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<div id="nav-top"><form action="../go.php" method="GET" id="nav-form-top" target="_top"><div class="nav-prev"><a href="../chapter/46" title="Chapter 46: Humanism, Pt 4" accesskey="p" target="_top">« Prev</a></div><div class="nav-dropdown"><select name="chapter" class="nav-select">
<option value="home">Home</option>
<option value="1">Chapter 1: A Day of Very Low Probability</option>
<option value="2">Chapter 2: Everything I Believe Is False</option>
<option value="3">Chapter 3: Comparing Reality To Its Alternatives</option>
<option value="4">Chapter 4: The Efficient Market Hypothesis</option>
<option value="5">Chapter 5: The Fundamental Attribution Error</option>
<option value="6">Chapter 6: The Planning Fallacy</option>
<option value="7">Chapter 7: Reciprocation</option>
<option value="8">Chapter 8: Positive Bias</option>
<option value="9">Chapter 9: Title Redacted, Part I</option>
<option value="10">Chapter 10: Self Awareness, Part II</option>
<option value="11">Chapter 11: Omake Files 1, 2, 3</option>
<option value="12">Chapter 12: Impulse Control</option>
<option value="13">Chapter 13: Asking the Wrong Questions</option>
<option value="14">Chapter 14: The Unknown and the Unknowable</option>
<option value="15">Chapter 15: Conscientiousness</option>
<option value="16">Chapter 16: Lateral Thinking</option>
<option value="17">Chapter 17: Locating the Hypothesis</option>
<option value="18">Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies</option>
<option value="19">Chapter 19: Delayed Gratification</option>
<option value="20">Chapter 20: Bayes's Theorem</option>
<option value="21">Chapter 21: Rationalization</option>
<option value="22">Chapter 22: The Scientific Method</option>
<option value="23">Chapter 23: Belief in Belief</option>
<option value="24">Chapter 24: Machiavellian Intelligence Hypothesis</option>
<option value="25">Chapter 25: Hold Off on Proposing Solutions</option>
<option value="26">Chapter 26: Noticing Confusion</option>
<option value="27">Chapter 27: Empathy</option>
<option value="28">Chapter 28: Reductionism</option>
<option value="29">Chapter 29: Egocentric Bias</option>
<option value="30">Chapter 30: Working in Groups, Pt 1</option>
<option value="31">Chapter 31: Working in Groups, Pt 2</option>
<option value="32">Chapter 32: Interlude: Personal Financial Management</option>
<option value="33">Chapter 33: Coordination Problems, Pt 1</option>
<option value="34">Chapter 34: Coordination Problems, Pt 2</option>
<option value="35">Chapter 35: Coordination Problems, Pt 3</option>
<option value="36">Chapter 36: Status Differentials</option>
<option value="37">Chapter 37: Interlude: Crossing the Boundary</option>
<option value="38">Chapter 38: The Cardinal Sin</option>
<option value="39">Chapter 39: Pretending to be Wise, Pt 1</option>
<option value="40">Chapter 40: Pretending to be Wise, Pt 2</option>
<option value="41">Chapter 41: Frontal Override</option>
<option value="42">Chapter 42: Courage</option>
<option value="43">Chapter 43: Humanism, Pt 1</option>
<option value="44">Chapter 44: Humanism, Pt 2</option>
<option value="45">Chapter 45: Humanism, Pt 3</option>
<option value="46">Chapter 46: Humanism, Pt 4</option>
<option value="47" selected>Chapter 47: Personhood Theory</option>
<option value="48">Chapter 48: Utilitarian Priorities</option>
<option value="49">Chapter 49: Prior Information</option>
<option value="50">Chapter 50: Self Centeredness</option>
<option value="51">Chapter 51: Title Redacted, Pt 1</option>
<option value="52">Chapter 52: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 2</option>
<option value="53">Chapter 53: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 3</option>
<option value="54">Chapter 54: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 4</option>
<option value="55">Chapter 55: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 5</option>
<option value="56">Chapter 56: TSPE, Constrained Optimization, Pt 6</option>
<option value="57">Chapter 57: TSPE, Constrained Cognition, Pt 7</option>
<option value="58">Chapter 58: TSPE, Constrained Cognition, Pt 8</option>
<option value="59">Chapter 59: TSPE, Curiosity, Pt 9</option>
<option value="60">Chapter 60: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 10</option>
<option value="61">Chapter 61: TSPE, Secrecy and Openness, Pt 11</option>
<option value="62">Chapter 62: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Final</option>
<option value="63">Chapter 63: TSPE, Aftermaths</option>
<option value="64">Chapter 64: Omake Files 4, Alternate Parallels</option>
<option value="65">Chapter 65: Contagious Lies</option>
<option value="66">Chapter 66: Self Actualization, Pt 1</option>
<option value="67">Chapter 67: Self Actualization, Pt 2</option>
<option value="68">Chapter 68: Self Actualization, Pt 3</option>
<option value="69">Chapter 69: Self Actualization, Pt 4</option>
<option value="70">Chapter 70: Self Actualization, Pt 5</option>
<option value="71">Chapter 71: Self Actualization, Pt 6</option>
<option value="72">Chapter 72: SA, Plausible Deniability, Pt 7</option>
<option value="73">Chapter 73: SA, The Sacred and the Mundane, Pt 8</option>
<option value="74">Chapter 74: SA, Escalation of Conflicts, Pt 9</option>
<option value="75">Chapter 75: Self Actualization Final, Responsibility</option>
<option value="76">Chapter 76: Interlude with the Confessor: Sunk Costs</option>
<option value="77">Chapter 77: SA, Aftermaths: Surface Appearances</option>
<option value="78">Chapter 78: Taboo Tradeoffs Prelude: Cheating</option>
<option value="79">Chapter 79: Taboo Tradeoffs, Pt 1</option>
<option value="80">Chapter 80: Taboo Tradeoffs, Pt 2, The Horns Effect</option>
<option value="81">Chapter 81: Taboo Tradeoffs, Pt 3</option>
<option value="82">Chapter 82: Taboo Tradeoffs, Final</option>
<option value="83">Chapter 83: Taboo Tradeoffs, Aftermath 1</option>
<option value="84">Chapter 84: Taboo Tradeoffs, Aftermath 2</option>
<option value="85">Chapter 85: Taboo Tradeoffs, Aftermath 3, Distance</option>
<option value="86">Chapter 86: Multiple Hypothesis Testing</option>
<option value="87">Chapter 87: Hedonic Awareness</option>
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<div id="chapter-title">Chapter 47: Personhood Theory<br /></div>
<div style='' class='storycontent' id='storycontent'>
<p>There comes a point in every plot where the victim starts to
suspect; and looks back, and sees a trail of events all pointing in
a single direction. And when that point comes, Father had
explained, the prospect of the loss may seem so unbearable, and
admitting themselves tricked may seem so humiliating, that the
victim will yet deny the plot, and the game may continue long
after.</p>
<p>Father had warned Draco not to do that again.</p>
<p>First, though, he'd let Mr. Avery finish eating all of the
cookies he'd swindled from Draco, while Draco watched and cried.
