Neville hated this part of the job. It wasn't a fun job to begin with, safer than being an Auror for sure, but having to deal with some of the wizarding world's worst as they re-entered society was equal parts depressing and stressful. 'Reformed' criminals lied as often as the unreformed and thanks to years of experience were better at hiding it. Neville could usually use the skills he learned as a Auror to detach himself from his work, get the job done and then go home to find some peace with Serafina and his gardens, but his newest case was likely to make that impossible.
Lucius Malfoy wasn't meant to survive his 20 year sentence to Azkaban, much less make it until he was eligible for parole, but evidently the man was stronger than most would have thought. Even the strongest tended to go mad, if they weren't mad to begin with, and ended up being transferred from Azkaban straight to St. Mungo's long term care wards. But here Neville stood at the gates of Malfoy Manor getting ready to do his first visit with the only convicted Death Eater to see freedom since the end of the war.
Neville took a deep breath, adjusted his robes, including the black band around his arm that reminded him why he became a parole officer and unlatched the gate.
Neville figured the manor house would have looked intimidating to someone who hadn't grown up in one nearly as large, though not nearly as well cared for. Most of Gran's house was boarded off even now, with only enough rooms for him, Serafina and Gran to live comfortably and he saw no need to change that even though he was quite flush since selling "The Leaky."
Neville lifted his hand to knock at the great doors when a pop caused him to look down.
"State your business sir."
Neville looked down and raised his eyebrows in surprise at the rather well-dressed elf. Harry's assistance in freeing the house elf Dobby from the Malfoy family had started a movement after the end of the war that led to the House Elf Freedom Act, effectively freeing all elves, but most still dressed in their customary rags. Obviously, if the Malfoy's were going to have to pay their elves, the elves were going have to dress and speak the part of proper English servants.
"Yes, I'm Officer Longbottom here meet with Mr. Lucius Malfoy. Let him know I'm here please."
"Master Malfoy is resting sir," Neville opened his mouth to let the elf know that his visit took priority over Master Malfoy's rest, but was cut off by the elf who continued, "I will show you to the sitting room and let him know of your arrival sir."
Just then the great doors opened to a rather ornate hall decorated with gold filigree mirrors and floral arrays so extravagant they nearly touched the vaulted ceiling. Neville was so caught up in admiring the arrangements he nearly missed it when the house elf took a left just shy of the spiral staircase leading Neville to an even more ornately decorated room.
"Tea sir?"
"No thank you, um.." Neville trailed off realizing he had not asked the elf's name.
"Very well, Master Malfoy will be along shortly." The elf disappeared with a gentle pop presumably to go get her master.
Neville thought about sitting down, but decided against making himself too comfortable, since he didn't normally sit during his other parole checks, he wasn't going to do it here just because the decor was considerably nicer than what most of the homes he visited could boast. Standing near the fire studying the flames his senses suddenly became aware of several voices coming into earshot. He turned expecting either the elf or Mr. Malfoy, but saw no one.
Neville followed the muffled sounds until he was standing at a pair of French doors that led out onto what appeared to be a rather large portico. At the farthermost corner, of which, sat a rather beautiful red head dressed in the finest robes speaking, rather tersely it seemed, to none other than Draco Malfoy.
Neville smirked, he had been married long enough to know a row when he saw it. Neville knew he should back away and close his ears to the conversation, but anyone who could make Draco Malfoy look so absolutely livid had to be saying something interesting. Even though the distance made it difficult he did make out a few words...'Red' was saying something about 'my son' and 'mad as a hatter' which caused Draco Malfoy to visibly swell with fury and step towards the woman.
Neville prepared himself to intervene, private or no he wasn't about to let Malfoy raise a hand to a woman in his presence. His preparation ended rather quickly when Malfoy clenched his fist, turned on his heel and began walking back towards him. The movement was so sudden that Neville didn't have time to conceal himself further in the room and was horrified to realize that Malfoy was looking right at him.
The rage-filled tightness of Malfoy's face released for a moment as surprise registered on his face only to be replaced again by fury from one breath to the next. "Oh shite!" Neville whispered to himself backing away from the door. Neville's brain scrambled for a way to explain his behavior as he turned and ran into someone. "Oi!" Neville exclaimed before he could register the fact that he had just about knocked down Lucius Malfoy. Neville stuck out both arms to steady the man. "Oh, dear! Are you quite alright?" A female voice from deeper in the room queried.
"Yes" Neville said trying to even out his voice and focus on the two people in front of him. In his hands he was holding the senior Malfoy's forearms and Neville lifted his head slightly to come face to face with the man. He was met with a very serene smile that reminded him of his mothers hollow smiles. Even the mans eyes, though tired and red, seemed to have a strangely peaceful look about them.
