Project 137.43.M.D.

XLII. | FALSUS PROCURATOR

XLII.
FALSUS PROCURATOR
(unauthorized representative)

Draco had his head in his hands and was staring into space. He hadn't heard from Granger in two days, thank Merlin, which had given him enough time to clear his head a bit.

So he obviously felt some kind of affection for Hermione Granger. He had a crush. Or at least something like that, because he had few comparisons. Anyway, they had managed that fantastically, since he already knew that Granger was in a similar situation, or at least had been before he had slept with Vivian and regained his memories.

Accordingly, it would have been easy to give in to the feeling of going to her apartment and just seeing what happened next. But Draco didn't want to.

He was still angry and felt betrayed by her. It also annoyed him that she (as always) meddled with his affairs, which were none of her bloody business. He was sure that she only did so because she had played a significant role in his conviction. Because if he hadn't used the Imperius Curse on her, the worst he would have gotten away with was a fucking probation, he knew that himself.

So it wasn't her place to interfere. Not at all. She had no right to rummage through his file, nor could he accept that she had apparently involved Potter and the two Weasleys without asking him first. Besides, he had told her the truth: He was done with it. He had no intention of wreaking revenge on Parkinson, let alone launching himself into an exhausting retrial. Draco just didn't see the point of it.

At the time, he had made the conscious decision not to defend himself during his trial, although he had been appalled by the fact that Parkinson had acted this way towards him: clinical, merciless, without any sympathy. But Draco hadn't fought back, feeling he had made enough wrong decisions and done enough bad things to deserve Azkaban. That had been his way of dealing with it. Accepting his punishment. Giving up hope regarding his life. Of course, little did he had known that they would Obliviate him after his release.

Draco sighed and paced his apartment tensely. Annoyingly, his mind would always return to Granger if he wasn't paying attention for a few moments, and that made him even angrier.

He badly needed a distraction and he already knew what that would look like.

***

"Miss Granger."

"Mr. Ogden."

Ogden didn't look pleased when Hermione collapsed into one of the visitor's chairs in front of his desk along with the mess of parchments she had brought with her to the Ministry. She had received the memo in her own apartment. Apparently her request had alarmed the Wizengamot so much that they hadn't been able to wait until she was back at the OSAR office that morning.

"We received your motion for reconsideration in the Case 43.M.D. Would you please explain what this is about?"

Hermione had expected the question, albeit not with that terse wording and harsh tone, and squared her shoulders.

"As you know, in my capacity as a Mentor within Project 137.43.M.D., I have requested access to the sealed file. Apart from this, I was also provided with the memory of the criminal offense for which Mr. Malfoy has been convicted. You asked me about it then, Sir."

If Ogden felt provoked by Hermione, he didn't let show. Of course, he would remember summoning her after Hermione had been to the DMLE's archives.

"And you signed a non-disclosure agreement."

"Which is why I went trough official channels and finalized the project properly, yes! I have done my research carefully, Mr. Ogden. An application for retrial after completion of all rehabilitation measures is entirely justified if there are reasonable doubts in relation to the verdict. It doesn't matter that the sentence has already been served," Hermione replied firmly, because after their research they had all agreed that the right thing to do would be to officially address the matter.