《I Can't Believe I Wished To Reincarnate As Draco Malfoy (HP)》 1.0 ¡°~*~##~¡± ¡°What..¡± ¡°~~~* and I''m sorry.¡± ¡°The FUCK! Who even does that?!¡± ¡°Calm down-¡± ¡°I mean, I could understand if they were texting or something, but THAT?!¡± ¡°Ahem. I''m sure we-¡± ¡°Like Seriously! Driving while watching anime? What kind of person-¡± ¡°Anime is a perfectly reasonable-¡± ¡°It was boku no pico.¡± ¡°I''m sorry for interrupting; please continue.¡± ¡°He didn''t even have the decency to see if I was alright. He just hit me and kept going!¡± ¡°I''m sorry.¡± ¡°Right... Who are you? Where are we?¡± ¡°Apologies; I tried introducing myself, but you seemed rather occupied. I¡¯m Hela; welcome to the afterlife.¡± ¡­ ¡®I died? That bastard killed me! You''re way too cheery while telling someone that they just died, lady, and what''s with the crappy d¨¦cor?¡¯ ¡°This is my office; I''ll be managing your case for the evening.¡± ¡°Case?¡± ¡­. ¡°I''m sorry.¡± ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°You were meant to live longer than you did. One of our employees made a mistake, leading to your early demise. I''ll be leading your case for benefits in your subsequent reincarnation.¡± ¡®Fuck! No wonder he didn''t even check if I was fine; they have someone to clean up his mess. Actually, why is someone from their ¡°company¡± taking care of this case? Isn''t that hella immoral? Conflict of interest much?¡¯ ¡°I see¡­ What happens now?¡± ¡°Now? You wait here while I talk to management. When I get back, hopefully I have good news.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡®Wtf? This sounds sketchy as all hell.¡¯ ¡°No.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°I said no. There''s no way I''m letting you run off on your own to supposedly negotiate on my behalf. You work for the same company that''s supposed to compensate me? Why would you be helping at all?¡± She sat there awkwardly, her face halfway between a typical ¡®customer service smile¡¯ and a grimace. ¡°Fine, I can contact management. It''s up to them whether or not you''re allowed in.¡± She stood perfectly still for a minute, then came back to reality, briefly flashing a grimace before her smile came back. ¡°Good news! Management has accepted your request! We should get going now; I''m nearly late.¡± ¡®And that''s why you looked like you just ate a lemon?¡¯ She led us through a bland door, then a bland hallway, to another bland door, and finally a bland... break room? ¡°I thought we were going to a meeting.¡± Another pause. ¡°We are! The meeting room is all booked, though, so we had to relocate.¡± ¡®Mhmm, this gets more and more fishy.¡¯ We spent a while waiting for whoever would show up. This ''meeting¡¯ was obviously low priority. Before he even opened the door, a man was already chastising Hela. ¡°Why didn''t we just do the usual? Why¡¯d you make me come to the break room, Hela? Just split it 60/30 and leave the sod the dregs; why do you always insist on complicating things-¡± ¡®Bingo.¡¯ ¡°Fuck.¡± "Matt, you idiot! You can''t just keep your mouth shut?!¡± ¡°If I had been told what was happening instead of a shitty message about meeting in a break room-¡± ¡°Don''t try to pin this on me!¡± "Hahaha, I knew this was shady!¡± ¡°It''s all your damn fault! Why couldn''t you just accept everything like all the other morons?!¡± ¡®Because you were sketchy AF, also, what a personality change.¡¯ ¡°Now what? Do we get rid of him?¡± Hela''s face lit up for a moment, but soon fell again. ¡°We can''t; the moron made me call management. If they follow up later, we¡¯ll be exposed.¡± ¡­ ¡°Listen brat. How about we do the usual package? You get everything you were supposed to, no skimming, forget any of this ever happened, and we all win.¡± The man''s offer was tempting. But why get only what I deserve? That boku no pico bastard really pissed me off, and I would have been swindled if these two were not complete idiots, or worse, killed... again? Anyways. ¡°How many people have you tricked before me?¡± ¡­ ¡°He''s not agreeing, Matt, What are we going to do?¡± ¡°Let''s just leave him here; someone else could find him and send him away. They won''t even know he was our job to take care of.¡± I got to shoot that down real quick. ¡°Good idea. I''ll wait here for someone to come and tell them that Hela and Matt tried to scam me. I''m sure you¡¯ve scammed many others; I''ll bring that up too. Ask for compensation that they''d be forced to pay...