The Marks We Bear

Chapter 6
Thursday 2nd Oct

As they sat in Dark Arts that morning Harry decided that if he wanted to spend more time with Draco then why the hell shouldn't he.

"Um... I was wondering if maybe we could look over our Potions stuff for tomorrow later."

"I suppose, I've got detention till half eight though."

"After that."

"Sure, why not. You want to meet in the Library?"

"I hate working in the Library, Madame Pince is always telling me to be quiet. Why don't you come up to Gryffindor Tower?"

"What? Are you insane?"

"Come on, we're friends. Why shouldn't you hang out with me. No-one will say anything."

"Of course not, they'll be too busy spitting us and roasting us over the fire to talk to us."

"Okay, true. Look why don't you meet me outside the Great Hall at half eight, I'll bring my invisibility cloak and you can put it on and follow me up to my dormitory."

Somewhat curious as to why Harry was so intent on getting him into Gryffindor Tower, and confident in his ability to handle himself should things turn nasty, Draco shrugged. "All right then, why not." Besides he'd always wanted a shot of an invisibility cloak, he wondered where Harry had gotten hold of one.

"Cool. I'll see you at lunch then," said Harry, cheerfully.

------------------

At a little after half eight Draco met up with Harry.

"Are you sure this is a good idea," he asked as Harry handed him a shimmering silver cloak. "If Weasley finds out they'll be cleaning us out of the carpet for years."

"Just put the cloak on and follow me, quietly. We're grinning and ignoring reality, remember. Everything will be fine."

Draco threw the cloak over himself. "I don't think ignoring him will make Weasley go away."

"Shhh." Harry started towards the stairs.

Draco followed after him. "Am I really invisible?" he asked.

"Yes. Shhh."

"Cool." He followed Harry silently up to a painting of a very fat woman in an ugly pink dress.

"Frogs legs," said Harry and the painting swung aside to reveal an entrance into a cheerily lit room full of laughing people. Who instantly fell silent when they saw Harry step through. He stood and glared them down for a moment as he gave Draco time to follow him into the room then he closed the door and headed straight for the stairs.

Draco followed closely behind him trying not to bump into anyone while studying the room and the people in it. It was a similar size to the Slytherin common room but the ceiling was higher making it more airy and the red and gold decoration made it seem friendlier. Although the atmosphere being given off in Harry's direction did a lot to overcome that. Chilly was definitely the word despite the roaring fire. He could see Weasley sitting with his brothers, Finnegan and Thomas and cast silent insults in their direction not so much for himself but on Harry's behalf. He didn't give a toss what they thought of him but Harry did and they were supposed to be his friends but they were treating him like dirt just for having a friend they didn't approve of. Assholes. So much for the vaunted Gryffindors, just as petty as the Slytherins were. He followed Harry up the stairs and heard the murmur of conversations starting again behind them. He wasn't really paying attention as they got to the top of the stairs and not noticing that Harry had stopped he walked right into him and the cloak slipped in his grasp, sliding half off his head. He quickly caught it and pulled it back but it was too late, a gasp from the person next to Harry told him he'd been spotted. It was Hermione.

Harry quickly covered her mouth with his hand and pushed her around the corridor hissing, "Shh."

He let her go and she straightened up. "What are you doing bringing him up here?" she whispered.

"Please don't tell anyone. I just... I just wanted someone to hang out with for a bit. You understand don't you?"

Hermione sighed. "This is such a bad idea, Harry, but I've given up on telling you that. I won't tell anyone I saw him, just ... be careful." With that she walked past them and continued down the stairs.

He followed Harry on down the corridor into a dormitory with five beds. It was empty and Draco pulled off the cloak. "Well that was.... stressful." He glanced at the door. "Aren't you worried someone might come up?"

"We can sit on the bed, I'll pull the curtains. No-one's talking to me so they won't bother us and I have silencing charms on the curtains so they won't hear us talking. No-one will know you're here."

"Except Hermione," Draco pointed out.

"Well, yeah. But it could've been worse."

"Don't remind me, I still can't believe I let you talk me into this." Draco threw himself onto the bed and gestured to Harry to sit down and pull the curtains before it did get any worse.

Harry did so and used his wand to light up the dark space. "So, what are we doing in Potions tomorrow?" He asked casually, ignoring the shiver that ran through him at the whole concept of where he was and who was with him.

