Things break in this chapter. Be prepared. o-0
Dora sat across from a disheveled Lucius in the Auror Office, taking in the sight of him. He hadn't been sleeping, that was for sure. His eyes were bloodshot. His hair was a mess. Were those the same clothes as yesterday? Along with his similar appearance, he gave the same, unvarying plea. "I had nothing to do with this," he snarled, putting his forehead into his hand. Brade exchanged a look with her. "Lucius, you've got to get a lawyer." she encouraged for the hundredth time. "Not doing so doesn't make you look any less guilty. It's for you, not for the public."
"I'm not hiring one of those Potter-loving Aurors to 'defend' me over something I had no part in!"
"Listen, you are being offered a lawyer. It's for your own good. What you plan to do is up to you, but you have to know you are being recommended to acquire one—"
"I said I'm done with it!" Lucius roared.
She stopped talking. Brade didn't move. Lucius stared hard at the table for a long time, waiting for one of them to say something next. Minutes went by. Finally, Dora shuffled some papers and let out a sigh. "We have some questions for you, Lucius." she reported. But the frustrated blonde man also was exasperated. "When do the questions stop and the investigations begin? You're not doing your job—to find my wife and son. You're sitting here and asking people questions, trying to find who did it, getting nowhere because you keep asking me."
"This is the investigation. It's been over a week and no one on our Auror field team has been able to find where your family was taken. That's nobody's fault but whoever it was that killed—"
"Kidnapped them!"
"Until I have a body, Lucius, there's no proof that they're even still alive!"
Another dreadful silence fell. No one looked at each other. "You know," Dora said softly, taking a much calmer tone now. "You're not the only one in questioning. We read through Narcissa's diary at least a hundred times now, and each read gave us more and more insight into her personal life."
"And what sort of group besides me did you pull out of that?" he sneered in reply, still angry that he was even a suspect.
"…Molly Weasley. Her schoolgirl friend. Her estranged sister, Andromeda. Har—er, j-just others that might give us some—"
"Others like?" he knew who's name she'd cut off.
"…Like other people who were close to her in the time—"
"Potter."
"…Mr. Potter has been called in for testimony, yes."
"The one who wanted me thrown in Azkaban the first time, and wanted her to go free?!"
"Mr. Malfoy!" It was Brade who shouted this time, silencing everyone. "Must I remind you that we are here for more testimony, and that if you fail to comply with us, you are withholding information to an investigation. That also gets legal punishment." Dora seemed a little proud of her assistant for stepping in. She laid her papers down on the table.
"Now, Mr. Malfoy, I need you to answer some questions for me so we can compare them to the others' answers, just as we've done with all of them. We're looking for consistency. For formality, I must ask, are you willing to answer all of these without a lawyer?"
"Yes." Lucius ground out.
"Thank you. First question: who is Molly Weasley?"
"A blood traitor that had too many kids for her own good…." Lucius muttered. Dora glared. Not the right time to be expressing personal opinions.
"And were you aware that your wife, Narcissa Malfoy, had a friendly relationship with Molly Weasley?"
"Yes."
"How long did their interactions span?"
"I don't remember…when she got pregnant I think?"
"Which time?" So they knew about the miscarriages.
"With Draco. Weasley was having another one at the same time."
"Did you ever tell Narcissa that you weren't happy with her being close to someone you clearly aren't fond of?"
"No."
"Did you ever tell Narcissa that she must not carry on in her friendship with Molly Weasley?"
"No."
"Were you displeased when Narcissa lied to the Dark Lord about the death of Harry J. Potter?"
"No—I just wanted to find our son."
"Did you ever feel any apathy towards her for defying the power she was supposed to have pledged to?"
"No."
"And now we have some questions regarding Draco." She shuffled some papers a little bit more, keeping her eyes on Lucius, until she managed to pull out a piece of parchment of a different shade of yellow. This one had a lot of markings on it. "Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, have you any idea where your missing son, Draco Lucius Malfoy, could be at the moment?"
