|
'Draco, Draco, you are not a killer.' 'How do you know.' said Malfoy at once.
He seemed to realise how childish the words had sounded; Harry saw him flush in the Mark's greenish light.
'You don't know what I'm capable of,' said Malfoy more forcefully, 'you don't know what I've done!' 'Oh, yes, I do,' said Dumbledore mildly. 'You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts ... so feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it...' 'It has been in it!' said Malfoy vehemently. 'I've been work ing on it all year, and tonight -' Somewhere in the depths of the castle below Harry heard a muffled yell. Malfoy stiffened and glanced over his shoulder.
'Somebody is putting up a good fight,' said Dumbledore conversationally. 'But you were saying ... yes, you have managed to introduce Death Eaters into my school which, I admit, I thought impossible ... how did you do it.' But Malfoy said nothing: he was still listening to whatever was happening below and seemed almost as paralysed as Harry was.
'Perhaps you ought to get on with the job alone,' suggested Dumbledore. 'What if your back-up has been thwarted by my guard. As you have perhaps realised, there are members of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight, too. And after all, you don't really need help ... I have no wand at the moment ... I cannot defend myself.' Malfoy merely stared at him.
'I see,' said Dumbledore kindly, when Malfoy neither moved nor spoke. 'You are afraid to act until they join you.'» 'I'm not afraid!' snarled Malfoy, though he still made no move to hurt Dumbledore. 'It's you who should be scared!' 'But why. I don't think you will kill me, Draco. Killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe ... so tell me, while we wait for your friends ... how did you smuggle them in here. It seems to have taken you a long time to work out how to do it.' Malfoy looked as though he was fighting down the urge to shout, or to vomit. He gulped and took several deep breaths, glaring at Dumbledore, his wand pointing directly at the latter's heart. Then, as though he could not help himself, he said, '1 had to mend
 |  |
|
