It was dark in Draco's holding cell, but at least it was warm. He'd thought, in his panic, that he would be taken back to Azkaban, but thankfully the Ministry had holding cells for those who weren't being accused of very severe crimes. Draco wasn't even sure what he was being accused of, as the questioning hadn't begun yet. He couldn't tell how long it had been since he'd been tossed in the cell. They'd taken his wand easily; he was not resisting in the slightest. He knew what would be assumed if he were to resist in any way, so he had done his best to bite his tongue and be as respectful as possible, if only for Harry's sake. These were his co workers, after all, and anything Draco did while in custody could be taken out on Harry at work.

There was a bed in the black room, and while it was much more uncomfortable than the one at Number 12, he was thankful that he wasn't being forced to sleep on a cold, dank, stone floor. At one point Draco had drifted off, and when he awoke it was to the sound of the steel door being opened and light flooding into the room.

"Rise and shine, Malfoy," said a feminine voice. Draco sat up in the bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, then looked to see who it was at the entrance of the room. She looked to be in her mid forties, slim with dark hair in a tight ponytail that seemed to pull the skin of her forehead back with it.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously as she shut the door behind her.

"You can call me Grant. I'll be starting with the questioning." She flicked her wand and the sconces that Draco hadn't known were there lit up at once. "Seems that someone thought you'd do better without the lights," she said under her breath. Conjuring a stool, she sat across from him in the compact space. "Don't even think about trying anything, Malfoy," she warned, not bothering to look at him and pulling a clipboard and quill from her robes. "There are two guards outside listening in, and they'll be here faster than you can say 'chocolate frogs.'"

"I wasn't planning to." Draco was offended that she thought he might become violent. He had no reason to, and every reason not to.

"Just letting you know. Can't be too safe around a convicted Death Eater." He flinched at the title that he felt hadn't belonged to him the moment he got the tattoo, but she didn't seem to notice or care. "Alright, I suppose we should get straight to business. Now, are you living with Harry James Potter?" Draco nodded. "That's no good, I'll need verbal responses."

"Yes, I am." She jotted a quick note.

"And how long have you been living with him?"

"I don't know the exact date."

"Give an estimate."

"Since the day that news article was published about… about me attacking those reporters. Which isn't what happened, by the way."

"Don't care," she said brusquely as she wrote. "Why did you come to live with Potter?"

"He told me that his house was big enough for me to stay there and when I said that I didn't need his help we argued about it for a while. At first I wasn't planning on agreeing to it, but he talked me into the idea."

"Sounds dubious, but not completely unlikely." She still hadn't looked at him, but was writing on her clipboard as he spoke. "There was news of the two of you having a brawl in Diagon Alley the day before you began living with him, and that the two of you dined together afterward. Was there any point in these two instances that you were capable of slipping Potter a love potion? Amortentia, perhaps?"

"No!" Draco shouted. Her eyebrows lifted a bit and she pursed her lips as she wrote another note. He told himself that if there was any chance of this going well he needed to keep calm. "No, I wouldn't do something like that. If you ask him, he'll tell you the same thing. I'm sure that barmaid watched the entire situation and she could probably confirm this."

"Funnily enough, we did ask her and she said she couldn't be certain," Grant replied in a slightly bitter tone that Draco was sure was meant to be directed at him. "And we can't count on anything from Potter in the case that he is under Imperius or Amortentia. Anything we ask him could be misconstrued due to his current state."

"What current state? I'm telling you, I've never done anything━"

"Don't care," she repeated, cutting him off mid defence. "If we were to take Pensieve Evidence about the situation would we find that your memories don't match up to your story?" Draco took a deep breath, then several more before responding. This was too preposterous.

"You would find that they do," he said calmly.

"Would you give us permission to do just that?"

"I don't see why not." Perhaps if he were to let them go over his memories they would see that he had done nothing wrong and didn't deserve to be there. "So long as I get them back in the end," he added as a precautionary measure.

"Of course you'll get them back again," Grant said with a harsh chuckle. "Not sure what kind of torture your lot subjected others to, but that's not how things go around here."

