Draco Malfoy and The Half-Blood Prince (BOOK 6 of 7)

Chapter 12-Doubting Plans & Planning Doubts

Draco was relieved to be rid of the curse. Well, for now. After Madam Pomfrey had run her tests, she, along with Snape and Dumbledore, were able to confirm that the effects wouldn't return any time soon. Dumbledore had, however, predicted that the effects would be back in time for Christmas.

"You had better stick around during winter vacation," the headmaster had told him and Draco had agreed.

It had been about a month since then, but it had been like time stood still: hours of class, followed by hours of homework, followed by hours of Quidditch practice (although practice wasn't everyday anymore). Draco had no time to talk to Hermione or the Bradbury kid who had begun to idolize him. He had no time to go through the books he'd found in the Malfoy library so he had no clue what to do about a vanishing cabinet. And most importantly, he had no time to figure out a way to kill Dumbledore without really killing him.

The first Hogsmeade visit had arrived, though, and Draco had come up with a halfhearted plan to show that he was indeed attempting to kill Dumbledore but that he was failing. All Draco feared was that his attempts would actually work and that the greatest wizard ever (save for Merlin, of course) would die.

As Draco waited for the other students to board the carriages so that by the time he actually got to the village it would be fairly busy and he could blend in, he felt his fake Sickle receive a message. Taking it out, he saw You're coming, right?

No, he replied, lots of work to do.

That's too bad, she answered. But Draco knew that Hermione knew that he wasn't talking about schoolwork. "That's too bad" meant "I wish you didn't have to go through all this and that I could help you out."

Draco had wrapped himself in Potter's Invisibility Cloak and was standing outside as the clock finally struck 10 and the carriages rolled out. Thankfully, he had placed a warming charm on the cloak because his walk to Hogsmeade would be long. In a pocket on the inside of his robe was the vial of Liquid Luck he had always carried with him. However, what he would use momentarily was in a vial next to that one. It was an aqueous solution, the solute being the slightest bit of aconite. Taken, the solution would definitely induce death, but Draco had other plans.

After quite some time, Draco finally reached the entrance to the village and continued on his way towards the Shrieking Shack. No, he couldn't apparate to his intended destination, Borgin & Burkes, but he could certainly vaporize there. If Voldemort did actually track his Death Eaters' moves, then Draco would have no problem explaining this away. Unfortunately, vaporizing could be seen by others, and he wouldn't be able to do that while wearing an Invisibility Cloak.

"Track," Draco muttered to himself, as if he had forgotten something. "Tracks!" he whisper-exclaimed, spinning around to see the very obvious boot prints covering the snow. With his hand, he levitated himself, and with his mind, he kept his cloak from falling off. With his other hand, he erased all the footprints from where he had first stepped onto the ground to where he had just been standing. Placing a charm on his shoes to prevent them from making anymore prints, he floated back to the ground.

"Well done, Draco," he commended himself.

You could have just floated all the way there, the critic in the back of his mind said.

"That would have taken up my energy," Draco said aloud. And he had no clue how much energy he would need to vaporize somewhere, having never done it before.

Why didn't you try it out this summer?

Now that he thought about it, Draco could have done a lot this summer. If he had figured out everything about the vanishing cabinet, he could have come to Hogwarts prepared. Maybe he could have contacted Dumbledore with Duchess, his owl, or through a Patronus. He would've known about the Horcruxes earlier and they could have found them earlier. Perhaps Voldemort would be dead by the new year and Draco wouldn't even have to worry about the cabinet.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Draco realized that even if he had spent his summer researching the cabinet, it would have done him no good. He would have been less prepared for his encounter with Marvolo Gaunt's ring. Also, the whole relaxation part of summer was pretty important. If he had spent the summer doing more than just eating, sleeping, and learning a bit of magic, he would hate being stressed at school right after he thought the stress of summer was gone.

Draco was feeling better about his life choices as he reached the empty stretch of land by the Shrieking Shack. He removed and folded the Invisibility Cloak, placing it in one of his many robe pockets. This exposed him to the cold weather so he redid the warming charm for his robe.

"Alright, let's give this a go," he said. There was no motion that could be done—it was all about the mind. He concentrated hard and the next thing he knew, he was in Knockturn Alley, right in front of the store filled with all sorts of objects containing dark magic.

He walked into the store, knowing exactly what he was going to buy. Before his second year, Lucius had taken him to Borgin & Burkes and Draco had noticed an opal necklace. There was a label on it that read: DO NOT TOUCH! Cursed. Has claimed the lives of nineteen Muggle owners to date.

Of course, Draco had no intention of killing anyone so the necklace would be a dangerous bet. Correctly performed magic was the key to making sure that no one got hurt. He supposed that he should have planned out everything before jumping on the first idea that popped into his head (which happened that morning at breakfast). But there was no time to waste. It was already November—surely Voldemort was getting a little suspicious.

If only Draco could see into the Dark Lord's mind like he had when Dumbledore had destroyed the Horcrux. When he had told his headmaster about the vision upon waking from his rest, Dumbledore had informed him that Potter had had the exact vision and that Draco's mind must somehow be connected to Voldemort's. Why that was the case, no one was sure because Draco had not experienced a thing Potter had that no one else had that had to do with Voldemort. Or perhaps it was because he was a Death Eater. Voldemort may not have realized that side effect to marking his followers. Draco wondered how he would figure out if all the other Death Eaters had seen the vision.

It's not important, Draco thought. And even if it was, he could always think about it later. All he knew was that Dumbledore had said that because Marvolo Gaunt's ring was the second Horcrux Riddle had made, it contained the second largest piece of his soul, which was most likely why Voldemort was able to feel the effects of its destruction. The Dark Lord would want to suspect everyone of destroying the Horcruxes but Draco refused to give his "master" any reason to suspect him.

With that, Draco marched into Borgin & Burkes, knowing that he was on the right track.

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