Chapter Twenty-Six

Draco's Resolve

Jennifer peered thoughtfully at the Kensington house, double-checking the address before knocking. She instantly recognized the girl who opened it; a girl named Paula Sharon, who had graduated a few years ago from Hufflepuff. She greeted her warmly, showing her in.

"I've been working here for awhile now, minding the house, organizing the House Elves, and looking after Mary from time to time," Paula explained. "It's a nice quiet job, except maybe for when Draco's father comes to visit," she admitted in a low voice, causing Jennifer to chuckle.

There could be little doubt as Jennifer stepped into the parlor that the house decoration was intentionally geared towards the nineteenth century, with a touch of Indian influence throughout in the way of statues, rugs and lanterns. The finery was spaced out throughout the room in such a way that Jennifer was almost afraid to touch anything. But she didn't have to ponder it too long before Parvati came in, arms out in greeting.

"Professor Craw, it's so good to see you. We're very glad you came," she said, hugging her. "You know Mary Amba, I think?"

"Yes, I've seen her about. You look so much like your mother," Jennifer said, the six-year-old girl smiling shyly at her and gazing at the pot in Jennifer's hand.

"Those are very pretty," she said, gazing at the crystalline flowers, admiring the different pastel colors of each one.

"Oh, these are Alchemist's Roses. They're grown from putting together different magic ingredients inside the container you want them displayed in," Jennifer explained, carefully breaking off one of the crystal flowers and handing it to her. "Be careful not to break it." Grinning at her, Mary ran off to show her father, while Jennifer handed the pot itself to Parvati.

"Thank you, they are lovely! Come sit down. We were so sorry to hear about what happened with your house. Have you had much luck finding a new one?" she asked.

"Haven't looked, really," Jennifer admitted, accepting a cup from her. "I thought we might use the summers to see a bit of the world. I very much like what you've done to your house, though."

"Oh, I'll have to show you more later, then! We've been working on it for years now. This is one of my favorite rooms, in fact, although I think my husband prefers the library best."

"It must be nice to have a library. We could have used one in the Broom Closet," Jennifer said.

"The Broom Closet?" Parvati repeated with a curious smile.

"That's what my husband called our old house," Jennifer explained. "When I first rented it, it was extremely small…great for one person but not really meant for a family. We had to add onto it over the years."

"A house tends to reflect the soul of those that live in it. You should see my sister's house… friendly, but chaotic. I think that's just as much because our mother lives there as any other reason. It's one of the few good things about the fact that my mother doesn't like Draco. Being older by two minutes, she would have been living with us if she had liked him," Parvati grinned. Jennifer chuckled at that.

"Ah ha! So that's the culprit, is it?" Jennifer looked up to see Draco standing there holding his daughter who was pointing at Jennifer with one hand and still clutching the crystal rose in the other. "Professor Craw, you have been accused of trying to charm a six-year-old."

"Guilty," Jennifer laughed.

"Not so fast, you can't plead guilty yet. We have to find evidence first, that's the rules. Sorry, Mary, she's new at this." Draco told his daughter.

"Not at the being found guilty part," Jennifer said dryly, but held out her hands with good humor when he asked for them, Draco showing the hands to Mary.

"See that sparkling stuff? That's powdered quartz, the main ingredient in Alchemist's Roses. Now that we have evidence against her, what does she do now?" Draco said.

"Talk to Father?" Mary suggested.

"That's right, because nobody should ever confess without talking to a counselor first," Draco nodded seriously. "If everyone was innocent, I would be out of work," he added as he stood up straight, a thin smile creeping onto his face.

"If everyone was guilty, wouldn't you be out of work as well?" Jennifer challenged.

"Everyone is guilty of something, Jennifer. It's merely that there are different levels of guilt," Draco said. "Is it more important then, to prove someone whom we understand has some underlying level of guilt as innocent of a greater guilt… or is it more important to find and prosecute the one with the greatest guilt?"

"I… I don't know," Jennifer admitted, attempting to understand his point of view. "I suppose it would be to get those who are most guilty caught, so they won't cause as much harm to those who are… less guilty, or innocent of that particular crime." Draco nodded.

"I was hoping you would say that," he said, nodding over at Paula, and glancing over at his wife who was shaking her head at him. "The old administration felt the opposite way, you know."

"She hasn't been here ten minutes and already you start with politics," Parvati said.

"Just following through with the conversation," Draco said with a thin smile. "I am glad you decided to join us tonight, Jennifer. Right this way," he said, leading them into the dining room.

