Project 137.43.M.D.

XXXIV. | REPROBATIO

XXXIV.
REPROBATIO
(counter evidence)

She had kind of sensed it. No, she had probably even known it and her brain had just brushed it aside given all the other worries she had been dealing with over the past few weeks. But there it was. Just above the trembling index finger that Hermione had pressed on the yellowed parchment of the trial file as soon as she had spotted the name.

It was very fortunate that she had once again been granted access to the DMLE archive with the sealed files. She had probably only been given permission because she had asked to see the file alone, whereas she hadn't requested the memory of Draco's 'criminal offense' again. The latter was indelibly burned into her mind anyway.

Surprisingly, after a sleepless night, Hermione had received a Memo from the Wizengamot that she was allowed to examine the file again. So here she was, in the small room, at the same table, struggling to catch her breath.

The list of Aurors who had interrogated Draco before he had been sentenced had hardly caught Hermione's attention when she had inspected the file for the first time. After viewing his memory, it hadn't occurred to her to go back and see who had been involved in all this nonsense either. The shock that Draco had been convicted of something that didn't justify the height of his sentence, and that she had played a part in it, must have taken a heavy toll on her sanity.

Here it was in black and white. And Hermione was glad that the scales had fallen from her eyes in a quiet moment over a glass of her beloved white wine.

Because in a horrible way, everything suddenly made so much more sense.

Interrogating Aurors in Case 43.M.D.
Shacklebolt, Kingsley
Jones, Hestia
Vane, Gabriela
Parkinson, Thomas

Removal and Inspection Memory of Evidence
Parkinson, Thomas

Bloody fucking shit.

She slammed the file shut with such fury that the small table shook, and stormed out of the archive. The archivist shot her an indignant look over the rims of her turquoise blue reading glasses, but Hermione skillfully ignored her.

While she knew Kingsley and Hestia personally, as they had not only been Aurors but also members of the Order of the Phoenix during the war, and frankly didn't give a fuck who the hell Gabriela Vane was, the name Thomas Parkinson was well known to her, although, of course, he had never served the Order. And there was only one person she could ask about him right now without drawing too much attention.

***

„Come in!"

If Hermione hadn't been so angry, she probably would have laughed at Harry because he still uttered the words even though she was already halfway to his desk. She hadn't had the patience to wait even a second after knocking on his office door.

He looked at her in surprise, then raised his eyebrows in alarm.

"Who got in your way?" he asked immediately.

"Thomas Parkinson," Hermione snapped, dropping into the visitor's chair in front of Harry's desk with a snort.

"Huh?" he voiced his incomprehension, removing his glasses to rub his eyes and then slowly putting them back on his nose.

"It's 'I beg your pardon' but you're a lost cause anyway." Harry grimaced at the insult, but Hermione shrugged it off. „Does that name ring a bell? He was an Auror. You must know something about him."

Harry nodded slowly, although he still seemed to have no idea why she had rushed into his office so stormily and unannounced.

"He was an Auror until 1998. He was removed from office due to protests that he was still working in the HQs after the war. Apparent conflicts of interest were the reason." Hermione raised an urgent eyebrow. Harry sighed in surrender and continued. "The Parkinsons weren't Death Eaters, but the social circles they were in at the time clearly overlapped with them. They were friends with the Malfoys, the Notts, the McNairs..."