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\begin_layout Chapter
Personhood Theory
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T
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here
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 comes a point in every plot where the victim starts to suspect; and looks
 back, and sees a trail of events all pointing in a single direction.
 And when that point comes, Father had explained, the prospect of the loss
 may seem so unbearable, and admitting themselves tricked may seem so humiliatin
g, that the victim will yet deny the plot, and the game may continue long
 after.
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Father had warned Draco not to do that again.
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First, though, he'd let Mr.
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Avery finish eating all of the cookies he'd swindled from Draco, while Draco
 watched and cried.
 The whole lovely jar of cookies that Father had given him just a few hours
 earlier, for Draco had lost all of them to Mr.
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Avery, down to the very last one.
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So it was a familiar feeling that Draco had felt in the pit of his stomach,
 when Gregory told him about The Kiss.
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Sometimes you looked back, and saw things…
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(In a lightless classroom 
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 you couldn't quite call it 
\emph on
unused
\emph default
 any more, since it'd seen weekly use over the last few months 
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 a boy sat enshrouded in a hooded cowl, with an unlighted crystal globe
 on the desk in front of him.
 Thinking in silence, thinking in darkness, waiting for an opening door
 to let in the light.)
\end_layout

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Harry had shoved Granger away and said, 
\emph on
I told you, no kissing!
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry would probably say something like, 
\emph on
She just did it to annoy me, last time, just like she made me go on that
 date.
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But the verified story was that Granger had been willing to face the Dementor
 again in order to help Harry; that she had kissed Harry, crying, when he
 was lost in the depths of Dementation; and that her kiss had brought him
 back.
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That didn't sound like rivalry, even friendly rivalry.
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That sounded like the kind of friendship you usually didn't see even in
 plays.
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Then why had Harry made his friend climb the icy walls of Hogwarts?
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Because that was the sort of thing Harry Potter did to his friends?
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Father had told Draco that to fathom a strange plot, one technique was to
 look at what 
\emph on
ended up
\emph default
 happening, assume it was the 
\emph on
intended
\emph default
 result, and ask who benefited.
\end_layout

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What had ended up happening as the result of Draco and Granger fighting
 Harry Potter together… was that Draco had started to feel a lot friendlier
 toward Granger.
\end_layout

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Who benefited from the scion of Malfoy becoming friends with a mudblood
 witch?
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Who benefited, that was famous for exactly that sort of plot?
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Who benefited, that could possibly be pulling Harry Potter's strings?
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Dumbledore.
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And if that was true then Draco would 
\emph on
have
\emph default
 to go to Father and tell him everything, no matter what happened after
 that, Draco couldn't imagine what would happen after that, it was awful
 beyond imagining.
 Which made him want to cling desperately to the last shred of hope that
 it wasn't all what it looked like…
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…Draco remembered that, too, from Mr.
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Avery's lesson.
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Draco hadn't planned to confront Harry yet.
 He was still trying to think of an experimental test, something that Harry
 wouldn't just see through and fake.
 But then Vincent had come with the message that Harry wanted to meet early
 this week, on Friday instead of Saturday.
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And so here Draco was, in a dark classroom, an unlit crystal globe on his
 desk, waiting.
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Minutes passed.
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Footsteps approached.
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The door made a gentle creak as it swung open into the classroom, revealing
 Harry Potter dressed in his own hood and cowl; Harry stepped forward into
 the dark classroom, and the sturdy door closed behind him with a faint
 click.
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Draco tapped the crystal globe, and the classroom lit with bright green
 light.
 Green light projected shadows of the desks onto the floor, and glared back
 at him from the curved chair-backs, photons bouncing off the wood in such
 fashion that the angle of incidence equaled the angle of reflection.
\end_layout

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At least 
\emph on
that
\emph default
 much of what he'd learned wasn't likely to be a lie.
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Harry had flinched as the light went on, halting for a moment, then resumed
 his approach.
 “Hello, Draco,” Harry said quietly, drawing back his hood as he came to
 Draco's desk.
 “Thank you for coming, I know it's not our usual time 
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”
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“You're welcome,” Draco said flatly.
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Harry dragged one of the chairs to face Draco across his desk, the legs
 making a slight screeching sound on the floor.
 He spun the chair so that it was facing the wrong way, and sat down straddling
 it, his arms folded across the back of the chair.
 The boy's face was pensive, frowning, serious, looking very adult even
 for Harry Potter.
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“I have an important question to ask you,” said Harry, “but there's something
 else I want us to do before that.”
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Draco said nothing, feeling a certain weariness.
 Part of him just wanted it all to be over with already.
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“Tell me, Draco,” said Harry.
 “Why don't Muggles ever leave ghosts behind when they die?”
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“Because Muggles don't have souls, obviously,” Draco said.
 He didn't even realize until after he'd said it that it might contradict
 Harry's politics, and then he didn't care.
 Besides, it 
\emph on
was
\emph default
 obvious.
\end_layout

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Harry's face showed no surprise.
 “Before I ask my important question, I want to see if you can learn the
 Patronus Charm.”
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\begin_layout Standard
For a moment the sheer nonsequitur stumped Draco.
 Good old impossible-to-predict-or-understand Harry Potter.
 There were times when Draco wondered whether Harry was deliberately this
 disorienting as a tactic.
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Then Draco understood, and shoved himself up and away from his desk in a
 single angry motion.
 That was it.
 It was over.
 “Like 
\emph on
Dumbledore's
\emph default
 servants,” he spat.
\end_layout

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“Like Salazar Slytherin,” Harry said steadily.
\end_layout

