I was feeling very lazy...but I will not tell you my secrets :D

"Good evening, Draco."

They were on top of the Astronomy Tower, Dumbledore weakened by the adventure to the cave and Harry, paralyzed beneath his Invisibility Cloak and clutching the fake Horcrux they had worked so hard to find.

Malfoy gave Dumbledore a calculating look. "Who else is here?"

"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?"

It took a moment for Malfoy to answer, "No, I've got back-up. There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight.''

"Well, well,'' Dumbledore did not seem startled. ''Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?''

''Yeah. Right under your nose and you never realised!''

''Ingenious, yet...forgive me...where are they now? You seem unsupported.''

"They met some of your guard. They're having a fight down below. They won't be long...I came on ahead. I...I've got a job to do.'

"Well, then, you must get on and do it, my dear boy."

Despite this invitation to do as he wanted, Draco did not move.

''Draco, Draco, you are not a killer.''

"How do you know?" Malfoy snapped and then flushed. "You don't know what I'm capable of. You don't know what I've done!''

"Oh, yes, I do. You almost killed Katie Bell and yourself. You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts...so feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it...''

"It has been in it!" Malfoy snapped. ''I've been work ing on it all year, and tonight..."

A shout was heard from below, giving pause to the conversation.

"Somebody is putting up a good fight,'' Dumbledore spoke casually. ''But you were saying...yes, you have man aged to introduce Death Eaters into my school which, I admit, I thought impossible...how did you do it?'

Draco didn't speak though, too intent on the commotion below.

''Perhaps you ought to get on with the job alone,'' Dumbledore suggested. 'What if your back-up has been thwarted by my guard? As you have perhaps realized, there are members of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight, too. And after all, you don't really need help...I have no wand at the moment...I cannot defend myself.'

Malfoy only stared at him blankly.

"I see,'' Dumbledore spoke kindly 'You are afraid to act until they join you."

''I'm not afraid!'' Draco growled. ''It's you who should be scared!''

"But why? I don't think you will kill me, Draco. Killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe...so tell me, while we wait for your friends...how did you smuggle them in here? It seems to have taken you a long time to work out how to do it.''

It took a moment of hesitation before Malfoy finally admitted, ''I had to mend that broken Vanishing Cabinet that no one's used for years. The one Montague got lost in last year.''

''Aaaah. That was clever...there is a pair, I take it?''

''The other's in Borgin and Burkes and they make a kind of passage between them. Montague told me that when he was stuck in the Hogwarts one, he was trapped in limbo but sometimes he could hear what was going on at school, and sometimes what was going on in the shop, as if the Cabinet was traveling between them, but he couldn't make anyone hear him...in the end he managed to Apparate out, even though he'd never passed his test. He nearly died doing it. Everyone thought it was a really good story, but I was the only one who realized what it meant...even Borgin didn't know...I was the one who realized there could be a way into Hogwarts through the Cabinets if I fixed the broken one.''

''Very good. So the Death Eaters were able to pass from Borgin and Burkes into the school to help you...a clever plan, a very clever plan...and, as you say, right under my nose...''

"Yeah,'' Malfoy seemed strangely pleased with Dumbledore's praise. ''Yeah, it was! And it gets better. I even got your precious 'Chosen One' to help as a lookout while I was mending it. And neither of you even knew."

"On the contrary," Dumbledore smiled. "Harry knew. He told me when he feared you had accomplished your goal. He didn't want to betray your trust, which has taken him so long to earn...not as a means to hurt you, but because he has always desired friends within his House. Harry, however, has always been a good person and, therefore, unable to let others hurt people and so he had to tell me what he had learned."

Draco seemed stunned by this and stood there, speechless.

"Now there were times,' Dumbledore continued, "Weren't there, when you were not sure you would succeed in mending the Cabinet? And you resorted to crude and badly judged meas ures such as sending me a cursed necklace that was bound to reach the wrong hands...poisoning mead there was only the slightest chance I might drink...''

''Yeah, well, you still didn't realize who was behind that stuff, did you?''

