the examination of your witness.'

Mr Doy looked slightly shaken at the force of the court's reaction but nodded and turned back to Harry, who was the calmest person in the room. Lucius kept his eyes fixed tightly upon his mate and the picture of strength that he provided, sitting up straight and projecting an air of being collected and unhurried.

'Mr Potter,' Doy began again tentatively, 'you believe that Mr Malfoy is not currently a Death Eater despite your previous belief that Mr Malfoy was a Death Eater?'

'Yes, that is correct.'

Mr Doy straightened, apparently regaining his confidence as Harry's failed to waver.

'Do you believe that Mr Malfoy should be punished further to the twelve months he has already spent in Azkaban prison?'

'No, I do not.'

'Can you explain why you believe this to be the case?'

Harry's voice was clear and unwavering and his eyes flickered from resting on Do to regard Lucius, and the briefest eye contact flashed between them as Harry continued.

'Lucius Malfoy is not loyal to Voldemort.'

Lucius closed his eyes for the first time since Harry took to the stand, briefly breaking his previously unwavering gaze at his mate, and allowed the briefest flicker of hope to warm through him. He didn't know how or why, but his mate believed in his innocence, innocence that Lucius had been unsure of himself.

'How strongly do you believe this?' Doy asked quickly, an invitation for Harry to hammer his point home, and harry's answer did not disappoint, simple syllables resonating around the shocked court.

'I am certain.'

Doy gave a moment now for that statement to settle before starting again.

'Why do you believe that is the case, Mr Potter?'

'All those loyal to Voldemort, all those that carried his mark on their arm and his magic in their hearts, are dead.' Harry's voice betrayed his emotions for the first time, fierce and determined as he was.

'I have seen their bodies; I have witnessed their deaths. It is not possible for Voldemort to return, I promise you all, and as surely as he is dead so are all those loyal to him.'

Doy's next question was spoken softly compared to Harry's forceful statement.

'Mr Potter, is it not possible for one who is loyal to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to have outlived him?'

'No, it is not.'

'Do you know why this is?'

As Harry paused to find the right words, Lucius stared, unblinking and nearly unbelieving at his mate, that small warmth of faint hope swelling again.

'The Dark Mark linked Voldemort to his Death Eaters much more than I believe he ever revealed to them.' Harry explained. 'As I fought him he used it to reap their magic - he had a link directly to their magical cores, to their very souls, and in his fear and greed he used it to take their magic to bolster his own. Their magic not being enough, he then took their very lives in a last attempt to sustain his own.

'My final spell against him severed the link that had existed between us, but before that could occur it brought us closer together. I could feel as clearly as he could the magical cores and lives that were willingly linked to his, and I felt as his power reached out and took and took and took, all that it could, magic and thought and life.

'He started with the closest, the easiest targets, and those were the magics of the servants that were most devoted to him, their very souls closer to him- the very first was Bellatrix Lestrange and I felt her fear and her pain as Voldemort took everything of her, destroyed her in his ruthlessness, in his selfishness, and it was her own loyalty to him that allowed it, that brought about her painful and bewildering death.

'Every option was sought and burnt and destroyed, every loyal servant that had pledged to die for him did, and when he tried to take my magic I destroyed him.

'That Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy survive, live and breathe, is testament to their not being loyal to Voldemort, to their not putting him or his cause or his life or what he meant to them at an kind of priority. Severus Snape I personally knew to be a spy, secretly devoted to the downfall of Voldemort, the last to be approached by Voldemort's magic in desperation and refused by Snape's lack of faithfulness to the cause, to Voldemort himself.

'This is not something that could be faked, this kind of primal, base magic not the kind of thing that can be tricked. I cannot say that I understand Lucius Malfoy, but I do understand that he had rejected Voldemort long before Voldemort fell, that his loyalty and his faith are both held elsewhere, that he is not a Death Eater.'

The court swelled in noise again as Harry finished speaking, but this time Lucius kept his eyes and his attention fixed firmly on his mate, his Harry, his defender. He had not understood what was happening at the time, but now, now the fire that had burnt Bellatrix and Avery from the inside out in that awful wood made sense. The great pain that had crippled him at the edge of the lawn that had been cold and searching had been gauging his loyalty, his usefulness, his suitability to die for the Dark Lord and he had survived then only by his love for his mate.

Harry's words returned to him, his loyalty and his faith are both held elsewhere and Lucius desperately wanted to be able to hold Harry and tell him that it was to him, his mate, to his Harry alone that he was loyal, that he was totally faithful in his love and that his devotion was entire.

Doy smiled and nodded.

'No further questions.'

Lucius was pleased to see that when the prosecutor stepped forward to cross-examine Harry he was not looking nearly as smug as he had been before Snape.

'Mr Potter, you have decided not to take a dose of Versiteserum before giving your testimony today. Why is that?'

