Crimes Against Nature

Chapter 32 - The Trial

The trial went on for hours. They were currently showing the jury Hermione’s memories as proof. One by one each juror took notes of what had happened. Hermione, Draco and Harry all had to testify to what they had seen and lived.

*Harry’s POV*

“When I received the patronous from Draco I was in shock. I had been looking for Hermione for years. I hadn’t seen her since the 6th month anniversary of the war when I received a letter telling me that she had left Ronald and to not contact her anymore. Ronald played the part perfectly. He made it seem like she had abandoned him and didn’t love him. We were heartbroken to find out she had left but we figured she wanted to get away from everything after the war. I still looked for her because…well because she’s basically my sister and I love her. You don’t give up on family.”

The jury asked Harry what he thought of what Ron had done to Hermione. “Listen, when I busted into that apartment and saw what she looked liked I was pissed. I wanted to execute him right then and there. I obviously restrained myself and let Draco deal with her because I almost lost my shit. When I arrived at the hospital and I was told she wouldn’t be waking up for a few days I saw red. He hurt her so badly that she literally died on the table. They had to bring her back. She was sedated for almost 2 whole weeks. What he did isn’t normal. He committed some serious crimes against nature and should be tried accordingly.

They asked how he found out she hadn’t written the letter. “The day she was scheduled to be taken off the sedative, I went to visit her with my wife, Ginevra. When we got there, at first Hermione was standoffish and it seemed like she didn’t want us there. She informed us that she didn’t need us considering the letter we had sent her. When we questioned her about this letter she informed us that Ron had given her a letter from us stating that we didn’t want her in our life and didn’t want to be her friend. We had all been deceived by Ron. At that point since we knew the truth we made up and continued our friendship.”

*Draco’s POV*

“I ran into Hermione as I was walking out of my old apartment building. Apparently, we were neighbors and didn’t even know it. I helped her take her groceries upstairs since I had left my phone and left her at her door. She slammed the door in my face before I could say anything else to her. I got my phone and as I was waiting for the elevators I heard screaming coming from her apartment. I sent a patronous to Harry and he got there as fast as possible. We stood outside the door and heard more screaming so I unlocked the door quietly and Harry threw Ronald across the room to get him off Hermione. When I looked over her she was covered in bruises head to toe, there was blood everywhere and the only safe place I could touch her was her right hand. I apparated with her to St. Mungo’s where she was treated for all her injuries and I was assigned as her permanent auror until the trial.

They asked him to list off all the injuries Hermione had sustained that day. “She had broken her left hand and right leg. She had slight lung damage, 5 broken ribs, 3 cracked ribs, a cracked skull and a concussion. Additional to all that she suffered major damage to her intimate parts that took months to heal, a cut lip and eyebrow, severe dehydration and slight malnutrition. She had bruises covering over 90% of her body and was lucky the doctors were able to fix most  of them while the rest healed while she was heavily sedated.

The jury wondered about the day Draco and Hermione had been captured, and why an auror who had trained under Harry Potter didn’t see it coming. “I received a call from Harry, extremely late into night while sleeping at my beach property. He indicated that Ronald had escaped and was probably tracking Hermione’s wand. He informed me that breaking her wand might give us a small window to get away, so I broke it and left it there. We apparated to the ministry but Hermione would get dizzy at sudden apparition and was throwing up. Unbeknownst to us, Ronald was actually tracking my wand and it led him to where we were. He ambushed and bound us. When we apparated to wherever he was hiding he chained me to a wall and punched my face. He tied Hermione to the floor and proceeded to do horrible things to her. To get away I had to break my thumb and escape. After I left Hermione at the hospital it took us 2 weeks to locate him, but when we finally did we went after him. We were throwing curses left and right but I heard him yell sectumsempra and saw it fly towards Harry. I pushed him out of the way and spent 2 days almost dying. When I finally healed, I spent 2 weeks being treated at the hospital up until 2 days ago where I was released. I still have, and will always have, the scars of the curse he used against me, but I am alive and for that I am grateful.”

*Hermione’s POV*

“Ronald didn’t always beat me brutally. He started by shoving me, from there it kept escalating until eventually he forced himself on me. The first time he forced himself on me was after an argument we had about me quitting my job. He beat me to the point where I couldn’t move and then abused me sexually. The pattern continued until I ran into Draco and he saved me.”

They asked her to describe her attack before he was arrested. “That day I woke him up like he asked but it angered him. Then I almost called him by his actual name and that just made it worse. He choked me and pulled my hair. He violated different intimate parts until they were almost too damaged to fix. He punched me repeatedly in every part of my body including my face. He even kicked me. It was so bad that I would have nightmares almost every night. When Draco performed the legilimens spell, I had to relive it and felt so real.”

The judge asked her to describe, with detail, everything done to her and Draco the day of the capturing. “Draco woke me up, broke my wand and apparated us out of the beach property. I got dizzy from apparating, fell on my hands and knees and started throwing up.  Suddenly I felt like I couldn’t move and saw Ronald threatening Draco. Ron apparated us and chained Draco to the wall. He punched him in the face and grabbed me by the hair. I tried to struggle, but Ronald threatened to cut Draco’s face off if I didn’t stay still. He tied me to the floor but these ropes were different. They burned me the minute they touched my skin, and were extremely tight. Ron smashed my face with his boot, causing me to bleed. Then he proceeded to kick me in the ribs repeatedly. I started to scream and cry and it only caused him to punch me in the mouth. I heard Draco begging him to leave me alone and that I didn’t deserve this. Ron called me a whore, he called me disgusting and told Draco if he didn’t shut up he’d make it worse for me. He punched Draco repeatedly until he heard the cracks of his ribs. I tried to tell him not to touch him but it didn’t work. Draco stopped fighting him and then, I guess it clicked for Ron that Draco and I were dating. This made him extremely mad and he reminded me that we were married. I informed him that Harry had dissolved our marriage because I was forced into it against my will. Learning that Draco and I were together sent him over the edge. He flipped me over so I was face down and cast a silencing charm on Draco. He tied me tightly so I wouldn’t move and casts several tightening charms on my backside. He wrapped a rope multiple times around my neck and then inserted himself extremely rough. He violated me until he was satisfied and wiped his member on my face. He removed the rope from my neck and stepped on my stomach. By then I faintly heard Draco beg Ronald to leave me again. Ron told him if he kept it up he would kill me, fuck my dead body one last time and then kill Draco, and that if Draco wanted, he could be moved to another room away from me. Ron arranged my body so it would be splayed open and zapped me to make sure I was awake. He then proceeded to violate me again. He was moving so fast and hard that I could feel the bruises forming on my inner thighs. He choked me with both hands so I couldn’t breathe. I felt my insides tighten and something tear when I realized he’d cast a tightening spell. When he finished with me, he got off and left. The last thing I remember is Draco untying me and picking me up. After that, I woke up in the hospital.

They wanted to know what happened at the hospital. “When I woke up looking for Draco, Ginny told me what had happened and that he’d been comatose for 2 days while loosing blood. I went to visit him and after arguing with the nurse she told me what curse had caused Draco’s lacerations. I performed a healing spell with his wand and he slowly regained coconsciousness. After 2 weeks in the hospital caring for Draco, I learned that I had been admitted 2 weeks before Draco and had almost died. When Draco was dismissed, Harry informed us of when the trial would be.”