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Draco almost stumbled over his own feet in the middle of his first stride
 toward the door.
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Slowly, Draco turned back toward Harry.
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“I don't know where you came up with that,” said Draco, “but it's wrong,
 everyone knows the Patronus Charm is a Gryffindor spell 
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”
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“Salazar Slytherin could cast a corporeal Patronus Charm,” Harry said.
 Harry's hand darted into his robes, brought out a book whose title was
 written as white on green, and so almost impossible to read in the green
 light; but it looked old.
 “I discovered that when I was researching the Patronus Charm before.
 And I found the original reference and checked the book out of the library
 just in case you didn't believe me.
 The author of this book doesn't think there's anything 
\emph on
unusual
\emph default
 about Salazar being able to cast a Patronus, either; the belief that Slytherins
 can't do that must be recent.
 And as a further historical note, though I don't have the book with me,
 Godric Gryffindor never could.”
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After the first six times Draco had tried calling Harry's bluff, on six
 successively more ridiculous occasions, he'd realized that Harry just 
\emph on
didn't
\emph default
 lie about what was written in books.
 Still, when Harry's hands opened the book and laid it out to the place
 of a bookmark, Draco leaned over and studied the place where Harry's finger
 pointed.
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\emph on
Then the fires of Ravenclaw fell upon the darkness that had cloaked the
 left wing of Lord Foul's army, breaking it, and it was revealed that the
 Lord Gryffindor had spoken true; the fear they all had felt was not natural
 in its source, but coming from thrice a dozen Dementors, who had been promised
 the souls of the defeated.
 At once the Lady Hufflepuff and Lord Slytherin brought forth their Patronuses,
 a vast angry badger and a bright silver serpent, and the defenders lifted
 their heads as the shadow passed from their hearts.
 And Lady Ravenclaw laughed, remarking that Lord Foul was a great fool,
 for now his own army would be subject to the fear, but not the defenders
 of Hogwarts.
 Yet the Lord Slytherin said, “No fool he, that much I know.” And the Lord
 Gryffindor beside him studied the battlefield with a frown upon his face…
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Draco looked back up.
 “So?”
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Harry closed the book and put it into his pouch.
 “Chaos and Sunshine both have soldiers that can cast corporeal Patronus
 Charms.
 Corporeal Patronuses can be used to convey messages.
 If you can't learn the spell, Dragon Army will be at a severe military
 disadvantage 
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”
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Draco didn't care about that right now, and told Harry so.
 His voice was sharper than it probably should have been.
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Harry didn't blink.
 “Then I'm calling in the favor you owe me from that time I stopped a riot
 from breaking out, on our first day of broomstick lessons.
 I'm going to try to teach you the Patronus Charm, and for my favor, I want
 you to do your honest best to learn and cast it.
 I trust to the honor of House Malfoy that you will.”
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Draco felt that certain weariness again.
 If Harry had asked at any other time, it would have been a fair return
 on favor owed, given that it wasn't actually a Gryffindor spell.
 But…
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“
\emph on
Why?
\emph default
” Draco said.
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\begin_layout Standard
“To find out whether you can do this thing that Salazar Slytherin could
 do,” Harry said evenly.
 “This is an experimental test, and I will not tell you what it means until
 after you have done it.
 Will you?”
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…It probably 
\emph on
was
\emph default
 a good idea to discharge that favor on something innocuous, all the more
 so if it was time to break with Harry Potter.
 “All right.”
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Harry drew a wand from his robes, and laid it against the globe.
 “Not really the best color for learning the Patronus Charm,” Harry said.
 “Green light the exact shade of the Killing Curse, I mean.
 But silver is a Slytherin color too, isn't it? 
\emph on
Dulak.
\emph default
” The light went out, and Harry whispered the first two phrases of the Continual
 Light enchantment, recasting that part of it, though neither of them could
 have cast the whole thing by themselves.
 Then Harry tapped the globe again, and the room lit with a silver radiance,
 brilliant but still soft and gentle.
 Color returned to the desks and chairs, and to Harry's slightly sweaty
 face beneath his shock of black hair.
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It took that long for Draco to realize the implication.
 “You saw a 
\emph on
Killing Curse
\emph default
 cast since the last time we met? When 
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 how 
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”
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“Cast the Patronus Charm,” Harry said, looking more serious than ever, “and
 I'll tell you.”
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Draco pressed his hands to his eyes, shutting out the silver light.
 “You know, I really should remember that you're too 
\emph on
weird
\emph default
 for any 
\emph on
normal
\emph default
 plots!”
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Within his self-imposed darkness, he heard the sound of Harry snickering.
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Harry watched closely as Draco finished his latest run-through of the preliminar
y gestures, the part of the spell that was difficult to learn; the final
 brandish and the pronunciation didn't have to be precise.
 All three of the last runs had been perfect as far as Harry could see.
 Harry had also felt an odd impulse to adjust things that Mr.
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Lupin hadn't said anything about, like the angle of Draco's elbow or the
 direction his foot was pointing; it could have been entirely his own imaginatio
n, and probably was, but Harry had decided to go with it just in case.
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“All right,” Harry said quietly.
 There was a tension in his chest that made it a little hard to speak.
 “Now we don't have a Dementor here, but that's all right.
 We won't need one.
 Draco, when your father spoke to me at the train station, he said that
 you were the one thing in the world that was most precious to him, and
 he threatened to throw away all his other plans to take vengeance on me,
 if ever you came to harm.”
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“He… what?” There was a catch in Draco's voice, and a strange look on his
 face.
 “Why are you telling me 
\emph on
that?
\emph default
”
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“Why wouldn't I?” Harry didn't let his expression change, though he could
 guess what Draco was thinking; that Harry had been plotting to separate
 Draco from his father, and shouldn't be saying anything that would bring
 them closer together.
 “There's always been just one person who matters most to you, and I know
 exactly what warm and happy thought will let you cast the Patronus Charm.
 You told it to me at the train station before the first day of school.
 Once you fell off a broomstick and broke your ribs.
 It hurt more than anything you'd ever felt, and you thought you were going
 to die.
 Pretend that fear is coming from a Dementor, standing in front of you,
 wearing a tattered black cloak, looking like a dead thing left in water.
 And then cast the Patronus Charm, and when you brandish the wand to drive
 the Dementor away, think of how your father held your hand, so that you
 wouldn't be afraid; and then think of how much he loves you, and how much
 you love him, and put it all into your voice when you say 
\emph on
Expecto Patronum.

\emph default
 For the honor of House Malfoy, and not just because you promised me a favor.
 Show me you didn't lie to me that day in the train station when you told
 me Lucius was a good father.
 Show me you can do what Salazar Slytherin could do.”
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And Harry stepped backward, behind Draco, out of Draco's field of vision,
 so that Draco only faced the dusty old teacher's desk and blackboard at
 the front of the unused classroom.
\end_layout

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Draco cast one look behind him, that strange look still on his face, and
 then turned away to face forward.
 Harry saw the exhalation, the inhalation.
 The wand twitched once, twice, thrice, and four times.
 Draco's fingers slid along the wand, exactly the right distances 
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Draco lowered his wand.
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“This is too 
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” Draco said, “I can't 
\emph on
think
\emph default
 this right, while you're watching
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”
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Harry turned around and started walking toward the door.
 “I'll come back in a minute,” Harry said.
 “Just hold to your happy thought, and the Patronus will stay.”
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From behind Draco came the sound of the door opening again.
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Draco heard Harry's footsteps entering the classroom, but Draco didn't turn
 to look.
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Harry didn't say anything either.
 The silence stretched.
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Finally 
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“What does this 
\emph on
mean?
\emph default
” Draco said.
 His voice wavered a bit.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It means you love your father,” Harry's voice said.
 Which was just what Draco had been thinking, and trying not to cry in front
 of Harry.
 It was too right, just too right 
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Before Draco, on the floor, was the shining form of a snake that Draco recognize
d; a Blue Krait, a snake first brought to their manor by Lord Abraxas Malfoy
 after a visit to some faraway land, and Father had kept a Blue Krait in
 the ophidiarium ever since.
 The thing about the Blue Krait was that the bite wouldn't hurt much.
 Father had said that, and told Draco that he was 
\emph on
never
\emph default
 allowed to pet the snake, no matter who was watching.
 The venom killed your nerves so fast that you didn't have time to feel
 pain as the poison spread.
 You could die of it even after using Healing Charms.
 It ate other snakes.
 It was as Slytherin as any creature could possibly be.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
That was why a Blue Krait head had been forged into the handle of Father's
 cane.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The bright snake darted out its tongue, which was also silver; and seemed
 to 
\emph on
smile
\emph default
 somehow, in a warmer way than any reptile should.
\end_layout

