Harry and Draco matched wits and courage, and Harry came out on top.
Draco thought he had learned quite a lot from Harry, but it was all inconsequential, and incomplete at that. Harry, however, had confirmed that Malfoy was indeed plotting something.
Unfortunately, someone had placed a magical restriction on Malfoy's mind.
Although it was not very strong, any attempt to break it would certainly be detected. Harry thought he could leave things as they were for now. Perhaps he could learn more from Malfoy.
By contrast, if Malfoy thought he had succeeded, he would keep trying to get information out of Harry. Harry, in turn, could quietly learn more.
Both sides were satisfied with the information they had obtained. Wasn't that a win-win?
When Harry explained his idea of a win-win to Qiu, Hermione, Ron, and the others, Ron nearly laughed himself breathless.
"What was Malfoy thinking? Did he forget that you could already resist Professor Moody's Imperius Curse and that Castelobruxo teacher's soul magic in fourth year?" Ron laughed, slapping a thigh.
"Ron, if you're excited, slap your own thigh. Why are you slapping mine?" Neville looked at Ron beside him, feeling rather wronged.
"Oh, Neville, don't be so stingy," Ron said with a grin after vigorously slapping Neville's thigh for ages, earning a round of eye rolls from Hermione and the others.
"Shame we don't know what Malfoy's real aim is," Ron said regretfully after they had joked around for a while.
"We're not completely in the dark." Harry shook his head. "From what Malfoy said, we at least know that his target is Dumbledore, and that he plans to use Professor Slughorn.
"I reckon those were all the instructions Voldemort gave him. After all, if there really were a workable method, Voldemort would have found a