"I'm not sure, Audrey, but since Wormtail was after the Pendant, he was probably acting on Voldemort's orders... Perhaps he already knew the Pendant existed?"
Snape pointed at Malfoy and asked, "What about Malfoy, then? What he said about blinding the Basilisk, killing people, and even... even being called Master."
"Heh." Dumbledore chuckled. "That was probably just a smokescreen Voldemort deliberately put up. Even if Voldemort really did control Malfoy, where did Malfoy kill anyone, and where did the Death Eaters call him Master? He hasn't left Hogwarts once since the start of term."
"As for blinding the Basilisk, it no longer matters whether he did it. Perhaps Voldemort simply wanted us to grow suspicious and investigate, only to come up empty-handed, distracting us and wasting precious time."
He immediately added, "But if we really do ignore it, Voldemort will certainly use Malfoy to do something. So, Severus, I'll leave Malfoy to you from here on. If... I say if Voldemort contacts you one day, you know what to do."
"..."
Snape gave a quiet snort. "All right, you should leave."
Dumbledore helplessly spread his hands at Edward and Audrey, and the three left together.
Snape sat quietly beside his desk for a while, then took out a bottle of potion and waved it under Malfoy's nose. Soon, Malfoy jolted awake from his dream. "What happened?"
"What happened?"
Snape snorted coldly. "I asked you to help me sort the herbs, and you fell asleep!"
"???"
Malfoy was utterly bewildered. Why don't I remember that?
"What are you standing there for? If you're tired, go back to bed!"
"Oh."
He took two steps, then turned back. "How about I finish sorting them before going back to bed?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm going, I'm going!"
Malfoy hurriedly opened the door and left, then carefully