Draco was still trying to gather his wits when Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley came up the stairs into what he had liked to refer to as his loft, it sounded better than any of the other terms he had tried to think of that implied both bedroom and tiny attic, where you had to duck a bit half the time or risk hitting your head on the support beams that held up the roof. Ron was frowning as he glanced about and Hermione had a pinched, worried expression.

Hermione took one look at Draco and snapped, "I have half a mind to hit you, that's how angry I am with you. We spent an entire lunch break discussing how to find loop holes in certain laws and how much I despised all the laws the ministry had been making to keep magical creatures from having freedom, and not once did you think to even hint at the fact that they were also taking away your basic human rights long after your sentence was up!"

Draco winced and said, "I didn't want you to think I had only gotten close to you to utilize your persuasion and intelligence when it comes to ministry laws."

Hermione seemed to shock to even process what Draco just said to her, but in her shock Ron seemed to want to get in his own piece, "Mate, that's what friends are for, if you can't bloody come to us when something like this is happening then why on earth are we even spending time together."

Draco looked beyond startled as he asked, "Wait we're friends?"

Hermione suddenly couldn't seem to take the strain and burst into tears, "Of course we are friends you bloody fool! We have lunch every week, I just thought these last few weeks your were overwhelmed with potions, I thought you were finally getting into the swing of things and that things were looking up, and now come to find out it's been the opposite this whole time! How can you think we are anything but friends?!"

Draco held his hands up in a placating gesture and said, "Look, I'm sorry, we just don't really do the whole friendship thing in Slytherin, we do alliances and agreements and occasionally partnerships, but never friends."

Hermione rubbed at her eyes, suddenly more perplexed then upset as Ron asked, "Are you serious? That sounds horrible."

Draco frowned and said, "It's logical though, everyone wants to get ahead and no one wants to get hurt. So if you always expect that others will only assist you for as long as it benefits them then you never have to worry about someone stabbing you in the back, and if you expect everyone will eventually turn on you if they could gain more by doing so, then you'll never get the proverbial curse to the back."

Hermione blinked and said, "That sounds…"

Ron burst out, "Horrible, that's bloody horrible is what that is! You can't just assume everyone is going to try and hurt you if it benefits them."

Draco sighed and said, "You know, I'd really rather not argue over the founding principle of Slytherin logic right now, my head hurts and I rather fancy that common curtsy dictates that in present circumstances you drop the subject and either leave so I can get some rest, or inform me why you had to come all the way upstairs just to pester me when I'm not feeling well to begin with."

Ron snorted and said, "And you wonder why I didn't like you at Hogwarts, your bloody difficult to be around even when your trying not to be."

Draco crossed his arms with a wince and said, "Yes well I could say the same about you and your doppelganger brothers."

Hermione rolled her eyes and asked, "Can you two ever just play nice? Now Draco do you want to hear what I came to say or do you and Ron want to pick at each other until one of you storms out?"

Draco sighed and said, "Alright, what did you come here to say?"

Hermione smiled and said, "Well after I got pretty much every major magical newspaper, not just in England but in nearly every country that has an established magical community, to print exposés on your situation and everything, the number of letters, mainly howlers, that have been pouring into the ministry have been astronomically high. It got so bad that Minister Shacklebot had to fumigate his office. I can't believe he let all of this happen, although there is some speculation that he has been taking various recreational potions since the war to ease some post traumatic stress, it's still unethical and unacceptable, and many other countries have implied that if he isn't sacked and if policies aren't changed that they will be forced to take action against the British Ministry of magic, France in particular has rallied quite a few countries to arms."

Draco bit at his nail and said, "Well of course France would be upset if it became public knowledge what the ministry did, between all the work my mother does for the ministry over there and the fact that the Malfoy line is still considered Royalty over there they are probably taking it as a personal injustice."

Hermione smiled and said, "That explains a bit of the choice words their letters had."

Ron burst out, "Wait. What do you mean your Royalty?"