"Probably with Narcissa." Again, another stupid comment. Brade tapped his wand on the table.
"In the past few months after the war, how would you describe your son's mental state?" Dora continued.
"He…I don't know…he just sort of shook all the time and didn't talk much…"
"Are you aware of any fears he may possess?"
"Not that I remember…"
"Did Draco have a special attachment to anyone or anything? An object, maybe a childhood teddy bear, or a friend?"
"No, probably not…"
"Mr. Malfoy, you seem very unsure of things."
"I just don't want to give the wrong information."
"He's your son—any information you have on him is helpful. Now, was he more closely attached to you, or to Narcissa?"
"Not really anyone…he just sort of drifted through the house…."
"I mean even before the war occurred. Was there anyone he favored?"
"…Probably Narcissa…"
"And did that upset you in any way? That he chose his mother to run to instead of the father he was supposed to model after?"
"Of course it did. I always wished he would've come to me with his worries and his fears, but he always went to her. She was the one that knew how to take care of him. She was the only one that could calm him down. It was always Narcissa, Narcissa, Narcissa for Draco."
Dora and Brade glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes. "No further questions, Mr. Malfoy. Shall I have someone escort you out?" Dora asked politely, as if any disagreement or testy feelings hadn't occurred at all in that small room. Lucius pushed his chair back forcefully as he stood up. "I can find my own bloody way out of this, dammit." he growled, storming out of the office. Dora took a quill out of her briefcase, drawing a circle around the last question she asked slowly and deliberately. "Oh, I don't think you can."
Lucius hurried out to the main lobby, full of workers that were crowding off to their offices and their duties, new moving pictures of Narcissa and Draco hanging on the banners above them. The nice pictures. The one of Narcissa holding Draco after the battle, the one of Narcissa smiling gently as she just 'happened' to see a photographer while they were in Diagon Alley buying Draco's first year of supplies, the one of Draco turning his innocent gray eyes up to the sky after Lucius had been sentenced to Azkaban the first time. "HAVE YOU SEEN US?" read the bold letters across the top of the photographs. Too many times, Lucius thought to himself with a smirk. Suddenly he heard someone screaming in a high-pitched voice across the lobby. A woman. He looked to his left. Whoever it was was staring up at the pictures with a hand over her mouth, pointing directly at Lucius.
She had red hair.
Everyone stopped where they were going when they heard this murder-like shriek, some slowly making their way, but definitely taking a moment to stare. Molly Weasley let out a choked sob. "What have you done to her?!" she shrieked, still pointing at Lucius. "Where is she?!" All the eyes moved over to him. "You were unhappy with her, weren't you?!" Molly tearfully screamed. "You were mad she had a heart, that she defied the Dark Lord and your own wishes! You thought you'd teach her a lesson!" Some people were hurrying out of the corridors towards her. "I know your secrets! She told me what you did to her! She told me you physically shoved her often, that you beat your poor little boy!" Arthur Weasley knelt beside his hysterical wife, trying to get her to calm down. A Weasley woman never backed off if she was upset about something. "You shut her away from the outside world so she wouldn't tell! Well I know! She's been sending me letters for years behind your back, telling me not to respond so you wouldn't find out and kill her! She told me everything! She told me everything and now you're going to pay for it! How can you take that beautiful face up there, and bash it into the door?! How can you hold that sweet, innocent young boy and defile him in the way that you did?! And then once everyone has their eye on you, you can sneak around with another woman behind her back?! You're disgusting, Lucius Malfoy! You're disgusting!"
From nearly everywhere, reporters and even some Ministry workers chased after Arthur Weasley as he carried Molly away towards his office. Everyone wanted to hear about this news. Someone who knew—someone who had secrets about Lucius that Narcissa told her not to speak of. And she was right there. Easy to get more out of her in such an emotional state. Narcissa had gone behind his back. She'd once again disobeyed him.
"ROT IN HELL, LUCIUS MALFOY! ROT IN HELL!" Molly Weasley screamed from the distance. Although to Lucius, it felt like she was shouting it right into his ear.