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Draco

Chapter 9: It begins

"I told you I'm going to be your best mate," Blaise exclaimed as he reached for the letter that Hermione had sent him–an approval that they should meet after their trip to the Ministry. The lawyer continued to munch on the cookies the house elf had brought up, and he stared at the other former Slytherin who was too busy looking at the parchment from Kingsley Shacklebolt with incredulity written all over his face. "I'm gonna get you out of Azkaban and I got the brightest witch of our age to agree to help me. Merlin, I don't know if you chugged in some Felix Felicis, but many would consider you the luckiest wizard alive!" He threw his hands up in the air in glee.

Draco stared at him, "No more coffee for you," he uttered before staring back at the letter.

The Italian was too busy reading the letter again to hear him. Unconsciously, he sipped on a cup of a coffee as he did so. "I don't think we need too much publicity on this–only a few. Skeeter is off the market on this one," he said, more to himself than to the other. His finger tapped the table. "And we need the public to care for you too, Draco. I know a few reporters, but I would rather Luna from the Quibbler. I mean, she's a friend of Granger. She fought for the Light side. She won't twist out words, it's perfect! Yes. Yes..." the words trailed off as he grabbed a quill to write the next letter the eccentric Ravenclaw.

"I don't need a bloody interview."

"Yes, you do," Blaise shook his head as if he was talking to a five-year-old. "You may not see it, but the public is important here. Approval is needed, that's one thing to make it solid. Besides, democracy is everything to them, people's opinion means everything. What better to get it if an interview is settled?"

"Granger hates to be interviewed. She hates publicity," Draco mentioned uncomfortably. From what he had gathered, Hermione wasn't the type for publicity. She was headstrong and stubborn, and with a fight from the last reporter just three years ago... well, it wasn't much of a surprise why most writers were now remaining anonymous. Nobody would like to get into the bad side of Hermione Granger.

The younger male rolled his eyes, "Why do you think you have me? I'll convince her."

The blond man looked at him firmly, his fingers gripping the fabric that was beside him, "No."

"Okay, okay... maybe next time."

Draco knew it wasn't that easy to get Blaise to listen to him sometimes, especially when the wizard thought he was right–which happened all the time. He was up to something, any Slytherin would know that. The way there was a mischievous glint in his eyes and the way he was already folding his hands together... something was up.

But he wasn't a Gryffindor, Draco Malfoy didn't intend to find out.

Draco found himself staring at the one and only Kingsley Shacklebolt who sat in front of them. Surprisingly, he was alone, which he really wasn't expecting at all. He was actually expecting the whole Wizengamot to be present in this trial. Noticing his surprised, the dark wizard gave a stoic look to his way, "I'm the only one in charge of this ," he said lamely. Hermione fidgeted beside him, and that wasn't actually the first time. He didn't know if he was getting the silent treatment in refusing to back down as he convinced her or she was just too nervous to speak. Blaise, on the other hand, stood still. His dark brown eyes only stared back at the Minister of Magic, his posture straight and confident. "Now, of course, you have to drink this."

He gave them both a fresh vial of veritaserum for all of them to drink, and when they all took a sip, the Minister of Magic sat back down.

Draco felt the damned thing rushing down his throat, making it a tiny bit itchy. After a few minutes, he could actually feel the effects of the bloody serum put to work. His mind was blank from any thoughts, and if one had a question to ask, he was probably going to blurt things out immediately. "What are your names?" Kingsley asked.

"Draco Hyperion Malfoy."

"Blaise Cori Zabini."

"Hermione Jean Granger."

All of their answers blurted out of their lips, and the Minister of Magic smiled appreciatively before he turned to the Italian, "Blaise Zabini, do you have confidence that Draco Malfoy could change?"

"Yes," he answered confidently, not even glancing his way.

"Why do you think so?"

"Draco only became a death eater to please his father–a death eater. He was a teen back then, and there isn't really a way out when Voldemort is breathing down his neck. As you can probably see from his records, his hands are clean from blood. He didn't kill a single person both from battle and before the battle of Hogwarts," Blaise continued, clasping his hands together. "He hadn't killed the great Professor Dumbledore. He saved Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley by not confirming that they are who they are to his parents back in the Malfoy Manor incident," the former Gryffindor winced. "Without him, the boy-who-lived could be now called as the boy-who-died."

Kingsley frowned at that, but he still continued to talk. "Alright. Are you willing to do the process? It would definitely be quite a long one, but it is a valid reason enough to get breaks from your job..."

"Of course I am."

The Minister of Magic gave a small smile before standing up and clasping a small watch to his wrist. He nodded and turned to Hermione. "Hermione Granger, do you have confidence that Draco Malfoy would change?"

She hesitated, "Yes."

"Why do you think so?"

There was a pause.

Draco leaned in a bit more to catch what she was saying, and he hoped it was good. He didn't want to get sent into Azkaban just before it even started! "Because..." she stopped, glancing at the blond who returned it with curiosity. What was she going to say? "Because there's still good in him. Everybody deserves a second chance, everybody deserves to be given the time to change gradually. He had helped Harry, Ronald, and I back in Malfoy Manor," she winced again. "and I believe, if he wasn't born in a family... like the family he had, he wouldn't be the Draco Malfoy we know now."

That.

He also wasn't expecting that.

Draco turned to Hermione who had her head faced down, her still, uncontrollable hair covering most of her face. But he didn't need to see her to know that she was beet red. "Are you willing to do the process?"

Another pause.

"...Yes."

Kingsley did the same thing on what he had done to Blaise, clasping a small watch on her arm. "These," he glanced at Blaise and Draco. "are watches. They're not really ordinary watches. They will count the time you are spending with Mr. Malfoy. They could also scan Mr. Malfoy's wand to see the spells that he had done, which would be helpful as every week you need to keep a close eye on the spells he had been casting. They would also relay to the Ministry if the both of you had been cast by an Imperius Curse. Understand?"

They nodded.

Then Kingsley faced Draco. "Are you willing to change?"

"Yes."

The answer slipped out of his lips before he could even think about it, and Kingsley grinned at him. "Well, I'll leave you to it then. You have many things to talk about. That's for sure."

And it had begun.