"And what lot is that meant to be?"

"I'm the one asking questions here. Speaking of, I have more for you if you'll kindly let me get to them." Draco sat still, trying his best not to say anything in his defence that could prolong this process. "Are you and Potter in a relationship?"

"No."

"No lies, now. We'll be double checking everything with the Pensieve, so there's no reason to hide any information from us."

"I'm not, and Harry and I are not in a relationship."

"We'll just see about that. Obviously you're on a first name basis." She said this as if it implied contrary to what Draco had told her, but he really wasn't lying and she would find that out soon enough.

"Harry and I have gone on one date, if you could call it that, and that's it. We've snogged once or twice, but we're not in a relationship."

"Anyway. Have you ever performed Imperius on anyone besides Potter?"

"I've never performed the curse, period." Grant glanced up at him from beneath her eyelashes. It was the first time she'd looked at him, and it was a look of complete disbelief. "It's true." She looked back down at her clipboard.

"How long have you been a homosexual?"

"Is that really important?"

"Answer the question."

"Ever since I can remember." He really didn't see why this was needed information, but he dared not argue with her.

"And how long have you desired a partnership with Potter?" Merlin, she was really peeling back all the layers he'd built up. This was something he'd denied to answer for himself for a couple of years, and he did not want to answer it to her, but there was no way around it. He didn't know what sort of things they did to people who refused to cooperate, but he wasn't inclined to find out.

"I've wanted to be his friend since I was eleven. Relationship-wise, not until recently." This was a version of the truth, at the very least, and it was the only way he felt comfortable answering her question. "I don't see why you need to ask me these things if you're going to be taking my memories anyway."

"There are very few memories we need to take. If we were to take too many you would find yourself in a vegetable state, and that would not be a very good thing, now would it? Not that it would bother me in the slightest if there were less of your kind in society. Not to mention we need to see how trustworthy you are based on the answers you've given." Draco found that with every comment she made about 'his kind' his self control was slipping away. Deep breathing was just barely helping him stay calm. He reminded himself that this was not a permanent situation and that soon enough he would be back home with Harry.

"Home," he said aloud, not meaning to. He'd really just referred to Grimmauld Place as home. Even to him it was strange that he thought of it as such, but when Grant gave him a questioning look he pressed his lips together tightly.

"Last question. Are you involved with any other Death Eaters in any way, shape, or form?" Draco thought to when the last time he'd spoken with his father was. Almost as if reading his mind, Grant added, "Excluding your father."

"I haven't spoken to my father since before he was imprisoned. Other than that, no." She didn't give any hint that she believed otherwise, but stood up, packing away the clipboard and quill into her robes once more.

"That should do it. Someone will bring you food shortly and take the required memories at that time." Draco simply nodded once in response and watched her leave. He was already sick of this. It was all based around the ridiculous rumors spread by a reporting agency that was known for stretching the truth. He could understand on a certain level; he had had a school rivalry with Harry that everyone knew about, had done all he could in school to make Harry's life hell, had been raised by one of Voldemort's right-hand men. There was little evidence to support that Draco had no ill wishes for Harry back then or now. In a way he could see why this was necessary, but he wished that it didn't have to be.

Work dragged by for Harry. All he could think about was Draco and the fact that he wasn't home where he should be. He worried that they were mistreating him, worried that they weren't feeding him, weren't providing for him the way that a human being should be provided for. His coworkers were giving him strange looks all day that ranged from mildly concerned to downright hatred. It was difficult to ignore. The only person who seemed to not have changed in the last day towards Harry was Dean. Dean had even stopped by Harry's cubicle to inform him that he would be starting his intensive training next Monday, since the majority of the list of Death Eaters had been taken care of. Harry had completely forgotten about training, but he recalled Tonks mentioning that while she'd been good at Concealment and Disguise, she'd nearly failed Stealth and Tracking. He couldn't bring himself to look forward to the change of pace, however, with Draco in Ministry custody.