Draco snorted and said, "My father's grandfather's older brother was the true king of France for nearly a century, and considering that the current King is technically my cousin and considering that he had no legitimate heirs, if he passes away before he can beget a heir then I'm next in line to inherit the throne, although it is more a formal title these days, with the one wearing the crown only having a third of the government power currently."

Hermione nodded and said, "That should help, but really at this point it's only a matter of time before the minister is forced to retire and now it looks like the United Nations of Magic is thinking about stepping in, since they are calling this a crime against humanity. They are planning to send representatives to get statements from all of the victims of these hate crimes, and they want to interview you first since you've made such an impact already. If you are up to it, they gave me an address to fire-call and they said they could have a crew to interview here within an hour, whenever you are ready. They will go through the questions with you briefly before the actual interview so if anything is too personal or makes you uncomfortable they will take it out of the interview. I really think that if you could do this interview it would really get the ball rolling and get the UNM on our side."

Draco felt himself pale and he glanced over at his trunk where he kept the remains of his wardrobe, "I'm not sure I'm ready for an interview."

Hermione bit her lip and said, "You don't have to Draco, it would just make everything a bit easier."

Draco closed his eyes and said, "Yes, I know that, and if this will prevent future incidents like yesterday then it might be worth the un-pleasantries."

Hermione smiled and said, "Thank you Draco, this will be worth it all in the long run. I'll run down and place that fire call, Harry do you and Ron think you can get him into something decent and hopefully cover that bloody mark on his neck, I think you should probably leave the bruises and the bandage alone, they will add a dramatic flair, put home the point that these are brutal times."

Draco raised and eyebrow and when he was certain Hermione was out of ear shot he said, "I think she could give my mother a run for her money, and frankly that is terrifying, you Gryffindor lot really are brave."

Ron snorted and said, "It's not brave if you do everything you can to keep her on your side mate, now lets see what we have to work with… wow I really figured you for the vein type, you almost have less in here than I do."

Draco tensed but kept silent as Ron went through his wardrobe and after a few minutes he pulled out one of the few outfits Draco had refrained from wearing in the hopes of keeping it pristine. Harry and Ron without even a by your leave started twisting and pulling Draco until he was panting and cursing under his breath, but never the less fully dressed. When Hermione knocked on the door Ron was in the midst of saying, "Well at least you weight barely a few stones or else this would have been even worse."

Hermione entered the room when Harry opened the door and said, "I fire-called Mrs. Weasley as well, she'll be over in a few minutes. I thought it would be good if the crew could interview Mrs. Weasley and get her opinion on how extensive the damage was to Draco's person."

Draco fidgeted and tried to get comfortable once more in what had once been his day to day clothes, always pressed and starched and stiff like they had just been bought. All at once it seemed like an eternity and a single second before first Mrs. Weasley arrived, dressed in her Sunday best, and then not long after a crew of three men holding various cameras and a woman who looked like she could either be American or perhaps French with her stylish business suit in a bright pink that accentuated the color of her skin and her blonde hair was beyond pristine with perfect curls pulled back out of her face, she wore light make-up and just a slight gloss on her lips. Draco could see that every aspect of her appearance had been calculated to put at ease certain members of her audience and anyone she was speaking to. She smiled at Hermione as she lead the way up into the attic and was careful not to show any emotions as she was introduced to everyone as simply Emily.

It seemed like in a matter of seconds the small crew had set up dozens of lights and positioned Harry, Ron and Hermione so that they were out of the main view of the camera but close enough that they could turn to them if they needed another opinion on the matter at hand. Emily sat down next to Draco and said, "I know we said that we would wait to film until after we had gone over the questions, but I'm sure you can agree that this will go best if it doesn't seemed rehearsed, but the decision is up to you."

Hermione looked like she was about to protest but Draco said, "Alright, but we get to view the interview once before you leave and we have the right to ask you to cut any unnecessary bits."

