分卷阅读7（2 / 2）

“Come off it.” A hint of a smile tugs at Draco’s lips. Harry can’t bring himself to smile back.

“But it’s practically suicide,” Harry says. “The Healers— I mean, that’s what everyone says the Healers told you.”

“There’s no other way.” Draco drops his quill in disgust onto the ground. “We’ve been trying for days, and there’s nothing.”

“There is another way,” Harry says.

Draco frowns at him.

“What? Has Granger found something?”

“No,” says Harry. “The person you’re in love with. You have to tell them.”

Draco’s face changes completely. The openness Harry had become accustomed to, without even realizing, vanishes. Draco becomes Malfoy again, his face all hard angles, his eyes more steel than silver.

“Your ignorance astounds me, Potter,” he says, enunciating each word very clearly. “I am looking, in case you’ve forgotten, for a solution, not a way to die faster.”

“If you confess, at least you’ll know for sure. Maybe they love you back, or maybe they’re at least willing to try,” Harry says, desperately. “If not—I know the rejection will make you sicker, but then you can go ahead with the operation like you planned. You’d be no worse off than before.”

“Oh, it’s that easy, is it?” Draco snaps, face reddening dramatically. “I’m already in pain, so what’s a little more?”

“That’s not what I—”

Draco cuts him off. His expression has transformed into wide-eyed horror; something new and awful has evidently occurred to him.

“Did someone say something to you?” Draco demands.

“What?” Harry asks, bewildered.

“Is that why you’re telling me to—?” Draco cuts himself off. “Because you know who it is and you get some sort of sick pleasure out of watching me embarrass myself—”

“How can you think that?” Harry asks, trying to sound righteously angry but knowing he just sounds wounded. Because that’s how he feels. “I’ve been trying to help you. I’ve spent all this time—”

“Oh, yes, heavens forbid we waste Potter’s precious time,” Draco sneers. “I didn’t ask you to do this. I didn’t ask for your help. You’re the last person I ever would have gone to.”

Harry grabs blindly at the strap of his bag and shoots to his feet.