Chapter 03a
By An3maePhreek
The spiral staircase seemed never-ending. With eyes focused on the road ahead, or rather the road up, Harry was starting to get quite dizzy.
"Bloody hell, what is this… the bloody tower of Babel?"
Apparently he wasn't the only one who was frustrated by the staircase.
The blonde had taken to muttering under his breath two hundred thirty-seven steps ago. Yes, Harry counted. In the muted silence of the passage, Malfoy's muttering was abominably loud, bouncing off the stone encasing the stairwell.
Surprised at Malfoy's knowledge of the reputed tower in the Bible that was intended to rise all the way up to heaven, Harry found himself slightly amused. Later on he would blame it on the dizzying effects of the staircase impairing his judgment, but Harry decided to talk. With Malfoy.
"I thought you hated Muggles."
The blonde started and stopped.
"I do. Besides… why are you even talking to me." Pause. "…Potty?" Insert smirk here.
Harry stops and turns around at the blonde's use of the nickname. He glares at Malfoy.
"You are the most immature person I know. Can't you come up with anything better? You've been using that nickname since first year. Sides… if you hate Muggles so much, how do you know about the tower of Babel?"
At the mention of the biblical allusion, Malfoy grins.
"You're just mad, cuz you hate the nickname. As for Babel; knowledge is a hobby of mine. It is one of many steps needed to power, and you and I, as well as everyone else in this school, knows that I desire power above all. Of course, Potter… you would never understand this desire. This lack of understanding is all that which prevents you from seeing the reason why purebloods desperately fight for segregation between the common and the gifted. Only the ambitious great few have understood. Only they have succeeded."
With no way of replying to Malfoy's philosophical soliloquy, Harry falls silent. The pair resume their flight up the stairs.