Damaged Goods by slytherin_after_dark

Chapter 19

- NOT MY STORY!! ALL CREDITS TO @slytherin_after_dark ON A03!!
-

They arrived in the fireplace of Malfoy Manor. The second he stepped foot onto the polished marble floor, the lights were turned on, as if the whole house was familiar with him; waiting for his arrival.

"Where is the scroll?" She asked as she stepped out of the fireplace, straightening her dress.

Malfoy opened his hand. "Accio, scroll."

A few seconds later the scroll flew into his hands.

He opened it and she looked over his shoulder, reading along with him.

"It tells you whenever someone used celeritas," he explained as his finger went down the line.

Before she could express her suspicion, he confirmed it: "The last two dates correlate with our murder victims."

Something in her hadn't wanted to believe it but here was proof. The Ministry wasn't just negligent in the investigation of Death Eaters—they were covering them up. But why?

"Do you think the Ministry is behind the murders?" She asked and it felt unthinkable but so had been the idea of them trying to cover up murders.

"I wouldn't put it past them," Malfoy said. "I don't have the highest opinion of the Ministry."

She wanted to ask him so many questions. Why was he killing for the Ministry? Who determined which Death Eaters would end up on his kill list? Who was giving him these orders? She knew better than to voice any of them out loud.

Malfoy rolled the scroll back up in silent contemplation. It was a strange picture—the Malfoy heir in his mansion. It somehow looked like it was going to swallow him whole; too large for any one person to live in by themselves. He had called the Manor an old friend, which was the last thing Hermione would have thought of when looking at it.
The Manor seemed fitting for the Malfoys. Unattainable. Cold. Aristocratic. But there was a fire in Malfoy and she wondered if it was getting slowly smothered by the coldness around him. Not just by the Manor, but by the wall of ice he seemingly had put up around him.

He stood there, like an ancient statue, and was always so controlled. She was the opposite, never being able to hide how she really felt. Malfoy was a puzzle she desperately wanted to solve even though she didn't quite understand why.

"How can we find out if the Ministry is behind the murders?" She finally asked into the silence.

"We?" He asked. "I distinctly remember you saying you wanted to be done with this assignment."

"Well, it's not done yet, is it? If anything, it just got bigger."

He sighed and sounded tired. "Granger, this isn't your fight. You've done your part. If you're needed for more potion work, I'll let you know."

She had said she wanted to be done but now it felt like the opposite of what she wanted. It would mean going back to her normal life. She hadn't realized how much distraction the investigation had brought her. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she had purpose again.

"That's before I knew the Ministry was behind it," she said. "I'm in."

He looked at her as if he wanted to test if she meant those words.

"But I have a condition," she added.

At that, his eyebrow raised in a familiar fashion and a smirk tugged on his lips. "Oh?"

"I need to be added to the wards of the Manor. There is no way I'm going to have you apparate me every time nor do I want to walk through your godforsaken forest."