Conviction
Chapter 10: Altered Perspective
xXx
Draco didn't want to be there, among the strobing lights and pulsing music. He wanted to go home, kick off his shoes and drown his feelings in a bottle of bourbon. But he'd just won a case that very afternoon and his client insisted they celebrate. Draco had hoped that dinner would be enough but by the end of the meal the client was riding high on rich food and the constant reminder that he would not be spending time in prison for vehicular manslaughter. So he insisted they go to a club.
Draco rolled his eyes, watching his client across the VIP section, downing shot after shot with sorority girls. One would think, having been involved in a car accident that cost the life of another human being and then being put on trial for manslaughter-although Draco was of the mind it should have been murder, because despite Draco's excellent spin on events presented to the jury, his client had in fact been intoxicated- would somehow convince said man that he should take it easy on the alcohol. The tenth shot said otherwise, and not for the first time Draco was regretting taking this case.
The accused was the son of a friend of his father's. Lucius asked him to take the case, stating that one mistake shouldn't ruin the rest of his life. Draco couldn't help but notice Lucius wasn't concerned with the fact that someone else had lost their life that night that maybe spending a little time in prison would do the drunken socialite some good, that he was probably too rich to have his life ruined by a few years in prison, anyway.
Draco had been sipping from the same drink for nearly an hour when his client returned to tell him he'd run into some old college friends and was heading out to celebrate with them. Draco knew it wasn't the best idea but he hoped the large group would keep him out of trouble and so he waved him off and got ready to head home himself.
He was on his way out when he noticed the familiar face in another section of the VIP area. Pansy Parkinson was sitting by herself, hands in her lap and trying to remain unnoticed. She had no drink and her eyes were shifting around the room like she was looking for someone. Draco wasn't sure when he'd made up his mind to go talk to her, but the urge to do so was overwhelming. Maybe it was the look on her face, like she didn't want to be there either or the fact that the girl he'd grown up with, always up for a good time of any variety, was clearly uncomfortable in a setting that used to empower her.
"Pansy?" he called out loud enough for her to hear him over the music. She jumped, startled and turned to look up at him, a smile parting her lips that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Draco, hi, how are you?" she greeted in return; she didn't stand to hug him as she normally would have, but he brushed it off.
"What are you doing up here all alone?" he asked. "Is Greg here?" he didn't miss the way she tensed at her husband's name.
"No, he's away on business with his father." she replied. "I'm here with Daphne and Astoria."
Draco nodded his eyes immediately going to scan the dance floor where he found the Greengrass sisters dancing. He turned back to Pansy. He couldn't help but notice how small she looked. She'd always been thin, but looking at her now she seemed almost ill. Concern welled up in him.
"Why aren't you out there with them?" he asked receiving a shrug in reply.
"I wasn't really feeling well today but the girls wanted me to come out with them, we haven't seen each other in a while and they insisted." she explained. Draco nodded his understanding and Pansy looked away, staring down at her hands and tugging at the hem of her dress. Despite it being the dead of summer she was wearing long sleeves and a high collar. She also looked a little too pale to be healthy.
A nagging voice in the back of his mind told him he knew exactly why. "Pansy?" he said gently, despite how long he needed to be to be heard. She looked up at him. "Do you want to go home?" she thought about it before nodding. "I'll take you home." he told her, helping her up and offering her his arm. He snuck her out the back after she told the girls she was leaving and helped her into his car.
They were silent as Draco drove and sometime later they pulled up to the gate at the end of her driveway. He turned to her waiting for her to turn over the key for the security box but she didn't move. Her breathing was uneven now as she stared up the long driveway at the sprawling mansion. Draco had been there a time or two after Pansy and Greg had been married. It was exactly like the house Pansy had dreamed of living in with her husband as a little girl. But now, the house that had once been her dream elicited fear in her.
Draco watched her for a few more minutes, before throwing the car in reverse and driving away from the house. "Where are you going?" Pansy asked confused, snapping out her daze.
"Somewhere that isn't clearly scaring you." he replied. Pansy huffed a laugh.
"Why would I be scared of my own home?" she questioned trying to laugh but it just wasn't working. Draco shot her a look that told her as much. She said nothing else, simply facing forward watching the road. That alone, devoid of everything else would have been enough to convince Draco that something was off. The Pansy he had grown up with would be kicking and screaming by now, especially if he was doing something she didn't like, in fact, whether or not he was doing something she didn't like, she would still be complaining.