¡± Trailing my sentence and shaking my head, I ¡°hurriedly¡± tried to shoo off the two in front of me. Like I was already imagining the upcoming wealth. Though, in reality, I was trying to make sure they didn''t try to ¡®get rid of me¡¯ somehow. I''d just raised the stakes for them, after all. ¡°Wait! Let''s be reasonable here, kid. Tell us what you want.¡± Hela nodded enthusiastically next to him. ¡®Perfect.¡¯ 2.0 What do I want? I wanna go back to how things were before that creep ran me over.¡¯ ¡°I want to go back.¡± ¡°Nope, impossible. Couldn''t even if we wanted. We would have to contact someone higher up to reverse time in your universe.¡± ''Well, fuck, guess I should find out the regular process first. I can''t ask for something past their clearance or whatever. After asking, and receiving several rants that had nothing to do with the question from Hela, Matt finally managed to explain the normal process. People normally get 3 Tier 1 wishes and are allowed to specify what universe they''d be born into (Naruto, Marvel, Boku no-. Ahem!) These two scammed anyone out of their three wishes and just left the ¡¯world choice wish¡¯. They''d then use those wishes as energy for larger wishes. Tier 1 wishes were limited to a ninjutsu or combat technique, maybe a decently powerful weapon. Something that they could rely on in their new world, but nothing game-changing. Tier 2, the stronger wishes, something like the sharingan or every fire ninjutsu. Something that would catapult them past their peers if used properly. And lastly, there was the final wish tier that they''d tell me about, tier 3. These were stuff like gluttony or a logia devil fruit without the sea weaknesses, or full body regeneration from a single cell. Op crap that some of the strongest people have built themselves off. A tier 3 wish cost 3 tier 2 wishes, and a tier 2 cost 3 tier 1¡¯s, so a t3 would cost 9 t1¡¯s. I obviously wanted the Tier 3s, though I had a feeling there had to be a higher tier with stuff like omniscience or something. ¡°I want all my wishes upgraded to Tier 3 and to be able to specify not only the world location, but everything about it, basically a character creation menu.¡± ¡°Denied, we don''t even have enough energy saved up for 3 tier 3 wishes.¡± ¡®Welp, there goes my gluttony, regeneration, and Op system.¡¯ ¡°Then what''s the best you can do?¡± They huddled in the corner of the break room, whispering among themselves for a few minutes. Before coming back with a counteroffer. ¡°One of each, t1, t2, t3, and you can have your character creation.¡± ¡®I bet they just agreed to lowball the number so ¡®they''d still have a little energy left¡¯ or something.¡¯ ¡°2 t3, 2 t2, and 2 t1.¡± Another whisper session. ¡°We can do one t3, a pseudo t3, two t2, and a t1.¡± ¡®This sounds good, but what''s the catch?¡¯ ¡°What''s a pseudo t3?¡± Looking abashed, Hela spoke up this time. ¡°Well¡­ It''s like the skeleton of a t3; it could be the best of the best.¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°*Sigh* Sadly, it doesn''t have the energy a normal t3 does, so if the wish is TOO powerful, it can¡¯t fuel the ability properly, making it much less than it could have been, maybe even worse than a t1.¡± ¡®This... is actually interesting. What would happen if-¡¯ ¡°Can I use other wishes to fuel the pseudo-t3?¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°??? you can¡­ but why? Wouldn''t it just be better to-¡± ¡°Hela, shut up. It''s possible to do, if that''s what you want, kid. Does that mean we have a deal?¡± Thinking about it. This idea is almost as good as a full t3. ¡°Deal.¡± Both lit up in joy hearing my agreement. We still needed to iron some things out, but at least their jobs were safe now. ¡°Now the little details. How will the wishes be handled?¡± ¡°We can fulfill them.¡± ¡®No, I don''t want them using my idea. It¡¯d suck for others (and maybe me) if these two suddenly grew a brain.¡¯ ¡°Denied, my wishes will be a secret.¡± ¡­ .. .. Hela finally looked like she had an idea. She pulled Matt for another whisper session. Both seemingly agreed, and they pulled wisps of light out of thin air. Walking back to where I was, Hela explained. ¡°Normally you wouldn''t be able to interact with the energy at all, but if we do this-¡± They both held the energy and compressed it between their hands. ¡°You should be able to make your wishes on your own. You just shatter one and make your wish. The pseudo t3 will need to be broken first, then whatever wishes you want to fuel it, then you make the wish.¡± She smiled like she was brilliant for coming up with the idea, but... ¡°Aren''t these dragon balls?