'He's just a possession to Lucius,' said Sirius. 'You don't know him, but I knew him at the Ministry. He was a master manipulator, a pure careerist. Draco would just be a thing to him, something to own and control.'
Hermione thought of her own boring dentist parents. 'Poor Draco,' she said.
Harry hurtled down the corridors, praying not to be seen, ('Hey! Kid! Slow down!'
yelled the portrait of one of Draco's vampire ancestors as he passed it) and darted in through the oak double doors of the fencing room. It was just as it had been when Lucius had brought Harry on his first day at the Manor — or nearly so. The tapestries showing scenes of wizard battle were unchanged, so was the fencing ring, but in the far corner a weird kind of structure had been erected. It was like nothing Harry had ever seen before.
Glittering bars of light, each about five inches apart, ran from floor to ceiling.
They were in the shape of a rough square, about five feet by seven feet. It was a cage, Harry realized, a cage made of light…and inside the cage was Draco.
Harry approached the cage cautiously. It was evident that whatever else it was, it was a powerful magical object, and Harry's experience with powerful magical objects told him that they were not to be messed with.
Draco was lying on his back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. For a moment Harry was afraid they might have put the Body-Bind Curse on him, but he turned his head as Harry approached and almost smiled.
'Hey,' he said.
He had a black eye and his upper lip was cut. Under his left sleeve cuff, Harry could see that one of his wrists was swollen to the size of a tennis ball.
'They knocked you around,' said Harry flatly.
'It's all right,' said Draco, returning his gaze to the ceiling. 'If there's one thing I learned when I was a kid, it's to take a beating.'
Harry knelt down next to the bars. 'Malfoy,' he said. 'Narcissa told me what you did. That was the bravest thing I've ever heard of. Also the stupidest. But it was really brave.'
'Thanks,' said Draco. 'It was probably you. The brave bit and the stupid bit.'
Harry shook his head. 'I don't think so. Well,' he admitted, 'maybe the stupid bit.'
Draco smiled faintly.
'Look,' said Harry. 'I came up here to get you out. Then you can let me down into the dungeons and we can get-' Draco shook his head. 'Not possible,' he said. 'I know this Imprisonment charm.
It would take a really powerful dark wizard or an Auror to take it off. And the bars are physically unbreakable.'
Harry couldn't believe Draco seemed so resigned. 'I won't leave you here,' he said.
'This might be the time you learn there are some things even you can't do,' said Draco. 'Might be good for you.'
'Not for you, though,' said Harry. 'Come on, Malfoy…think.'
'Okay. There is one thing.' Draco was looking at the ceiling again.
'What?'
'I think you know, Potter,' said Draco. 'In fact, it's something you'll probably enjoy.'
Harry shook his head, bewildered.
Draco sat up and crawled over to where Harry was kneeling, taking care not to put weight on his sprained wrist. 'It's pretty simple, really,' he said. 'I need you to kill me.'
Harry goggled at him. 'What?'
'I can teach you to do Avada Kedavra,' said Draco, in the helpful tone of someone offering him a pen he had asked for. 'It won't be hard.'
'You're mental,' said Harry, awed. 'I'm not going to kill you, Malfoy.'
Draco was now kneeling opposite Harry. He looked at him very intently. 'Think about it, Potter,' he said. 'It'll just be dying a little earlier than I will anyway when they get their hands on me, and do that Lacertus thing — and what'll happen it if works? They'll put the Imperius Curse on me and use me as a tool to kill Muggles and Mudbloods. I might not last as long as you — I haven't got a will as strong as yours — but I'll last long enough to kill the first Muggle-Born I come across. And who do you think that will be?'
Harry shut his eyes. 'Oh, no.'
'My dad,' said Draco flatly, 'will think it's pretty funny to make Harry Potter murder his own girlfriend. In fact, if he's keeping Hermione alive, that's probably why.'
'I hate your father, Malfoy,' said Harry without opening his eyes.
'Yeah,' said Draco. 'I hate him too.'
And they were silent for a moment, neither of them looking at the other, heads bent in fierce contemplation — one dark, one fair; one outside the prison bars, one within.
'It's really a pity we're not related,' said Draco finally, in a far-off voice. 'I bet your friend Sirius down in the dungeon could take the imprisonment charm off.
He's meant to be a really powerful wizard.'
'Yeah,' said Harry. 'If only-' He broke off, jerked his head up and stared wildly at Draco. 'That's it!' he breathed. 'That is it! You're brilliant, Malfoy! I would kiss you, but that would be gross!'
Draco looked at him blankly. 'Huh?'
