Authors Note: It's been a long time since I tried my hand at writing fan fiction, so please bear with me. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update, but as I'm currently unemployed, it might be fairly regularly. I would deeply appreciate any reviews/ reactions. Enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or this world. I'm just twisting them for my own enjoyment!
Sitting at her desk in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Hermione Granger wondered how her life had come down to this pathetic routine of paper pushing. Once hailed as the 'Smartest Witch of the Age' and the 'Brains of the Golden Trio' she had expected more excitement in her life. As an idealistic eighteen year old, still high on the defeat of Voldemort and hoping for justice for all Death Eaters, she had accepted the job with visions of grand trials and life sentences in Azkaban for the guilty.
The reality was much less exciting. The first year after the downfall of Voldemort was exactly what Hermione had dreamed of. She captured and prosecuted as many Death Eaters as she could. But eventually there were no more to catch, and with that came the desk and the paperwork. Filling out endless forms for instances of Underage Wizardry, Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, and Use of Magic in Front of Muggles, was what her life had come down to for the past five years.
At the end of each day, Hermione went home to an empty apartment, ate takeout, and went to bed early with a good book. The Wizarding world had been shocked when, less than a year after Voldemort's defeat, Ron Weasley had abandoned their budding relationship to run off with suspected Death Eater Pansy Parkinson. Hermione hadn't hear from him since. She would lie awake in bed at night wondering about the children that they could have had, and the life they would have had together.
She wasn't entirely alone however, she spent a great deal of time with Harry and Ginny Potter, and was a frequent guest at their home on the weekends. She was asked out on dates and sometimes she even went. But for the most part, her existence was a lonely one, despite the fact that she would never acknowledge it.
As she was lost in thought about what her life had become she heard a knock on her office door.
"Come in," she replied to the knock. Kingsley Shacklebolt, her boss, walked in.
"Hermione, excellent to see you, how have you been?"
"I'm doing well sir, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I have rather a large favor to ask of you. As you are aware, it's been five years since the incarceration of the most powerful Death Eaters, and some of them have just come up for parole. I need someone I can trust to go to Azkaban and do preliminary interviews for the hearings. The Wizengamot will only hear those who you believe are sincerely rehabilitated."
"How many are up for parole? And who are they?"
"There are five up for parole, and the Wizengamot only wants two or three hearings at the most. If you don't believe that any of them deserve a hearing, that is entirely within your discretion. The five are; Alecto Carrow, Gregory Goyle, Portia Parkinson, and Antonin Dolohov"
"Kingsley, I'm not in the mood for games, who is the fifth?"
"I don't mean to play games Hermione, but we're worried that you won't take the assignment based on the identity of the fifth Death Eater… It's Lucius Malfoy."
"Malfoy?! He was given a life sentence! He shouldn't even be eligible for parole for another twenty years, and even that is just a formality!"
"I realize that Hermione, I helped you to prosecute him. But as Minister for Magic, I have a great deal more responsibility than just prosecuting criminals. The Malfoy family is very old and powerful, and I need the support of Purebloods for some legislation that I want to push through."
"I should have known this was all about your power grubbing, there's no way that Malfoy has been rehabilitated enough to warrant his release from Azkaban!"
"I'm going to leave that call with you Hermione, but remember this conversation if you intend to return to your job here after you get back from the interviews at Azkaban. I want you to leave immediately, I'm afraid I can't give you any time to discuss this assignment with anyone until after you've returned."
"So you're giving me no choice. Might I have an hour to collect my thoughts and make a list of things that will automatically discount them from being considered for a hearing?"
"I'm sorry, you must go now. But if they use the word 'mud blood' in reference to you, or if they glorify their time with Voldemort in any way, you may automatically disqualify them. The obvious exception being…"
"… Malfoy. I've got it."
The trip to Azkaban wasn't as strenuous as Hermione had expected, but her mind had been full the entire way there. If she had any intention of returning to her position at the Ministry she would have to grant Lucius Malfoy a hearing with the Wizengamot. As she approached the island, she came to the conclusion that she would interview the man before she made her decision. She also chose to speak with him last, because she didn't want to cloud her impressions of the others with the anger that she was sure to feel with him.
