Chapter 19

Early in the morning Draco Malfoy was walking slowly through the dark corridors. After turning left and stepping to approximately the middle of the broad hallway he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes riveted on the door in front of him. But he made not the slightest move to open the door.

He sighed and pondered again what he should say. He hadn't been able to sleep very well last night. The memory of the violent quarrel he had had with Harry yesterday hadn't given him much rest. After leaving Harry's room he had stormed down the hall to search for his father. Finally he had found him standing on one of the staircases that lead to the dungeons, absorbed in a conversation with Avery. His father had been a bit suspicious when noticing his flushed face but Draco had just said that he had been running too fast downstairs and had told him that Harry had got a headache so that he and Caro had to go earlier than usual. Luckily his father had believed him.

At home he had gone to his room and had thought about his argument with Harry, while wondering about the fact that Caro hadn't said anything at all. It wasn't like her to keep silent. First he had been absolutely furious, then he had felt betrayed and finally disappointed and sad. He couldn't understand his best friend. He still couldn't but he had realized that he hadn't had the right to make that one comment about Harry's parents.

Suddenly he asked himself how he would have reacted if he had been in Harry's place. Wouldn't he have defended his parents in the same way, indifferent to the fact that they had been on the wrong side? The silver-blond boy shook his head slightly. He didn't know for sure but it might be possible. He reached out with his hand; however he let it quickly drop again. He still hadn't the faintest idea of what to say. Silently cursing when nothing useful occurred to him, he only knew that he wanted Harry to be his friend again. Then, angry at himself for being such a coward, he raised his hand once more but all of a sudden the door was ripped open and Harry fell literally into his arms.

"Draco? What are you doing here? I just wanted to go to your house."

"I wanted…Harry, I only wanted to apologize. I mean…"

"Never mind, Draco. Come in. I wanted to apologize as well. I shouldn't have screamed like that and said that I never wanted to see you here again. I didn't mean it."

"No, Harry. You had every right to be so angry. It was my fault and…"

"Draco, it's okay. Forget it."

Draco felt an immense wave of relief rush over him. He hadn't thought that it would be so easy.

When stepping inside he suddenly stopped surprised.

"Caro? What on earth are you doing here?"

"Hi, Draco. You see, after you left, Harry and I talked a bit yesterday and so we… we fell asleep on the settee. And since nobody woke us up, I am still here. Nell just brought us breakfast. Do you want to eat as well?"

Draco nodded because he was rather hungry. He had been too nervous earlier to swallow anything at all. Harry and Draco sat down next to Caro and Harry called Nell to ask her to bring another cover for Draco. Thanks to Rainbows magic the little house- elf had entirely recovered and when Harry had discovered that Nell was fine this morning it had taken a load off his mind.

"You really are famished, aren't you, Draco?" Caro remarked amused, watching how he stuffed himself rather hurriedly with a roll.

Harry looked at his friend and suddenly felt ashamed that he had doubted Draco yesterday and that he had really thought he could betray him. Incredibly glad that they had reconciled with each other, he also reached cheerfully for a roll and fetched Diamond out of his sleeve. The little snake hissed something and began to meander trough the various things which were standing on the table. Harry hissed back. Draco shuddered slightly and for a moment he stopped chewing.

Although he had often heard those conservations between Harry and his snake before, he found it eerie every time anew to listen to those strange noises. Meanwhile Diamond had arrived at Caro's plate and there she began to eat the jam which had fallen off a roll. Caro stared at the little reptile and asked stunned,

"Since when did snakes eat jam?" The dark-haired girl, although she still didn't like snakes very much, had become used to Diamond over all the years since she knew Harry and wasn't scared of Harry's pet anymore.

"She doesn't like every jam, only raspberry jam. That is practically her favourite food. If you had breakfast more often with me, you would know that," Harry explained and, seeing Draco's and Caro's faces, he began to laugh. A little later his friends joined in while Diamond wasn't bothered in the slightest by this and continued to nibble on her jam. All three were happy and relieved that they were reconciled with each other again but no one of them could forget the quarrel entirely.