The whole lovely jar of cookies that Father had given him just a
few hours earlier, for Draco had lost all of them to Mr. Avery,
down to the very last one.</p>
<p>So it was a familiar feeling that Draco had felt in the pit of
his stomach, when Gregory told him about The Kiss.</p>
<p>Sometimes you looked back, and saw things...</p>
<p>(In a lightless classroom - you couldn't quite call it
<i>unused</i> any more, since it'd seen weekly use over the last
few months - a boy sat enshrouded in a hooded cowl, with an
unlighted crystal globe on the desk in front of him. Thinking in
silence, thinking in darkness, waiting for an opening door to let
in the light.)</p>
<p>Harry had shoved Granger away and said, <i>I told you, no
kissing!</i></p>
<p>Harry would probably say something like, <i>She just did it to
annoy me, last time, just like she made me go on that date.</i></p>
<p>But the verified story was that Granger had been willing to face
the Dementor again in order to help Harry; that she had kissed
Harry, crying, when he was lost in the depths of Dementation; and
that her kiss had brought him back.</p>
<p>That didn't sound like rivalry, even friendly rivalry.</p>
<p>That sounded like the kind of friendship you usually didn't see
even in plays.</p>
<p>Then why had Harry made his friend climb the icy walls of
Hogwarts?</p>
<p>Because that was the sort of thing Harry Potter did to his
friends?</p>
<p>Father had told Draco that to fathom a strange plot, one
technique was to look at what <i>ended up</i> happening, assume it
was the <i>intended</i> result, and ask who benefited.</p>
<p>What had ended up happening as the result of Draco and Granger
fighting Harry Potter together... was that Draco had started to
feel a lot friendlier toward Granger.</p>
<p>Who benefited from the scion of Malfoy becoming friends with a
mudblood witch?</p>
<p>Who benefited, that was famous for exactly that sort of
plot?</p>
<p>Who benefited, that could possibly be pulling Harry Potter's
strings?</p>
<p>Dumbledore.</p>
<p>And if that was true then Draco would <i>have</i> to go to
Father and tell him everything, no matter what happened after that,
Draco couldn't imagine what would happen after that, it was awful
beyond imagining. Which made him want to cling desperately to the
last shred of hope that it wasn't all what it looked like...</p>
<p>...Draco remembered that, too, from Mr. Avery's lesson.</p>
<p>Draco hadn't planned to confront Harry yet. He was still trying
to think of an experimental test, something that Harry wouldn't
just see through and fake. But then Vincent had come with the
message that Harry wanted to meet early this week, on Friday
instead of Saturday.</p>
<p>And so here Draco was, in a dark classroom, an unlit crystal
globe on his desk, waiting.</p>
<p>Minutes passed.</p>
<p>Footsteps approached.</p>
<p>The door made a gentle creak as it swung open into the
classroom, revealing Harry Potter dressed in his own hood and cowl;
Harry stepped forward into the dark classroom, and the sturdy door
closed behind him with a faint click.</p>
<p>Draco tapped the crystal globe, and the classroom lit with
bright green light. Green light projected shadows of the desks onto
the floor, and glared back at him from the curved chair-backs,
photons bouncing off the wood in such fashion that the angle of
incidence equaled the angle of reflection.</p>
<p>At least <i>that</i> much of what he'd learned wasn't likely to
be a lie.</p>
<p>Harry had flinched as the light went on, halting for a moment,
then resumed his approach. "Hello, Draco," Harry said quietly,
drawing back his hood as he came to Draco's desk. "Thank you for
coming, I know it's not our usual time -"</p>
<p>"You're welcome," Draco said flatly.</p>
<p>Harry dragged one of the chairs to face Draco across his desk,
the legs making a slight screeching sound on the floor. He spun the
chair so that it was facing the wrong way, and sat down straddling
it, his arms folded across the back of the chair. The boy's face
was pensive, frowning, serious, looking very adult even for Harry
Potter.</p>
<p>"I have an important question to ask you," said Harry, "but
there's something else I want us to do before that."</p>
<p>Draco said nothing, feeling a certain weariness. Part of him
just wanted it all to be over with already.</p>
<p>"Tell me, Draco," said Harry. "Why don't Muggles ever leave
ghosts behind when they die?"</p>
<p>"Because Muggles don't have souls, obviously," Draco said. He
didn't even realize until after he'd said it that it might
contradict Harry's politics, and then he didn't care. Besides, it
<i>was</i> obvious.</p>
<p>Harry's face showed no surprise. "Before I ask my important
question, I want to see if you can learn the Patronus Charm."</p>
<p>For a moment the sheer nonsequitur stumped Draco. Good old
impossible-to-predict-or-understand Harry Potter. There were times
when Draco wondered whether Harry was deliberately this
disorienting as a tactic.</p>
<p>Then Draco understood, and shoved himself up and away from his
desk in a single angry motion. That was it. It was over. "Like
<i>Dumbledore's</i> servants," he spat.</p>
<p>"Like Salazar Slytherin," Harry said steadily.</p>
<p>Draco almost stumbled over his own feet in the middle of his
first stride toward the door.</p>
<p>Slowly, Draco turned back toward Harry.</p>
<p>"I don't know where you came up with that," said Draco, "but
it's wrong, everyone knows the Patronus Charm is a Gryffindor spell
-"</p>
<p>"Salazar Slytherin could cast a corporeal Patronus Charm," Harry
said. Harry's hand darted into his robes, brought out a book whose
title was written as white on green, and so almost impossible to
read in the green light; but it looked old. "I discovered that when
I was researching the Patronus Charm before. And I found the
original reference and checked the book out of the library just in
case you didn't believe me. The author of this book doesn't think
there's anything <i>unusual</i> about Salazar being able to cast a
Patronus, either; the belief that Slytherins can't do that must be
recent. And as a further historical note, though I don't have the
book with me, Godric Gryffindor never could."</p>
<p>After the first six times Draco had tried calling Harry's bluff,
on six successively more ridiculous occasions, he'd realized that
Harry just <i>didn't</i> lie about what was written in books.
Still, when Harry's hands opened the book and laid it out to the
place of a bookmark, Draco leaned over and studied the place where
Harry's finger pointed.</p>
<p><i>Then the fires of Ravenclaw fell upon the darkness that had
cloaked the left wing of Lord Foul's army, breaking it, and it was
revealed that the Lord Gryffindor had spoken true; the fear they
all had felt was not natural in its source, but coming from thrice
a dozen Dementors, who had been promised the souls of the defeated.
