Chapter Two: The Interview Begins
Ginny could kick herself! She fumbled for the recording device and pushed the red button that would record everything that was said in the room.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Ginny tried to play it off as if she hadn't heard him…but she had.
Draco closed his eyes and gulped. Ginny was on the edge of her seat, willing Draco to repeat himself.
His eyes slowly opened. "I'm innocent." Draco repeated, as if every word, every syllable took too much effort to say, to form words was asking the impossible.
"There is evidence…witnesses." Ginny began scratching future questions on her notebook. One thing she was known for was to be able to do more than two things at once. Her ear was intent on everything Draco was saying, her hand was intent on writing down questions and her head was swimming with the praise she would get.
"Planted." Draco stated.
"Are you saying the evidence was planted?" Ginny quickly asked.
Draco nodded his head.
"Could you please say yes or no?" Ginny needed to get this on tape.
"Yes." He slowly said.
"But the witnesses saw you at the scene of the crime." Ginny knew Draco would have been easy to spot, his alluring silver hair, which was now greasy and uncombed, had been his best feature. His pale skin was also hard to mistake.
"Not me."
"Not you? It was someone else?" Ginny wished he would answer faster.
He nodded his head.
"Please, say yes or no."
"Yes."
"You had no alibi. Your wand was found at the scene." Ginny flinched…he already said everything was planted, she didn't want to backtrack.
"Someone—else."
Looking down at her watch she noticed ten minutes had slipped by. She scanned the many questions she wrote down.
"If you weren't at the crime scene, then where were you?" How lame, Ginny thought, then she added. "You were found two blocks from the scene."
"I was meeting someone…" Draco paused and looked as if he would slip into sleep.
"Wake up!" Ginny yelled, causing Draco to fling his eyes open wide. "Who were you meeting?"
"Slytherin."
"Slytherin?" Ginny's brain exploded with a thousand questions. "A fellow Slytherin? A man named Slytherin? A nickname?"
"Yes."
"Yes to what?" Ginny wanted to scream.
Here she was, exploring the fact that Draco was innocent, when she had originally come to get some sob story about how his parents beat him and that's why he killed those people. She looked swiftly at the recorder, making sure it was still going.
"Could you please answer each question separately?"
"Yes to all."
Scratchscratchscratch, went the quill. Ginny was sorely tempted to bring her wand out and form a counter charm that would make him more alert.
"Did you know this man?"
"No…only by owl. Framing me. Wanted me to…"
Ginny looked down at her watch, then back at Draco. "Wanted you to do what? To kill the people?"
He shook his head. "No. Wanted to meet. Heard loud crash and began running away."
"This man, Slytherin, you have no idea who he is? Did you tell the officials of these letters?"
"No…no time to. Innocent."
"I can't prove you're innocence unless you give me something to go on. How did you come into contact with him?"
"Voldemort."
Ginny cringed at the name.
"He's a Death-Eater?"
"Yes."
"We--were you a Death-Eater?"
"No."
"Do you know why this man was framing you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Draco closed his eyes again. "Harry."
Ginny's heart stopped. Harry…her Harry. Some unknown man named Slytherin wanted Harry. Was Harry in danger? "Why did they want Harry? Answer me, dang it!"
For the first time that evening Draco showed some emotion. A small grin played across his face. "Not him…his."
"I don't understand! Not him…his? His what?"
"Eyes…eyes."
"Eyes…his eyes? His glasses? His eyes…" What did all this mean?
Draco began shaking his head back and forth.
"Not his eyes?"
He shook his head again. "No."
"Make some sense, dang it!" Ginny stood up and shook Draco by the shoulders. She lowered herself so their eyes were even with each other.
"Do they want to harm Harry?"
"If they have to…yes."
"Will they kidnap him? Hurt him?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Soon."
"Did they want you to do kidnap him?"
"Yes."
"And you refused…is that why they wanted you framed?"
"Yes. I knew too much."
"How come you didn't tell the officials?"
"Wouldn't believe me…but you." Draco's eyes burned with emotion now, were overflowing with it. "I'm innocent. Help me."
Ginny looked around the room as if an answer would present itself. As if the walls would suddenly open up and they would both be free.
"When? When!?!"
"Soon…"
Ginny stood up. Looking at her watch she saw that she had ten minutes left. Her hair had come undone from the bun she put it in, tendrils of firey red framing her face. She quickly put it back up and straitened her clothes. She walked back to her chair and tried to get a hold on herself.
