Wish Upon A Star

Lightning Struck Tower

Ashlyn watched two brooms zooming towards the tower.

Dumbledore had already crossed the crenellated ramparts and was dismounting; Harry landed next to him seconds later and looked around.

The ramparts were deserted. The door to the spiral staircase that led back into the castle was closed. 

"What does it mean?" Harry asked "Is it the real Mark? Has someone definitely been — Professor?"

"Go and wake Severus," said Dumbledore faintly but clearly. "Tell him what has happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, speak to nobody else, and do not remove your Cloak. I shall wait here."

"But —"

"You swore to obey me, Harry — go!"

"Expelliarmus!"

Standing against the ramparts, very white in the face, Dumbledore still showed no sign of panic or distress. He merely looked across at his disarmer and said, "Good evening, Draco."

Malfoy stepped forward, summoning the fallen wand into his hand, and glancing around quickly to check that he and Dumbledore were alone. His eyes fell upon the second broom.

"Who else is here?"

"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?"

"No," he said. "I've got a backup. There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight."

"Well, well," said Dumbledore, as though Malfoy was showing him an ambitious homework project. "Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?"

"Yeah," said Malfoy, who was panting. "Right under your nose and you never realized!"

"Ingenious," said Dumbledore. "Yet . . . forgive me . . . where are they now? You seem unsupported."

"They met some of your guards. They're fighting down below. They won't be long. . . . I came on ahead. I — I've got a job to do."

 Draco Malfoy did nothing but stare at Albus Dumbledore, who, incredibly, smiled.

"Draco, Draco, you are not a killer."

"How do you know?" said Malfoy at once. "Was it. . .Did she. . .She wouldn't. . ." 

"You don't know what I'm capable of," said Malfoy more forcefully. "You don't know what I've done!"

"Oh yes, I do," said Dumbledore mildly. "And yes, she wouldn't. Never would she betray your trust. However, it does not mean I do not know. You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts. . . . So feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it."

"It has been in it!" said Malfoy vehemently. "I've been working on it all year, and tonight —"

Somewhere in the depths of the castle below, they heard a muffled yell. Malfoy stiffened and looked over his shoulder.

"Somebody is putting up a good fight," said Dumbledore conversationally.

"But you were saying . . . yes, you have managed to introduce Death Eaters into my school, which, I admit, I thought impossible. . . . How did you do it?"

But Malfoy said nothing: He was still listening to whatever was happening below.

"Perhaps you ought to get on with the job alone," suggested Dumbledore.