hellish experiences had not left an indelible mark on the man. Or perhaps it did, but hard earned experience just meant that Draco was able to hide it better. Merlin knew he had never been an open book to begin with. Hermione had certainly found him to be interesting reading.
It had taken some willpower on Harry's part to be able to look Draco in the eye again without letting too much emotion show through. It wasn't pity or concern or respect or awe that Harry had felt most strongly, though he did feel all of these things.
Mostly, it was envy.
Envy that Draco had been able to do what Harry could not bring himself to do - to leave those he loved behind and to embark on his own mission where the only life risked would be his own. It was a constant, insidious temptation.
Harry knew all about the destructive need for revenge and was all too aware that despite the pain it caused, the greater good required that he stay where he was. Lately however, the Greater Good was starting to look a little pudgy and complacent.
Just because Voldemort seemed to be lying low did not mean it was alright for their community to wipe its collective brow and resume life as if nothing untoward had ever happened. That had been their problem the last time Voldemort had vanished.
But that was the difference between the two of them wasn't it? Draco did what he wanted and Harry did what everyone else wanted. Harry would have applauded the other man' s courage but for the fact that Draco' s actions had directly resulted in Hermione's broken heart.
Selfish or self-less, perhaps that was what the Committee ought to have been deciding.
Presently, the chamber doors swung open and there stood a slightly ink-stained Zacharias. He was massaging the cramp out of his right hand.
"Alright, you can come back in now."
Harry and Draco stood up.
"Just Malfoy this time," Zacharias said, looking a bit warily in Harry' s direction. "They're about to make their decision."
Harry sat back down, wordlessly taking the newspaper that Draco had neatly folded and handed to him.
**
"Thismission that you assigned yourself. You would call it revenge?"
Dumbledore asked from the judges' balcony.
Draco didn' t care too much for his former Headmaster' s officious tone of voice, which seemed so out of character for Dumbledore, but he supposed the man had a role to fulfil on the Committee.
"Long, drawn out, often times badly planned revenge, yes."
Another Inquisitor, a grey-haired, middle-aged woman who bore a striking resemblance to Terry Boot spoke next. "This is certainly not light reading, Mister Malfoy," she said, with gravity. "What you have endured" she waved a hand over the copy of the report that was set down before her, "...near starvation, illness that brought you within a hair's width away from death, periods spent in some atrocious places in even worse company. I daresay your particular upbringing could hardly have prepared you for all of this. And it was all to capture Bellatrix Lestrange and bring her to justice for masterminding the killing of your mother?"
Draco's jaw tensed somewhat, but the look in his eyes was nothing if not cool. "Nothing builds character like a good bout of starvation," he said, lightly.
Horatio Coon, seated in the highest level of Inquisitors, made an impatient sound. He had been surprisingly silent for the most part. "This is no laughing matter!" he warned.
Draco was amused to note that the recently promoted Coon was no longer bald, instead opting for a limp looking toupee in a brassy blond. Really, the man could afford better. The toupee clashed rather badly with the standard issue, purple Winzengamot headwear.
"Neither is having to subsist on dung beetles, I assure you," replied Draco, who missed the slight upward quirk on Dumbledore's mouth.
"Do you have any information regarding the whereabouts of your father, Lucius Malfoy or one Gregory Alexander Goyle?" Dumbledore asked next.
This, Draco guessed, was why they had decided to call an Inquiry instead of merely clearing him on the basis of their own investigations. Ginny Weasley had been correct. In the six weeks since his return, Draco suspected he would most likely have been more forcefully interrogated had it not been for Potter.
"I do not."
"You have shielded yourself from Ministry eyes for five years and in all that time you expect us to believe that you made no attempt to contact your father who also happens to be conveniently missing?"