"Snape's planning a surprise test... potion identification by colour and smell. He rather hinted that if we identified a potion wrong he'd make us drink it so we wouldn't forget next time."

"Oh, no. The man is a complete sadist. I still can't believe he's on our side."

"How do you know he is?"

Harry smiled. "You'd be surprised what I know."

"Fine, be like that. Just when I was going to reveal all my secrets."

"The day you reveal all your secrets I'll willingly drink anything Snape hands me."

"You'd need a good strong drink if I told you all my secrets," Draco muttered darkly.

Harry studied him a moment then burst out with, "What the hell happened to you over the summer? You keep hinting and hinting like you want to talk about it but every time I ask you completely shut down. Why don't you just cut it out and bloody tell me!"

Draco looked shocked at his obvious irritation. He opened his mouth as if to speak then shut it again. Then he turned away to study the inside of the curtains. "I can't, Potter. You're right, I want to. But I can't."

"Why not? I thought you trusted me? I thought you wanted us to be friends?" said Harry sulkily.

Harry's words cut him. "Oh, stop being such a child. This isn't about you... or not exactly. I just... I'm not ready to talk about it yet. I haven't quite decided what it all means."

"You don't need to know what something means to talk about it. Just tell me, maybe I can help you figure out what it means."

"Or maybe you can get all riled up and..."

"What?"

"Whatever... fine. You want to know what happened to me this summer?"

"Yes!" said Harry, exasperated and hopeful.

"Fine. Then I'll tell you."

As he related a very shortened and highly edited version of his summer to Harry he replayed in his mind the day it had all started...

------------

When he walked through the door it was as if time had slowed down. He could see the tall, dark figure facing away from him and all of a sudden he desperately didn't want to look into Lord Voldemort's face. All of his excitement dried up and shrivelled into a ball of fear. He felt like he was going to throw up. As the door closed behind him he came to a stop, his feet refusing to take him any closer to the man... thing... before him.

Voldemort did not turn to face him.

"Draco Malfoy," Voldemort said. Slowly, gratingly. Neither a question nor a statement. "Your father is a very loyal servant to me. He tells me you shall be too. He tells me you believe in our cause."

Suddenly Voldemort whirled around and fixed him in an unblinking stare. Draco fell back against the heavy wooden door, shaking and dizzy with fear and disgust.

"Do you?"

Draco couldn't think never mind speak, this was wrong. This was all wrong. The very atmosphere in the room felt like poison against his skin. This wasn't a man in front of him, this was a monster. How could you follow this, how could you want to become like this? This was insane.

"Speak to me, boy. Give me your loyalty or I shall kill you where you stand," the monster hissed.

Draco suddenly realised the danger he was in. Kicking his mind back into gear he tried to pull himself together.

"M...my Lord," he croaked past dry lips. He cleared his throat and spoke louder, trying to summon up some of his old confidence. "I... was simply awed by your presence."

"Indeed, indeed. It is not everyday one stands before such power as mine. And every day I grow stronger. Every day my followers become more numerous. Are you ready, Draco Malfoy? Ready to pledge yourself to my cause, to me?"

Draco battled the urge to pass out. "I have looked forward to joining you ever since my father told me about you," he said, almost gagging at the truth of the statement. He swore to himself that he would never, ever listen to his father again.

"Ah, yes. I should have known you would be eager. The Malfoy's have always been loyal to the true wizarding ways. Good blood. Pure blood."

He eyed Draco in a way that brought his gorge even higher. He had to get out of here before his body betrayed him.

"Give me your arm, boy,"

"What?"

"I shall bestow upon you my mark and we shall be bound together. Brothers in arms," Voldemort hissed.

"Oh, right. I.... of course I would love to but..." Draco though faster than he ever had in his life. "...for the cause. My position at Hogwarts. There's so much I can do there for the cause. To help you. If I carry the Dark Mark... someone could notice and then I'd be useless to you. I'd have to leave."

Voldemort stared at him silently and Draco tried not to hold his breath. Could he see through him? He tried to think like he had before he'd walked into this room in case Voldemort was looking inside his head.

Finally Voldemort reached out a hand and ran a claw-like finger down Draco's cheek in a perverse kind of caress. "Yes... Hogwarts. Tell me, do you know Harry Potter. Are you... close to him?"

Draco swallowed, trying not to make a face at the fetid breath that washed over his face. "I know Potter, he's in my year."

