Last Lesson in Love - (Sequel to Tutoring A Malfoy)

Chapter Seventeen - 'Persuading Harry.'

Hermione nearly choked on the last word and looked at him intently. Robert met her gaze calmly, looking as though he had a lot of experience not to glare at someone when they were getting angry at him.

‘I don’t want Azkaban to even be considered for Draco,’ Hermione told him.

‘Considering or expecting the worst is a good strategy. We need to work at avoiding that worst option. In this case, it’s Azkaban or the death penalty,’ Robert said, picking up his fork and looking at the lasagne for a second before saying, ‘there is one way we could have an advantage.’

‘What?’ Hermione asked, nearly leaning over the table.

Robert chewed, thinking over how to word what he was thinking. If Hermione could make it happen, Draco would surely be let off. In any case, this idea of Robert’s would mean that Draco would never have to think about Azkaban, let alone actually be shipped there.

‘What is it?’ Hermione asked, impatiently, fighting the urge to glare at him.

‘Well, my original plan was to plead Draco’s case and that would work but there is a sure fire way of making sure Draco is let off,’ Robert explained and then sighed, ‘we need to get Harry Potter to plead Draco’s case.’

Hermione felt her bum hit the chair as she sat back down, no longer leaning over in anticipation. It made perfect sense that Harry could persuade the court that Draco was innocent since they would have to listen to Harry. He was, after all, the main person of the war and uprising of Voldemort and his death eaters. But...

But.

Harry wouldn’t do that. He thought Draco was guilty and blamed him for Dumbledore’s death even though Draco didn’t kill him. If Draco hadn’t fixed that Vanishing Cabinet, the death eaters would never have put the school in an uproar and Snape would never have had to kill Dumbledore. Harry would see it no other way than how it looked in his head. He never forgave Draco for what he did, what he had to do.

Hermione had to convince him to plead for her boyfriend. Robert couldn’t convince Harry since he was pretty stubborn and wouldn’t listen to his friends, rather than a strange lawyer who he didn’t even know. So now, it was up to Hermione.

‘It would help the case and we should definitely see into it,’ Robert said, watching her carefully, ‘but if Harry Potter refuses to plead for Draco, I’ll plead for his case and keep him away from Azkaban if I can.’

‘If you can...’

‘I’ll try my hardest, Hermione.’

‘If... you... can?’ Hermione repeated again slowly, tasting the words on her mouth, ‘that isn’t good enough.’

‘Finish eating and I’ll show you what I intend to do tomorrow if worse comes to worse,’ Robert said, picking up his fork again.

‘What if you can’t save him and he gets sentenced to Azkaban?’ Hermione frowned, not picking up her cutlery. Her mouth felt dry, ‘what am I going to do? What will I tell Rose? What’ll happen to Draco?’

‘That won’t happen, Hermione. I’m not going to let it happen,’ Robert said and sighed, ‘the war ended so many years ago and most of the death eaters have been captured and sent to Azkaban. There’s only a few left, including Draco.’

‘Draco’s not a death eater,’ Hermione frowned at him.

‘Sorry. Ex death eater then,’ Robert said and continued, ‘Draco’s not caused harm to anybody in these last few years. We can use this to our advantage, Hermione.’