The Dark Lord was sitting at his desk and was currently occupied in thinking about Harry. The realization that Harry had become attached to a worthless house-elf alarmed him. Such behaviour just wasn't right for his heir. Harry was supposed to be cold, merciless and have no scruples to kill a worthless house-elf. What on earth had he done wrong?

Of course he had noticed that Harry had been rather reluctant to kill the spiders but he hadn't paid much attention to it. But when Harry had refused to torture the wretched house-elf yesterday and had only done it because of his threatening, he had realized that there was something very wrong. How could he transform Harry into a real Death Eater? If Harry continued to be so hesitant and reluctant to kill and torture he would never become a feared dark wizard. He thought back to the moment where he had wanted to force Harry to kill the house-elf and the boy had indeed refused.

As he had looked into his emerald eyes he had noticed this mixture of refusal, fear, vulnerability and this nearly hopeless desperation. He had seen such a similar expression in the eyes of his numerous prisoners many times; shortly before he had tortured them and broken their spirits or had killed them. He had known that if he forced Harry to do this that the boy would hate him. That's why he hadn't insisted on Harry killing the house-elf. Under no circumstances did he want the boy to hate him. Neither had he wanted to hurt Harry when he had pleaded with him not to force him. The Dark Lord shook his head. It scared him how he had got so used to Harry that the boy was able to refuse his orders. When he had taken the boy the thought that he could become used to him to such an extent would never have occurred him.

At least he could be proud that Harry had tried to ignore his fear and that he was so magically powerful and talented. If you excluded his reluctance to torture and to kill, everything would be absolutely perfect. But how could he teach Harry to enjoy using the Unforgivable Curses? He didn't know how and suddenly he realized that he actually knew nothing important about Harry. He didn't even have the faintest idea what hobbies the boy had.

Regretfully he saw that he had always been a teacher if he had spent time with Harry. He had always tried to teach him magic and Parselmagic or had told him about the wizard world and their enemies. Never had they spoken however about personal topics; apart from this one time when Harry had come to him and had asked about his mother. Till this day he didn't know why Harry had been so suddenly interested to find out the identity of his mother. A tapping noise against the window interrupted his thoughts. It was an owl with a letter which informed him that some of his Death Eaters he had sent to France years ago would return to Great Britain this afternoon to make a report.

Harry of course would attend again. Perhaps his friends should as well….Yes, why not? After all Lucius' son and Bellatrix's daughter had to learn as well how to rule. One day they would be on Harry's side and help him to reign over the world. The Dark Lord bent thoughtfully his head. Perhaps there was still a way to make the Unforgivable Curses sound appealing to Harry. It couldn't do any harm, if he would try it this way.

In the meantime Albus Dumbledore was thinking about the same boy as his archenemy Voldemort. He regretted it that Severus hadn't managed to kidnap the boy. On the other hand he wondered, if it wasn't better however that the kidnapping had failed. Otherwise they would have to keep the boy prisoner here and that surely wouldn't have helped that he joined their side.

Albus suddenly realized that he didn't even know the name of the child. It was a bit strange for him to think so much about someone whom he had never ever seen in his life.

Since the raven-haired boy had appeared in the battle a half year ago he had thought about him and since yesterday where he had discovered who he was he just couldn't stop thinking about him. Somehow he had the certain feeling that this child would bring the turning point in this terrible war. That he would decide whether the Darkness or the Light would be victorious. Albus Dumbledore sighed. In the moment the future looked rather desolately and hopelessly. He doubted that a child of Darkness would ever change to the Light side. The only hope was now that Severus would manage to influence the boy and to eventually draw him to the right side. Albus shook his head.

Who would have though that Tom would become a father? He couldn't imagine that Tom had ever played with his son. The imagination how Riddle romped around on the ground with a baby was absolutely ridiculous. He wondered if his former student was even capable to have any feelings for his son. That he had appeared in the battle then looked very much as if that was the case. If that was really true then Tom had made indeed a progress and had shown for the first time human features, if he actually really had any feelings left for his son. He wondered who the mother of the child was. Certainly a faithful Death Eater.

