"It was unavoidable that I marry her," he told everyone, but mostly her. "There was a need to keep her safe, a sort of obsession. It might’ve been guilt at first, although I never felt guilty for anything after i was tortured, after i killed my parents." Shocked murmur wahsed over the courtroom, but Draco continued as if nothing happened. "Perhaps I felt like I owed her because of what my aunt did to her. Then—then I just needed to protect her. I was possessed with the thought of keeping her safe even though I knew I’d probably never speak eye-to-eye with her. It came to me instinctively. She gave my life purpose for most of the war time.  I took her from Hogwarts because I suspected Voldemort might attack it – and before that, I’d set plenty of protective charms on the castle – because I knew she was there."