quite the story," Malfoy said. "About six months after... well, after the trials, I was in a bad spot. Yours and Potter’s testimonies kept me out of Azkaban, Mother as well. I’ll—I’ll never be able to properly thank you for that, by the way—but I couldn’t stand to go back to Hogwarts to finish my NEWTs, so I took them in some stuffy Ministry examination room, then fled to the Continent. I got my potions, charms, and Arithmancy masteries in France. It was a lot of bloody work to get them done in two years, but I had fuck-all else to do. Whenever I needed to clear my head, I’d wander through Muggle Paris. It was the first time in my whole life I didn’t have to answer to anyone; not my father, not the Dark—