Emily nodded with a pleased smile and then the camera's and the lights lit up and Emily said to the camera, "I'm Emily David here with Mr. Draco Malfoy in the hopes of getting inside news on what many leading newspapers are calling the crimes against humanity. Now Mr. Malfoy, do you mind if I call you Draco?"

Draco smiled ever so faintly, although it was more an unconscious mimic of the woman's own bright smile and it was more a twitch of his lips than an actual smile, before saying, "Draco is fine, my father went by Mr. Malfoy."

Emily smiled and said, "Alright Draco, I know everyone is dying to hear the current news, but I think it's best we go back to the beginning, or at least go back to what lead up to you being where you are now. I'm guessing this all started with the war against one of what is believed to be the greatest dark lords in world history. How did you come to be involved in the war?"

Draco took a deep breath and said, "Well there were actually two wars, the first of which I was not even alive for. To explain how I came to be a part of the second war I need to first explain my father's role in the first, or at least how he came to be a part of the war. I am not trying to belittle my father's crimes, of which there was numerous, I am simply trying to explain the situation."

Emily nodded and said, "Of course, so how did your father come to be, as many have testified, the left hand of the dark lord?"

Draco sighed said, "My father during that time had just married my mother and he imagined a world where his children could potentially be better off than he was as a child. Needless to say, he fell into the Dark Lord's, or as he was known then, Tom Riddle's inner circle. When he first started attending meetings with Tom Riddle, he had no idea how rapidly what had started as a group who wanted to simply be able to change current laws so that pureblooded children could receive education and do magic earlier would turn into a war against those who were not pure of blood. I'm not trying to say that my father was not prejudice, he did believe that pureblooded children where better then muggle born, if for no other reason than that they could inherit family magic. Still by the time my father began to question the methods Tom Riddle suggested, the man had already claimed enough power to be a threat to what he hoped was his blossoming family. It was when my father found out my mother was pregnant with my older sister that he accepted the first dark mark in recorded histroy, and promised utter servitude to Tom Riddle in exchange that my mother be left out of the affairs of war."

Emily frowned and said, "Pardon me dear, I hate to interrupt, but I was not aware that you had an older sister. Did she also follow in your father's footsteps?"

Draco shook his head and said, "Unfortunately my older sister and my older brother were both miscarried in the start of the final trimester, and after me my mother had three more children that did not make it past infancy. Instead of taking this misfortune as a sign that perhaps pureblood families where a time of the past, my father took it as a sign of just how much more precious pureblooded children were, by the time my mother had miscarried my brother, the first war had been ended thanks to the boy who lived."

Emily frowned and said, "But if your mother had just miscarried your brother then that would mean you were not even conceived when Harry Potter was a year old, which would make you at least a year younger than Harry Potter, but isn't it true that you were in the same school year?"

Draco nodded and said, "Yes, my birthday fell just within the old pagan calendar's version of current calendar's leap year, and through a technicality, I was able to attend Hogwarts a year before I would have normally, but that does not change the fact that by all other legal standards I was a year younger than the rest of my classmates, a fact my father encouraged me to keep hidden so that I could get a leg up on those actually my age."

Emily nodded and said, "Alright, so then back to the main question, how did you become a part of the second war?"

Draco took a deep breath and let it out before saying, "I believe another reason my father kept my age a secret was that he lived in constant fear that the Dark Lord had not truly been vanquished. This is a bit of speculation, as this was something my father never directly talked about, to me or in his journals, but it would explain a few things. Anyway, the Dark Lord did return, and not long after he did, my father was incarcerated and the Dark Lord took up residence in my home. When I returned home from Hogwarts he was already there. Because my father had sworn oaths to him, the Malfoy family magic did not perceive him as a threat and he was able to break through the main gates without much difficulty and there was nothing my mother and I could have done to prevent him from entering the grounds or to get him to leave once he had gotten comfortable."

