The man was simply infuriating. Hermione wanted to hex that condescending little smile off Lyle's face, or at the very least go by the old muggle standby and punch him in the jaw. Either way, they would get as far as they had come in the past three hours. That is, nowhere. After Dean had brought Lyle to the Ministry and woken him up, he refused to say a word. Every question or accusation Harry would throw at him would fail to take effect, and his victorious little smirk would grow slightly bigger.
"I can sit here all night, you know. Your silence will do nothing to deter us from finding the truth." Harry finally spoke.
His confident statement did nothing to break Lyle's façade. He just smiled.
Hermione gave a muffled scream into her hands inside the observation room. These late hours and fruitless interrogation efforts were starting to get to her. She could tell Harry was screaming on the inside, too. His face was drawn and annoyed, showing that he would like nothing better than throwing his chair at Lyle and going home.
Hermione leaned forward towards the microphone so she could speak into Harry's earpiece. "Harry, let me have a go at him. You've been sitting there for hours."
Inside the room, Harry gave a small nod of assent. With one final look of annoyance at the man sitting across from him, he rose from his seat and exited the interrogation chamber.
He opened the door to the observation room a few minutes later, holding an enormous cup of tea and wearing an even bigger frown.
"'Mione, are you sure you want another go? We can just leave him here, you know. We have the right to hold him for another 24 hours." Harry's tone conveyed how desperately he wanted to go home. Unfortunately for him, she had never been one to give up easily.
"Harry, let's just use some veritaserum. He's not going to talk any other way."
Harry sighed. "You know as much as I do that it's the only way, but I don't have the authorization from the Wizengamot. We're holding him under suspicion, and that's not a good enough reason to administer the serum."
Hermione wanted to throw something. She abided by magical law and had come to appreciate it (when corrupt sons of government official weren't meddling, of course), but this particular one was a thorn in her side.
"Of course, Harry, I just wasn't thinking." To that Harry gave a little chuckle.
"You, not thinking? The world must be ending."
Hermione was glad to see him laugh. If Harry was still in a slightly good mood, it meant that hopes of getting at least some sleep tonight weren't lost. But now, she had the task of trying to get Lyle to talk. Wonderful.
Hermione left the observation room after stealing a few sips of Harry's tea (which he was not willing to give up easily, mind you), and steeled herself for what would undoubtedly be hours of staring. At that. Sodding. Smile.
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When trying to describe his feelings, or lack thereof, Draco struggled to come up with a word, any word, that could classify his condition. But it wasn't really a condition, was it? It couldn't be. He was fine physically, he didn't hallucinate, and the only voices her heard were the cries of the countless lives he had been forced to take. No, took willingly. He had been cleared of all charges because they had used the word over and over and over until Draco couldn't tell them any different. He wasn't forced to do anything. He did all the things he did because he was a coward. He should have taken his mother with him and ran when he had the chance, back when rumors of the Dark Lord's resurrection were just that, rumors.
But what did he do? He stayed. He stayed out of fear of his father, and fear of the Dark Lord. Both men had promised a new world, one where filthy blood would run from unworthy veins and the magical world would finally be pure. What did those philosophies leave them with, you might ask? One with a lifelong cell in Azkaban, and the other with a demise handed to him by an adolescent boy.
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A/N: Short, but I couldn't find enough time to crank out a long one. Its been a while, so I just wanted to get a feel for it again. let me know of any inconsistencies. Review if you can!
Kisses,
chaos
