A/N: As promised, another (significantly longer) chapter! Thanks again for following and all the lovely comments!
A few days later, it wasn't getting any better. The attraction was still there, I was just getting better at hiding my reaction to it.
Malfoy turned out to be a great partner. Once he let himself get lost in the training, we had a lot of valuable practice during our training sessions the rest of the week.
Harry began giving us field assignments the following Monday. Our department was actually relatively small. There were only six of us that did direct field work so the others felt the relief after being down two people for the last three weeks.
Most of the time, the calls were small. Stolen items, disputes, misuse of magic, domestic incidents and the like. Those calls made up a good portion of our days.
However, we also got to work on bigger projects and cases as well. Illegal items such as trading banned items or creatures. Sometimes it was mistreatment of people in the workplace or keeping squibs as slaves.
Malfoy and I got to know each other well over the weeks that followed. We were spending a lot of time together. Turned out that his flat was just around the corner from mine so we would meet up for a run most mornings before work.
All in all, we were doing much better than I had hoped. I looked forward to coming to work every day instead of dreading it for the first time in so long. Harry and Ginny noticed the change too and Gin continued to eye me speculatively every time his name came up, but I was still firm that I could find someone attractive while not being romantically attracted to them.
She didn't believe me, but that was her problem.
And so we found ourselves on an ordinary Tuesday morning responding to a call at Hogwarts.
Malfoy and I apparated to Hogsmeade and made the long walk to the school.
"I haven't been back here in ages." I said as I pulled my jacket closer. It had snowed a lot over the weekend and now the temperature had dropped significantly.
"Yeah, I haven't been back since the first anniversary celebration." He grabbed my arm as I slid on some ice. "Watch it there, Granger. It's slick."
I was starting to get used to Malfoy being nice to me. He had certainly kept his promise. There wasn't a moment I had doubted he would have my back yet.
Headmistress McGonagall met us at the entrance and ushered us in.
"Come in, come in. It's freezing out there."
We followed her through the hallways and to her office which hadn't changed much since the last time we had been here. The portrait of Dumbledore hung behind her and he smiled softly at us with a wink.
"Sit down. Please, have a biscuit." She passed us biscuits and tea and we all got settled.
"I appreciate the pair of you coming today. I must say, it's a pleasant surprise to see the two of you paired up." Her knowing smile made me self-conscious."
"Of course! Though we weren't given much in the way of details. How can we help?" I asked, ignoring her latter comment.
She cleared away her plate and turned serious. "Well, as you probably know, students returned to the castle from the winter holidays on Sunday evening. I had no reason to suspect anything was amiss, but I had a Gryffindor come to me last night saying his roommate wasn't acting right. I approached the child, a third year, and he tried to deny anything was amiss, but I insisted a trip to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey performed an in-depth check and discovered that not only were three of his ribs broken, but he also had a fractured femur that clearly had attempted to be magically healed and failed. In addition, she found traces of the cruciatas curse. It took some time, but the child finally broke down that it was his father that caused the damage."
I was outraged. I looked over at Draco to see his initial impression and found him tight jawed and breathing quickly through his nose. It seemed he needed a minute so I took the lead.
"That is absolutely dreadful. Who could do that to their own child?"
Malfoy, in a rough voice of poorly suppressed anger, was the one to answer. "Unfortunately, it happens more often than you would think in the pureblood circle. Am I right to assume this is a child from a pureblood family?"
McGonagall nodded morosely. "Bryson Burke. He is the nephew of Caratacus Burkes of Borgin's and Burkes in Knockturn Alley. I believe you may know him Mr. Malfoy and I don't think you would find it a stretch for this child's accusations to be truthful."
Malfoy's grip on the chair was turning his knuckles white. "No, not a stretch at all. May we speak privately to the child? We will need to get all the information we can. Our hands will be tied in terms of some of the abuse, but if he's been subjected to the cruciatas, that will give us something to work with."
"Of course. I will pull him from class and you can use my office here to speak with him. I'll be back in a few minutes."