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And then Draco realized 
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“But,” Draco said, still staring at the beautifully radiant snake, “
\emph on
you
\emph default
 can't cast the Patronus Charm.” Now that Draco had cast it himself, he understoo
d why that was important.
 You could be evil, like Dumbledore, and still cast the Patronus Charm,
 so long as you had 
\emph on
something
\emph default
 bright left inside you.
 But if Harry Potter didn't have a single thought inside him that shone
 like that 
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“The Patronus Charm is more complicated than you think, Draco,” Harry said
 seriously.
 “Not everyone who fails at casting it is a bad person, or even unhappy.
 But anyway, I 
\emph on
can
\emph default
 cast it.
 I did it on my second try, after I realized what I'd done wrong facing
 the Dementor my first time.
 But, well, my life gets a little peculiar sometimes, and my Patronus came
 out strange, and I'm keeping it a secret for now 
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”
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“Am I supposed to just 
\emph on
believe
\emph default
 that?”
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“You can ask Professor Quirrell if you don't believe me,” said Harry.
 “Ask him whether Harry Potter can cast a corporeal Patronus, and tell him
 that I told you to ask.
 He'd know the request was from me, no one else would know.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Oh, and now Draco was to trust 
\emph on
Professor Quirrell?
\emph default
 Still, knowing Harry, it might be true; and Professor Quirrell wouldn't
 lie for trivial reasons.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The glowing snake turned its head back and forth, as though seeking a prey
 that wasn't there, and then coiled itself into a circle, as though to rest.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I wonder,” Harry said softly, “when it was, which year, which generation,
 that Slytherins stopped trying to learn the Patronus Charm.
 When it was that people started to think, that Slytherins themselves started
 to think, that being cunning and ambitious was the same as being cold and
 unhappy.
 And if Salazar knew that his students didn't even bother showing up to
 learn the Patronus Charm any more, I wonder, would he wish that he'd never
 been born? I wonder how it all went wrong, when Slytherin's House went
 wrong.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The shining creature winked out, the turmoil rising in Draco making it impossibl
e to sustain the Charm.
 Draco spun on Harry, he had to control himself not to raise his wand.
 “What do 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 know about Slytherin House 
\emph on
or
\emph default
 Salazar Slytherin? 
\emph on
You
\emph default
 were never Sorted into my House, what gives you the right to 
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”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And 
\emph on
that
\emph default
 was when Draco 
\emph on
finally
\emph default
 realized.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
You did get Sorted into Slytherin!
\emph default
” Draco said.
 “You 
\emph on
did,
\emph default
 and afterwards you, you somehow, you 
\emph on
snapped your fingers 
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\emph default
” Draco had once asked Father if it would be cleverer to get Sorted into
 some other House so that everyone would trust him, and Father had smiled
 and said that he'd thought of that too at Draco's age, but there was no
 way to fool the Sorting Hat…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…not until 
\emph on
Harry Potter
\emph default
 came along.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
How had he ever bought for 
\emph on
one minute
\emph default
 that 
\emph on
Harry
\emph default
 was a 
\emph on
Ravenclaw?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“An interesting hypothesis,” Harry said equably.
 “Do you know, you're the second person in Hogwarts to come up with a theory
 along those lines? At least you're the second that's actually said so to
 my face 
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”
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\begin_layout Standard
“Snape,” Draco said with certainty.
 His Head of House was no fool.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Professor Quirrell, 
\emph on
of course,
\emph default
” said Harry.
 “Though come to think, Severus did ask me how I managed to stay out of
 his House, and whether I had something the Sorting Hat wanted.
 I suppose you could say you're number three.
 Oh, but Professor Quirrell's theory was a little different than yours,
 though.
 May I have your word not to repeat it?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco nodded without even really thinking about it.
 What was he supposed to do, say no?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Professor Quirrell thought that Dumbledore wasn't happy with the Hat's
 choice for the Boy-Who-Lived.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And the instant Harry said it, Draco knew, he 
\emph on
knew
\emph default
 that it was true, it was just 
\emph on
obvious
\emph default
.
 Who did Dumbledore even think he was fooling?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…well, besides every single other person in Hogwarts except Snape and Quirrell,
 Harry might even believe it 
\emph on
himself
\emph default
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco stumbled back over to his desk in something of a daze, and sat down
 hard enough to hurt slightly.
 This sort of thing happened around once a month with Harry, and it hadn't
 happened yet in January, so it was time.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
His fellow Slytherin, who might or might not think himself a Ravenclaw,
 sat back down in the chair he'd used earlier, now sitting on it crosswise,
 and looking up intently at Draco.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco didn't know 
\emph on
what
\emph default
 he should be doing now, whether he should be trying to persuade the lost
 Slytherin boy that, no, he 
\emph on
wasn't
\emph default
 actually a Ravenclaw… or trying to figure out whether Harry was in league
 with Dumbledore, though that suddenly seemed less likely… but then 
\emph on
why
\emph default
 had Harry set up the whole thing with him and Granger…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
He really 
\emph on
should
\emph default
 have remembered that Harry was too weird for any normal plots.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Harry,” Draco said.
 “Did you deliberately antagonize me and General Sunshine just so we'd work
 together against you?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded without hesitation, as though it was the most normal thing
 in the world, and nothing to be ashamed of.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“The whole thing with the gloves and making us climb up the walls of Hogwarts,
 the 
\emph on
only point
\emph default
 was to make me and Granger more friendly toward each other.
 And even before then.
 You've been plotting it for a really long time.
 Since the 
\emph on
beginning
\emph default
.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Again the nod.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
WHYYYYY?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's eyebrows lifted for a moment, the only reaction he showed to Draco
 shrieking so loudly in the closed classroom that it hurt his own ears.
 WHY, WHY, WHY did Harry Potter 
\emph on
DO
\emph default
 this sort of thing…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Then Harry said, “So that Slytherins will be able to cast the Patronus Charm
 again.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
That… doesn't… make… SENSE!
\emph default
” Draco was aware that he was losing control of his voice, but he didn't
 seem able to stop himself.
 “
\emph on
What does that have to do with Granger?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Patterns,” Harry said.
 His face was very serious now, and very grave.
 “Like a quarter of children born to Squib couples being wizards.
 A simple, unmistakable pattern you would recognize instantly, if you knew
 what you were looking at; even though, if you didn't know, you wouldn't
 even realize it was a clue.
 The poison in Slytherin House is something that's been seen before in the
 Muggle world.
 This is an 
\emph on
advance
\emph default
 prediction, Draco, I could have written it down for you before our first
 day of school, just from hearing you talk in King's Cross Station.
 Let me describe some really pathetic sorts of people that hang around at
 your father's political rallies, pureblood families that would never be
 invited to dinner at Malfoy Manor.
 Bearing in mind that 
\emph on
I've
\emph default
 never met them, I'm just predicting it from recognizing the pattern of
 what's happening to Slytherin House 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And Harry Potter proceeded to describe the Parkinsons and Montagues and
 Boles with a calmly cutting accuracy that Draco wouldn't have dared 
\emph on
think
\emph default
 to himself in case there was a Legilimens around, it was 
\emph on
beyond
\emph default
 insult, they would 
\emph on
kill
\emph default
 Harry if they ever heard…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“To sum up,” Harry finished, “they don't have any power themselves.
 They don't have any wealth themselves.
 If they didn't have Muggleborns to hate, if all the Muggleborns vanished
 the way they say they 
\emph on
want
\emph default
, they'd wake up one morning and find they had 
\emph on
nothing.

\emph default
 But so long as they can say purebloods are superior, they can feel superior
 themselves, they can feel like part of the master class.
 Even though your father would never dream of inviting them to dinner, even
 though there's not one Galleon in their vaults, even if they did worse
 on their OWLs than the worst Muggleborn in Hogwarts.
 Even if they can't cast the Patronus Charm any more.
 Everything is the Muggleborns' fault to them, they have someone besides
 themselves to blame for their own failures, and that makes them even weaker.
 That's what Slytherin House is becoming, 
\emph on
pathetic,
\emph default
 and the root of the problem is hating Muggleborns.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Salazar Slytherin himself said that mudbloods needed to be cast out! That
 they were weakening our blood 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” Draco's voice had risen to a shout.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Salazar was wrong as a question of simple fact!
\emph default
 You 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 that, Draco! And that 
\emph on
hatred
\emph default
 is poisoning your whole House, you couldn't cast the Patronus Charm using
 a thought like that!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Then why could 
\emph on
Salazar Slytherin
\emph default
 cast the Patronus Charm?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry was wiping sweat from his forehead.
 “Because things have 
\emph on
changed
\emph default
 between then and now! Listen, Draco, three hundred years ago you could
 find great scientists, as great as Salazar in their own way, who would
 have told you that some other Muggles were inferior because of their skin
 color 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Skin color?
\emph default
” said Draco.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I know, skin color instead of anything important like blood purity, isn't
 it ridiculous? But then something in the world changed, and 
\emph on
now
\emph default
 you can't find any great scientists who still think skin color should matter,
 only loser people like the ones I described to you.
 Salazar Slytherin made the mistake when everyone else was making it, because
 he grew up believing it, not because he was 
\emph on
desperate for someone to hate.

\emph default
 There were a few people who did better than everyone else around them,
 and 
\emph on
they
\emph default
 were exceptionally good.
 But the ones who just accepted what everyone else thought weren't 
\emph on
exceptionally
\emph default
 evil.
 The sad fact is that most people just don't notice a moral issue at all
 unless someone else is pointing it out to them; and once they're as old
 as Salazar was when he met Godric, they've lost the ability to change their
 minds.
 Only 
\emph on
then
\emph default
 Hogwarts was built, and Hogwarts started sending acceptance letters to
 Muggleborns like Godric insisted, and more and more people began to notice
 that Muggleborns 
\emph on
weren't
\emph default
 any different.
 Now it's a big political issue instead of something that everyone just
 believes without thinking about it.
 And the 
\emph on
correct
\emph default
 answer is that Muggleborns 
\emph on
aren't
\emph default
 any weaker than purebloods.
 So 
\emph on
now
\emph default
 the people who end up siding with what Salazar once believed, are either
 people who grew up in very closed pureblood environments like you, 
\emph on
or
\emph default
 people who are so pathetic themselves that they're desperate for someone
 to feel superior to, people who love to hate.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That doesn't… that doesn't sound right…” Draco's voice said.
 His ears listened, and wondered that he couldn't come up with anything
 better to say.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It doesn't? Draco, you 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 now there's nothing wrong with Hermione Granger.
 You had trouble dropping her off a roof, I hear.
 Even though you knew she'd taken a Feather-Falling Potion, even though
 you knew she was safe.
 What sort of person do you think wants to 
\emph on
kill
\emph default
 her, not for any wrong she did to them, just because she's a Muggleborn?
 Even though she's, she's just a young girl who would help them with their
 homework in a second, if they ever asked her,” Harry's voice broke, “what
 sort of person wants her to 
\emph on
die?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Father 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco felt split in two, he seemed to be having a problem with dual vision,
 