Like the rest of the house, it was quite decorative and very formal; not the sort of place that Jennifer would ever particularly care to live in, although in some ways it reminded her a bit like the Craw Mansion which she had lived in when she was Mary's age. But fortunately for Jennifer, the cooking was a bit more down to earth. Parvati, it seemed, was actually a pretty fair cook, and insisted on doing the main course herself; it was anything but bland. Between the spicy food and drinks and the strong tea after, Jennifer finally found herself warming up to her surroundings as well as to Mary. The little girl was eating with perfect precision and grace above the table, but was busy kicking her feet back and forth below it.

"So how is your father doing? Is he out of Azkaban now?" Draco asked politely once the trivialities were done and they had started on desert.

"No, he hasn't met all the conditions yet. He still needs a permanent residence," Jennifer replied. "Sirius and Severus are busy looking for one for him."

"Looking forward to him finally getting out of there?" he asked.

"Well, in a way yes, and in a way no," Jennifer admitted with a wry grin. "At least in there I could always count on him not getting into too much trouble."

"True, although like he pointed out, he probably could have found a way out if he had wanted. I wouldn't put anything past him," Draco admitted. "But I can see how you would be a bit concerned. It doesn't matter how many restrictions anyone puts on him. If there is something he's determined to do, he will find a way to do it. Rather like my father in that way."

"Are you concerned about him getting out? I mean, considering how he feels about your father…"

"If the two of them want to kill each other that badly, I think we ought to let them," Draco said bluntly. "Once either of them have made up their minds about something, they won't stop until it's done and nothing either of us can do will stop it short of killing them ourselves, and I'm not about to kill my own father."

"Or avenge him?" Jennifer asked.

"Why would I? If Voldemort had succeeded the day he cast the plague spell, do you think my father would have avenged my death?" Draco asked. Jennifer grew quiet for a moment.

"He did try to avenge your mother," Jennifer reminded him.

"For her sake, or for his? And now… well, let's just say now I think he might have forgotten about it all together," Draco said, gazing into his wine glass before downing it and setting it aside. "Besides, by all rights, he should already be dead. If you had killed him during that duel, I wouldn't have avenged him then either, any more than I was willing to stand up for him. He's not an easy man to like, Jennifer, and believe me, he's not an easy man to love. He wasn't the best father in the world, but he wasn't the worst either; five minutes talking to Danyelle convinced me of that. Make no mistake though, if he died tomorrow, I would mourn him. But I'm not a child anymore, or even that awkward teenager that stumbled out of Hogwarts trying every profession that money could buy until he realized that it wasn't getting him anywhere. I nearly lost Parvati because of it," he added looking over at his wife.

"I had hoped you would come around eventually," she said with an enigmatic smile.

"Besides, I don't think I could have gone to war with you even if I wanted to, after everything you've done, Jennifer," Draco said.

"What?" Jennifer said with surprise. "What have I done?"

"Treated me like every other student, for one thing, despite my father's opinion of you… and my opinion of you for that matter. Passed up countless occasions to kill my father when perhaps you should have because you didn't want a student left fatherless or a son to watch his father die. Saved my life, at least once, if you don't count all the times you saved the school as a whole from the plague and the Dementor attack and god knows what else we weren't told about. You don't remember, do you?" Draco said, Jennifer shaking her head slowly. "Funny, I should be the one that didn't remember it. I took a Bludger to the head in my sixth year and went unconscious before I hit the ground, and you were refereeing that day. Everyone said if it hadn't been for your quick action, I probably would have died."

"A referee's job is to protect the students during a game, Draco," Jennifer said.

"But you would have still done it even if you hadn't been refereeing, wouldn't you have?"

"Of course, if it came to that, yes, who wouldn't?" Jennifer asked.

"A lot of people," Draco said quietly. "I probably wouldn't have tried to save you back then, and I'm a lot better flyer than you are."

"I wouldn't have expected you to, Draco," Jennifer said.

"Nor would you have held it against me, either."

"No, of course not," Jennifer replied, gazing at him with open confusion. But Draco smiled at her.

"Jennifer, you are a rare bird, and I think the only one in the whole world that doesn't see it is you. Of course I found one rarer, a girl that could actually put up with me," he added, glancing over at Parvati. "And put up with the fact her family can't stand me."

"Am I a rare bird too?" Mary asked.

"You are an angel," Draco told her. "If you're done, you can go play."

"I think I'll do some cleaning up," Parvati said grabbing some dishes as Jennifer quickly started to help. "Oh no, don't bother. Paula and the Elves will give me a hand," she insisted, stepping out of the room.

"So, Jennifer, have you thought much more about the Ministry race?" Draco asked.

"Well, I'm not going to support Rummert," Jennifer assured him.

"Yes, but you're not sure if you're going to support me either, is that it?" he pressed.

"Draco, let's be frank here. You hate the Ministry. You always have. Every time I've ever heard you say anything about politics, it was to detail just how incompetent you think it is. Why should I support someone who has said countless times and on no uncertain terms how little faith he has in the government?" Jennifer asked.