When Harry was finished with work that evening he went straight to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and requested visitation with Draco. They denied him visitation, stating that it was past visiting hours.

"What are the visiting hours?" he asked the stout, chubby man behind the service desk, who barely looked up from the donut he was eating messily. He vaguely recalled one of his coworkers talking about a man working as secretary for MLE named Edgar who was a lazy arsehole. He wondered if this man's name happened to be Edgar.

"Monday through Friday, ten to noon." Harry rubbed his face in exhaustion.

"I work during those hours."

"Looks like you'll have to wait, then, won't you?" Giving the man a tight and unfriendly nod, Harry walked to the Floo room and went home to an empty house.

It felt very strange not having Draco in the house. They'd only just started talking again after two days of silence, but somehow even knowing that Draco had been there and ignoring him felt better than him not being there at all. Harry went up to the first floor and made sure Cosmos was well fed before he noticed the Glacial Snow Flakes sitting on Draco's bed. It looked as though he hadn't eaten any of them, and Harry closed the box up, setting them on the nearby dresser, so that they would stay fresh for Draco's return. He sat on Draco's bed and wondered for probably the hundredth time that day if he was okay. Flashes of his beaten face at the court hearing kept popping up in Harry's mind, making it difficult to keep calm. He wanted to go back to the Ministry and demand that they let him see Draco, to use his status as hero to gain entry to the holding cell. The only reason he didn't was because of what had been said about him in the papers, how he had used his status as a threat towards his uncle. He didn't want to be 'that bloke.' There were already too many like that and he refused to stoop to that level. All he could do was hope that they weren't planning on keeping him for long.

He didn't realise that he had fallen asleep in Draco's bed until he woke the next morning. It was Saturday, and he didn't have to work, but that wasn't something Harry could look forward to anymore. Work had at least done well as a distraction, but now he had all day to stew on the fact that Draco wasn't there. He went downstairs to ask Kreacher to make him breakfast, but thought that making it himself might take his mind off of things. Cracking three eggs in a bowl, he whisked them with some milk and seasonings and let a greased pan heat on the old stove. He drank some orange juice and then poured the egg mixture into the hot pan. As the eggs sizzled in the pan, he lost his hunger altogether. Though he tried, he couldn't help feeling guilty; what if he was eating and Draco was being deprived? His eggs became a lot less appetizing.

"Kreacher," he called. The crack that sounded behind him, which normally made him flinch, did not affect him. "I'm making you breakfast."

"Master Harry will do no such thing," Kreacher said, coming to stand beside Harry. "Let Kreacher make breakfast. Master Harry will sit."

"No thank you, Kreacher. Today's your new day off." Kreacher's jaw dropped open and fear twisted his already gnarled features.

"Master jests! Kreacher will not! No, no, no! Days off are not acceptable!" Kreacher grasped the spatula in Harry's hand and tried to pull it from his grasp.

"Kreacher, stop." He continued to pull. "Stop, that's an order!" Kreacher stopped pulling, but his hand remained wrapped around the spatula while he glared at Harry fiercely. "I'm ordering that Saturdays are your day off and that either Draco or myself will make you breakfast that day."

"Master would not…" Kreacher's voice was full of horror, as though having a day off was the worst thing Harry could've told him. No, the worst thing Harry could tell him was that he wouldn't find his head on the wall beside his mother's after he died, but there was no way Harry would break his heart that way. Harry secretly planned to remove those heads from the wall at his earliest opportunity, and before Kreacher could keep him from doing so.

"I would. On your day off you can do whatever you wish, so long as it does not constitute as work."

"Cruel, horrible master! Filth! Blood-traitor!" Harry knew this was not going to end well and that it was time to backtrack. "Disgusting Master doesn't know━"

"Alright! Bloody hell— fine!" The eggs were burning. "Get rid of this mess for me, I take back your day off." Kreacher cracked a smile, if you could call it that with how distorted his face was.

