Malfoy and Harry lay in neighboring hospital beds, bickering in low voices. The weakened Draught of Living Death sat untouched beside their beds.
"Potter, your feints are as obvious as a candle in the dark. Is that all your hard practice amounted to?"
Harry refused to back down and shot back:
"Really, Malfoy? Who was it that crashed into the ground several times? You weren't nearly this confident when you were crying and clutching your bloody nose!"
Their argument grew increasingly heated. If they hadn't been in hospital beds, they would have jumped down and started fighting again.
Just then, footsteps sounded in the corridor outside. They hastily shut their mouths, drew their bed curtains, and lay down, pretending to be asleep while actually peering curiously through the gaps.
The door creaked softly open, and Dumbledore strode inside. He wore rather formal wizarding robes and a tall, pointed hat, looking travel-worn, as though he had just returned from a long journey.
Two statue-like figures floated behind him, accompanied by Professor McGonagall. Perhaps it was their imagination, but Malfoy and Harry thought she looked more serious than they had ever seen her.
"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked Dumbledore quietly, bending over to examine one of the statues.
"Another attack," Dumbledore said. "Some students found the two of them on the stairs."
"They were still holding quite a lot of food," Professor McGonagall said. "According to the other students, they had gone to the kitchens to get something to eat and planned to take it back to the pitch to keep watching the match.
"A lot of people knew."
The two eavesdroppers slowly, carefully raised themselves a few inches in unison, allowing them to see the statues on the beds.
A shaft of moonlight fell across the two beds opposite them.
Harry