\emph on
Granger is a mudblood, she should die
\emph default
 and a girl hanging from his hand on the rooftop, like seeing double, seeing
 double 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“And anyone who 
\emph on
doesn't
\emph default
 want Hermione Granger to die, won't want to hang around the sort of people
 who 
\emph on
do!
\emph default
 That's all people think Slytherin 
\emph on
is
\emph default
 now, not clever planning, not trying to achieve greatness, just hating
 Muggleborns! I paid Morag a Sickle to ask Padma why she hadn't gone to
 Slytherin, we both know she got the option.
 And Morag told me that Padma just gave her a 
\emph on
look
\emph default
 and said that she wasn't Pansy Parkinson.
 You see? The 
\emph on
best
\emph default
 students with the virtues of more than one House, the students with 
\emph on
choices,
\emph default
 they go under the Hat thinking 
\emph on
anywhere but Slytherin,
\emph default
 and someone like Padma ends up in Ravenclaw.
 And… I think the Sorting Hat tries to maintain a balance in the Sorting,
 so it fills out the ranks of Slytherin with anyone who 
\emph on
isn't
\emph default
 repelled by all the hatred.
 So instead of Padma Patil, Slytherin gets Pansy Parkinson.
 She's not very cunning, and she's not very ambitious, but she's the sort
 of person who doesn't mind what Slytherin is turning into.
 And the more Padmas go to Ravenclaw and the more Pansies go to Slytherin,
 the more the process accelerates.
 
\emph on
It's destroying Slytherin House, Draco!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It had a ring of awful truth, Padma 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 belonged in Slytherin… and instead Slytherin got Pansy… Father rallied
 lesser families like the Parkinsons because they were convenient sources
 of support, but Father hadn't realized the 
\emph on
consequences
\emph default
 of associating Slytherin's name with them…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I can't 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” Draco said, but he wasn't even sure what he couldn't do 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 “What do you 
\emph on
want
\emph default
 from me?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm not sure how to heal Slytherin House,” Harry said slowly.
 “But I know it's something you and I will end up having to do.
 It took centuries for science to dawn over the Muggle world, it only happened
 slowly, but the stronger science got, the further that sort of hatred retreated.
” Harry's voice was quiet, now.
 “I don't know exactly why it worked that way, but that's how it happened
 historically.
 As though there's something in science like the shine of the Patronus Charm,
 driving back all sorts of darkness and madness, not right away, but it
 seems to follow wherever science goes.
 The Enlightenment, that was what it was called in the Muggle world.
 It has something to do with seeking the truth, I think… with being able
 to change your mind from what you grew up believing… with thinking 
\emph on
logically,
\emph default
 realizing that there's no 
\emph on
reason
\emph default
 to hate someone because their skin is a different color, just like there's
 no reason to hate Hermione Granger… or maybe there's something to it that
 even I don't understand.
 But the Enlightenment is something that you and I belong to now, both of
 us.
 Fixing Slytherin House is just one of the things we have to do.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Let me think,” Draco said, his voice coming out in something of a croak,
 “please,” and he rested his head in his hands, and thought.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco thought for a while, with his palms over his eyes to shut out the
 world, no sound but his and Harry's breathing.
 All the persuasive reasonableness of what Harry said, the evident grains
 of truth that it contained; and against that, the obvious, the perfectly
 and entirely obvious hypothesis about what was 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 going on…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
After a time, Draco finally raised his head.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It sounds right,” Draco said quietly.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A huge smile broke out on Harry's face.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“So,” Draco continued, “is this where you bring me to Dumbledore, to make
 it official?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
He kept his voice very casual as he said it.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh, yeah,” Harry said.
 “That was the thing I was going to ask you about, actually 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's blood froze in his veins, froze solid and shattered 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Professor Quirrell said something to me that got me thinking, and, well,
 no matter how you answer this question, I'm already stupid for having not
 asked you a lot earlier.
 Everyone in Gryffindor thinks Dumbledore is a saint, the Hufflepuffs think
 he's crazy, the Ravenclaws are all proud of themselves for having worked
 out that he's only pretending to be crazy, but I never asked anyone in
 Slytherin.
 I'm supposed to know better than to make that sort of mistake.
 But if even 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 think Dumbledore's okay to conspire with on fixing Slytherin House, I guess
 I didn't miss anything important.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You know,” Draco said, his voice remarkably calm, all things considered,
 “every time I wonder if you do things like this just to annoy me, I tell
 myself that it 
\emph on
has
\emph default
 to be accidental, 
\emph on
no one
\emph default
 could possibly do this sort of thing on purpose even if they tried until
 blood trickled out of their ears.
 That's the only reason I'm not going to strangle you now.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Huh?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And then strangle 
\emph on
himself,
\emph default
 because Harry 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 grown up with Muggles, and then Dumbledore had smoothly diverted him from
 Slytherin to Ravenclaw, so it was perfectly plausible that Harry might
 
\emph on
not
\emph default
 know anything, and Draco had never thought to 
\emph on
tell him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Or else Harry had guessed that Draco wouldn't join up with Dumbledore so
 readily, and this itself was just the next step of Dumbledore's plan…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
But if Harry 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 didn't know about Dumbledore, then warning him had to take precedence over
 
\emph on
everything.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“All right,” Draco said, after he'd had a chance to organize his thoughts.
 “I don't know where to start, so I'll just start somewhere.” Draco drew
 a deep breath.
 This was going to take a while.
 “Dumbledore murdered his little sister, and got away with it because his
 brother wouldn't testify against him 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry listened with increasing worry and dismay.
 Harry had been prepared, he'd thought, to take the blood purist side of
 the story with a grain of salt.
 The trouble was that even after you added an enormous amount of salt, it
 
\emph on
still
\emph default
 didn't sound good.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore's father had been convicted of using Unforgivable Curses on children,
 and died in Azkaban.
 That was no sin of Dumbledore's, but it would be a matter of public record.
 Harry could check that part, and see whether all of this had been made
 up out of thin air by the blood purists.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore's mother had died mysteriously, shortly before his younger sister
 died in what the Aurors had ruled to be murder.
 Supposedly that sister had been brutalized by Muggles and never spoken
 again after that; which, Draco pointed out, sounded remarkably like a botched
 Obliviation.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
After Harry's first few interruptions, Draco had seemed to pick up on the
 general principle, and was now presenting the observations first and the
 inferences afterward.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 so you don't have to take my word for it,” said Draco, “you can 
\emph on
see
\emph default
 it, right? Anyone in Slytherin can.
 Dumbledore waited to fight his duel with Grindelwald until the exact moment
 when it would look best for Dumbledore, 
\emph on
after
\emph default
 Grindelwald had ruined most of Europe and built up a reputation as the
 most terrible Dark Wizard in history, and just when Grindelwald had lost
 the gold and blood sacrifices he was getting from his Muggle pawns and
 was about to start heading downhill.
 If Dumbledore was really the noble wizard he pretended to be, he'd have
 fought Grindelwald long before that.
 Dumbledore probably 
\emph on
wanted
\emph default
 Europe ruined, it was probably part of their plan together, he only attacked
 Grindelwald after his puppet 
\emph on
failed
\emph default
 him.
 And that big flashy duel wasn't real, there's no way two wizards would
 be so exactly matched that they'd fight for twenty whole hours until one
 of them fell over from exhaustion, that was just Dumbledore making it look
 more spectacular.” Here Draco's voice became more indignant.
 “And that got Dumbledore made 
\emph on
Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot!
\emph default
 The Line of Merlin Unbroken, corrupted after fifteen hundred years! And
 
\emph on
then
\emph default
 he became Supreme Mugwump on top of that, and he 
\emph on
already
\emph default
 had Hogwarts to use as an invincible fortress 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 Headmaster 
\emph on
and
\emph default
 Chief Warlock 
\emph on
and
\emph default
 Supreme Mugwump, no normal person would try to do all that at once, 
\emph on
how can anyone not see that Dumbledore's trying to take over the world?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Pause,” Harry said, and closed his eyes to think.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It wasn't any worse than what you would have heard about the West in Stalin's
 Russia, and none of that would have been true.
 Though the blood purists wouldn't be able to get away with making stuff
 up entirely… or would they? The 
\emph on
Daily Prophet
\emph default
 had shown a pronounced tendency to make stuff up… but then again, when
 they stuck out their neck too far on the Weasley betrothal, they 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 been called on it and they 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 been embarrassed…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry opened his eyes, and saw that Draco was watching him with a steady,
 waiting gaze.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“So when you asked me if it was time to join up with Dumbledore, that was
 just a test.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco nodded.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“And before that, when you said it sounded right 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It 
\emph on
sounds
\emph default
 right,” said Draco.
 “But I don't know if I can trust you.
 Are you going to complain about my 
\emph on
testing
\emph default
 you, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter? Are you going to say that I 
\emph on
fooled
\emph default
 you? That I 
\emph on
led you on?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry knew he should smile like a good sport, but he couldn't really, it
 was too much of a disappointment.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You're right, it's fair, I can't complain,” Harry said instead.
 “So what about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Not as bad as he was made out
 to be?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco looked bitter, at that.
 “So you think it's all just making Father's side look good and Dumbledore's
 side look bad, and that I believe it all myself just because Father told
 me.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It's a possibility I'm considering,” Harry said evenly.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's voice was low and intense.
 “They 
\emph on
knew
\emph default
.
 My father knew, his friends knew.
 They 
\emph on
knew
\emph default
 the Dark Lord was evil.
 
