MANIA - HJP

CHAPTER X

Over the next few days, Harry was left to ponder over what Altalune and Malfoy were doing together in Knockturn Alley. The grin of satisfaction that he saw on Malfoy's face couldn't have meant any good. To his dismay, Ron and Hermione didn't seem nearly as interested as Harry was. 

"Yes, I've already agreed it was fishy, Harry," said Hermione a little impatiently. She was sitting on the windowsill in Fred and George's room with her feet up on one of the cardboard boxes and had only grudgingly looked up from her new copy of Advanced Rune Translation. "But haven't we agreed there could be a lot of explanations?"

Harry rolled his eyes, annoyed. He had explained to them about what he and Altalune had seen in Diagon Alley, yet they didn't seem too shocked. 

"Maybe he's broken his Hand of Glory," said Ron vaguely, as he attempted to straighten his broomstick's bent tail twigs. "Remember that shrivelled-up arm Malfoy had?"

"But what about when he said, 'Don't forget to keep that one safe'?" asked Harry for the umpteenth time. "That sounded to me like Borgin's got another one of the broken objects, and Malfoy wants both. "

"You reckon?" said Ron, now trying to scrape some dirt off his broom handle.

"Yeah, I do," said Harry. When neither Ron nor Hermione answered, he said, "Malfoy's father's in Azkaban. Don't you think Malfoy'd like revenge?"

Ron looked up, blinking.

"Malfoy, revenge? What can he do about it?"

"That's my point, I don't know!" said Harry, frustrated. "But he's up to something and I think we should take it seriously. His father's a Death Eater and--"

Harry broke off, his eyes fixed on the window behind Hermione, his mouth open. A startling thought had just occurred to him.

"Harry?" said Hermione in an anxious voice. "What's wrong?"

"Your scar's not hurting again, is it?" asked Ron nervously.

"He's a Death Eater," said Harry slowly. "He's replaced his father as a Death Eater!"

There was a silence; then Ron erupted in laughter. "Malfoy? He's sixteen, Harry! You think You-Know-Who would let Malfoy join?"

"It seems very unlikely, Harry," said Hermione in a repressive sort of voice. "What makes you think--?"

"In Madam Malkin's. She didn't touch him, but he yelled and jerked his arm away from her when she went to roll up his sleeve. It was his left arm. He's been branded with the Dark Mark. "

Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

"Well. . . " said Ron, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

"I think he just wanted to get out of there, Harry," said Hermione.

"He showed Borgin something Altalune and I couldn't see," Harry pressed on stubbornly. "Something that seriously scared Borgin. It was the Mark, I know it--he was showing Borgin who he was dealing with, you saw how seriously Borgin took him!"

Ron and Hermione exchanged another look.

"I'm not sure, Harry. . . "

"Yeah, I still don't reckon You-Know-Who would let Malfoy join. . . "

Harry, irritated but certain he was correct, scooped up a pile of filthy Quidditch robes and exited the room; Mrs. Weasley had been pressing them for days not to leave their washing and packing until the last minute. He ran into Ginny on the landing, who was returning to her room with a pile of newly cleaned garments.