"Kreacher thanks his kind master," Kreacher said as he took the spatula and took care of the burnt eggs. Harry thought back to Hermione's attempts to free Hogwarts' house elves and remembered how badly they'd taken it. He didn't know why he'd expected this situation to go any better. With the thought of Hermione came a sudden desire to see her. She wouldn't have classes, as it was a weekend, and he decided that he would write to her and ask if she could meet him in Hogsmeade.

After he wrote the letter he went back into Draco's room, having to take several deep breaths before entering, and gave Cosmos the letter. Cosmos was hesitant to take it at first, but after much coaxing from Harry he finally did. It was several hours later that Cosmos returned with Hermione's reply. Harry sat down on Draco's bed and opened it.

Is something wrong? Of course I can meet you. Say, noon, outside of Honeydukes? I need to pick some things up from town anyway, so it'll give me a good excuse to get out. I hope nothing too bad has happened.

-Hermione

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he read her letter. That would get him out of the house and hopefully some advice on his situation. Harry just hoped that she wouldn't use this as an excuse to bring Ron along. He was sure that Ron wasn't ready to make up just as much as he wasn't. Not to mention with how upset Harry was regarding Draco's situation he didn't think he could listen to Ron talking badly about him.

Checking his watch he saw that it was twenty til noon and he thought it would be better to leave now so that he didn't have to be alone in the house where Draco was supposed to be. He went down to the ground floor and left the house, warding it behind him, then Apparated to Hogsmeade. Hogsmeade looked different in the fall; it was strange without the snow covering it. Walking down the lane he saw that there weren't many people in town, and that suited him just fine. It would've made him turn around and head home if he'd been made to sign any autographs or do any impromptu interviews.

He stood outside of Honeydukes and waited for Hermione, who showed up shortly after he got there. She was early, but then she usually was, so it wasn't much of a surprise. When she got sight of him she jogged the rest of the way, thankfully alone.

"Harry," she said as she got to him, out of breath. Hermione hugged Harry briefly, then asked, "Is everything alright? You didn't tell me why you wanted to meet. What's going on?" They began walking at a slow pace, not having any direction, but both not wanting to stand idly.

"Draco's been taken into MLE for questioning."

"Oh, no." She didn't look surprised, despite her tone.

"Oh, yes. All because of that Skeeter article in the Prophet."

"Harry," she said before pausing. "I take it you haven't read today's paper?" Harry was confused. He normally got a copy every morning, but he hadn't slept in his own room the previous night, so the owl that delivered it probably left after not being answered.

"No, I haven't. Why, did they say something about Draco?" Hermione's lips went into a tight line.

"Yes, they did. Skeeter did, in particular. You're not going to like this, Harry. Honestly, you probably shouldn't read it, it'll only add to whatever you're feeling right now."

"Well I can't very well not read it now that I know they've written about him. Wait, did they write about him, or me?" It wasn't as though it mattered. Either way it was bound to be a terrible news report.

"Well, both. Really, you should just let the matter drop. I'm sure he'll be released soon. They might even release him today." Harry could tell that Hermione was only trying to be positive, to help Harry feel better about the situation, but it was only adding to his irritation.

"What did they say?" He hadn't brought any money with him and couldn't buy a paper, so he figured hearing it from Hermione would be better than nothing. "And don't omit anything just because you think it might upset me. I can handle it." Hermione released a long sigh before she replied.

"Basically… Skeeter said that Draco was being detained by the Ministry because there were suspicions about your relationship."

"But we're not in a relationship," Harry said quickly.

"I know this, Harry. I'm only telling you what she said."

"What else did she write? That can't be it."

"She said that it's likely that Draco will be back in Azkaban soon because all signs pointed to him using some sort of dark methods to convince you to be with him. She said… Harry, can't you just let it go? I'm sure it was all lies."

"It doesn't matter if it's all lies. Look, if you won't tell me I'm going to go into one of these shops and ask to borrow a paper, so you might as well get on with it." It was an empty threat. The last thing he wanted was to ask one of the shop owners to read their paper, to stand there while they gave him dirty looks, or looks of pity. If they were to comment on Draco in a negative way he wasn't sure he'd be able to hold his tongue on the matter, and it would only cause a scene, which would probably result in another bad article about him.

