Chapter 2: Murder Motives
"Weasley." Whittle's voice startled Ginny, causing her to jump slightly in her chair. "Get my Quick Quill notes from my office."
"Oh, right. Sure." She stood up, slightly disappointed that she'd miss the first part of the questioning.
The office door closed behind everyone, signaling that Ginny was no longer present in the room. Whittle smiled warmly at Draco.
"So, do you remember why you're here, Mr. Malfoy?" Whittle asked, his voice dripping with cheeriness.
Draco gave a slight shrug and crossed his hands together of his chest, not attempting to sit up. "Why wouldn't I? Though I would like to know why I had to be attacked in my own home when I simply defended myself-"
"You assaulted a ministry official," Seamus interrupted firmly, "And we had reason to believe you were a hostile criminal. We were just doing our job."
"I only assaulted him after Potter punched me in my nose," Draco pointed out. "Which I still can't feel."
Whittle looked slightly agitated already. He shot a fast glance behind him at Harry. "Let's stick to the charges, gentlemen." He stressed the last word strenuously.
"I could file charges against the ministry, and I have half a mind to do so," Draco declared.
"I assure you, Mr. Malfoy, there is no reason to for anyone in this room to file the charge of assault."
The door of Whittle's office reopened, and Ginny came back out, empty handed and looking annoyed.
"Sir, your Quick Quill Notes are not in your office. You left them out here earlier when Rose Mathews came to talk to you," Ginny said, eyes filled with slight irritation.
"Oh, did I?" Whittle replied distractedly. "Well, set it up, then, Weasley."
"So, will we be repeating everything we just said for the notes?" Draco asked, eyes glinting with frustration.
"I don't see a real need," Whittle said, scratching his forehead absent mindedly.
"I do," Draco demanded indignantly. He sat up right now, fury flickering vibrantly in his eyes and provocation flashing plainly across his face. "I am bloody pressing charges against Potter!"
"Mr. Malfoy, I-"
Harry interjected, exploding, "You won't be able to do anything to me, Malfoy. You're as good as in Azkaban now. Two sloppy murders of your closest friends. You left clues that even an imperceptive muggle could see from…ten thousand miles away!"
Ginny looked up from the Quick Quill Notes, trying to frantically get it to work to have this written down. Seamus is looking like he was trying extremely hard not smile, and Wade was frowning at Harry.
"Weasley, are you getting this down?" Whittle asked anxiously, shooting a glance behind him.
Wade looked annoyed. "Potter, stop harassing-"
But Harry wasn't done yet. He continued, his face turning a deep red color, and one could doubt whether he was breathing or not. "Is that how you treat your friends, Malfoy? Kill them when they are no longer any use to you?"
Once Harry's finishing yelling, Draco just blinked for a minute. Then, he answered in his silky smooth voice, seeming unaffected by Harry's outburst,
"Yes, I do actually. What do you do when your friends cheat you on a deal? Talk about your feelings?"
Harry made a disgruntled noise and turned around furiously, running his hand through his dark, tangled hair. There is an unsettling silence in the room. Ginny cleared her throat.
"The Quick Quill Notes are ready," she said.
"Right. Well, that'll be all, Weasley."
Ginny turned around and sat back down at her desk, picking up her report, but her ears were pricked with anticipation of the questioning.
"So, where were we?" Whittle asked, laughing slightly, "Right, Mr. Malfoy, your charges."
The Quick Quill Notes is already zooming away, and curiously, Ginny looked down at what it was writing.
Mr. Avery Whittle is flustered by something, but as he tries to hide it, his brown eyes sparkle with amusement. He brings up the subject of the charges brought up against Mr. Malfoy. There's utter silence as Mr. Malfoy-
Ginny tore her gaze away, stealing a glance at Malfoy, who looked completely calm for a man who had been charged with two counts of murder.
"Yes, well," Whittle cleared his throat. "Wade?"
Wade looked slightly surprised, but he hid it. "Right. Mr. Malfoy, you have been charged with two counts of murder in the first degree, correct?"
