Conviction

Chapter 1: The Ultimatum

A/N: A few people have said they would be interested in reading this story so I thought I'd try my hand at it. Fingers Crossed these kind of plots aren't my forte but I think it's good to step out of my comfort zone. Anyway, you can find the original post on my tumblr.

Characters and Relationships will be added as the plot progresses.

When defense attorney and corporate heir, Draco Malfoy is blackmailed by former school rival and Current District Attorney, Hermione Granger, he takes over as the head of a new task force working within the prosecutors office to reopen old cases and determine whether or not their convictions should be overturned.

Now with his new team of unlikely allies: Police Detective, Harry Potter, Criminal Psychologist, Luna Lovegood, Assistant District Attorney Blaise Zabini and Forensics expert Neville Longbottom, Draco must overcome his father's shadow and set out to make a name that does not ring synonymous with his families legacy.

They Are the Conviction Integrity Unit.

xXx

"Sir, you have a visitor."

Draco looked up from the files spread out around him on his antique mahogany desk. Only the best for a Malfoy. "Very well Mr. Dobby, please, send them in, thank you." he replied to the wrinkled old man in the doorway of his home office. The small room was tucked into the back of Malfoy manor. The old family servant stepped out of sight and Draco returned to his work, even as the sound of stiletto heels clicked into the room.

"Well, not really what I pictured for the great Draco Malfoy." a smooth feminine voice spoke. He knew that voice all too well and forced himself not cringe as he looked up into the whisky brown eyes of his life long rival. "It's a bit small." Hermione Granger continued as she stepped closer to the edge of the desk. "I'm surprised your ego fits in here."

Draco scoffed. "Is there something I can help you with Granger, or did you just come into my home to insult me. I would have thought the youngest Director in the history of the Crown Prosecution Service would have more important things to attend to."

"I assure you, Malfoy, I will always have time to insult you." she replied with a coy smirk.

"I'm flattered." he replied sarcastically. "But seriously, what do you want? I have no clients going up for prosecution so I see no apparent reason for you to grace me with your presence."

Hermione smiled in that way that made most people sweat. Hermione Granger was and always would be a force to be reckoned with. She was a raging storm in a petite package and Draco had learned one too many times not to mess with her when she smiled like that. "I have a job offer for you." she finally replied after taking a seat in the over stuffed leather wing back across from him.

Draco balked. "You're kidding right? I don't care how much you pay me, I'm not fetching your coffee."

Hermione chuckled. "I forgot how dramatic you could. No, this is a job I think you are uniquely qualified for." she continued. The sparkle in her eyes sent flashes of a particularly rushed and drunken romp in the broom closet of their boarding school's dormitory and he forced it away to focus on the cunning woman before him. Anything less than his full attention could very well mean the death of him.

"Alright, I'll bite. What job might that be?" he asked, leaning back in his chair, only to belatedly realize the move would look like a retreat to the predator before him.

"I'm creating a new task force within the CPS and I want you to run it." she explained.

"What kind of task force?" he asked trying to keep his tone bored.

"I'm calling it the Conviction Integrity Unit." she told him. "I have put together a specialized team of investigators to reopen old cases and determine if their convictions should be overturned."

"I see." Draco smirked, leaning forward again. "No doubt this is your solution to the out cry that's been pouring in ever since Sirius Black was found to have been wrongly convicted of Peter Pettigrew's murder. How long was he in prison? Five years." Well that certainly rankled the harpies feathers. He felt mildly guilty, but not much more.

"It was one deciding factor, yes." she replied.

"So you're solution to a possible problem with troublesome convictions is to tear apart every case you can and reinvestigate?" he asked incredulous. "I imagine you're stepping on a lot of toes. Are you sure you want to go down that road? How is my cousin by the way?"

"It is not a perfect solution but it's what the people want." she replied. He put aside the fact that she'd dodged the last question and chuckled.

