Hermione would recognize him, am I correct?'
'Yes, that's right.'
Snape was looking from Dumbledore to Sirius with a bright bitter light in his eyes. 'I suppose it would be a waste of time for me to ask what this is about.'
'Salazar Slytherin has returned,' said Dumbledore simply. 'That is all we really know for certain. There is also the matter of an enchanted sword. One of the only four Living Blades ever forged.
Two have been destroyed. One is in my office, in an adamantine case. The other is in the possession of young Master Malfoy. I cannot emphasize to you how significant that is.'
Snape blinked in astonishment. 'Draco Malfoy?' he echoed.
The door of the room opened, and Dr. Branford stuck his head in.
His eyes widened when he saw the floating form of Dumbledore above the bed, but he held his ground. 'Professor Snape,' he said nervously. 'Something's happened — could you come out here for a moment?'
Snape looked outraged. 'Can't it wait?'
'Well,' said the doctor. 'No, actually.'
'It's perfectly all right,' said Dumbledore. 'Leave us, Severus. You have done what you came here to do.'
Looking mad enough to spit nails, Snape swept out of the room after the doctor. Lupin was not sorry to see him go. The moment he was gone, Sirius turned to Dumbledore. 'Draco's missing,' he said.
Dumbledore looked grave. 'I rather thought he might be,' he said.
'Do you think he's all right?'
'I really don't know.' Dumbledore still sounded grave. 'He's a strong boy, as strong as Harry is, and powerful in his own right. But that sword is one of the most powerful magical objects ever created.
And we do not know its true purpose.'
'Well,' said Lupin. 'It's a tool of Slytherin's, isn't it? It does his bidding?'
'These are the questions to which I do not have the answer. I was rather hoping that young Master Malfoy could give them to me. Is the sword a tool of Slytherin's, or an enemy of his? Is he working through it, or are the two opposed, battling each other?'
'But the sword brought Slytherin back to life,' pointed out Lupin.
'Yes. But perhaps not as a reward. Perhaps as a punishment. He owes a great debt to the forces that made that sword what it is. If he was brought back, it could be to pay that debt.'
'And he doesn't want to pay it?' asked Sirius.
'Not,' said Dumbledore, 'if he can have Draco pay in his stead. All he has to do is sit back and let the sword do its work.'
Lupin narrowed his eyes. 'What is its work?'
'The sword was made to fulfill wishes. That is what it does, that is the power that made it so coveted by Slytherin in the first place. It has been trying to show Draco that he can give him everything he's ever wanted. To succeed where Harry fails. Requited love, via the potion — '
'But it was all an accident,' interrupted Lupin. 'He just happened to be there; she just happened to see him — '
'There are forces at work here that I do not comprehend fully, if at all,' said Dumbledore. 'I would imagine that the sword, with its connection to Slytherin, knew about the love potion and contrived to place Draco there at that moment. Certainly there were many factors to take into account and the situation could have gone either way. And I may be wrong about the sword trying to fulfill his wishes with the love potion and its results. Perhaps it was simply trying to torment him. Perhaps it simply found the situation amusing. The sword is a demon, after all. It has a sense of humor, although not one most of us would share.'
'She loves him now,' said Sirius slowly. 'But I wouldn't say that that's made him happy, exactly.'
'What we think we want is not always what he really do want,' said Dumbledore. 'And remember, the intelligence that is trying to fulfill his wishes is a malign one. It sees that he wants Hermione to love him-presto, she loves him It would never grasp that there is more to the wish than the outward appearance of devotion, never grasp why induced love is not and cannot be satisfactory.'
'What does the sword want?'
'A life,' said Dumbledore simply. 'What it was cheated of when Slytherin performed the magic that made him immortal.
Specifically, the life of a Magid. Even more specifically, the life of a Magid with Slytherin blood. That was the original bargain. If the sword cannot have the life of Slytherin himself, it will take the life of one his descendants.'
'Draco's life,' said Sirius, looking pale.
'Not necessarily Draco,' said Dumbledore, looking very grave. 'It could just as well be Harry.'
Sirius goggled at him. 'Harry? But Harry is the heir of Gryffindor.'
'Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin were cousins,' said Dumbledore, sounding very calm. All very well for him to be calm, thought Sirius irrationally. He's not even really here. 'Harry's blood will do just as well as Draco's to fill the bargain.'
Lupin suddenly leaped to his feet and began pacing. 'That explains so many things,' he said, excitedly.
'Does it?' said Sirius, hoping he didn't look quite as blank as he felt.
All this talk of Harry's blood and Harry's life was beginning to make him feel panicky, and he was rarely at his best when he was panicked. He fought down the feeling, and looked over at Lupin.
'What does that explain?'