\emph on
But he was the only chance anyone had against Dumbledore!
\emph default
 The only wizard anywhere who was powerful enough to fight him! Some of
 the other Death Eaters were truly evil too, like Bellatrix Black 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 Father isn't like that 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 but Father and his friends 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 to do it, Harry, they 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 to, Dumbledore was taking over everything, the Dark Lord was the only hope
 anyone had left!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco was staring hard at Harry.
 Harry met the gaze, trying to think.
 Nobody ever thought of themselves as the villain of their own story 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 maybe Lord Voldemort did, maybe Bellatrix did, but Draco certainly didn't.
 That the Death Eaters were bad guys was not in question.
 The question was whether they were 
\emph on
the
\emph default
 bad guys; whether there was 
\emph on
one
\emph default
 villain in the story, or 
\emph on
two…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You're not convinced,” Draco said.
 He looked worried, and a little angry.
 Which didn't surprise Harry.
 He was pretty sure Draco himself believed all this.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Should
\emph default
 I be convinced?” Harry said.
 He didn't look away.
 “Just because you believe it? Are you a strong enough rationalist now that
 your belief is strong evidence to me, because you'd be very unlikely to
 believe it if it weren't true? When I met you, you weren't that strong.
 Everything you told me, did you rethink it after you awakened as a scientist,
 or is it just something you grew up believing? Can you look me in the eyes
 and swear to me upon the honor of House Malfoy that if there's one untruth
 buried in what you said, one thing that got added on just to make Dumbledore
 look a little worse, you would have noticed?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco started to open his mouth, and Harry said, “Don't.
 Don't stain the honor of House Malfoy.
 You're 
\emph on
not
\emph default
 that strong yet, and you should know it.
 Listen, Draco, I've started to notice some worrying things myself.
 But there's nothing 
\emph on
definite,
\emph default
 nothing 
\emph on
certain,
\emph default
 it's all just deductions and hypotheses and untrustworthy witnesses… And
 there's nothing certain in your story, either.
 Dumbledore might've had some other good reason not to fight Grindelwald
 years earlier 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 though it 
\emph on
would
\emph default
 have to be a pretty good excuse, especially considering what was happening
 on the Muggle side of things… but still.
 Is there one clearly evil thing that Dumbledore's done for 
\emph on
certain,
\emph default
 so I don't have to wonder?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's breathing was harsh.
 “All right,” Draco said in an uneven voice, “I'll tell you what Dumbledore
 did.” From Draco's robes came a wand, and Draco said “Quietus”, then “Quietus”
 again, but he got the pronunciation wrong a second time, and finally Harry
 took out his own wand and did it.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“There,” said Draco hoarsely, “once upon a time there, there was a girl,
 and her name was Narcissa, and she was the prettiest, the smartest, the
 most cunning girl that was ever Sorted into Slytherin, and my father loved
 her, and they married, and she wasn't a Death Eater, she wasn't a fighter,
 
\emph on
all she ever did was love Father 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\emph default
” Draco stopped there, because he was crying.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry felt sick to his stomach.
 Draco had never talked about his 
\emph on
mother
\emph default
, not once, he should have noticed that earlier.
 “She… got in the way of a curse?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's voice came out in a scream.
 “
\emph on
Dumbledore burned her to death in her own bedroom!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
In a classroom filled with soft silver light, one boy is staring at another
 boy, who is sobbing, wiping frantically at his eyes with the sleeves of
 his robes.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It was hard for Harry to stay balanced, to keep withholding judgment, it
 was too emotional, there was something that either wanted to start tears
 from his own eyes in sympathy with Draco, or 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 that it wasn't true…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Dumbledore burned her to death in her own bedroom!
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
That…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…didn't sound like Dumbledore's style…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…but you could only think that thought so many times, before you started
 to wonder about the trustworthiness of that whole `style' concept.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It, it must have hurt horribly,” Draco said, his voice shaking, “Father
 never talks about it at all, you don't ever talk about it in front of him,
 but Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Macnair told me, there were scorch marks all over the bedroom, from how
 Mother must have struggled while Dumbledore 
\emph on
burned her alive
\emph default
.
 That is the debt Dumbledore owes to House Malfoy and 
\emph on
we will have his life for it!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Draco,” Harry said, he let all of the hoarseness into his own voice, it
 would be 
\emph on
wrong
\emph default
 to sound calm, “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for asking, but I 
\emph on
have
\emph default
 to know, 
\emph on
how
\emph default
 do you know it was Dumble-”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Dumbledore 
\emph on
said
\emph default
 he did it, he told Father it was a 
\emph on
warning!
\emph default
 And Father couldn't testify under Veritaserum because he was an Occlumens,
 he couldn't even get Dumbledore put on trial, Father's own allies didn't
 believe him after Dumbledore just denied everything in public, but we know,
 the Death Eaters know, Father wouldn't have any reason to lie about that,
 Father would want us to take revenge on the 
\emph on
right person,
\emph default
 can't you see that Harry?” Draco's voice was wild.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Unless Lucius did it himself, of course, and found it more convenient to
 blame Dumbledore.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Although… it also didn't seem like 
\emph on
Lucius's
\emph default
 style.
 And if he 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 murdered Narcissa, it would have been smarter to pin the blame on an easier
 victim instead of losing political capital and credibility by going after
 Dumbledore…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
In time, Draco stopped crying, and looked at Harry.
 “
\emph on
Well?
\emph default
” said Draco, sounding like he wanted to spit the words.
 “Is that 
\emph on
evil
\emph default
 enough for you, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry looked down at where his arms rested on the back of his chair.
 He couldn't meet Draco's eyes any more, the pain in them was too raw.
 “I wasn't expecting to hear that,” Harry said softly.
 “I don't know what to think any more.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You 
\emph on
don't know?
\emph default
” Draco's voice rose to a shriek, and he stood up abruptly from his desk
 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I remembered the Dark Lord killing my parents,” Harry said.
 “When I went in front of the Dementor the first time, that was what I remembere
d, the worst memory.
 Even though it was so long ago.
 I heard them dying.
 My mother begged the Dark Lord not to kill me, 
\emph on
not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead!
\emph default
 That's what she said.
 And the Dark Lord mocked her, and laughed.
 Then, I remember, the flash of green light 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry looked up at Draco.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“So we could fight,” Harry said, “we could just keep on with the same fight.
 You could tell me that it was right for my mother to die, because she was
 the wife of James, who killed a Death Eater.
 But bad for 
\emph on
your
\emph default
 mother to die, because 
\emph on
she
\emph default
 was innocent.
 And I could tell you that it was right for your mother to die, that Dumbledore
 must have had some 
\emph on
reason
\emph default
 that made it 
\emph on
okay
\emph default
 to burn her alive in her own bedroom; but bad for 
\emph on
my
\emph default
 mother to die.
 But you know, Draco, either way, wouldn't it be 
\emph on
obvious
\emph default
 that we were just being biased? Because the rule that says that it's wrong
 to kill innocent people, that rule can't switch on for my mother and off
 for yours, and it can't switch on for your mother and off for mine.
 If you tell me that Lily was an enemy of the Death Eaters and it's right
 to kill your enemies, then the same rule says that Dumbledore was right
 to kill Narcissa, since she was 
\emph on
his
\emph default
 enemy.” Harry's voice went hoarse.
 “So if the two of us are going to agree on anything, it's going to be that
 