Looking at the window, Albus sighed. He absolutely didn't like it that how it looked currently a ten year old child would decide about the future of the world. He knew however that he couldn't do anything against it. He wasn't powerful enough to defeat Tom and his former student wasn't strong enough to defeat him. So that for years there was a stalemate.

Wistfully and sad he remembered James and Lily Potter. If those two had been still alive then threesome they maybe could have managed it to defeat Voldemort. All of a sudden the sorrow overwhelmed him, which for years seized him over and over again. Why on earth hadn't he been able to prevent that? Why hadn't he managed to protect Lily and James and little Harry? Again he saw himself standing in front of the destroyed house and looking horrified at the ruins. He laid his arms on the desk and buried his head therein as the sadness and the feeling of guilt crashed down on him.

Harry frowned and stared at the open book which lay in front of him. Somehow he just couldn't concentrate today. After they had eaten breakfast they had gone to their classroom where Bellatrix Lestrange had awaited them already and had immediately inundated them with tasks. Shortly afterwards she had left the room. For some time past it happened more and more that Bella or Draco's parents let them alone after giving them tasks. Harry looked up and mumbled,

"I've had enough of learning."

"Do you think I haven't, Harry? Wouldn't it be great, if we could play Quidditch now? The weather is currently so beautiful," Caro said and looked longingly out of the window.

"We haven't played Quidditch since eternities," Draco remarked sourly.

"The only thing we do is learning!"

"Or we get entangled in some fight," Harry added.

"Hey, we could…"

Before Caro could finish her sentence however, the door opened and her mother came back, so that the three friends, with resigned expressions, began to work once again on their tasks.

Three tiresomely hours later Bella dismissed them, before she still informed them that a Death Eater meeting would be taking place this afternoon and that all three of them would attend it. While Draco was excited and seemed to be glad that he finally would participate in an assembly, Harry was not very delighted and he wondered if he now had to attend every day some meeting. Hopefully not. Then a terrible thought rose in him. Would he have to torture later on?

For a short moment he felt how panic seized him but then he blocked this feeling out while he began to rack his brain what he eventually could do to prevent this. After a delicious lunch and having made their homework rather listlessly and not very conscientiously and Harry additionally greatly nervous they set off to the hall. Halfway through, they collided with a short stubby man who came running out of one of the side corridors. The stranger looked up and snarled at them,

"Can't you watch out where you…" But suddenly his eyes remained clung at Harry and he dried up in mid-sentence. A terrified and shocked expression entered his eyes while he squeaked stuttering and flinched back to the wall.

"No, that can't …can't be. James forgive me, you know that I … didn't want to do it. I…"

Peter Pettigrew fell to his knees. He saw the face of his friend in his mind's eye and heard his voice,

"Don't worry, Peter. I know that we will be safe. I'll be grateful to you forever that you have become our secret keeper. "

He saw Lily who smiled thankfully at him and he saw Harry, the little cheerful baby, whom he so often had held in his arms. For years he had suppressed it and hadn't wanted to think about it that he had betrayed his best friends and thus had handed them over to death. For years he had said to himself over and over again that he hadn't had another choice that it had been the only possibility to save his own life. But now the feelings of guilt which were buried deep down in him since the day he had betrayed his friends overwhelmed him and burst out of him.

"Who the devil are you!" The sharp voice ripped him back to reality and startled he looked up.

To the silver-blond boy who had spoken he didn't pay any attention. His gaze was fixed at the other boy and only now he slowly realized that it wasn't James at all. When he registered the emerald eyes however, he apprehended who was standing there in front of him. But that couldn't be. Yet it was the only conclusion and Peter knew that it was the right one. He looked so similar to James and then again he didn't since he looked simultaneously similar to Lily. He had Lily's eyes.

Suddenly he felt how panic rushed over him and he could only grasp one clear thought. He wanted away; as far as possible. He couldn't bear it any longer to face Harry. The shock he had suffered when seeing Harry had been too much for him. He began to concentrate and thanked God that he was able to change also under stress.

