So...

Aug 24, 2009 23:37

 I'v been off the grid for a while due to being away peer mentoring on a residential drama project for kids at risk of exclusion. It was, in case you wanted to know, amazing but absolutely exhausting. The kids ranged from sensible and mature to down right aggravating. However the other leaders were fantastic, we all bonded really well and had a blast whether we were moaning about the kids or having huge water fights. So glad I did it and will totally do it again next year.

In other news I have finished the spin off fic about Susan Bones giving Draco a job. It is unbetaed and it is actually the first time I've written Draco. Critique is much appreciated and I will eat up any comments you have with a spoon.

As always, characters aren't mine, they belong to JKR, I'm only trying to stick them back together after she broke them.

Title: TBC


“A job?” For once Draco found himself too shocked to drawl.

“Yes Malfoy, a job. Its where you work for money.” Susan said testily with a curt gesture for him to sit down.

“I know what a job is, I just don’t understand why you’d want to give me one.” He replied draping himself as casually as possible over the chair opposite her desk. She added a piece of parchment to the already trembling stack in her out tray, quickly signed another form then looked up at him and pointed to the door with the tip of her quill.

“In case you hadn’t noticed that hall is full of boxes which mainly contain highly dangerous Dark Objects and more are arriving every day.” She returned to the dregs of her in tray,” If they aren’t catalogued,” her quill scratched, “labelled,” scratch, “and stored” scratch, “very soon then something is going to reacted with something else and I will be out of a job because both you and the Manor will no longer exist.” One last flourish. “On the plus side no more paperwork every time your mother wants to visit your father and I’m sure that the Ministry would be ecstatic to hear that the Malfoy problem had been solved so… explosively.” A drawer in the filing cabinet slammed open and the contents of her out tray started to cascade through the air and slot themselves in the relevant files. Susan put down her wand and stared across the desk at Draco. He stared back.

“But you… wouldn’t be happy?”

“I don’t see what the house has done to deserve being blown up.”

Draco adjusted the sleeve of his robe and leaned back. “So you want me to help.”

“No, I want you to work. I want you to work for me. You have experience with Dark Objects - “

“Not that much.” He yelped.

“More than I do.” She started to tick points off on her fingers, “You can help me sort them in to types, clear out the rooms that they are going to be stored in and fill out all the paperwork that turned up with them. General dogsbody basically. I wouldn’t turn your nose up - “

“Believe me I wasn’t going to.” Dogsbody to Bones was several million times better than lurking at the Ministry filling in forms and hiding every time he spotted Potter.

“As I am probably the only person that is willing to employ you that the Ministry will let employ you. Well, what do you say?”

Draco breathed in. There it was: the break he had been looking for ever since the end of the war. After two years of trials and interviews, living off toast and charity, debts both financial and personal nagging at him like thousands of tiny, biting splinters, finally, here was his chance to start the struggle back to normalcy. He would make things better for them. He breathed out.

“How much?”

“Minimum wage to start off with.” She consulted yet another bit of parchment whilst saying in a brisk fashion, “Quite frankly I don’t think I’ll be allowed to pay you any more, but if you don’t piss me off too much I might be able to get you some more next year.”

“Next year?” Draco raised an eyebrow, “I take it that the Manor is going to become the global drop off point for Dark Objects then?”

“Not quite, but I’m sure that there will be lots for us to do.” She pushed what turned out to be a contract of employment across the desk to him. “Sign at the bottom.”

Draco picked up the scroll and read through the whole thing twice partly because experience had taught him never to sign up to anything without reading the fine print but mainly to annoy her. It didn’t seem to work. When he looked up after signing she was idly censoring one of his mother’s letters while munching her way through a chicken salad sandwich. He tossed the scroll back on the table and the tight, hot feeling of frustration eased slightly when she had to scramble to retrieve the stack of papers that he had knocked over.

Then she was back behind her desk and his petty little victory was over.

“Tomorrow at eight” She waved him off without looking up.

Useless anger and humiliation brought a flush to his cheeks. He got up, his family couldn’t afford for him to make a mess of this, and his hand was on the door knob before his control cracked.

“Look, you aren't doing this because you feel sorry for us are you?” He asked turning back to face her. She looked up, her face stony. “Because Bones that would be fairly sick. I mean forgive and forget is one thing but isn’t this taking it a bit far? Not to be crude or anything but the Death Eaters killed half your family, you were sent here because the Ministry knew that you wouldn’t give an inch, but now your doing me a favour? Why?”

