8 November 2011 at 6pm
Malfoy Manor

The ancestral home of the infamous family was even more ostentatious and extravagant as everyone said it was, but it almost looked like it was put off by itself. The hedges were just a little bushy, there were the tiniest sprigs of grass growing between the pavers. It had rained recently and everything was a little more damp and gloomy.

"Roh, will you take this. I do not need trainees knocking on Malfoy's door. Last thing we need is for a person of interest to snuggle back into his reclusion."

Sure, boss, she'd said. Why was she always getting the scut work? She was in line to become a Senior Auror and she was being toddled off to simple burglaries and routine interviews. Suck it up, Roh. Be a team player. That's what a senior Auror does, right?

Buttoned up tight in her red robes, no additional trappings against the cold other than a black pair of gloves, Zora approached the house. She lifted the great knocker and let if fall. She heard the echos inside what must be a very lonely place to live.

Zora, like so many her age, worked to let the past go. And if someone talked her into speaking of it, she'd admit that the young Draco Malfoy was just a mixed up kid now burdened with terrible regret. But this was work and there wasn't space to get personal. His name had come up in the Pilpher and Stride's robbery[1] and they needed to rule him out.

She waited to be answered.

1.	Nov 3 Burglary at Pilpher and Stride's in London

Draco had been in his study when he heard the knocker fall. Of course he heard it.  He was the only human in the house, the house-elves didn't count as they made little to no noise at all, so helping with filling the house with anything other than silence... well, it just didn't happen.

Rubbing his hand over his face, he stood up from behind the desk and made his way slowly towards the front door.  He briefly wondered who could be knocking on his door. Other than that young witch who wanted to work for him, he didn't know anyone who would willingly come and visit him. So naturally he assumed that it couldn't be for a good reason.

Reaching the door, he paused for a moment, straightening out his shirt, which had quite a few wrinkles in it as he'd slept in it the night before and just thrown it on this morning.  He opened the door with a look of wariness on his face, "May I help you?" he said it softly, almost barely loud enough to hear. 

Zora Roh hadn't been sure what to expect. His face hadn't been in the paper for more than a decade now. It was certainly him, but he was now grown. It was a sudden reminder of just how far in the past it all had happened. She composed herself and clasped her hands behind her back.

"I'm Auror Roh. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

She tried a smile. "Routine. Nothing to be worried about." First part, certainly true. Second part, eh, that could go either way.  Zora was trying a friendly tack; she believed being a bully wouldn't help either of them. You try to keep an open mind on these things, but she just didn't see Draco Malfoy doing a destructive robbery, not after all these years.

But then, maybe it was all part of his ... coming out. Cleaning up loose ends. He was certainly a mysterious figure.

"Can I come in?"

He may have been tired, or just not wanting to be nice. Whatever the reason, he couldn't resist the sarcasm that he answered the woman with, "I don't know, can you?" He tried to add on his signature smirk, but wasn't feeling it today.  Nevertheless, he opened the door wider and stepped to the side so the Auror could enter his home.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today?" he asked, unsure as to why Aurors would want to question him about anything. He rarely left his home and when he did, it was for a bite to eat, or potions ingredients he felt were too volatile for owl delivery.

Zora let out a nearly inaudible scoff as he decided to be a little git about it. If he hadn't let him in, fine, but he shortly allowed her entry.  The entry way was grand but empty and her boots echoed more than might be expected. She didn't hide that she was looking around as she took a few more steps into the spacious area.

"Do you know a witch by the name of Foy Pilpher? Or wizard Giuseppe Stride?" she asked, watching his face for any reaction.

She had opted to come at the point from an angle rather than planting 'burglary' on his doorstep at such a stately hour. Way she saw it, starting with Pilpher and Stride would either keep things amicable (such as they were), or put him on the defensive. Either way, she could pivot. How do you strategize about a bloke no one's seen hide nor hair of?

He thought for a moment. Yes, he did know who they were, but did he want to tell her that.  If anything had happened, he didn't want to be implicated. "Maybe, why?" he asked, "Did they tell you something?"

Zora smiled crookedly. As much as she was handling him, he was handling her. That was alright; still no need to get a dander up.

"Alright, I get it," she shifted her weight and took another few wandering steps, hands still clasped behind her back. (And keeping Draco in her peripheral vision.)

"Night of the third of November - last Thursday - Pilpher and Stride's P.I. headquarters was broken into and a cornucopia of sensitive documents are now missing. Stolen, destroyed? Hard to tell. Lot of damage. Seems you were the subject of one of their investigations some years back."