Meanwhile Harry, who had found the stranger familiar from the beginning, had finally remembered wherefrom he knew the man. He had seen this man on his photos in his album, together with his parents. As the man began suddenly to change Caro screamed surprised out. Harry on the other hand had quickly understood what the man had in mind. His intense studying of animagi lately had made sure of it and so he managed just in time to immobilize the man who was now a big dark brown rat with a stunning spell.

Caro stared at the rat and looked up,

"He is an Animagus? But what was the meaning of all this, by the way? He was, after all, totally crazy."

"My parents knew him. He was on some photos. Don't you think it is a bit strange that my parents knew a Death Eater? And then his behaviour. He looked as he had seen a ghost."

"And what are we going to do with him now? We can't just let him here, can we?" Draco asked who thoughtfully glanced at the rat.

"No. I think we'll take him with us. I want to speak with him. He can tell me something about my parents. I want to know why he knew them. And what he didn't want to do."

"Since it looked like he wanted to escape from here as quickly as possible, I doubt that he will answer you any questions." Draco remarked.

"Well, perhaps we could use Veritaserum. Then we would knew right away, if he is telling the truth or not," Harry said.

"Veritaserum? How on earth shall we get Veritaserum?"

"I don't know. But it would be probably the best option. We can think after the meeting how we get the potion." After saying this Harry bent down, grabbed the rat and put it in one of his cloak's pockets.

Minutes later the three friends had entered the hall and shortly afterwards Harry was seated on his throne and Draco and Caro had positioned themselves next to him.

The Dark Lord turned his head to Harry and said,

"You will observe everything, Harry. The more you observe the more you can learn. The meeting yesterday was only for introducing you. So pay attention to everything."

Harry nodded and watched how the hall slowly but continuously filled up with Death Eaters. He looked around and noticed that many of the people present were casting curious searching glances at him. But every time when his gaze met with one of a Death Eater that person would immediately avert his eyes. Then a few Death Eaters stepped forward and after a short nod of the Dark Lord a tall brown- haired man began to talk about the current situation in France. The man spoke very fast and with a strange accent, so that Harry had difficulties to understand everything. But he found out that the resistance groups which Voldemort had believed destroyed had formed again and that it hadn't succeeded to defeat them.

"You haven't managed it? And why not?" The Dark Lord asked in an ice-cold tone.

"I…don't know, My Lord."

"You should know. You should always know the reason for your failure."

Voldemort raised his wand and cast the Cruciatus- Curse on the man. The pitiably man fell to the ground and started to writhe in pain.

Harry began to feel terribly and he knew with sudden insight that he hated it and that it scared him and he realized that he didn't want to watch how people were tortured and killed. That he didn't know this man personally didn't change anything. Harry's hands grasped tightly around the armrest while praying forcefully. that his adoptive father wouldn't demand from him to torture this man. Although he had promised himself yesterday that he would think about a method how he could avoid such situations and had already pondered extensively about it earlier, he now realized that there was nothing what he could do. If his adoptive father would demand that from him he couldn't just refuse in front of all those Death Eaters.

He remembered very well how often the Dark Lord had told him that he never was allowed to show any weakness in front of his followers. To refuse when he was alone with his adoptive father could just about be overlooked but if he would do it here in public the Dark Lord would certainly not let him get away with it.

The screaming Death Eater reminded him suddenly of the man who had sold him his wand and whose death had caused him countless nightmares when he had been younger. He still didn't know the reason why his adoptive father had murdered him but he knew that the old man had done nothing except for refusing to answer his adoptive father for the first time. Perhaps this as well had been the reason for the murder. Then his thoughts wandered to Mr. Fortescue while he tried convulsively not to hear the screams. He wondered, if the ice-cream seller was still alive. He hoped it, although very probably no one would buy his delicious ice any longer now.

Meanwhile the Dark Lord had finally lifted the curse.

"So, perhaps now we can think what there is to do to destroy this resistance group. First…" The Dark Lord stopped and his eyes wandered over the gathered people in front of him.

"Where is Pettigrew? When I remember correctly I sent him to you to France years ago, didn't I?"

He asked and eyed the commander of the French Death Eaters who in the meantime had got up from the ground.