¡± She froze again. Matt pulled a coin out of thin air while Hela was ¡®occupied¡¯. ¡°Do the same with this after your wishes are done for your character creation; you can''t take your wishes with you.¡± ¡®Character creation token? Haha.¡¯ ¡®Now there''s just that.¡¯ I dropped the sole t1 orb, wishing out loud for the strongest t1 contract ability. Both were shocked, before realization hit Matt, Hela though... ¡°I thought you were keeping your wishes a secret?¡± ¡°Oh, I am.¡± Matt sighed. ¡°You''re not leaving until we agree, right?¡± ¡°Bingo.¡± I''d been thinking of ways to make sure they wouldn''t do something to me during or after the reincarnation process. I don''t have any clue what needs to be done, so I wouldn''t even know if they ¡®accidentally¡¯ killed me in the process. The best I could come up with was a contract. There''s no guarantee that it will work on the two, but I would feel a little more comfortable with SOMETHING in place for my safety. I''d thought about the contract terms throughout negotiations. I had the upper hand and knew they¡¯d need me gone sooner rather than later. Hopefully these terms cover everything. Using my new ability, I ''sent'' them the contract. They would both suddenly have the contract terms in their minds; all they had to do was focus on it and agree or disagree. I didn''t put anything bad in there, just to make them work in my best interest during the reincarnation process, to not knowingly work against me, and not share anything about me besides a generic process (I don¡¯t know if they gossip about clients, and it''d be weird if they couldn''t say anything about just me, so I allowed them to make up an encounter). I could probably extort them for more stuff, but I''m afraid I may cross a line. I just saw them pull things out of thin air; why not a gun or something? I doubt management would care THAT much about a missing person. Matt almost immediately agreed; Hela took a bit longer. She seemed almost shocked that she was being forced to agree to something like this, but eventually agreed with a bit of convincing from Matt. ¡°Great! Now I just need somewhere to do all the wishes and stuff. I''ll probably need a while for the character creation.¡± ¡°How long?¡± ¡°I dunno. At least a few hours, ideally a few days.¡± ¡°What?! How could you possibly take days to create a character?¡± ¡°Ever played Skyrim?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°How long did you take to create a character?¡± ¡°¡­Point taken.¡± I was silently led back to Hela¡¯s shoddy office and off to the side and into a door I hadn''t noticed my first time here. ¡°Well, this is it! Hopefully we never meet again!¡± Hela smiled and gave a cheery farewell; I''m sure she''s given a thousand times. Though this time I imagine the sentiment is a bit different. Matt gave a nod. They both quickly left, surely trying to forget about this entire encounter. And then I was finally alone to think through everything that happened. ¡°Fuck.¡± 3.0 I spent at least a day sitting at the door, thinking about my life and its abrupt end. I had no time to think earlier, but... ¡°This is fucked.¡± Surprisingly, I seem to have accepted this all decently. By the second or third day? I convinced myself I¡¯d have time to contemplate my mortality in the next life. What to wish for now: gluttony is Op; a custom system would be nice, mind control? Would creation be a t3? Infinite money is basically a superpower. I was thinking of psionics, it could eventually get me the ¡®basics¡¯ of every reincarnation story. but so would a system. And if I played it right, the system could be better; the problem is the energy usage... (and probable sentience). (An: I consider the basics to be an attack, a defense, a movement, a healing, and a storage skill. It¡¯s crazy how many stories have some form of these in them. And how SLOW the ones that don¡¯t, feel.) I should''ve asked for a tier list or something. Screw it, I''m going with my first idea. Throwing the t3 orb to the ground, I wish for psionics and all knowledge to evolve it further. Now¡­ Shattering the pseudo t3, I follow it up with the other remaining orbs. ¡°I wish for a limited, selective gluttony, with as many charges as this energy will allow.