House: Ravenclaw
Word Count: 534
Category: Short
Prompt(s): [Event] Job Interview
It was nerve wracking. Sitting in a chair, in an empty office, hoping and praying he would get this job. No one wanted to hire him, not after his role in the war. He was a Death Eater, the Dark Mark seared onto his arm marked him as a traitor to everything good in the world. Merlin, even he wouldn't want to hire himself if he was in their position. But this wasn't a wizarding job, so maybe the Muggles wouldn't understand, or perhaps they'd see the tattoo and treat him normally. It was a long shot, however, and he knew that.
No matter what though, he needed this job. He needed desperately to finally move away from the family name. He wanted to get away from the job the men in their family had done for decades. It was a commonly known fact that the Malfoy family worked in the Ministry. If Draco got this job at a muggle office trying to make an honest living, maybe he'd actually show the rest of his community that he had changed.
A woman wearing a formal suit walked into the room, a stern look set onto her features and Draco had a sinking feeling that this interview would end just like all the others had. Disastrously. Yet, this interview started out differently. The woman asked him about himself, she sprinkled in some mandatory questions here and there, and he felt himself relaxing. A smile even slipped onto his face, which was a rare sight nowadays.
"Thank you for coming in, we'll give you a call to let you know if your interview was successful or not."
That had marked the end of it, so Draco stood up and walked out of the office, down the hallway and out of the building. He apparated into his apartment when he was sure no muggles were looking and he did what anyone in his position would do. He waited. Nearly 30 minutes were spent with him staring at the phone, waiting and praying for it to ring.
Another fifteen minutes of staring later and he decided he was being pathetic, and if there was anything he wanted to remember about his father's teachings it was that Malfoy's were not pathetic. So Draco dragged himself into his kitchen and started making himself dinner, he had skipped lunch due to his nerves and was now starving.
It was two weeks later, while he was sitting glumly at the dining room table, that the phone rang
Draco sprung out of his seat and ran over to the phone, trying to muster up some semblance of dignity as he answered it with a polite greeting. After five minutes of talking on the phone, it was finally over. Despite his low expectation he'd actually managed to get the job, which was a massive relief to him. He'd been told to get a good night's sleep as he'd be needed early in order to get a feel of the building and understand what exactly he would be doing.
He couldn't help but let out a smile, because it was finally there, finally time.
After months of trying, he could finally get a fresh start.