"Well, he wasn't anywhere around," Hermione went on.
"So there went that plan--"
"Ronald, are you going to let me explain or not?"
Muttering something, Ron finally tucked his wand away and sarcastically gestured that that floor was hers.
Hermione pressed her lips together in irritation for a moment, then continued, "We couldn't find Malfoy, but as we came back down from the Owlery we heard Susan screaming about finding Pansy dead--"
"Wait," Harry said, thinking fast. Wasn't the funeral supposed to be closed-casket because the body was in no fit state to be seen? Maybe things were diverging from his seer dream, because it sounded just like... "Susan could tell it was Pansy?"
Hermione grimaced. "Not exactly. Um, her descriptions were pretty awful." Lowering her voice, the girl disclosed, "The way she went on, it sounds a bit as though the... er, body... practically splashed, Harry. Oh dear, this is horrible to have to say. I can't imagine actually seeing it. Poor Susan. But anyway, she said the body must have landed face-up, though there was not much face left. But that hair... Pansy's color, and sort of floating on top of... whatever was left of her, was that locket, you know the gold one she was showing off right after Christmas..."
Harry gave her a telling look, at which Hermione sighed, "Oh, right, you don't know. Well, it was inscribed with fancy lettering. Two P's intertwined rather like snakes. But anyway, that was how Susan knew who..." Hermione abruptly stopped talking and looked away as she heaved in a couple of bracing breaths.
"Want some Stomach Calming Draught?" Harry offered, deliberately keeping his tone casual, and not just to soothe her. It was strategy, too. "I know where Severus keeps some."
"No, it'll be all right," Hermione whispered, though she did sound a bit ill as she said it. She waited a moment, then resumed. "So we went to the headmaster because we knew full well who must have pushed Pansy off the Owlery. We thought he should know at once, before Malfoy had a chance to hurt anybody else."
"Draco did hit me, but he didn't kill Pansy," Harry said at once, and at their doubtful looks, "It's true. What makes you think he did, anyway? Just because he was out of Severus' quarters right at that same time?"
"It is a pretty big coincidence," Ron pointed out.
"No, it's not. It was planned that way. Deliberate, see? Draco's been framed."
Dead silence greeted that pronouncement.
Hermione was the first to break it. "And you believe that because?"
"It's the only thing that fits the facts." Harry sighed, wondering how much to tell them. Too much information could be just as confusing as too little, in his view. "Listen, you didn't see him afterwards. I mean, Severus went and got him, and Flooed back in with him, and Draco was out cold. Comatose, I mean, from a combination of some hex that knocked him out and a dose of Somulus. Somebody... Lucius, we think, is determined to get him expelled, even if it means sacrificing another Slytherin so Draco can be blamed for the murder."
Ron snorted. "Mate... hate to tell you this, but I think you were sold a bill of goods. Malfoy's smart enough to make it look like he's been framed so he can get away with murder. Very Slytherin, that. Besides which, if it's all just some big scheme of his father's, then why'd he hit you? Sounds to me like he's showing his true colours."
"Draco and I had a disagreement," Harry admitted. "He didn't handle it as well as he should have. That doesn't mean I'm going to turn on him. I'm a better friend than that."
"You're a better friend than he deserves," Hermione quietly insisted.
"I hit Ron, didn't I?" Harry reminded them both, shifting in his seat to challenge first one, then the other, with a hard stare. "We got over it. That's what friends do."
"Yeah, well I was pretty much asking for it, spouting off muck like... well, you know what I said," Ron admitted, his skin looking a bit ruddier than usual.
"Right, so you understand." Harry paused a moment, thinking. He didn't like lying to Ron and Hermione, but he couldn't admit to them that Draco had hit him because he was so desperate to go meet Pansy. They were too prone already to think him guilty. But he had to explain that punch somehow... "I said something I shouldn't have, too. And Draco couldn't take it. I... well, this isn't going to make much sense, but the truth is, I told him about a dream I'd had, about Lucius."
Hermione crossed her arms as she shook her head. "Really, Harry. If Draco Malfoy hit you for badmouthing his horrible father, that ought to be all you need to tell you that he hasn't really changed at all."
Gritting his teeth slightly, Harry levelled a glare at her. "You really shouldn't open your mouth when you don't know anything about the subject, Hermione. I'd told Draco that I dreamed his father was helping Muggleborns and half-bloods escape from Voldemort! And Draco got really upset. Lucius redeemed is something he'd really, really love to see, and he knows deep down that it'll never happen! So he hit me! And you know what? I can't really blame him, considering... I'm certainly not prepared to watch the two of you decide he's capable of murder over it!"
Ron and Hermione were staring at him, looking sort of shell-shocked. Hmm, well it was probably an awful lot to take in.
"Why would you tell Malfoy about a dream like that?" Hermione wanted to know.
"Hell, why would you dream that in the first place?" was Ron's question.
"I don't know," Harry answered Ron first. "Look, you haven't been living with Draco for months. This thing with his father really hurts him. How would you feel if your own father had put a price on your head? Maybe I was just feeling bad for him. And as for telling him..." Harry sighed. "I shouldn't have, all right? He was getting really depressed about how little he's been able to do to sway Slytherin, and I had dreamed that about Lucius. I guess maybe I thought that it might give Draco something to work towards. But it backfired in a big way. Well, obviously," Harry added, reaching for the ice pack he'd left on the table and putting it over his eye.
"You have some seriously messed up dreams," Ron sighed.
"You're probably feeling conflicted over getting to like Malfoy so much," Hermione said, her expression thoughtful. "You wonder if it's wise, so when you sleep you're inventing fantasies that he doesn't come from such a horrible family."
"Yeah," Harry agreed, nodding for good measure. Thank goodness, neither of his friends had connected the strange dream to his habit of seeing the future while he slept. He'd much rather have Hermione try to analyze him than have to deal with that conversation.
Ron made a face. "Well if you're conflicted over liking Draco Malfoy, then at least you haven't gone completely nutters."
"Being conflicted would also explain why you're so reluctant to believe him guilty," Hermione pointed out, her tone almost professorial that time.
"I'm reluctant to believe it because he's not guilty!" Harry exclaimed. "Draco wasn't even awake when Pansy got killed!"
"How would you know that?"
"I saw him when Severus' potion finally made him wake up! He didn't even know Pansy was dead, Hermione! And he didn't take it very well. I mean, when he left he was still protesting that she couldn't be."
"Hmm," Hermione said, her eyes narrowed as she considered that. "What do you mean, when he left? If he's innocent, shouldn't he stay here to tell the Aurors his story?"
"The last time he told the Aurors anything, he got roughed up for his trouble," Harry explained. "He returned my wand and they... well, I don't exactly know what they did when they got him alone, but whatever it was, it was cruel and uncalled for. Severus and Dumbledore are determined to control the Aurors' access to him better this time."