"He could be lying." Part of her said. It was against wizarding law to make someone drink veritaserum when interviewing for an article. "But what if he isn't?" Another part of her said… a more familiar part. The voice that always told her to go and achieve and grab whatever she could had gotten her thus far. Would it now help her to save Harry?
"Where are these letters?" Ginny reverted back to another branch she hadn't explored.
"My house."
"Not Malfoy Manor?"
Ginny could have been seeing things, but she thought she saw Draco shiver. "No…42 Surrey Lane."
"And these letters are there? Does anyone else know about these letters?"
"No."
"Did you have them hidden? Could this Slytherin have stolen them?"
"No…transfigured. Riddles."
Riddles? Ginny thought. That's exactly what we're doing. He's throwing riddles at me and I have to solve them.
"What do you mean? What are they transfigured to?"
A silly grin. "Riddles."
Ginny was about to demand to be answered properly when the door opened and the two men came to get Draco. Ginny watched as they dragged him away, his eyes intently watching her. She felt completely helpless.
"How did it go?" The man from before with the curly hair asked, coming into the room.
"Very weird." Ginny said as she began packing up her things.
"Could you give me a little sneak peak at the front page of the Daily Prophet tomorrow?" He asked.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid that's top secret stuff." Ginny smiled in spite of the nervous wreck she was.
"So how about I pick you up later?"
"I don't even know your name."
"Ryan." He smiled.
"I'm sorry, Ryan, but I have to finish this article and I'm rather worn out. Maybe some other time." Ginny stood up then produced a card with her name, and address.
"Of course. I'm sorry."
Ginny left the room, hoping to never have to enter it again any time soon. She walked down the long hallway, her heels clicking over the tiled floor. She left the building and instantly saw a huge crowd of people near the front entrance. She walked closer to the crowd and saw the car that would take Draco to Azkaban. Suddenly the crowd got louder.
The doors opened and the two men and Draco came down the steps. Ginny watched as the crowd threw insults and words at Draco, but he was too doped up to care. Ginny looked around at the many faces and saw their expressions contorted and twisted. Hate is such an ugly thing, she thought.
The door to the car was opened and Draco was placed inside. Soon the car took off and the crowd began to dissolve. Ginny headed towards her car and go in. She clutched at the steering wheel and sighed deeply. She started the car then began to zoom around London.
Driving was a release for Ginny. She'd often take her car into the countryside and just speed past the scenery. Many witches and wizards refused to drive common Muggle cars but Ginny liked to. It calmed her, made her feel more in control. But she had no time for that right now. She headed straight for the Daily Prophet.
The Daily Prophet was situated between Gringotts and the Ministry building. The place was always buzzing with people. Columnists rushing around, trying to get their work done at the last minute. Angry supervisors yelling at poor interns. Ginny felt alive! This was her place to be! She headed straight for her office and pulled her work out, but she was soon interrupted.
"So how did it go?" Her boss, Mr. Hobbs, asked.
"Swimmingly." Ginny smiled sarcastically.
"Yeah, I'd feel that way after interviewing a mad man too."
"The thing is…I sort of believed him when he said he was innocent."
"What?" Her boss's jovial face soon turned sour. "Believed him? He's mad, Virginia. He'd say anything."
"I know." Ginny sighed. "I'll have the article done soon."
"Good." Hobbs took one last look at her, then shut the door.
She began working on her article but didn't know quite what to write. She didn't get the story she went to get. No one would want to hear proclaimed innocence of a man they all wished dead. So she wrote about intrigue and conspiracy. She didn't come right out and say Draco was innocent, rather that Draco must have been working under someone higher. She knew her article would place more fear in the Wizarding World, but she refused write something other than the truth as she saw it.
She was just finishing when the door burst open and a fellow worker came in.
"Look, I talked with the mad man…no big deal—" Ginny stopped at seeing the horrified look on the boys face.
"You better put that article on hold." He said.
"Why?" Ginny got up and went to the door. The office was disheveled… more so than it usually is. Papers were flying everywhere and people were running back and forth, knocking down interns as they went. Hobbs was yelling at the top of his lungs to quite every down and finally he was heard. An eerie silence fell across the room.
"It's true." He said rather somberly. "Just got the message…Draco Malfoy escaped en route to Azkaban."
(A/N: Ok, I hope you guys like this 'cause i enjoy writing it. My last fic that I thoroughly enjoyed writing only got three reviews :*(. This is the first time ever that i've written a story like this, fanfic or not, so please be gentle.)