She started with Mr. Goyle, who was disqualified from the start by calling her 'Mudblood' and saying that he wished that Voldemort had killed her when he had the chance.
Her interview with Mrs. Parkinson went better, she lasted almost fifteen minutes of questioning before she told Hermione that the world would be better without mudbloods and blood traitors, and that her master would have made sure of that. She then ridiculed Hermione for having been left by Ron, for Pansy.
Alecto Carrow was as kind as could be expected under the circumstances and didn't do anything to get immediately disqualified, but Hermione felt so uncomfortable with the gleam in Carrow's eyes that she couldn't grant a hearing to the Death Eater.
She was starting to feeling discouraged and worried that she would have to return to the Ministry with the news that it was impossible to rehabilitate a Death Eater. She knew better than to expect Mr. Malfoy of having changed, but she still had Dolohov to interview. As the dementors led her to his cell, she finally began to feel the effects of proximity to the creatures.
"Antonin Dolohov?" she called out into the cell. A ragged man walked forward, stumbling as he did so. She beckoned him to follow her to the interrogation room. "Mr. Dolohov, I assume that you know why I am here?"
"Yes," he breathed, "My parole hearing"
"That is correct. I'm here for a preliminary interview, if I decide that you deserve it, you will be granted a hearing before the Wizengamot. Can you tell me why you believe that you have been rehabilitated to the point of being released?"
"I haven't been. I haven't received any rehabilitation at all. I've just been stuck in hell for five years"
"Can you elaborate on that please?" Hermione was surprised to hear that Dolohov didn't feel as though he deserved to be released.
"Now look here, I see that look on your face, it's not that I don't think that I should be released, because I do. I don't feel that I've receive the tools I need to properly rehabilitate myself here in Azkaban. I've spent five years having the joy sucked out of me by dementors. I haven't been allowed to learn and grow from my mistakes."
"Do you believe that the time that you spent as a minion of Voldemort to be a mistake?"
"Of course. I chose the wrong side, out of fear. The Dark Lord can be very persuasive, particularly to those who have families. Just look at Malfoy."
"Lucius Malfoy?"
"Yes. His son, Draco, was forced into a plot to murder Dumbledore, when he had no hope of success as a punishment for Lucius being caught and sent here before the end of the war."
"Do you see Lucius Malfoy as a victim of Voldemort's machinations?"
"Oh hell no, I see Draco as the victim. Lucius is as dark as they come. He was interested in Dark Magic long before the Dark Lord recruited him."
"You speak familiarly of Malfoy, were you friends at school?"
"We were the same age, and we were both in Slytherin, but I don't think Malfoy has had a friend in his life. If not for the Dark Lord, I've often wondered if Malfoy would have been the Darkest Wizard of the Age."
"You have been helpful Dolohov. I will consider you for a parole hearing, which is more than I can say for the others I've interviewed here today. Is there anything else you would like me to consider?"
"I don't know why you were so curious about Lucius Malfoy, but I have to warn you, if you are interviewing him as well. Even the Dark Lord referred to Malfoy as 'his slippery friend', he can make you believe any lie. If you grant Lucius a meeting with the Wizengamot, he will surely be released. Even from Azkaban he wields a great amount of power. Be thorough when interviewing him, you're likely the only trial he will receive."
"Thank you Mr. Dolohov. I will remember your advice. The dementors will return you to your cell." She waited for Dolohov to leave before she slumped against the table. She had known that Lucius was likely to be freed by the Wizengamot, but to hear it so bluntly from a former Death Eater was unsettling.
She knew that Malfoy had a private cell, so she wouldn't be interviewing him in the interrogation room. The dementors led her to the maximum security wing where he was being kept, and with each step she felt more dread. She knew that she could simply dismiss Malfoy, but that would mean losing her job, and as miserable as it was, she needed to put food on the table. By the time she reached the cell where Malfoy was being kept, she could barely hear over the pounding of her heart. She dismissed the dementors after they had unlocked the cell, and told them not to return for an hour. She was sure she would need the extra time with Malfoy to discern fact from fiction. She walked into the cell and heard the voice from within, raspy and low,
"Hello, Miss Granger."