Trapped // Drarry AU

episode nine: court

              The court date drew close fast and before I could process it, it had arrived. I woke up on the morning of drenched in sweat. I haven't gone to visit Draco since that Tuesday in August. Considering everything that had happened, I took the semester off. Hermione had promised to let me stay with her for the year to get me off campus and I am forever grateful. 

              "Harry, are you up? We need to leave in twenty minutes if we're going to make it on time." Hermione called from the next room. Calling back a confirmation, I went to take a quick shower and get ready for Draco's day in court. About fifteen minutes later we left the apartment and embarked on our trek to the courthouse. We checked me in as a witness and Hermione as support. Ron and my dad would be there as well. 

                  When we entered the courtroom, I was greeted with hugs from both Ron and dad before we all sat down and waited for the judge. About ten minutes went by as everyone filed in, including Draco. He looked broken and I almost reached out to comfort him, but Hermione grabbed my arm and shook her head. The case didn't take long before I was called to the stand.

                  "Mister Potter, what exactly was your relationship to Mister Malfoy?"  The state's lawyer, Peter James, inquired. 

                  "He was my professor when I started at Hogwarts University last fall, sir." I explained truthfully.

                 "That's what he was at first, but what became of your relationship?" Peter asked, smirking at me. I didn't like the look on his face, so I frowned. "Something wrong?" 

                 "N-no. He was my teacher at first. At Hogwarts, you get assigned a special advisor. Draco happened to be my advisor. So we had weekly meetings and ended up becoming friends. It just made sense to us after meeting every week for a few months at that point. One day he suggested adding another day per week to our meetings. So we met on, I think, Tuesdays and Thursdays." I explained, breathing deeply.

                  "Is it true, Mister Potter, that Draco was married and an active father when you met?" I nodded. "What happened to that?"

                  "He has a son, Scorpius. Should be fifteen now. I don't know for sure what broke the marriage apart. I think it was the addition of the extra weekly meeting between us. Astoria, his ex-wife, she didn't admire the extra time Draco was putting into me. He had more than one advisee, but never spent as much time with them as he did with me. As far as I'm aware, I don't think he spent any time with them at all."

                 "When exactly did your relationship become romantic?"

                "November. I discovered Draco was sleeping in his office rather than at home. The day I confronted him about it, he kissed me. I had found him attractive from the start so we pursued a romantic relationship. That being said, this was after I confirmed that he had filed divorce papers. I wouldn't be with him if he was still married." 

                 "When did things go south, Harry?"

                "December. I had started receiving anonymous texts in regards to my relationship with Draco. After that, I stopped attending his class. I stopped attending our meetings. He would text me and I would just respond in one word replies. I had even applied to attend a different university in the fall." 

                "This angered him, didn't it?"

                "Yes, sir. He got angry. I wanted to escape, so I applied to New York University. I stopped going to all of my classes for a short time period and did all of my work online so it wouldn't bother my GPA."

                 "What did Draco do when he found out you had applied to another university?"

                "He found out I was accepted through an email that the new university had sent H-U. He came to my dorm and stormed in, not bothering to knock. He accused me of leaving and threatened to fail me, which would cause my GPA to plummet because I had Draco for two of my classes. If I failed them, it would make the other college withdraw my acceptance."

                "So he threatened you? Why did you stay with him?"

               "I felt like I had to. I hated him and hated being afraid of him. He took me out to dinner one night and I told him I still loved him, but I don't know if it was true at that point."

              "So winter break came close. What happened?"

              "I was supposed to go on a road trip with my friend Ron. When I told Draco, he went ballistic and told me to have fun with my sluts along the way." I sighed, taking a breath. "I was terrified, so I backed out of the road trip and stayed with Draco. I wanted break to end fast. On the last day of break, I told Draco I was going to go back to campus, he lost it. We had our worst fight that day. He agreed to start attending anger management as long as I would stay." 

               "And spring semester?"

               "I didn't take one of his classes spring semester. It gave me time away from him. He always wanted to meet, but I came up with excuses. A paper here, an exam there. Anything to get away."

                "The kidnapping. When did that occur?"

               "Last day of finals. He sent some poor kid to summon me. Said it was very important. So I went to his office and got no answer, figuring he'd be at his apartment instead. When I got to the apartment, he had this majorly romantic dinner set up. He put crushed up sleeping pills in the drink he gave me and I woke up in god knows where. I stopped trying to leave after the summer ended. I stopped caring after New Years." I let a tear slip, frowning deeply. "The next thing I knew, we were on a flight to Dublin. We flew and visited most of Europe. It was like another year had gone by, and it practically did. It was July before we got back to the states and August before we got home."

               "Right. Now, Harry we have on good authority that Draco proposed to you. Is that correct?"

               "Yeah. He proposed on our last day in Italy. We were supposed to have the whole day, but we had to leave at noon instead. I said yes, but at the same time my body was screaming no."

               "Thank you, no further questions." He sent me back to my seat and I sat down, avoiding eye contact with Draco. The jury went to meet to decide Draco's fate. When they returned, they handed a paper to the judge and sat down.

              "Draco Malfoy, I pronounce you guilty of kidnapping in the first degree. You are hereby sentenced to twenty years in prison with no possibility of parole."