Butterfly Effect ; H. Potter

96. never-ending stares.

Harry spent a lot of the last week of the holidays pondering the meaning of Malfoy's behavior in Knockturn Alley. What disturbed him most was the satisfied look on Malfoy's face as he had left the shop. Nothing that made Malfoy look that happy could be good news. To his slight annoyance, however, neither Ron nor Hermione seemed quite as curious about Malfoy's activities as he was; or at least, they seemed to get bored of discussing it after a few days. To his delight, Antheia seemed to agree with his suspicions.

"Yes, I've already agreed it was fishy, ​​Harry," said Hermione a little impatiently. She was sitting on the window-sill 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?"

"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.

"When he showed Borgin something we couldn't see," said Antheia reasonably, "it could've been the Dark Mark!" When neither Ron nor Hermione answered, she said, "His father's in Azkaban now. Don't you think Malfoy'd like revenge?"

Ron looked up, blinking.

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

"I don't know!" said Antheia frustratedly.

"He's up to something and I think we should take it seriously," said Harry. "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."

"Exactly!" exclaimed Antheia. "Even Malfoy's not enough of a coward to jerk his arm away without reason."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

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

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

"He showed Borgin something we couldn't see," Harry pressed on stubbornly. "Something that seriously scared Borgin. It's like what Antheia said; 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 ..."