"Fine," Hermione said stiffly, believing his threat was legitimate. "She said that Draco was a carbon copy of his father and deserved whatever poor treatment he got while he was being detained. It was mentioned that there were no lingering doubts as to whether or not you were under the effects of a love potion." Hermione shook her head. "She said that when Draco was taken by Aurors you became violent and screamed at them, that you had to be held back for fear of harming them. She even went as far as to say that your position as Auror would be withdrawn over the ordeal because of your behavior. That's about it."

"Bullshit. All of it."

"I know, Harry. You were the one who asked, so don't shoot the messenger."

"I'm so fucking sick of that woman. I didn't become violent. Yeah, I was angry that they took him, and they held me back before I started yelling, but I wasn't going to hurt them!"

"Harry. I know."

"And I haven't been slipped a bloody potion! And I'm not getting fired, I went to work yesterday and nobody said anything about me being fired!"

"Calm down!" Hermione shouted, bringing Harry back to his senses. "I'm sure that whatever she wrote was either highly exaggerated or false entirely. Believe me, Harry, I know how Skeeter works, so you don't need to try and convince me. This is why I didn't want to tell you."

"I was going to hear about it eventually." Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, wishing there were some way he could put Skeeter out of a job for this nonsense.

"It's okay. This will all be in the past soon enough, and eventually you and Draco will be left alone. I'm sure some other scandal will come up that will take the attention off of you."

"Fat chance," Harry said spitefully. "Can't catch a break, can I?"

"You will in time. The war hasn't ended half a year ago, you're bound to be the talk of the wizarding world for a while. I know it's not something you want, but it's how it is. Better to just ignore it." Harry nodded. He needed a change of subject.

"How's Ron taking everything?" Hermione's mouth tilted into a frown.

"Not well. Especially not after your letter came. I tried to get him to come with me to see you, but he refused. He gave the excuse that he had homework, which I know isn't true because I've practically been doing it for him."

"I hoped he wouldn't come," Harry said honestly.

"That's something I wanted to talk with you about, actually. Harry, you and Ron have been best friends since first year. That's not something everyone has and I think it's really stupid of both of you to let this get in the way of your friendship." Harry stopped walking and rounded on Hermione.

"I'm not the one who threatened our friendship! Ron was, and so he's the stupid one in all this! All I did was tell him to sort out his priorities, and I don't think that was wrong of me. It was petty of him to start this fight to begin with."

"I'm aware of this, but your letter didn't help the matter."

"And what was I supposed to do? He said that I could consider myself one friend short because of all this!"

"I didn't know he said that," Hermione said quietly.

"Well he did, and if you need proof I still have the letter he wrote to me. I didn't start this fight and I won't be blamed for it. Ron's the hot-headed one who couldn't keep his fat mouth shut if it meant saving his life." They'd started walking again and Harry had to force himself to keep a slow pace due to his new upset.

"What a mess."

"You're telling me. First I have to attend Draco's trial and everybody blames me for getting him freed, then he comes to live with me and he's this giant prat for the first week. Then he starts to show his true colours and I start to really like the person I'm seeing in him and everyone loses their minds! Now I've got my best friend hating me because I was happy, of all things, and the person who made me happy is locked up in the Ministry because he made me happy!" Hermione started to giggle. "It's not funny!"

"It is when you put it that way," she said defensively, still laughing lightly. Harry let his words replay in his mind, and for whatever reason he started laughing too. It did sound ridiculous the way he said it. If only it were all one big joke. "Listen, Harry," Hermione said calmly, letting her giggles fade. "This too shall pass. I know how cliche that sounds, but it's true. It may seem like everything's falling apart right now, but things will work out. You've been able to stop darker forces than Skeeter. Though I'm beginning to think she could be right up there with Umbridge, at least."

"Too right," Harry said with a grin that reflected the irony of the situation. If only Skeeter had been forced to write 'I shall not tell lies' into the back of her hand. "I'm trying to get an interview with the Prophet, by the way. Set things straight."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? She's just going to twist whatever you say."