As soon as she left, I turned to Malfoy. "Malfoy, did this happen to you?"
His eyes met mine and I could see the hurt in them. "Let's wait to have this conversation after we've spoke to the boy. I'm not avoiding it and I appreciate the concern, but now is not the time to bring up my past. I need a clear head for this."
I placed my hand over his and squeezed. "Ok. You don't have to talk about it, but if you ever want to, I'm here for you."
"Thanks, Granger." He attempted a smile but it didn't reach his eyes and I could practically feel the pain he was trying to tamp down.
A few minutes later, McGonagall reappeared with a gangly boy sporting messy brunette hair and brown eyes. He was also pale as a ghost, clearly frightened at being summoned to the headmistress' office.
"No need to be afraid, Mr. Burke. I want to introduce you to a couple friends of mine. This is Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy." We both shook his hand. "They were both students of mine as well that have gone on to become excellent aurors. I trust them both absolutely. Now, I know you were a bit hesitant yesterday to tell me what has been going on, but I am going to leave you in the capable hands of these two while they ask you some questions." She took a minute to grab his shoulders and give him a serious look. "Mr. Burke, I'm going to make sure you have protection from anything like that ever happening again if it's the last thing I do. These are the right people to help you. Please, let them."
McGonagall gave us a nod and left her office. Now that it was the three of us and she had clearly just built us up to be some type of saints, I was feeling a little bit of pressure. None the less, I cleared my throat and began.
"Hello Mr. Burke. Is that what you'd like us to call you?"
He shook his head. "I hate my last name. Please just call me Bryson."
"Bryson it is then." I smiled warmly. "Come sit down. We just want to talk. That's all." I handed him my plate of uneaten biscuits. "Can you tell us about what happened over the holidays?"
The question needed to be asked, but as soon as I did, the panic rose on his face again. Before I could say anything else, Malfoy stepped in in a soothing voice.
"This wasn't the first time, was it?" Bryson shook his head. "What was it that set him off this time? Was it grades? A comment? Someone you were associating with? Your house?" Bryson looked down at his shoes, but didn't say anything.
Malfoy got up and kneeled before the boy. "I'm going to tell you a story Bryson, and you tell me if it sounds familiar. Ok?" He nodded. "Once upon a time, there was a charming young man born to an awful father. This little boy was told exactly how to behave, how to dress, who to socialize with, and what ideals to follow by his father without any regards for his own opinion. The little boy listened because he looked up to his father, as he should be able to, and wanted to please him."
Malfoy's knees began to tire so he pulled his chair to sit in front of him instead. "Sorry, this is a bit of a long one and I'm not as young as I once was." Bryson chuckled a bit, then returned to looking at his shoes.
"Anyways, this boy had a pretty easy life to start. His parents were wealthy and he got everything he ever asked for. While he was growing up, there wasn't much outside influence beyond his father's circle and the people he felt worthy enough to interact with. Things were fine and the boy was a bit oblivious. I mean, most kids are at a young age and they rely on their parents to learn as they grow. When this boy was eleven, he went off to Hogwarts. Thankfully, he was sorted into Slytherin, because he just had this feeling that anything else would be unacceptable. When he wrote home, excited to tell his father that he had done something he thought would please him, he was simply met with an unimpressed reply that it was not an accomplishment to achieve something that was expected of him. Are you following so far?"
"I think so." Bryson was listening with rapt attention. So was I for that matter.
"Good, I'll keep going. The school year began and this boy worked hard to maintain good grades as he had been ordered to do so by his father. It wasn't that hard because he actually enjoyed learning, but there was a problem. In another house, there was a girl that had a thirst for knowledge even greater than his and she consistently excelled and beat him in every subject. Well, besides potions." I had to smirk at that one. "Regardless, no matter how hard he studied, he couldn't match this other witch. He went home for his first holiday and showed his father his grades. He was honest and told him that someone had taken the top spot in their class and he was number two. His father was outraged. The boy tried to defend the girl and explain that she was simply brilliant and it wasn't something that could be helped. He told his father that she seemed quite nice and kind and she worked as hard as he did so she deserved those grades. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of slipping in that it was doubly impressive being she was a muggleborn."
