Well, now, where were we?" Apparently he was not going to comment upon this revelation.
"Christmas." Kathryn reminded him tersely.
"Of course. Now, what happened after you left the reception."
"Well, I didn't leave by myself. I left with Mr Malfoy; I just sent a note saying that I was staying overnight at Minister Fudge's residence."
"You do seem to find yourself leaving with Mr Malfoy quite often."
"Well yes," Kathryn smirked, "I might have arrived at these things alone but I never left unaccompanied."
"You seem to be able to lie very easily." He commented, instantly changing tack. "Too easily for someone who was doing this against her will."
"When you do it enough, it just becomes natural." She shot back. "Although it cannot be said that things that happened after summer were against my wishes."
"Indeed. We shall explore that later I'm sure. What happened after you arrived back at Mr Malfoy's home?"
"I think you can figure that one out for yourself." She replied coolly, raising an eyebrow. "And then I left the next morning before anyone could get suspicious."
"And when-." He did not get a chance to finish his question before Kathryn interrupted him.
"The next time I saw him was on Valentine's day." She answered; by know understanding their very basic structure of questioning.
"Yes, however, the next time you saw him, he no longer had a wife." The aged wizard pointed out. "How did her death make you feel?" Kathryn paused before continuing, not really wanting to remember how she had felt.
"Sick." She said quietly. "I felt sick because she had died on a trip that I had suggested. I was actually sick," she explained in a voice that sounded distant to her ears as she remembered that day, "several times in fact. I was terrified that he had her killed because of me. I felt so guilty even though I'd had nothing to do with it." Lucius was amazed at what she was saying. He'd had no idea that she had felt that way. "I was very ill for about an hour and then I went back to the Gryffindor dormitories to sleep it off. The next thing I knew, it was the next morning."
"What did you do then?" he asked inquisitively. "Did you contact him?"
"No." She shook her head. "I sent a letter of condolence after a while," she explained, "and I got a reply thanking me and saying that he wanted to see me as soon as possible."
"What did you say in return?"
"I did not send a reply. It is hard enough as it is to send one letter without anyone looking over your shoulder. Trying to send a second letter would just be silly. I just assumed that he would find me on the next Hogsmeade visit."
"Quite a blind assumption."
"Well, it had served me well so far. It was just how it went. He would be in Hogsmeade whenever we were allowed to go down to the village and he would just find me."
"So what happened on the next visit?"
"I assumed that he would meet me up in the hills around the village as we normally did."
"And I take it that he did."
"Of course." She shrugged. "But first I decided to try my hand at something I had been practicing for a while."
"And what was that?" he asked, despite having seen it the other day.
"I achieved my first Animagi transformation." She explained. "We, that is, my bother, my friends and I had been practicing for a while and I just thought that I'd try."
"I take it that it worked."
"Yes. It was the first time it had worked. He was the first one to see me in my animagus form."
"And what, might I ask, is your animagus form?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.
"A wolf." She answered shortly.
"Interesting." He mused. "You do know that people's Animagi forms reflect the person, yes?"
"I do know that, yes." She nodded, understanding where this was going.
"Then what does the wolf say about you?" he asked the courtroom. "Brutal? Predatory? Lonely? That you toe a fine line between good and evil?"
"Or maybe that I am strong, independent, cunning and loyal to my friends?" she countered. "Besides, that isn't really the point. He was there and, for the first time since Christmas, I actually spoke to him."
"What did you talk about?"
"I asked him how he was coping; he said fine, I didn't believe him." She explained quickly. "When you know someone like I had gotten to know Mr Malfoy, you notice things like bags under the eyes and weight loss. Although, to be fair, he noticed the same things as me. I hadn't been sleeping all that well since I had found out and I had lost some weight."
"Anything else?"
"I asked him if he had organised it. If his wife had died because she was an obstacle between him and me."
"And what answer did you get?"
"The death of his wife had been an accident." She clarified. "It had nothing to do with me. We also spoke of where this left us and he asked me whether I was prepared to go where this route would ultimately lead. I said yes."
"So you understood full well what could happen?"
"I had for a long time; this was just the first time I had voiced this to him."
"How touching."
"Well, the moment was ruined by my brother, Ron, Hermione and Ginny coming round the corner." She smirked. "But we finished the conversation at his manor." She added, knowing that everyone would be able to work out what happened next.
"Did anything happen during this encounter?" he asked. "It was Valentine's Day after all."
"Well, he gave me a necklace," she shrugged, "rubies, to match the ring he gave me the year before."
"Anything else?"