"Officer Longbottom, my apologies. I didn't mean to cause a fright." Lucius Malfoy said gently as he steadied himself.
"No, uh..no it wasn't you .. I just didn't realize you were"...Neville's words were cut off by the two French doors behind him being wrenched open. Whatever Draco Malfoy had started to say when he opened the doors, died on his lips when he took in the scene in the room.
"What's going on here? Father are you alright?" he said coming over to the elder Malfoy's side and turning to glare at Neville. "Why are you man-handling him? He's done nothing wrong!"
"Calm down Dragon," Lucius said the smile on his face growing to make his whole face shine. "I'm afraid we just ran into to each other, quite literally, and were only sorting it out when you came in." Lucius and Neville let go of each other and took a few steps away from one another.
"Officer Longbottom, this is my son Draco and my wife Narcissa, I believe you have met before, at least in passing."
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, your son and I know each other quite well. Mrs. Malfoy" Neville bowed his head towards the lithe form hovering near the settee.
"Officer Longbottom, would you like some tea?"
"No thank you, Mrs. Malfoy. If we could..."
"Of course." Lucius moved towards a settee near the hearth to take a seat.
"What are you doing here? He's barely been home a day, surely the Ministry doesn't intend my father to endure daily visits?" Draco huffed angrily.
Neville rolled his lips trying to keep his temper in check. "No, but if you would give me a moment with your father, I will lay out our schedule and provide him with some contact information he may need."
"Oh, forgive my little Dragon for being so impertinent.."
"Father!"
"I'm afraid my return is not being endured well by my daughter-in-law...
"Father please!" Neville noted that Draco's face was a most unappealing shade of red.
Narcissa Malfoy cleared her throat silencing both men, who turned their eyes to meet her. Draco quickly dropping his head in deference to his mother and Lucius face was shining with pride.
"Sit with me?" Lucius said softly reaching a hand out to his wife, causing Mrs. Malfoy's cheeks to turn pink as she walked to him.
Neville turned his head down at the display of affection, his heart seizing painfully. After a moment, he lifted his head to see that Mrs. Malfoy had indeed taken a seat next to her husband and was holding his hand between there bodies.
Curious Neville turned to see the younger Malfoy's reaction to the scene and was struck by the...well the love he saw on Draco Malfoy's face. Draco must have sensed he was being watched because he turned his face towards Neville. Aware now that Neville was watching him Draco's face returned to it's normal cold configuration as his posture stiffened.
"Shall we get on with it then Officer Longbottom." Draco sneered as he said the word officer and shot a challenging look at Neville, fishing for a reaction. Fortunately, years as a Auror had taught Neville how to not rise to such petty challenges and he ignored Draco in favor of speaking with the elder Malfoy._
Neville was pleased that the rest of his visit with Lucius Malfoy had passed with little fuss. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy noted the schedule of Neville's visits for the next 6 months and nodded as he provided the contact information for several counselors that specialized in assisting former prisoners to re-acclimate. to society He had the distinct impression that they had no intention of taking advantage of the service, but providing the information fulfilled his job requirements so...
Draco Malfoy had stood throughout the conversation shooting Neville questioning glances on occasion. Neville had the feeling that Draco had questions about some of the terms for his father's parole, but did not want to ask in front of his father. Nevertheless, Neville wasn't about to hang around and wait for the man to spit it out, so he took his leave and was now only a few steps from the gate's apparition point when he heard someone pop into existence a few steps behind him.
Only year's of training kept him from firing a hex before discerning the identity of the person behind him as he swung to meet them raising his wand.
"Well, Longbottom you are quite the duelist now, I see." Draco Malfoy drawled, a smirk on his face as he lifted his hands palms out to show that he wasn't armed.
"What do you mean popping up on me like that? I could have killed you!" Neville said his body tense with adrenaline.
"Calm down Longbottom, I just wanted to talk and didn't want to chase you all over England to do it."
Neville put his wand away and said, "Well, talk then."
Draco's hands went into the pockets of his robes as he took a deep breath. Neville noted that he was still a slender man, if that was the term one used for men and seemed to have grown a few inches since the last time he had seen him, probably nearing 11 years ago now. The man seemed to be mulling his words carefully until Neville said "Before dinner would be lovely, Malfoy I have my daughter to pick up."
Neville noticed Draco's eyes glance at the black ribbon on his arm and back at Neville's face as he said, "Well, its my father of course...he is ….he seems... not himself ….quite..."
"That's why we do a visit within the first 24 hours. Most inmates are very...well fragile for the first day or two and it would do him some good to visit with one of the counselors I recommended."
"But he seems so..." Draco trailed off … "I'd almost think he'd been taking potions or smoking marijuana cigarettes, if I didn't know better."
"Well, if he had it would have shown during my exam of the wards placed on him by the Ministry. So, I think you can be assured that his behavior is just a reaction to being out of Azkaban."
