Dumbledore estava preocupado com a vida de Draco. Assim que ficou evidente que ele suspeitava que Draco era a tentativa de assassinato, Voldemort teria simplesmente se livrado dele.
'I haven't got any options!' said Malfoy, and he was suddenly as white as Dumbledore. 'I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family!
'I appreciate the difficulty of your position,' said Dumbledore. 'Why else do you think I have not confronted you before now? Because I knew that you would have been murdered if Lord Voldemort realised that I suspected you.'
Malfoy winced at the sound of the name.
'I did not dare speak to you of the mission with which I knew you had been entrusted, in case he used Legilimency against you,' continued Dumbledore. 'But now at last we can speak plainly to each other ... no harm has been done, you have hurt nobody, though you are very lucky that your unintentional victims survived ... I can help you, Draco.'
Por outro lado, era inevitável que, quando Harry começasse a fazer perguntas sobre as Horcruxes, Slughorn saberia o que estava acontecendo. Não havia perigo nem desvantagem em aplicar todas as pressões imagináveis. Mas se Snape ou Dumbledore forçassem demais para fazer Malfoy revelar seus planos - mesmo que secretamente - vidas inocentes estavam em jogo.