"I'm not going to do an interview with her. I wrote to them offering for an interview and said that the only way I'd do it is if someone else interviewed me."

"That still sounds precarious. How do you plan to go about setting things straight?"

"I'm bringing Draco with me." Hermione's eyebrows raised at that.

"Do they know you're bringing him?"

"No. I don't see why I should play fair if they don't intend to."

"This is a dangerous game you're about to play, Harry."

"You literally just said that I could take Skeeter down if I tried." Hermione scoffed.

"You're using the word 'literally' out of context, but I'm sure you have everything it takes to do just that. Really, you should be careful still." After a short quiet period Hermione asked, "Have you spoken to Ginny at all since all of this started?"

"Yeah, she wrote to me about the news of mine and Draco's supposed relationship. I explained what I could without writing a full essay and told her that if she wanted a better explanation we would have to meet up in person. She seems to be taking it better than Ron, at least, which is strange considering she was my girlfriend and Ron… well he's just Ron."

"You know how he can be, though, especially when it comes to Draco. He used to tease Ron a lot in school and I think he's having the hardest time letting that go. It's kind of sad."

"I think you mean to say pathetic."

"Oh, come on, even you can't be so fooled as to think that Draco didn't mean every single thing he said."

"No, you're right. He probably did mean a lot of it, but he was a kid. Kids say stupid things. He's not that person anymore."

"I believe you, for the most part, but it'll take Ron more convincing. I'm not sure if he'll ever fully accept Draco, if I'm being completely honest."

"Well let's hope that he does one day, because I'm sick of everyone treating Draco like he's worthless, or just another writing tool."

"He will. Just maybe not one hundred percent, which is understandable." Harry hated that he could agree with her, but it was true. Even he could understand why Ron harbored resentment for Draco after all they'd been through.

Harry and Hermione walked together in silence for a while and Harry asked her how school was, how her grades were━perfect, as always━before they hugged and went their separate ways. Overall Harry's visit with Hermione had gone well and he felt a lot better when he got home. It helped that Kreacher had prepared treacle tart to go with the herbed Yorkshire pudding he made for dinner. He still felt strange in the empty house, but he told himself that Draco would be home with him in no time and it would all blow over soon.

A hard slap to the face. That was how this Auror had woken Draco up. His cheek stung as he quickly sat up. The Auror who stood beside him, a man who looked as though his life was nothing but misery, looking down on him with disgust.

"Time to get up, lazy sod," the Auror grunted. Draco didn't justify this with a response, but took the thin blanket off of his legs to signify that he would do as he was told. Contrary to what Grant had told him when she'd left the day— or night? Draco couldn't tell— after questioning him, nobody had come to feed him or collect his memories.

"What time is it?" Draco asked groggily as he stood up.

"Does it matter? It's time for the Pensieve, boy, so get a move on." The Auror brandished his wand and cast a Stinging Hex that struck Draco in the centre of his solar plexus, causing him to double over. "There's more where that came from should you decide this is your opportunity to try something shifty, do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." Uttering those words brought Draco back to Azkaban, and he was beginning to wonder if he suffered a case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

A binding spell was cast around his wrists again before he was brought out of the cell. The Auror jutted his wand into Draco's back and steered him through the Ministry to a strange portion of the building that he hadn't ever been to with his father on their occasional visits. Draco assumed it was the Department of Mysteries, but he couldn't be sure. Eventually they came to a room that was completely empty aside from what Draco assumed was a Pensieve.

"Are you taking my memories now?" Draco asked, feeling slightly nervous. He'd never actually used a Pensieve, and hadn't had his memories taken before.

"I won't be. Couldn't pay me enough to be around you that long." Just then Grant entered the room. "Thank Merlin, I've had about enough of him." The man left the room and Grant approached him with all the stiffness that she'd shown the last time they'd met.

