Hermione and Marian stepped out of the fireplace in the Malfoy Manor's parlor. It hadn't changed at all from the last time Marian had been there. Except that Lucius was sitting on a couch, a copy of the Daily Prophet placed over his knee opened to an article of the murders. He looked up at their entrance and scowled.

"Is there a reason that you have burst into my house at this hour?" he asked.

Marian drew her shoulders back and said, "Mr. Malfoy, I am Marian Malfoy and this is Hermione Granger. We are from the Ministry of Magic Aurors Division. We must ask you to accompany us back to the Ministry to answer some questions."

Lucius blinked at the formal and rehearsed words. "If it's about those mudbloods being killed, I say good riddance to them. Less of them to worry about."

Marian clenched her jaw and fists, restraining herself not to hit her father. No. He wasn't her father. Not now. Maybe not ever. But, right here, right now, he was a suspect and she would treat him like a suspect. And she couldn't hit him. No matter how much she wanted to. And oh how she wanted to. "I ask, Mr. Malfoy, that you keep a civil tongue in your head whilst addressing my partner."

"What partner?" he asked. "This piece of filth is hardly worth my time."

"Then how about you talk to me instead?" Marian said. "Or are you above talking to a half blood?"

Lucius sneered. "I've given you my answer," he said. "I didn't kill any mudbloods. I'm under surveillance, remember? Your own Ministry put a tracking spell on me to know where I am at any location. You can pull my records-"

Hermione put a piece of paper down in front of him. "You were in the vicinity of each and every attack, around the same time," she said. "This was found your this in your file. A file that matched our culprit to almost a T. I'm going to be blunt with you, Mr. Malfoy. It doesn't look good for your case."

Marian watched as Lucius looked over the paper and then looked at her, completely ignoring Hermione. "I bet you're taking great pleasure in this," he said. "Watching your old man being interrogated by a mudblood."

Marian quickly held herself in check and took a deep breath. "I take no pleasure in watching someone of shared blood being questioned by an Auror. I may not like you too much, Lucius, but you are family."

He leaned forward in his chair. "I thought Aurors were suppose to have no soul," he said. "They say they sell them off so they can't feel anything. And I think you've done just that."

"Says that wizard that joined the Dark Lord because he was a scared little man," Marian spat.

Lucius sprang to his feet. "Don't you patronize me," he growled. "You know nothing of what I went through to keep Draco and Narcissa safe. I died inside each day I served that man."

"And you drank the rest away," Marian said. "Do you even hold the same beliefs as that monster?"

"The purebloods are the highest-"

"And yet you followed a half blood!" Marian shouted over him. "You followed a Magic Hitler to destroy the muggle born 'Jews'. He hated muggles and did you never once consider how messed up he was to hate not only them, but a piece of himself? He probably created so many Horcruxes so he could take that part of him away. And you followed him, putting your family in jeopardy, for what? Power? Money? You say you did it to protect Draco and Cissy. I believe that you may have done that. But there were other ways you could have done that."

"The Dark Lord was rising in power," Lucius yelled back, his face turning red with anger. "There was little I could do! He spoke of a world with Pureblood rule. It was what I was raised on and I will be damned if my own daughter will talk back to me in such fashion."

"You are no father of mine," Marian said, shaking her head in disgust. "You're only a confused fool who jumped into the wrong bed."

"Don't you dare bring your mother into this," Lucius warned.

"Why not!" Marian said. "You're talking about blood status. I'm only a half blood. I'm friends with muggleborns and set your son up with the brightest witch of the age, who also happens to be muggleborn. Face it, Lucius; blood is everything. In this case, in this house, and in your stubborn head. So why not bring up my mother, the muggleborn who bore a pureblood's child? When you were with her, did you really make love to her? Or were you thinking you were sticking it to the filthy race she represented-" A loud slap of hand striking skin filled the parlor as Marian's head snapped to the side. Hermione stared, unsure of what to do.

Lucius's hand was shaking, as well as his whole body, as he tried to control his anger. His eyes flashed hate in them; mirrored in Marian's eyes as she turned to him. "Never talk about your mother that way," Lucius said in a dangerously low voice.

"Why?" Marian challenged. She was going to have it all out. Right here; right now. She didn't care that she was on the clock and suppose to be asking him about the deaths of the muggleborns. Or that her partner was standing there, unsure if she should intervene. She wanted answers and she was too angry to control herself. "Did you even love her?" Lucius was quiet for a moment. Marian snorted. "I guess that answers my question," she said. She turned to leave.

"You better be careful, Marian," Lucius said.

She turned and stared at him. "Or what?" she asked. "You're going to kill me?"

"No," he said. "But the murderer might change from muggleborns to half bloods."

Marian and Hermione stiffened. "Are you threatening two Aurors of the Ministry?" Marian asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Lucius almost snarled.

Hermione, feeling the tension filling the air, grabbed Marian's arm and steered her into the fireplace. "Thank you for your time," she said before Marian flooed them back to the Ministry. The last look she saw of Lucius, though, said he didn't even care; if he had heard her to begin with.

Marian walked over to the kitchen and poured herself a large mug of coffee, tossing it back as if it were water. She poured herself another mug and walked over to her desk. Quillic, sensing something wrong with his mistress, raised his head and nudged her knee. She reached down and rubbed his ears, staring absentmindedly at nothing on her desk.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well," Harry said.

Hermione shook her head. "I believe the fireworks at the Quittich Tournament couldn't compare to the ones I saw," she murmured. Harry's eyes widened and he cast a quick glance at Marian before wisely turning to the table.

