Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately. JK Rowling owns it all…
A/N: My reply to the "Flowers in the Attic" challenge by What Contented Men Desire, here you can find it: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26767 Hope you will enjoy, it's kind of dramatic at times.
Thanks to my beta Gingercat!
Craving the Fame
Chapter Six: A Trial and Comforting Each Other
The Killing curse cast by Ginny's wand would have been evidence enough to land her in Azkaban, but since the end of the war, trials were guaranteed to anyone, to avoid any fiascos like the one involving Sirius Black. Harry had been one of the most active supporters of that new law.
So it was a week after Harry caught her, a week that she spent in the Ministry cells, that Ginny had to present herself in front of the Wizengamot. Harry, Hermione, Mark and Albert were in the spectator part of the room, with the other Weasleys.
Molly was in tears, and Arthur looked down at Ginny with huge disappointment. Harry felt his heart break for them, but there was nothing he could do. Ginny had chosen her path herself.
Hermione was hugging him tightly, tears falling freely at the thought that someone she thought of as a friend would attempt to kill one of her children. And if Harry's guess was accurate, had already killed one.
"Ginevra Molly McTrodden, you are here to respond of the charge of using an Unforgivable, and of murdering Alexandra Potter" Kingsley, who was still Minister, started. "How do you proclaim yourself against these charges?"
"Innocent, sir" Ginny haughtily replied.
Murmurs erupted in the room, Ron had a murderous expression on his face and if Aurors didn't stop him, he would have probably attacked his own sister right there.
"Mrs. McTrodden, your wand has already been proven to have cast a Killing Curse. You proclaim yourself innocent from the charge of using an Unforgivable. How do you explain this?"
"Someone else used my wand"
"Your claim will have to be verified, Mrs. McTrodden. This means, Auror Harry Potter, responsible for the arrest, is called to testify"
Harry stood up from his place and walked to the chair prepared for him. Another Auror poured three drops of Veritaserum down his throat, and then he was questioned about the night of Ginny's arrest.
As other confirmation of him telling the truth, his memory of the night was shown. That would have been enough to sentence Ginny, but the other charges needed to be verified, so she was dosed with Veritaserum, given that her lies had convinced the jury she couldn't be trusted without it, and then she was questioned about the murder of little Alexandra.
She confirmed how she killed the little girl and then feigned the break in, and in another few minutes the trial was done.
Ginny was sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban, and on her way out she endured the insults of her own brothers, while Arthur glared at her, all the while comforting Molly. One had to admit that the redhead took all the insults with her head held high, and proudly walked out of the room to be taken away to the prison. Some might even admire her for it.
--
Albert filed for divorce that same day, and then decided to leave England. He claimed that he couldn't remain in the place where his hopes of a loving marriage were shattered so badly, too many memories of the time he had been married to Ginny haunted him in the Manor, and he would return to France to continue his research in another greenhouse he used now and then, which was situated on the grounds of another manor owned by his family.
He decided to gift Harry and Hermione with the one in England, saying that he very well knew it couldn't repay them for their lost child, but at least it was his way of saying he was sorry for not understanding what a loose cannon Ginny was.
That night, once Mark, and Fabian who had returned from St. Mungo's, were asleep in their rooms, Harry and Hermione snuggled close on the couch, both lost in their thoughts.
"It's all my fault" Harry finally sobbed, tears spilling from his emerald eyes. "I should have realized how desperate she was, and taken you and the children away from here sooner" he said.
Hermione hugged him tightly, letting him know she didn't think that way, and that she would never leave his side.
"It's Ginny's fault, not yours, Harry" she whispered, burying her face in his chest. He told her about the attempted seductions, and how he could have realized Ginny was growing more and more frustrated at her failures.
"But you could have never guessed she would stoop so low as to kill someone, and our children in particular, just for that reason" Hermione reasoned, and Harry sighed.
"How is it that you always manage to make me see reason even when I stubbornly want to punish myself?" he joked, and she smiled weakly at him.
"That's what I'm your wife for" she remarked, and he chuckled, kissing the tip of her nose.
"That's true" he admitted, pulling her close.
The pain of the loss of Alexandra would take a lot more to heal, and probably never would completely vanish, but Harry knew that with Hermione on his side he could face anything, she was his strength and he liked to think he was hers.
With that belief, he knew they could look to their future with optimism, and that nothing would ever tear them apart.
"Let's go to our room" he huskily whispered in her ear as he picked her up from the couch, his hands grabbing her bum as he carried her upstairs, their mouths fused in a long, heated kiss, tongues clashing as they climbed step after step, until Harry pushed their bedroom door open and lay her on the bed, kissing down her neck, and slowly unbuttoning her blouse, kissing her shoulders, while she buried her hands in his unruly black hair, moaning slightly at his ministrations.
Hermione quickly disposed of his shirt too, tossing it away after pushing it down his shoulders, and moved to his trousers, while he was fumbling with her bra.
Finally unhooking it, Harry kissed her left nipple, taking the quickly hardening nub in his mouth, and caressing the other one with his left hand, pinching, tweaking it, making his wife moan and writhe under him.
Finally, she pushed his trousers down his legs and quickly got of his boxers too, grasping his hard manhood, and making him hiss in pleasure.
The brunette still couldn't get enough of his reactions, knowing it was her who elicited them, and started stroking his shaft, making him groan, as he fumbled with her belt, and then pushed her own trousers and panties down her legs.
"You're so beautiful" he murmured against her skin as he kissed his way down to between her legs, where he found a slight dampness already waiting him. As he started going down on her, Hermione gasped at the feeling of his tongue on her clit, and then plunging inside her folds.
"Harryyyy!" she cried, and was suddenly glad for having silenced the room while he was carrying her to the bed.
He smiled against her cunt, and plunged in once more, making her grab the sheets frantically, as the waves of her orgasm rolled through her.
"I need you inside me, now!" she growled, and he was more than happy to oblige, pushing himself in to the hilt, and developing a rhythm, first slow, and then growing faster and faster, until he couldn't hold it anymore and exploded inside her, collapsing on her side and pulling her close.
"I love you" he said, kissing her softly.
"I love you too" Hermione sleepily murmured against his lips as he covered them both with the sheets.
Just before falling asleep, Hermione thought that even with the troubles that sometimes being his wife brought, she wouldn't dream to be anywhere else, and snuggled closer, finally letting her body get some needed rest as her eyes fluttered closed and a contented smile graced her lips, even in the midst of the sad happenings of the last few months.
-->