¡± Hopefully that''s at least a few... With the ¡®easy¡¯ part done, it was now time for the character creation. Skin: White, obviously (can you imagine going back to the past or something with darker skin? yikes) Eye color: blue (May as well play into the hydra ideal image.) Hair color: Fuck brown hair. Sitting in the sun is stupidly hot; I can''t imagine having black hair. Anime rainbow colors are out too. Dirty blonde, i guess? Platinum reminds me too much of the Malfoys. Body type: Umm cultivation ideal? Thin but ripped. Dong siz-SHHH, it''s natural, all natural. There were a ton of other options as well that took me a day and a half to finalize. I had to make sure I liked the look of my new character; I''d be playing it til the end of my days after all. (After a bit of browsing images of blond dudes, I¡¯m basically imagining Gilgamesh from the fate series, with dirty blond hair and blue eyes.) This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Now, what universe is best? Naruto, DC, and Marvel are immediately out. They may be good later on, but not immediately. Places where anyone could be wiped out at any time, scary. I hate slice of life, so I don''t know any good ¡®peaceful¡¯ universes. I don''t want to get caught up in crap like the shield hero... I narrowed it down to a couple universes. One Piece, Harry Potter, My Hero Academia, boku- No! Wtf! My main issue is the lack of travel options. I don''t think the One-Piece world has any teleporting abilities, and I think they have moon travel, but that was lost a long time ago. My Hero has quirks I could steal using gluttony; I''m sure I could eventually achieve interdimensional travel there. Harry Potter is kind of a wild card. I was a huge fan for a long time and read a ton of fanfiction about it. I¡¯d totally nerd out. I could gain interdimensional travel easily if I''m lucky and get the right AU. And I could learn a lot from that universe. If only I cou- ¡°I''m an idiot.¡± Setting the universe to Harry Potter AU, where interdimensional travel has yet to be achieved, but is possible. Where I can grow and learn the most. (Will this work? Seems a little cheaty, but whatever.) Reincarnation circumstances? Orphan Pureblood: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Ron- Muggleborn Muggle There''s more, but I''d rather not list them. Pureblood seems like the best option, but who would I choose? Neville is mostly detached from the story, but between the Dowager Longbottom and maybe Dumbledore watching me for the prophecy... Pass Harry? Is a great option since he''s supposedly so magically powerful, but Dumbledore, Voldemort and the rest of the wizarding world would always be watching me... Ron is a no go. I hated his character, most of his family, and he has no money to use. Malfoy¡­ I hate most of the family there too, and Dumbledore would be watching Mini-Death-Eater me closely. But they have a lot of money, are close to Voldemort, have access to a somewhat large personal library, and may be the closest claim to the Black Line too. I could try for others like a rich muggle born or an AU where Greengrasses or the Bones have a son or something, but I''m afraid it''ll derail cannon more. I''d like for the first portion of the reincarnation to be somewhat peaceful so I can learn and train my new powers. F it. I''ll be born in place of Draco Malfoy. (Yes, born, even with the option of transmigration or waking up¡¯ as a young Malfoy. Being there from the beginning is the best option.) I should have plenty of time to think about my plans while being a baby. Misc. additions: I want access to at least partial access to the Malfoy vaults. I need the heir ring as soon as possible. And I need the original Draco¡¯s acting skills. He somehow tricked the sorting hat, teachers, and most students into believing he was a Slytherin the whole time. I''m not even half as good an actor as ¡®i¡¯ would have been. I honestly can''t think of anything else; I feel like the acting thing was a bit of a stretch. I''m sure future me will curse me later for forgetting stuff, but I just want this to be over. Are you sure you wish to continue? y/n Yes As soon as I thought about the yes option, my vision started to fade to black. ¡®I''ll be back.