Chapter 22: Earning Veritaserum

The next day Draco awoke early and made his way to the Ministry, before the Ministry had even opened its doors, in hopes of finding that the only person there that early, was a lower level employee that was willing to do anything for Draco for fear of getting killed. Of course there was always the bonus of avoiding the stares and whispers that still followed him wherever he went; it had come as no surprise that the news of his problems had become common knowledge.

He walked up to the security guard who yawned at him before placing his wand in the scale to verify his wand and letting him into the building proper. He took the lift to the fifth level, the voice announcing "Level five, Department of International Magical Cooperation, incorporating the International Magical Trading Standards Body, the International Magical Office of Law, and the International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats," before the doors opened and he walked out into the hallway and through doors that read International Magical Office of Law, as he walked down the various hallways he passed Luke's door and decided to visit him before leaving the building. He finally reached a door that read Office of Permits and Licenses and walked inside to an empty waiting room. On the right side was a counter that separated the waiting room from a desk area, a door behind the desk stood open to reveal a room full of cabinets.

Directly across from Draco lay an open door that revealed a small office. He walked forward to see that the room was lit by two charmed windows sitting behind a large desk. In front of the desk were two chairs and the desk was bare except for two pieces of parchment in the exact centre of the desk. There was a door on the right wall that seemed to lead to the same cabinet filled room he'd glimpsed behind the counter. The office was bare of personal touches except for a frame on a small table on the left wall.

Draco stepped into the room and walked to the table. The picture was of a young woman with flowing black hair holding a small boy with equally dark hair, piercing blue eyes and freckles scattered across his face. The boy was speaking a flurry of silent things as the woman, presumably his mother pretended to be captivated, then she'd wink at the camera and return her attention to the boy. Something seemed familiar to him about them but he could not place where he'd seen them. He put down the photograph and considered leaving when he heard a door open, he turned around to see a red headed man step into the waiting room carrying a few pieces of parchment, his nose was buried in a book and the man hadn't noticed him yet and Draco took the opportunity to set down the picture and move away from the table. Draco studied the man and his heart stopped Please, don't be a Weasley, please. The man was now at the door and looked up. His posture straightened when he noticed Draco and as he stepped into the office he eyed him suspiciously. Draco's heart sunk. It was a Weasley, Patrick or Peter, Damm.

"Mr. Malfoy, how may I help you?" Weasley said professionally setting down his load on the desk.

"I would like a permit to administer Veritaserum to a few of my employees." Draco said as nicely as possible.

"I see," Weasley said gesturing towards the chairs in front of the desk. Draco quickly took the seat and Weasley sat down. "What is the reason?" He asked opening a drawer and pulling put some forms.

"As you may know I am being fined by the House Elf Liaison Office and am currently running an investigation on my employees." Draco paused not knowing what else he could say; his dilemma was put to rest as Weasley spoke up.

"I was not aware." Weasley said confusing Draco. "Although I'm not surprised as they will put you under investigation if you so much as look at a Creature cross-eyed. However, I cannot give you the permit without proper documentation. You must go to the House-Elf Liaison Office first and return with the appropriate forms and this sheet completed." He stood and Draco thanked him and stepped out of the office relieved. That hadn't gone so badly.

When he arrived at the 4th level he walked up to the House-Elf Liaison Office and paused after taking a deep breath he walked into a quiet room a lot like the one he'd just left except most of the chairs were very small. There was a young woman behind the counter; exactly what he'd hoped to find when he'd come into the Ministry a half-hour ago.

The young woman who was around eighteen years old and quite pretty walked up to him with a sway of her hips her robes fluttering around her as if asking him to touch them. "Hi, how can I help you?"

"Hi," He said with his most charming smile. "My company recently had a surprise inspection and I was hoping to see a copy of the report."

"Why, of course can I please have your name?"

Draco cringed involuntarily and trying to hide his discomfort and said, "Draco Malfoy, owner of Malfoy Enterprises." Almost immediately her demeanour changed. It always amazed Draco how much had changed in the past few years. As a child he'd been proud of his name. The Malfoys were close to royalty, today it was trash.