"We just talked about when the next opportunity would be." She explained. "I'm sorry I cannot delight your imagination with tales of debauchery." Harry was surprised that this comment actually drew a laugh from the room. "By this time, our meetings were not for his personal gain; but for mutual pleasure."
"So when was your next opportunity to see each other?" he appeared not to have noticed what she had just said.
"On the Hogwarts Governors annual visit to the castle," she informed the courtroom, "apparently, they always meet the Head Boy and Girl and have lunch with them. This visit is also usually timed to coincide with a Quidditch match."
"How on earth did you manage to conduct anything under such circumstances?" he demanded. "How could you hide such a secret form all your friends, teachers and, more importantly, Albus Dumbledore?"
"Have you ever considered that people rarely see what is right before their eyes?" she shot back. "Besides, all it takes to hide something is a certain skill at Occlumency and a good poker face."
"What do you mean when you say that people 'rarely see what is right before their eyes'?" he asked curiously, repeating what she had just said for added effect.
"Well," she sighed, "Harry, Ron and Hermione were all concerned that I was finding myself in situations that involved close contact with Lucius Malfoy. To be fair, at first I was worried but, by this time, I was looking for ways to see him."
"Your point is?" he looked bored again.
"I will get there if you give me a chance to explain, I thought you wanted to know what happened and why?" she shot back with a disparaging stare before continuing. "I had already convinced them that I was playing nice so that he would not try to oust Professor Dumbledore again. I'm sure you'll remember Professor Dumbledore's suspension by the board of Governors in my brother's second year? I was not here but I have been informed by my brother that it is widely known that he used rather below board methods of obtaining the requisite signatures." She paused for a moment, watching Lucius as he smirked to himself. Whilst she did not condone that course of action, she could not help but find herself admiring how he could manipulate things to get his way.
"Anyway," she went on, looking back that the Wizengamot, "after I was appointed to the position of Head Girl, along with Harry, Ron and Hermione, playing nice became even more necessary. Then Narcissa Malfoy died. I am sure that my brother and friends did not miss the impact had upon my little plan. In their eyes, he was a widower and was no longer constrained in his pursuit of other women. I am sure that, in their eyes, I was in grave danger of becoming a target for him."
"Obviously they still had no inclination of what had been going on?"
"No, as far as I was aware, they were comfortably oblivious to the situation that I had found myself in."
"And you were happy with this?"
"Yes, now, where was I?" she resumed her explanation of what she had said. "Well, in our roles as Head Girls and Head Boys, we were duty bound to be polite and so my conversing with Mr Malfoy and sitting next to him at a Quidditch match would not raise any suspicions as long as we betrayed no other emotion."
"And your friends, and more importantly, your brother were unconcerned by this?" he asked incredulously.
"Oh no," she shook her head, "they were concerned but I convinced them that I had the situation under control."
"And did you?"
"I did, they just didn't know which situation I was talking about." She smirked.
"What did you do after the match?" he asked, moving the topic swiftly on.
"Well, after lunch, I went back to the Gryffindor common room and got changed then packed my bag for a shower. I told Harry Ron and Hermione that I was going for a shower and then to look up some stuff for the next day's DA meeting." She explained. "Only instead I went to the Room of Requirement as was, by that time, usual."
"Did anything unusual happen?"
"Well, I'm not sure if you would class this as unusual," she shrugged, "but all I did at first was kiss him. It doesn't seem that big but, for me at least, it was a significant change. I had never thought that I would ever be like that with him. I never thought he would be able to show such kindness towards me. I also thought that I would never be able to stand such tenderness from him, much less reply in the same way."
"And was that it?"
"No." she shook her head. "I did leave but I went back."
"Why?"
"Because I needed to ask him why there were pictures in the Prophet of him with pretty girls hanging off his arms." She explained calmly, ignoring the several people that she could see whispering.
"That was rather possessive of you."
"Well, as I have said, things had changed by then." She shrugged. "Considering that I was no longer under his thumb I needed to ensure that I was not going to be seen as a casual fling."
"So you wished to secure the exclusivity of your relationship?"
"Well, I wasn't thinking of it in that way but I didn't have to ask him to declare it, he told me that no one else compared to me."
"That sounds like a line he has said many times." He shot back sceptically.
"It was true." She said quietly, gazing down at Lucius.
"How touching." He commented in a voice that clearly conveyed that he didn't care in the slightest. Lucius felt sorry for the man as he knew that Kathryn would now spare no quarter in her responses to his questions. "When did you next see him?"
"At a Quidditch World Cup group match between England and Italy." She replied tersely. "That was unplanned."
