Jon leaned weakly against the roof, his back against the raised ridge that Hogg had thoughtfully prepared for him. He watched as Hogg and Pimp followed Helga around … as if it would do them any good.
Of course, even if it didn't do them any good, they would still do it.
It was Helga, after all.
But Jon didn't even want to talk now. He just wanted to lean there quietly and wait for Dumbledore to come back.
Apparently, he had.
By the time he saw Dumbledore, Dumbledore had already crossed the sawtooth castle wall and was coming down from his broom.
A few seconds later, Harry landed beside him and looked around.
The castle wall was desolate, and the doors to the spiral staircase leading into the castle were closed.
There was no sign of a struggle or a struggle, nor was there a corpse to be seen.
"What's the meaning of this?"
Harry asked Dumbledore, looking up at the green skull in the air, its serpentine tongue glinting wickedly above their heads. "Is this mark real? Is someone really — Professor? "
In the dim green light of the Dark Mark, Harry saw Dumbledore clutching his chest with his blackened hand.
"Go and wake Severus up."
'Tell him what has happened, 'said Dumbledore weakly, but distinctly,' and tell him to come to me at once.
Do nothing else, don't talk to anyone, and don't take off your Cloak of Invisibility.
I'll wait here. "
"But —"
"You swore to obey me.
Harry — go! "
Harry hurried to the door of the spiral staircase, but as soon as he gripped the iron doorknob, he heard running footsteps on the other side of the door.
He turned to look at Dumbledore, and Dumbledore motioned for him to step back.
Harry took a few steps back and pulled out his wand.
The door suddenly burst open and a person barged in while shouting, "Remove your weapon!"
Harry's body stiffened, and he felt himself stagger back against the tower wall, where he stood like a statue, unable to move or speak.
He didn't understand what was going on. "Get rid of your weapon" wasn't a freezing spell?
At this time, under the green light of the Mark of the Dark Demon, he saw Dumbledore's wand draw an arc in the air and fly out of the wall. He understood...
Dumbledore froze Harry with a silent spell, and the one second it took him to recite the spell made him lose the chance to protect himself.
Dumbledore stood there with his back against the wall. His face was pale, but he did not show any signs of panic or worry.
He just looked at the person who removed his weapon and said, "Good evening, Draco."
Malfoy took a few steps forward and quickly looked around to see if there was anyone else besides him and Dumbledore.
His gaze fell on the second broom.
"Who else is here?"
"I was just about to ask you that. Are you acting alone?"
Under the green light of the Mark of the Dark Demon, Harry saw Malfoy's pale eyes fixed on Dumbledore again.
"No," he said. "Someone is supporting me. The Death Eaters broke into your school tonight."
"Good, good," Malfoy said.
It was as if Malfoy had shown him an ambitious homework plan. "Not bad," Dumbledore said, as if Malfoy had shown him an ambitious homework plan.
"Not bad indeed. You found a way to let them in, didn't you?"
"Yes," Malfoy said, breathing a little faster. "Right under your nose, but you didn't notice!"
"How ingenious, but... may I ask... where are they now?
You seem to be … isolated and helpless. "
"They ran into some of your guards and are fighting down there.
It won't take long... I'll come up first.
I — I have a job to do. "
"Well, then, do as you please, my dear boy."
Silence.
Imprisoned under his Invisibility Cloak, Harry could not move his body.
He looked at the two men in front of him, his ears listening intently to the sound of the Death Eaters fighting in the distance.
In front of him, Draco Malfoy just stared blankly at Albus Dumbledore, and Dumbledore laughed incredulously.
"Draco, Draco, you're not a murderer."
"How do you know?"
He seemed to realize how childish this sentence sounded.
Under the green light of the Mark of the Dark Demon, Harry saw him blush.
"You don't know what I can do," Malfoy said, his tone becoming fierce. "You don't know what I've done!"
"Oh, of course I know."
Dumbledore said kindly, "You almost killed Katie Bell and Ron Weasley.
You've been thinking of ways to kill me this whole year, and you're getting more and more impatient.
Forgive me for saying this, Draco, but what you do is very lame …
To be honest, it's so lame that I wonder if you put your heart into it … "
"Of course I put my heart into it!"
Malfoy said passionately. "I've been working on this all year, and tonight —"
Harry heard a muffled cry from somewhere in the castle below.