"Indeed. Yes." Voldemort seemed thoughtful. "Yes... you could be useful. Hogwarts can be so... inaccessible. Dumbledore..." he said the name with distaste. "My mark would single you out, without it you could remain unnoticed. Do my work, find their secrets. Yes, good."

Draco almost fainted with relief.

"But still I require a token of loyalty." Voldemort drew closer still, his hand still holding Draco's face. He licked his thin lips with a purple, slimy tongue. So close now that their noses almost touched. "And perhaps... a taste."

All Draco could think was, //No, Gods no, this isn't happening, please this isn't happening.//

Voldemort pushed Draco's head to the side, coming closer, his other hand gripping Draco's arm like a vice. He seemed to be smelling him.

"Such pure blood, I can smell it." He pulled back again to look into Draco's eyes, there was an incredible hunger in his gaze. "I can always tell you know."

The hand on his jaw ran down his neck, pushing his robes aside and finally coming to rest over his heart against the bare skin of his chest. "So beautiful."

Draco was frozen now, like a deer in headlights, focussing only on breathing and trying to keep his body from shaking.

"Beautiful," Voldemort hissed again.

Then with a slash of movement a sharp pain shot through Draco's body and he stared down in horror at the blood welling from the jagged cut on his chest. He looked away again, screwing his eyes shut as Voldemort bent down to the wound and with one long lick of his serpentine tongue, gathered the spilling blood into his mouth.

Then he was gone, his hands no longer pressing Draco to the hard wooden door. Draco fought to keep his knees from buckling as he opened his eyes. Voldemort was back where he had stood before, his back to Draco.

"I shall arrange a suitable test of your loyalties," he said distantly. "You may leave."

Draco stared for a moment in shock and then his body finally unfroze and fumbling at the door he let himself out.

Outside, his father stepped forward, his face nervous but betraying pride. However Draco ran straight past him, not pausing or even glancing his way and didn't stop until he was outside the castle where he fell retching into the long grass. The sun shone warm and uncaring on his back as he threw up.

He sat back as his father strode out the door behind him looking worried and fearful. He spotted Draco sitting on the grass and approached him.

"Draco! What are you doing? You didn't... what happened?"

Draco realised with a pain that shot right to his core that it wasn't over. He wasn't done pretending. He pulled himself to his feet and turned to face his father, forcing a faint smile onto his face.

"Father. I'm... sorry, I guess I was just a little overexcited. After all I've been waiting for this my whole life."

His father relaxed noticeably. "Then he accepted you, swore loyalty to him? Let me see."

Draco's hand instinctively covered the spot under his robe where blood still oozed down his chest but it was his arm that his father was reaching for. He tugged his sleeve up to reveal only unmarked skin.

"I don't understand, didn't he gift you with his mark? You didn't run out on him did you?"

"No! No. I didn't leave till he said I could, father. He wants me to work undercover for him at Hogwarts, he though the Mark might give me away."

His father looked delighted that Voldemort was placing his trust in Draco.

"He said.... he said he would arrange a test for me, instead of the Mark. Do you..." he fought to keep the quaver of fear out of his voice. "Do you know what he meant?"

---------------

When he had finished Harry regarded him in silence for a moment then said, "You met Voldemort?"

"Yes," answered Malfoy simply.

"But you didn't join him?"

"No."

"But your father..."

"Is a Death-Eater, as you knew already. One of Voldemort's favourites." There was a strange emphasis, almost a shudder, on the word favourite that Harry couldn't interpret.

"And he thinks you're going to help him? What are you supposed to be doing?"

"Feeding him information, getting close to you... he hinted that there was more. He has a plan but he hasn't told me what it is, all I know is it involves you."

Harry shuddered. "Why does everything always have to involve me?"

Draco didn't answer.

Harry looked up at him. "Aren't you worried that I might think you're just doing what you've been told? Getting close to me as ordered."

Draco looked surprised. "I thought... I thought, since we're friends now... I mean..."

"That I would trust you?"

"Isn't that how it's supposed to work? I mean I'm pretty new at this friend thing but..." Draco seemed a little panicked that he'd got it wrong.

"In theory, yes. That's how it works."

Draco seemed to grab hold of his emotions. "In theory, I see." He opened the curtains and started for the door. "I'll get out of here then."