"Yes, My Lord and he… returned with us but …I don't know where he is currently," the man stuttered hesitantly and his voice trembled as he would expect at every moment another curse.

"Then it is a bit strange that he didn't come, isn't it? Perhaps you should send someone to search after him? As stupid as he is it can surely easily happen that he gets lost in the castle. It would be a real shame, if he would go missing where he had been so valuable in the past after all."

Harry noticed how the gaze of his adoptive father shortly grazed him and he realized that the rat in his pocket had to be this Pettigrew and his curiosity what this man had to do with his parents rose in boundless spaces.

But why had been standing nothing in the newspaper then? And why had he been so valuable? Harry sighed and wished he would know the answer. The rest of the meeting dealt with finding tactically strategies which should enable the defeat of this French resistance group. Although Harry tried to listen attentively he didn't quite understand very much and rather quickly he lost any interest. Finally the meeting was over and the Death Eaters, after bowing to the Dark Lord, began to leave the hall.

Harry sighed tremendously relieved that he hadn't been asked to torture this man and that otherwise nothing bad had happened more. Only now he realized that he had been totally tense. He stood up and wanted to go as well since he wanted to leave the hall as soon as possible but was restrained by his adoptive father.

"Harry, I would like to speak with you briefly. Draco, Carolina you can stay also. This is likewise concerning you. I came to the decision that it would be sensible and for you instructively to be present in the torture chambers. So you will slowly learn how you can torture people most effective. And you both, Draco and Carolina, will be taught the Unforgivable Curses. I think it is slowly time for you. But now I want to speak with my son alone. You two can await Harry in his rooms."

After his two friends had left the hall his adoptive father suggested going to the park. Harry followed him while he was thinking about what the Dark Lord had just said. He knew with all his mind that he didn't want in the slightest to learn how to hurt people best and he certainly didn't want to watch.

"I will go to France Harry and stay there for about two weeks to destroy this resistance group once and for all. Those people have really worn out my patience now. That way it will go faster. If I would leave it to my Death Eaters it would take too long or it would very probably not succeed at all. Sometimes I really think that I am only surrounded by nothing but incompetent people. When I return I will teach you and your friends how to become a feared dark wizard and how you torture, kill and rule people.

By the way I have noticed your hesitance to torture that house-elf Harry, but believe me, you will get used to it. You only have to practice more. Then everything will be fine. Furthermore I will see to it that we will spend more time together. Harry, I realized that I have neglected you too much and that I was far too many times away. But we'll catch up everything."

Harry who was walking next to his adoptive father felt how desperation rose in him and somehow he had the feeling that he would suffocate at every moment.

"Do I really have to torture and kill?" Harry whispered nearly inaudibly.

The Dark Lord stopped in his tracks and looked at him.

"Don't worry, Harry. As I said before you only need more practice. And then, in four or five years, when I have taught you everything what you need to know you will help me to rule over the whole world. Next we will destroy everyone who only dares to resist us. Unfortunately there are still too many groups of misguided people who believe that it would be better to fight me. Even here in Great Britain and here is the most powerful and worst resistance group with that old fool Dumbledore as leader. But when you are old enough and have developed all your powers, we will be invincible and then we will conquer Hogwarts and level it to the ground and we will kill everyone who has dared to seek refuge in Hogwarts."

Harry heard the rejoicing in the voice of his adoptive father and shuddered. To imagine which role he should play in this plan made him very uncomfortable and he knew that absolute nothing in the world would ever bring him to enjoy it to torture Nell or any other living being even if he would watch thousand torture sessions.

"My Lord, forgive me for the interruption but we finally managed to make the prisoners talk."

Although Harry hadn't the faintest idea of what the Death Eater was speaking, who stared at him with a strange expression in his eyes, his adoptive father obviously understood immediately.

"Yes, I'm coming, Zabini. Harry, we will continue our talk when I return. I will come later to you to say goodbye."

Harry could only nod while the Dark Lord turned around and in the company of Zabini who had disturbed them walked back to the castle.

A moment Harry stood there totally motionless but then he set off to go back to the castle as well while his thoughts began to race through his head. He sauntered to one of the benches which were standing in the park and sat down.

