Hermione spun around to face Draco, who was still standing helplessly, his head twisted around so that he could see whether his revelation had worked or not.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"The interviews. They were my mother's idea. Please, Granger, just come and sit down and let me explain everything. If you still want to run to Potter and Weasley when I'm done then I'll let you go."

"Fine," she said apprehensively and took a seat at the table.

"Will you unlock my legs so that I can sit down too please?"

"Yes," she said, taking out her wand and silently casting the counter jinx, "but I'm not giving you your wand back."

"That's understandable. I'm not going to try and run though. I want to explain," he said sincerely.

"I'm listening."

"Okay. Yes, I did have four notes from the Knights of Walpurgis before Astoria went missing. All of them said pretty much the same thing as the one you've just read, that I should join them and use my job at the ministry to help them get to Harry. I ignored them all, including that one. Mother read them too, and she agreed with a fair amount of what they said, killing Harry aside."

"Then what did she agree with?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

"That I was disgracing the Malfoy name by working in support of Muggle-borns alongside Potter. She said we should have spent our time associating with the high society lot who hadn't actively supported Voldemort, trying to regain the reputation we had ten years ago. Apparently I was going the complete wrong way about it."

"How so?"

"Well, when I left Hogwarts she wanted me to work closer to the Minister or in magical law or something like that, something respectable. I told her that I wanted to do something more proactive for the wizarding world, I wanted to maintain the peace that everyone had fought so hard for in the last war. When the job came up in the Auror department it seemed perfect for me, Mother couldn't have disagreed more. We fought tirelessly for days about it, she argued that I should get a job that wasn't associated with Muggle-borns and find a nice high society girl to marry."

"That's preposterous!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I couldn't agree more. I told her that it didn't matter who your friends were, who you associated with or what your blood status was anymore-"

"I'm sorry, what?" Hermione interrupted, confusion in her voice.

"You heard me. I know this is the most we've spoken to each other in our whole lives, especially since the war, but surely you must have realised I'm not a small-minded prat anymore?"

"Well, you haven't called me a Mudblood in the last four years so I suppose that's something."

He shook his head. "It's not just that. When my father was sent to Azkaban, or I thought he was, I finally had the chance to think for myself, to have my own opinions. The fact that I was the only Death Eater who survived the war and wasn't sent to Azkaban hit me hard. I only ever joined because of my father and he was out of my life, so I made sure I didn't waste my second chance. I went back to Hogwarts and spent a year not speaking to anyone and constantly being whispered about. There were so many times I wanted to leave but I knew I had to get my NEWT's if I wanted a job at the Ministry."

"I remember the whispering well, a fair share of it was about me, Ron, and Harry."

Hermione sighed at the memory, the year after the war had been much harder than she had anticipated. Once they had suffered the pain of attending all of the funerals of their friends, and in Ron's case, family, Hermione had assumed the hard part was over, but she had been wrong. The first time the trio had gone to Diagon Alley after the war, there was complete pandemonium. Every witch and wizard there had wanted to meet them, to thank them, and many even wanted to have their photograph taken with them. Harry had received the most attention, naturally, but Ron and Hermione hadn't been far behind. For a few months after that, all three were scared to return and instead had taken to given members of the Weasley family a shopping list whenever they needed anything.

The behavior of the wizarding world hadn't come as a total shock to Hermione, she had expected some attention. What surprised her completely was how the students had acted upon her return to Hogwarts. There was a huge amount of whispering and pointing on her first day back and it barely let down until at least after the Christmas holidays.

She was given the position of Head Girl but quickly became frustrated with the prefects using their meetings to bombard her with questions about her involvement in the war, or the girls asking if she would introduce them to Harry (no matter how many times she told them he was dating Ginny). She also received a lot of unwanted attention from the boys, to her horror. The few who had returned from her own year thankfully treat her as they always had but those in Seventh year who were the same age as Ginny, and some of the sixth years did not. She was asked out on twelve separate occasions in her first week back and took to hiding in her dormitory when there was a Hogsmeade visit coming up after the first announcement led to her being followed around the corridors in between lessons.

