Hello! Sorry this chapter took a while to post, I have been pretty busy lately and this was a very long chapter. Enjoy and review!
Chapter 5:
Hermione sat at the table in the interrogation room, rubbing her temples. She hadn't slept well the night before, after seeing the memories. Her mind wouldn't settle. She couldn't stop thinking about everything that they had seen.
There was a knock at the door. Harry rose from the silent table and went to open the door. Malfoy stood in the doorway. Magic had healed him quite a bit, but he still didn't look great. He had dark circles under his eyes and his forearm was still wrapped in the white bandage. He still held himself well however.
"Hello Malfoy, thank you for coming in," Harry said, gesturing for Malfoy to enter the room. Malfoy looked around with slight disgust but kept his opinions to himself. His brows furrowed at the sight of the pensieve on the corner of the table.
"Is there a reason you called me here Potter?" Malfoy said, walking farther into the rolled her eyes.
"We have some questions to ask you," Harry said calmly.
"Okay," he said, then sat at the table. Hermione could see Ron's eyebrows raise in surprise at how easily Malfoy complied.
Hermione and Harry both took seats opposite Malfoy, while Ron stood off to the side simply observing.
Harry cleared his throat. "How well do you know Pansy Parkinson?"
Malfoy seemed slightly surprised and slightly confused with the question. "I've kept in touch with her since school. She's one of the few friends I have still." Hermione saw his fits ball up. She looked over to Ron to see if he had noticed the action too. He had.
"What about Blaise Zabini?" Harry asked.
"Blaise is my best mate. Again, one of the few people who talk to me," Malfoy answered. "Not a lot of people are fond of me as you might've noticed," he said, gesturing to the bandages on his arm.
"Have you had any contact with Andromeda Tonks since the war?"
Malfoy seemed confused by this question too. He probably thought this questioning had to do with his case, Hermione realized.
"No. I have not talked to my Aunt Andromeda. My mother reconnected with her after the war, but I never saw her," Malfoy said. He folded his hands on the table and sat straight in his seat, looking Harry in the eyes. "I don't think this has anything to do with my case, does is Granger?" Malfoy's eyes averted from Harry and he was now staring at Hermione. She was taken back at the fact that he had addressed her.
She cleared her throat and straightened her posture to match his. "We cannot divulge anything Malfoy," Hermione answered professionally.
"Well if this doesn't have to do with my case then I'm being questioned for something else, and I should have a right to know what I'm being questioned for."
Hermione looked over at Harry, not sure how to respond. Harry took a breath, then addressed Malfoy. "I have two options for you Malfoy," Harry said. Malfoy leaned slightly forward to hear what Harry had to say. Harry took another deep breath. "Option one, your life will stay as it is now. You'll go to work as normal and live as normal, but you will come when summoned and questioned at that time. You will also not be given any information, and you could look very much like a suspect of something with this option. Option two, you will join the investigation permanently and be treated as an equal. The information given to you must be kept confidential, but you will know everything we know. I will write your boss and request your services in my investigation and you will work with us rather than at your regular office. So what will it be?"
Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy all looked at Harry in slight shock that he would invite Malfoy in on such a confidential case. "Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione questioned impulsively.
"Hermione, you said it yourself that everything we've seen so far revolves around him," Harry argued.
"Wait what?" Malfoy asked dying to know what was happening.
"Make your choice Malfoy and we'll see if we can explain," Harry said.
Malfoy sat there for a moment looking between the golden trio in astonishment. He seemed to be carefully contemplating his choices.
"Okay Potter," he said, finally. "Tell me everything. Make me a part of the case."
Harry nodded, seeming to have already known he would go with that option.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent the next hour explaining what the had learned so far. Malfoy simply listened, astonished.
When they finally finished Malfoy asked to see the picture they had mentioned. Hermione nodded and passed it across the table. She watched him look over the photo. He ran his thumb gently over it. He then glanced up from the picture and made eye contact with Hermione. There was confusion in his eyes. He had noticed the relaxed behavior of the two of the two of them in the picture.
He gently placed the picture on the table and then folded his hands. "Now what?"
"Now we continue watching the memories," Hermione said. Harry nodded in agreement and stood from the table, removing the vial of memories from the pocket of his cloak. He moved the pensieve to the center of the table and poured the memories in. Malfoy was now standing watching Harry's actions.