He pulled up outside his flat and sat there, turning to look at her. "Is this your…"
"Yes." he replied. "You're safe here." he told her softly.
"Am I that obvious?" she asked.
"Well, it's either that or you're so unhappy you actually dread going home. Something tells me you'd be happy to go home to an empty house if you were bored with your marriage."
"I wish I was only bored." she whispered staring down at her hands. Draco reached over slowly, taking her hands and squeezing reassuringly.
"Come on," he urged gently. "Let's go up, you can stay as long as you want to." she nodded and Draco got out the car, walking around and opening the door for her and helping her out. He wrapped his arm around her leading her into the building.
"He wasn't like this before. He was… really sweet actually. I mean he was almost bumbling you know?" Pansy said sometime later. She took a shaky breath staring down at the tea in the small white mug Draco had handed her.
"I don't really know when it started. At first it was little things. He would get mad and yell and I would yell back and we'd storm off separately and cool off. But then… one day… one day he swung at me. He knocked me off my feet. I could see it in his eyes he was just as shocked as I was but I wasn't going to let him get away with it so, I got up and I went to my parents' house. My father was angry, but my mother was surprisingly calm. When he came to talk to me the next day he apologized, said it would never happen again, it was a onetime thing, he didn't even know where it had come from. My father was against it but ultimately I went back. I know it was stupid, but I wasn't ready to throw away my marriage, you know?"
Draco nodded. "There's nothing wrong with wanting something for yourself, no matter what that is."
Pansy took a deep breath. "I didn't even notice he was isolating me." she told him. "It started with him saying he didn't like this person or he thought that person was using me. I wanted to make him happy, and it's not like he sounded like he was trying to control me, he actually sounded worried about you. So I listened to him. It wasn't until he started trying to convince me that I should stay home instead of going to functions and parties that I started to push back. And then he wasn't concerned anymore; instead he was angry. He got so angry he scared me. He started throwing fists and I tried to leave again but he stopped me. He said he would kill me if I left him. He told me there was no where I could hide from him."
She was shaking now and Draco moved to her side, sitting next to her and wrapping his arm around her. He took the tea from her trembling hands and set it aside.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore." she suddenly said, voice teary, shaking her head.
"It's alright, you don't have to talk about it anymore." he consoled her.
At some point that night she begged him to make her forget, to take away all the bad memories, the pain both physical and mental. To make her feel something other than fear. He couldn't turn her away.
He tried to convince her to leave him. He promised he would do everything in his power to protect her, keep her away from him. She shushed him and fell asleep in his arms.
In the morning, she was gone.
xXx
St. Mungo's was a teaching hospital just outside the city. His mother had donated millions to the hospital over the years in the hopes of furthering research into medicines, and diseases. As a young man he had been forced to dawn suit and tie and mingle with Hospital executives to promote the hospital and all it had and would accomplish.
Now Draco was running through hallways, dodging nurses with carts and patients who couldn't sleep. His mother's influences had secured Pansy a private room at the far end of the trauma floor. He could see his father standing outside the room, dressed impeccably for three a.m. Lucius looked up at him as he approached but Draco ignored him as Narcissa exited the room.
"What happened?" he asked, stopping before her. He could see over her shoulder, Pansy lying in the hospital bed unconscious. Her face was badly bruised, one arm in a cast, and he could clearly see the outline of brace around her knee.
"Astoria went over to check on her when she didn't answer any of her calls all day. She found Pansy lying at the bottom of the stairs. The doctors say her injuries are consistent with an assault." Narcissa explained. Anger welled up in his chest as he pushed passed her into the room. He moved to the side of the bed, looking her over as his parents followed him in. Narcissa continued; "The police were here, they documented her injuries and talked to Astoria, but they can't do anything else until she wakes up and tells them what happened. Astoria thinks the house was burglarized, it didn't look like it had been broken into but the inside was a mess."
Draco scoffed. "A stranger didn't so this." he muttered. "Where's Goyle?"
"No one knows. We've been trying to get ahold of him since Astoria called. Why?" Narcissa asked.
"He did this." Draco ground out through clenched teeth, his body tense.
"What?" Narcissa questioned confused. Lucius looked livid.
