Chapter 3: Draco's Tale

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They continued to stare at each other for a minute as Hermione searched through the empty facade of his grey eyes, looking for authenticity, or for some sign of deception. She could usually tell a lot about a person from a conversation, but Draco Malfoy was possibly the most difficult, closed off human she'd ever come across. She couldn't feel anything from him.

She finally tore her eyes away, pulling out a notebook from her drawer, "For some reason I want to believe you," she told him honestly, "But I barely know you outside of the not-ideal relationship we had at Hogwarts. Make me believe that you're innocent, Malfoy. I need a reason to want to fight for you."

Draco tilted his head to the side, she wanted to believe him? He expected she'd be the last person on the planet that would want to think that he was innocent. He had no idea what he'd been accused of before he came in, but he was sure it had something to do with Hermione Granger wanting him to end up in Azkaban once he'd heard who the detective was.

"Why do you want to believe me?" He asked.

She surveyed him, "Because I felt remorse from you. After the battle."

They were stuck in this awkward situation of only knowing the worst about each other, but wanting to trust the other.

"I have a lot of remorse for the things I've done," Draco told her, trying to force himself to be more civil if she was going to be on his side, "I put the war behind me, Granger. I'm trying to rebuild my life."

"Okay," she nodded, "Let's start with after the battle," her voice was softer again, back to her professional tone now that they'd said what they had to get off their chests, "What have you been doing for the last two and a half years?"

"I went back to school for my last year, so I could graduate," Draco told her.

"To Hogwarts?" She asked. Was he telling lies already? She'd been at Hogwarts that year.

"No," he shook his head, "I did my final year at Durmstrang."

"Why?" She asked, more curious now.

Draco looked agitated, "You really want to know?" he paused, looking like there was an internal debate raging in his head, "Fine. I went to Durmstrang because I didn't think I could handle being back at Hogwarts. Being around so many students whose families had been affected by the war. I was on the other side at the beginning of it Granger, I…" he looked down, doing his best to not break composure, and looked back up at her, "I still feel responsible for the things that happened. For the people that died."

They were silent. Hermione wrote some notes down to seem like she was doing something other than thinking on his words.

"Is that why you attended Fred's funeral?" She kept her voice neutral, even though the question had been burning in her for years now.

He looked caught off-guard, "I didn't know anyone had seen me there," he said, "I felt I had to go. I was the last one there. I felt I needed to say some words privately to one of the victims. I chose Fred."

Knowing it was absolutely not a moment to pry, Hermione just nodded, "So you attended Durmstrang for your 7th year and I'm sure you can find documentation to vouch for that. What did you do when you graduated last year?"

"Returned to Malfoy Manor," he sighed, "I've been continuing my own studies and trying to decide what I can do with my life."

"You haven't gotten a job since leaving school?" She asked.

"No," he gave her a grim smile, "Malfoy Manor is very comfortable. I've been taking my time deciding what my next step would be and I still haven't settled on a career choice where I can utilize my strengths and stay under the radar."

"What is it you think you'd like to do?" She jotted down some more notes.

"Not to be difficult, Granger, but this isn't a therapy session and I feel some of the questions you're asking me are a bit personal and not pertinent to my defense."

Hermione set down her quill, realizing he wasn't totally wrong, "Apologies, Malfoy, at the root of it I am just trying to get an idea of where you've been and how we can corroborate your story. I won't pretend that I'm not also curious."

"I'm not looking to share my hopes and dreams with you," he said, "So if we could just stick to the facts, I'm happy to share the things you need to know to prove my innocence."

"Okay," she needed to take a step back, "How about you give me your story. You can tell me anything you think is important, and leave out anything you think it too personal."

He let out a dark laugh, "You're not in for a fairy tale by any standards," he made himself more comfortable, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back in his chair, "I graduated Durmstrang at the end of that extended year. It was easier for me there, to be around people who didn't know who I was. There were also some other relatives of Death Eaters who attended, who were trying to work through their own issues and get on with their lives. They're good people over there, come off strong, but they're good. My father had some friends whose children went to Durmstrang and he felt comfortable sending me there. If you remember Igor Karkaroff, my father knew him, obviously, and his son Adrian is the same year as us so I at least had one friend going in. Blaise finished at Hogwarts our actual 7th year and I respect his decision. He never had much stock in the war."