"Okay," Harry said then dipped his face in the liquid and disappeared. Hermione followed after him. She landed in Harry's office with present Harry standing to her left.
Malfoy landed on her right side and Ron landed on the other side of him. Malfoy was looking around the memory entranced.
Future Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting around Harry's desk going over paperwork.
"How's the investigation with Malfoy going?" Memory Hermione asked.
Memory Harry sighed. "It's not. I went to the hotel room where he was attacked to see the message he said was there and it was gone."
"What was the message?" memory Ron asked.
"According to him BLOOD TRAITOR was painted on the wall from ceiling to floor in blood," Memory Harry explained. "I don't know if I believe it though. That seems a little far stretched."
"It's not far stretched mate, it's a lie," Memory Ron said bitterly.
"Ron, just because you have a grudge against him doesn't mean we're supposed to abandon his case," Memory Hermione argued.
"It's not our case 'mione," Memory Ron shot back. "It's Harry's we shouldn't be involved at all."
Memory Hermione just rolled her eyes and turned to Harry. "Don't give up on it Harry. Did you find anything at all?"
"We found some DNA, but there wasn't enough to get a conclusive match."
"Well that's a start," she said trying to offer encouragement. "Just keep looking."
The memory began to change and visiting Draco jumped at this. "What's happening?"
"It's changing to a different memory," Hermione explained to him.
The memory reformed to show Future Malfoy, Harry, and Hermione standing in the auror's office next to a secretaries desk.
Visiting Hermione glanced over at the desk to see a calendar. "Guys it's April now," she said to the other visitors.
"Come on you have to know something by now Potter," Memory Malfoy pleaded.
"I'm really sorry Malfoy, but we don't know everything. I've said it before, if we find out anything at all, you'll be the first to know," Memory Harry said. He sounded genuinely apologetic. Visiting Hermione felt sorry too.
"I'm sorry Malfoy," Memory Hermione said touching Malfoy's shoulder before her and Harry walked off and the memory changed.
When the memory returned they were standing in the crowded living room of the Burrow. Up on the wall was a banner that said HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY VICTORIE.
"It's also the fifth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts," Hermione muttered, mostly to herself. She heard a weird sound come out of Malfoy next to her and looked over to see the Memory Bill Weasley walk through him.
On the couch in the living room was Memory Harry, Hermione, and George. Ron sat on the arm of the couch next to Harry. They were watching Victorie and Teddy play with a new toy Victorie had gotten for her birthday.
"Harry!" someone shouted from the kitchen. Both visiting Harry and his memory counterpart became alert at the panicked shout.
Memory Harry quickly ran to the kitchen. The four visitors followed him. In the middle on the kitchen stood a Lynx Patronus.
"That's Kingsley's Patronus," Visiting Harry said.
A voice came out of the patronus. "Azkaban has been attacked. We need you."
Memory Harry instantly went to grab his cloak. "Ron, come with me," he said. He kissed Ginny quick and headed out the door to apparate outside the Burrow's boundaries. Memory Ron followed after him.
Memory Hermione went over to Ginny. "I'm going to go back to the Ministry and see if there's anything I can do."
Ginny nodded at her and Hermione headed to the door.
The Memory began to blur and skip. It made Hermione feel dizzy. "It's skipping again."
The picture returned and Hermione was in her office talking to someone on the floo. "Who is she talking to?" Ron asked. No one answered.
Memory Harry burst in through the office door. "I'll call you later," Hermione said, ending the floo call.
"Lucius Malfoy escaped," Memory Harry said, he was breathing heavily as if he had run there.
Visiting Hermione could feel Draco Malfoy stiffen next to her.
"I'm assuming more than just him escaped," Memory Hermione said, seeming slightly confused by Harry's sudden outburst. Visiting Hermione was confused too. Why was Lucius Malfoy Harry's main focus?
"No Hermione, that's the thing," Memory Harry rushedly explained. "He escaped before the attack. Someone broke him out."
This time Hermione's muscles clenched. She looked over at Malfoy next to her. His jaw was clenched and she couldn't tell if he was angry or scared.
Memory Hermione sits at the chair at her desk. "Shit," she mutters. "Harry, there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it?" Memory Harry asked, sitting opposite her.
"We found some DNA at Andromeda's," she said. " I didn't tell you about it because I thought you were too close to the case, but I just got the results back of the DNA test."
"That's probably who she was on the floo with," visiting Hermione said.
