Summary: Draco is joining the Auror office but since he's a convicted Death Eater, he has to be questioned using Veritaserum by Hermione Granger. The questions start off as just protocol before Draco reveals secrets that no one in their right mind would've figured.
Hermione
I couldn't believe that they chose me to be the interviewer. I've never been all that good at asking people questions in general. Also, using Veritaserum, who knows what I would learn, especially from the 'great' Draco Malfoy.
"Hurry, Hermione," I heard the head Auror say.
"Coming," I called back. I had to gather up all the sheets of questions I would have to ask. Curious as to what they were, I started reading a little as I was walking.
Did you choose to become a Death Eater? Sounds like a reasonable question. I skipped over a few. What was the Dark Lord's favorite thing to do? Okay, really? Why was this question even put on here?
"We're here," said Shacklebolt in front of a door. "Before you go in, I have to brief you on everything that'll be going on. He might try to resist the potion and if you sense that he is, call another Auror for backup using a Patronus. Also, if he tries to attack you, feel free to use any spell you feel you need to. You also must stick to the questions on the parchment in your hands. After the interview, since no one else is with you, I will use Legilimency. I will not go into any memories but this interview. You may use Occlumency to block me from personal memories but if I sense you are blocking out a part of the interview, I will not hesitate to suspect you as an accomplice in something that might not even be real. Is this clear?"
I started panicking. I wasn't planning on doing that anyway. "Yes, sir."
"Alright. You may go inside now. Good luck," he said as he opened the door and practically pushing me inside. I was still facing the door when I heard a drawling voice from behind me.
"Well hello, Granger. Glad you could come."
I turned sharply towards the voice. "Malfoy." I glared at him. I had to admit, he looked nice. I mean, every girl at Hogwarts knew that he was a very attractive man, though many, myself included, would never admit to it aloud.
He rolled his eyes. "Is that the only word in your vocabulary? I mean, even for a muggle-born child, I thought you knew better," he clicked his tongue very patronizingly. I took careful notice to the way he didn't call me a mudblood. "Anyway, why don't we just get started with this and then we can all go home, shall we?"
How could he be so calm all the time? Oh, how I wanted to punch him again. "Sounds good, Malfoy."
He rolled his eyes once again and said with a smirk, "Yes, I know my last name. Can't we just get on with this?"
I gave him my best death glare. I knew that I couldn't say anything off of protocol, so I bit my tongue. I took out the vial Shacklebolt had given me and handed it to him.
"Please drink this, sir," I hated having to call him that. "It's Veritaserum. You have to drink it. We have to make sure you are being truthful."
He sighed. "I can't believe the things I have to do to make you all trust me," I heard him mutter. Obviously this was something that was bugging him. I walked away and sat on the other side of the table as he drank.
"All ready?" I asked.
"Yes, I think so."
"Alright," I looked down at the parchment on the table and read the first question. "Were you, in fact, a Death Eater?"
He looked at me incredulously. "Really? That's actually a question on that thing?"
I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Yes, now please, just answer the question."
He responded by lifting the sleeve on his left arm revealing his Dark Mark tattoo. Just seeing it gave me shivers up and down my spine. He sensed my reaction and quickly covered it. "Yes, unfortunately I was."
I nodded and proceeded to the next question. "Did you want to be a Death Eater?"
He hesitated for a moment. "I did at the time."
"Did you have a choice?"
Again, he hesitated. I got the feeling he was uncomfortable answering these questions. "Not really. Though, like I said, at the time, I had wanted to."
I really wanted to ask him why he had wanted to but I had to stick the bloody sheet.
"Have you killed anyone, wizard or muggle?"
He looked at his hands on the table. "Unfortunately, I was ordered to. It was not a thing I had wanted to do. Ever. After the first muggle, I wasn't told to do so, with the exception of Dumbledore. Not a fun experience."
He seemed sincere and I wanted to reach out and touch his arm or something. But, once again, the bloody protocol kept me from it. "Have you ever used an Unforgivable Curse on any one, wizard or muggle?"
Again, he studied his hands, "Once again, I was ordered to. The only reason for it was to keep my mother alive."
"Wait, why not yourself?" I asked before I could stop myself. I immediately clamped a hand over my mouth. "Disregard that. Please disregard that. I shouldn't be talking out of turn."
He smirked at me. It wasn't as menacing as I had remembered it to be. He was probably still uncomfortable about the last question. "I had actually wanted to die myself. I seriously thought about killing myself on a regular basis. But if I failed, or if I had gotten killed, my entire family would be punished."
My curiosity had me carried away. I mean, these questions weren't personal. I mean, they weren't related to me, anyway. It also helped us know more, so it couldn't be all that bad, right? "What about you're father?"
He sneered. "I don't give a rat's arse about my father. He was horrible, ruthless, and a complete..." he stopped, seemingly not able to find a good word for him. "A complete and utter... Hypocrite?"