At once the Lady Hufflepuff and Lord Slytherin brought forth their
Patronuses, a vast angry badger and a bright silver serpent, and
the defenders lifted their heads as the shadow passed from their
hearts. And Lady Ravenclaw laughed, remarking that Lord Foul was a
great fool, for now his own army would be subject to the fear, but
not the defenders of Hogwarts. Yet the Lord Slytherin said, "No
fool he, that much I know." And the Lord Gryffindor beside him
studied the battlefield with a frown upon his face...</i></p>
<p>Draco looked back up. "So?"</p>
<p>Harry closed the book and put it into his pouch. "Chaos and
Sunshine both have soldiers that can cast corporeal Patronus
Charms. Corporeal Patronuses can be used to convey messages. If you
can't learn the spell, Dragon Army will be at a severe military
disadvantage -"</p>
<p>Draco didn't care about that right now, and told Harry so. His
voice was sharper than it probably should have been.</p>
<p>Harry didn't blink. "Then I'm calling in the favor you owe me
from that time I stopped a riot from breaking out, on our first day
of broomstick lessons. I'm going to try to teach you the Patronus
Charm, and for my favor, I want you to do your honest best to learn
and cast it. I trust to the honor of House Malfoy that you
will."</p>
<p>Draco felt that certain weariness again. If Harry had asked at
any other time, it would have been a fair return on favor owed,
given that it wasn't actually a Gryffindor spell. But...</p>
<p>"<i>Why?</i> " Draco said.</p>
<p>"To find out whether you can do this thing that Salazar
Slytherin could do," Harry said evenly. "This is an experimental
test, and I will not tell you what it means until after you have
done it. Will you?"</p>
<p>...It probably <i>was</i> a good idea to discharge that favor on
something innocuous, all the more so if it was time to break with
Harry Potter. "All right."</p>
<p>Harry drew a wand from his robes, and laid it against the globe.
"Not really the best color for learning the Patronus Charm," Harry
said. "Green light the exact shade of the Killing Curse, I mean.
But silver is a Slytherin color too, isn't it? <i>Dulak.</i>" The
light went out, and Harry whispered the first two phrases of the
Continual Light enchantment, recasting that part of it, though
neither of them could have cast the whole thing by themselves. Then
Harry tapped the globe again, and the room lit with a silver
radiance, brilliant but still soft and gentle. Color returned to
the desks and chairs, and to Harry's slightly sweaty face beneath
his shock of black hair.</p>
<p>It took that long for Draco to realize the implication. "You saw
a <i>Killing Curse</i> cast since the last time we met? When - how
-"</p>
<p>"Cast the Patronus Charm," Harry said, looking more serious than
ever, "and I'll tell you."</p>
<p>Draco pressed his hands to his eyes, shutting out the silver
light. "You know, I really should remember that you're too
<i>weird</i> for any <i>normal</i> plots!"</p>
<p>Within his self-imposed darkness, he heard the sound of Harry
snickering.</p>
<hr size="1" noshade="noshade" />
<p>Harry watched closely as Draco finished his latest run-through
of the preliminary gestures, the part of the spell that was
difficult to learn; the final brandish and the pronunciation didn't
have to be precise. All three of the last runs had been perfect as
far as Harry could see. Harry had also felt an odd impulse to
adjust things that Mr. Lupin hadn't said anything about, like the
angle of Draco's elbow or the direction his foot was pointing; it
could have been entirely his own imagination, and probably was, but
Harry had decided to go with it just in case.</p>
<p>"All right," Harry said quietly. There was a tension in his
chest that made it a little hard to speak. "Now we don't have a
Dementor here, but that's all right. We won't need one. Draco, when
your father spoke to me at the train station, he said that you were
the one thing in the world that was most precious to him, and he
threatened to throw away all his other plans to take vengeance on
me, if ever you came to harm."</p>
<p>"He... what?" There was a catch in Draco's voice, and a strange
look on his face. "Why are you telling me <i>that?</i> "</p>
<p>"Why wouldn't I?" Harry didn't let his expression change, though
he could guess what Draco was thinking; that Harry had been
plotting to separate Draco from his father, and shouldn't be saying
anything that would bring them closer together. "There's always
been just one person who matters most to you, and I know exactly
what warm and happy thought will let you cast the Patronus Charm.
You told it to me at the train station before the first day of
school. Once you fell off a broomstick and broke your ribs. It hurt
more than anything you'd ever felt, and you thought you were going
to die. Pretend that fear is coming from a Dementor, standing in
front of you, wearing a tattered black cloak, looking like a dead
thing left in water. And then cast the Patronus Charm, and when you
brandish the wand to drive the Dementor away, think of how your
father held your hand, so that you wouldn't be afraid; and then
think of how much he loves you, and how much you love him, and put
it all into your voice when you say <i>Expecto Patronum.</i> For
the honor of House Malfoy, and not just because you promised me a
favor. Show me you didn't lie to me that day in the train station
when you told me Lucius was a good father. Show me you can do what
Salazar Slytherin could do."</p>
<p>And Harry stepped backward, behind Draco, out of Draco's field
of vision, so that Draco only faced the dusty old teacher's desk
and blackboard at the front of the unused classroom.</p>
<p>Draco cast one look behind him, that strange look still on his
face, and then turned away to face forward. Harry saw the
exhalation, the inhalation. The wand twitched once, twice, thrice,
and four times. Draco's fingers slid along the wand, exactly the
right distances -</p>
<p>Draco lowered his wand.</p>
<p>"This is too -" Draco said, "I can't <i>think</i> this right,
while you're watching -"</p>
<p>Harry turned around and started walking toward the door. "I'll
come back in a minute," Harry said. "Just hold to your happy
thought, and the Patronus will stay."</p>
<hr size="1" noshade="noshade" />
<p>From behind Draco came the sound of the door opening again.</p>
<p>Draco heard Harry's footsteps entering the classroom, but Draco
didn't turn to look.</p>
<p>Harry didn't say anything either. The silence stretched.</p>
<p>Finally -</p>
<p>"What does this <i>mean?</i> " Draco said. His voice wavered a
bit.</p>
<p>"It means you love your father," Harry's voice said. Which was
just what Draco had been thinking, and trying not to cry in front
of Harry. It was too right, just too right -</p>
<p>Before Draco, on the floor, was the shining form of a snake that
Draco recognized; a Blue Krait, a snake first brought to their
manor by Lord Abraxas Malfoy after a visit to some faraway land,
and Father had kept a Blue Krait in the ophidiarium ever since. The
thing about the Blue Krait was that the bite wouldn't hurt much.