"What happened?"
"He let slip to minister Fudge that I was there and, owing to our Minister's need to show off to visiting dignitaries, I was sent for."
"Minister Fudge actually requested your presence?"
"Well, the note was delivered by his undersecretary, Percy Weasley."
"So that's a yes?"
"No. the handwriting was Lucius Malfoy's."
"And what did you tell your brother and friends?" he asked, knowing that she was going to say that she lied.
"I told them Fudge wanted me, which he did; it was just Mr Malfoy that made the request."
"So you lied."
"Yes."
"Was that time at the match the only time you saw him?"
"No, he invited me to dine at his manor that evening with Minister Fudge." She explained. "His son and Pansy Parkinson were also present."
"So he brazenly flaunted you before the Minister for magic, his son and his son's girlfriend?"
"I wouldn't have said that I was flaunted as such," she replied with a sneer, "he was very restrained."
"Did he do anything unusual?"
"No, unless you count a dinner laced with aphrodisiacs." She shrugged.
"Did his son not notice anything?" he seemed astounded. "Surely he must have presumed that something was up, after all, for such a staunch supporter of Dumbledore happily coming for dinner at a Death Eater's residence?"
"To own the truth, I think Draco Malfoy was far to preoccupied with Miss Parkinson to notice anything going on. She did seem to feel the effects of dinner quite visibly." She could barely contain her laughter as she saw Pansy squirm and blush in her seat.
"And did you feel some effects of the dinner?"
"Of course," she shrugged, smiling at the memory, "except I put it to good use and garnered as much as I could."
"What do you mean by that?" he asked curiously, although, moments later he wished he hadn't.
"It means that I was quite thoroughly indulged." She said with a nostalgic smile. "And I managed to carry it over into the next day too." She added with a smirk.
"So you didn't go home the next day then?"
"No," she shook her head, "I stayed until after lunch. I just sent a note to Sirius saying that Minister Fudge had asked me to stay for Sunday dinner."
"So what did you really do?"
"Well, Lucius had me for breakfast and then I got up, had a shower and got dressed." She listed quickly. "Then he gave me a set of grey pearls that he had bought when he had gone to Paris the week before."
"Any reason for such an extravagant gift?" he asked, making notes on his parchment and not looking at her.
"No, there wasn't a reason; he just said that he had thought that they would suit me."
"And I assume that you returned home and then back to Hogwarts that afternoon."
"Yes." With a mere nod of his head, he passed the questioning on to another colleague. This woman looked like she had been a beauty when she was younger. She had long, lustrous hair only it was bright white and pair of pince-nez sat on the end of her nose as she peered at her papers.
"So, Miss Potter, according to what you showed us in the pensieve; the next time you saw Mr Malfoy was during the Easter holidays, yes?"
"Yes." She nodded in affirmation. "When I got there he was with Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange as well as Antonin Dolohov, Avery and Crabbe and Goyle senior."
"I assume that this was substantially dangerous for you."
"Yes, but I just hid using my animagus form and waited until they had gone." She shrugged. "It wasn't exactly hard."
"What did you do once you were alone?"
"What do you think?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "I spent two days in absolute bliss until the evening paper arrived on the third day."
"By that I take it that you mean the revelation that your foster parents had been murdered by the Death Eaters?"
"Yes. I was out walking when I found out. I collapsed and he came running to help me."
"Did he now?"
"Well, contrary to what everyone seems to think." She shot back in a dry tone. "He is not completely devoid of emotion or compassion."
"I did not suggest such. Now, what did you do afterwards?"
"Well, at first I was in shock and then I got angry and threw a good few plates at him. I thought the he knew about it seeing as Bellatrix Lestrange and company had been here before I had arrived."
"Had he known?" she asked, not looking up from her notes.
"No," she shook her head, "that was plain to tell. After that he took me back upstairs and fixed my feet because I had hurt them when I had stamped my feet in the china and glass."
"Did he know what had actually happened?"
"I explained it to him." She nodded. "By that point I could actually speak coherently again you see."
"Why, might I ask, did you not go home straight away? I am sure that your brother and friends were substantially worried about you considering that you wear away from home."
"I wanted to but he wouldn't let me go home in such a state. I left the next morning."
"And I understand that the funeral was held in Paris?"
"Yes, it was where they had spent their entire lives so it made sense. I went over to Paris the day after I got home to sort out the house and arrange the funeral which was held four days after I received the news."
"Why was Mr Malfoy present at the funeral, Miss Potter?" she asked pointedly. "He had no reason to be there considering his associations and I'm, sure your brother, friends and godfather resented his presence."
