Draco Malfoy landed lightly on top of the Astronomy Tower, glad that for once there weren't piles of older students snogging in corners. He sat crosslegged, in the lotus position, his broom on his lap, and closed his eyes.
Harry Potter was dead. Except he's not. Think simply, what does that mean?
Draco's head tilted slightly, his hair falling away from his face as gravity drew it downward.
First, Harry Potter wasn't where he needed to be. That thought fell away from Draco's mind, as he mentally shook himself.
Why is he so important? Draco tried to quash the sudden stab of jealousy. The boy who lived. Draco shook his head again, No, that's not right. Nobody does this for a child who hasn't done a damn thing for the past dozen years or so. Draco decided to think about that later.
So what's so bloody special about Harry Potter? Draco said, suppressing a deep shiver that wasn't from the stiff breeze. Voldemort - the name people dared not even whisper. Did they want Princess Pot to go hunt for Dark Wizards?
Draco Malfoy shook his head, scoffing at himself. Lot of effort to do that, particularly now. No, if there's a Dark Wizard to hunt, he's here, now. Draco blinked, taking a minute to think through what he had just said.
Here. Draco thought, seizing on the scrap of a thought. Harry Potter isn't off training, and he's not... I don't think... going away for good. No, it's here. Whatever the thing that's going on. Because if it wasn't here, they could just hide the boy.
Draco shook his head, astounded at the preposterous farce that ... Snape? Of all the people... had perpetrated. Draco thought again - no, that doesn't make sense. Snape wouldn't do it this way. It wouldn't work, Draco was positively certain, but even if it did - Snape would have found a subtler way to pull it off. This lacked finesse. And Snape despised brutish, robust, inelegant solutions.
In fact, this reeked of a particular brand of madness practiced by the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Albus Dumbledore himself. The thought made Draco frown pensively.
[a/n: Leave a review! Yes, Draco's got things to think about. I'm tempted to lead him on a goose chase, but he's wily enough to notice.]