Father had said that, and told Draco that he was <i>never</i>
allowed to pet the snake, no matter who was watching. The venom
killed your nerves so fast that you didn't have time to feel pain
as the poison spread. You could die of it even after using Healing
Charms. It ate other snakes. It was as Slytherin as any creature
could possibly be.</p>
<p>That was why a Blue Krait head had been forged into the handle
of Father's cane.</p>
<p>The bright snake darted out its tongue, which was also silver;
and seemed to <i>smile</i> somehow, in a warmer way than any
reptile should.</p>
<p>And then Draco realized -</p>
<p>"But," Draco said, still staring at the beautifully radiant
snake, "<i>you</i> can't cast the Patronus Charm." Now that Draco
had cast it himself, he understood why that was important. You
could be evil, like Dumbledore, and still cast the Patronus Charm,
so long as you had <i>something</i> bright left inside you. But if
Harry Potter didn't have a single thought inside him that shone
like that -</p>
<p>"The Patronus Charm is more complicated than you think, Draco,"
Harry said seriously. "Not everyone who fails at casting it is a
bad person, or even unhappy. But anyway, I <i>can</i> cast it. I
did it on my second try, after I realized what I'd done wrong
facing the Dementor my first time. But, well, my life gets a little
peculiar sometimes, and my Patronus came out strange, and I'm
keeping it a secret for now -"</p>
<p>"Am I supposed to just <i>believe</i> that?"</p>
<p>"You can ask Professor Quirrell if you don't believe me," said
Harry. "Ask him whether Harry Potter can cast a corporeal Patronus,
and tell him that I told you to ask. He'd know the request was from
me, no one else would know."</p>
<p>Oh, and now Draco was to trust <i>Professor Quirrell?</i> Still,
knowing Harry, it might be true; and Professor Quirrell wouldn't
lie for trivial reasons.</p>
<p>The glowing snake turned its head back and forth, as though
seeking a prey that wasn't there, and then coiled itself into a
circle, as though to rest.</p>
<p>"I wonder," Harry said softly, "when it was, which year, which
generation, that Slytherins stopped trying to learn the Patronus
Charm. When it was that people started to think, that Slytherins
themselves started to think, that being cunning and ambitious was
the same as being cold and unhappy. And if Salazar knew that his
students didn't even bother showing up to learn the Patronus Charm
any more, I wonder, would he wish that he'd never been born? I
wonder how it all went wrong, when Slytherin's House went
wrong."</p>
<p>The shining creature winked out, the turmoil rising in Draco
making it impossible to sustain the Charm. Draco spun on Harry, he
had to control himself not to raise his wand. "What do <i>you</i>
know about Slytherin House <i>or</i> Salazar Slytherin? <i>You</i>
were never Sorted into my House, what gives you the right to -"</p>
<p>And <i>that</i> was when Draco <i>finally</i> realized.</p>
<p>"<i>You did get Sorted into Slytherin!</i> " Draco said. "You
<i>did,</i> and afterwards you, you somehow, you <i>snapped your
fingers -</i>" Draco had once asked Father if it would be cleverer
to get Sorted into some other House so that everyone would trust
him, and Father had smiled and said that he'd thought of that too
at Draco's age, but there was no way to fool the Sorting Hat...</p>
<p>...not until <i>Harry Potter</i> came along.</p>
<p>How had he ever bought for <i>one minute</i> that <i>Harry</i>
was a <i>Ravenclaw?</i></p>
<p>"An interesting hypothesis," Harry said equably. "Do you know,
you're the second person in Hogwarts to come up with a theory along
those lines? At least you're the second that's actually said so to
my face -"</p>
<p>"Snape," Draco said with certainty. His Head of House was no
fool.</p>
<p>"Professor Quirrell, <i>of course,</i>" said Harry. "Though come
to think, Severus did ask me how I managed to stay out of his
House, and whether I had something the Sorting Hat wanted. I
suppose you could say you're number three. Oh, but Professor
Quirrell's theory was a little different than yours, though. May I
have your word not to repeat it?"</p>
<p>Draco nodded without even really thinking about it. What was he
supposed to do, say no?</p>
<p>"Professor Quirrell thought that Dumbledore wasn't happy with
the Hat's choice for the Boy-Who-Lived."</p>
<p>And the instant Harry said it, Draco knew, he <i>knew</i> that
it was true, it was just <i>obvious</i>. Who did Dumbledore even
think he was fooling?</p>
<p>...well, besides every single other person in Hogwarts except
Snape and Quirrell, Harry might even believe it
<i>himself</i>...</p>
<p>Draco stumbled back over to his desk in something of a daze, and
sat down hard enough to hurt slightly. This sort of thing happened
around once a month with Harry, and it hadn't happened yet in
January, so it was time.</p>
<p>His fellow Slytherin, who might or might not think himself a
Ravenclaw, sat back down in the chair he'd used earlier, now
sitting on it crosswise, and looking up intently at Draco.</p>
<p>Draco didn't know <i>what</i> he should be doing now, whether he
should be trying to persuade the lost Slytherin boy that, no, he
<i>wasn't</i> actually a Ravenclaw... or trying to figure out
whether Harry was in league with Dumbledore, though that suddenly
seemed less likely... but then <i>why</i> had Harry set up the
whole thing with him and Granger...</p>
<p>He really <i>should</i> have remembered that Harry was too weird
for any normal plots.</p>
<p>"Harry," Draco said. "Did you deliberately antagonize me and
General Sunshine just so we'd work together against you?"</p>
<p>Harry nodded without hesitation, as though it was the most
normal thing in the world, and nothing to be ashamed of.</p>
<p>"The whole thing with the gloves and making us climb up the
walls of Hogwarts, the <i>only point</i> was to make me and Granger
more friendly toward each other. And even before then. You've been
plotting it for a really long time. Since the
<i>beginning</i>."</p>
<p>Again the nod.</p>
<p>"<i>WHYYYYY?</i> "</p>
<p>Harry's eyebrows lifted for a moment, the only reaction he
showed to Draco shrieking so loudly in the closed classroom that it
hurt his own ears. WHY, WHY, WHY did Harry Potter <i>DO</i> this
sort of thing...</p>
<p>Then Harry said, "So that Slytherins will be able to cast the
Patronus Charm again."</p>
<p>"<i>That... doesn't... make... SENSE!</i> " Draco was aware that
he was losing control of his voice, but he didn't seem able to stop
himself. "<i>What does that have to do with Granger?</i> "</p>
<p>"Patterns," Harry said. His face was very serious now, and very
grave. "Like a quarter of children born to Squib couples being
wizards. A simple, unmistakable pattern you would recognize
instantly, if you knew what you were looking at; even though, if
