Draco's wand slashed a bloody trail across Snape's throat, the young man's pale face reflecting the lingering Dark Magic embers of the Astronomy Tower. "Why kill him?! We were supposed to stop it!" His fierce roar startled a flock of ravens into flight, and in the distance came the sharp, snapping sound of Lucius's silver serpent wand breaking as Death Eaters dragged him away.
"You think by stopping her, Dumbledore wouldn't die?" Snape's black eyes swept over the members of the Order of the Phoenix gathered below the Astronomy Tower, the Potions master's habitual sarcasm laced with the smell of blood. "The Dark Lord never needs the soul of a failure." Those words made Draco recall the warning Iblis had given him three hours ago: "The glory of Malfoy has never rested in the palm of the Dark Lord."
The young man suddenly realized that the Phoenix Feather hidden inside his father's wizard's robes and the scent of the blood-stopping potion beneath Snape's black robes were both hidden threads on Dumbledore's chessboard.
Chapter 258