They say victors write history.
Truer words have never been spoken.
A year ago, there was a war. I picked a side and my side lost. Does that make it the 'wrong' side? Society seems to think so.
Ask anyone today what they think of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. You'll get exactly one response and it is not flattering.
Here's the thing that neither history books nor the victors who wrote them are likely to explain; there is no such thing as evil. It is all a matter of perception; completely subjective. Oh, the other side, the winning side that rallied behind Harry Potter believed with all of its being that we were bad, bad people, we Death Eaters. They dehumanised us, demonised us enough to make that easy. The fellows behind those masks? Those aren't people. Kill them or run away very fast.
The truth is, we did start a war. People died; but the other side killed our people as readily as we killed theirs. And no regime has ever been overthrown without collateral damage. That was all it would have been, if we had won – a regime change.
It was difficult, however, to explain all of this to the woman that stood before me now, arms crossed over her chest, foot tapping impatiently on the stone floor. I'd liked to have told her exactly what I thought of her and of what she stands for; but I learned something, towards the end of the war. At the end of the day, I'm out for me – it's nothing I'm ashamed of. I'd say it's true of most people. Right now, I needed her if I was going to stay alive.
"Why am I here?" she asked me.
Assuming she was not making a broad, philosophical statement, I considered answering the question more seriously. Why was she here? Because for the past year, I had been incarcerated. In the next week, they would give me to the dementors.
"I get one visitor."
She narrowed her eyes, "And you pick me? Malfoy, what game are you playing?"
I shook my head, spreading my hands innocently, "No game," and it was true. For me, this was very much life or death.
She sighed, "Alright. What do you want?"
"I know where they've taken Harry Potter – and what they're going to do with him."
Her eyes flew wide, before she managed to compose herself, "Harry isn't missing."
I shrugged, "If you say so. I know what they've done with Weasley, too."
She curled her lip, "I don't have time for this. Goodbye, Malfoy."
I called out as she walked away, "See you soon, Granger!"