"Morning," she said. Draco nodded his good morning. His voice was sure to shake if he said anything at that moment and he refused to show any weaknesses in front of these people. "This shouldn't take long at all. Just need a few of your memories and that should cover everything." Again Draco nodded and Grant placed the tip of her wand to his temple. When she pulled it away there was a silvery strand dangling from the end of it which seemed to be blowing in a nonexistent wind.

"That-that's a memory?" He couldn't help but ask the question, even though his voice did tremble slightly. It looked like something that would only come out of Luna Lovegood's head, but he didn't really know what he was expecting it to look like to begin with, so he couldn't think it too odd.

"Indeed." He tried to think of what memory had been taken, but it was gone, so there was no way for him to pinpoint which one she had.

Grant cast a sticking charm to his feet, presumably so he couldn't attack her, and let the wispy strand of Draco's psyche go in the pool of liquid that was held by the Pensieve. She then lowered her face to the liquid. It took what Draco thought was several minutes before she stood up straight again.

"Well, it looks like you've learned to behave yourself and act more like a normal person thanks to Potter's efforts." Draco said nothing, but was sure his face was just as tight as his throat felt. "And it looks like you haven't lied yet. We'll see if the rest of your memories prove your innocence."

Grant pulled the memory from the pool and returned it to Draco's head. As it entered him he recalled the heated discussion that he and Harry had had in Diagon Alley through to the lunch they'd shared. She pulled another memory from his temple and repeated the process. When she returned that one he remembered being surrounded by reporters outside of his tent and running away, then receiving Harry's Patronus and directions to meet him in Diagon Alley.

This went on for some time and Draco was forced to remember each day of his life at Grimmauld Place one day at a time. At first Grant had only taken small memories, but as it came time to get the bigger questions answered she'd taken full weeks of his memory. It felt really strange, having large portions of his life missing, but those pieces were put back after only a short time, which made it bearable. The part that he hated most was the parts of his memory that exposed his true character, even though those were certainly the ones that would gain him positive points in her opinion. Those talks he'd had with Harry were incredibly personal and Draco wished that nobody would have the ability to witness them, not even an Auror. Finally she was finished searching his head, and he found himself hoping that he would be told he could go home now.

"Well?" Draco asked as she stood staring at him. There was no tone to his voice, only the simple question of, 'are we done yet?'

"Well," Grant repeated. "It seems I've misunderstood you completely." Draco was not expecting that response at all. "I've sifted through the memories of many a Death Eater, and I must say you're nothing like them."

"I tried to tell you," he said under his breath. She either hadn't heard him or disregarded his comment. He was already feeling his anxiety slip away with her assessment of him.

"We may have made a mistake bringing you in here. Had to be sure…" Grant sounded nervous now. "When Dawlish requested an investigation I thought… We all thought— he'd made it seem like there was real evidence to go off of. We wouldn't have approved your arrest if we'd known. I certainly wouldn't have. Bollocks, this is bad." Draco had already figured it was Dawlish who'd started all this just by how happy he'd seemed to be taking Draco in. He was also pretty sure he knew what was making Grant sound so panicked.

"I'm not going to press charges over this," he said, and her face visibly relaxed. "I just want to go home."

"That's something I believe we can work out now." Grant removed the binds on his wrists, along with the sticking charm on his feet, and he rubbed them as his blood began to flow to his fingertips again. A buzzing began in the depths of his chest at the prospect of going home to Harry. Grant opened the door to the room and led the way back through the Ministry towards DMLE.
"H-his hands!" someone began shouting from behind them. "They're not bound!"

"Mind your own business, Randall," Grant called back over her shoulder. Draco didn't even bother to look back and knew somehow that it was that rude Auror from before. He told himself to ask Harry about him when he got home, after he explained about Dawlish.

They came to an office that Draco assumed from the photographs on the wall belonged to Grant. If Draco's guesses were accurate, she had a daughter who was probably in her third year at Hogwarts, if the photo was recent, but there was no man in the photos with her. Instead there was a woman.

"Is that your partner?" Draco asked, pointing to one of the pictures. He was feeling much braver now and his voice did not shake, though he did sound quieter than usual due to the nature of the question he was asking.