Memory Harry nodded, as if to say go on.
"The DNA matched the DNA that you found at Draco's," Hermione said.
Memory Harry huffed. "That doesn't help much. They couldn't find a match for that."
"But there was enough DNA from this sample to match it," Hermione said slowly and calmly. Visiting Hermione had a feeling that whatever her future self was about say, it wouldn't be good. "Harry, the DNA belongs to Rodolphus Lestrange."
"Shit," both Harry's muttered at the same time. Hermione could almost laugh at that.
"Harry, we're dealing with a very powerful Death Eater, and if I had to guess, he was the one who broke Lucius out."
Malfoy turned away from the memory in front of them.
"I think we need to go get Draco," Hermione continued to say. "I think he could be in danger."
Memory Harry nodded in agreement. "Let's go."
"Malfoy, are you okay?" visiting Hermione asked the man next to her. He simply turned back towards the memory, not saying anything, but keeping his fists tightly clenched.
The memory began to skip again and reappeared with Hermione and Harry standing in the entrance hall of the Malfoy Manor. A little house elf stood in front of them.
"Master Draco will be with you soon," the elf said, then disapparated with a pop.
"Potter?" Memory Malfoy said walking towards Harry and Hermione. "Is it true that Azkaban was attacked?"
"Yes Malfoy," Harry said, skipping to what they were there to talk about. "We have reason to believe that you are in danger."
Memory Malfoy looked between the two people standing in front of him. "What? Why?"
"Your father," Memory Hermione said slowly. "He escaped before the attack on Azkaban occurred."
"Which means he either knew about it or someone broke him out that knew about it," Harry said,
"And we think that someone is Rodolphus Lestrange," Hermione finished. Memory Malfoy wore a similar expression as the man standing next to visiting Hermione.
"Why would you think Rodolphus Lestrange broke my father out of prison," Memory Malfoy said, his voice sounding rough.
"We found his DNA at the scene where you were attacked. We just matched it to him today," Harry explained
"We believe you need to be put under protection," Hermione said. "So from now on we think it's best that if you leave the Manor you only do so with either Harry, one of The Weasley's or myself escorting you."
Memory Draco just nodded. Visiting Hermione was slightly shocked by this. Did he really fear his family so much that he would agree to those terms?
"What about my mother?" Memory Malfoy asked.
"I'll have two aurors just outside the wards of the Manor to keep an eye on both your mother and you," Harry said. "It's probably best if she doesn't leave the house either."
Memory Malfoy sighed slightly at his new house arrest but nodded anyway. "Thank you."
The memory began to change again. When it returned Memory Hermione was walking through the Malfoy Manor with a large brown paper bag. The visitors followed her as she marched through the house.
"Malfoy?" she yelled. There was a pop and the house elf from before appeared in front of her. Memory Hermione yelped with surprise. "Oh, hello Poppy."
"Hello Miss," the elf said.
"Could you tell me where Malfoy is?" memory Hermione, politely requested of the elf.
"Yes miss, Poppy will take you to Master Draco miss," the elf said turning and heading down the hall. Memory Hermione and the four invisible watchers followed after her.
They ended in the sitting room where Memory Malfoy sat reading a book.
"Master Draco," Poppy said. "Miss Hermione is here to see you."
Draco looked up from his book and nodded. "Thank you Poppy," he said, putting his book down next to him. Poppy left with a pop.
"Hello Malfoy," Hermione said, placing the brown bag on the small table in front of him. "I brought you some things from diagon alley. Just some groceries and stuff."
Draco stood from his seat and looked into the bag. "Thank you very much Granger," He said. "I haven't left the house in over a week and it's getting quite boring."
Memory Hermione smirked a little. "Glad I could help entertain you," she said, still smiling slightly. "I should be going. I have to get back to the Ministry." She turned to leave.
"Wait Grang-err...Hermione," Memory Malfoy said, stopping her.
Memory Hermione and the four visitors all straightened a bit at Malfoy's use of her first name.
"Yes?" she said, turning back around.
"I just...er...I wanted to um…apologize," he stuttered out.
Memory Hermione raised her eyebrows in slight surprise, but didn't brush him off. "For what?" she questioned.
"Everything."
That was a bit of a surprise, visiting Hermione thought to herself. Looking at her fellow visitors they were just as shocked as she was.
"For the way I treated you in school," Malfoy continued. Visiting Malfoy swallowed hard. "For every terrible name I ever called you. Just...for everything."
