Insanity
Dennis Cutting took the chair opposite the blonde youth. The man was of about average height, with dark hair light skin. A few early wrinkles were appearing because of their wearer's job of taking on other people's problems. Draco Malfoy was sitting cross-legged in his chair and ignored the arrival of the interviewer. He sighed; this was going to be a long conversation, again. "Do you know why we're here?" he asked.
The boy looked up slowly and smiled, "I assumed that you wanted to speak to me again... sir" he answered, with a sarcastic edge behind it.
Dennis smiled back, somewhat less sarcastically. "Yes Draco, we're going to talk. I was rather hoping that this time you would give me answers." After having these little interviews everyday for the past week Dennis' patience was stretched to its limits, as, so far he had received nothing but sarcasm and indifference from his charge.
He waited for a moment for Draco to say something, when he didn't he preceded to push for a, most likely, one sided conversation. "This time we're going to go from a different angle, how do you feel about that?" He could see it was a waste of time, the teenager was still smiling in that superior way, that Dennis found so infuriating, what made it worse was that the boy new it.
"Well sir, I wasn't aware we were in maths lesson" He replied, looking at his nails and giving the very good impression that they were far more interesting and important than their discussion. The fact that the come-backs were getting worse could only be a good thing though, it shows that they're wearing him down. Hopefully. Dennis decided that it was best to ignore the comment anyway, as it wasn't much of an answer.
"This time we're going to look at it on the grounds that she was a girl. Now, from what I've heard you quite liked playing around with some of the girls in your house, but you never had a proper relationship with any of them. Why would that be? Were they not good enough for you? Was Miss Granger not good enough for you?"
He seemed to have hit a nerve with the last question, for, as soon as he had said it Draco had frozen, his eyes staring unseeingly at the same point on his motionless hand. This seemed to be his lucky day. As this angle did seem to be working he decided to push on with it. "Have you ever had a proper relationship Draco? One that lasted. One where you cared for each other. Have you ever had one of those?" Hopefully one of those questions might get another reaction, maybe then he would get some answers.
"Yes. Yes I did once, for a while. I did care for her" he answered, almost as if to himself, he looked so thoughtful. The man was shocked. He had gotten a straight answer. This was almost a breakthrough!
Trying not to show his inner triumphant feelings Dennis kept on goading him. It seemed to be the only method that worked "Oh, really? Once you said. So what happened? How did that end?" This time he allowed himself to add the sarcasm, to push the boy's limits.
His method was rewarded.
"My father found out that I was going out with a muggle-born and killed her" His tone of voice was emotionless, and still he stared at the same point on his fingernail.
Dennis was struck dumb, never had he expected that... that revelation. He nearly let curiosity take over, but he knew he had his duty to complete, and the young Malfoy could shut him out forever if he asked the wrong question. "How... how did you feel when you found out that your father had killed her?" He waited with baited breath to see whether the teenager would answer still.
The reaction he got was unexpected. The youth laughed, mirthlessly, but it was still the most emotion he had seen from him. Not to mention that he laughed in the most unexpected place, when they had been discussing his girlfriend's death by his father's hand.
"What do you mean 'when I found out my father had killed her'? What do you think he did? Snuck into her house at night and killed her soundlessly in her sleep?" He laughed again, throwing his back and laughing at the ceiling. A humourless cackle of someone who hasn't heard anything honestly funny in ages. It was a laugh of someone who had been holding onto only the mask of sanity for so long, and who has finally thrown that mask away to show how far gone they truly are.
Dennis knew then that there was no need to fear that he wouldn't get the truth from the blonde, his defences had been broken down and he wasn't going to hide anymore. "What happened then? How did she die?"
Draco looked back down at his nails before answering "He followed me when I went to meet her, he came and he... he... he taught me my lesson" He finished with a sour smile as he brought his legs together and rested his chin on them, still apparently contemplating his nails. "I hate him so much" He added, as a whisper; more to himself than to the other.
Dennis looked down at the curled up boy with understanding, he finally knew the truth, or at least the beginnings of it. "Has he taught you many lessons like that?"
The blonde nodded as best he could with his head on his knees before speaking, "Yes, I've learnt a lot of lessons that way; but they were hard to accept, most of them. How am I supposed to believe that I'm superior to the muggle-borns when they have such better lives than mine? How am I supposed to believe that they're scum because of their parentage, and I'm better than them because of my parentage when their parents are the cause of their happiness and mine are the cause of my misery and hatred? How am I supposed to believe any of that? How am I supposed to trust and love and believe my parents when they hurt me so badly? How am I supposed to live like them, when none of it matters to me?" He had started off talking, but his voice had risen to a shout as he ranted on. The last two questions however were said more as plea than anything else; the boy had virtually whispered them as he looked on the verge of tears, searching for the sign that his feelings were justified, searching for approval from the only person who appeared to care for him in any way.
That man knew that he had to ask the crucial questions now, before the teenager was lost to even himself "If you hated your parents so much, why did you take it out on others, on an innocent person who had nothing to do with your pain or childhood?"
Draco looked at him with a tortured expression, "How exactly was I to revenge myself on my parents? They're my parents, I couldn't kill them!" He took a harsh breath and Dennis knew he was about to start ranting again and so readied himself for the shouting that did come... along with the tears of rage, pain and shame.
"If I couldn't revenge myself on them I couldn't blame them, I needed to hurt someone, I needed to have someone I could punish and... and hurt for all that happened to me! So I figured that it's all their fault, the muggle-borns. It's because of them that father taught me those lessons, because of them that my heart was ripped apart when she died because she was a damned muggle-born! Because of them that I had to pretend and to act the bully at school because I was expected to behave that way towards the muggle-borns! If it weren't for them there wouldn't be blood status or superiority. So it's all. Their. fault!" He ended standing on his feet, banging the table angrily on the last three words.
"That's why" he whispered pathetically before backing into a corner of the room and sliding down to the floor where he brought his knees up to his chest, put his head into is hands and carried on sobbing uncontrollably. Dennis thought numbly that it must have been 16 years worth of tears.
Still stunned the man left the boy to his crying and walked out of the interrogation room.
One of them men waiting round the corner on the seats stood up and walked across to him "Well? Did you find out why he killed Hermione Granger?" He asked urgently and desperately, as this was about the fifth time he had asked that question."
"Yes, Kingsley, I did" He answered slowly "Draco Malfoy is completely and utterly insane" He finished before walking dazedly away, leaving the taller man staring after him.