But no matter how they asked her—Draco with some strategies that he obviously thought were cunning—Tonks wouldn't reveal more than that to them. She laughed and told them, "Go play, little cousins, and let me handle this," and so finally Harry and Draco left, walking part of the way to Gryffindor Tower side-by-side.
When Draco turned to go towards the Slytherin common room, where he would find and bribe Morningstar, Harry took a deep breath and said, "Thanks. I never would have thought of the bribery part."
Draco smiled at him. "You need to get used to thinking like a Malfoy. We take care of a lot of our problems with money."
Harry snorted, because he assumed that was both true and most of the time a lot less innocent than this. "Well, anyway, if Morningstar needs more than the Galleons I have on me, let me know and I'll owl Mother for some."
"I was going to pay her, Henry."
"No, I'm going to pay her."
"I'm going to pay her." Draco's voice sounded deadly serious enough that Harry stopped arguing to listen. "It was my idea, and she'll trust a fellow Slytherin more than the former Boy-Who-Lived to tell her the truth. Besides," Draco added, and visibly smiled to lighten the mood, "this way, I don't have to get you a gift this year."
Harry laughed. He suspected there was a lot more going on than that in Draco's head, but he also knew from the stubborn set of Draco's jaw that his brother wasn't about to tell him about it. "Okay. Be sure to tell Mother and Father that."
"I will." Draco gave him a small punch to his arm and turned towards the Slytherin common room. Harry made his way up a few more flights of stairs, slowing down only when he saw someone standing at the top of one flight like they were waiting for him.
It was Ron. Harry debated just walking straight past him without speaking, which is what Draco surely would have done, but Harry wasn't Draco. He sighed and walked up the stairs until he was in front of Ron. Ron avoided his eyes.
"What?" Harry asked.
"You—you really didn't put your name in the Goblet?" Ron asked, jerking his head up. "You didn't do it and then just pretend that you didn't want to participate in the Tournament because it's some sort of weird Malfoy plot?"
"What?" Harry stared at him.
"It's just—Dad always said that when a Malfoy acts weird and off, it's because they're plotting something," Ron blurted. "And you said you didn't put your name in the Goblet, but you didn't get that upset about it, and then you went ahead and participated in the First Task instead of trying to buy your way out of it or something. But then you didn't do much in the First Task, and you didn't care about getting low points! But now you're not upset about the Yule Ball! What are you doing, Harry?"
Harry stared at him. For some reason, he had assumed that Hermione would explain to Ron about the weak binding the Goblet had created and the actions that Harry had to take as a result of it.
But either she hadn't, or she had and Ron had forgotten.
Harry shook his head. "I'm not plotting anything." Well, okay, he sort of was with asking Tonks to go to the Yule Ball as him, but that was more like a prank than a plot. "I had to participate because the Goblet did bind me, and I used to think of myself as Harry Potter. It had a lot to do with names and things like that. But I don't have to do a good job. There's no rule that says that."
"But if you weren't cheating, why didn't you stand up and say that?"
"I did? The first night that the Goblet bound me?"
"But after that, you didn't protest! You didn't even try to make those Hufflepuffs stop saying that you stole Diggory's glory!"
Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair. That wasn't as satisfying a gesture as it used to be, because Malfoy hair just didn't stand up and ruffle like Potter hair. "Let me get this straight. You thought that I was planning something, and you couldn't figure out what, and you're—what? More upset to be left out of it than you are about whether or not I actually cheated to put my name in the Goblet?"
Ron turned bright red. Harry stared at him again. He remembered that first night in Gryffindor after the Goblet's choosing, when Ron had given him the bright, brittle smile and asked how he'd put his name into the Goblet and why he hadn't told Ron how to get past the Age Line. Ron had acted more upset about the fact that Harry hadn't "shared the secret" than he had about the idea that Harry might have managed to sneak past the Age Line.
Harry remembered the first time he'd met Ron on the train. Ron was afraid of being in his brothers' shadow, not being special.
He was afraid of being left out.
....
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