"At least your whispering was positive though," Draco said in a bitter tone, bringing Hermione out of her thoughts. "I was called a Death Eater on a daily basis, and that was the kindest of their insults."

"But what does all of that have to do with the magazine articles?" Hermione said, remembering the reason she was still sitting in the small kitchen.

"I'm getting there. So, Mother and I argued about the Auror job, she was adamant that it would do nothing for her reputation. Eventually we came to a compromise and I applied, never in a million years did I think I would get it, but I did, as you know."

"What made her change her mind?" Hermione asked.

"That's not important," he snapped.

"Sorry I asked," Hermione said indignantly.

"Forget it. Anyway, I started getting those letters about a year ago, not long after Astoria and I started going out. Mother was on her high horse about it, told me that she knew I shouldn't have taken the job et cetera, et cetera. I thought it was just a joke, I didn't think the Knights of Walpurgis existed. We'd had a couple of reports about them at work but it always turned out to be some fool trying to be a big tough wizard and scare people. Then the next two came and I started to wonder if they really were out there somewhere, I was more alert at work and any cases that came in where they were mentioned, I took it, determined to find out who was sending the letters. Then the last one arrived and Astoria went missing a couple of months after, about a week after we got engaged. They all mention my father, that's why I'm so convinced he's part of it now I know he's not in Azkaban. He's the only other person who knows how to get past the wards at the Manor, mother didn't bother changing them after he went to prison because she thought we were safe." He paused.

"The interviews?" Hermione prompted.

"Right, I'm getting there. After I found out Astoria had been taken, as you know I moved here with mother. I showed her the note and she was the one that wanted me to think it over. She was furious that I went to Gawain, Potter, and Weasley without telling her I was going to. That was when she suggested going to the magazines, she said it would help people realise that we weren't awful people anymore, and it would make people feel sorry for me and maybe forget what I used to be. I thought it was a stupid thing to do but it kept mother happy and who knows, maybe someone would find out something that would help me get her back? I refused to go to the Prophet because I didn't want Potter and Weasley to find out in case they suspected me, as you rightly did. I know I'm not exactly blameless; they came after Astoria because I wouldn't join them, but I swear though, Granger, I had nothing to do with her disappearance."

"Why didn't you just tell them though? Surely if they find out like I did they would be more suspicious?" Hermione asked.

"I realise that now. I'll tell them first thing on Monday. Does that mean you believe me?" he asked hopefully.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what to believe. What you've said makes sense but you have to admit you haven't exactly acted innocently in all of this?"

Malfoy sighed. "I know. One hundred percent honesty from now on."

"I think that's for the best," Hermione replied.

"Thank you, Granger, for letting me explain. I've got those boxes from the Manor in the living room, if you still want to help me go through them?"

"Of course."

He smiled at her and gestured for her to head into the small sitting room of the flat. The sofas were surrounded by boxes of various shapes and sizes and there were far more than Hermione had anticipated.

"I thought your mother threw most of your father's things out?" she asked Draco.

"She did." He smirked. "My father had a lot of useless stuff."

"Excellent," Hermione groaned. "I guess we had better get started then?"

Several cups of coffee and countless boxes later, Hermione and Draco had finished going through his father's remaining possessions. Their search had, for the most part, been a complete waste of time. Hermione had learned that Lucius Malfoy owned far too many pairs of utterly hideous but expensive looking robes, several books on how to be rich and successful in the wizarding world and multiple albums full of photographs and newspaper clippings that boasted his own achievements and large donations made to various companies and establishments. The only thing they had come across that would possibly be slightly useful to their investigation was an address book, though a brief glance through it told them that most of the contacts were either dead or imprisoned as a result of the war.

Hermione helped Draco to return everything into a box and he declined her offer of help to take it all back to the Manor.

"You've helped enough, I can take these back later, just get yourself home."

"Only if you're sure?" she asked him.

"Positive. Before you go though, can I ask you something?"

"Go on…" Hermione said tentatively.

"Do you think we'll find her?"

Hermione groaned internally, she had hoped he wouldn't ask her that. The longer someone was missing, the less chance there was of finding them and it had been almost three weeks since Astoria had been kidnapped.

"I have every faith in Harry and Ron," she answered truthfully.