Wade, who is baffled at why he's questioning the criminal, asks Mr. Malfoy if he is aware that he's been charged with two counts of murder in the first degree…
Draco's expression changed slightly from serene to amusement. "Yes, I am, though you think you'd remembering charging me since I was knocked unconscious."
"When we were doing our job," muttered Seamus.
"So, you're accused of murdering Malcolm Baddock and Blaise Zabini. Friends of yours, right?"
"I suppose you could say that," Draco replied.
"So," Wade continued, "did you kill them?"
Mr. Wade asks if two victims he's accused of murdering are friends of his. After a pause, Mr. Malfoy replies that he supposes he claims them as his friends. Mr. Wade proceeds to ask whether he killed them. There's discomfort around the room that could be cut with a knife…
Harry scoffed as he and Seamus listened as they leaned on a wall. Whittle clutched the edge of Ginny's desk, shooting quick glances every so often at the Quick Quill Notes and then back at Draco.
"Yes," Draco replied clearly, "Yes, I did kill them."
Ginny jerked her head up from her scribbling. Harry almost lost his balance from the wall. Whittle perked up slightly, and the goofy grin returned to his face.
Wade, a man who keeps up a stiff appearance, even lost his composure for a moment. "So, you killed them…all right. Um…" His voice trails off.
"Any more questions?" Draco seems to be enjoying the reaction from his last statement.
Wade looks back questionably at Whittle. "Um, yes…" he said, but Whittle shakes his head. "I mean, no. You're done."
"Well," Whittle said, rubbing his hands together, "good work, everyone. Seamus, if you'll bind Mr. Malfoy, I'd like to talk to you all in my office before. We owl the Minister."
"No problem," Seamus said, taking out his wand. He binds Draco to the same bench he dropped him on before. The rest of the men file silently into Whittle's office.
Before Seamus leaves, he shot Ginny a reproachful look that reads "Sorry about leaving him."
Ginny smiled slightly as the door slammed shut, and she went back to her report.
****
Inside Whittle's office, Ginny heard a loud whoop. She bit her lip, so she wouldn't laugh and forced herself to look down at her report. She was determined not to look up at Malfoy, a confessed murderer, which might lead to a start of a conversation.
"I bet you're wondering why I killed the bastards," Draco said bluntly.
Ginny, taken aback, snapped her head up. Draco looked just as composed as he did during the questioning or even more, if it was possible.
"Well…erm, it…crossed my mind, but I wasn't…wondering about it, exactly," she stumbled.
"Well, I'll tell you if you unbind me," he said, his voice coated with innocence. He smiled in a friendly manner at her. The smile vanished, though, as soon as it appeared.
Ginny was even more taken aback. She knew the Malfoy family since she was a young girl, but she had not once seen one of them smile, if you could call what he did a smile . It was then that what he said reached her ears, and she comprehended. He wanted her to unbind him? No wonder he was being more pleasant then usual.
"No," she said, "I won't."
Draco shrugged. "It was worth a shot. I'll tell you why I killed them anyway."
Ginny opened her mouth to say that she didn't want to hear about his motives, but no words came out. Instead, she sat there, looking like an unflattering idiot.
"They were cheating me in a deal."
Ginny stared at him, baffled. "So, you killed them over a few galleons?"
He shrugged, leaning back into the bench as much as he could with his hands and legs bound. "That's what I thought I'd be doing at first, but turns out the bastards were trying to bankrupt me. Creating bad alliances with my associates and basically trying to take every last galleon I own."
"So you killed them?" she repeated.
"Yes, I killed them," he said, looking at her like she was an utter fool. "You do know what murder is, don't you? I confessed to it a few minutes ago."
"I know what murder is," Ginny snapped back. "I'm not a idiot."
Draco looked doubtful. His eyebrow arched and his smirk grew larger. Ginny felt her cheeks burn. She quickly went back to work, scribbling down utter nonsense, so she would have an excuse not to be engaged in conversation with Malfoy again.