¡¯ 4.0 Pushed through a tunnel, being birthed and cleaned (with magic... and SPARKLES?). Yadda yadda, we''ve all read enough of these to know what happens, so I¡¯ll skip the gory details. I can''t really see all that well, but I''m pretty sure there''s only the four of us here... me, Narcissa, lying in bed. That bitch that just slapped me, and her assistant. Fucking Lucius couldn¡¯t be bothered to be here when I was born? The nurses or whatever left soon, and then it was just me and mother dearest. O fk, is that a tiddy?! I didn¡¯t even think about this when deciding between the full reincarnation experience and the ¡°wake up in a body¡± kind. I''m so glad I chose this route. - - Narcissa sat there watching her son. He seemed overly excited seeing her breast; he must''ve been hungry. He soon settled down, until she couldn''t feel his sucking anymore. She lay still for a minute more before lying back down, joining him in sleep. - - Fuck this route! I can''t believe I thought this was a good idea! I can''t even stay awake long enough to actually formulate a plan. Between that and soiling myself on the regular, I''m going to go insane. Is this hell? - ¡®Hell would never have a goddess like this though.'' I thought, staring at the vision before me, preparing to feed me once more. - - ~1y later Narcissa was a little worried; even her husband noticed something was wrong with their son. She thought it was normal for a baby to eat and sleep as much as he did. But she knew he should''ve been moving more; the Greengrass¡¯s girl has even been trying to walk. That REALLY made Lucius pay attention. Nobody could one up him like this. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. That day, Lucius came home furious. Demanding to know the progress of their son. Even though he''s never cared about him before. After getting an explanation, Lucius ordered one of the best of St. Mungo''s healers for a house call. ¡°I''m sorry, but he doesn¡¯t stay awake more than a couple hours? That is worrying. And the nurses didn''t see anything wrong in their diagnostic spells?¡± ¡°I don''t remember them casting any.¡± ¡°What?! Surely you''re mistaken, mis-¡± ¡°Are you calling my wife a liar, Mister Duncan?¡± "N-no, sir, but it''s just unthinkable that they couldn''t even do the basics... I''m sorry.¡± The man continued to throw out diagnostic spells like crazy. He finally looked up from the boy, and grabbed his auto quill. ¡°It seems like your son is a highly unusual case.¡± Lucius bristled at that, like it was a personal insult. Narcissa knew it was more worry for his name than his son. She kept a stoic face, just like she''d been taught, even if she was about to burst into tears. ¡°His brain is absurdly active for this age. Likely even more active than an adult... his brain requires so much food that it puts the rest of him into hibernation. He wakes up just long enough to eat, then sleeps and digests the food, then repeats. It doesn''t seem like anything is wrong aside from this. We can probably work out some nutrient potions... Although, those could be harmful for the child. Aside from this, I''m afraid I don''t know what to do. Maybe a potions master could do more?¡± The man looked like he wanted to flee, Lucius looked angry, disgusted and proud all in one. ¡°Dear, can''t Severus help?¡± Lucius nodded, like he just thought of a great plan. - - Holy cow, that last year was wild. Apparently I''m too big-brained for this baby body. I wonder if it''s the powers or the fact I''m more grown up than this brain is designed for. About a year after my birth, my parent and Lucius called a doctor. The doc recognized something was wrong, and my parent called Snape, ¡®the youngest potion master, yadda, yadda¡¯. Every time I woke up for food, Snape would be there after I fed, sometimes bringing St. Mungo nurses or something (they have the crest, he just doesn''t know if they are healers or nurses or what). They''d poke and prod and cast spells, it was annoying. I just wanted to go back to sleep. One day I woke and fed, but nobody showed up. I could finally go back to sleep. After weeks of uninterrupted sleep, Severus and ALL the nurses showed up as I was about to be fed. He and Narcissa had a quiet conversation in the corner. She looked kind of angry. Severus handed her a potion, and she drank it immediately. He left the room after half an hour or so, and my stomach was yelling at me for not eating yet. The nurses stayed in the room as Narcissa bared herself and started to feed me. I couldn''t really pay attention to them, as it would be a sin to pay attention to anything but the vision of beauty before me. 5.0 Narcissa and the nurses watched the boy carefully for any reaction to the potion, while Severus was called back into the room. ¡°Calm down, I''ve tested this as much as possible. Nothing will happen to my godson.