\emph on
neither
\emph default
 of their deaths were right and that 
\emph on
no one's
\emph default
 mother should die any more.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The fury boiling inside Draco was so great that he could barely stop himself
 from storming out of the room; all that halted him was the recognition
 of a critical moment; and a small remnant of friendship, a tiny flash of
 sympathy, for he had forgotten, he'd 
\emph on
forgotten,
\emph default
 that Harry's mother 
\emph on
and
\emph default
 father were dead by the Dark Lord's hand.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The silence stretched.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You can talk,” Harry said, “Draco, talk to me, I won't get angry 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 are you thinking, I don't know, that Narcissa dying was much worse than
 Lily dying? That it's wrong for me even to make the comparison?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I guess I was stupid too,” Draco said.
 “All this time, all this time I forgot that you must hate the Death Eaters
 for killing your parents, hate Death Eaters the way I hate Dumbledore.”
 And Harry had never said anything, never reacted when Draco talked about
 Death Eaters, kept it 
\emph on
hidden
\emph default
 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 Draco was a fool.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No,” Harry said.
 “It's not 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 it's not like that, Draco, I, I don't even know how to explain to you,
 except to say that a thought like that, wouldn't,” Harry's voice choked,
 “you wouldn't ever be able to use it, to cast the Patronus Charm…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco felt a sudden wrench in his heart, unwanted but he felt it.
 “Are you pretending you're just going to 
\emph on
forget
\emph default
 about your own parents? Are you saying I should just 
\emph on
forget
\emph default
 about Mother?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“So you and I 
\emph on
have
\emph default
 to be enemies then?” Now Harry's voice was growing equally wild.
 “What have 
\emph on
we
\emph default
 ever done to 
\emph on
each other
\emph default
 that means we have to be enemies? I refuse to be trapped like that! Justice
 can't mean that 
\emph on
both
\emph default
 of us should attack 
\emph on
each other,
\emph default
 it doesn't make sense!” Harry stopped, took a deep breath, ran his fingers
 back through the deliberate mess of his hair 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 the fingers came away sweaty, Draco could see it.
 “Draco, listen, we can't expect to meet on everything right away, you and
 I.
 So I won't ask you to say that the Dark Lord was 
\emph on
wrong
\emph default
 to kill my mother, just say that it was… 
\emph on
sad
\emph default
.
 We won't talk about whether or not it was 
\emph on
necessary
\emph default
, whether it was 
\emph on
justified
\emph default
.
 I'll just ask you to say that it was sad that it happened, that my mother's
 life was valuable too, you'll just say that for now.
 And I'll say it was sad that Narcissa died, because her life was also worth
 something.
 We can't expect to agree on everything right away, but if we start out
 by saying that every life is precious, that it's sad when 
\emph on
anyone
\emph default
 dies, then I know we'll meet someday.
 That's what I want you to say.
 Not who was right.
 Not who was wrong.
 Just that it was sad when your mother died, and sad when my mother died,
 and it would be sad if Hermione Granger died, every life is precious, can
 we agree on that and let the rest go by for now, is it enough if we just
 agree on that? Can we, Draco? That seems… more like a thought someone could
 use to cast the Patronus Charm.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There were tears in Harry's eyes.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And Draco was getting angry again.
 “Dumbledore 
\emph on
killed
\emph default
 Mother, it's not enough to just say it's 
\emph on
sad!
\emph default
 I don't understand what you think 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 have to do, but the Malfoys 
\emph on
have
\emph default
 to take revenge!” Not avenging the deaths of family went 
\emph on
beyond
\emph default
 weakness, beyond dishonor, you might as well not 
\emph on
exist.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm not arguing with that,” Harry said quietly.
 “But will you say that Lily Potter's death was sad? Just say that one thing?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That's…” Draco was having difficulty finding words again.
 “I know, I know how you feel, but don't you see Harry, even if I just say
 that Lily Potter's death was 
\emph on
sad,
\emph default
 that's 
\emph on
already
\emph default
 going against the Death Eaters!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Draco, you've 
\emph on
got
\emph default
 to be able to say the Death Eaters were wrong about some things! You 
\emph on
have
\emph default
 to, you can't progress as a scientist otherwise, there'll be a roadblock
 in your way, an authority you can't contradict.
 Not every change is an improvement, but every improvement is a change,
 you can't do anything 
\emph on
better
\emph default
 unless you can manage to do it 
\emph on
differently
\emph default
, 
\emph on
you've got to let yourself do better than other people!
\emph default
 Even your father, Draco, even him.
 You've got to be able to point to something your father did and say it
 was mistaken, because he wasn't 
\emph on
perfect
\emph default
, and if you can't say that, you can't do better.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Father had warned him, every night before he went to sleep for a month before
 he went to Hogwarts, that there would be people with this goal.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You're trying to break me loose of Father.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Trying to break a 
\emph on
part
\emph default
 of you loose,” said Harry.
 “Trying to let you fix some things your father got mistaken.
 Trying to let you 
\emph on
do better
\emph default
.
 But not… trying to break your 
\emph on
Patronus!
\emph default
” Harry's voice got softer.
 “I wouldn't want to break something bright like that.
 Who knows, fixing Slytherin House might need 
\emph on
that
\emph default
, too…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It was getting to Draco, that was the thing, despite everything it was getting
 to him, you had to be really careful around Harry because his arguments
 sounded so convincing 
\emph on
even when he was wrong.

\emph default
 “And what you're 
\emph on
not
\emph default
 admitting is that Dumbledore told you that you could avenge your parents'
 deaths by taking Lord Malfoy's son from him 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
No.

\emph default
 No.
 That part's just wrong.” Harry took a deep breath.
 “I did not know who Dumbledore was, or who the Dark Lord was, or who the
 Death Eaters were, or how my parents died, until three days before I came
 to Hogwarts.
 The day you and I first met in the clothes shop, that was the day I learned.
 And Dumbledore doesn't even 
\emph on
like
\emph default
 Muggle science, or he says he doesn't, I got a chance to probe him on it
 once.
 The thought of taking revenge on the Death Eaters through you has 
\emph on
never
\emph default
 crossed my mind, not even 
\emph on
once
\emph default
 until now.
 I didn't know who the Malfoys were when I met you in the clothes shop,
 and then I 
\emph on
liked
\emph default
 you.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a long silence.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I wish I could trust you,” Draco said.
 His voice was shaking.
 “If I could just 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 you were telling the truth, everything would be so much simpler 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And then suddenly it came to Draco.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The way to know whether Harry Potter really meant everything he said, about
 wanting to fix Slytherin House, about being sad that Mother had died.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It would be illegal, and since he'd have to do it without Father's help,
 it would be 
\emph on
dangerous
\emph default
, he couldn't even trust Harry Potter to 
\emph on
help,
\emph default
 but…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“All right,” Draco said.
 “I've thought of a definitive experiment.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“What is it?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I want to give you a drop of Veritaserum,” Draco said.
 “Just one drop, so you can't lie, but not enough to 
\emph on
make
\emph default
 you answer anything.
 I don't know where I'll get it, but I'll make 
\emph on
certain
\emph default
 it's safe 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Um,” Harry said.
 There was a helpless look on his face.
 “Draco, um
\begin_inset space ~
\end_inset


\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Don't say it,” Draco said.
 His voice was firm and calm.
 “If you say no, that's my experimental result right there.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Draco, I'm an Occlumens 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
OH THAT IS SUCH A LIE 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\emph default

\begin_inset Quotes erd
\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I was trained by Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Bester.
 Professor Quirrell set it up.
 Look, Draco, I'll 
\emph on
take
\emph default
 one drop of Veritaserum if you can get it, I'm just 
\emph on
warning
\emph default
 you that I'm an Occlumens.
 Not a perfect Occlumens, but Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Bester said I was putting up a complete block, and I could probably beat
 Veritaserum.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
You're in your first year at Hogwarts! That's just crazy!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Know a Legilimens you can trust? I'll be happy to demonstrate 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 look, Draco, I'm sorry, but doesn't the fact that I 
\emph on
told
\emph default
 you count for something? I 
\emph on
could
\emph default
 have just let you do it, you know.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
WHY? Why are you always like this, Harry? Why do you have to mess everything
 up even when it's IMPOSSIBLE? And stop smiling, this isn't funny!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 it's not funny, I 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It took a while for Draco to get himself under control.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
But Harry was right.
 Harry 
\emph on
could
\emph default
 have just let Draco administer the Veritaserum.
 
