the one thing that separated the luius in the piture from the one that eared in ministry funns and ould be seen strolling down diagon alley as if he owned the pe, was that the artist had drawn his wings bk, silken, and as mag as they had eared when harry had first seen them in the great hall
dobby diseared, as if fleeing from a possible outburst from drao at how the house elf had broken whatever rule it was he said he had broken, leaving harry and drao in the room
“dobby…thought it might help” harry said at st “i didn’t know he was going to do it”
drao nodded, his eyes never leaving the portrait
harry suddenly felt as if he wasn’t supposed to be there, as if there was some losure that drao needed that he shouldn’t see
“i’m going to go get some lunh,” he said
“fine”
harry knew by now that, oming from drao, that was a dismissal
the great hall was more rowded than usual on a saturday, but harry immediately loated herne and ron in the rowd of gryffindor students they offered him tentative smiles as he roahed and sat down aross from them
“what’s going on?” harry asked, indiating the bustle of students talking exitedly
“the students that were out st night all ame bak a few hours after you did” ron expined in a hushed voie “they were all sent to sleep in the infirmary and all of them exept bise are up in dumbledore’s offie right now they all fae suspenn but people are whispering about expuln”
“bise has three raked ribs, a fratured knee, fratured jaw, and a severe onusn one of the ribs puntured his lung as well, but he’s expeted to make a full reovery” herne ontinued
“it’s supposed to be a seret so everyone knows,” harry remarked, loading food onto his pte
“so, are you going to tell us what hened?” ron asked
“yeah, but not here after i eat we’ll go talk”
harry ate quikly and the three gryffindors left the great hall and headed down towards where hagrid’s house was no other students were milling about today; most of them seemed to be waiting for the verdit on the formerly missing students
as they walked, harry told his friends what had hened, starting with his idea to have dobby o a firepe to malfoy manor and ending with luius malfoy’s death
“bloody hell,” ron said reiably when he finished there was a pause as no one said anything, then ron frowned “i wonder what will hen with the manor now”
“what do you mean?”
“well, malfoy’s parents were divored when his father died normally, like if my father died, the house would go to my mom and then when she died to the oldest hild, or whoever was named heir but malfoy’s not sixteen yet, is he? so he an i the property but he an’t live on it until he’s legal”
“he ould be faing a lot of legal problems then” herne said thoughtfully “other adults ould make a ase that he is unfit to i it beause of his age”
“true and i bet luius malfoy left everything to his son” ron ontinued “the malfoys would stik to tradin like that malfoy would i everything, so if he was deemed unfit to i, then someone else would get everything”
“and any other retives are death eaters,” harry ontinued the thought “that ould be a problem”
“well, it won’t be if malfoy turns sixteen soon does anyone know his birthday?” herne asked both harry and ron shook their heads
harry walked into his and drao’s rooms tentatively, unsure of what to expet drao was sitting on the ouh, looking into the fire, a thoughtful expresn on his fae luius malfoy’s portrait was still on the wall the figure inside it looked up slightly when harry entered the room and nodded urtly to harry before returning his attenn to the window
drao didn’t look up until harry sat downto him on the ouh harry thought drao looked muh better now than he had that m his eyes had returned to their inal , and the sullen expresn that had set in, though still there, was not as promi as it had been before harry wondered if drao had talked to the portrait of his father after he’d left he knew that he would have, had there been a portrait of sirius bk to talk to after his godfather’s death
“voldemort killed my father” drao said softly, his eyes b into harry’s own with a quesn “you’re going to have to fight him harry…are you going to kill him? when you fight him?”
“yes,” harry replied evenly and with a onvin he’d not felt before “i am going to kill him”
“promise me…that when you do, even though you have your own reasons to kill him… promise me that part of it will be for my father”
harry looked for a moment at the boy sittingto him, saw how hurt inside drao was, saw the same feelings that he knew from his own experienes…saw the one thing that he might be able to do to help
“i promise”
chapter 32: wildfire news
harry had never seen the student body of hogwarts as attentive as when dumbledore announed the four day suspenn of twenty-three students from the shool no names were menned, though as harry looked around the great hall it was rather obus where the gaps in the houses were as his eyes had done ountless times during the day, he sought out drao who was sitting almly at the breakfast table he had briefly eared in the great hall for meals on sunday, but had insisted on going to sses on monday
“harry, you look more upset than malfoy,” ron muttered “rex if malfoy was going to break down, he would have done it already”
“i think he’s doing the right thing” herne added harry looked at her in surprise “the faster you get bak into your life after an i like that, the better it is in the long run people find the routine of their lives helps them m
