Seventh Horcrux

Harry Potter vs. Himself (Pt. 3)

Draco Malfoy wandered outside of the DADA classroom, a thoughtful and solitary figure. As he passed a dusty side-corridor, no doubt created during the castle's recent shuffling, I muttered, "Accio Malfoy."

Malfoy's gasp mingled with a more distant yelp as he stumbled towards us. With a nervous glance around the seemingly empty corridor, Malfoy said, "P-Potter?"

I whipped off the cloak, revealing Hermione and myself. Striding towards him, I said, "What gave me away? The strength of my spell-casting? The brilliance of my plan? The subtle scent of –"

"You were invisible," he said.

I paused, not at all appreciating Hermione's giggles. "Right, yes, I suppose that makes sense."

Malfoy glanced back towards the entranceway, which shimmered with invisibility and silencing spells. "What are you doing here, Potter? You shouldn't have…wait, have you been here all year, skulking around under your cloak?"

I leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed. "Perhaps."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No."

"I could have been," I said.

"That doesn't change the fact that you weren't," Hermione said, maliciously diminishing my reputation.

Malfoy drummed his fingers against his wand, body half-turned towards the exit. "You still haven't explained what you're doing here."

"I have a proposition for you" – I twirled my wand between my fingers – "How would you like to join Hermione's Dark Army?"

"Harry, you are not –"

I raised a hand to silence her. "Quiet, Hermione. If you aren't going to be proactive, then I'll have to do this for you."

"Granger has an army," Malfoy said, still too blinded by Hermione's innocent image and his own lingering feelings to imagine it.

I nodded. "We're still in the early recruiting stages, which offers you a chance to get in on the ground floor. With Hermione's brilliant, vicious mind and your financial resources, as well as the lessons you've learned from my trials, you could completely replace the government within a decade. I understand that you may be reluctant to follow someone with lesser blood than you. I can assure you, however, that that would not be the case in this instance."

"You will not –" Hermione cut off as my Silencing Spell hit her.

She glared daggers at me, but I spoke firmly. "He has a right to know."

I turned back to the curious blond with a smile. "Rowena Ravenclaw had a second daughter, a squib. She never talked about her, of course, because she was a squib."

Malfoy sneered. "Understandable."

"That daughter had children of her own. Eventually, her descendants moved to Australia where their magical blood rekindled to form the Granger family. Generally, the Grangers have been an odd and reclusive clan, keeping well away from even the Australian magical society. Upon discovering their relation to a Hogwarts founder, however, they chose to send their latest child to study abroad."

Hermione had finally worked off the Silencing Charm. "I am not the Heiress of Ravenclaw."

"Really? If it isn't true, then why are you denying it?" I demanded.

Taken aback by my stunning logic, she turned to the much more gullible Malfoy. "You don't believe this tripe!"

"It would explain a few things," he admitted. "But, no, you're actively denying it, and I've learned my lesson about listening to Potter."