The Other Malfoy (Sequel To Clash)

Ch.17 The List of Spies

For the next few days I visited Draco, as he slowly recovered. Within a week he was himself again. He propped himself up on his elbows as soon as I entered, and he beamed at me. He had been gently informed of him being the Slytherin spy, and taken it pretty well.

'We just need to find the Gryffindor spy now, Harry!' he said brightly to me the following week. He had been released from the hospital wing and our little quest had been resumed.

'Yeah,' I agreed.

We were in double Herbology, a class where we had loads of opportunity to talk while doing practical work. Double Herbology with the Gryffindors. Coincidence. Right?

I scanned the class, eliminating or adding each Gryffindor in turn to my mental list of suspects. Next to where me and Draco were repotting Mandrakes, Lorissa Black and her best friend Andrea Whistle were, um, repotting Mandrakes. I am pretty nosy and eavesdropped on their conversation.

It was lucky I did.

'Whats he asked you to do?' breathed Andrea. Her eyes were wide and her mouth agape. Her straggly dirty blonde hair was now caked with soil from the ridiculous amount she was spilling while trying to repot a Mandrake and stare at Lorissa at the same time.

Lorissa shrugged uncomfortably. 'Just spy on Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Ministry, really,' she replied.

'And are you?'

'I dont know what you're talking about,' Lorissa replied suddenly, in the same robotic voice Draco had spoke in a few weeks ago, when he'd been under the Imperius Curse and about to let something slip.

'Draco,' I muttered, nudging him discreetly. 'What?' he murmured back. But at that very moment....

'Okay, guys, the noise level is too high now. Work in silence for the rest of the lesson. If I catch anyone speaking, they're in a month's detention,' Professor Sprout declared.

I pulled a bit of parchment out of my pocket and hastily scribbled on it, 'Draco. Lorissa is the Gryffindor spy. -Harry.' I was about to pass it to him when the end of lesson bell rang, startling me. I jumped and the note fluttered out of my hand and fell by Lorissa's feet. She picked it up, thinking it had been meant for her, and read it quickly. Her face flushed dark red, then went pale. We all headed into the corridor and Lorissa approached me. 'I think you dropped something,' she told me, holding out the note innocently. Draco looked between us, baffled. He hadn't noticed any of the drama in Herbology. I took the parchment from her hand and pocketed it. 'Thanks,' I said.

'By the way, anything you heard in Herbology... I was talking about my dad. He wants me to keep an eye on you. He's your godfather, and he wants to know that you're okay. That's all.' She scooted.

As Draco and I headed for the common room to enjoy our free period, I explained everything that had happened in lesson. 'She was lying just then,' he said eventually.

I nodded. 'I could tell,' I told him. He grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and hastily wrote:-

Gryffindor-Lorissa Black

Ravenclaw-Amber Nott

Slytherin-Draco Malfoy

Hufflepuff-Darcy Verita

I realised it was a list of the house spies. He grabbed his tawny owl and tied the list to it's talon, then told it, 'Take this to Dumbledore, and dont give it to anyone else. Understood?'

The owl pecked his ear affectionately and zoomed out of the common room and off down the corridor. I sat back. My mind seemed blissfully free with that weight gone.

Everything was sorted now.

Or was it?