分卷阅读66（2 / 2）

“You’re not involved.”

Harry bit his lip for a second, as if weighing some decision in his mind. “I could be,” he whispered.

Draco’s eyes narrowed slightly as Harry refused to meet his gaze. “What are you getting at?”

“Look, correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s your word against the person the world sees as your mother. She says you should not inherit and you say that you should.” Harry paused and fumbled for words. “Your…your dad’s not there anymore to make sure the outcome is what you want.” Draco caught the double implications of Harry’s words. Harry was dancing around the subject of bribery, an option that was not open to Draco. “I don’t know what kind of sway Narcissa Black holds, but in the worst case scenario she would be equal to what your father used to hold. Even without that, she’s got wizarding law on her side because you’re not legal yet and she is.”

Draco sighed. He already had thought through this vicious circle of logic himself. “Harry, come to the point.”

“If I came as your fiancé, then you would be legal and there would be nothing they could do to stop your inheritance seeing as the whole problem arose because you aren’t a legal adult yet.”

There. He’d said it. Harry waited for Draco’s response. But there wasn’t one. The seconds seemed to stretch into lifetimes as Draco sat silent, his eyes looking down at his Transfiguration text book without seeing the printed words.

The blond shuddered as he breathed out slowly and spoke, his voice sounding dead to Harry’s ears. “That is not an option. I will not allow something as trivial as legality to influence something like that.” Gathering his books, Draco stood and headed towards the bedroom, pausing at Harry’s words.

“At least we agree on that. If I were to say any vows, they would be real.”

Chapter 34: Black Marble, White Marble, and Gold

Ron was just finishing the last of his History of Magic essay when Hermione excitedly pulled him over to an abandoned corner of the Gryffindor Common Room.

“I finished!” she said excitedly as she pushed him down into a chair and sat down in the opposite one.

“Finished what?”

“My plan for revenge on Rita Skeeter.”

Now Ron was interested. “I’m in.”

“You don’t even know what it is yet.”

“Doesn’t matter. What are we doing?”

Hermione smiled and outlined the plan. “Well, first I wanted to go after her personally and practice some spells on her, but I couldn’t do that until vacation and by that time it would be too late for this plan. What I want to do is discourage her from ever writing about Harry ever again.”

“Sounds good. How do we do it?”