Draco took another deep breath to steady himself for what was to come and continued, "At the time, the Dark Lord was furious at my father, for many reasons, and he knew that the best way to get back at him would be to make me a death eater, and he could because when they had sworn their oaths, my father one of servitude, the dark lord had only swore not to claim any existing family, and since I had not been conceived then I was fair game as it were. Of course at that time I did not know that the Dark Lord had already sworn never to mark my mother, I only knew that the Dark Lord could track every move a follower made by the mark, and that he could cause a follower agony and even death through the mark. My mother, I know, portrays herself as strong and independent for the public eye, but in private she was an emotional wreck, she was terrified of the dark lord, of what had become of her husband, and she was terrified of what would become of her and I. I was convinced if I could just take the mark, I could do something to please the dark lord for at least long enough for my mother to escape, but I'm afraid I was the absolute worst death eater or perhaps the best, in the sense that I never actually committed one of the unforgivable curses. I never had the conviction to carry them out, and I suffered greatly for it, even more so when my father escaped from Azkaban as the dark lord thought it was best to, as the muggles sometimes say, kill two birds with one stone."

Emily let out a breath and said, "Of course, what better form of torture than to make someone watch their child be harmed, and have them be helpless to stop it."

Draco looked down at his hands and said, "There is only one worst, and the dark lord utilized it. My father may have been a criminal, he may have been a bad person to many people, but he was a good husband to my mother and an even better father. I can honestly say that before the war he never once struck me, but then the dark lord told him that if my father could not punish me the way the dark lord saw fit, then I was useless as a death eater and therefore expendable. I think that might have broken my father if we all had not had hope that Harry Potter would once more save us, of course my father could not help Potter in any way or my mother would also come to harm, but my mother and myself took no such oaths, so we did what little we could to help. From claiming not to recognize Potter when he was captured, to making sure he could easily steal our wands, to convincing a fellow death eater to start a cursed fire to destroy what my Godfather had told me was the dark lords key to immortality. Of course we still had to keep up appearances, and I did break some laws, still it was all under duress and for nearly the entire second war I was under age. When the war was finally over, my father and I turned ourselves in and my mother went to France to stay with family there until things cleared up. We didn't think anything of it then, because we knew she hadn't actually broken any laws during the war. The ministry of course painted a different picture, they told the papers and everyone that would listen that my mother was a known death eater, that she had harbored the dark lord, the list went on and on with no evidence to speak of but if my mother had not been in France it is needless to say that she would have faced the dementors kiss as my father did."

Draco paused and Emily asked, "And what happened to you after you turned yourself in?"

Draco took a deep breath and said, "I was taken directly to Azkaban, where I waited for three weeks before I was dragged before the Wizingot in chains."

Emily frowned and said, "I thought the Wizingot was only allowed to use magical chains on individuals who tried to run from the law and were then captured by auoras."

Draco nodded and said, "yes, that is a law, there is also a law that stated that the accused has the right to a defense, whether in the form of their own statement or in the form of an attorney familiar with magical law. I was granted neither as before I could speak a silencing spell was cast upon me by one Seamus Finnigan, and the Wizingot never asked me questions, especially not if I wished to have an attorney. I was convicted of a numerous list of crime, of which only a small portion were truly crimes I had committed and none of which I committed after I came of age, then I was sentenced with two years in Azkaban. I had been there for nearly six months of my sentence when the cells became to overpopulated for the guards to handle any more, I was literally sharing a single cell with four violent offends, none of which were kind, all of which were stronger than me, and since the guards only gave us a single meal a day, I actually went without food or water for quite some time before the ministry thought up the idea of putting low ranking offenders on probation. They drew up paperwork and then starting with myself and a few others, they brought us to the community chambers and told us we could serve extended sentences in Azkaban or we could join their new program and go home, sleep in our own beds. I don't even think I skimmed over the fine print before I signed my name in blood. I've regretted that moment ever since, but I know I would have died if I hadn't signed."