Ginny could kick herself! She fumbled for the recording device and pushed the red button that would record everything that was said in the room.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Ginny tried to play it off as if she hadn't heard him…but she had.
Draco closed his eyes and gulped. Ginny was on the edge of her seat, willing Draco to repeat himself.
His eyes slowly opened. "I'm innocent." Draco repeated, as if every word, every syllable took too much effort to say, to form words was asking the impossible.
"There is evidence…witnesses." Ginny began scratching future questions on her notebook. One thing she was known for was to be able to do more than two things at once. Her ear was intent on everything Draco was saying, her hand was intent on writing down questions and her head was swimming with the praise she would get.
"Planted." Draco stated.
"Are you saying the evidence was planted?" Ginny quickly asked.
Draco nodded his head.
"Could you please say yes or no?" Ginny needed to get this on tape.
"Yes." He slowly said.
"But the witnesses saw you at the scene of the crime." Ginny knew Draco would have been easy to spot, his alluring silver hair, which was now greasy and uncombed, had been his best feature. His pale skin was also hard to mistake.
"Not me."
"Not you? It was someone else?" Ginny wished he would answer faster.
He nodded his head.
"Please, say yes or no."
"Yes."
"You had no alibi. Your wand was found at the scene." Ginny flinched…he already said everything was planted, she didn't want to backtrack.
"Someone—else."
Looking down at her watch she noticed ten minutes had slipped by. She scanned the many questions she wrote down.
"If you weren't at the crime scene, then where were you?" How lame, Ginny thought, then she added. "You were found two blocks from the scene."
"I was meeting someone…" Draco paused and looked as if he would slip into sleep.
"Wake up!" Ginny yelled, causing Draco to fling his eyes open wide. "Who were you meeting?"
"Slytherin."
"Slytherin?" Ginny's brain exploded with a thousand questions. "A fellow Slytherin? A man named Slytherin? A nickname?"
"Yes."
"Yes to what?" Ginny wanted to scream.
Here she was, exploring the fact that Draco was innocent, when she had originally come to get some sob story about how his parents beat him and that's why he killed those people. She looked swiftly at the recorder, making sure it was still going.
"Could you please answer each question separately?"
"Yes to all."
Scratchscratchscratch, went the quill. Ginny was sorely tempted to bring her wand out and form a counter charm that would make him more alert.
"Did you know this man?"
"No…only by owl. Framing me. Wanted me to…"
Ginny looked down at her watch, then back at Draco. "Wanted you to do what? To kill the people?"
He shook his head. "No. Wanted to meet. Heard loud crash and began running away."
"This man, Slytherin, you have no idea who he is? Did you tell the officials of these letters?"
"No…no time to. Innocent."
"I can't prove you're innocence unless you give me something to go on. How did you come into contact with him?"
"Voldemort."
Ginny cringed at the name.
"He's a Death-Eater?"
"Yes."
"We--were you a Death-Eater?"
"No."
"Do you know why this man was framing you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Draco closed his eyes again. "Harry."
Ginny's heart stopped. Harry…her Harry. Some unknown man named Slytherin wanted Harry. Was Harry in danger? "Why did they want Harry? Answer me, dang it!"
For the first time that evening Draco showed some emotion. A small grin played across his face. "Not him…his."
"I don't understand! Not him…his? His what?"
"Eyes…eyes."
"Eyes…his eyes? His glasses? His eyes…" What did all this mean?
Draco began shaking his head back and forth.
"Not his eyes?"
He shook his head again. "No."
"Make some sense, dang it!" Ginny stood up and shook Draco by the shoulders. She lowered herself so their eyes were even with each other.
"Do they want to harm Harry?"
"If they have to…yes."
"Will they kidnap him? Hurt him?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Soon."
"Did they want you to do kidnap him?"
"Yes."
"And you refused…is that why they wanted you framed?"
"Yes. I knew too much."
"How come you didn't tell the officials?"
"Wouldn't believe me…but you." Draco's eyes burned with emotion now, were overflowing with it. "I'm innocent. Help me."
Ginny looked around the room as if an answer would present itself. As if the walls would suddenly open up and they would both be free.
"When? When!?!"
"Soon…"
Ginny stood up. Looking at her watch she saw that she had ten minutes left. Her hair had come undone from the bun she put it in, tendrils of firey red framing her face. She quickly put it back up and straitened her clothes. She walked back to her chair and tried to get a hold on herself.
