The air remained quiet and still as Harry considered what had occurred in the cavern. Imagining Draco Malfoy to become the fiercest protector of his best friend, well,  that  was nearly as far-fetched as the "nargle repellent’ that Harry had received the previous Christmas from Luna Lovegood. Based on his experience with Malfoy, Harry would never have believed that he could muster one single killing curse, much less  four in a row. Harry was quite acquainted with the killing curse, what it would take to cast one, so his voice was much kinder than usual and calm when he said "I’m sorry you had to do that" to Draco, once Hermione had walked far enough out of earshot. It wasn’t out of respect – for he surely had no respect for Draco Malfoy, rather acknowledgement, deference for the acts that Draco made to ensure Hermione’s safety. Shock flickered across Draco’s eyes at this statement from Harry, but he set his jaw and simply nodded, before sharply blowing the collected dust from the cover of the tome. 