Chapter Thirty-one: Interrogations and Favors

Draco straightened up, his eyes narrowed as Harry Potter stepped out from the shadows, finally recognizable up close. Draco groaned aloud, leaning back against the wall. “What the hell are you doing here, Potter?”

Harry crouched down in front of him, taking in the dingy water on his hand, the dirt and the faint smear of blood in the corner of his lip. He whistled appreciatively. “What did you do, beat yourself up?”

Draco held up his hands with a weak and humorless chuckle. “I wish,” he drawled listlessly. “But alas, I am drunk on my own failings and didn’t feel like getting up out of the dirt.”

“Malfoy…”

“Sod off, Potter,” Draco said, his jaw tightening, his grey eyes pained; he just wanted to be left alone.

“Look, I promised Ginny I wouldn’t arrest you.”

“Oh really?” Draco sarcastically enthused, one eyebrow raised in disbelief.

Harry rolled his shoulders, glancing away and back again. “No, not really,” he admitted. “But I still would rather avoid that, all things considered.”

“Please, you would love to arrest me. But good for you, trying not to get in trouble with your wife,” Draco said, clapping his hands in mockery and then letting them fall in his lap again, his expression suddenly sharp. “Now get out.”

“Where’s my daughter?”

Draco’s eyes fell shut and he leaned his head back against the brick wall, sighing deeply. “She ran off anyway, did she? Bollocks.”

“You talked to her last, Malfoy. What did she say?”

“Talked to her last… What am I? A kidnapping suspect?”

“You could be,” Harry answered tightly, losing his patience fast.

Draco chuckled weakly, looking up at the window of their old flat, his humor vanishing. “I have nothing to say, Potter. If you want to keep asking me questions, you’ll have to arrest me which we both know is so difficult for you to bring yourself to do.”

Harry gripped the other man by the neck of his robes, yanking on the cloak. “That can be arranged, Malfoy. Don’t think I won’t do it,” he warned.

Without a word, Draco flipped him off.

*

“Merlin, don’t you people have a clock in here?” Draco asked dully, glancing around the cramped interrogation room, waving sarcastically to the two-way mirror, other Aurors no doubt on the other side of the glass.

The dark haired man didn’t answer him, reading through papers he held instead.

Draco leaned forward. “Going to read me my rights?” he asked.

Harry glanced up at him, not answering.

“Let me guess, you had to make something up, something ridiculous or I’d be able to just walk straight out of here. Let’s see, breaking and entering? I can counter that. Your niece let me in. Domestic disturbance?” he shrugged, thinking for a moment. “Well no, I don’t recall saying anything… well unless greeting your wife upset your happy family. If there was a disturbance, you no doubt caused it after I left.”

Harry glared at him and Draco grinned. “Did you lose your temper, Potter? Throw something in a fit of rage?”

“You’re here because you may know something that could help me find my daughter, Malfoy,” Harry bit out. “Nothing more.”

“And to think I told her you’d be sure to find her in hours,” Draco chuckled. “Guess I was over-estimating your investigative skills if you’re wasting time asking me questions.”

“Where is she?” Harry asked in a cold voice.

“She was up in her room last I checked,” Draco replied scathingly.

“She’s gone and you were the last to speak with her…”

“You’re making me sound like a kidnapper!” Draco roared, throwing his chair to the floor. “She bloody ran away, Potter! She ran AWAY!”

“Because you told her to?” Harry demanded, standing up and turning the table over.

Draco told Harry to go to hell, and turned around, pounding on the glass of the two-way mirror. “Oi! Get me out of here or get me a damn lawyer this instant! That’s a direct order or I’ll sue your entire department!”

“What did you say to my daughter, Malfoy? Right before she left.”

Draco only ignored him, still tapping on the glass. “Lawyer. NOW!”

“She must have said something to you! Where did she go?” Harry demanded.

“I DON’T KNOW! I was trying to convince her not to runaway, you deaf bastard!” Draco shouted, turning on him, face red in anger.

“And why would the noble Draco Malfoy go and do something selfless like that?” Harry spat.

Draco took a step towards him, his icy eyes flat and voice cold. “What? I did it for Ginny? Is that what you want to hear? Or what you don’t want to hear?”

Harry slammed Draco back against the two-way mirror. The blonde man gasped in pain, Harry’s hands fisted in his collar, pinning him there.

“She is my wife!” Harry growled

“And I thought the interrogation was about your daughter!” Draco spat.

Harry released him, still glaring daggers at the other man. He finally stalked away, flicking his wand and setting Malfoy’s thrown chair right-side up. “Sit.”

Draco cursed at him with a lazy drawl and Harry seized his shoulders, forcing him into the chair opposite him; Harry didn’t sit down, shouting down at him instead.

“What were you doing in my house, Malfoy?”

“I already told you,” Draco snapped. “Attempting, without success I might add, to convince your daughter to stay.”