Draco took another deep breath, but realized it was useless, there was no way he could stay calm and in control of his emotions when he was getting to the worst parts. He hoped for a moment that the reporter would move on to Mrs. Weasley and stop questioning him, but he had no such luck, "And what happened after your signed the papers?"

Draco rolled his sleeve up enough to reveal the medal bracer that disappeared halfway through his arm, and said, "They took me straight from Azkaban to an underground facility where they had a med-wizard reluctantly use a muggle device to drill a hole through my wrist and ankle, so that they could place this magical tracking device permanently on me. It took them nearly eight hours to get it in completely, and by the time they were done I had lost consciousness. I woke up in a back ally off of Diagon alley and the pain was still nearly enough to knock me out once more. I managed to make it to Gringots before it started snowing, but by then I was nearly hypothermic. One of the lead Goblins has been an old family friend for centuries since my family had made it a point to return any goblin artifacts if found. He helped me get back on my feet, and informed me that although they had managed to keep the ministry from taking the entirety of one of my smaller personal vaults, they had seized everything else long before my trial. He helped me find this place at a decidedly cheap rate, and helped me get my potions license so that I could have some money for food and things other than rent. After that, for a little while it wasn't to bad, I had food, water, shelter, and I wasn't freezing or being beaten by other criminals, I was even able to correspond with mother. Then the ministry began sending me letters, informing me of new regulations that had been passed for probation offenders. At first they simply screened my mail, but they quickly stopped me from getting any letters from my mother. Then they started sending me letter about what areas I was not allowed to be near, and that I was not allowed to be in the same room with another Slytherin. Then they finally sent me a letter that I was not to leave my own home. Shortly after that I got a letter saying that probation offenders where no longer allowed certain spells, then shortly after that they sent me a notice informing me that a official would be stopping by to take my wand, as we were no longer allowed a wand or any other object that could be utilized as a wand. The ministry sent Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, I'm pretty sure if it where not for Dean, Seamus would have beaten me to death that day, but instead I just had some nasty bruises that took a few potions to heal. Then a few days ago I received a letter that probation offenders would have their homes randomly but regularly searched by a ministry official, and then Seamus Finnigan was once more sent to my home, and I am certain if it were not for Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and his mother Mrs. Weasley, I would have died from the beating Seamus inflicted, even now I am still recovering."

Emily sighed and said, "These are serious accusations, but do you have any proof besides the magical devices in your arm and leg, and your very obvious bruising?"

Draco nodded and said, "I have every letter the ministry has sent me since I came to reside here, I also have letters from the goblins at Gringots, they are a bit colorful, apparently they took great offense that the ministry broke their treaty to take my funds without notifying me. I can allow you to look at a few of my memories or perhaps even question me under a truth potion."

Emily nodded and said, "I don't think that will be necessary today Draco, but it is clear that you are rather taxed and it appears Mrs. Weasley, whom has just recently been admitted as a registered med-witch, believes we are over taxing you when you are still recovering, so we will leave off on this note and hopefully tomorrow you all will be prepared for an extended interview." Emily turned her gaze to one of the camera's and said, "Ladies and gentleman this is the end of our first installment of our investigations into the British ministries crimes against humanity. I'm Emily David."

The lights went out and Draco realized he was exhausted in so many forms of the word. Emily patted his shoulder gently and said, "If you don't mind I would like to make copies of all those letters, I'm sure everyone will want to discuss the matter and it will help you if you actually have evidence out there in the public, I'll be sure a few newspapers print some of the worst of it. Did the letter actually say you could not be in a room with another Slytherin, because that would do well to reinforced that this is another kind of hate crime?"

Draco sighed and told her to check the false bottom on his trunk. With the copies of the letters in their hand the group left and before long Mrs. Weasley had gotten everyone but Harry to leave. Harry helped him out of his stiff clothes, although he didn't bother to help him into a pair of pajamas, the bloody hot ponce. Draco barely registered the bitter taste of another healing potion before he fell asleep half sitting up.