"How dare you make such baseless accusations?" Lucius ground out angrily. Greg's father had been a friend of Lucius since Boarding School. The same school Draco, Greg, and Pansy had attended together. "Gregory Goyle is a good man, how dare you accuse him of such a heinous crime." he continued harshly.
Draco snapped. "What would you know? You'd actually have to bother to look to know what was happening. God, you could fill a library with the shit you don't know; don't bother to know to suit your narrow minded world view." he exclaimed taking a step toward the older man. Narcissa reacted putting herself between her husband and son.
"Okay, enough." she said pushing Draco back gently until he put some space between them. "Why do you think Greg did this?" she asked.
Draco took a deep breath and collapsed into a chair beside the bed. "Because he's done it before." he sighed. "That night we ran into each other at the club downtown, I noticed she was… different. Closed off, nervous. I could tell she didn't want to be there so I took her home, except when we got there; she was too scared to get out of the car so I took her back to my flat. She told me everything. I tried to convince her to leave him, told her we could protect her but she was too convinced he would find her, kill her. I haven't seen her since."
Lucius shook his head. He didn't quite believe it but he was willing to wait to hear what happened from Pansy before he jumped to conclusions. They sat at her bedside for what felt like hours before Pansy woke with a start. Her eyes were wild as they flew open the heart monitor spiking as panic overtook her sense.
"Pansy." Narcissa called out to her, standing over her so she could clearly see her. "Sweetheart, it's okay, you're safe. Pansy?"
Pansy's breathing slowed as she locked eyes with Narcissa and continued to do so until she was breathing normally. "It's alright, you're safe here."
"Where am I?" she asked, still a little jittery. Her eyes shifted around the room from one Malfoy to the next.
"You're in the hospital." Draco told her softly, taking her hand gently. She looked to him, tears filling her eyes. "Can you tell us what happened?"
Pansy took a deep shaky breath, wincing at the pull in her ribs. "I did it, I finally did it." her voice hoarse.
"Did what, sweetheart?" Narcissa asked.
"I asked Greg for a divorce." she explained. "He was so angry, but I just snapped I couldn't take it anymore." she continued. Her heart rate was speeding up again as she kept talking. "Where is he?" she finally asked. Having to tell her that her husband, the man who put her in the hospital was unaccounted for had the exact results one would expect and Lucius rushed out of the room, returning with a doctor who gave her a sedative.
Lucius was understandably angry, though Draco didn't know if had more to do with a young woman he watched grow up being mercilessly beaten by her own husband, or because he was wrong about said husband.
"Where are you going?" Narcissa asked as she watched her husband pull out his cell phone as he made his way toward the door.
"I'm calling the security team. She'll have a guard at all times." he replied shortly before stepping out.
It all seems to happen slowly after that. Lucius returned shortly before the doctor did with the results of x-rays and tests performed. He explained in simple terms that they needed to keep an eye on her, what with the mild concussion and the broken arm and the sprained knee, but when she woke she could go home. With her parents out of the country, and on their way back according to Narcissa, Pansy would be staying at Malfoy Manor where Greg couldn't get to her.
Draco's only concern was keeping Pansy safe. And he knew exactly what he had to do to accomplish that.
xXx
Remus opened the door to number 12 Grimmauld Place that afternoon in response to frantic knocking. He found Draco on the other side looking slightly disheveled and exhausted. "Is Hermione still here?" he asked and Remus stepped aside to let him pass.
"She's in the sitting room." Remus told him. Draco didn't wait before taking off for the room down the hall. As he entered he pinpointed Hermione among the group of Harry, Ginny, Sirius, Ron and Regulus eating lunch. When she noticed him she set her plate aside, and stood to greet him.
"Hey, how's Pansy?" she asked walking across the room to meet him.
He cleared his throat. "Not great." he replied.
"What happened to Pansy?" Regulus asked concerned. Draco took a deep breath.
"Astoria Greengrass couldn't get ahold of her all day yesterday so she went over to check on her, found her lying at the bottom of the stairs badly beaten." Draco explained much to everyone's shock.
"What happened?" Hermione asked.
"She finally worked up the nerve to ask Greg for a divorce." he told her. "Which brings me to why I'm here. I need those photos."
"Photos?" they heard Ron ask but he went ignored.
"If Greg finds out, well I don't want to think about what he'll do." Draco explained. Hermione nodded.