you didn't know, you wouldn't even realize it was a clue. The
poison in Slytherin House is something that's been seen before in
the Muggle world. This is an <i>advance</i> prediction, Draco, I
could have written it down for you before our first day of school,
just from hearing you talk in King's Cross Station. Let me describe
some really pathetic sorts of people that hang around at your
father's political rallies, pureblood families that would never be
invited to dinner at Malfoy Manor. Bearing in mind that <i>I've</i>
never met them, I'm just predicting it from recognizing the pattern
of what's happening to Slytherin House -"</p>
<p>And Harry Potter proceeded to describe the Parkinsons and
Montagues and Boles with a calmly cutting accuracy that Draco
wouldn't have dared <i>think</i> to himself in case there was a
Legilimens around, it was <i>beyond</i> insult, they would
<i>kill</i> Harry if they ever heard...</p>
<p>"To sum up," Harry finished, "they don't have any power
themselves. They don't have any wealth themselves. If they didn't
have Muggleborns to hate, if all the Muggleborns vanished the way
they say they <i>want</i>, they'd wake up one morning and find they
had <i>nothing.</i> But so long as they can say purebloods are
superior, they can feel superior themselves, they can feel like
part of the master class. Even though your father would never dream
of inviting them to dinner, even though there's not one Galleon in
their vaults, even if they did worse on their OWLs than the worst
Muggleborn in Hogwarts. Even if they can't cast the Patronus Charm
any more. Everything is the Muggleborns' fault to them, they have
someone besides themselves to blame for their own failures, and
that makes them even weaker. That's what Slytherin House is
becoming, <i>pathetic,</i> and the root of the problem is hating
Muggleborns."</p>
<p>"Salazar Slytherin himself said that mudbloods needed to be cast
out! That they were weakening our blood -" Draco's voice had risen
to a shout.</p>
<p>"<i>Salazar was wrong as a question of simple fact!</i> You
<i>know</i> that, Draco! And that <i>hatred</i> is poisoning your
whole House, you couldn't cast the Patronus Charm using a thought
like that!"</p>
<p>"Then why could <i>Salazar Slytherin</i> cast the Patronus
Charm?"</p>
<p>Harry was wiping sweat from his forehead. "Because things have
<i>changed</i> between then and now! Listen, Draco, three hundred
years ago you could find great scientists, as great as Salazar in
their own way, who would have told you that some other Muggles were
inferior because of their skin color -"</p>
<p>"<i>Skin color?</i> " said Draco.</p>
<p>"I know, skin color instead of anything important like blood
purity, isn't it ridiculous? But then something in the world
changed, and <i>now</i> you can't find any great scientists who
still think skin color should matter, only loser people like the
ones I described to you. Salazar Slytherin made the mistake when
everyone else was making it, because he grew up believing it, not
because he was <i>desperate for someone to hate.</i> There were a
few people who did better than everyone else around them, and
<i>they</i> were exceptionally good. But the ones who just accepted
what everyone else thought weren't <i>exceptionally</i> evil. The
sad fact is that most people just don't notice a moral issue at all
unless someone else is pointing it out to them; and once they're as
old as Salazar was when he met Godric, they've lost the ability to
change their minds. Only <i>then</i> Hogwarts was built, and
Hogwarts started sending acceptance letters to Muggleborns like
Godric insisted, and more and more people began to notice that
Muggleborns <i>weren't</i> any different. Now it's a big political
issue instead of something that everyone just believes without
thinking about it. And the <i>correct</i> answer is that
Muggleborns <i>aren't</i> any weaker than purebloods. So <i>now</i>
the people who end up siding with what Salazar once believed, are
either people who grew up in very closed pureblood environments
like you, <i>or</i> people who are so pathetic themselves that
they're desperate for someone to feel superior to, people who love
to hate."</p>
<p>"That doesn't... that doesn't sound right..." Draco's voice
said. His ears listened, and wondered that he couldn't come up with
anything better to say.</p>
<p>"It doesn't? Draco, you <i>know</i> now there's nothing wrong
with Hermione Granger. You had trouble dropping her off a roof, I
hear. Even though you knew she'd taken a Feather-Falling Potion,
even though you knew she was safe. What sort of person do you think
wants to <i>kill</i> her, not for any wrong she did to them, just
because she's a Muggleborn? Even though she's, she's just a young
girl who would help them with their homework in a second, if they
ever asked her," Harry's voice broke, "what sort of person wants
her to <i>die?</i> "</p>
<p><i>Father -</i></p>
<p>Draco felt split in two, he seemed to be having a problem with
dual vision, <i>Granger is a mudblood, she should die</i> and a
girl hanging from his hand on the rooftop, like seeing double,
seeing double -</p>
<p>"And anyone who <i>doesn't</i> want Hermione Granger to die,
won't want to hang around the sort of people who <i>do!</i> That's
all people think Slytherin <i>is</i> now, not clever planning, not
trying to achieve greatness, just hating Muggleborns! I paid Morag
a Sickle to ask Padma why she hadn't gone to Slytherin, we both
know she got the option. And Morag told me that Padma just gave her
a <i>look</i> and said that she wasn't Pansy Parkinson. You see?
The <i>best</i> students with the virtues of more than one House,
the students with <i>choices,</i> they go under the Hat thinking
<i>anywhere but Slytherin,</i> and someone like Padma ends up in
Ravenclaw. And... I think the Sorting Hat tries to maintain a
balance in the Sorting, so it fills out the ranks of Slytherin with
anyone who <i>isn't</i> repelled by all the hatred. So instead of
Padma Patil, Slytherin gets Pansy Parkinson. She's not very
cunning, and she's not very ambitious, but she's the sort of person
who doesn't mind what Slytherin is turning into. And the more
Padmas go to Ravenclaw and the more Pansies go to Slytherin, the
more the process accelerates. <i>It's destroying Slytherin House,
Draco!</i> "</p>
<p>It had a ring of awful truth, Padma <i>had</i> belonged in
Slytherin... and instead Slytherin got Pansy... Father rallied
lesser families like the Parkinsons because they were convenient
sources of support, but Father hadn't realized the
<i>consequences</i> of associating Slytherin's name with
them...</p>
<p>"I can't -" Draco said, but he wasn't even sure what he couldn't
do - "What do you <i>want</i> from me?"</p>
<p>"I'm not sure how to heal Slytherin House," Harry said slowly.