'The magic I used to vanquish Voldemort is dangerous.' Harry replied evenly. 'Moreover, the magic Voldemort used that reduced my options in vanquishing him is the darkest of the dark. While I am sure no one in this court would understand quite how powerful and dangerous this magic and the information about how to use it is, I refuse to take the risk that I might speak of it if someone asked a badly phrased question while I was under the influence of Versiteserum.'

The prosecutor tilted his head to the side slightly, as if he did not understand Harry.

'You believe that you hold knowledge that is too powerful for this court to hear?' he asked. 'That you have knowledge that must be kept from the general public?'

'Yes.' Harry looked slightly annoyed but still answered calmly, if abruptly.

'Is there information that you see fit to hide from, not the Wizarding Public, but this highest of courts Mr Potter?'

'Yes, there is.'

'Well. If you see fit, Mr Potter, I would like you to answer- seventeen years ago Lucius Malfoy proclaimed his innocence, indeed proved his innocence, yet you believe and personally testified that he went on to attempted murder on several counts, breaking and entering, conspiracy and torture in the name of and on the orders of You-Know-Who. Why should we believe that he is different? Why should we believe that the third time an accused Death Eater is in this court is the time he is innocent?'

Harry eyes showed his anger as he ground out his answer.

'That he is alive at all to be here a third time proves that he is innocent.'

The prosecutor sneered slightly.

'Or perhaps it means that he has just managed to trick you, Mr Potter, hmm? Did you consider that when you suddenly found you had blind faith in a man that you personally have stated has tried to kill you, and more than once? Don't you think that it is more likely that this man, who has tricked this court before and evaded punishment or serving a full term in Azkaban, has managed to trick you, Mr Potter?'

Harry opened his mouth angrily but the prosecutor did not give him enough time to answer, pausing only very briefly before continuing.

'Mr Potter, ladies and gentlemen, Lucius Malfoy has deceived this court before. He has pleaded innocence and gone on to threaten individual lives and our society as a whole. Mr Potter, you have served the Wizarding World beyond what could be expected of you and we are very grateful for your heroic deed in ridding our world of the tyrant You-Know-Who. But your testimony is unsubstantiated, based only upon your assumption that the court will accept your strength of belief in place of evidence while admitting that you are willing to and in fact are hiding information from us. Ladies and gentlemen of the Wizengamot, this man has deceived us before, has attempted to escape the justice of this court, and he must not be allowed to do so again!'

The courtroom broke out into shouts of agreement so loud that the prosecutor's final statement- 'No further questions.'- could only just be heard. Harry's eyes flashed dangerously as the prosecutor turned away, smug once more, but that he didn't act further or lose his composure proved that Harry was no longer the rash boy he had been. Instead he walked back to his seat rigidly, and Lucius once again could only just glimpse his mate in his peripheral vision.

This time the court was easier to calm, silencing when the Minister for Magic got to his feet.

'That is the total extent of your case, Mr Doy?' he asked carefully.

'Yes, sir,' replied Doy and Lucius felt that glow of hope weaken and fade as he realised that he was about to be judged.

'Very well,' the Minister straightened up fractionally more before turning to the other members of the Wizengamot. 'All those that would find the defendant, Mr Lucius Malfoy, guilty as charged, raise your hand.'

Like a blow, Lucius would have staggered if the chains holding him upright in the chair had allowed it as many hands shot up straight away. The court held its breath and the Minister waited patiently as slowly a few more hands rose to join those already outstretched. Lucius, far below the raised chairs, was unable to count them properly and could not tell whether or not there was a majority against him or not.

'And all those that would find the defendant, Mr Lucius Malfoy, innocent of the charges against him, raise your hand.' The Minister's solemn voice and the swift change as hands that had been up were pulled down and hands that had been down shot up into the air made Lucius jump slightly. Were there more hands now? They were dispersed more, he couldn't count, as even as he tried he forgot where the other hands had been, was unable to tell I someone had abstained or voted against him.

As the Minister for Magic turned around to face the court once again Lucius sat up as much as the chains around his arms would allow.

'We, the Wizengamot, have reached a decision. We have found the defendant, Lucius Malfoy, to be guilty as charged. He is sentenced to five years in Azkaban prison. Take him away.'

Lucius couldn't hear the shouts of anger or the screams of approval now- only one word resonated inside him guilty guilty guilty and when the escort of Aurors moved forward and the chains supporting him released his body he collapsed forward guilty guilty guilty on to the cold stone floor. The escort surrounded him and pulled him to his feet but he couldn't see them, couldn't acknowledge their faces as he desperately searched the crowd for his mate, his Harry, he couldn't see him and he was guilty guilty guilty…

He tried to make eye contact with a flash of bright green but his vision was blurred and he passed out before he could focus on his mate's beautiful face once more.