Snakepit

Chapter 10

Hermione couldn't stop shaking her head, couldn't stop trembling, and couldn't utter a single word as she stared at the closed computer on Draco's lap.

"I know, it doesn't look too great, does it?" Draco sighed. He set the computer on the coffee table and leaned back on the couch. Whatever flurry of emotions she'd seen on his face earlier was gone. Now, he was just exhausted, as if watching the tapes had drained him.

"I...I have so many questions and don't know how to ask a single one of them," Hermione began. She knew with certainty that the man in front of her would reject any sort of pity she showed but...she felt horrible about what she had seen. It put so much into perspective. His arrogance, icy exterior, the way he lashed out, the menial things that she couldn't believe he didn't understand.

Draco nodded, seeing her hesitation. "I'll just start explaining. I'm sure I can guess which parts you have questions about." With another sigh, he began to speak.

"When I was younger, my parents arranged a marriage for me. I didn't get a choice, nor was I told about it until years after they had decided. I was maybe...fourteen? Fifteen? The concept of marriage, as you'd expect, didn't seem important when I was that young. My parents handled everything, I was just told to cooperate when the time came for us to make our vows. It seemed easy enough. Apparently, my marriage to this woman would secure a huge amount of wealth for my family. I remember that I couldn't understand why we needed more when we were already the wealthiest people in Ravaina. That isn't that type of thing you really complain about though.

"As time passed, I began to resent my family. You can probably tell why just from watching those few minutes of footage. They're cruel people. I felt my freedom getting narrower and narrower as I got older and I knew I was slipping into a role that my parents had meticulously planned for me. They had raised me like a puppet, carefully pulling strings so that I couldn't even tell they had been controlling me all along. I was rebellious in my teen years and was punished more times than I could count. No matter how hard my father hit me, I still craved the adrenaline of breaking the rules and gaining some semblance of freedom.

"Still though, I was no saint and there was so much promised to me. I didn't care about the woman I was going to marry and didn't need love from her. My mother taught me that fidelity wasn't necessary in marriage. I'd seen hundreds of business deals carried out and I figured that an arranged marriage like mine would be no different. A contract, a signature, and an exchange of mutual, unspoken understanding. We both had a lot to gain from our union, but love wasn't something I desired from her. Perhaps it makes me a terrible person, but I just wanted the wealth and the power. I wanted the unlimited freedom I thought would finally come from it.

"It's never been that simple though. I had failed to realize in my immaturity how far-reaching my family's empire was. They're everywhere, we're everywhere. I've done things, Hermione. Things that have hurt people irreparably. And I've lied to you. I've known who Peter Goodwin was for years. My family has kept tabs on him since I was in my early twenties. He was a smart man, good at digging up things we didn't want him to find. You want to know who he was terrified of? Us. But we found a use for him. We fed him crumbs of information that kept him within arm's reach but just far enough away that he couldn't tell that we weren't really helping him. My family is responsible for the downfall of so many people through Peter. We didn't want him to die. I know my family had a motive, but they did not kill him."

Hermione sat for a few minutes in silence, processing his words. "Your life is a fucking shitshow, Draco."

"This is all I've ever known," he said, running a hand through his hair. "You get used to it after a while."

"Why would you tell me all of this? I mean...you've basically admitted to committing crimes. I could easily open up an investigation with the information you've given me," Hermione said, her voice hard but curious.