I looked at him and silently pleaded that he would look up and meet my eyes. He didn't. "He couldn't've been that bad..." My voice trailed off when I realized who I was talking about. Lucius Malfoy, Death Eater, current resident of Azkaban, and a man that was intent on killing not only me, but millions of other innocent Muggle-borns. He really was that bad.
Draco smirked at me and I heard a dark chuckle. "Really, Granger? He literally tried to kill you almost every chance he got. If Pothead and the Weasel weren't with you most of the time, you probably would've been killed by him. And I'm right glad they were."
I saw how he slightly cursed himself for saying the last part and I wanted to ask more. Unfortunately, I had a job to do. I sighed. "Moving right along, then?"
He nodded and I continued asking the questions until all of them were answered. When we were done, we had about fifteen minutes left in our time. We sat in silence for a while before he spoke up. "So, how are they? Last I remember you and Weaselbee had a thing going."
I didn't miss the trace of bitterness in his voice. It didn't make any sense. "Yeah, we did," I paused regaining my control. I hated crying over him. He wasn't worth it. "That was before I found out that he and Lavender also had a thing. I broke it off a couple weeks ago."
He looked down. "I'm sorry."
I shook my head and managed a smile. "It's alright, really. I was starting to get annoyed with him anyway," I lied easily.
"Come on, Granger. Just because I'm the one with the Veriterserum in my system doesn't mean that you can lie. Besides, I don't know what he saw in Lavender that he didn't in you. I mean, you really are beautiful."
My eyes widened in shock. "But—but I thought you hated me."
He shook his head trying to stop the truth telling potion from working. It didn't help though. "I've never hated you. I've only hated the 'what ifs.' I mean, what if you weren't a muggle-born? What if you were sorted into Slytherin? What if you were on my side? What if you were my best friend and not Potter and Weasley? What if..." he paused. "What if you loved me the way I love you?"
I was in shock. My mouth hung agape but no sound came out. My eyes were wide but saw nothing. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Draco Malfoy, the boy who had tormented my school days, the boy who had almost killed Dumbledore, the boy who had taken the Dark Mark to save his mother was telling me that he has loved me, and by the look in his eyes, for quite some time.
I gaped at him. I tried my hardest to make a sound, to ask him why, how, when. I had so much that I wanted to know that I couldn't get the words to form.
He chuckled, seeing my dilema. I then realized that he had given up fighting the potion. "See, in our third year, everything changed. When you... Well, you know... I realized that everything my stupid father had told me about how 'muggle-borns don't have it in them to fight back' wasn't true. He had told me that you were a waste of space and that you couldn't do anything to save yourself. I realized that when you punched me—hard, I might add—that you could actually fight. I saw that you weren't as stupid as my father had told me.
"After questioning this, I started to question everything else he had told me. And I mean everything. His beliefs, his affiliation with the Dark Lord, they way he treated my mother. After our fifth year, when I was forced to take the Dark Mark, I knew that I didn't want to be like this anymore. I didn't want to be my father's puppet. That's when I started to change." He looked up at me and forced me to stare straight back into his eyes. "That's when I started to love you."
I gasped. I truthfully, hadn't expected anything like that to come out of his mouth. I opened my mouth to say something but I had absolutely no idea what to say. I was saved, though, when Shacklebolt walked in.
"I trust this interview went by smoothly?" he smiled and motioned for me to follow him outside. I knew what was waiting for me. He was going to penetrate my mind and find out how I had come across something so personal, so private that even I felt as if I shouldn't know it.
When Shacklebolt came out, I decided it was best to explain myself before he delved into my mind. "Sir, I have something important to tell you—"
He held his hands up. "I know, Ms. Granger. We saw the whole thing."
I gaped at him. He was still smiling. Hadn't I done something wrong? "B-but I don't understand. Shouldn't you be angry with me?"
He sighed and made his was to the nearest bench. I sat beside him. "Ms. Granger, I told you about the protocol so that you wouldn't start asking him questions maliciously. And you didn't ask him any questions about his personal life. In fact, you didn't actually ask him any personal questions. Everything he told you was of his own accord. We discovered, as we had originally thought, that his loyalties lie with you, Ms. Granger."
Looking back on it, I didn't ask him anything.
Nothing made any sense anymore. Malfoy was in love with me and everyone at the Ministry thought so too. How had I, self-proclaimed bookworm and the brains of the Golden Trio, missed the fact that Malfoy was in love with me?
Shacklebolt gave a light chuckle at my confused expression. "You should be proud. Your first Auror assignment went by without a hitch. If you would like, you could go back and talk with Mr. Malfoy. Perhaps make an appointment later to mull things over." He smiled as he got up. "Until next time, Ms. Granger." And with that, he left. This man strangely reminded me of Dumbledore.
I shook my head out of my reverie and went back into the interview room to talk with Malfoy. This was going to take a lot of explaining on his part.
Should I continue this or not? I kind of have an idea of plot but I don't really know if I should go on... My brain has trouble focusing on ideas for too long...
Anyways, on a related note, I would much appreciate it if you would go to my profile and vote in the poll! That would be great!