Malfoy froze and turned his head to look behind him.
"Someone's fighting hard."
Dumbledore said casually, "You just said … Yes, you said you finally succeeded in getting 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 movement below, and seemed to be as frozen as Harry and unable to move.
"Maybe you should do the work alone."
Dumbledore suggested, "What if your backup is defeated by my guards?
You may have noticed that there are members of the Phoenix Society here tonight.
You don't need help anyway …
I don't have a wand now … I can't protect myself. "
Malfoy just stared at him blankly.
"I see," Dumbledore said gently when he saw that Malfoy was neither moving nor speaking. "You're scared. You don't dare to do anything until they come up."
"I'm not scared!"
Malfoy roared fiercely, but he still did not hurt Dumbledore. "You're the one who should be scared!"
"But why?
I don't think you'll kill me, Draco.
Killing people is not as simple as most people think …
Well, while we're waiting for your friends, tell me about it. '
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 crying out or vomiting.
He swallowed, took a few deep breaths, stared fiercely at Dumbledore, and pointed his wand at Dumbledore's chest.
Then he seemed to say involuntarily, "I had to fix that broken Vanishing Cabinet that hadn't been used for years.
It's the cupboard that Mengtai locked himself in last year. "
"Ah —"
Dumbledore's sigh was like a groan. He closed his eyes for a moment.
"A very clever idea … I remember there were two of them, weren't there?"
"The other one was in Birkin and Burke's," Malfoy said. "They built a passage between the two cabinets.
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 store. It was as if the cupboard was running back and forth between the two places, but no one could hear him …
In the end, he managed to escape by Apparition, even though he failed his exam.
His apparition had almost cost him his life.
Everyone thought it was a funny story, but I was the only one who realized what it meant — not even Boggin. 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, "That way, the Death Eaters could enter the school from Birkin and Burke's shop to help you …
An ingenious plan, a very ingenious plan …
Furthermore, just as you said, right under my nose … "
"Yes," Malfoy said. Strangely, he seemed to gain courage and comfort from Dumbledore's praise. "Yes, that's it!"
"But sometimes," Dumbledore continued, "you weren't sure if you could fix the cabinet, right?
Then you took some clumsy and ill-considered measures, like giving me a necklace that was enchanted when it would definitely fall into someone else's hands …
Or putting poison in the honey wine, when the chances of me drinking it were slim to none … "
"Yes, but you still don't know who planned these things, do you?"
Malfoy sneered. At this time, Dumbledore's body slid down a little against the wall. His legs were obviously weak. Unable to speak, Harry struggled desperately to break free from the spell binding him, but to no avail.
"Actually, I already knew," Dumbledore said, "I believed you did it."
"Then why didn't you stop me?"
"I tried, Draco.
Professor Snape listened to my orders and kept an eye on you — "
"He didn't listen to 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, you're still in the dark!"
"Let's keep our opinions to ourselves, Draco, I happen to trust Professor Snape —"
"You're losing control of him!"
Malfoy sneered. "He kept saying he wanted to help me —
He wanted to take the credit for himself — he wanted to intervene and do something — "
'What are you doing? Did you do that necklace? You're so stupid, you'll expose everything — '
But I didn't tell him what I was doing in that room. By the time he wakes up tomorrow morning, everything will have been done. He will no longer be the Black Devil King's favorite. Compared to me, he is nothing, nothing! "
"How comforting."
Dumbledore said gently, "We all want our hard work to be appreciated by others, that goes without saying …
But you must have an accomplice … there's someone in Hogsmeade who can give Katie that — that — ah … "
Dumbledore closed his eyes again and nodded slightly, as if he was about to fall asleep.
"Needless to say … it's Rosmerta. How long has she been under the spell?"
"You've finally figured it out, haven't you?"
Another shout came from below, louder than the previous one.
Malfoy turned his head anxiously again, and then looked back at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore continued, "Because, poor Rosmerta had to hide in her own toilet, and give the necklace to any Hogwarts student who went to the toilet alone?
And that bottle of poisoned honey wine …
Of course, Rosmerta could have added poison to the wine for you, and sold it to Slughorn, thinking he would give it to me as a Christmas present …
Very clever …
Poor Filch would never have thought of checking the wine sold by Mrs Rosmerta …
So tell me, how do you communicate with Rosmerta?
