Dysfunctional

23 - Suspicions

Saturday, August 24

Harry was pondering the meaning of Malfoy's behavior in Knockturn Alley while he followed the rest of their group to the Leaky Cauldron. 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.

"Yes, I've already agreed it was fishy, Harry," said Hermione as she sipped her butterbeer. Hermione's mother was chatting with Mr. Weasley and Ginny was talking with her mother. Sirius was with Tonks, which left him, Hermione, and Ron on a separate table. "But there could be a lot of explanations, couldn't there?"

"Maybe he's broken his Hand of Glory" said Ron vaguely, as he looked through the things he had bought from the twins' joke shop. "Remember that shrivelled-up arm Malfoy had?"

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

"You reckon?" said Ron, still rifling through the small bag.

"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?"

"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 -?"

"Earlier, when I saw him with his mother, she touched his left arm by accident and he yelled out in pain and jerked his arm away from her. He's been branded with the Dark Mark."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

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

"You said that his mother mentioned it as some injury," said Hermione, reasonably. "He probably fell off his broom at his house."

Ron laughed at the idea, but Harry couldn't see the humour. "He showed Borgin something we couldn't see, 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 significant look.

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