All inspiration from this chapter, the quote 'Time to close my mind and lock up the key,', and the whole counting to stay focused thing is from Malorie Blackman's 'Knife Edge' apart from the passage starting from 'Draco's method of...' to the interveiw ending, that's a mixture of Malorie Blackman's and my own work. Knife Edge is a wicked read, but if you are going to read it may I suggest reading the first book, Noughts and Crosses, first, then Knife Edge and then, maybe, Checkmate, the final installment. Maybe even An Eye For An Eye, which was written for world book day (2003 I think) and comes in between Noughts and Crosses and Knife Edge.

The Ballad Of Hermione Granger

verse 8;

Draco, where is Hermione?

and wherefore has she flown?

for you go out together,

and now you come alone.

Draco, was now, the main suspect.

He had been interviewed by the police, twice. He was in the waiting room, about to be interviewed a third time.

Draco's method of staying focused during interviews was forward for four counts, back for four counts. Nice and simple. Focus on counting. He'd awnser each question on the first count to give himself time to think. It was something his father had taught him. His father was a crook, a con-artist, a 'buisness man'. On the many times Lucius had been interveiwed, he had used the same method.

'Draco Malfoy.' a female with a soft spoken scottish accent stuck her head round the door.

Draco smiled at her and she blushed and turned away. Draco smirked. She obiously remembers the other night, then.' he thought smugly.

Draco followed her through the frame, down the hall, and into a room marked 'interveiws: room 1'.

'Time to close my mind and lock up the key.' Draco thought grimly.

'Take a seat,' the female officer, Dective McFaren, said.

Draco nodded to the other officer, Dective Sweeney, and sat down.

The room was an oatmeal colour and the walls were bare. No posters, no pictures, no nothing. The only furniture was a table, drilled to the floor, no doubt, two seats on one side of the table and a single chair on the opposite.

Click McFaren clicked a button on a tape recorder and said clearly into it;

'Interveiw begun: 15:25. Persons present: interveiwer, McFaren, witness, Sweeney, interveiwed, Malfoy.'

'Is your name Draco Alexender Malfoy?' she asked.

Two, three, four, one.

'Yes.' said Draco.

'Do you wish to have a solicitor present?'

One.

'No.'

'The suspect was offered a solicitor and declined.' Said McFaren into the microphone.

The questions were coming faster now.

'How long have you known Hermione Granger?'

No reply.

'How long have you been in an intimate relationship with Hermione Granger?'

No reply.

'If it wasn't you, who was the last person to see Hermione Granger alive?'

No reply.

The questions were coming quicker and quicker, but still Draco didn't awnser. After confirming his name and rejecting the offer of a solicitor, he hadn't said a thing. Something else his father's training had taught him.

For an hour they sat there, Draco and Sweeney in silence and McFaren firing questions Draco refused to awnser.

McFaren sighed, 'Interveiw terminated at 16:30.'

They all stood up and Draco went out the door. McFaren and Sweeney shared a glcnce. This was the exact same thing that had in the other two interveiws.