“Why? What interest did you possibly have in keeping Lily in England?”

Draco’s grey eyes were flat again, expressionless, just as Harry had found him in the alley. His eyes narrowed, only half-answering him. “Your niece asked for my help.”

“And you just dropped everything to help a seventeen year old kid? I don’t think so, Malfoy.”

“Your wife made sure that my family stayed together,” Draco answered evenly, “I was trying to do the same for her.”

Harry’s green eyes darkened. “Where’s Lily?” he repeated, changing tracks almost instantly.

“Oh no you don’t, Potter. If we’re going to dig through the skeletons in the closet, we’re going to dig through them all.” Draco chuckled “You wanted to know my motives? You’ll hear them. I know about the trial.”

Harry’s jaw tightened, gritting his teeth. “You don’t know anything. You weren’t there.”

“You know, it was so simple to put together, I don’t know how I didn’t realize it sooner. I guess, I was always expecting the hurt to eventually go away, maybe then I would have figured it out. But it didn’t. Stroke of genius on your part, making me think she actually chose to leave me,” he sneered. “You chose for her.”

“All I did was ask her to make a decision,” Harry growled. “You had been trying to steal her away for months.”

“So you took her from me?” Draco roared, veins pulsing on his neck. “You bleeding coward! She didn’t stand a chance! What jury wouldn’t throw my father in Azkaban with the recommendation of the Boy Who Lived? And you knew that! You knew what you were forcing her to do and you told yourself you were doing the right thing, you self-righteous…”

“She was living with you!” Harry shouted, “Living with you, eating with you…”

“Sleeping with me?” Draco asked dangerously, his voice laced with venom. “Did you know she used to get nightmares? Couldn’t sleep alone... Needed someone there to hold her while she slept…”

Harry knocked Draco to the ground, seeing red as he pressed his head back, making him struggle to breathe. The door to the interrogation room was suddenly thrown open. Ron ran inside with two other Aurors, who hauled their leader off of Malfoy, holding him back.

“Helpful as always, Weasley King,” Draco hissed, rubbing his fingers over his bruised throat. The two other Aurors finally released their hold on Harry but didn’t leave him, still standing between him and Malfoy. Ron turned and held a shaking hand out to Draco, which he reluctantly took, allowing Ginny’s brother to haul him to his feet. Ron only stared at him, blinking and no doubt taking in everything he’d heard about Draco and Ginny. He finally turned to Harry, saying something Draco didn’t hear; he was too busy watching tears fall down the grown man’s face, as Harry Potter finally collapsed in his chair, looking like he wished he were dead.

Ron turned back to Draco, clearing his throat. “Erm, y-you can go now. I think we have all the information anyone’s going to get from this.” Ron’s ears were red and Draco only glared.

“Where was my bloody lawyer?” he hissed.

“We… we didn’t call one…” Ron admitted.

“I should have your badge, Weasley, and Potter’s for sure.”

Ron nodded, body tense. “We broke protocol.”

“You think?” Draco spat, straightening his robes. He stepped over the broken chair he’d been sitting in and swept out of the room, pushing past another Auror who stood watching from the door, holding Draco’s wand that had been taken from him.

“S-sir, Mr. Malfoy? I could have an Auror escort you home?” the younger one offered, hoping to placate the situation.

Draco laughed derisively. “No, Sheldon,” he sneered, reading the man’s name badge, “That won’t be necessary. You see, I’ll be reinstalling the wards on my property the second I get home. And I’d just hate it if one of your officers were to be skewered on accident.”

The young Auror gulped and Draco ripped his wand out of the boy’s grasp, Disapparating with a violent crack.

*

Draco Apparated to the front porch of the manor, popping his neck with an exhausted groan. He checked his watch, cursing the bleeding Aurors and their lack of a wall clock. It was well past eleven at night and all the lights were on. He must have had his wife worried sick, wondering where he’d been for the past five hours. Sighing heavily, he pushed open the front door and walked into the foyer. Bernard was not there and Draco raised an eyebrow in surprise, wondering why the house elf wasn’t at his post. He walked further into the house, finally reaching the parlor before the sound of voices reached him, two women sitting on the couch talking quietly, the house elf shuffling back to the kitchen with a tray of their empty teacups. Draco stood still, releasing a weary sigh as he saw Ginny look up from her conversation with his wife.

He swallowed dryly. “I really can’t take much more of this,” he began tiredly, but Astoria cut him off, standing up in front of Ginny.

“Draco, thank God you’re home! Did you know Ginevra’s daughter ran away with our son?” she asked, stricken.

“I’ve been informed,” he drawled.

Astoria turned back to look at Ginny, her hand on her heart, “Really, Ginevra, I am so sorry, for putting you through this. I had no idea my son was planning to…” she broke off, at a loss for words. “I am so sorry.” She turned back to Draco imploringly, “We have to help her find her daughter, Draco.”

Draco’s eyes fell shut, having nothing to say.