"I forgave you for the name calling a long time ago," Memory Hermione said.
"You did?"
"Yes, I did. I don't believe that you're a bad person," she explained "Just that the people around you were bad people."
"Hermione?"
"Yes?"
"I'm also sorry for that," he said pointing to her left forearm where Bellatrix's carving of the word Mudblood was.
"You didn't do that," Memory Hermione said. She sounded as if she were choking on something.
Memory Draco looked down at his feet. "But I could have stopped it and I didn't. I could have stopped a lot of things and I didn't." Visiting Draco and Hermione were frozen in their places, watching the scene.
"Mal-Draco, I don't think you need me to forgive you for those things," Memory Hermione said. "I think you need to forgive yourself." She didn't say it angrily or with any malice in her voice, she just simply stated it. With that she turned to leave but stopped for a moment at the door. "I do forgive you though." And then the memory disappeared.
Visiting Hermione and Draco looked at each other. He held her gaze for a very long time and she felt her heart in her throat, but neither of them said anything as the memories reappeared.
In this memory, Hermione and Malfoy sat at a table in a small cafe in Diagon Alley. Hermione wore a white sundress that rested above her knees and she was fanning herself with a small paper fan.
"It must be late summer for it to be this hot," visiting Harry pointed out, which meant that a few months had passed since the last memory.
Memory Malfoy was wearing a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the top button undone. He looked quite relaxed and Hermione wasn't sure she had ever seen him that casual.
"Thank you for coming with me Granger," Memory Malfoy said looking around the street lazily. They seemed to have reverted back to using surnames. "The Manor was getting quite stuffy and I'd really rather not go out on a shopping trip with Potter or Weasley."
Memory Hermione laughed at this, and visiting Hermione was surprised at herself. She was having a good time with Draco Malfoy. He smiled back at her, an actual smile. Hermione looked at her fellow viewers to see Harry's brow furrowed, Ron gaping at the scene, and Malfoy watching intently.
"Shall we go?" Memory Hermione suggested. "I think if we sit here any longer I'll melt."
Memory Malfoy smirked. "Yes, I should probably be getting back to the Manor anyway."
They stood from their seats and began to stroll down Diagon Alley, simply talking. Visiting Hermione stared at the image with utter shock. They were just talking. It wasn't work related, it didn't have to do with the investigation, they were just talking.
However, the calm and casual scene quickly changed when both Memory Hermione and Malfoy were grabbed and dragged into another alley. They heard a muffled scream and the four visitors chased after the captors.
There were four hooded men attacking Hermione and Draco. Visiting Hermione winced as she watched herself get punched in the face. Memory Hermione went to grab her wand but one of the men kicked it away from her. Two of the men grabbed Draco and pinned him punching him in the ribs and face, while the other two men kicked and hit Hermione.
"They're going to kill her," Ron muttered.
One of the men stepped on Hermione's wrist and she screamed. All four of the visitors winced at the sound of her scream.
"Hermione!" Memory Draco shouted trying to kick away the attackers. He managed to wriggle one of his arms free and punch the two men holding him, momentarily stunning them. He leapt forward and pushed one of the men attacking Hermione into the other, making them stumble. He then dove for Hermione's wand, grabbed her by the leg and apparated away.
The world bent around the visitors as they apparated with him. The world stopped spinning and they stood about fifty yards away from the Burrow.
Memory Draco had blood pouring from his nose, and Hermione was barely conscious. "Shit Hermione," Draco muttered, picking her up. "Stay awake."
Memory Hermione groaned as he lifted her from the ground. Her white dress, was now stained red. She had a large cut on her forehead and her wrist bent at an awkward angle.
"That cut," visiting Hermione said, choking on her words. She cleared her throat. "That's the scar she has in the picture." She wasn't sure anyone was listening to her.
Memory Malfoy kicked open the kitchen door and walked in. "Help! I need help!" he shouted laying Hermione down on the kitchen table. Molly and Ginny ran into the kitchen.
"Oh Merlin," Molly whispered, horrified. Molly began to shout orders at Ginny and Draco and they began to work on Hermione, but the memory blurred and the only sound was a ringing noise.
"What's happening?" visiting Harry asked slightly panicked.
"I'm...she's passing out," Hermione stated.
The memory blurred until it disappeared all together.
"Holy shit," Hermione heard Draco whisper next to her.