"But I know it's something you and I will end up having to do. It
took centuries for science to dawn over the Muggle world, it only
happened slowly, but the stronger science got, the further that
sort of hatred retreated." Harry's voice was quiet, now. "I don't
know exactly why it worked that way, but that's how it happened
historically. As though there's something in science like the shine
of the Patronus Charm, driving back all sorts of darkness and
madness, not right away, but it seems to follow wherever science
goes. The Enlightenment, that was what it was called in the Muggle
world. It has something to do with seeking the truth, I think...
with being able to change your mind from what you grew up
believing... with thinking <i>logically,</i> realizing that there's
no <i>reason</i> to hate someone because their skin is a different
color, just like there's no reason to hate Hermione Granger... or
maybe there's something to it that even I don't understand. But the
Enlightenment is something that you and I belong to now, both of
us. Fixing Slytherin House is just one of the things we have to
do."</p>
<p>"Let me think," Draco said, his voice coming out in something of
a croak, "please," and he rested his head in his hands, and
thought.</p>
<hr size="1" noshade="noshade" />
<p>Draco thought for a while, with his palms over his eyes to shut
out the world, no sound but his and Harry's breathing. All the
persuasive reasonableness of what Harry said, the evident grains of
truth that it contained; and against that, the obvious, the
perfectly and entirely obvious hypothesis about what was
<i>really</i> going on...</p>
<p>After a time, Draco finally raised his head.</p>
<p>"It sounds right," Draco said quietly.</p>
<p>A huge smile broke out on Harry's face.</p>
<p>"So," Draco continued, "is this where you bring me to
Dumbledore, to make it official?"</p>
<p>He kept his voice very casual as he said it.</p>
<p>"Oh, yeah," Harry said. "That was the thing I was going to ask
you about, actually -"</p>
<p>Draco's blood froze in his veins, froze solid and shattered
-</p>
<p>"Professor Quirrell said something to me that got me thinking,
and, well, no matter how you answer this question, I'm already
stupid for having not asked you a lot earlier. Everyone in
Gryffindor thinks Dumbledore is a saint, the Hufflepuffs think he's
crazy, the Ravenclaws are all proud of themselves for having worked
out that he's only pretending to be crazy, but I never asked anyone
in Slytherin. I'm supposed to know better than to make that sort of
mistake. But if even <i>you</i> think Dumbledore's okay to conspire
with on fixing Slytherin House, I guess I didn't miss anything
important."</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>"You know," Draco said, his voice remarkably calm, all things
considered, "every time I wonder if you do things like this just to
annoy me, I tell myself that it <i>has</i> to be accidental, <i>no
one</i> could possibly do this sort of thing on purpose even if
they tried until blood trickled out of their ears. That's the only
reason I'm not going to strangle you now."</p>
<p>"Huh?"</p>
<p>And then strangle <i>himself,</i> because Harry <i>had</i> grown
up with Muggles, and then Dumbledore had smoothly diverted him from
Slytherin to Ravenclaw, so it was perfectly plausible that Harry
might <i>not</i> know anything, and Draco had never thought to
<i>tell him.</i></p>
<p>Or else Harry had guessed that Draco wouldn't join up with
Dumbledore so readily, and this itself was just the next step of
Dumbledore's plan...</p>
<p>But if Harry <i>really</i> didn't know about Dumbledore, then
warning him had to take precedence over <i>everything.</i></p>
<p>"All right," Draco said, after he'd had a chance to organize his
thoughts. "I don't know where to start, so I'll just start
somewhere." Draco drew a deep breath. This was going to take a
while. "Dumbledore murdered his little sister, and got away with it
because his brother wouldn't testify against him -"</p>
<hr size="1" noshade="noshade" />
<p>Harry listened with increasing worry and dismay. Harry had been
prepared, he'd thought, to take the blood purist side of the story
with a grain of salt. The trouble was that even after you added an
enormous amount of salt, it <i>still</i> didn't sound good.</p>
<p>Dumbledore's father had been convicted of using Unforgivable
Curses on children, and died in Azkaban. That was no sin of
Dumbledore's, but it would be a matter of public record. Harry
could check that part, and see whether all of this had been made up
out of thin air by the blood purists.</p>
<p>Dumbledore's mother had died mysteriously, shortly before his
younger sister died in what the Aurors had ruled to be murder.
Supposedly that sister had been brutalized by Muggles and never
spoken again after that; which, Draco pointed out, sounded
remarkably like a botched Obliviation.</p>
<p>After Harry's first few interruptions, Draco had seemed to pick
up on the general principle, and was now presenting the
observations first and the inferences afterward.</p>
<p>"- so you don't have to take my word for it," said Draco, "you
can <i>see</i> it, right? Anyone in Slytherin can. Dumbledore
waited to fight his duel with Grindelwald until the exact moment
when it would look best for Dumbledore, <i>after</i> Grindelwald
had ruined most of Europe and built up a reputation as the most
terrible Dark Wizard in history, and just when Grindelwald had lost
the gold and blood sacrifices he was getting from his Muggle pawns
and was about to start heading downhill. If Dumbledore was really
the noble wizard he pretended to be, he'd have fought Grindelwald
long before that. Dumbledore probably <i>wanted</i> Europe ruined,
it was probably part of their plan together, he only attacked
Grindelwald after his puppet <i>failed</i> him. And that big flashy
duel wasn't real, there's no way two wizards would be so exactly
matched that they'd fight for twenty whole hours until one of them
fell over from exhaustion, that was just Dumbledore making it look
more spectacular." Here Draco's voice became more indignant. "And
that got Dumbledore made <i>Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot!</i>
The Line of Merlin Unbroken, corrupted after fifteen hundred years!
And <i>then</i> he became Supreme Mugwump on top of that, and he
<i>already</i> had Hogwarts to use as an invincible fortress -
Headmaster <i>and</i> Chief Warlock <i>and</i> Supreme Mugwump, no
normal person would try to do all that at once, <i>how can anyone
not see that Dumbledore's trying to take over the world?</i> "</p>
<p>"Pause," Harry said, and closed his eyes to think.</p>
<p>It wasn't any worse than what you would have heard about the
West in Stalin's Russia, and none of that would have been true.
Though the blood purists wouldn't be able to get away with making
stuff up entirely... or would they? The <i>Daily Prophet</i> had
shown a pronounced tendency to make stuff up... but then again,
when they stuck out their neck too far on the Weasley betrothal,
they <i>had</i> been called on it and they <i>had</i> been
embarrassed...</p>
<p>Harry opened his eyes, and saw that Draco was watching him with
a steady, waiting gaze.</p>
<p>"So when you asked me if it was time to join up with Dumbledore,
that was just a test."</p>
<p>Draco nodded.</p>
<p>"And before that, when you said it sounded right -"</p>
<p>"It <i>sounds</i> right," said Draco. "But I don't know if I can
trust you. Are you going to complain about my <i>testing</i> you,
Mr. Potter? Are you going to say that I <i>fooled</i> you? That I
<i>led you on?</i> "</p>
<p>Harry knew he should smile like a good sport, but he couldn't
really, it was too much of a disappointment.</p>
<p>"You're right, it's fair, I can't complain," Harry said instead.
"So what about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Not as bad as he was made
out to be?"</p>
<p>Draco looked bitter, at that. "So you think it's all just making
Father's side look good and Dumbledore's side look bad, and that I
believe it all myself just because Father told me."</p>
<p>"It's a possibility I'm considering," Harry said evenly.</p>
<p>Draco's voice was low and intense. "They <i>knew</i>. My father
knew, his friends knew. They <i>knew</i> the Dark Lord was evil.