"What the people of want? Of course, spoken like someone planning to run for office one day." he said. Hermione smiled sweetly.

"Someday very soon I hope." she replied unashamed.

"Ah yes, Prime Minister Granger. It has a particularly interesting ring to it. Of course you'd start small, work you way through the ranks, election by election."

"Are you auditioning to be my campaign advisor, Malfoy? Despite our difference I must admit it's not a terrible idea." she told him. Draco scoffed.

"I have no interest in your political goals or your little task force." he gestured to the door. "Dobby will see you out."

Hermione sighed shaking her head, but the small smile on her face told him that what ever disappointment she showed him wasn't real. She was scheming something and Draco knew from experience that this would be the time to run.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, Draco." she used his first name. She never used his first name. The klaxons were screaming in his mind. He watched as she picked up her leather hand bag and unzipped it. A small brown envelope was pulled from the open zipper and slid across the desk at him. Cautiously he took it, opening it and carefully dumping the contents out in his hand.

"You bitch." he growled as he flipped through the photographs. "You're blackmailing me?" he looked up outraged. The photos told the story of a particular Saturday night not too many months prior. His arm around his childhood friend, his married childhood friend, as he led her into his flat. A few shots showed the couple standing at the window, in the mists of an ill fated passion.

"You mother's campaign manager has connections with the local media. They warned him about the photographs which had been sold to them by a confidential informant and he paid to keep them out of the papers."

"And what, he gave them to you to use against me? Surely my mother is not that desperate for votes that she needs to blackmail her own son into behaving."

Hermione shrugged. "The point Malfoy, it simply this. It would be a shame for those photographs to come out at this pivotal moment in your mother's campaign. Narcissa is a kind, intelligent woman and I would hate for chances at office, for her chance to make a real difference were dashed because her own son couldn't keep it in his pants."

"And you would do that? Forget about my mother's campaign she's clearly the best option, period, and no illicit photographs will change that. But you would ruin Pansy's marriage? I know you two didn't get along in school but really Granger?"

"Oh come off it." Hermione rolled her eyes. "You and I both know you don't give a damn about Pansy. She was in love with you and you took advantage of that fact regularly. I didn't need to be there that night to know exactly what happened. You ran into each other at the club and because she's incapable of letting anything go she came on to you and you, knowing full well she was married and it was wrong, let her seduce you. Is that about right?" he didn't answer. "Of course it is. So here's what's going to happen. You're going to run my task force and I'm not going to leak those photos."

Hermione pulled out a business card with a hand written address on one side. "Be at that address in two days by eight a.m., I'll introduce you to your team and you will pick your first case."

She didn't wait for a reply as she turned on her heels and headed for the door. She stopped just in the doorway turning to look at him once again. "And Draco, do try to be on time."

xXx

"You're letting her black mail me!"

"Do not raise your voice at me young man." Narcissa scolded with all the grace and elegance she contained her her svelte, regal body. She sat poised in her parlor, a cup of tea at her knee.

"I am not a child mother and how could you let her do this?"

"You're right, darling, you're not a child. So do us all a favor and stop behaving like one." she snapped. "You're a grown man with real responsibilities who is responsible for the great and noble name of Malfoy. The least you could do is stop behaving like one of those American fraternity boys. I expect better of you."

Draco sighed, reclaiming his seat on the sofa across from the older woman and dropping his head into his hands. 'You know how I feel about her mother why would you let her do this to me?"

"Because quite frankly Draco, you deserve it." she replied matter of fact. She ignored the wide eyed look from her son as she sipped her tea and replaced the cup and saucer on the side table. "I will make this very simple. You will take the job she is offering, not for yourself, but for me, and more importantly for Pansy. You've put that girl through more heartbreak than any young woman ever should have the displeasure to go through and the least you can do to make it up to her is take the job you've been offered. A job, by the way, that most people would kill for."

"I'm not most people." he replied feebly. Narcissa smirked.

"I'm well aware, my little dragon."