"I issued a general invitation to all the Hogwarts Governors as they had been so nice to me in the past and I couldn't exactly leave him off the list; that would've just looked suspicious."
"Any other reason?"
"I wanted him there." She said in a tone that clearly stated that the woman should have reached that conclusion by now, but she knew that she just wanted to hear her say it. "I wanted him there because he had been kind to me and he was the one person who could make me smile at that point."
"And you met up in the cemetery, yes?"
"I spoke to him for a few minutes, yes. A few minutes was as long as I could afford to be absent at that point. Harry, Ron and Hermione were extra vigilant knowing that he was there."
"What did he say?"
"Well, he told me that he thought he knew who was responsible."
"And who was that?"
"Bellatrix Lestrange." There were several stifled gasps from within the observers. Bellatrix would probably be happy to know that her reputation still preceded her. "He told me that it had her handiwork all over it, considering that they had been tortured too."
"What did you do after the funeral, considering that he was in Paris too?"
"Well, after the wake I got changed and went to his hotel but he didn't answer the door. He was staying at the Georges V, where I had stayed when I had gone to Paris the summer before."
"Did you wait for him?"
"No." she shook her head. "The fact that he wasn't there made me feel worse so I went out and got smashed."
"You told him where you were going though?"
"I left him I note but, as I understand it, he had no idea what I meant and had to go to the hotel where I was staying to ask about it."
"And he showed up?"
"Yes, one look at my scar gets me anything so I told the security guys to let him in when he got there."
"But, by the time he got there you were quite far gone?"
"If by 'far gone' you mean stupidly drunk then, yes, I was. I think I will be eternally grateful for what he did though because, if he hadn't come, I probably would've woken up in someone's bed other than his."
"So he forcibly removed you."
"Yes, but I'm glad he did. We walked back to his hotel and, as it always does, the alcohol kicked in. I ended up shouting at him all because he had chastised me for being stupid and getting drunk by myself to which I told him quite forcibly that he didn't run my life. He let me cry for a while and then we eventually made it back to the hotel.
"Had your friends not noticed your absence?"
"No," she shook her head, "I had snuck out and they must have just thought I was asleep."
"But you most certainly weren't."
"Well, I was," she retorted with a smirk, "just in someone else's hotel room on the other side of the Seine."
"Why did you have to see him?" she asked. "You had just left him a few days ago."
"It wasn't a question of wanting to see him," she shot back in a cold voice, "it was pure need."
"And you left Paris the following day?"
"Yes."
"Did your brother not question where you had been?"
"I just told him that I had been for a walk and, besides, I had brought breakfast back so they didn't mind."
"How fortunate," she remarked dryly, "let us move on to the next time you saw Mr Malfoy. I believe that it was the last Quidditch match before the final?"
"Yes. It was Ravenclaw versus Slytherin so that meant that he was there to watch his team win for the final time."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, Slytherin won that mach, which put them in the final against Gryffindor."
"How could you be so sure that would be the outcome?"
"We always beat Slytherin," she shrugged, "it was just a fact of life. Draco Malfoy was so determined to win by any means possible so he played dirty and games generally ended up going in our favour."
"So where did you sit during this match?" she enquired. "Considering that you have now sat in the teacher's box with Mr Malfoy for several Quidditch games over the past two years."
"I sat with my brother and my friends." She said sternly. "I had only sat with Mr Malfoy when circumstances dictated it so."
"What would you have done if he'd offered?" she probed cautiously.
"I don't know," she said quietly, "I suppose I would have had to say no. Although, if he had managed to think of an excuse to get me to sit there I would have gladly gone."
"I assume that you did not see him until some time after the match then?"
"Yes, I went for a walk and he followed me out. I made sure that he knew where I was going because I made a point of indicating, to my brother and friends, which way I was going when I left the Great Hall after dinner."
"What did he do?"
"We just talked, as well as other things. He did try to persuade me to lose the Quidditch final just so he could save face. He couldn't have given me anything that would have enticed me to lose."
"Anything else?"
"Well, I explained that we were thinking of holding a ball after the exams but he then became rather preoccupied with other matters at that point."
"Did he now?" she even gave a small smirk as there were titters of laughter around the room.
"I had to stop him, reluctant though I was." She shot back. "But we got to continue later." The imperious look she gave made sure that the entire courtroom was silent.
"How nice for you." The witch remarked dryly.
"It was actually." She shot back in an even more acerbic tone, worthy of Snape himself.
"I think it would be appropriate to take a break just there." Fudge interjected before the questioning could continue. "Half an hour."