We have to strictly check all communications in and out of the school. "
"A magic coin," said Malfoy, who seemed to have to go on without stopping, and whose hand trembled with the wand. "I have a coin, and she has one, and I can send a message to her--"
"The secret communication method used last year by the group who called themselves' Dumbledore's Army '?"
Dumbledore's voice was easy-going, but Harry saw him slide an inch closer to the wall as he spoke.
"Yes, I learned it from them," Malfoy said with a grin.
"I got the idea of poisoning the honey wine from Granger, the mud-spawn. I heard her say in the library that Filch couldn't recognize the potion …"
"Please don't use that insulting word in front of me."
Malfoy let out an ugly laugh.
"I'm about to take your life, and you still care that I said 'mud-spawn'?"
"Yes, I care very much."
Dumbledore said. Harry saw his feet slip on the ground, and he struggled not to collapse. "As for you wanting to take my life, it's been a few minutes.
There's no one else around, and I'm unarmed now. You would never have dreamed of such a good opportunity, but you still haven't done it … "
Malfoy's lips twitched involuntarily, as if he was tasting something very bitter.
"Let's talk about tonight," Dumbledore continued, "I still don't understand … How did you know I left the school?
Of course, Rosmerta saw me leave, and I think she must have told you the news with that clever coin of yours … "
"Yes," Malfoy said, "but she said you just went for a drink and would be back soon …"
"Yes, I did go for a drink … and now I'm back … barely," Dumbledore muttered softly, "so you decided to set a trap for me?"
"We decided to hang the Black Mark over the tower to force you to hurry back to see who was killed, and it worked!"
"Oh … not necessarily …" Dumbledore said, "So, can I take it that no one has been killed yet?"
"One person is dead," Malfoy said suddenly.
Malfoy said. His voice suddenly rose an octave. "One of your people … I don't know who it is. It's too dark … I stepped over a corpse … I should have been waiting for you up here. It's all your fault for blocking my way …"
"Yes, that's right."
There were sounds of collisions and people shouting below, louder than before. It seemed that someone was fighting on the spiral staircase leading to Dumbledore, Malfoy, and Harry.
Harry's heart was beating wildly in his invisible chest, but no one could hear it … One person is dead … Malfoy stepped over a dead body … Who could it be?
"There's not much time left," Dumbledore said. "Where to go, Draco, let's discuss your choice."
"My choice!"
Malfoy shouted. "I'm standing here with my wand — I'm going to kill you —"
"Dear boy, let's stop acting.
If you really wanted to kill me, you would have done it after removing my weapon, instead of stopping to talk to me about these measures and methods. "
"I have no choice!"
Malfoy's face suddenly turned as pale as Dumbledore's.
"I have to do it!
He'll kill me!
He'll kill my whole family! "
"I understand your situation," Dumbledore said. "Why else haven't I met you before?
I knew that if Voldemort found out that I was suspicious of you, you would be assassinated. "
Malfoy twitched in fear when he heard the name.
"I know you accepted the mission, but I didn't dare to talk to you about it for fear that he would use the Mind Assimilation Spell on you."
Dumbledore continued, "Now we can finally speak frankly …
You didn't cause any damage, you didn't hurt anyone. You're very lucky that those you accidentally injured survived …
I can help you, Draco. "
"No, it's impossible."
Malfoy's hand trembled violently as he held the wand. "No one can. He told me to do it or he would kill me. I had no choice. "
"Stand on the right side of the road, Draco.
We can hide you in an absolutely safe place, safer than you can imagine.
Moreover, I can send members of the Phoenix Society to hide your mother tonight.
Your father is not in danger in Azkaban yet …
We will protect him when the time comes.
Stand on the right side of the road, Draco … You are not a murderer … "
Malfoy stared blankly at Dumbledore.
"But I've already come so far, haven't I?" he said slowly.
He spoke very slowly, "They thought that I would die before the deed was done, but I am still alive …"
And you're under my control … I'm the one holding the wand now …
You're at my mercy … "
"No, Draco," Dumbledore said calmly, "you're at my mercy now, not the other way around."
Draco did not speak.
His mouth was wide open, and the hand that was holding the wand was still trembling.
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