"Malfoy, wait!"

Draco paused with one hand on the doorknob.

"Don't just run off. I didn't mean... I'm not saying I don't trust you. I'm just... when it comes to Voldemort I don't leave anything to chance. It's too important, he's too dangerous." Draco came back over to the bed and Harry quickly shut up the curtains again.

"You've met him too," Draco said finally. "You must understand what I mean. I could never follow that, I could never look up to that or believe in that. Everything I've said in the past was just empty words, I had no idea what I was talking about. I'd never even seen a dead body before this summer. I was just a kid, Harry. A stupid, arrogant, selfish kid!"

Harry stared at him in amazement.

"What is it?"

"You called me Harry, you never call me Harry."

"Oh, um... sorry?"

"Don't be, it's... fine. It just caught me by surprise." Harry was finding it hard to focus on the conversation, all he could hear was that intense and slightly pleading 'Harry'.

Draco was still on track however. "If you need more I could ... I could help you. I could tell Dumbledore what I know about Voldemort's plans..."

"You should, we need all the help we can get and maybe he can help you. Keep you safe from them if they figure out you're not on their side."

"I guess. Not tonight, though. I don't know Dumbledore like you, I'm not ready to tell him this stuff yet."

"We can go together, we could talk to him tomorrow after breakfast. I have a free period."

"I've got Transfiguration."

"Then after dinner."

"I don't know, I have detention. I have to see him on Monday anyway, can't we do it then?"

"I suppose."

"But I'm not telling him everything that happened, it's none of his business. I'll tell him whatever might be useful but this is not going to be an essay on 'What Draco Malfoy Did On His Summer Holidays' understand?"

"It'll be fine. Dumbledore's great, you'll see. Don't worry about it."

Draco lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Fine, Monday then."

For a long time they sat in silence and Harry just watched Draco stare into space. He suddenly became obsessed with one thought. A niggle, an itch, a desire, an idea... it was stupid, it was completely against the private code of what boys do and don't do with one another. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore and said nervously, "Draco... can I ask you something else? Sort of a favour."

"There's more?" replied Draco. "This friend stuff is harder than I thought."

To his surprise Harry flushed red at this. "It's not serious... I mean it's not anything to worry about. It's just.... personal." He still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to ask.

Draco's flippancy ceased at that, he wasn't good at personal. He'd already told Harry far more about himself than he was comfortable with. "Well, I suppose you can ask," he answered. "But I can't promise you an answer."

"Um, right. Maybe this isn't such a good idea..."

"Well you may as well ask at least, what is it?" Draco was getting nervous, worried that Harry suspected he was holding back information. He didn't want to talk about his summer anymore and he'd die before he told Harry everything that Lord Voldemort had done to him or that he'd done.

"Gods this is... I just... I wanted to know if... maybe...."

"What?"

Suddenly Harry blurted out, "If you would mind if I kissed you."

Draco stared at Harry in shock, all thoughts of Voldemort completely blown away. "What?"

Harry was bright red and refusing to meet his eyes. "I'm not gay or anything it's just that I thought if I tried it I'd get it out of my system and then I could stop thinking about it. You know. It's just that I've no idea what it'd be like and that makes me think about it all the time and if I knew it wouldn't be anything special anymore and..." Harry seemed to run out of steam about there and peered up from under his eyelashes to see what Draco's reaction was. When he saw Draco's shellshocked expression he started to panic. "Please don't tell anyone I said that. I didn't mean... forget it! It was stupid. I think the stress is getting to me or something and Hermione seems to think I'm gay and I'm completely not but she keeps wanting to talk about it and I thought if I kissed you... and of course I wouldn't really like it cause I'm not gay... and then I could tell Hermione I didn't like it and maybe she'd shut up about my sexuality for five minutes..."

"Harry!" Draco broke into his frantic rambling. "Just... stop talking for a minute. Please."

Harry did as he was told and looked up at Draco out of terrified eyes, twisting his hands nervously.

"Granger thinks you're gay? That's what you were arguing about before?"

Harry nodded slightly.

"But you're not?"

Harry shook his head definitely.

"And you want to kiss me to prove to Granger that you're not gay?"

There was no movement to answer that.