<i>But he was the only chance anyone had against Dumbledore!</i>
The only wizard anywhere who was powerful enough to fight him! Some
of the other Death Eaters were truly evil too, like Bellatrix Black
- Father isn't like that - but Father and his friends <i>had</i> to
do it, Harry, they <i>had</i> to, Dumbledore was taking over
everything, the Dark Lord was the only hope anyone had left!"</p>
<p>Draco was staring hard at Harry. Harry met the gaze, trying to
think. Nobody ever thought of themselves as the villain of their
own story - maybe Lord Voldemort did, maybe Bellatrix did, but
Draco certainly didn't. That the Death Eaters were bad guys was not
in question. The question was whether they were <i>the</i> bad
guys; whether there was <i>one</i> villain in the story, or
<i>two...</i></p>
<p>"You're not convinced," Draco said. He looked worried, and a
little angry. Which didn't surprise Harry. He was pretty sure Draco
himself believed all this.</p>
<p>"<i>Should</i> I be convinced?" Harry said. He didn't look away.
"Just because you believe it? Are you a strong enough rationalist
now that your belief is strong evidence to me, because you'd be
very unlikely to believe it if it weren't true? When I met you, you
weren't that strong. Everything you told me, did you rethink it
after you awakened as a scientist, or is it just something you grew
up believing? Can you look me in the eyes and swear to me upon the
honor of House Malfoy that if there's one untruth buried in what
you said, one thing that got added on just to make Dumbledore look
a little worse, you would have noticed?"</p>
<p>Draco started to open his mouth, and Harry said, "Don't. Don't
stain the honor of House Malfoy. You're <i>not</i> that strong yet,
and you should know it. Listen, Draco, I've started to notice some
worrying things myself. But there's nothing <i>definite,</i>
nothing <i>certain,</i> it's all just deductions and hypotheses and
untrustworthy witnesses... And there's nothing certain in your
story, either. Dumbledore might've had some other good reason not
to fight Grindelwald years earlier - though it <i>would</i> have to
be a pretty good excuse, especially considering what was happening
on the Muggle side of things... but still. Is there one clearly
evil thing that Dumbledore's done for <i>certain,</i> so I don't
have to wonder?"</p>
<p>Draco's breathing was harsh. "All right," Draco said in an
uneven voice, "I'll tell you what Dumbledore did." From Draco's
robes came a wand, and Draco said "Quietus", then "Quietus" again,
but he got the pronunciation wrong a second time, and finally Harry
took out his own wand and did it.</p>
<p>"There," said Draco hoarsely, "once upon a time there, there was
a girl, and her name was Narcissa, and she was the prettiest, the
smartest, the most cunning girl that was ever Sorted into
Slytherin, and my father loved her, and they married, and she
wasn't a Death Eater, she wasn't a fighter, <i>all she ever did was
love Father -</i>" Draco stopped there, because he was crying.</p>
<p>Harry felt sick to his stomach. Draco had never talked about his
<i>mother</i>, not once, he should have noticed that earlier.
"She... got in the way of a curse?"</p>
<p>Draco's voice came out in a scream. "<i>Dumbledore burned her to
death in her own bedroom!</i> "</p>
<hr size="1" noshade="noshade" />
<p>In a classroom filled with soft silver light, one boy is staring
at another boy, who is sobbing, wiping frantically at his eyes with
the sleeves of his robes.</p>
<p>It was hard for Harry to stay balanced, to keep withholding
judgment, it was too emotional, there was something that either
wanted to start tears from his own eyes in sympathy with Draco, or
<i>know</i> that it wasn't true...</p>
<p><i>Dumbledore burned her to death in her own bedroom!</i></p>
<p>That...</p>
<p>...didn't sound like Dumbledore's style...</p>
<p>...but you could only think that thought so many times, before
you started to wonder about the trustworthiness of that whole
'style' concept.</p>
<p>"It, it must have hurt horribly," Draco said, his voice shaking,
"Father never talks about it at all, you don't ever talk about it
in front of him, but Mr. Macnair told me, there were scorch marks
all over the bedroom, from how Mother must have struggled while
Dumbledore <i>burned her alive</i>. That is the debt Dumbledore
owes to House Malfoy and <i>we will have his life for it!</i> "</p>
<p>"Draco," Harry said, he let all of the hoarseness into his own
voice, it would be <i>wrong</i> to sound calm, "I'm sorry, I'm so
sorry for asking, but I <i>have</i> to know, <i>how</i> do you know
it was Dumble-"</p>
<p>"Dumbledore <i>said</i> he did it, he told Father it was a
<i>warning!</i> And Father couldn't testify under Veritaserum
because he was an Occlumens, he couldn't even get Dumbledore put on
trial, Father's own allies didn't believe him after Dumbledore just
denied everything in public, but we know, the Death Eaters know,
Father wouldn't have any reason to lie about that, Father would
want us to take revenge on the <i>right person,</i> can't you see
that Harry?" Draco's voice was wild.</p>
<p><i>Unless Lucius did it himself, of course, and found it more
convenient to blame Dumbledore.</i></p>
<p>Although... it also didn't seem like <i>Lucius's</i> style. And
if he <i>had</i> murdered Narcissa, it would have been smarter to
pin the blame on an easier victim instead of losing political
capital and credibility by going after Dumbledore...</p>
<p>In time, Draco stopped crying, and looked at Harry.
"<i>Well?</i> " said Draco, sounding like he wanted to spit the
words. "Is that <i>evil</i> enough for you, Mr. Potter?"</p>
<p>Harry looked down at where his arms rested on the back of his
chair. He couldn't meet Draco's eyes any more, the pain in them was
too raw. "I wasn't expecting to hear that," Harry said softly. "I
don't know what to think any more."</p>
<p>"You <i>don't know?</i> " Draco's voice rose to a shriek, and he
stood up abruptly from his desk -</p>
<p>"I remembered the Dark Lord killing my parents," Harry said.
"When I went in front of the Dementor the first time, that was what
I remembered, the worst memory. Even though it was so long ago. I
heard them dying. My mother begged the Dark Lord not to kill me,
<i>not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead!</i> That's what
she said. And the Dark Lord mocked her, and laughed. Then, I
remember, the flash of green light -"</p>
<p>Harry looked up at Draco.</p>
<p>"So we could fight," Harry said, "we could just keep on with the
same fight. You could tell me that it was right for my mother to
die, because she was the wife of James, who killed a Death Eater.