His eyes riveted on the enormous castle which towered in front of him; his home. Suddenly he felt completely left alone in the world and a deep desperation came over him. He felt trapped, trapped between a future he didn't really want and a past he couldn't remember. He wondered what his parents would have said, if they would have been able to see him now as the heir of Voldemort. Harry sighed and asked himself why he had such an aversion against torture that alone the imagination was enough to scare him off, to say nothing of killing. He didn't know if he would be ever able to kill anyone.

Again the picture of the wand-seller sneaked into his thoughts. He hadn't had a nightmare of him anymore about three years. But it couldn't be that this event which he had witnessed as a little child had traumatized him so much that he now wasn't able to torture or kill anyone, could it? Even with the spiders he had felt terrible and had hated it with his entire mind. How he had felt to hurt Nell he would rather not think about.

While it was getting constantly darker and colder the raven-haired boy sat on the bench and stared at the castle without really seeing it. Meanwhile he thought of his future which his adoptive father had already planned out and where he had no say at all. At one time he felt an immense fury rising in him. Anger and rage about being as helplessly as it seemed. It was his life, wasn't it?

He was the heir of Voldemort and not a little child anymore. If he had managed to find out the truth about his parents and had succeed in defeating those Aurors in the battle, then he surely could come up with a solution and could take his life in his hands. Currently he neither wanted to torture nor to kill, nor wanted he to be forced to do anything and he didn't want to make a decision on which side he was either.

But had he really have to? He wasn't yet ready for it and suddenly he knew what to do. Months ago when he had found out who his real parents were he already had considered it. There he hadn't had tortured Nell however, so that now he really began to think about it and the more he thought about it the more he liked this thought. From now on he would take his fate in his own hands and he himself would decide what he would do. Sometime later he would also reach a decision but only if he was ready. He stood up and noticed only now how cold he was. With new won confidence he ran back to the castle.

When entering his room he found Caro and Draco sitting in his armchairs and playing chess. They looked up at him with curious faces and Draco asked:

"Where have you been so long? We're waiting for an eternity already."

Harry sat down as well and began to relate them his conversation with his adoptive father. After he had finished he added:

"I will leave the castle. Probably for a rather long time."

"What?"

Draco stared unbelievingly at him, but Caro had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"You're not serious, are you, Harry?" Draco asked.

"Yes, I'm, Draco."

"But why!"

"Because I currently just don't want to learn how I torture and kill in the most effective way. I couldn't torture Nell once more, if my adoptive father would demand it from me again and I am afraid of the next Death Eater meeting. What if I have to kill anyone then? Furthermore I need time to consider what I want."

"Harry, then I'll come with you. I have thought a bit about our conversation yesterday and I have spoken to Nell earlier, when she has brought us the tea – by the way there is a cup for you as well – and I have realized that I do like her after all and that I wouldn't want to hurt her. So that I would probably refuse as well to torture her if I had to. I think, you have changed me quite a lot, Harry, do you know that? Before I knew you, I wouldn't have even dreamed of being nice to a house-elf. Apart from that my mother wouldn't miss me anyway. And you need someone who takes care of you." At the last sentence Caro smiled jokingly.

Harry looked stunned at Caro. As he had reached his decision he hadn't thought at all that his friends could come along He wanted to say something, but Draco was faster:

"Have you gone completely mad? You can't just leave the castle! Where do you want to go then? Apart from that the Dark Lord would surely find you immediately!"

Harry's face darkened.

"Yes, perhaps. But we could at least try it, couldn't we? I thought to go to Godric's Hollow. He doesn't have the slightest idea that we have been there already and that we know this place. So I don't really think that anyone will find us there."

"Godric's Hollow? But that is a completely ruin, Harry!" Caro exclaimed.

"I know but we could try to build it up again. We are wizards after all. So we should actually manage this.

First we could take everything with us and the only problem later on would be getting the food. We could teach us ourselves and we could finally decide what we want to do for ourselves and we could play Quidditch whenever we liked."

Caro nodded slightly.

"It could work."

"You really want to go away?" Draco asked while looking shocked from Harry to Caro.