She stopped and regarded him levelly. "That could be motive, Mr. Malfoy. I mean, I'd be unhappy if some random snoop was poking into my business..."

He tried to hold it back, but it happened involuntarily sometimes.  He shuddered when he remembered the investigations in the past.  It had been pure hell.  But he'd gotten through it. 

"Those investigations were over and done with Auror, and I'd kindly like to forget about that part in my life." he said with a hint of steel in his voice. His gaze slowly hardening as he looked at her.

There it was. Zora had gone in thinking she'd be out in two minutes, but the routine interview had taken a little turn. She was feeling well smug now, but she tried to look sympathetic.

"Might be nice if everyone else forgot about it, too, yeah? Why would Pilpher and Stride keep records on you if they weren't going to dig them up later? I heard they had quite a lot."

She shrugged. The job had been effective but ... messy. It didn't seem like the work of a Malfoy, which she had to keep in mind. However, a Malfoy would have plenty of means to hire a bloke, but that's not why she was here.

Not wanting to lose his temper, for that would surely raise a red flag or two, he started walking around the entrance of his home. Slowly.

"You think I would lower myself to stealing just to remove papers and documents that cleared me?" he said in a low voice. It wasn't a whisper by any means, but the kind of low voice that would make weaker people tremble in fear.  He was getting angry.

The Auror set her jaw. If Malfoy had been cooperative before, she was going to quickly lose that if she wasn't careful. He was pacing like someone inches from losing his temper. Only a great fool would draw a wand on an Auror, but she had no clue what to expect from this wizard.

She shook her head gently and lifted a hand, putting her other on her hip.

"Hey, I understand," she said even though she didn't care a lick. She needed to calm him down. "Makes sense to me. Like I said, just asking some questions here."

Zora paused then transitioned away from motive to opportunity.

"Where you in East London that night? They're on Ripple Road. This would have been one or two in the morning November fourth?"

In his head he was reciting potions ingredients and the potions they could be used in. It had been a useful tool when he was getting his mastery in Potions to help him remember test answers, but he also found on most occasions using the same practice would help his temper calm down. Usually. 

Now, however, it wasn't working as well as it usually would.

He took a deep breath and stopped his pacing.  Turning to face the Auror he looked at her with a glare, the only emotion on his face that you could see, was the slowly building storm of anger in his grey eyes. 

"I don't recall where I was that night Auror, but I can rightfully assume I was like a normal wizard who is at home sleeping, or I was at a pub getting piss drunk and hitting on everything that moves in a skirt."

He tried to make it sound light, but his building anger made it sound worse.

Zora had to be impressed at how daringly rude Draco's response was. She was downplaying it, but she knew he had to understand by now he was the subject of a criminal investigation. Not really the time to be mouthing off.

She laughed a little, nervously. She had to be careful this didn't get out of control. Draco had the opportunity to put this all to bed and instead he was being a git. Not a good sign for him.

"Mate, I hope for your sake it's the latter."

There'd be witnesses to a shamed pureblood heir trying to pull teetering witches, but there wouldn't be a soul in this lonely house to confirm he was asleep.

"Which pub, if you had to guess? Or possibly remember."

There it was, the famous Malfoy smirk.  It was in full bloom now that the witch was beginning to grate on the last nerve he had. 

"Now, if I told you that, what kind of Auror would you be."

He knew he shouldn't say it...

"I'll tell you what..."

His inner voice was screaming at him to shut up.

"Go down to London..."

Shut up you git! You want to get arrested!

"Throw a stone..."

I give up, you're an idiot!

"And wherever that stone lands, find a pub and start asking questions."

He knew in the back of his mind that he had just admitted to being in London that night, but he truthfully couldn't remember which one.  He'd been so drunk that night/early morning that the pub owner had tossed him in a corner of the pub while he cleaned up, and threw him out the next morning with a cup of coffee.  He'd never overdone it like that before, and now his memory was suffering for it.

The Auror gave the spoiled brat a dark look and shook her head. He deserved to get hexed and hauled in; it was like he wanted it. Was there something in the water?

"Really? That's what you're going with?"  She sneered. He could have at least narrowed it down. Instead he had a nearly unverifiable alibi and had placed himself in the city. There were dozens on dozens of magical pubs and bars in that bloody city and there weren't enough MLP or trainees to dragnet the entire bloody thing asking for some drunk white boy.

Had he been a shred of charming, she might have tried to help him out, but now she was less sure of his innocence and he'd just landed himself square on her bad side.

"Really clever, boyo," she said moving to the door. She paused, her hand on the handle.

"Look, if you can come up with something better than that, drop us a line. Lacking that, I think we're going to see each other again real soon."