"Of course, what did you do with the ones I gave you?" she asked dutifully ignoring the fact that all eyes were on them.
"I destroyed them of course. What else would I have done with them?" he replied.
"Okay, well those were the only copies."
Draco stared down at her dumbfounded. "What!" he exclaimed. "Do you mean to tell me that after all this time I thought you were blackmailing me and you had nothing?"
"Your blackmailing him?" Ron spoke up again, sounding all too gleeful. Hermione turned on her heels to glare at her ex.
"Shut up Ronald." she told him before turning back to Draco and pushing up out the door. They could hear Ron's voice as they made their way out.
"I knew it was weird that he would take that job."
Hermione took Draco up to the library and as soon as the door was closed he turned on her. "How could you do this to me?" he asked outraged. "How could you make me think I didn't have a choice? You basically tricked me into taking a job I didn't want and now you're telling me that the only reason I even took the job doesn't exists anymore?" he raged.
"Are you finished?" she asked watching him breathe deeply. He nodded. "I think it shows a lot about how little you know me that you actually thought I would release those photos." she replied.
"And that makes it okay?"
"No, but I knew you would never have taken the job if I didn't have something on you. I wasn't going to offer you the job originally. I wanted Blaise to run the team. He's earned it tenfold but he didn't want to take the risk that it could ruin his career so he turned it down. Which left me completely up a creek." she explained. "Your mother was over for coffee one afternoon that I came to visit Uncle Regulus and we got to talking. I mentioned having trouble finding someone I trusted to run my new task force. A few weeks later I get a call from her about the photographs."
Draco looks at her angrily. "You said my mother's campaign manager gave you those photos."
"He did, but Narcissa is the one who had the idea."
"Why?" he asked confused shaking his head.
"I don't know, you'll have to ask her. She clearly had her own reasons and I didn't ask."
Draco was still angry, but the anger was slowly fading into exhaustion. Hermione watched sympathetically as he took a seat, resting his head in his hands. She sighed. "Have you gotten any sleep?" she asked, moving to sit beside him.
Draco huffed. "No, I was kept up all night by a insatiable woman." he replied. She smiled softly. She took a deep breath after a moment.
"What's the plan with Pansy?" she questioned. Draco shrugged.
"I have no idea. She still wants a divorce, thank god, but no one can find Greg and she's terrified he's going to come back for her. She won't talk to police either. They make her nervous. She doesn't know them, so she doesn't trust them." he explained.
"What about sending an officer she knows?" she suggested. "Ron has special training dealing with victims of abuse."
Draco nodded. "I'll take your word for it. Can you send him over tomorrow?" he asked, standing.
"Of course." she replied, standing as well.
"I should get back." he told her heading for the door, Hermione not far behind. He stopped, however, when he got to the door. "You know, when this is over." he began turning to face her. "Or when things calm down at least, we should talk about last night."
"I agree." she replied reaching up on her toes to peck him on the cheek. "You just worry about Pansy right though."
xXx
Narcissa Malfoy was in the study when he got back to the manor later that afternoon. Draco took a seat across from her in the small sitting area. She didn't greet him as he sat and he knew she can sense his mood.
"I went to see Hermione." he told her. "To convince her to destroy the photos."
"And did she agree?" she asked calmly, never looking up from the book in her lap.
"She never had them." he explained. That seemed to get her attention. She finally looked up at him surprised. "Apparently she gave me the only copies when she "offered" me the job. She only wanted me to think she had something on me."
"Hermione's tactical brilliance never ceases to amaze me." she muttered to herself.
"Why did you let her do it? Why did you give her the idea?" he finally asked.
Narcissa was quiet for a moment and Draco, as usual couldn't read her. His mother has always had an incredible poker face, cultivate from years of a living within a strict family. She took a deep breath and looked up at him again. "I knew that you would never take the job otherwise." she explained calmly. "You asked me why before, when you thought my CM had given her the idea, and I told you that you deserved it. Do you remember that?" she asked. He nodded. "I meant that you deserved the chance to make a name for yourself away from your father. You know you've always been my angel Draco and I wish that I had done more to protect you from the disappointment your father became for you. I know what happened between you recently to turn what little relationship you had left sour, and I had hoped that this new job, this opportunity might have healed the damage he inflicted on your self-confidence.
