Enchant: A Dramione Tale

Five

Veritaserum was odorless, colourless, tasteless, and if made correctly, completely indistinguishable from ordinary water.

It worked like any other truthfulness potion, causing uncontrollable candor, but with extreme potency. Once imbibed, it put the drinker in a dazed state of enchanted honesty where confessions cascaded out before one thought to censor them.

Muggle scientists with their limited world view would likely classify the liquid as a type of barbiturate. They would say it depressed the central nervous system and slowed the transmission of information from the spinal cord to the brain, which made high-functioning tasks (like concentrating on the details of a lie) more difficult.

But unlike the unreliable chemical-compound truth serums made by Muggles, Veritaserum had the added bonus of sorcery on its side. Through magical coercion, the subject was greatly hindered from engaging in pretense and deception.

Hermione had spent a large amount of time researching the neurological effects of the potion under a microscope, endless hours investigating the diagnostic outcomes of clinical experiments. But seeing its application firsthand was a huge leap from her laboratory, where the analyses could remain anonymous and abstract.

When Lily first started bringing Hermione along for questionings last year, she was merely an observer. But she very quickly learned how the elixir actually worked in the real world outside of a lab. And in time Potter let her take the lead on a few interrogations, taught her the practical effects of the potion, and how to read a subject under its influence. Hermione had been slowly honing this skill with her mentor, but now she was quite suddenly thrown into the deep end.

Or more to the point, into shark infested waters.

That's what Malfoys were. Sharks.

Narcissa was born into a family devoted to the Dark Arts, and naturally married into a wealthy pureblood family with the same propensities for the immoral. Hermione had heard all the tales, either from Sirius's tirades about his evil family or from the ever-churning rumor mill at Hogwarts.

Absolutely everyone knew of Narcissa's husband, the infamous Lucius Malfoy.

And everyone knew how he was one of the most dedicated Voldemort loyalists, even to the end. Even as his last breath was siphoned from his body, his very soul sucked into oblivion, he never wavered.

Whispers of Voldemort's violence and Malfoy's fate were the spooky ghost stories told late at night in the dormitories. Cautionary legends recited by shadowy candlelight, warnings of what happens when dark ambition and power corrupt to the maximum degree. It was known that most Death Eaters were sentenced to life imprisonment after The War, but even the bravest of orators would pale when they got to the end of Lucius's tale.

The Dementor's Kiss.

A fate worse than death, truly. And in Lucius Malfoy's case, a fate the Order had absolutely everything to do with. No wonder his wife was so set on the highest caliber of collateral.

Each stair to the attic suddenly felt like it was chipping away at Hermione's resolve. As she walked up and up, she couldn't help but silently run through her usual insecurities.

How could she ever help interrogate such a high profile target? She was just an "academic", a brain. Her skills were best utilized in a lab, not in the field, and Moody and Dumbledore were about to see straight through her. And even worse, Lily would see what a waste of time she had been. She'd surely kick herself for not choosing someone with a lion heart.

And then there was the matter of Mrs. Malfoy. Sirius and Molly were absolutely correct- at "best", Narcissa was complicit in her husband's abhorrent crimes; and at worst, she was a war criminal that had cleverly evaded justice for over two decades. She had smooth talked her way out of being hauled off to Azkaban in the wake of The War, what was stopping her from hoodwinking them all now, as well?