There was movement then and he looked up to see Ginny standing, just behind his wife’s shoulder. “Harry already asked you, didn’t he?”

Draco smirked, his grey eyes cold. “It was hardly so polite as a mere question and answer, Gin.”

Her shoulders fell, her eyes drifting down in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, Draco. I… I tried to talk sense into him…”

Astoria looked between the two, finally taking in her husband’s appearance, the dirt on his robes from the alley he’d ended up in, grime on his hand from the street water, a faint smear of blood on the corner of his lip. “What ever happened?” she asked breathlessly.

“It’s a very long story, dear,” Draco sighed, “And I’m quite tired.”

He looked at Ginny, his grey eyes flat, his face expressionless aside from his exhaustion. “I’ve already proven unhelpful to your husband. Must you interrogate me as well?”

Ginny took a few steps forward until she was standing right in front of him, her brown eyes searching his. “I know you know how to find them, Draco,” she urged him in a low voice. “Please, just help me. Help me put this right.”

They held each other’s gaze for a full minute, Draco groaning inwardly. “I’ve had enough,” he whispered hoarsely, his silver eyes full of hurt from so many days and months and years. He was at the end of his rope.

Her expression wavered, struggling to maintain a small smile as he saw her eyes grow moist. “Please? I’ll leave it alone after all this. I swear you won’t hear from any of us again.”

Draco took her in, the muggle jeans, the tangled hair, the freckles and the tears in the corners of her eyes, still puffy and red. He thought of all the times he’d seen her cry over the years and all the times he’d tried so hard to make her stop crying. He remembered what his father had said only the other day, of wizard debts, paying Ginny back when the opportunity came, and here she was asking him to help her find her daughter. Just asking.

“I suppose that I can track where my son is accessing his bank account, follow his spending from there.”

Her face brightened at that and without thinking, she wrapped her arms around him in gratitude. Draco stilled, unable to return the embrace though he was sure he’d stopped breathing. It was as though time had sputtered for a moment and then stopped completely. She was here, she was real. As suddenly as time had stopped, it sped up again in only an instant. Draco became aware of his wife standing at the edge of his vision, seemingly unconcerned with the woman embracing her husband. Astoria simply smiled, proud of her husband for agreeing to help a worried mother; she saw nothing more. Draco saw everything though and he couldn’t bring himself to hug Ginny back. He stood still as stone, hardly daring to breathe.

Ginny stiffened, slowly realizing what only his body language was telling her. Her cheeks were a faint pink and she lowered her eyes in embarrassment. She deftly pulled away and Draco felt a pang of guilt despite himself.

She softly cleared her throat, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You’ll um, contact me then? Once you know where they’ve gone?” she asked hopefully. She glanced worriedly up at him and Draco could only stare.

He nodded once, not speaking.

Ginny smiled tearfully up at him, her lower lip trembling but she quickly mastered herself. Without another word or even a glance to Draco, Ginny turned her back, approaching Astoria once more, hugging her and whispering her thanks.

“Honestly, Astoria, I just don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t come to the door,” she laughed weakly.

Draco watched from across the room as his wife embraced the other woman without a shred of suspicion, only seeking to comfort her. His chest hurt watching them.

Astoria pulled Ginny back, smiling at her, “Don’t you worry,” she assured. “My husband is a miracle-worker with these things. He’ll fix everything.”

Ginny smiled, hugging Astoria one last time. “Thank you… for listening and for the tea…” she gestured, overcome.

“Of course, anything for an old friend of Draco’s.”

Ginny and Draco both were silent. Finally, Ginny summoned her voice. “Well, I’d best be going. It’s awfully late. Thank you again, Astoria, Draco…” She nodded to them both, gathering her purse with trembling hands and moving towards her discarded cloak lying on the back of the couch.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Draco, be a dear and help her into her cloak. I sent Bernard into the kitchen without thinking.”

“No, that’s really not necessary,” Ginny assured, quickly reaching for her cloak but Draco’s hand reached it first, carefully lifting it up. Ginny pursed her lips but walked towards him, carefully pulling her hair back as he draped the fabric over her shoulders, her fingers finally reaching to fix the clasp

“I promise, Draco. I’ll be gone after all this. I won’t bother you again.” She whispered so only he could hear.

Draco turned her back to face him, meeting her brown eyes and lowering his voice to a whisper no louder than hers. “Will you stay with him? After all this?” he questioned, not knowing why he asked.

“I’m just going to start with bringing Lily home,” she answered simply.

He held her gaze for a full minute but her face gave nothing away.

Draco felt his shoulders sink, disappointed that she hadn’t given him a true answer. She turned to leave, thanking Astoria one last time as she walked to the door. As he watched her retreating back, he wondered why he cared when it shouldn’t have mattered at all.

Author notes: Thanks for staying posted everyone. Just a few more chapters to go to know the outcome. Thanks for sticking with the story for so long now!