"That's exactly why you should support me," Draco said, pouring them both another drink. "I'm not going to go in there and pick up where Weasley or even Fudge left off. The system doesn't work, it has to change, and it needs someone in there used to giving orders instead of taking them. Fudge and Weasley both took orders from other people and you know it. Fudge was too incompetent, Weasley too 'nice.' I need not tell you that Rummert is my father's sheep.

"I don't take orders from anyone, and I'm not going to let a bunch of fat bureaucrats push me around, wizards that believe they've got job security just because they've been there since the turn of the century. I won't let them talk me out of the drastic changes necessary to get the Ministry back into a functional government. Come on, Jennifer, when was the last time that the Ministry did anything to stop Voldemort, or Ciardoth, or even keep Muggles protected from us?" Draco asked seriously. "You watched your home destroyed by this government. Weasley walked away because he had to, but I won't walk away. Politics are ruthless and unforgiving, and those are things I happen to know something about. You've always judged me not because of how you felt about me personally or whether you trusted me or not, but by how I behaved as an individual student. Now I'm asking you to judge me not by my past or by my family, but by how well you think I can do the job."

Jennifer sat there for a long time, reading his face and judging his sincerity before she finally looked away, growing thoughtful as she pondered the matter.

"Very well, Draco," she said quietly. "I'll support you on one condition."

"Name it," Draco said.

Aurelius, Andrew, and Alicia had just gotten started working on the model again when Alex came into the passage with a paper in hand. Her kitten, Tes, plopped down beside her.

"It's about time you got here. What, did you walk all the way to the postmaster's office yourself to get the post?" Aurelius asked.

"Sorry, I'm here now. I just got to reading this article. It's about Mum!" Alex said, pulling up a stool. "Listen! 'Professor Jennifer Craw Snape has recently announced her support for Minister of Magic candidate, Draco Malfoy. Although the declaration has come as a surprise to many members of the Wizard's Council, it should be noted that it came upon the heels of Malfoy's announcement that he will fervently support a ban on the use of the Obliviation Charm, an issue that Professor Craw Snape, once a victim of the spell, is firmly in favor of.' So that's it! Both of our parents have now stated they're supporting Draco, and that's along with Dumbledore's support too. I'll bet that'll win him a lot of council votes!"

"I don't know, Alex. Isn't that charm a rather heated topic in the Ministry? It might lose him some support, too," Andrew said.

"Well at least he is taking a stand. Rummert doesn't seem to be saying much of anything on any issue, except that he's in favor of justice reform," Alex said.

"Of course he'd say that. That's what all the polls say the people are most in favor of," Alicia said.

"Exactly, but the thing is, he hasn't really laid out any sort of plan on how to do it either," Alex said, putting the paper away. "Harry has not been in the paper much lately. Everyone seems to think he's going to abstain and not get involved."

"Of course he wouldn't. He hates both of them," Aurelius said, setting another bookshelf in his dorm room. "There. I think we're finally making some real progress on this monstrosity," he said, looking over the model.

"Won't Rose, Mandria, and the twins be surprised when they get back tonight?" Alex agreed with a grin. "Fantastic job on the rooms and measurements, Andrew!"

"All we have left now are the individual towers," Andrew said with satisfaction.

"No, the basement's not done yet," Alex said. "That is if we're going to put in the Chamber of Secrets."

"The Chamber of Secrets!" Alicia echoed with awe. "That's right, you've been there before, haven't you?"

"Yes, first year! It should connect to this closet somehow. This one… Filch's supply closet on the main floor," Alex said.

"I don't know. Maybe that's something we shouldn't add," Aurelius mused. "What if someone gets a hold of this model that shouldn't? We could be showing them the way in."

"No one's going to possibly find it down here, Aurelius," Alex snorted.

"All the same, Rel may have a point," Andrew said. "Besides, I've yet to go down there. I wouldn't know where to start."

"Alex, don't you dare even think about it," Aurelius warned. "We'll just have to leave it out."

"I find it strange that the only one of us not interested in the Chamber is the Slytherin of the family," Alex said.

"And also the most intelligent in the family," Aurelius retorted. "Speaking of which, I think I'm going to get back to studying. Someone pacify the tree for me?"

"Sure, Rel," Alicia said, leading him up.

"What would he have left to study? He's been sitting with a nose in a text book every night since Christmas," Alex said exasperated. "I mean, if he's going to read, he could at least read something more interesting."

"Something you could make a scene out of?" Andrew hinted.

"I've told you, I've grown out of those," Alex said as she and Andrew put away the supplies.

"All right, if you say so, Alexandria. I just hope you don't start feeling the same way about Quidditch," Andrew said.