分卷阅读50（1 / 2）

Draco looked over at Harry’s bed on the other side of the room and then at the boy next to him with a strange expression. “Potions. I’m reviewing Dragon’s Bane. Why are you over here?”

“Well, I thought there was no real point in getting into different beds anymore.” Harry shrugged as if it were obvious. “We’re going to end up in the same bed by morning anyway. Besides, if I’m over here I can hear you read out loud.”

“And why would I read out loud?”

“I noticed that your mouth moves when you study things, as if you’re speaking them. Since it’s something like Potions, I figured you could just read it out loud and then I could listen until I fall asleep.”

“You think you’ll fall asleep while listening to potions ingredients?” Draco asked, amused.

“Well, if it weren’t for Snape, I’d gladly sleep through the morning Potions classes.”

“Fine. Get comfortable then.”

Harry found it a lot harder to fall asleep than he thought. It was relaxing to listen to Draco’s voice go over something that he was interested in. And while Harry felt the tug of sleep overtake him, something in Draco’s voice always seemed to call him back to what the other boy was saying.

Draco was slightly surprised when Harry sleepily asked him to go over what he was explaining again. After a moment’s pause Draco repeated the steps to adding the powdered leopard canines while stirring the potion, first clockwise four turns and then counterclockwise five turns. Harry nodded sleepily and Draco continued with the instructions, surprised that Harry was actually listening.

Ron grumpily surveyed the headlines of the Daily Prophet, noticing that an attack was once again the highlight of the day. Wordlessly, he passed it to Hermione and proceeded to pay complete attention to his eggs as if they were the cause of the constant flow of things that he should be sure to remember for such-and-such exam that came from the brunette next to him.

Hermione didn’t even look at the headline, passing the paper to Harry as she continued her explanation of the second Troll and Goblin war.

Harry looked over the headline with a frown. Another attack. Blocking out Hermione’s explanation of the Troll leader whose name he couldn’t hope to pronounce, much less spell correctly on an exam, he began to read the description of the attack. An orphanage had been attacked. Over one hundred muggle children, about his age and younger, had died. No one had yet been able to find out how the orphanage had been attacked, the building had been burned to the ground before anyone had seen the Dark Mark in the sky. Voldemort wasn’t hiding it now, Harry thought. It’s obvious now that they’re Death Eater attacks, but there’s still no point. The orphanage had been a few miles outside London, and other than the sheer horridness of it, Harry could see no other gain that this particular attack gave Voldemort. Maybe that’s the point, Harry wondered, as he put the paper back down on the table. He doesn’t have to do these attacks, and yet he’s going to do them anyway to show exactly how powerful he is.

Over at the Slytherin table, Draco had a very different reason for Voldemort’s attack. He pulled out the map that he had shamelessly taken from his and Harry’s rooms without telling Harry and located the spot on the map where the orphanage had been. It fell exactly on the circle he had drawn before.

It’s got to have something to do with Malfoy Manor, Draco thought. There was no other explanation. But what was Voldemort’s goal? He could attack Malfoy Manor directly. The wards would kill a lot of Death Eaters before he got to the gates but he could still do it. But what was he waiting for? All of the attacks had been aimed at muggles. A few wizards had been killed as well, but they were a few in a long list of muggles. If Voldemort meant to intimidate his father, then he was going about it the wrong way because his father wouldn’t care if muggles were attacked. Another thought passed through his head. Maybe the Dark Lord wanted to make it look as if his father had helped plan the attacks by placing them in such a way that it looked like Malfoy Manor had to be part of the attacks.

Frowning slightly, Draco began to consider his options. These types of thoughts could not be written down in a letter. He could tell his father any theories he had, and yet he could be sure that his father would not answer them, lest the letter be intercepted and his reply used against him. There was no way to get to Malfoy Manor from Hogwarts unless he used one of the teacher’s floos…if they were hooked up to begin with. But he would have to have a discussion with his father somehow and the next Hogsmead weekend was weeks away, too far away for him to simply ask his father to meet him in the Three Broomstick to discuss the attacks. He would have to talk with his father much sooner than that.

Snape was surprised to see Draco standing outside his quarters just before curfew that night. He was even more surprised when Draco asked if he could firespeak Malfoy Manor.

“I believe that now would not be the best time, Draco.” The boy opened his mouth to protest. “Not for you or your father.”

Draco had not been expecting that. “Godfather,” and Draco placed special significance on the title, “I need to speak with my father.”

“About the attacks?”