As Malfoy spoke, he backed away, as though unable to believe what he was hearing. All the plans he had been building, all the things he had done — he had thought Dumbledore didn’t know. But now, Dumbledore was telling him he knew everything. …
Fear, disbelief, anger, all kinds of strange emotions surged within him.
They were brewing in Malfoy’s body, making him feel a strange humiliation.
Dumbledore knew everything, and yet had done nothing!
Malfoy clenched his wand, his whole body was shaking, and he couldn’t tell whether it was because of fear or anger, or both.
He wanted to kill this man, he wanted to kill him! He had to kill him!
“I tried to stop it, Draco, but I couldn’t expose you directly and send you to Azkaban, or just tell you not to do it. Voldemort wouldn’t have forgiven your failure. I had to protect you,” said Dumbledore calmly. “Professor Snape has been keeping watch over you on my orders —”
“Protect ? Snape?!” Malfoy froze, as if he’d just heard sothing utterly ridiculous, and then burst out laughing. His laughter grew louder and wilder. “Is this what you call a asure?! Ridiculous, Snape hasn’t been doing your orders, he promised my mother —”
“Of course that is what he would tell you, Draco, but —”
“He’s a double agent, you stupid old man, he is loyal to the Dark Lord, he isn’t working for you, you just think he is!”
“We must agree to differ on that, Draco. It so happens that I trust Professor Snape —”
“Humph, you’re losing your grip, then!” sneered Malfoy, seeming to regain so of his confidence, almost frenzied now. “You know everything?! And you tried to protect ? What a joke. You can’t do anything now. Maybe you don’t even know this — Snape has been offering plenty of help — wanting all the glory for himself— wanting a bit of the action — ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Did you do the necklace, that was stupid, it could have blown everything —’ But I haven’t told him what I’ve been doing in the Room of Requirent, he’s going to wake up tomorrow and it’ll all be over and he won’t be the Dark Lord’s favorite anymore, he’ll be nothing compared to , nothing, nothing, nothing!”
He shouted those last three words with force.
Malfoy hoped to vent his anger in this way and find so confidence for himself.
He needed that if he was going to kill Dumbledore.
There was another mont of silence. The only sound on the tower was the intensifying chaos of the battle below.
Harry struggled fruitlessly, mutely, against the enchantnt binding him.
“Very gratifying,” said Dumbledore mildly. “We all like appreciation for our own hard work, of course… Well, since you don’t believe that I asked Professor Snape to protect you, let us talk about sothing else. For example, you must have had an accomplice, all the sa … soone in Hogsade, soone who was able to slip Katie the — the — aaaah …”
Dumbledore’s painful expression appeared again, he shook and closed his eyes.
This made Malfoy more confident. Dumbledore was very weak. Harry vaguely saw the two giant serpents on the Staff slightly open their eyes, then close them again, and it was gone in a flash. If he hadn’t been paying attention to the caduceus, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all.
Damn it, Dumbledore had no ti. Where was Evan?!
Harry rembered Dumbledore had said his ti was precious now. He wanted to see Snape before he left. Harry couldn’t see why he would continue stalling with Malfoy, but Dumbledore didn’t seem eager to end the conversation. In fact, he appeared genuinely interested in carrying it on.
“No need to say it — Draco… it was Rosrta. How long has she been under the Imperius Curse?” said Dumbledore slowly in a low voice.
“Ha, got there at last, have you?” Malfoy taunted.
There was another yell from below, rather louder than the last.
Malfoy looked nervously over his shoulder again, then back at Dumbledore, who went on: “So poor Rosrta was forced to lurk in her own bathroom and pass that necklace to any Hogwarts student who entered the room unaccompanied? And the poisoned ad … well, naturally, Rosrta was able to poison it for you before she sent the bottle to Slughorn, believing that it was to be my Christmas present. … Yes, very neat … very neat … Poor Mr. Filch would not, of course, think to check a bottle of Rosrta’s. …”
“That’s right!” said Malfoy, with a twisted smile. “I got the idea of poisoning the ad from the Mudblood Granger, I heard her talking in the library about Filch not recognizing potions…”
“Please do not use that offensive word in front of ,” said Dumbledore.
“Haha!” Malfoy gave a harsh laugh. “You care about saying ‘Mudblood’ when I’m about to kill you?”
“Yes, I do,” said Dumbledore, his feet slid a little on the floor, and he had to grip the Twin Serpent Staff even more tightly to remain upright.
“Pathetic. Pointless stubbornness. So what if you knew everything — what could you do? Just look at you now, weak as a dying man … still hoping Mason will co save you!”
“Oh, I think he will.”
“Then he’ll be just in ti to see your corpse!” Malfoy roared.
“Perhaps, Draco. A lot has happened tonight, that’s true. But really, things haven’t changed quite as much as you imagine,” said Dumbledore. “In my opinion, instead of becoming a Death Eater, you would be much better off staying at Hogwarts and completing your education.”
“Shut up, I don’t want to stay here, I will beco the Dark Lord’s favorite!”
“What a disappointnt, I had hoped you aspired to sothing greater. Let’s get back to the point, Draco, as for being about to kill , you have had several long minutes now, we are quite alone, I am more defenseless than you can have dread of finding , and still you have not acted. … What are you waiting for…”
Malfoy’s mouth contorted involuntarily, as though he had tasted sothing very bitter. The confidence that had returned to his face now began to fade again into unease.
“Y-you… what’s wrong with you?” he stamred.
“Oh, that’s a long story. You could say I cast a spell… and suffered an extre backlash. It has left temporarily without magic… weak. But I ca back — barely made it back!” Dumbledore muttered softly, barely able to speak. “That should please you, shouldn’t it? You must have known from Rosrta that I left Hogwarts. She saw leaving, so you decided to spring a trap for and wait for my return.”
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