"Do you know what bloody time it is?" Draco's voice startled her, causing her elbow to knock over her ink.
Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him.
Slowly, her quill stopped on the edge of her paper. She stole a glance at her watch. 1:04. How did it get to be so late?
She looked up at Draco, who, thankfully, was looking around the room and not at her. His face was covered in disdain, and Ginny had an urge to smack it. He looked back around at her.
"Why did you take this job?" Draco asked in a neutral voice, but somehow it sounded like he was saying: "You're job is in a dumpy place where you have to work late, and it looks boring. Why the hell did you choose it?'
Ginny pursed her lips, resolved not to reply to his comment. He muttered something under his breath and shook his head slightly.
"I'm training to be a hit wizard." It came out before she could stop it.
He was silent, and Ginny wondered if he hadn't heard her. She looked over at him and into his eyes. Her stomach squirmed and felt like it did a small flip flop.
"Interesting," he answered.
Ginny couldn't decide whether or not he was being serious or sarcastic, and before she could ask, the door of the office opened suddenly. Ginny jumped again.
"Minister's replied to our owl," Wade said, not directing his comment to anyone in particular, so Ginny was unsure of whether to reply or not.
Seamus walked over to Malfoy and began to unbind him.
"You'll be shipped off to La Stanza di Attesa tonight, Malfoy, and you will remain there until your hearing," Wade informed, "The bus will be here to take you shortly. Finnigan."
As soon as Malfoy is unbound by Seamus, he was bound again and being escorted quickly out of the room through the door. Ginny watched Seamus lead Malfoy out of the room with an interest that caught Harry's eye.
"So, you heading home now, Ginny?" Harry asked, stepping in the middle of her view.
"Oh, yes, I suppose I ought to." She stood up, picking up her cloak and pocket book absent mindedly.
"I'll walk you out," Harry offered, "I have to go owl Ron and Hermione now, though. You going to that bloody dinner they invited us to?"
Ginny nodded as they began walking outside. As soon as they opened the front door, they met a fresh breeze that signaled that it was winter outside and caused Ginny to pull her cloak tighter around her body. Ginny saw that Seamus and Draco were still outside, Seamus tapping his foot impatiently.
"Fudge hasn't sent us the bloody bus yet," he swore. "I suppose it was too much for him to remember to send it over for us. He promised us it'd be here as soon as we got outside to cause less trouble."
"It'll come," Harry said, "If not, you can flag it down yourself."
Seamus mumbled something under his breath. Harry turned to Malfoy.
"I guess this is good-bye, Malfoy. The next time I see you, you'll be in prison."
Draco looked bemused. "What crime are you planning on committing? I'll be happy if I never see you again in my bloody life."
"You brought this onto yourself, Malfoy, by killing those two. Don't be mad at me for-"
"Yes, yes, I know. Doing your job. This is the most I've heard that phrase used since…well, ever."
Harry sighed, ignoring Malfoy's comment and turning to Ginny. "I am going to head to Ron's tonight. Do you want to come with me?"
She felt awkward having a personal conversation in front of a prisoner. She began to walk away. "No. I'm just going home. Colin will wonder where I am. I'll see you."
"Bye, then." Harry gave a small wave and began walking in the other direction Ginny was headed.
"I'll miss you, Potter," Draco added sarcastically to the black silhouette already halfway down the street.
"Night, Seamus," Ginny called, starting to walk off.
"See you tomorrow, right, Ginny?"
"Hm. Oh, right." She turned around for a moment, regretting it. Both men were staring at her. She shivered unconsciously under her cloak and made her way home.
A/N:
Here's the second installment. I'm not too fond of this chapter, actually; it was simply necessary. Dialogue just took over. I hope you enjoyed, anyway. Big thanks to everyone who reviewed the first time. The third chapter will hopefully be up in a week's time. Hope you enjoyed.A translation of the place Draco is getting sent. It's Italian for "The Waiting Place". I know we're in Britian in this story, but go with it.