The girl's smile disappeared, her back straightened. Her nose rose a few inches in the air. "Riiight, wait here a second." She walked away quickly her aqua robes barely moving as she strode out of the room.

Although she'd made it clear he was not to move he walked a few feet and sat on one of the few full sized chairs, a very uncomfortable wooden chair.

By the time she arrived he'd managed to arrange himself in a pose that made him appear as if he were lounging with nary a worry on Earth although the corner of the chair back was eating into his back.

"Mr. Malfoy," she said in clipped tones, that could have put McGonagall to shame.

He stood up lazily and smiled, "yes?"

"Here," she said thrusting a large set of papers at him.

He grabbed them, "thank you." He smiled and with a small bow he left the Office.

An hour later Draco left the Ministry with a bottle of Veritaserum in a pocket, a handful of papers and a frown on his face.

Percy sat in his chair thinking about Draco Malfoy. He'd heard he was different and that he was friends with one of the Muggle-born lawyers but hadn't paid much attention as he didn't approved of the way gossip went around and how inaccurate most of it was. Yet, Malfoy had been polite if a bit tense, although that must be due to the nature of his request.

He heard a knock on the door open and straightened his clothing before calling out, "Come in."

The door opened and Cindy McCloud, one of his most promising employees stood there, "Hell, sir, is there anything I may get for you?"

"No, Cindy, thank you." He said and the woman nodded and left the office.

Percy glanced at the clock And saw that she was half an hour early and pulled out his employee journal from his desk and noted it under her name. He turned back to the papers he had retrieved and began to go through them checking for inconsistencies. At eight he heard the rest of his employees filter into the office and he walked into the other room to address them and give them their assignments for the day.

A few minutes later Malfoy returned smiling hesitantly as he handed the filled form and the House-Elf Liaison Office's report to Percy. Percy checked the top page making sure all of the information on it was accurate. He handed the report back and called Cindy into the office passing her the form and asking her to bring in the license for him to sign.

"Thank you, very much Wea-Mr. Weasley." Malfoy said, "I know you mustn't normally handle these things personally. I really appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it," Percy thought it was a great chance to expand his connections, sure the Malfoy family didn't seem very liked now, but in ten or twenty years everyone would have forgotten about their unfortunate associations and their money would once again be welcome, "And call me Percy, Draco." He said noticing the surprise in Malfoy's features. "I understand how hard it must be to go through all this. As much as I admire the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' very honourable attempt to try and defend those who are unable to do so for themselves, I do believe it is appalling how they treat Wizards; as if we were beneath those Creatures." Percy thought unhappily of the times he and Hermione had gotten into arguments over this very topic. He had to admit as much as he admired and cared for her he couldn't help but feel bitter that she'd managed to become director of her department so quickly, although he knew she'd gotten lucky that two of her superiors had retired it still grated on his nerves how people were always going on about how she was the youngest director in history.

Malfoy shifted in his seat and said stiffly, "Well, Percy, I'm sure that they feel that what goes around comes around."

A Malfoy trying to be understanding! Maybe those rumours had been true after all. There was suddenly a knock on the door to his left and Cindy entered with the license and a small bottle of Veritaserum. Percy signed it quickly and passed it to Draco who thanked him as he stood. However at the door he stopped and said "Gin-" then stopped and said, "Thank you, Percy, have a nice day." He left and Percy was confused , he was sure that Draco had been about to say Ginny, but why?

Now that he thought about it his sister had looked unhappy at the last family gathering, quiet and thoughtful, especially after Harry and Sally's announcement. Percy had assumed that regardless of her denials and various boy friends she'd still had feelings for Harry but this presented a very interesting solution, what if Ginny was the unidentified red head Malfoy had been seen with recently?

A/N: Tues., May 17, 2004. Yes, finally! You must all hate me! Don't blame you. Just know that the next few chapters will be getting updated very soon, I haven't been entirely idle, I've written the chapters it's just a matter of typing them up!