\emph on
If
\emph default
 he really was an Occlumens… Draco didn't know who he could ask to try Legilimen
cy, but he could at least ask Professor Quirrell if it was true… Could Draco
 trust 
\emph on
Professor Quirrell?
\emph default
 Maybe Professor Quirrell would just say anything Harry asked him to.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Then Draco remembered the other thing Harry had told him to ask Professor
 Quirrell, and thought of a different test.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You 
\emph on
know
\emph default
,” said Draco.
 “You 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 what it costs me, if I agree that the poison in Slytherin's House is hating
 Muggleborns, and say that Lily Potter's death was sad.
 And that's 
\emph on
part of your plan,
\emph default
 don't tell me it's not.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry said nothing, which was wise of him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“There's something I want from you in return,” said Draco.
 “And before then, an experimental test I want to try 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco pushed open the door to which the portraits had directed them, and
 this time it was the right door.
 Before them was a small empty place of stone set against the night sky.
 Not a roof like the one he'd dropped Harry from, but a tiny and proper
 courtyard, far above the ground.
 With proper railings, elaborate traceries of stone that flushed seamlessly
 into the stone floor… How so much 
\emph on
artistry
\emph default
 had been infused into the creation of Hogwarts was something that still
 awed Draco every time he thought about it.
 There must have been some way to do it all at once, no one could have detailed
 so much piece by piece, the castle 
\emph on
changed
\emph default
 and every new piece was like that.
 It was so far beyond the wizardry of these fading days that no one would
 have believed it if they hadn't seen the proof in Hogwarts itself.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Cloudless and cold, the winter night sky; it got dark long before students'
 curfew, in the final days of January.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The stars shining brightly, in the clear air.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry had said that being under the stars would help him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco touched his chest with his wand, slid his fingers in a practiced motion,
 and said, “
\emph on
Thermos.
\emph default
” A warmth spread through him, starting from his heart; the wind went on
 blowing on his face, but he was no longer cold.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Thermos,
\emph default
” Harry's voice said behind him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
They went together to the railing, to look down at the ground a long way
 below.
 Draco tried to figure if they were in one of the towers that could be seen
 from outside, and found that right now he couldn't quite seem to picture
 how Hogwarts looked from outside.
 But the ground below was always the same; he could see the Forbidden Forest
 as a vague outline, and moonlight glittering from the Hogwarts Lake.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You know,” Harry's voice said quietly from beside him where his arms leaned
 on the railing next to Draco's, “one of the things that Muggles get really
 wrong, is that they don't turn all their lights out at night.
 Not even for one hour every month, not even for fifteen minutes once a
 year.
 The photons scatter in the atmosphere and wash out all but the brightest
 stars, and the night sky doesn't look the same at all, not unless you go
 far away from any cities.
 Once you've looked up at the sky over Hogwarts, it's hard to imagine living
 in a Muggle city, where you wouldn't be able to see the stars.
 You certainly wouldn't want to spend your whole life in Muggle cities,
 once you'd seen the night sky over Hogwarts.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco glanced at Harry, and found that Harry was craning his neck to stare
 up at where the Milky Way arched across the darkness.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Of course,” Harry went on, his voice still quiet, “you can't ever see the
 stars properly from 
\emph on
Earth,
\emph default
 either, the air always gets in the way.
 You have to look from somewhere else, if you want to see the real thing,
 the stars burning hard and bright, like their true selves.
 Have you ever wished that you could just whisk yourself up into the night
 sky, Draco, and go look at what there is to see around other Suns than
 ours? If there were no limit to the power of your magic, is that one of
 the things you would do, if you could do anything?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a silence, and then Draco realized that he was expected to answer.
 “I didn't think of it before,” Draco said.
 Without any conscious decision, his voice came out as soft and hushed as
 Harry's.
 “Do you really think anyone would ever be able to do that?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I don't think it'll be that easy,” said Harry.
 “But I know I don't mean to spend my whole life on Earth.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It would have been something to laugh at, if Draco hadn't known that some
 Muggles had already left, without even using magic.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“To pass your test,” Harry said, “I'm going to have to say what it means
 to 
\emph on
me,
\emph default
 that thought, the whole thing, not the shorter version I tried to explain
 to you before.
 But you should be able to see it's the same idea, only more general.
 So 
\emph on
my
\emph default
 version of the thought, Draco, is that when we go out into the stars, we
 might find other people there.
 And if so, they certainly won't look like we do.
 There might be things out there that are grown from crystal, or big pulsating
 blobs… or they might be made of magic, now that I think about it.
 So with all that strangeness, how do you recognize a 
\emph on
person?
\emph default
 Not by the shape, not by how many arms or legs it has.
 Not by the sort of substance it's made out of, whether that's flesh or
 crystal or stuff I can't imagine.
 You would have to recognize them as people from their 
\emph on
minds
\emph default
.
 And even their minds wouldn't work just like ours do.
 But anything that lives and thinks and knows itself and doesn't want to
 die, it's sad, Draco, it's sad if that person has to die, because it doesn't
 want to.
 Compared to what might be out there, every human being who ever lived,
 we're all like brothers and sisters, you could hardly even tell us apart.
 The ones out there who met 
\emph on
us,
\emph default
 they wouldn't see British or French, they wouldn't be able to tell the
 difference, they'd just see a human being.
 Humans who can love, and hate, and laugh, and cry; and to 
\emph on
them
\emph default
, the ones out there, that would make us all as alike as peas in the same
 pod.
 
\emph on
They
\emph default
 would be different, though.
 