"As a matter of fact, I did. I was sure it was you, though I was also sure you were not working alone."

"Why didn't you stop me, then?'' Malfoy demanded.

"I tried, Draco. Professor Snape has been keeping watch over you on my orders..."

"He hasn't been doing your orders, he promised my mother..."

"Of course that is what he would tell you, Draco, but..."

"He's a double-agent, you stupid old man, he isn't working for you, you just think he is!"

"We must agree to differ on that, Draco. It so happens that I trust Professor Snape..."

"Well, you're losing your grip, then!" Malfoy growled. "He's been offering me plenty of help...wanting all the glory for himself...wanting a bit of the action...'What are you doing?' 'Did you do the necklace, that was stupid, it could have blown everything...' But I haven't told him what I've been doing in the Room of Requirement, he's going to wake up tomorrow and it'll all be over and he won't be the Dark Lord's favorite any more, he'll be nothing compared to me, nothing!"

"Very gratifying. We all like appreciation for our own hard work, of course...but you must have had an accomplice, all the same...two maybe...someone here at Hogwarts...and I'd venture a guess at Theodore Nott."

Malfoy gave a short nod. "Yes. The Dark Lord asked him to perform this task first, but he refused, which of course led to his torture. I thought he'd go crazy for how long he was under, but when it stopped, he just lay there for a bit and then stood and told the Dark Lord he'd be willing to assist, but he wouldn't actually perform the deed himself. The Dark Lord then gave the task to me."

"And why wouldn't Theodore do this for the Dark Lord? I know he's lost favor, him and his father."

"He has a weak spot." Malfoy sneered. "The same weak spot that lost him his favor last year when he didn't turn over the prophecy immediately. He's an idiot...but..."

"But brave?"

Malfoy neither agreed nor disagreed with this statement.

"Yes," Dumbledore seemed to think this meant he had agreed. "Yes, love tends to make us fools and, yet, can also give us the greatest courage. Now, I am sure you also had someone in Hogsmeade, someone who was able to slip Katie the...the...aaaah...of course...Rosmerta. How long has she been under the Imperius Curse?'

"Not nearly as long as you'd have thought." Malfoy muttered. "I took Polyjuice Potion with Pansy Parkinson and switched places with her and then I went down into Hogsmeade myself to deliver the necklace."

"So I take it then that you were the Pansy who came to Harry's defense in the hall?"

"N-no." Draco quickly shook his head. "I got back before Harry and had already traded places with her again. We were coming out when we heard what was going on down the hall."

There was another yell from below, louder than the last.

"And what of the poisoned mead?" Dumbledore asked.

Malfoy swallowed. "I knew the chances of another Hogsmeade visit would slim after what happened to that Bell girl, so when we were permitted that extra trip down, just the Slytherins, I had Theodore concoct a poison and I gave it to Rosmerta, put her under the Imperius Curse to slip the poison into your drink if you ever arrived or into the drink of a bottle someone was going to purchase as a gift for you."

"And you had no idea about which drink she would give?"

"None." Draco was flushing. "Only Theodore could recognize the faint sent of the poison and I was a bit preoccupied with other thoughts when we were in Slughorn's office."

"Yet, he let you drink it."

"He didn't want to give away that he knew the poison was there and he was confident in being able to procure an antidote of some kind. He stopped Harry though."

"So Rosmerta was able to poison it for you before she sent the bottle to Slughorn, believing that it was to be my Christmas present...yes, very neat...very neat...poor Mr Filch would not, of course, think to check a bottle of Rosmerta's...tell me, how have you been communicating with Rosmerta? I thought we had all methods of communication in and out of the school monitored.''

''Enchanted coins,'' Draco answered. "I had one and she had the other and I could send her messages..."

"Isn't that the secret method of communication the group that called themselves Dumbledore's Army used last year?" Dumbledore and then he added, "Ah, but Theodore was in this group and therefore would know all about it."

"It was his idea and it was him who performed the Protean Charm on the coins for me. I got the idea of poisoning the mead from the Mudblood Granger, as well, I heard her talking in the library about Filch not recognizing potions..."

