BANALITY : Draco Malfoy

85

The next week is much of the same. People keep coming to protest, although less so after Terry's interview is published on Sunday. On Monday, it is December 19, and I am pulled into questioning by the aurors for several hours. I refuse to speak until Hestia arrives. Muggle laws are so very different from wizarding laws. Eventually, Hestia and I tell them more parts of the truth.

I was with Draco for quite some time in hiding in London at muggle hotel. Eventually, I found out who I was, and he was trying to figure out how to cure my head. Eventually, he gave up. With what I knew about myself and the wizarding world, I slipped into the Leaky Cauldron and made my way to Terry Boot's residence in Derry. I did not commit any crimes. There was no way that I could have really known exactly what was meant when Draco told me he was a Death Eater, and as I was unfamiliar with the Ministry of Magic, there was nothing I could have done differently, and if there was, the actions I took were legal anyway so why does it matter? As for previous me, it is not illegal for a minor to date someone who would later go on to commit war crimes. After all, I was in hiding when he did nearly all of them, and as I have no memory, I don't know anything about what I previously knew about his dark arts activities.

The questions go on and on and on. I would lose my mind if it weren't already lost. The aurors decide to keep me overnight for questioning.

It is the early hours of the morning when I return through the Floo. I'm fucking exhausted, barely capable of standing on my feet. Pansy is awake as well, and even worse for wear. She's got a split lip, and she's nursing a black eye with a wet cloth. As I stumble through, she grabs onto the collar of my robes.

I'm only slightly taller than her, but she drags me down to her height, staring at my eyes.

"Tell Potter I'm going to find a way to break their secret," she nearly shakes me.

"Knock it off," I try to rip her hands off me, she grabs on tighter, and I keep struggling. "Pansy, stop."

"No, you tell Potter that I will make what Goyle did to Weasley look like child's play if he lets them take you again," her grip tightens. She's shaky too.

"You're going to hurt me," I manage.

Her hands slip just enough that I can back out of her reach. My shoulder hits the side of the fireplace. We stare at each other, Pansy and I, eyes wide. She breaks first, moving back to her position on the chaise. This time, I don't think she is dramatic when she reclines in a position that looks uncomfortable. Actually, I think she is stretching, subtly, to hide from me how much she's injured.

"Tried to go get me at the ministry?" I ask.

Pansy sighs. Her free eye blinks. I take the time to clean the soot off me before I take a spot on the love seat across from her. She isn't glaring, I don't think. It's hard to tell.

"I'm... familiar with the techniques Auror Robards uses when he interrogates people," Pansy offers. "Potter had Weasley and Granger restrain me all morning. Granger is honestly a psychotic bitch."

"Did she give you that black eye?" I ask.

She grumbles, "Weasley."

Maybe it's silly, but I can almost see how she and Draco were once friends. After all, Ron also gave Draco a black eye, just last month, while Draco was also trying to protect me. It's hard not to read into her persistence in helping me. Maybe she is worried about breaking our vow, but it's hard to tell.

"Are they going to keep interrogating you once you have your memories?" Pansy raises an eyebrow.

I shrug. It hadn't occurred to me that they might do something like that, "suppose I should worry about that now, shouldn't I?"