Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [161]
Harry quickly wrote down the name of the potion on the small sheet of paper, along with the names of the three ingredients. He scribbled a short description of what the potion did, and the second he lifted his pencil off the paper, the bell rang, signaling the end of the test.
“Time is up!” yelled Professor Snape. He prowled the desks, yanking the tests away from everyone, not even looking at them.
“Go away, now,” he said when he had collected them all. The class immediately started to file out. Harry, however, decided to talk to Malfoy a bit before leaving.
“So, Malfoy, did you get the Advanced O.W.L.?” Malfoy picked up his books, and turned his head towards Harry. At first, he gave him a hard stare, but then, he smiled at him.
“Of course I did,” he said, “with you yelling the answer in your head so loud, it’s a wonder the rest of the class didn’t hear you.” Harry’s eyes grew wide, and he went cold.
“You- you heard me… thinking?” Malfoy zipped up his backpack, and threw it over his shoulder.
“Well yeah,” he said, in a ‘duh’ tone of voice. “Didn’t you learn anything from our duel? All Animagi are connected… some more so than others I guess. Weasley and Granger didn’t look like they were having the easiest time in the world on that exam.”
Harry just stared at Malfoy as he got up, and walked to the door.
“But, I mean, you looked like you were getting it, but it still looked as though something was troubling you… I thought it was because you didn’t have the answer.”
Malfoy stopped right in his tracks, a few inches from the door. He spun around, and his face met Harry’s eyes.
“Do you really want to know what’s troubling me, Potter?” he asked. Harry folded his arms and smirked.
“Well, I know what it is now: me beating you… two times in a row.”
Malfoy shook his head.
“Potter, I do have a life outside of you. No, while those two defeats have hurt me considerably, that’s not what has been worrying me. Believe it or not, Potter, what has been worrying me is… you.”
“I knew it, because I beat you!” said Harry, trying to rub it in more.
“No you idiot,” said Malfoy bitterly. “This has nothing to do with dueling or Quidditch. This has to do with… your mom.” Harry gave a look of confusion. Was this another one of Malfoy’s insults coming up, or was he serious? But, how could he know about what Harry was planning to do?
“What about her?” asked Harry. “She’s still dead, isn’t she?”
“Well, that’s just it,” whispered Malfoy, coming in closer. “I really don’t know. Now, I’m not going t say how I got this information, but I think Voldemort’s planning something, and it involves her somehow.”
What was Malfoy up to? Sure, his family had always been on Voldemort’s side, and he probably let out all his plans to them during meetings, but why was Malfoy telling him this? He had to know before he took him seriously.
“Why are you telling me this?” asked Harry, trying to look serious. Malfoy did something surprising. He walked up to Harry, and put his cold hand on Harry’s shoulder. At first, Harry thought he was going to shudder.
“Harry,” said Malfoy. This surprised Harry, Malfoy never referred to him by his first name. “You’re like… well, let me just say this. If I’ve learned one thing my entire life, it’s that having a good enemy is more valuable than having a good friend. Enemies… they give you someone to focus everything on: hatred, anger, things you could never do to your friends unless you wanted to lose them. And, well, I don’t want to lose you as an enemy, Potter.”
As weird and perverse a comment that was, it touched Harry. And, the more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t help the thought that if Malfoy ever… died, he’d feel terrible. Malfoy must have felt the same way.
“Thanks, Draco,” said Harry. Malfoy winced.
“No. Okay, let’s stop this,” he growled. He ripped