Draco thought about the request for a moment. He wondered what it would be like to kiss someone voluntarily. To kiss someone as ... human? nice? Kissing wasn't something that had good memories for him, all he had was ugly old grandmothers and frightening aunts who always seemed to want to smear their lipstick on his cheeks. That and other, darker, memories that made him feel sick just to touch on. But that wasn't kissing, that was something that deserved an ugly, twisted name to go with the ugly, twisted feelings it engendered in him. He suddenly, desperately wanted something clean and fresh and innocent to cover up the dark stain inside him.

Without any further thought he leaned forward and lightly pressed his lips to Harry's. Soft. So different. Closing his eyes he reached up his hand to touch Harry's cheek and felt Harry do the same, his hand trembling slightly, his fingers gentle and slightly damp with nervous sweat as they stroked along his cheekbone. He could feel Harry's breath against his face as they moved slightly, exploring the velvet sensation of lip running against lip. Then Harry broke the kiss, but before Draco could react he began to lay a pattern of soft kisses across his face, over his cheeks and brow, his eyelids, their cheeks rubbed together as Harry breathed in the scent of his hair. Draco had never felt anything like this, it made him feel fragile. To be touched so lightly.

And then Harry's mouth was back over his and now it was more urgent, the contact harder. Harry's arms were snaking around his back to pull him closer. A tongue flicked out to run over his lips but suddenly Draco's body was tense, his lips dry and pulling away into a tight line. All he could feel was hard wood behind his back, fear and sickness pouring through his body from deep inside. He pushed Harry away from him.

"Stop it!"

"What?" Now it was Harry's turn to look bewildered. "I thought... you kissed me first."

Draco desperately pulled his emotions around him. "You asked me to! To prove you weren't gay, remember? If you're not then what the fuck was all that about? Just... stay away from me. I'm not like you, I don't want... that."

Then Draco was gone.

Harry stared after him in horror. What had he done? What had he been thinking?

---------------
Friday 3rd Oct

That next day was sheer hell. What if Malfoy told everyone what had happened? What if everyone guessed? He hadn't taken the invisibility cloak, everyone must have seen him leave. He'd felt too sick with fear and humiliation to go down for breakfast. Then two hours of divination had felt like two years, dreading lunchtime and avoiding looking at anyone. Unfortunately Professor Trelawney decided to demonstrate tarot reading on him. As usual his future was decidedly bleak, apparently he was going to be stabbed in the back by someone who had broken his heart and then throw himself out of a very tall tower. For the first time in a couple of years Harry was horribly worried she might actually be right.

He couldn't avoid lunch but when he got there Draco wasn't about. He sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, told Hermione he was really hungry cause he missed breakfast and spent the entire time stuffing himself with food to avoid answering the questions he could see in her eyes. After lunch was his most dreaded class, triple Potions with the Slytherins. He'd felt sick already but all the food he'd shovelled down his throat at lunch now seemed to be making a bid for freedom as he walked down the stairs.

When he arrived Draco was sitting with one of the other Slytherins. However there was at least no sign of a return to previous behaviour. He didn't look around when Harry came in, there was no sniggering from the Slytherins.

Harry spent a tense and unproductive lesson trying to decide whether to try and talk to Draco about what had happened after class. He decided he ought to say something, apologise, or at the least beg him not to mention it to anyone. After all they were supposed to go and see Dumbledore together on Monday and that was important, Draco might have vital information about Voldemort. Maybe they could put it behind them and go back to the way it had been before he'd tried to stick his tongue down Draco's throat... when he put it that way it didn't sound very likely.

Finally class was over, Harry had failed the surprise test miserably but thankfully Snape hadn't made him drink the potion in question.

Harry took a deep breath and called after Draco as he walked away down the corridor. "Malfoy!"

"What is it, Potter," Draco drawled in something approaching his old way.

It was enough to give Harry pause but still he continued, "Can I talk to you for a minute." The 'in private' was implied.

Draco studied him a moment, his expression unreadable. Then he shrugged and said, "I suppose you can."

Harry led him into a nearby hallway that didn't seem to go anywhere important and began his carefully prepared speech. "I just wanted to say... I'm sorry, about what happened yesterday. I didn't..."

"No, wait." Draco stopped him with a hand on his arm, he looked strangely relieved. "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I overreacted. It was stupid. I just... I can't explain why. It wasn't your fault, it was me, and I don't want you thinking you did anything wrong."

Harry still hadn't quite got used to Draco's newfound ability to apologise. "But... "

"Just don't worry about it, okay?"