Harry stared at his silver-blond friend and sighed:

"Yes, Draco, I think so. I can't … I don't want such a future. Not now anyway. Perhaps I will change my opinion yet. But what is really counting is that I want to decide it alone.

I don't want to be forced to torture or to kill if I don't want it. Besides I think that it is wrong that the Death Eaters kill innocents and children who can't defend themselves. If I had to do this in the future…I couldn't do that Draco. Even if it is true that Muggles and Muggleborns – in contrary to us – are inferior, it wouldn't necessarily mean that we have to kill all, would it? My mother was as well a Muggleborn. Does that now mean that you're better than I because your parents are both purebloods? Draco, would you really kill if you hadn't any concrete reason for it? Only just for fun?"

Draco felt how fury rose in him but he kept silent since he didn't exactly want to endanger their reconciliation and yet again start a fight. Harry, who was watching him, added:

"Don't think of what you've learned for once or what your father had told you. Would you kill for example a child only because it is a Muggle?"

"Yes, I think so." He finally said hesitantly while for the first time in his life he began to think about those questions.

That Muggles were inferior, thereof he was still firmly convinced but on the other hand Harry also had right.

It really wasn't absolute necessary to kill little children. It was very difficult for him to admit this since his father had always told him the exact opposite. He still remembered it well that his father, as he had been younger, had brought him a toy once and had told him that he had murdered a Muggle family. His father had given him the toy as a kind of trophy and only now years later he asked himself if that had been really necessary to kill this strange child who would have been the same age as him now if it had survived then.

Confused Draco shook his head. He didn't want to have such thoughts and he didn't want to think about that either.

"So you are on the Light side now?" Draco asked quietly.

Caro lifted one eyebrow and shook forcefully her head.

"Good heavens, Draco, of course not. Therefore I find Dark Magic much too interesting. Besides I will take revenge on the murderers of my Dad. They will pay for what they did to my Dad, even if it was Dumbledore in person. One day I will find out who it was and then I will take revenge!"

Harry meanwhile kept silent while hoping that his friends wouldn't ask him on which side he was since he wouldn't have been able to answer. Instead he looked at Draco:

"Draco, please come with us." But even before he said this, he knew that it was in vain.

"I? No, I could never leave my parents," Draco said faintly.

"Would you come otherwise with us if it weren't for your parents?"

"I don't now."

"Are you still would like to become a Death Eater?" Harry asked.

"I guess."

"Why?"

Draco looked at Harry and opened his mouth, only to shut it again a moment later. A confused expression crept into his eyes. He had taken it always for granted that he would become a Death Eater one day. He had never thought about whether he wanted it or about the why.

"I don't know. It is the right thing to do? To achieve power?"

"Do you know that that doesn't exactly sound very convincing? But if it is for power, there is no must for you to become a Death Eater, Draco. Power we could achieve also without my adoptive fatther."

"How so? Besides, Harry, you don't know yet if it will work at all. What, if the Dark Lord catches you and brings you back?"

Harry shrugged with his shoulders and said more confident than he felt:

"It would be an adventure in any case, however, Draco. Moreover think how often we could play Quidditch."

"Come with us, Draco," Caro added as well.

Draco shook tentatively his head.

Awhile they were silent and everyone was lost in his own thoughts. Finally Harry sat up to reach for a biscuit and suddenly he felt a strange weight in his pocket. At once he remembered the rat, which he had totally forgotten. He grabbed in his pocket, pulled the animal out and laid it on the table.

"Well, what shall we do with him then?" Caro asked.

"We'll take him with us. Somehow we'll have to get Veritesarum. Is it really so difficult to brew?" Harry stood up and went to a book-shelf, where after some searching, he fetched a big large book. He turned the pages nearly to the end and began to read.

"Good gracious, we would need a month to make it. Besides it will be probably really rather difficult."

Harry sighed disappointed. It certainly looked like they would have to find another way to get the potion. He sat down again and buried himself in the book while Caro and Draco continued their game of chess. For the rest of the evening neither of them spoke about Harry's and Caro's plan to leave the castle.