"Of course I did!" Malfoy argued excitedly. "I've been busy with this for the whole year, tonight..."
At this moment, a dull shout came from somewhere in the castle below.
Malfoy froze and hurriedly turned his head to look behind him.
The wand in his trembling hand was deflected. If Dumbledore rushed over, no, Harry felt that if Dumbledore just walked over, Malfoy would not be able to resist at all. But Dumbledore did not move. He leaned on the double snake staff with both hands and leaned his whole body weight on it. He said in an easygoing manner, "Someone is fighting hard, we were just talking about... Oh yes, you finally succeeded in letting the Death Eaters into my school. I admit, I thought it was impossible... How did you do it?"
But Malfoy did not answer. He was still listening to the movements below and did not even look back at Dumbledore.
He seemed to be frozen like Harry and could not move.
"This won't do, Draco, this won't do. Maybe you should do the work alone." Dumbledore suggested. "Although you have a lot of people here tonight, what if your backup is defeated by my guards? I'm afraid you've also noticed that there are many members of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight. The number is not as small as you think. You don't need help anyway. See, I don't have a wand now, so I can't protect myself. "
Malfoy turned his head again and just stared blankly at him.
Then, his eyes moved to the double snake staff that Dumbledore was leaning on.
He looked at the two green pythons that came forward and his expression gradually became frightened, as if he had just noticed them.
"Don't mind them. You can think of this wand as an ornament. Please believe me, this wand will not cause you any harm. " Dumbledore said gently. He saw that Malfoy neither moved nor spoke, so he nodded slightly. "Ah, I understand. You're afraid of what you're going to do, so you wait for them to come up before you dare to do it."
"I'm not afraid!" Malfoy immediately roared fiercely, like an enraged cat, but he still did not hurt Dumbledore. "You should be the one who is afraid!"
"But why? I don't think you'll kill me, Draco. It's not as simple as people think.... Well, while we're waiting for your friends, you tell me.... How did you sneak them in? You seem to have taken a long time to come up with this idea. "
Malfoy seemed to be desperately restraining himself from screaming or vomiting.
He gulped and took a few deep breaths. He glared at Dumbledore and pointed his wand at Dumbledore's chest. Then, as if he could not help himself, he said, "I had to fix the broken Vanishing Cabinet that no one had used for many years. It was the cabinet that Montai was locked in last year."
"Ah!" Dumbledore's sigh was like a moan. He closed his eyes for a moment. "So that's why you spent most of your time in the Room of Granted Requests. A very clever idea.... I remember there were two cabinets, weren't there?"
"The other one was in Boggin and Bock's!" "They built a tunnel between the cupboards, and Monty told me that when he was locked in the cupboard at Hogwarts, he couldn't move at all, but sometimes he could hear what was going on in the school, and sometimes he could hear what was going on in the shops, and sometimes he could hear what was going on in the shops, as if the cupboard were running back and forth between the two places, but no one could hear him... In the end, he managed to escape by Apparating, even though he failed his exams, and his Apparating nearly cost him his life. Everyone thought it was a funny story, but only I realized the meaning behind it. Even Bojin didn't know. I was the only one who realized that as long as I fixed the broken cabinet, I could enter Hogwarts through the two Vanishing Cabinets. "
"Very good." Dumbledore murmured. "This way, the Death Eaters could enter the school from Boggin and Bock's to help you... A clever plan, a very clever plan. And, as you said, it was right under my nose … "
"Yes!" Malfoy said. Strangely, he seemed to gain courage and comfort from Dumbledore's praise. "Yes, that's it!"
"Very clever, but I have to correct you. You're not the only one who knows. In fact, Elwyn has reminded me of this many times in the past year."
"What?!" Upon hearing this, the courage that Malfoy had just gained disappeared in an instant. His expression was one of extreme horror, as if he had been greatly frightened. "You, you mean, Mason already knows?! He, he knew about the Vanishing Cabinet in advance?! "
"You must have noticed that Harry had been trying to follow you into the House of Granted Wishes to find out what you were doing. He failed, but in fact, he was not the only one who did this."
"Mei, Mason followed me in?!" Malfoy said in horror.
"Not at the same time, but he probably guessed that you went into that room." Dumbledore said gently. "In the past few years, he has always been using that room. No one is more familiar with the House of Granted Wishes than him. He guessed where you went and went in to check after you left, and found the Vanishing Cabinet..."
"That's impossible!" Malfoy said in disbelief. "There are so many things in that room, and I was very careful every time. It's impossible for him to know the secret of the Vanishing Cabinet, impossible..."
"Magic is not as simple as you think, Draco. You still have a lot to learn. In fact, I still have to say, what you did was too obvious and lame. Even without Elwyn's reminder, I would have found out it was you. I think, at that time, you were not sure that the Vanishing Cabinet would be fixed, so you took some clumsy and ill-considered measures, such as giving me a magic necklace, which would have fallen into the hands of others... and poisoning the mead, which was very unlikely for me to drink... "
"It's impossible for you to know who planned these things," Malfoy said.
"But I already knew it." Dumbledore said, taking a step back and leaning against the wall. Obviously, his legs had no strength left. "I know it was you."
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