¡± Even if it was said in his usual tone, it was odd hearing Severus speak in a kind way. She couldn''t settle down though, her son was the first human infant test case for the new potion. With her experience working as a potions mistress briefly, she knew what changing a variable like this could result in. Even if it had been tested on humans and on infants of other species, it could still turn out badly. Eventually the nurses, unable to see anything wrong, left. They informed Narcissa that the previous doctor would stop by tomorrow. She couldn''t sleep that night. ¨C The next day, Narcissa was startled by the doctor ¡®knocking¡¯ at their floo. He only stayed long enough to confirm that nothing seemed wrong. He said to give the treatment a week or so; he guessed her son''s system would need time to adjust. And she was again left alone with her thoughts. - - Eh? I feel way better than normal. I can see the sun still up. Am I awake earlier than normal? Shouldn''t Narcissa be here by now? I''m starving. Oh, she''s asleep. Narcissa, sleeping in a chair in the corner, had no clue of her son''s internal debate. Do I wake her up? She looks like she really needs sleep. *stomach growl* ¡®Nobody asked you.¡¯ Eventually his stomach won the debate, and he was forced to vocalize his hunger. - - After the first week of her son gradually staying awake longer and longer. Narcissa was thrilled he could stay awake as long as any other child. Though he still had the habit of napping as much as he could. Her son soon started wiggling often, the doctor said he must be trying to release some of his excess energy, it was a completely normal thing to do. Except, Narcissa had seen other babies wiggle. Her son did not do it the same way, his way was almost robotic? Systematic? It was like he didn''t want to favor one side over the other. - If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. - Soon her little Drake started crawling, except, he did it on his hands and feet? Where a normal baby would crawl on their elbows and knees, Draco once again did things unusually. If Narcissa had known anything about muggle exercise or physical training in general, she would have noticed the similarities to a bear crawl. - - Narcissa was floored. There was absolutely NO indication he had even tried. Her little Drake had just strolled into her room so naturally, like he''d been walking his entire life. Didn''t babies have a phase where they''d try to prop themselves up, only to fall over? Honestly! She wouldn''t even be surprised if he started talking all of the sudden, though she hadn''t heard him make much noise, now that she thought of it. - - Her joke was realized. After walking, her son set off, attempting to talk. This consisted mostly of going through the vowels as loudly as he could. The first time he started (with ¡°A,¡± obviously), she thought one of the house elves hurt him or something. She burst into his room wand out, ready to punish the blasted things. Her boy just looked at her like she was an idiot. Like SHE was the odd one. Not the one who somehow knew his vowels, not the one who was systematically teaching himself how to talk, but HER! ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡± He just continued as soon as she left, unable to handle the look he gave her. - - Months of worrying his mother by running his voice hoarse. Little draco surprised his mother once more by so eloquently requesting food verbally. ¡°Boobies!¡± Again stunned, Narcissa didn''t even know where to start. The fact that this was his first word, or that she didn''t know where he had heard the word to begin with. Surely Lucius hadn''t said something like that around their son? She wasn''t even sure he had seen their son since the doctor visited. - - Her son soon started talking, first with just single words, expressing what he wanted. Then phrases, then full sentences. Lucius was thrilled at their son''s progress, Draco was the first of the pureblood children to start speaking, giving her husband much to brag about. Draco still did odd things from time to time. Refusing other foods that weren''t her milk, moving his body oddly when he thought nobody was around, sitting in her study acting like he could read her books, refusing any toys that were bought for him. - - ¡°Nooooo.¡± ¡°Yes! You can''t just stay cooped up here all day. Besides, your father and I can''t go without you, it''s meant so you children can meet each other and hopefully make friends.¡± ¡°But they''ll be annoying!¡± Narcissa just gave her son a glare. He knew he wasn''t going to win this one. - Greengrass Manor, Age 2 This is horrible. She could''ve at least warned me that this was coming. I can''t even stand being around Lucius, the other adults are going to be just like him. That''s not even mentioning the brats. *sigh* Maybe I can sneak off somewhere before anyone notices us. ¡°Lord and Lady Malfoy!