right to Lupin and tell him you've flown to England, and when you get back, they'll expell you.'
Harry reached for his broom. 'You wouldn't tell on me, would you, Malfoy?'
'I have made a long and brilliant career out of telling on you, Potter.
Don't' think I'm going to stop now.'
When she heard the knock on the door, Ginny ran to answer it, half-hoping it would be Hermione, having seen sense and returned to the Burrow.
But it wasn't Hermione.
She recognized the person at the door immediately. Hating someone as much as she hated him had branded a certain image of him into her mind. He looked different than he had a year ago — taller, much browner, and if possible, even blonder — but it was definitely Draco Malfoy, wearing a black travelling cloak and carrying a broomstick in one hand.
'Hallo,' he said, looking at her as if he didn't quite remember who she was. 'It's Ginny, right? Is your brother home?'
She shut the door in his face and stood there, glaring at it.
There was a moment of stunned silence from the other side of the door. Then another voice spoke, a very familiar voice, causing Ginny to jump.
'Gin,' said Harry's voice cautiously, 'It's me. I'm, um, out here with Malfoy. Would you mind letting us in?'
If Harry had asked Ginny to set the house on fire, she probably would have done it. She opened the door and looked mistrustfully at the two boys standing on the doorstep — Draco, looking startled, and Harry — tired and pale but so familiarly Harry, with the same green eyes and untidy hair and lightning-bolt scar. He was taller, too, and he was holding his Firebolt in one hand.
'It's good to see you, Ginny,' he said, although he looked a little wary. 'Everything all right?'
Ginny felt her lip trembling. 'Harry,' she said. 'Oh, Harry. We've been so worried. Hermione — '
Ron appeared behind Ginny, saw Harry, and then saw Draco. He didn't smile, but said, 'You two had better come in.'
Draco looked at Harry, who was looking startled at this unusually cold reception. Harry shrugged, and they both stepped over the threshold and followed Ron and Ginny into the kitchen.
'I bet you must have passed the owl we sent in midair on your way here,' said Ron. All four of them were sitting around the Weasley's kitchen table, drinking tea. Draco was also methodically working his way through a jar of peanuts. Harry, who wasn't hungry, had just finished exchanging information with Ron and Ginny regarding the events of the past two days, from the news in the Daily Prophet to the contents of Hermione's letter to Harry. 'Pig was too tired to go all the way back to Ireland again, so we had to get a municipal owl from the post office in town.'
Harry barely appeared to hear this; he seemed lost in thought. 'So, when she left…she seemed odd to you?'
'I told you that already,' said Ron with a hint of impatience. 'I mean, besides the sizeable weirdness involved in her going off with Krum in the first place yes, she seemed odd.'
'I think he used a love potion on her,' said Ginny firmly. 'I know they're illegal, but he's got a lot of money and knows a lot of people, I bet he could get hold of one.'
'But if all he was trying to do was get her to fall in love with him, then what's all this misdirection stuff about them going to Bulgaria, when he's right there in London? And if he's in London, then where is Hermione?' said Draco.
'Maybe she doesn't want us to know where she is,' said Harry.
'Maybe she wants us to leave her alone.'
'Don't be ridiculous,' snapped Draco. 'Look, if she's really been in love with Krum all this time, then-' He broke off. He had been about to say 'then she would have seen Krum in the mirror of Erised and not you,' but he didn't know if Ron and Ginny knew about the mirror, and it was rather personal to Harry. Odd to know something about Harry that they didn't. 'Well, then, why didn't she stay with him in Bulgaria when she had the chance two years ago? Instead of having Ron come and retrieve her? She couldn't have been having that great of a time.'
'She was only fourteen then,' said Harry quietly.
'Why is it,' said Draco, his voice rising impatiently, 'that out of all of us, YOU are the only one who seems prepared to believe that she left here of her own free will?'
'I don't,' said Harry irritably. 'I'm just don't think that haring after Viktor Krum in a mad jealous rage is going to — '
'Haring after Viktor Krum in a mad jealous rage is exactly what you should be doing!' retorted Draco. 'The question remains: did she or did she not run off with Krum? And who's going to know the answer to that better than the Man Himself? I suggest we find him, posthaste, and ask politely. And if that doesn't work, we'll hold him down and threaten to shave off his eyebrow.'
Ron cleared his throat. 'I agree with Malfoy,' he said, looking slightly sick to his stomach, as if the words 'I agree with Malfoy' agreed with him about as much as a double helping of Cockroach Clusters. 'When we read in the paper that Viktor Krum was in London after all, we got right back in touch with Percy and he told us that all the international Quidditch players are staying at the World Quidditch Club off Diagon Alley. I think we should go there and talk to him — '
'I've been there,' said Draco. 'With my father. There's a lot of security, I mean those Quidditch stars, they're real celebrities. We can't just stroll in.'
'Well, I thought I could pretend to be Percy,' said Ron hopefully. 'I mean, we do look a bit alike, and I could say I'm Percy Weasley and I need to see Viktor Krum — '
'Why?' interrupted Draco. He was looking at Ron with narrowed gray eyes. 'Why do you need to see Viktor Krum?'