Hermione nodded, interested where the story would take her.

"After I graduated I went back to Malfoy Manor, thinking it may just be for the summer and then perhaps apply for some jobs, but I got comfortable and the more I thought about going back into society, trying to buffer up my name that has been dragged through the mud for two and a half years… I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

"My father and mother are home as well. My father is there on house arrest. He can't leave; he hasn't left the house since the day after the Battle of Hogwarts. I understand of course, and so does he. He's lucky to have avoided Azkaban for the things he did. He's lucky he made the right decision at the right time and walked away with my mother and I or life could have been very different for him.

"We're close, my parents and I. Everything I did in the war, I did it for them. My father was in too deep the first time. He had to go back when he felt the Dark Mark burn in our 4th year. I'm not going to sit here and pretend he was a nice person to everyone around him because you and I both know that's not true, but he was tormented inside, forced to do much of what he had to for fear of death, and forced to do it without emotion. He put his loyalty in the wrong place and he could never take that back, not until my mother and I begged him during the battle. He finally walked away for us. For his family. Whether the dark side won or lost, he walked away from that life for good," Draco shifted in his chair, realizing he was off topic.

"Sorry," he cleared his throat, "Sometimes I feel the need to explain his actions because people have only seen the dark side of him, of us, and there's more to it than that."

Hermione nodded, "It doesn't hurt to understand your position."

Draco continued, "Back to my story. We spend all of our time at the manor. I go out sometimes to pick up food, books, supplies for the house, etc. Things I'd rather decide on than the house elf. The most frequent visitor we have is Blaise. We were close at Hogwarts and he checks in on me every couple of months. Comes out for a weekend of Quidditch on the pitch in back of the manor. You can ask him anything, if you'd like someone to corroborate my story, he'll be the best bet I've got for you.

"Other than that, we've had some Aurors at the house," he flashed her a sarcastic smile, "they pop in whenever they feel to raid the manor for dark objects. They got a good lot on the first raid though, so I'm pretty sure they just pop in to keep tabs on us now. Either way, hopefully the reports will show that the last few raids haven't uncovered a thing. Dark objects were more collectors items for my father. Now that our guests are seldom, there isn't much need for things like that.

"I stay in the manor reading most of the time. I've picked a few different subjects that interest me most that I think I could pick a career path in, but the willpower to put myself back under the microscope just hasn't been there," he looked up at her and shook his head, "Unfortunately that's all I've got for you. The last year and a half has been quiet for us and we were really hoping it would continue to be so."

Hermione's quill was touching her notepad, but she looked down to see that she hadn't taken a single note while he'd been talking, too intrigued to just listen. She quickly wrote down 'Blaise Zabini; Aurors' and flipped it shut, that would be enough to come back to.

"Okay," she nodded, "I think I have a few things I can go off of to get started. Hopefully we can keep this investigation quiet for now until we have some more information."

Draco stood up, sensing the end of their conversation, and glad to be done with it, "You can reach me by owl next time, or if it's urgent, here is our floo address," he grabbed a quill off her desk and wrote it down on a spare piece of parchment, "It's not a full Floo stop so you can't get all the way through, but you'll be able to pop your head into the flames. If we don't hear you, the house elf will usually be with you within a minute, just call out 'Marty'."

"Of course," Hermione said, grabbing the piece of parchment, "Sorry again for the ordeal of bringing you in today. I want to believe you, Malfoy, but the accusations are heavy and we plan to perform a thorough investigation, I hope you understand."

"Just how the world works, sometimes," his lip curled up in a half smile and he reached for the door, turning back around before he left, "Thanks for giving me a chance and not just throwing me in Azkaban," he said. It wasn't friendly, but it was sincere.

With that, he pulled the door open and stepped outside. The Auror moved in front of him, looking behind to Hermione.

"He's free to go tonight," she said to him, "Thanks for bringing him in for me."

Malfoy side stepped around him, "Until Next time," he said bitingly to the Auror, showing himself out of the department.

"He's a cocky one," the Auror shook his head at Hermione when he was out of ear shot.

"I think he's a bit misunderstood," she said with her head high, "But he had his days of being a bit cocky alright."

The Auror chuckled, "Good luck with this one, detective, let me know if you need us to bring him in again in the future!"

"Will do," she said dryly, "Have a good night."

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