\emph on
Really
\emph default
 different.
 But that wouldn't stop us, and it wouldn't stop them, if we both wanted
 to be friends together.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry raised his wand then, and Draco turned, and looked away, as he had
 promised; looked toward the stone floor and stone wall in which the door
 was set.
 For Draco had promised not to look, and not to tell anyone of what Harry
 had said, or anything at all of what happened here this night, though he
 didn't know why it was to be so secret.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I have a dream,” said Harry's voice, “that one day sentient beings will
 be judged by the patterns of their minds, and not their color or their
 shape or the stuff they're made of, or who their parents were.
 Because if we can get along with crystal things someday, how silly would
 it be not to get along with Muggleborns, who are shaped like us, and think
 like us, as alike to us as peas in a pod? The crystal things wouldn't even
 be able to tell the difference.
 How impossible is it to imagine that the hatred poisoning Slytherin House
 would be worth taking with us to the stars? Every life is precious, everything
 that thinks and knows itself and doesn't want to die.
 Lily Potter's life was precious, and Narcissa Malfoy's life was precious,
 even though it's too late for them now, it was sad when they died.
 But there are other lives that are still alive to be fought for.
 Your life, and my life, and Hermione Granger's life, all the lives of Earth,
 and all the lives beyond, to be defended and protected, 
\emph on
EXPECTO PATRONUM!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And there was light.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Everything turned to silver in that light, the stone floor, the stone wall,
 the door, the railings, so dazzling just in the reflection that you could
 hardly even see them, even the air seemed to shine, and the light grew
 brighter, and brighter, and brighter 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
When the light ended it was like a shock, Draco's hand went automatically
 to his robe to bring out a handkerchief, and it was only then that he realized
 he was crying.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“There is your experimental result,” Harry's voice said quietly.
 “I really did mean it, that thought.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco slowly turned toward Harry, who had lowered his wand now.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That, that's got to be a trick, right?” Draco said.
 He couldn't take many more of these shocks.
 “Your Patronus 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 can't 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 be that bright 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” And yet it 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 been Patronus light, once you knew what you were looking at, you couldn't
 mistake it for anything else.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That was the 
\emph on
true
\emph default
 form of the Patronus Charm,” Harry said.
 “Something that lets you put all your strength into the Patronus, without
 hindrance from within yourself.
 And before you ask, I did not learn it from Dumbledore.
 He does not know the secret, and could not cast the true form if he did.
 I solved the puzzle for myself.
 And I knew, once I understood, that this spell must not be spoken of.
 For your sake, I undertook your test; but you must not speak of it, Draco.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco didn't know any more, he didn't know where the true strength lay,
 or the right of things.
 Double vision, double vision.
 Draco wanted to call Harry's ideals weakness, Hufflepuff foolishness, the
 sort of lie that rulers told to placate the populace and that Harry had
 been silly enough to believe for himself, foolishness taken seriously and
 raised up to insane heights, projected out onto the stars themselves 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Something beautiful and hidden, mysterious and bright 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Will I,” whispered Draco, “be able to cast a Patronus like that, someday?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“If you always keep seeking the truth,” Harry said, “and if you don't refuse
 the warm thoughts when you find them, then I'm sure you will.
 I think a person could get anywhere if they just kept going long enough,
 even to the stars.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco wiped his eyes with his handkerchief again.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“We should go back inside,” Draco said in an unsteady voice, “someone could've
 seen it, all that light 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded, and moved to and through the door; and Draco looked up at
 the night sky one last time before he followed.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Who 
\emph on
was
\emph default
 the Boy-Who-Lived, that he was already an Occlumens, and could cast the
 true form of the Patronus Charm, and do other strange things? What was
 Harry's Patronus, why must it stay unseen?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco didn't ask any of those questions, because Harry might have 
\emph on
answered
\emph default
, and Draco just couldn't take any more shocks today.
 He just 
\emph on
couldn't
\emph default
.
 One more shock and his head was going to just fall right off his shoulders
 and go bounce, bounce, bounce down the corridors of Hogwarts.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
They'd ducked into a small alcove, instead of going all the way back to
 the classroom, at Draco's request; he was feeling too nervous to put it
 off any longer.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco put up a Quieting barrier, and then looked at Harry in silent question.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I've been thinking about it,” Harry said.
 “I'll do it, but there are five conditions 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Five?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes, five.
 Look, Draco, a pledge like this is just 
\emph on
begging
\emph default
 to go terribly wrong somehow, you 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 it would go wrong if this were a play 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Well, it's not!” Draco said.
 “Dumbledore killed Mother.
 He's evil.
 It's one of those things you talk about that 
\emph on
doesn't
\emph default
 have to be complicated.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Draco,” Harry said, his voice careful, “all I 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 is that 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 say that 
\emph on
Lucius
\emph default
 says that 
\emph on
Dumbledore
\emph default
 says he killed Narcissa.
 To believe that unquestioningly, I have to trust you 
\emph on
and
\emph default
 Lucius 
\emph on
and
\emph default
 Dumbledore.
 So like I said, there are conditions.
 The first one is that at any point 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 can release me from the pledge, if it no longer seems like a good idea.
 It has to be a deliberate and intended decision on your part, of course,
 not a trick of wording or something.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Okay,” said Draco.
 That sounded safe enough.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Condition two is that I'm pledging to take as an enemy whoever actually
 did kill Narcissa, as determined to the honest best of my ability as a
 rationalist.
 Whether that's Dumbledore, or someone else.
 And you have my word that I'll exercise my best ability as a rationalist
 to keep that judgment honest, as a question of simple fact.
 Agreed?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I don't like it,” said Draco.
 He didn't, the whole point was to make sure Harry never went with Dumbledore.
 Still, if Harry 
\emph on
was
\emph default
 honest, he'd catch on to Dumbledore soon enough; and if dishonest, he'd
 already broken his word… “But I'll agree.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Condition three is that Narcissa has to have been 
\emph on
burned alive
\emph default
.
 If that part of the story turns out to be something exaggerated just to
 make it sound a little worse, then I get to decide for myself whether or
 not to still go through with the pledge.
 Good people sometimes have to kill.
 But they don't ever torture people to death.
 It's because Narcissa was 
\emph on
burned alive
\emph default
 that I know whoever did that was evil.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco kept his temper, barely.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Condition four is that if Narcissa got her own hands dirty, and, say, 
\emph on
Crucioed
\emph default
 someone's child into insanity, and that person burned Narcissa for revenge,
 the deal might be off again.
 Because then it was still wrong for them to burn her, they still should've
 just killed her without pain; but it wasn't 
\emph on
evil
\emph default
 the same way as if she was just Lucius's love who never did anything herself,
 like you said.
 Condition five is that if whoever killed Narcissa was tricked somehow into
 doing it, then my enemy is whoever tricked them, not the person who was
 tricked.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“All this 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 sounds like you're planning to weasel out of it 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Draco, I won't take a good person as an enemy, not for you or anyone.
 I have to really believe they're in the wrong.
 But I've thought about it, and it seems to me that if Narcissa didn't do
 any evil with her own hands, just fell in love with Lucius and chose to
 stay his wife, then whoever burned her alive in her own bedroom isn't likely
 to be a good guy.
 And I'll pledge to take as my enemy whoever made that happen, whether it's
 Dumbledore or anyone else, unless you deliberately release me from that
 pledge.
 Hopefully 
\emph on
that
\emph default
 won't go wrong the way it would if this were a play.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm not happy,” said Draco.
 “But okay.
 You pledge to take my mother's murderer as your enemy, and I'll 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry waited, with a patient look on his face, while Draco tried to make
 his voice work again.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'll help you fix the problem with Slytherin House hating Muggleborns,”
 Draco finished in a whisper.
 “And I'll say it was sad that Lily Potter died.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“So be it,” said Harry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And it was done.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The break, Draco knew, had just widened a little more.
 No, not a little, a 
\emph on
lot.

\emph default
 There was a sensation of drifting away, of being lost, further and further
 from shore, further and further from home…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Excuse me,” Draco said.
 He turned away from Harry, and then tried to calm himself, he had to do
 this test, and he didn't want to fail it from being nervous or ashamed.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco raised his wand into the starting position for the Patronus Charm.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Remembered falling from his broomstick, the pain, the fear, imagined it
 coming from a tall figure in a cloak, looking like a dead thing left in
 water.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And then Draco closed his eyes, the better to remember Father holding his
 small, cold hands in his own warm strength.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Don't be frightened, my son, I'm here…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The wand swung up in a broad brandish, to drive the fear away, and Draco
 was surprised at the strength of it; and he remembered in that moment that
 
\emph on
Father
\emph default
 wasn't lost, would never be lost, would always be there and strong in his
 own person, no matter what happened to Draco, and his voice cried, 
\emph on
“Expecto Patronum!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco opened his eyes.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A shining snake looked back at him, no less bright than before.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Behind him, he heard 
\emph on
Harry
\emph default
 exhale a breath, as though in relief.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco gazed into the white light.
 It seemed he wasn't lost completely, after all.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That reminds me,” said Harry after a while.
 “Can we test my hypothesis about how to use a Patronus to send messages?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Is it going to surprise me?” said Draco.
 “I don't want any more surprises today.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry had claimed that the idea wasn't all that strange and he didn't see
 how it could possibly shock Draco in any way, which made Draco feel even
 more nervous, somehow; but Draco could see how important it was to have
 a way of sending messages in emergencies.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The trick 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 or so Harry hypothesized 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 was wanting to spread the good news, wanting the recipient to know the
 truth of whatever happy thought you'd used to cast the Patronus Charm.
 Only instead of telling the recipient in words, the Patronus itself was
 the message.
 By wanting them to see that, the Patronus would go to them.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Tell Harry,” said Draco to the luminous snake, even though Harry was standing
 only a few paces away on the other side of the room, “to, um, beware the
 green monkey,” this being a sign from a play Draco had once seen.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And then, just like at King's Cross station, Draco wanted Harry to know
 that Father had always cared for him; only this time he didn't try to say
 it in words, but wanted to say it with the happy thought itself.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The bright snake slithered across the room, looking more like it was slithering
 through the air rather than the stone itself; it got to Harry after traveling
 that short distance 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 and said to Harry, in a strange voice that Draco recognized as how he himself
 probably sounded to other people, “Beware the green monkey.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Hsssss ssss sshsshssss,
\emph default
” said Harry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The snake slithered back across the floor to Draco.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Harry says the message is received and acknowledged,” said the shining
 Blue Krait in Draco's voice.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Huh,” Harry said.
 “Talking to Patronuses feels odd.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Why are you looking at me like that?” said the Heir of Slytherin.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Aftermath:
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry stared at Draco.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You mean just 
\emph on
magical
\emph default
 snakes, right?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“N-no,” said Draco.
 He was looking rather pale, and was still stammering, but had at least
 stopped the incoherent noises he'd been making earlier.
 “You're a Parselmouth, you can speak Parseltongue, it's the language of
 all snakes everywhere.
 You can understand any snake when it talks, and they can understand when
 you talk to them… Harry, you can't 
\emph on
possibly
\emph default
 believe you were Sorted into Ravenclaw! 
\emph on
You're the Heir of Slytherin!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“SNAKES ARE SENTIENT?”
\end_layout

\end_body
\end_document