"You don't think he would be a danger, do you? To my son, I mean. Scorpius has taken to him in a very intense manner and father is absolutely enraptured. I've never seen him be so … and my...we were a bit concerned." Draco's head dropped to examine an apparently fascinating section of the lawn as his lips pursed together.
"If he had been a danger, they would have released him to Mungo's after his final evaluation..."
Neville didn't get to finish his sentence before Draco raised his head and burst in tersely "Unless they wanted to set an example!"
"I don't take your meaning." Neville said feeling his eyebrows furrowing.
"What if they let him come home hoping something would happen or…didn't make a correct diagnosis..." Draco trailed off again. Neville got the impression that Draco was probably parroting his wife's concerns.
Neville rocked back on his heels and said, "How old is your son?"
"Pardon?" Draco said ,apparently lost in thought for a moment.
"Your son? How old?"
"Scorpius is 4. Why?"
"Oi, perfect then! My Sera is the same age...if Scorpius is so infatuated with your Dad, then you should take it as a good sign not a bad one...kids that age they act on instinct, if Serafina shies away from someone I usually take it as a sign that she senses something about them, now it may be nothing more than that they are a stranger, but I would interpret Scorpius's attachment to your father as a sign that he feels...well, safe with him."
Draco's eyebrows furrowed deeply and he brought up on finger to tap at his lip as he processed Neville's words. "You think?"
Neville smiled, "Yeah, I think."
Draco's face softened momentarily before a smirk appeared on his face. "Thank you, Officer Longbottom. I am greatly relieved. Draco turned to leave then turned around on his heels, "...Um all that about the Ministry... uh, I'a.."
"No worries. I'm not going to report you for being concerned..." Neville noticed that he was unconsciously leaning to the side. He was unconsciously mimicking Draco movements. Neville turned his head to see what Malfoy was eyeing only to be greeted by a flashbulb exploding in his face from the Manor Gates.
He really hated the press and the advances that had been made in photography. He had no doubt there would be a great shot of his surprised face in tomorrow's edition of The Prophet along with some ridiculous caption. After Hannah's death, the press had made a great spectacle out of 'a great Hero of the war with Voldemort' losing the love of his life to a petty crime gone wrong.
"Bollocks!" Neville cursed turning toward Malfoy. "You best get on in, if they smell blood in the water they'll not leave your family be."
"Damn it, I was hoping that the orders keeping the press away for the first day would cause them to lose interest."
Neville snorted, "Unlikely, the first death-eater released from prison is going to make headlines." The ire in Neville's voice must have surprised Draco causing him to become visibly uncomfortable.
"Do you want to come into the house and use the Floo? It looks like they are multiplying."
"Na, I can't.. its against regulations." Neville exhaled to calm his nerves and smiled at Draco who smiled back sympathetically. "I've dealt with them before, I'll be fine, but you may want to make sure your security wards are strong, if they find a weak spot they'll be in so fast you won't know what hit you."
Draco began to turn away again, but paused half way in his turn, his eyes coming up to meet Neville's, "I'm sorry about your wife." He said quietly before continuing back to the Manor.
He actually sounded like he meant it, Neville thought, as he swallowed thickly, "Thanks." He said to the already retreating back.
Draco nodded and turned back towards the manor ignoring the popping of flashbulbs. Neville turned once again to head towards the gate. Once he passed the gate he was hit by a wall of sound that he couldn't hear through the Manor's wards.
The press was shouting over one another trying to get a reaction from him. Most of the questions were about the release of Lucius Malfoy and Neville responded with the compulsory "No Comment." Of course not getting what they wanted, caused them to start asking personal questions that Neville had no interest in answering, as he tried to make enough space to apparate safely.
"Please make room, your interfering with Ministry business." He said tersely.
The statement only brought them closer as a quill flapped him in the face and an upstart from The Quilbler shouted in his ear, "How're you feeling about the upcoming trial of your wife's killer?" Followed quickly by, "Do you think working with a death-eater will put you in danger? What about your daughter?" Neville figured he must have shown some response to the questions when they all began to shout similar personal questions. He noticed one photographer trying to get an unobstructed picture of his band and some instinct caused him to attempt to cover it from view...it was just too personal to Neville to be the object of someone's fascination.
He was getting ready to lose his temper when a shout from the gate brought everyone's attention. Draco Malfoy was standing at a gate with a gentleman Neville recognized from court as a solicitor for the family. The solicitor seemed quite harried by the crowd and not as professionally put together as Neville normally saw him in court, but called he the press to order to "Make a statement from the family."
As the press turned in mass, Neville spied Draco eyeing him silently, before straightening up to face the hoard. Neville smiled, thankful for the reprieve and apparated away silently.
End Chapter 1