"He didn't!" The look of horror on Bryson's face said it all and my heart hurt for the two boys in front of me.
"Oh yes, he most definitely did. Now, it wasn't on this occasion that he was cursed. That didn't come until a couple years later, but he was certainly beaten until he was so bruised it hurt to breathe. After that he tried to be careful, but he was a child and slipped up. From that point on it seemed that there was little that could be said to impress his father and most of his time at home was spent avoiding the man he once looked up to. Of course, when it came to grades, he was always quick with a belt or a spell to show his displeasure. When the pressure on his father increased, so did the pain and the cruciatas was used frequently in the home. I won't horrify you with all the details as it gets a lot worse, but I want you to know you're not alone."
Bryson avoided his gaze again.
"Bryson?" His eyes snapped up. "That boy was me."
Shock crossed his features and he studied Malfoy for any sign he was lying to him.
"If there is anyone that can understand what you may be going through, it's me. Please let me help you. I had to endure that torturous life until I was nearly eighteen. You don't have to suffer in the way that I have."
Slowly, Bryson nodded. "Ok, I'll talk. For you, it was being bested by a muggleborn. For me, it was being sorted into Gryffindor. Apparently, that is the greatest sin I could have committed without even trying. Things haven't been the same since. I am a disappointment. I try to get good grades, but it's never enough. Over the holidays, I mentioned to my father a girl that's caught my eye. He demanded to know her name and when I told him, that's when he struck. She's a muggleborn. I've since been told that there had been a betrothal contract between me and another one of the sacred-28 offspring. My being sorted into Gryffindor changed that as they no longer wanted the families to be affiliated. Apparently after the contract was voided, my father reached out to other pureblood families and matched me with a nine-year-old in Sweden. He told me this over the holidays. I got upset and that is when he began to beat me. I tried to just take it and not make a sound, but that got him even more upset and he began to use the cruciatas curse. He's beat me plenty, but that was the first time he used the curse. He refused medical attention and I tried to heal myself the best I could, but I was in so much pain I didn't do it right. My dormmate noticed and said something and that's what brought me here."
I allowed Malfoy to continue to take the lead. He clearly had rapport with the child, so I just continued to take notes as I listened to their horrifying stories.
"You did the right thing by speaking up. Dare I say it's even brave." Malfoy winked at the boy. "Ms. Granger and I are going to do everything we can to help you. Ok? If he had just beat you, our hands would be a bit more tied unfortunately, but using an unforgiveable on you, as dreadful as it was, might have been your ticket out of there. I have to ask. Is your mother around or do you have another family member you feel safe with?"
He shook his head. "My mum died when I was a baby. My aunt, her sister, I remember being kind though I haven't seen her in years. I'm not sure how she feels about me. My father no longer wanted me to associate with her because she approves of muggles."
"I understand. I think we have everything we need from you to get this process started. You're safe here for the time being. Just let us do our jobs and help you. Got it?"
He nodded. "Thank you. Both of you."
He left to return to class and a few minutes later McGonagall reappeared. "Well? Is there anything that can be done?"
Malfoy was having a moment so I stepped in. "He certainly gave us enough information to move forward with charges. We'll need to interview Madam Pomfry to collect his medical records as proof of what happened if we hope to be able to convict."
"She has my instruction to cooperate fully. I trust the pair of you remember where to find her. You both spent enough time there. I have a class to teach in fifteen minutes. If you need anything else from me, please just ask."
We agreed and made our way to the hospital wing.
"Malfoy?" I asked tentatively.
He shook his head. "After. I'll tell you everything you want to know tonight. We'll order in pizza at my place and you can ask every bleeding question running through that brain of yours."
He tried to sound teasing, but it was clear that this case was taking an emotional toll on him and it had only just begun.