Trial and Error

Hypothesis

"𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨. 𝙒𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙. 𝙒𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙚. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚."

────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────

He'd seen her come in a couple times, but never made actual contact with her. She would come in and occasionally speak to Hermione Granger when they crossed paths. Other than that, she typically went into just about any office that had an open door. American, judging by the sound of her voice — she was loud when she wanted to be. But the one place Draco never thought he'd see that woman was in the one room where no Witch or wizard stepped foot in unless it was required. The Wizengamot. He'd be honest and say that every single time he was there, he wasn't exactly scouring the crowds to see who had come and who hadn't. She may have always been there and he just didn't notice before.

The height of the war had finally come down, and it only took a short amount of four years. In those four years, Draco, along with many other former Death Eaters, were put through the ringer by the Ministry and that was just the lucky portion who managed to avoid Azkaban. Those who were immediately sentenced had no future pending whatsoever except for inevitable death. As terrible as the situation had been, Draco was aware that he had been very lucky to have been sentenced with those Death Eaters and other war criminals on trial because it meant that somewhere in the future, he would have a future.

Plus, he also got to be with some friends. Those without the mark but aligned with the purebloods. He, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson were somehow together through it all. Blaise for aiding him, and Pansy for — honestly, Draco didn't even know why the Ministry kept going after Pansy. He never bothered to ask.

The trio were summoned at whatever hour the Ministry wanted, expected, for reasons that usually went to interviews, questioning, interrogations and all that stuff. They were also given surprise home visits that usually followed the same line. At first, it was nonstop. There was no break ever. Now, apparently, they were reaching the end and although no one would admit it, there was a growing giddiness (something quite alarming to realize for these three). Today was one of those last summoning dates.

And that was where Draco would see the young woman again. He was just in too much of a shock to really notice her at first. The same went with Blaise and Pansy. They had just heard one of the worst news ever.

"What do you mean we have to visit MACUSA?" Pansy was the one who broke the silence after the news was delivered. "I'm sorry, last time I checked, I wasn't American."

None of the witches and wizards sitting on the stands paid the girl any attention. They merely went on to say that each of the accused would have a date with MACUSA to answer for crimes linked to some catastrophe in '97.

"This is insane," Blaise muttered, his glare sweeping over the lines of authority. "Nothing we did ever left the bloody continent."

"I did nothing," Draco said, plain and simple. "I am guilty of many things but here," he pointed. "In England. I never left the bloody place. What do I have to answer for at MACUSA?"