"Please do not use that offensive word in front of me."

"You care about me saying "Mudblood" when I'm about to kill you?''

"Yes, I do."

"Harry uses it."

"And he was reprimanded for it."

"Looked more like a reward."

"I'm sorry you saw it that way...but as for being about to kill me, Draco, you have had several long minutes now. We are quite alone. I am more defenceless than you can have dreamed of finding me, and still you have not acted..."

Malfoy said nothing.

"Now, about tonight...I am a little puzzled about how it happened...you knew that I had left the school? But of course, Rosmerta saw me leaving, she tipped you off using your ingenious coins, I'm sure..."

"That's right, but she said you were just going for a drink, you'd be back...''

"Well, I certainly did have a drink... and I came back...after a fashion. So you decided to spring a trap for me?'

''We decided to put the Dark Mark over the Tower and get you to hurry up here, to see who'd been killed and it worked!"

''Well...yes and no...but am I to take it, then, that nobody has been murdered?''

''Someone's dead. One of your people...I don't know who, it was dark...I stepped over the body...I was supposed to be waiting up here when you got back, only your Phoenix lot got in the way...''

"Yes, they do that,"

There was a bang and shouts from below, louder than ever.

"There is little time, one way or another," Dumbledore continued. ''So let us discuss your options, Draco.''

"My options!" Malfoy yelled. ''I'm standing here with a wand...I'm about to kill you..."

''My dear boy, let us have no more pretense about that. If you were going to kill me, you would have done it when you first Disarmed me, you would not have stopped for this pleasant chat about ways and means.''

"I haven't got any options!'' Malfoy suddenly looked desperate and scared. ''I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill Theo! He'll kill my whole family!''

''I appreciate the difficulty of your position and Theodore's. Why else do you think I have not confronted you before now? Because I knew that you would have been murdered if Lord Voldemort realized that I suspected you.''

Malfoy winced at the name.

"I did not dare speak to you of the mission with which I knew you had been entrusted, in case he used Legilimency against you, but now at last we can speak plainly to each other...no harm has been done, you have hurt nobody, though you are very lucky that your unintentional victims, including yourself, survived...I can help you, Draco.'

''No, you can't,'' He was shaking so badly, he looked like he was having a hard time holding onto his wand. ''Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice.''

''Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. You and Theodore. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban...when the time comes we can protect him too...come over to the right side, Draco...you are not a killer ...'

Malfoy stared emotionless at Dumbledore.

''But I got this far, didn't I? They thought I'd die in the attempt, but I'm here...and you're in my power...I'm the one with the wand...you're at my mercy...''

"No, Draco," Dumbledore spoke very quietly. ''It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now.''

Malfoy did not speak. His mouth was open, his wand hand still trembling. Harry thought he saw it drop by a fraction...he was going to lower his wand...

Suddenly, people had broken up the stairs and Draco was surrounded by Death Eaters, diminishing Harry's pleas for salvation. They began to antagonize Malfoy, coaxing him to do the task he'd been set to do, but, though his wand was poised to strike, he did not move.

Then Snape arrived and hope spread through Harry like wildfire. His eyes watched Snape, begging that Snape had a plan to get Dumbledore out of this clearly outnumbered situation.

'We've got a problem, Snape," One of the Death eaters was saying, ''The boy doesn't seem able..."

But somebody else had spoken Snape's name, quite softly.

''Severus..."

The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.

Snape said nothing, but walked forwards, shoving Malfoy out of the way. All of the Death Eaters fell back without a word. The Potions eyes fell upon Dumbledore and Harry was shocked to see the hate and revulsion in his eyes and features. Was it an act? Was he just pretending, so the other Death Eaters remained clueless?

"Severus...please..." Dumbledore was begging in a weak shallow voice. "Please...you promised...you gave me your word..."

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.

''Avada Kedavra!''

I believe this scene deserved as much attention as it could get. For those who will scream "plagiarism", I was simply doing the scene justice. I doubt whatever House Harry was in would have changed much of what as said in that scene, other than what I have done to it in the case of this version. I hope you enjoyed. :D