She put her quill down. When she spoke her voice was cold and relentless.

“Do you know why no one wants anything to do with you Malfoy? Why you can’t get a job? Why all your mother get in reply to her letters to her sister is curses? Its because you didn’t lose anyone. Your family survived, so we took everything else away, your house, your money, your furniture, your photo albums, your stuffed dragon with the missing ear, we took everything we could and it still wasn’t enough. So now we just want to pretend that you don’t exist.”

“Does this story have a point?” He interrupted, “I did live through all of this after all and I don’t really need a reminder.”

She ignored him.

“I don’t like you or your mother and, when he gets back from Askaban, I probably won’t like your father either but this isn’t about you.”

“I’m shocked.”

“You are just a symptom.” She said pointing at him. “The Ministry wants to shove the war under the carpet and pretend it didn’t happen or at least, pretend it didn’t happen the way it did.”

He slouched against the door and said with false brightness:

“Ah, so the Ministry didn’t collapse as soon as the Dar - ahem- You Know Who looked in their direction and everyone else didn’t sharply fall into line, pausing only to feed the guy beside them to the Dementors before sticking their fingers in their ears and going la la la for a year.”

“Those in glass houses Malfoy.” She said lightly, “But it isn’t even just pretending that there wasn’t extensive collaboration by people in and out of the Ministry, its like the whole year didn’t happen.” Again she began ticking points off savagely on her fingers, “No Carrows, no Registration Act, no deaths. You get the occasional “My Great Escape” story from someone who buggered off to Italy through Snitch Airways but they try not to mention the part where the movement was brutally shut down and everyone involved died. They practically paid the kids that survived Section Uma Welta to stay quite about that hellhole!” She got to her feet and moved towards the window as if driven, “Over half of the Muggleborns in Britain died that year and yet the only people we hear about are our noble dead, the heroes that died at Hogwarts because that is the only bit that counts.”

“Well obviously. Bones, winning is the only thing that matters.” He studied her closely as he spoke. this was more passion than he had seen for her ever since she had taken over the Manor.

She snorted. “Maybe to a Slytherin.”

“Yes, but we didn’t win, did we?” Anger brought a snap to his usual drawl, “We were driven out of that hall at wand point…”

“Right into the arms of your Death Eater family.”

“If only.”

She turned around sharply, “No I forgot, you stayed behind, you stayed behind to capture Harry Potter and got your friend killed.”

“I told them to stop!” He bit his lip and saw triumph flash across her face. He breathed, licked his lips and then said quietly. “Not like you, I bet it was all: “Oh Justin, saving Mudbloods is so heroic! So daring!””

“Stop it!” Her eyes flashed. He had hit a nerve.

“You could have told him to go, to save himself, I bet he would have gone if you’d begged, if you’d pleaded, if you’d really wanted him to leave.” He found himself stalking forward, the taste of power pushing all restraint aside.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” She pushed past the desk to meet him.

“Did you honestly think he could get everyone out?” He almost had her, “It was very Hufflepuff all this never leave a man behind rot. But you must have known that they’d catch him eventually. I heard he burned.” Abruptly her wand was at his throat. She held it perfectly still but her eyes were bright with tears. It wouldn’t take much more. He could break her. “Funny how heroes die just the same as us villains.” Her wand twitched and despite himself he smirked. She stared at him and then, still holding his gaze, brought her wand down and sheathed it.

“No.” Her voice was once again cold and controlled, “You’re not worth it.”

“Look Bones I don’t know what it is you are trying to achieve…” He could feel desperation creeping into his voice and he was almost glad when she cut him off.

“Neither do I.” She turned away and went to the window. “Not yet. But I’ve heard whispers about dumping some files from that year down here and where some go others follow…. Dennis Creevey wants to write a book.”

“A reference library? Granger will be so pleased with you.”

“I honestly don’t care.”

“Well I’m sure….”

“Your opinion doesn’t matter either Malfoy so you can show up tomorrow at eight and do what I tell you to or you can stay in the kitchen and sulk.” She leaned against the window sill, once again in command, “Its your choice.”

He turned to leave but couldn’t resist one last parting shot.

“So I suppose you think dear Justin would approve…”

“OUT!”

fic, harry potter

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