"My wife, yes," Grant responded, not looking up to him. She was busy sorting paperwork of some kind.

"I thought same sex marriages weren't legal."

"They're not. It's a common law marriage, not recognized by the Ministry, or Britain in general for that matter. But she is my wife." Draco wondered if it was a coincidence that his case was primarily being handled by a possible lesbian, but didn't think on it for too long. He did wonder, though, how she'd managed to get hired in the first place. It was common knowledge that employers were able to discriminate against potential employees due to sexual orientation. Perhaps she'd kept it a secret somehow during the hiring process.

"Listen, I know I'm in no place to be asking favors, but━"

"I would disagree entirely," Grant interrupted. "Because you've been detained with little to no evidence supporting the charges against you, and have proven yourself more than innocent, you could cause several people to lose their jobs here if you were to press charges. Myself included." Draco saw the slight fear in her eyes and the tightness of her mouth.

"I don't want to press charges, I've already told you. I was just hoping that…" He wasn't sure how to phrase what he was trying to say, but pressed on anyway. "As you know by now, the media has a very bad opinion of me. I'm not asking you to clear my name completely; I know I've made mistakes and I know that I haven't led the most proper life by wizarding standards. It would be nice if you could give an official report on my pensieve evidence, without giving away too much detail." Grant seemed to consider his favor for a short time.

"I think that's something I could do. As you said, I won't be 'clearing your name,' as you put it, but I can put a good word in for you."

"Thank you," Draco said on a sigh. "Oh, and if you could please not━"

"There are other reporters than Skeeter, Mister Malfoy. You don't need to worry there. Believe me when I say that you're not the only one who's suffered at her hand because of your sexual preferences." Draco had already thanked her once, and though she seemed to know a bit of what he was going through he didn't feel inclined to do so twice in one sitting. He may have changed, but he didn't dish out gratitude for no reason. As happy as he was to be getting released, they'd still detained him in the first place and then practically starved him while he was there.

"How long was I here, by the way?" he asked out of curiosity. He'd only been given two meals.

"You've been here for seventy six hours." Three days and two meals. Why wasn't he hungrier than he should be? It would be Monday, then. Harry would be at work. Draco told himself that it would be okay. This would give him time to readjust to being back at the house.

Grant filled out his release forms and walked him to the service desk, where a bald chubby man sat eating a sandwich. Draco became hungry, as disgusting as it was to watch the man eat with his mouth open.

"He's good to go, Edgar," Grant said, handing the man a copy of Draco's release form.

"Right, I'll have that sent up to Filing. Good day to you both." Draco didn't say anything, as the man hadn't even had the common courtesy to look away from his sandwich long enough to see who was standing in front of him. He and Grant walked several meters from the service desk and she patted his shoulder once.

"Well, you're free to go. If you'd like I can escort you to the Floo room or you can simply Apparate back to your house from outside the building." Draco looked out through the exit doors and saw that the way was clear of many people and decided to take that rout. The sooner he could be gone from this place the better.

"I'll just go out the exit," he told her.

"Alright," Grand said, taking a step back. "Oh, and make sure you keep an eye on the paper these next few days. I recommend the Quibbler. Just skip past all the junk about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks or whatever else they've got in there."

"Will do." And with that he turned away and left, Apparating home as soon as he felt the magical wards against Apparition fall away.

A/N: Thank you, to those who are still reading, and our apologies for not adding an author's note to the last chapter. Universally-disney: Congrats! You're the first person to review our story since chapter 9! To our still-there-and-following readers, as well as those who left faves/follows, thank you so much. We appreciate the motivation that you offer us through any form of feedback. (But particularly reviewers. Let's not sugarcoat things; you who review are certainly the most motivating of all.)

Another apology is due, it seems, for our lack of steady or frequent publishing. We really do have rather a lot of story left to publish (we're working on the epilogue now,) but real life does get in the way of updates, sadly. The updating process will go a lot faster once we've finished writing completely, which is a lot closer to happening now than it was a month or so ago. Bear with us and we promise you this story will get completed soon.