'Feel free to fight over me, girls,' said Draco, settling back in his chair. 'And perhaps a bit of hand-to-hand combat might not be amiss?'
Cho glared at him. 'You really are an arrogant bastard under that whole modesty act, aren't you?' she snapped.
'Yes,' said Draco. 'Now go away.'
Cho grabbed her wand and stormed out of the library, slamming the door behind her.
Draco turned nervously to Hermione. 'She just really, really likes me,' he said, shrugging. 'I can?t explain it.' Instead of responding, Hermione strode over to where he was standing, crossed her arms, and stared at him.
Draco had never been stared at like that before. It was like she could see right through his head to the back of his skull.
'Hermione, don?t,' he protested, before he could stop himself. 'Look, I?m sorry about what I said before.'
'You?re not,' Hermione began.
Draco interrupted her. 'Look, I?ve told you I am sorry, what more — ' 'No,' snapped Hermione, brushing this aside with an impatient wave of her hand, 'I don?t mean you aren?t sorry. I mean you aren?t — you aren?t him.'
'Aren?t what?'
'Aren?t Harry,' said Hermione. 'You?re not Harry Potter.'
Draco stared at her. He suddenly felt very tired. 'Of course I?m not,' he said.
'I?m Draco Malfoy.'
For a moment, they just stared at each other. Then Hermione lunged at Draco, who, totally unprepared for her assault, was knocked backward. He landed on the floor with Hermione on top of him, hitting him with both fists. 'WHERE IS HARRY?' she screamed. 'What did you do with him? Where are you keeping him?
You can?t have killed him, you need him to keep making Polyjuice Potion-' 'Hermione-' Draco was making not the slightest effort to protect himself as she slammed her fists into him. 'I swear to you, I haven?t hurt him-' 'Liar!' She grabbed him by the neck of his robes, yanked his head up, and then whacked it back into the stone floor. Draco saw stars as she fumbled in the sleeve of her robes and pulled out her wand. She aimed it at his heart. 'If you hurt Harry, if you sliced off his fingers to make your horrible potion-' 'Look,' said Draco, fighting to stay calm, 'I did not give your speccy little boyfriend so much as a haircut. Although he could use one. I haven?t been making Polyjuice potion. This is the same potion from Snapes class, it just never wore off.'
Hermione was shaking, but her grip on the wand did not falter. 'You expect me to believe that?' she said.
Draco looked at her. 'My father taught me Dark magic, you know,' he said.
'Don't change the subject, Malfoy.'
'Put a truth spell on me,' he said. 'I?ll show you how to do it.'
'Thats advanced Dark magic,' said Hermione, looking very white, 'Its use is strictly controlled by the Ministry-' 'Fine,' Draco said, reached up, and grabbed her hand where it held the wand pointed at his heart. 'Veritas,' he said.
A jet of black light shot out of the wand and hit Draco in the chest. He had seen his father use the Truth Spell on plenty of people before but had never imagined how it might feel. Now he knew, and knew why it was considered Dark Magic — he felt as if two enormous silver hooks had been driven into his chest, just under his ribs, and was ripping it open, leaving his heart bared.
'Ask me quickly,' he said, through gritted teeth. 'It hurts.'
Hermione stared down at him in shock, but she still had her wits about her.
Quickly, she said, 'Harry, is Harry all right?'
'Yes,' said Draco. His voice sounded odd and strangely transparent, even to his own ears.
She blinked. 'Why is it that you?ve taken on his appearance?'
'When we drank that potion in Snapes class, we didn?t turn back when everyone else did. Harry thought I had done something to the Potion, but I hadn?t. He didn?t believe me — he hit me — I hit him back and knocked him out. Then I realized that everyone thought I was him. I played along with it.'
'Why?'
'I wanted to see what it would be like,' said Draco. 'I thought at first I was doing it so I could get the goods on Harry. Find out his secrets. Use them against him.
But it didn?t turn out like that.' He gasped. Each word felt like it was being ripped out of him. 'It was like I took some part of Harry into me with the potion. I started acting like him and I couldn?t control it. I saved Nevilles toad, and you from the Bludger. I feel things, now. Things I?ve never felt before.'
'Like pity?' said Hermione, grimly.
'Yes,' said Draco.
'Where is Harry?' she asked.
'When I told you that Draco Malfoys dad had come to take him home, that was the truth. Only instead of me, he took Harry.'
Hermione, being Hermione, grasped the import of this immediately and shuddered. Her grip on the wand, however, remained quite steady. 'What makes you think hes all right?' she demanded.
'I can feel it,' said Draco. He heard his own response with some amazement. 'I didn?t realize thats what it was until now…. Its like Harrys scar. He and Voldemort are connected by the curse that failed; now I?m connected
