Michaela's Cousin

Chapter Six: So this is what you do in your spare time Malfoy?

Harry spent a lot of time in the last few weeks before school thinking about what Malfoy could have been doing in Knockturn Alley. Ever since he had seen him looking so self-satisfied coming out of Borgin and Burkes, Harry had been trying to figure out what Malfoy was up to. Anything that put that kind of happiness on his enemy's face could never be a good thing.

To his annoyance, neither Ron nor Hermione thought Malfoy's activities nearly as sinister as he did. In fact, after a few days, he could tell that they were growing bored of his endless speculation.

"But did you see the look on his face? And what did he mean when he said keep that one safe? What do you think he was talking about?" Harry said as he leaned over one of Mrs. Weasley's prize begonia bushes.

They were in the Burrow's garden, busily de-gnoming it. Ron reached down and came back up with a particularly ugly, potato-faced specimen.

"That sounded to me," Harry went on, "like Borgin's got another one of the broken objects and Malfoy wants both."

"Do you reckon?" said Ron uninterestedly as he turned the gnome over and grabbed its horny feet.

"Gerroff me, gerroff me you pile of troll dung!" the gnome shouted angrily, bending his body around to get a better angle at Ron's fingers.

"I think Fred and George," Ron said, as he swung the gnome round and round his head, "put something on these flowers to make the gnomes like them better. We used to only have a few and now the garden is covered in them. They'd think that was a real laugh, making more work for me."

Hermione stood off to one side, her arms crossed disapprovingly as she watched the gnomes being hurled.

"How do you know that throwing them like that doesn't hurt them?" she demanded after watching Ron fling one over the garden wall and into the next field.

"But," Harry tried again, pulling a gnome from a flashing, rainbow-coloured peony bush, "look how he was acting...and he was in a Dark Magic shop. What was he doing in there? And did you see when Madame Malkin touched his arm? He about jumped out of his skin. He's definitely up to something."

Hermione rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. "Oh Harry, you always think Malfoy's up to something, but he never is. Look at the time in our second year when you thought he was the Heir of Slytherin. I spent months in the hospital wing."

Ron chuckled, then said, "Well you did make a really cute cat, but you shed a lot."

"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione said angrily. "How dare you mention that? I should...!"

Hermione bent over, grabbed the nearest gnome by the feet and chucked it at Ron, barely missing him.

"Temper, temper, Miss Granger," Ron said mockingly.

Harry bent back over the begonia bush with a sigh. He hadn't told them what was really bothering him. Ever since he had seen Malfoy in Borgin and Burkes Harry had a nagging feeling that he had been in there to buy some sort of Dark object that would free his father.

Hermione had been inspecting a flutterby bush.

"You know, these are a really rare type of plant. Lots of ..." She broke off, and looked worriedly at Harry.

"Harry, what's wrong? It's not your scar is it?"

Ron looked fearfully around the garden then asked, "It's not hurting you, is it, mate?"

Harry didn't want to tell them what was bothering him, he didn't want to worry them...but it was just too awful keeping the suspicions to himself.

"Well...I know this sounds crazy, but...Malfoy's father's in Azkaban. I helped put him there. Don't you think he'd like revenge? And maybe...well, maybe what he was wanting at Borgin and Burkes was some kind of Dark object to get his father out of jail."

"Even if he did want revenge," Hermione said, "what can he do about it? He's only sixteen."

"Yeah mate, what can he do about it?"

"Oh I don't know...I suppose nothing," Harry replied...But secretly he decided he would keep a close eye on Malfoy once they were at Hogwarts.