The Right Thing To Do

Chapter 3

"DRACO MALFOY: A FREED MAN"
by Rita Skeeter

How does a Death Eater possibly redeem himself? In the wake of the Second Wizarding War, Draco Malfoy was asked this exact question. After over a year in Azkaban, awaiting trial like the other captured Death Eaters, Draco Malfoy's trial began this past Wednesday August 25, ending two days later.

It is unknown what the conditions of his release are. Is he to be kept under house arrest? Did he have to provide valuable information to the Wizengamot on other Death Eaters? Were his family assets seized in war reparations?

Stick with this reporter, and you will know all soon enough.

Hermione rolled her eyes and bit into her toast. She had skimmed the beginning of the article a moment before and was just now re-reading it. She had jumped through it, landing on things like "Harry Potter and war heroine Hermione Granger testifying on his behalf."

She was quite surprised at how factual the article was, given its author. The picture they chose of Draco was from after the trial she assumed, because his hair had been given a wash. It was almost as if he had stood for a photoshoot.

Normally, any photo or article that involved Draco Malfoy was stuck to her ceiling in the morning, but Ginny usually slept quite late on the weekends. She had been recruited for the Holyhead Harpies on their second string and had practice early mornings Monday through Friday, so she took her rest when she could.

Hermione had not at all expected there to be news a day after the trial, so when she had grabbed the Prophet to tuck into her bag, she had spent several precious minutes scanning. Hermione checked the clock. She was almost late for her weekend job at Cornerstone Bookshop, a quaint little store in Diagon Alley. She worked from ten in the morning until six in the evening on Saturdays and Sundays, a part of her life that Harry, Ron, and Ginny didn't quite understand.

"Why do you want to work on the weekends?" Ron had asked when he was visiting for Harry's birthday in July. "When will you sleep or have a social life?"

"Not all of us need to sleep until two in the afternoon, Ronald," was her response.

Besides, Hermione soon realized upon graduating Hogwarts that she had no social life. The first months of living with Ginny felt just like the dorms, but she slowly felt out of place at times when Harry would join them. She found that she couldn't just replace one Weasley with another. She'd always felt left out of Ron and Harry's dynamic, but she knew she was necessary, wanted. There were always going to be times in Ginny and Harry's relationship where Hermione was not necessary.

By mid-June she had applied for a few positions to keep her busy on the weekends, seeing as she had no homework to do on Saturday nights anymore. Morty, the owner of Cornerstone Books, interviewed her like a normal human, instead of the "Golden Girl," so she was immediately endeared to him.

Hermione folded up the newspaper, grabbed her jacket and headed out the door to the local apparition point. She could re-read while the shop was slow, which it usually was.

She apparated into Diagon Alley near Florean Fortescue's at 9:25AM on the dot, like she did every Saturday. A bulb went off to her right, like it did every Saturday. A voice called "Miss Granger! Over here! What are you doing this weekend?" like it did every Saturday.

Hermione had turned and smiled and responded for the first month, thinking it rather odd that the answer "Oh, nothing really. Just working and reading" was worth a follow up interview the next weekend. In August she'd stopped responding, and just turned and smiled. Now she did not even turn.

She passed the familiar store fronts and came to the corner of Diagon Alley and Horizont Alley. She released the enchantments that Morty had placed the previous evening and opened up. It was a tiny store, but thousands of books were crammed in. It didn't get nearly as busy as Flourish and Blotts, but Hermione liked the quiet. She had half an hour of organizing, bookkeeping, and sorting before the first customers arrived.