"So," he said. "We have a suspect. Lucius Malfoy was seen in the same vicinity at the same dates and times. Unless he can come up with an alibis, or we find someone else, we'll have to arrest him."

"It looks bad," Hermione said.

"There's no one else?" Marian asked from her desk.

Harry shook his head, not daring to look at the angry woman. "No one-"

"What about this man?" Ron said, handing Harry a file.

"Aoris Knightly?" Harry asked. "But he's a wand accessory designer. He wasn't even in Slytherin, or a Death Eater. In fact, it says that he was a big supporter of Dumbledore."

Ron shook his head. "I'm not talking about him as a suspect, Harry," he said. "He makes wand accessories. He could have created one that could have done the job on the victims."

"What is a wand accessory?" Marian said. Her eyes hadn't moved from their spot on the desk, but her anger had cooled slightly.

"You attach it to your wand and it does different things," Hermione said. "It can make a wand stronger, thicker, improve the time a spell lasts, etc. They're custom jobs and not many people use them. They have to be custom jobs."

"And my point," Ron said, looking pleased with himself, "Is that, since his job is to know the workings of wands and spells, we can ask him about the spells used on the victims. Spell breakers won't work because they're too general in every area of spells; not experts in every field, as custom jobs for wand accessory makers need to be."

Harry smiled. "Why, Ron," he said. "I do believe there is a brain in that head of yours."

Ron grinned. "And it only took me three hours to come up with it," he said.

Marian suddenly stood up and grabbed her cloak. "I'm going to go for a walk," she said. "Hermione, do me a favor. If Draco shows up, asking to take me to lunch, go with him instead. I need to calm down and I don't want to worry him." She walked toward the door and closed it before Quillic could follow her. He didn't like that too much, and whined, sitting back on his heels and staring at the door.

Ron blinked. "Even when she's mad, she's still trying to get you with her brother," he said. "I don't know whether that's weird or impressive."

"Or both," Harry said.

Hermione shook her head. "She's going through a lot," she said. "I think she blames herself for not leaving her mum and her stepdad sooner. So she hates herself for not changing, and then feels hate towards Mr. Malfoy for joining the Dark Lord for reasons that sound ridiculous to her." Hermione sighed. "Marian's just confused and doesn't know what to do."

"That sounds like her," Draco said. He appeared out of the fireplace and flashed a smile to Hermione. She smiled back and felt her heart skip a few beats. He squeezed her shoulder, then said, "Let her blow off some steam and she'll be fine."

"I hope you weren't looking to take her to lunch," Hermione said.

"I guess she told you to keep me company so I wouldn't worry?" Hermione nodded. "Well, that's good. But I came to ask you to lunch anyway," Draco said. "Anywhere you want to go."

Hermione smiled and nodded. "We could all use a break," she said, grabbing her cloak. "See you two later," she shot to Harry and Ron, who were glaring at Draco, before side flooing away with Draco to a small cafe.

Marian walked down the street, not caring where she was going. She was just so angry! With Lucius, with his pathetic attempts at trying to defend himself, and with herself, as well. She was with her real father now. She should be happy. But all Marian felt was anger that she was faced with the same feelings and choices she'd had years ago. Only Lucius was faced with the problem. They'd both chosen their own paths and had stuck with them, but filled with regret and doubt.

Marian could have left long ago. Dumbledore had offered many times to transfer her to Hogwarts to finish her education. But she'd declined, claiming that the farm needed her; her mother needed her. But those excuses were false. The farm didn't need her; she only thought that. The same was true with her mother. Yes, her mom hadn't wanted to see her go, but what mother ever wanted to really see their child leave them? But she'd had Marian's half brother and stepdad. Marian was just an unwanted reminder of a weak moment. When she'd finally realized this, Marian had jumped at the opportunity to leave Pennsylvania and go with Cissy. The truth behind the excuses was that Marian had been too scared. And maybe that was what Lucius was feeling.

The anger and steam left Marian. Lucius had been scared, though he'd never admit it in his life. She saw that now. He'd been raised to believe something his entire life. And then came along someone who spoke the right words and made it seem like a Utopia. A world with none of the 'lower blood statuses'. He was probably eager. And, by the time he'd figured out what it really was, he was too sucked in to get out. So he'd had to play along, scared that the Dark Lord would kill his family. Fear made people do stupid things, like trying to maintain a person's previous persona when it only hurt people; Marian knew this better than anyone else. She had no right to judge. Marian stopped on the sidewalk and sighed. She had to apologize. Well, this was what you got when you were a hormonal girl on a murder case. Unnecessary drama. Man, was she feeling stupid.

She turned to head back to the Malfoy Mansion when she felt her body freeze. Her limbs didn't freeze up or anything, but she lost all control on them. Slowly, she turned and walked down an alleyway. Her head told her to run, but her body wasn't listening. She made it down almost to the end before her body stopped. Marian tried to turn her head to look around, her neck wasn't listening. Big surprise.

"Ah, the Malfoy chit," a slimy voice said. A tall man walked out in front of her and smiled with a smile that would have made Marian cringe if she'd had control of her body. "You know, I'd have never believed Lucius had brought himself so low as to sleep with a muggle. But you're just the most perfect proof to his disgrace." He reached out and ran a dirt covered knuckle over her cheek. "I believe you and I should have a talk. About your father and those mudbloods that have showed up."

Marian suddenly felt her body fall. The man caught her and she only saw his ugly smile as blackness surrounded her.

AN: I would like to apologize for the long wait. I had to find my notes on the chapter and that lead to me cleaning my room. Did you know there's actually a floor? Who would have known. Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Oh, and sorry about the Hitler reference in the first part of the chapter. It was to make a point and I apologize if it offends anyone. It was not written to do that.