Harry Potter 06 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

already tottering back towards her pub as Harry and Dumbledore kicked off from the ground and rose up into the air. As they sped towards the castle, Harry glanced sideways at Dumbledore, ready to grab him should he fall, but the sight of the Dark Mark seemed to have acted upon Dumbledore like a stimulant: he was bent low over his broom, his eyes fixed upon the Mark, his long silver hair and beard flying behind him in the night air. And Harry, too, looked ahead at the skull, and fear swelled inside him like a venomous bubble, compressing his lungs, driving all other discomfort from his mind …
    How long had they been away? Had Ron, Hermione and Ginny’s luck run out by now? Was it one of them who had caused the Mark to be set over the school, or was it Neville, or Luna, or some other member of the DA? And if it was … he was the one who had told them to patrol the corridors, he had asked them to leave the safety of their beds … would he be responsible, again, for the death of a friend?
    As they flew over the dark, twisting lane down which they had walked earlier, Harry heard, over the whistling of the night air in his ears, Dumbledore muttering in some strange language again. He thought he understood why as he felt his broom shudder for a moment when they flew over the boundary wall into the grounds: Dumbledore was undoing the enchantments he himself had set around the castle, so that they could enter at speed. The Dark Mark was glittering directly above the Astronomy Tower, the highest of the castle. Did that mean the death had occurred there?
    Dumbledore had already crossed the crenellated ramparts and was dismounting; Harry landed next to him seconds later and looked around.
    The ramparts were deserted. The door to the spiral staircase that led back into the castle was closed. There was no sign of a struggle, of a fight to the death, of a body.
    ‘What does it mean?’ Harry asked Dumbledore, looking up at the green skull with its serpent’s tongue glinting evilly above them. ‘Is it the real Mark? Has someone definitely been – Professor?’
    In the dim green glow from the Mark Harry saw Dumbledore clutching at his chest with his blackened hand.
    ‘Go and wake Severus,’ said Dumbledore faintly but clearly. ‘Tell him what has happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, speak to nobody else and do not remove your Cloak. I shall wait here.’
    ‘But –’
    ‘You swore to obey me, Harry – go!’
    Harry hurried over to the door leading to the spiral staircase, but his hand had only just closed upon the iron ring of the door when he heard running footsteps on the other side. He looked round at Dumbledore, who gestured to him to retreat. Harry backed away, drawing his wand as he did so.
    The door burst open and somebody erupted through it and shouted: ‘Expelliarmus!’
    Harry’s body became instantly rigid and immobile, and he felt himself fall back against the Tower wall, propped like an unsteady statue, unable to move or speak. He could not understand how it had happened – Expelliarmus was not a Freezing Charm –
    Then, by the light of the Mark, he saw Dumbledore’s wand flying in an arc over the edge of the ramparts and understood … Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilised Harry, and the second he had taken to perform the spell had cost him the chance of defending himself.
    Standing against the ramparts, very white in the face, Dumbledore still showed no sign of panic or distress. He merely looked across at his disarmer and said, ‘Good evening, Draco.’
    Malfoy stepped forwards, glancing around quickly to check that he and Dumbledore were alone. His eyes fell upon the second broom.
    ‘Who else is here?’
    ‘A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?’
    Harry saw Malfoy’s pale eyes shift back to Dumbledore in the greenish glare of the Mark.
    ‘No,’ he said. ‘I’ve got back-up. There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight.’
    ‘Well, well,’ said Dumbledore, as though Malfoy was showing him an ambitious homework project. ‘Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Malfoy, who was panting. ‘Right under your nose and you never realised!’
    ‘Ingenious,’ said Dumbledore. ‘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