94 hp Diagon Alley

OK, Draco. "

Malfoy pressed a few steps forward, looking around quickly to see if there was anyone else besides him and Dumbledore.His eyes fell on the second broom.

"Who else is here?"

"I was going to ask you that question. Are you acting alone?"

In the green light of the Dark Mark, Harry saw Malfoy's pale eyes fixed on Dumbledore again.

"No," he said, "I have my back. Death Eaters broke into the school tonight."

"Very well, very well," said Dumbledore, as if Malfoy had shown him an ambitious project plan, "not bad indeed. You managed to get them in, didn't you?"

"That's right," Malfoy said, his breathing a little short, "right under your nose, and you never noticed!"

"How ingenious," said Dumbledore, "but... may I ask... where are they at this moment? You seem to be alone."

"They've come across some of your guards, fighting down there. It won't take long... I'll come up first myself. I—I've got a job to do."

"Okay, then you do it, my dear boy." Dumbledore said gently.

silence.Harry was imprisoned under his invisibility cloak, unable to move his body.He kept his eyes on the two people in front of him, and his ears listened intently to the sounds of the Death Eaters fighting in the distance.In front of him, Draco Malfoy just stared blankly at Albus Dumbledore, who actually smiled incredulously.

"Draco, you are not a murderer."

"How do you know?" Malfoy asked immediately.

He also seemed to realize how naive that statement sounded.Under the green light of the Dark Mark, Harry saw his face flush.

"You don't know what I'm capable of," said Malfoy, his tone turning fierce. "You don't know what I've done!"

"Oh, of course I do," said Dumbledore kindly. "You almost killed Katie Bell and Ron Weasley. You've been trying to kill me all year, and it's getting worse and worse. Can't wait. Forgive me for saying this, Draco, but what you're doing is lame...so lame, honestly, I doubt you even put your heart into it..."

"Of course I did!" said Malfoy excitedly. "I've been working on this all year, and tonight—"

Harry heard a muffled cry from somewhere in the castle below.Malfoy froze, turning his head to look behind him.

"Someone is struggling to resist." Dumbledore said casually, "You just said... By the way, you said that you finally succeeded in letting Death Eaters into my school. I admit, I thought it was wrong. It's possible...how did you do it?"

But Malfoy didn't answer, he was still listening to the movement below, seemed to be as frozen as Harry, unable to move.

"Maybe you should do the job alone." Dumbledore suggested to him, "What if your backup is defeated by my guards? I'm afraid you have also found out that there are still members of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight." Member. You don't need help anyway...I don't have a wand at the moment...no way to protect myself."

Malfoy just stared at him blankly.

"I see," Dumbledore said gently to Malfoy, seeing that Malfoy was neither moving nor speaking, "you're scared, and you won't do anything until they come up."

"I'm not afraid!" Malfoy roared fiercely, but he still didn't hurt Dumbledore. "It should be you who is afraid!"

"But why? I don't think you're going to kill me, Draco. Killing isn't as easy as people think... Well, while we're waiting for your friends, you and I Tell me...how did you sneak them in? It seems like it took you a long time to figure it out."

Malfoy seemed to be trying desperately not to yell or throw up.He swallowed, took a few deep breaths, stared fiercely at Dumbledore, and pointed his wand straight at Dumbledore's chest.Then, seemingly involuntarily, he said, "I had to fix that broken disappearing cabinet that hadn't been used for years. The same one that Montague locked in last year."

"what--"

Dumbledore's sigh was like a moan.He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Smart idea... I remember there were two of them, didn't I?"

"The other one is in Borgin and Burke's," said Malfoy, "and they built a passage between the two cabinets. Montague told me he couldn't move when he was locked in that cabinet at Hogwarts, But sometimes you can hear the movement in the school, and sometimes you can hear what is going on in the store, as if the cabinet is running around in these two places, but no one can hear him... Finally, he finally Escaped by Apparating, even though he failed his exam. His Apparating nearly killed him. Everyone thought it was a funny story, only I realized the implications - even Borgin No idea - only I realized that as long as I fix that broken cabinet, I can enter Hogwarts through the two Vanishing Cabinets."

"Very well," murmured Dumbledore, "so that the Death Eaters can enter the school from the Borgin-Bock store to help you... a clever plan, a very clever plan... and, as you say Yes, right under my nose..."

"Yeah," said Malfoy, who strangely seemed to take courage and comfort from Dumbledore's praise, "yes, that's it!"

"But sometimes," continued Dumbledore, "you're not sure you'll be able to fix the cabinet, are you? That's when you resort to clumsy, ill-considered measures, like sending me an enchanted The necklace, in fact, it will definitely fall into the hands of others... and the poison in the mead, in fact, the possibility of me drinking that wine is very slim..."

"Yeah, but you still don't know who planned these things, do you?" Malfoy sneered, as Dumbledore's body slid down a little against the wall, obviously his legs and feet had lost strength, Harry, speechless, struggled desperately to get rid of the spell that bound him, but to no avail.

"As a matter of fact I already knew," said Dumbledore, "I believe you did it."

"Then why didn't you stop me?" Malfoy asked.

"I tried, Draco. Professor Snape has been watching you on my orders—"

"He didn't obey your orders, he promised my mother—"

"Of course he would tell you that, Draco, but—"

"He's a double agent, you stupid old man, he didn't work for you at all, and you were kept in the dark!"

"Let's just disagree, Draco. I happen to trust Professor Snape a lot—"

"Hmph, you're losing control of him!" Malfoy sneered, "He keeps offering to help me—to take credit for it—to do something—'What are you doing? That necklace Did you do that? Too stupid to give it all away—' But I didn't tell him what I was doing in the Room of Requirement, and when he woke up tomorrow morning, it was all done and he wouldn't be black again The devil's favorite, he is nothing compared to me, nothing!"

"How comforting," said Dumbledore mildly. "It goes without saying that we all want to be appreciated for our hard work... but you must have an accomplice... There is a man in Hogsmeade, Can give Katie that--that--ah..."

Dumbledore closed his eyes again, nodded slightly, and seemed to be falling asleep. "...Needless to say...it's Rosmerta. How long has she been under the Imperius Curse?"

"You figured it out at last, didn't you?" Malfoy sneered.

There was another cry from below, louder than the previous one.Malfoy looked away again uneasily, then back at Dumbledore.Dumbledore continued: "Because, poor Rosmerta had to hide in her own toilet and slip that necklace to any Hogwarts student who went to the toilet alone? And that bottle of poisoned one?" Mead... Of course, Rosmerta can mix poison in that bottle for you and sell it to Slughorn, thinking it's going to be given to me for Christmas... Yeah, very clever... ...very ingenious...poor Filch would never have thought of inspecting the wine Mrs. Rosmerta was selling...so tell me how you and Rosmerta are connected? For all communications to and from the school, we They have to be strictly checked."

"Magic coins," said Malfoy, who seemed compelled to go on and on, his wand hand shaking violently, "I have a coin, and she has one, and I can send her a message— "

"Is that the secret method of communication used by the group calling themselves 'Dumbledore's Army' last year?" Dumbledore asked.His voice was easy and friendly, but Harry saw him slide another inch toward the wall as he spoke.

"Yes, I learned from them," Malfoy said with a smirk, "I got the idea of ​​poisoning the mead from Granger, and I heard her say in the library that Filch couldn't recognize the potion." ..."

That's when Harry saw Dumbledore's feet slip on the ground, and he braced himself to keep from collapsing, "As for your attempt to kill me, Draco, it's been a few minutes. Weeks