I'm tired of watching you sequester yourself from everyone who cares about you and everything you love. You bury yourself in work in the hopes that the same thing won't happen again. I want you to be happy again. To be the happy, confident, charming boy you used to be without having to force it."
Draco didn't know what to say to that. He knew he'd been a little reclusive in the last year be he didn't think it really bothered anyone. Clearly he was wrong.
He wasn't sure what to say so he merely nodded and muttered something about checking on Pansy.
xXx
Draco met Ron in the hall the next afternoon, shaking his hand as he entered. "Thanks for coming." he said, leading the red head through the house.
"It's no problem. How is she doing?" Ron replied.
"She's not eating very much and she sleeps most of the day." Draco explained clearly bothered by this.
Ron nodded. "Unfortunately that's normal." he told him. "Here," he said handing over a business card. "My sister-in-law, Dr. Fleur Delacour-Weasley. She's a psychologist who specializes in helping victims of abuse both mental and physical. She's the best at what she does."
"Thank you." Draco replied as they came to a stop outside of one of the guest rooms. Draco stuck the card into his pocket before knocking lightly on the door. There was the softest of voices on the other side and Draco pushed the door open peeking in and spotting her in a chair by the window before pushing the door all the way open and stepping in, Ron behind him.
"Pansy?" he called out softly and she turned her head to look at him. "This is inspector Weasley. You remember Ron from school?" she nodded, shaking his hand when he offered it.
"May I?" Ron asked gesturing to the seat across from her. She nodded again. As Ron sat, Draco asked;
"Do you want me to say, Pansy?"
Pansy seemed at a loss and she turned to look at Ron questioningly.
"It's up to you. If it would make you feel more comfortable to have him here than he's more than welcome." Ron explained. She hesitated before shaking her head sending Draco on his way with a nod.
When Draco is gone Pansy took a deep breath and turned her attention back to Ron. "Not exactly how I thought I'd meet an old classmate again. So what do you need to know?"
"Why don't you start from the beginning." he said, voice soft and Pansy couldn't seem to reconcile the man before her with the boy she knew in school. "Take your time," he continued.
She took a moment to collect her thoughts. "He was in his office. He was working and I came in and I just blurted it out. I told him I wanted a divorce. He was really quiet and I didn't think he heard me at first but then he got up abruptly and I knew I was in trouble. I ran. I made it to the stairs before he caught me. He dragged me across the floor…" she stopped wiping gently at her bruised eye. "I tried to get away. He hit me and I stopped struggling. He dropped me on the floor and he just kept hitting me and kicking me. He was going to kill me." she choked back a sob and Ron put his pen down, moving to the edge of his seat and laying a hand on her shoulder for comfort. "He finally stopped but then he picked me up and dragged me back toward the stairs. I remember feeling my stomach drop as I fell and then I was in the hospital."
Ron nodded taking notes as she spoke. He asked a few questions which she answered as best she could. When he was finished he handed her his business card. "My office number is on the front, my mobile on the back. If you need anything, if you have questions or you just want to talk, call me. Anytime, day or night. Okay?" She nodded. "I promise you we're going to do everything we can to find him and protect you. Everything's going to be alright."
"Thank you."
xXx
The following Monday seemed off to everyone. Draco found himself at Hermione's door early, knocking on the frame before stepping in and closing the door behind him. He passed over a new case file as he took a seat across from her. "Morning." Hermione greeted, clearly surprised to see him. It wouldn't surprise him if she had expected a letter of resignation this morning and not a new case. "How's Pansy?" she asked.
"She seems to be doing better." Draco replied. "She's eating more and sleeping normally. A few nightmares here and there. Her parents finally made it home but she's opted to stay at the manor. I don't know what Ron told her but it's certainly seemed to help."
Hermione nodded her understanding. "Yeah, Ron can be an asshole sometimes but when it comes to doing his job he doesn't slack off."
Silence descends on them until Draco broke the tension as awkwardly as one would expect the socially inept. "So, the team chose a new case. We're gonna get started on it as soon as possible." he told her.
"Okay, just remember the hearing for your last case is in three days. I need the whole team there."
"No problem." he told her getting up and turning for the door. He stopped just shy opening it and turned to face her again. "You know we still need to talk." he began. "So, if you pick a time and place I'll make the time."
Hermione nodded. "I'll let you know."