The White Room

Tape One

“Why’d you bring him here, Harry?”
“I thought it’d be best if we could keep an eye on him, Ron.”
“He’s a Death Eater, for Merlin’s sake; a cell in Azkaban wouldn’t be good enough for him!”
“I’m not going to argue with you. I just did what I thought was best.”
“Best? Best for who? That fucking prick - ”
“Ron!”
“Are going to tell me off for swearing again, Hermione? As if it means anything when we’re at war!”
“I just think you should learn to control - ”
“My language?”
“Stop laughing at me, Ronald, it isn’t funny!”
“No, you’re right: it’s fucking ridiculous.”
“I’m not going to talk to you if you’re going to be like this.”
“I - ”
“Ron’s right, there are more important things to think about. That doesn’t mean I’m going to swear my head off, Hermione, so don’t look at me like that - it just means I want to tell you why I thought bringing Malfoy back here was a better idea than keeping him anywhere else.”
“Humpf.”
“Let him speak, Ron.”
“What is there to talk about?”
“Interrogation.”
“What?”
“You’re right, Hermione. We need information, and we need it fast. We need to be able to know everything the Death Eaters are planning to do. If we have him here we can keep a close eye on him when we’re not interrogating him. Then we wouldn’t need an extra person guarding him.”
“Would that mean at least one of the Order members would have to be here all the time?”
“That happens anyway, Ron. But Harry, what if he escapes? He’ll know where our headquarters are.”
“He won’t escape.”
“Why not?”
“Because all Malfoy cares about is his own self-preservation. He knows he’s got the better deal here. He can see we have got too much to give in to Voldemort, and if we win this war he could come out of it as a free man. He’s been too warped by his father to know what he believes in, and I think we could have a chance at changing him.”
“Changing him?”
“Changing his ideas.”

…

“Harry, that sounds bloody mental.”
“I think he could be right, really. But there is still that possibility Malfoy could destroy us.”
“Trust me … just trust me and you’ll see.”
“Trusting you with this is trusting Malfoy to play the game, Harry! Do you think that’s gonna happen? He’s - ”
“Spineless, Ron. This is his last chance. If this doesn’t work for him he’ll be dead before Christmas.”
“He tried to kill Dumbledore, Hermione! I think you’re forgetting that one small pissy. Little. Fucking. Detail.”
“Ron!”
“Seriously, you two really should shut up.”

…

“That’s better.”


Tape Two

“I have to say it’s a pleasure to see you, Mudblood. I never thought I’d see that tangled bush you call hair again.”
“Shut it, Malfoy. I’m not here to exchange pleasantries with you.”
“Pleasantries?”
“That’s just what I decided to call your snivelling excuses for insults. You seem to have forgotten where you are.”
“I never forget, Granger.”
“Smirking never really did look good on you, Malfoy.”
“Neither did your buck teeth, Granger, but were they really something you could’ve changed?”
“That’s enough, Malfoy. I didn’t come here to trade insults with you.”
“You came to interrogate me, I know. I was expecting it. Potter would’ve killed me upon entry into this room, and Weasley’s too thick to pick at my brains and find anything of use to anyone. So it had to be you, Granger.”
“If you’re expecting me to take that twisted statement as a compliment, you’re wrong in the head.”
“And you’re wrong in the head for seeing it that way. I have never denied your smarts, Granger. It was impossible to with your insufferable question-answering at school. Taking what I just said as a compliment shows your desperate hope that everyone’s heart is as warm and mushy as yours.”
“You’re oh-so-kind, Malfoy.”
“And you’re not in the least bit sarcastic, Granger.”

…

“I’m going to ask you a very simple question, Malfoy, and you’re going to answer me.” “Why?”
“That was not a simple question, Granger.”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Malfoy. Why did you surrender to the Order that night? Why did you allow yourself to be brought here as a potential prisoner?”
“I thought you of all people would know why.”
“Now isn’t the time for riddles, Malfoy.”
“I’m merely challenging you to answer your own question, Mudblood.”
“Don’t call me that!”
“Then answer me this: why are you asking a question you suspect you know the answer to? Why not pour a vial of veritaserum down my throat and have me spill my darkest secrets to you? Wouldn’t that be easier? Or torture me into saying all the things you want to hear? I’m not going to make this easy for you, Granger, or anyone else who expects the world to be the same for me as it is for fucking Saint Potter.”
“Where do you stand, Malfoy?”
“Completely alone, Granger. That’s where I fucking well stand.”