But bad for <i>your</i> mother to die, because <i>she</i> was
innocent. And I could tell you that it was right for your mother to
die, that Dumbledore must have had some <i>reason</i> that made it
<i>okay</i> to burn her alive in her own bedroom; but bad for
<i>my</i> mother to die. But you know, Draco, either way, wouldn't
it be <i>obvious</i> that we were just being biased? Because the
rule that says that it's wrong to kill innocent people, that rule
can't switch on for my mother and off for yours, and it can't
switch on for your mother and off for mine. If you tell me that
Lily was an enemy of the Death Eaters and it's right to kill your
enemies, then the same rule says that Dumbledore was right to kill
Narcissa, since she was <i>his</i> enemy." Harry's voice went
hoarse. "So if the two of us are going to agree on anything, it's
going to be that <i>neither</i> of their deaths were right and that
<i>no one's</i> mother should die any more."</p>
<hr size="1" noshade="noshade" />
<p>The fury boiling inside Draco was so great that he could barely
stop himself from storming out of the room; all that halted him was
the recognition of a critical moment; and a small remnant of
friendship, a tiny flash of sympathy, for he had forgotten, he'd
<i>forgotten,</i> that Harry's mother <i>and</i> father were dead
by the Dark Lord's hand.</p>
<p>The silence stretched.</p>
<p>"You can talk," Harry said, "Draco, talk to me, I won't get
angry - are you thinking, I don't know, that Narcissa dying was
much worse than Lily dying? That it's wrong for me even to make the
comparison?"</p>
<p>"I guess I was stupid too," Draco said. "All this time, all this
time I forgot that you must hate the Death Eaters for killing your
parents, hate Death Eaters the way I hate Dumbledore." And Harry
had never said anything, never reacted when Draco talked about
Death Eaters, kept it <i>hidden</i> - Draco was a fool.</p>
<p>"No," Harry said. "It's not - it's not like that, Draco, I, I
don't even know how to explain to you, except to say that a thought
like that, wouldn't," Harry's voice choked, "you wouldn't ever be
able to use it, to cast the Patronus Charm..."</p>
<p>Draco felt a sudden wrench in his heart, unwanted but he felt
it. "Are you pretending you're just going to <i>forget</i> about
your own parents? Are you saying I should just <i>forget</i> about
Mother?"</p>
<p>"So you and I <i>have</i> to be enemies then?" Now Harry's voice
was growing equally wild. "What have <i>we</i> ever done to <i>each
other</i> that means we have to be enemies? I refuse to be trapped
like that! Justice can't mean that <i>both</i> of us should attack
<i>each other,</i> it doesn't make sense!" Harry stopped, took a
deep breath, ran his fingers back through the deliberate mess of
his hair - the fingers came away sweaty, Draco could see it.
"Draco, listen, we can't expect to meet on everything right away,
you and I. So I won't ask you to say that the Dark Lord was
<i>wrong</i> to kill my mother, just say that it was... <i>sad</i>.
We won't talk about whether or not it was <i>necessary</i>, whether
it was <i>justified</i>. I'll just ask you to say that it was sad
that it happened, that my mother's life was valuable too, you'll
just say that for now. And I'll say it was sad that Narcissa died,
because her life was also worth something. We can't expect to agree
on everything right away, but if we start out by saying that every
life is precious, that it's sad when <i>anyone</i> dies, then I
know we'll meet someday. That's what I want you to say. Not who was
right. Not who was wrong. Just that it was sad when your mother
died, and sad when my mother died, and it would be sad if Hermione
Granger died, every life is precious, can we agree on that and let
the rest go by for now, is it enough if we just agree on that? Can
we, Draco? That seems... more like a thought someone could use to
cast the Patronus Charm."</p>
<p>There were tears in Harry's eyes.</p>
<p>And Draco was getting angry again. "Dumbledore <i>killed</i>
Mother, it's not enough to just say it's <i>sad!</i> I don't
understand what you think <i>you</i> have to do, but the Malfoys
<i>have</i> to take revenge!" Not avenging the deaths of family
went <i>beyond</i> weakness, beyond dishonor, you might as well not
<i>exist.</i></p>
<p>"I'm not arguing with that," Harry said quietly. "But will you
say that Lily Potter's death was sad? Just say that one thing?"</p>
<p>"That's..." Draco was having difficulty finding words again. "I
know, I know how you feel, but don't you see Harry, even if I just
say that Lily Potter's death was <i>sad,</i> that's <i>already</i>
going against the Death Eaters!"</p>
<p>"Draco, you've <i>got</i> to be able to say the Death Eaters
were wrong about some things! You <i>have</i> to, you can't
progress as a scientist otherwise, there'll be a roadblock in your
way, an authority you can't contradict. Not every change is an
improvement, but every improvement is a change, you can't do
anything <i>better</i> unless you can manage to do it
<i>differently</i>, <i>you've got to let yourself do better than
other people!</i> Even your father, Draco, even him. You've got to
be able to point to something your father did and say it was
mistaken, because he wasn't <i>perfect</i>, and if you can't say
that, you can't do better."</p>
<p>Father had warned him, every night before he went to sleep for a
month before he went to Hogwarts, that there would be people with
this goal.</p>
<p>"You're trying to break me loose of Father."</p>
<p>"Trying to break a <i>part</i> of you loose," said Harry.
"Trying to let you fix some things your father got mistaken. Trying
to let you <i>do better</i>. But not... trying to break your
<i>Patronus!</i> " Harry's voice got softer. "I wouldn't want to
break something bright like that. Who knows, fixing Slytherin House
might need <i>that</i>, too..."</p>
<p>It was getting to Draco, that was the thing, despite everything
it was getting to him, you had to be really careful around Harry
because his arguments sounded so convincing <i>even when he was
wrong.</i> "And what you're <i>not</i> admitting is that Dumbledore
told you that you could avenge your parents' deaths by taking Lord
Malfoy's son from him -"</p>
<p>"<i>No.</i> No. That part's just wrong." Harry took a deep
breath. "I did not know who Dumbledore was, or who the Dark Lord
was, or who the Death Eaters were, or how my parents died, until
three days before I came to Hogwarts. The day you and I first met
in the clothes shop, that was the day I learned. And Dumbledore
doesn't even <i>like</i> Muggle science, or he says he doesn't, I
got a chance to probe him on it once. The thought of taking revenge
on the Death Eaters through you has <i>never</i> crossed my mind,
not even <i>once</i> until now. I didn't know who the Malfoys were
when I met you in the clothes shop, and then I <i>liked</i>
you."</p>
<p>There was a long silence.</p>
<p>"I wish I could trust you," Draco said. His voice was shaking.
"If I could just <i>know</i> you were telling the truth, everything
would be so much simpler -"</p>
<p>And then suddenly it came to Draco.</p>
<p>The way to know whether Harry Potter really meant everything he
said, about wanting to fix Slytherin House, about being sad that
Mother had died.</p>