'So, Mum,' said Harry, wanting to fill the awkward silence, 'what?ve you been up to?'
'I?ve been embroidering a blanket for you to take to school,' she said eagerly, 'its got the family creed on it in gold, you?re father suggested it. He thought it was time you learned it by heart. Would you like to see it?'
Harry did not want to see it at all. 'Sure,' he said.
She rushed out of the room and almost immediately rushed right back in again, bearing what looked like a length of green velvet. She handed it to him, and he saw that there were words picked out across the front in gold lettering: PUNISHMENT LEADS TO FEAR. FEAR LEADS TO OBEDIENCE. OBEDIENCE LEADS TO FREEDOM. THEREFORE PUNISHMENT IS FREEDOM.
'Wow,' said Harry in a lifeless voice. 'Its lovely, Mum. I bet all the other kids will wish they had a blanket with a really horrible motto on it just like this one.'
For a moment, Harry thought he might have gone too far; but Narcissa just smiled blankly, and Harry turned his gaze away. It was a pity he did, for it he had looked at Dracos mothers face, he would have seen her eyes were full of tears.
The double doors at the end of the hall banged open and Lucius Malfoy and McNair strode in. 'Narcissa,' snapped Lucius, 'get McNair here a cup of tea, would you?'
Narcissa hurried to do her husbands bidding, while McNair sat down opposite Harry and grinned at him. 'So, Draco,' he said in a fatherly tone. 'I remember when I was a Slytherin at Hogwarts, we did have some fun. I bet you?re always stirring up trouble, aren?t you?'
'Well,' said Harry, 'you know, we?re kept pretty busy having Young Death Eater meetings, and then we spend a lot of time making loads of other students feel bad about their lack of money and social standing. Sometimes we stay up all night and try to raise demons to do our loathsome bidding, but most evenings we just order pizza and pull the wings off a few flies.'
Harry was quite aware that he was raving, but McNair did not seem to mind. 'This is quite a fine boy you have here, Lucius!' he said, turning to Dracos father. 'You must be proud of him.'
'He was a very unpromising baby,' said Lucius Malfoy without a trace of emotion.
'Weak and sickly. I told my wife that in the good old days of the Malfoys, a child like that would have been left on a windswept crag to die, but she would insist on keeping him.'
McNair laughed, but Harry was fairly sure that Lucius Malfoy wasn?t joking.
Narcissa came back in with the tea-tray. McNair went over to her and said, 'Sorry, Narcissa, I?m going to have to take this with me. Got to go. Business.' He took a cup off the tray and winked at Dracos father. 'See you tomorrow, Lucius,' he said, and Disapparated.
Draco sat in the darkened library, his face in his hands. His elbows were propped on an open copy of Most Potente Potions, which seemed ironic to him, since it was on account of Polyjuice Potion that he was in this mess in the first place.
His mind kept running down options, but none of them seemed workable. He could send an owl to his dad, explaining what had happened, in which case Lucius Malfoy would realize that the boy he had in his house was Harry Potter, and would kill him. He could work on reversing the spell, which would turn Harry back into Harry, and Lucius would see who Harry was and would still kill him. He could go down to Malfoy Manor himself and try to spring Harry, which would be a brave and spectacular move in many ways, but if his dad caught him he would think Draco was Harry and he?d wind up being murdered by his own father.
It did not occur to Draco to go to Dumbledore with his problem. He was still a Malfoy.
The library door opened, and a girl came in, carrying a wand. 'Lumos,' she said, and the room was suddenly bathed in light. Draco looked up, blinking.
It was Cho Chang.
'I thought I?d find you here,' she said, sounding satisfied.
'And I thought I got rid of you on the Quidditch field,' said Draco.
Far from seeming affronted, Cho smiled. 'That was before I realized you were playing hard-to-get,' she said.
'So you?re back for more abuse, are you?' said Draco. 'Women.'
'I was feeling guilty,' said Cho, 'about the way I?ve treated you. Telling you that you were too young for me to date and that your hair was too untidy, well, that wasn?t really very fair of me.'
'You?ve been a bad girl all right,' Draco agreed. 'Maybe you should go off by yourself and think about what you?ve done wrong. Take as much time as you need.'
Cho came closer and perched on the side of the table, running her wand tip gently up and down his arm. 'I know you don?t mean it, Harry,' she said, 'You?re just hurt, and I respect that.'
Draco threw his hands up in disgust. 'Look at you!' he said. 'I bet you Harrys been running round you for years, carrying your books, sending you flowers, and all you?ve done is ignore him. Now here he comes along and is an absolute bastard to you, and suddenly you won?t leave him alone!'
Cho stared at him. 'Do you realize you?re talking about yourself in the third person?' she said.
'Er,' said Draco.
'Excuse me,' said a voice. Draco looked up. There was someone else in the library with them. 'I hope I?m not interrupting, but — ' It was Hermione.
'You are,' said Cho. 'Go away.'
'No!' said Draco. 'You?re not interrupting anything.' He stood up with such haste that he knocked a pile of books to the floor. 'Hermione-' Cho glanced from him, to Hermione, and back again. Then she raised an eyebrow and smiled coolly. 'So that's how it is, is it?' she said. 'Finally given up on me and decided to settle?'
'Harry and I are not dating!' Hermione snapped, her eyes flashing.