…

“Interview terminated, six thirty eight pm on this day the 25th of September.”
“See you tomorrow, Granger.”
“Burn in hell, Malfoy.”


Tape Three

“Back again so soon – did you miss me?”
“You’re an egoistical prat.”
“And you a stick-in-the-mud-Gryffindor Mudblood. I see you’ve brought some veritaserum with you this time, Granger; I’m surprised your holier-than-thou standards permitted it.”
“Unless I find it necessary, this bottle remains sealed, Malfoy.”
“Do you really expect to make any more progress than you did yesterday?”
“No.”
“Then why bother with me? Haven’t you, Scarhead and Weasel got some disgustingly perfect afternoon you plan to spend together?”
“I know you’re jealous of our relationship, Malfoy.”
“Malfoys are never jealous. We have no reason to be: anything we want we get.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You’re jealous of Harry because he receives the attention you believe you deserve. You’re jealous because no matter what he does he has someone behind him, supporting him and loving him. You have no one. And no one wants you.”
“You’re wrong.”
“How so, Malfoy?”
“You know nothing of my life. You don’t understand me at all, and you’re so smug in the idea you’ve reached into my psyche and distilled it down into a few simple truths. You’ve got nothing on me, Granger.”
“I know that it must have been a desperately lonely person indeed who would cry to a ghost about their problems.”
“I never – how did you know – ?”
“I know more than you give me credit for, Malfoy. Don’t forget that while I may be a forgiving person, this is a war. I won’t hesitate to do what I have to. Why did you surrender to the Order? Why would you choose to be a prisoner of the side you are apparently opposed to?

…

“I didn’t know you were that thick, Malfoy.”
“Thought I’d shriek like a little girl, Granger?”
“No. I thought you’d run me around in circles until you drove me crazy. But I’m not going to give up.”
“Are you sure you won’t?”
“You know better than anyone the answer to that.”

…

“Have you ever thought what life would be like if Voldemort had been killed that night sixteen years ago, Malfoy?”
“It’s never been necessary for me to consider. It would be the same; the air would smell the same and blood would still be shed. You forget, Granger, that most respectable Pureblood families have had the same thoughts as the Dark Lord for many centuries. Muggle-baiting has always been a sort of sport in Pureblood families, harmless or not.”
“Respectable families?”
“Blood traitors like the Weasleys deserve just as much as the Mudbloods, if not more.”
“So I take it your family is a respectable one?”
“Look, Granger. The Wizarding World is not the bright colourful world full of endless possibility your stupid muggle books have portrayed it to be. It’s a dark, old world.”
“I disagree. It would be if Voldemort won. Not if we do.”
“You’re so fucking righteous it makes me sick. You think the world is black and white, divided between good and evil, right and wrong. I’m surprised you could be so stupid.”
“Is that the answer to my first question right there, Malfoy?”
“What do you want from me, Granger? Do you want me to spill my bleeding heart all over your pristine mind, invade that paper you’re writing everything I say down on? I’ve seen shit you’ve never even visited in your nightmares, and I’ve probably been closer to death many more times than your precious little Golden Boy. So don’t talk to me about right and fucking wrong, you Mudblood bitch!”
“Had enough, Malfoy?”
“Don’t shake that fucking bottle at me, Granger. If you’re going to make me drink it, don’t play around about it.”
“Then answer me plainly and I won’t have to. What do you want from this? Obviously you want something or you wouldn’t be here.”
“I want you to leave me alone, that’s what.”
“Do you want protection; have you changed your mind about your choices? Have you been thinking about what Dumbledore said to you that night you tried to kill him?”
“Fuck off, Granger. You can’t make me talk. And giving me that potion in your hand would make it too easy for you. You want it to be this way.”
“Interview …”
“Terminated I know. You don’t need to say it, Granger, even for that silver box.”
“It’s a recorder, Malfoy.”
“A dirty Muggle device.”
“It serves its purpose.”
“And that purpose is to listen to our conversations over and over again until you make some sense of them?”
“If I have to I will rot in here with you, Malfoy.”
“Is that a promise?”
“You can bet your pathetic life it is.”



AN: Hope you liked it. :) I read a fan fic written this way a while back, and I thought it'd be interesting to try.