"He could be lying." Part of her said. It was against wizarding law to make someone drink veritaserum when interviewing for an article. "But what if he isn't?" Another part of her said… a more familiar part. The voice that always told her to go and achieve and grab whatever she could had gotten her thus far. Would it now help her to save Harry?
"Where are these letters?" Ginny reverted back to another branch she hadn't explored.
"My house."
"Not Malfoy Manor?"
Ginny could have been seeing things, but she thought she saw Draco shiver. "No…42 Surrey Lane."
"And these letters are there? Does anyone else know about these letters?"
"No."
"Did you have them hidden? Could this Slytherin have stolen them?"
"No…transfigured. Riddles."
Riddles? Ginny thought. That's exactly what we're doing. He's throwing riddles at me and I have to solve them.
"What do you mean? What are they transfigured to?"
A silly grin. "Riddles."
Ginny was about to demand to be answered properly when the door opened and the two men came to get Draco. Ginny watched as they dragged him away, his eyes intently watching her. She felt completely helpless.
"How did it go?" The man from before with the curly hair asked, coming into the room.
"Very weird." Ginny said as she began packing up her things.
"Could you give me a little sneak peak at the front page of the Daily Prophet tomorrow?" He asked.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid that's top secret stuff." Ginny smiled in spite of the nervous wreck she was.
"So how about I pick you up later?"
"I don't even know your name."
"Ryan." He smiled.
"I'm sorry, Ryan, but I have to finish this article and I'm rather worn out. Maybe some other time." Ginny stood up then produced a card with her name, and address.
"Of course. I'm sorry."
Ginny left the room, hoping to never have to enter it again any time soon. She walked down the long hallway, her heels clicking over the tiled floor. She left the building and instantly saw a huge crowd of people near the front entrance. She walked closer to the crowd and saw the car that would take Draco to Azkaban. Suddenly the crowd got louder.
The doors opened and the two men and Draco came down the steps. Ginny watched as the crowd threw insults and words at Draco, but he was too doped up to care. Ginny looked around at the many faces and saw their expressions contorted and twisted. Hate is such an ugly thing, she thought.
The door to the car was opened and Draco was placed inside. Soon the car took off and the crowd began to dissolve. Ginny headed towards her car and go in. She clutched at the steering wheel and sighed deeply. She started the car then began to zoom around London.
Driving was a release for Ginny. She'd often take her car into the countryside and just speed past the scenery. Many witches and wizards refused to drive common Muggle cars but Ginny liked to. It calmed her, made her feel more in control. But she had no time for that right now. She headed straight for the Daily Prophet.
The Daily Prophet was situated between Gringotts and the Ministry building. The place was always buzzing with people. Columnists rushing around, trying to get their work done at the last minute. Angry supervisors yelling at poor interns. Ginny felt alive! This was her place to be! She headed straight for her office and pulled her work out, but she was soon interrupted.
"So how did it go?" Her boss, Mr. Hobbs, asked.
"Swimmingly." Ginny smiled sarcastically.
"Yeah, I'd feel that way after interviewing a mad man too."
"The thing is…I sort of believed him when he said he was innocent."
"What?" Her boss's jovial face soon turned sour. "Believed him? He's mad, Virginia. He'd say anything."
"I know." Ginny sighed. "I'll have the article done soon."
"Good." Hobbs took one last look at her, then shut the door.
She began working on her article but didn't know quite what to write. She didn't get the story she went to get. No one would want to hear proclaimed innocence of a man they all wished dead. So she wrote about intrigue and conspiracy. She didn't come right out and say Draco was innocent, rather that Draco must have been working under someone higher. She knew her article would place more fear in the Wizarding World, but she refused write something other than the truth as she saw it.
She was just finishing when the door burst open and a fellow worker came in.
"Look, I talked with the mad man…no big deal—" Ginny stopped at seeing the horrified look on the boys face.
"You better put that article on hold." He said.
"Why?" Ginny got up and went to the door. The office was disheveled… more so than it usually is. Papers were flying everywhere and people were running back and forth, knocking down interns as they went. Hobbs was yelling at the top of his lungs to quite every down and finally he was heard. An eerie silence fell across the room.
"It's true." He said rather somberly. "Just got the message…Draco Malfoy escaped en route to Azkaban."
(A/N: Ok, I hope you guys like this 'cause i enjoy writing it. My last fic that I thoroughly enjoyed writing only got three reviews :*(. This is the first time ever that i've written a story like this, fanfic or not, so please be gentle.)