"I... yeah. Okay then." Relief was sweeping through Harry. Everything was going to be okay, he had no idea how, but it was.

"So, um... do you still want to hang out with me? Cause this would be an ideal excuse to give in and go make up with Weasley."

"Of course I still want to hang out with you. Did you make it out of the common room okay last night? You forgot the invisibility cloak."

"Yeah, I was in a bit of a hurry at the time. I think I was moving so fast they weren't sure if they were seeing things or not. So... I'll see you at dinner then?"

"Yup, see you in half an hour." Harry had to restrain himself from skipping as he walked back to Gryffindor Tower to get ready for dinner.

In the corridor Draco leant against the cold stone wall and let out an immense sigh of relief. He had been terrified he had ruined things with Harry. He had to get past this, he had to get this summer out of his head somehow before it poisoned him completely. He had to stay friends with Harry. Who else would be better able to protect him from Voldemort than the boy who had escaped from him three times... and that was three times more than anybody else could claim. And if needs required it he would be right where Voldemort wanted him, just like a good little Death-Eater. Ready to do his duty to save his own skin, if it came down to it... he hoped it wouldn't. But inside he was afraid that it would. He couldn't stand up to Voldemort, he knew that... he couldn't even stand up to his own father. He felt sick inside again, appalled at his own cowardice and yet unable to deny the hold his fear had on him. He might be a coward but at least he wouldn't lie to himself. He knew what he wanted, what he would like to happen, but he also knew who he was. He was a Slytherin, he could never be like Harry.

But he could hope.

And he could go with Harry to talk to Dumbledore on Monday.

-----------------

In the common room Harry was cornered by Hermione.

"What's going on with you," she asked under her breath. "What happened with Malfoy last night? You wouldn't talk to me at lunch, you spent Potions sitting on your own looking like you were awaiting your execution and now you look like Christmas came early!"

"Hermione will you quit trying to psychoanalyze me, it's really annoying."

"I just want to know what's going on. Talking to him in class and at meals is one thing but you smuggle him up to your dormitory in the middle of the night..."

"It was only about nine!"

"...And then an hour later he comes flying down the stairs like he's being chased by Fluffy. What the hell is going on between you two?"

"Nothing! We're just friends. Will you quit with this gay stuff!"

"I never said.... Oh!" Hermione stared at him wide-eyed. "Oh my!"

"What?"

"You and Malfoy?"

"What? No!" But Harry could see that his answer to the question Hermione hadn't even been thinking had convinced her. "I'm not gay!" he protested.

Hermione laid her hand on his shoulder in what she obviously intended to be a comforting gesture. "Oh, Harry, I understand. No wonder... this must have been so hard on you."

He shrugged it off and stood up. "I'm not!" he shouted furiously and ran out the room.

He went up to the dormitory and paced furiously. //Why can't she just leave it alone, it's none of her damn business.// But really he should have known better than to ask Draco into the Gryffindor Tower. He had gotten carried away with the whole being friends thing working out so well, this whole thing was seriously fucking with his judgement. He wondered what the hell he was supposed to do now. Maybe he should just drop the whole thing, forget Malfoy. Go back to life as usual. I mean just cause he had some stupid crush, which was just a phase and was bound to wear off, didn't mean he and Malfoy had to be friends. Malfoy was probably just going through some stupid phase too with this whole being nice thing. Except that he'd told Harry things that Harry knew he'd never told anyone else and a part of him just couldn't bear the thought of telling him to leave him alone.

So fifteen minutes later Harry was sitting in the Great Hall with Draco, back at the Slytherin table where he was beginning to feel he belonged.

Hermione looked at him sympathetically but the rest of Gryffindor table was buzzing in a way he'd been too caught up to notice at lunch.

"I wonder what they're saying about me being in your room last night," Draco said under his breath.

"I don't want to think about it," Harry muttered back. He wondered if there would ever be a year at this school that didn't involve everyone staring at him and talking about him. First year the Norbert Exchange leading to them losing all of Gryffindor's points, second year the Parseltongue Debacle making everyone think he was the Heir of Slytherin, third year the Trelawney Prophesy and the constant fainting, fourth year the Triwizard Tournament when everyone thought he'd put his name in and now this. The Draco Malfoy Affair. Oh Gods, the Draco Malfoy *Affair*? He had to stop talking to himself.