¡± Well fu- ¡°Cissa! I''m so glad you could make it! We were worried, we hadn''t seen little Draco at all! Vance was even trying to convince us that Lucius had made him up, just to brag.¡± That bastard was bragging about me? ¡°You must be him, I''m Tanya Greengrass.¡± She reached out a hand in greeting. Everyone turned, hearing the little genius was here. ¡°Ppptttbbb!¡± For once, Draco Malfoy acted his age, blowing a raspberry at the lady and quickly hiding behind his mother. Internally cackling, he gave a look to his father, brag about THAT. I can''t believe he ruined my opportunity to blend into the background just to brag a bit. I thought he was supposed to be smart? 6.0 Lucius was livid, his genius heir was making a mockery of him! Was his wife lying to him all this time? No, she knew what would happen if he found out. What''s the difference? Is he shy around people? Lucius remembered the smirking glance that the boy gave him after hiding behind his wife. He grabbed the boy by his ear, leading him back out the door they just entered. Trying to keep his anger hidden. ¡°Why did you do that?¡± The boy just glared at him, rubbing his ear. ¡°Speak!¡± He raised an eyebrow at Lucius¡¯s yell and glanced at the doorway. He messed up, didn''t he? He was sure there''d be all sorts of gossip about him yelling at his son now, maybe even beating. He shouldn''t have grabbed the brat by the ear. Turning back to the boy after casting his privacy spells, he was sure the boy had changed since just a moment ago. Was he taller now? ¡°What did you tell them?¡± What? Tell who? ¡°The lady said you were bragging about me. What. did. you. tell. them?¡± ¡°Listen here, bo-¡± "NO, YOU LISTEN! I planned to stay out of the limelight, I even avoided those idiot kids, knowing I wouldn''t be able to keep up the act. But some MORON was out there blabbing all my secrets. Weren''t you supposed to be in Slytherin? The house of the cunning? Does spilling secrets left and right seem cunning to you?!¡± THIS INSOLENT BRAT! Who does- ¡°What would grandma say about this, I wonder?¡± Mother? Surely she... she... OH! - I watched as my final comment finally got through that thick skull of his. Fucking moron. I really needed to know what he had told them. I can just act smart for my age, but if he told them about some of the other things, I''m sure my mother must have noticed... I''m royally screwed. ¡°I told them when you started walking and talking, and that you talk in full sentences. Crabbe and Goyle might know a bit more than that, if they didn''t forget as soon as I told them.¡± Ok, so I''m a smart kid who learned how to talk before everyone else. May as well play into it now. I wonder if Grandma Black is still alive? I''m sure she would be thrilled about her son-in-law. ¡°Ok, I can work with that... don¡¯t say anything more than you already have. We can talk about compensation once this is all over.¡± ¡°Compensation?¡± ¡°For revealing more than you should. I''ll need some things to change my plans now.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Not really though; I just have to put up with more nosy people than I prefer. ¡°*sigh*¡± - We reentered like nothing happened. Mother was still chatting with Mrs. Greengrass. As we joined her, I grabbed Mrs. Greengrass hand excitedly. ¡°I''m sorry, Mrs. Greengrass, I was a little nervous... But dad taught me a neat trick, so everything''s better now!¡± Acting the relieved child I wanted everyone to think I was. While she was still surprised, I managed to give her the customary kiss on the knuckles. ¡°I¡¯m Draco Malfoy, pleasure to meet you.¡± ¡°Pleasure to meet you too, no offense taken. I''m sure it was quite the shock having everyone watching you.¡± She gave a look to both my parents. ¡°What trick did he teach you?¡± Nobody noticed the look on my face but my dear ol¡¯ dad. ¡°Oh! He said that I should just imagine all the ladies naked!¡± I said as cheerily as possible. ¡°It''s kind of funny!¡± I managed a giggle. Even if I wanted to do my best evil laugh. My mother and Mrs. Greengrass both froze, before glaring hatefully at Lucius. ¡®Get ''em!¡¯ ¡°Indeed? He didn''t say, ¡®Imagine everyone in the crowd?¡¯¡± ¡°Nope!¡± ¡°Dear, it''s not what it looks like.¡± I can see the realization on his face. He''s not gonna be able to talk his way out of this one, hahaha! While they were preoccupied, I left to sneak out a side door I saw. It looked like it led to a garden. - I walked around the garden, avoiding anyone else doing the same. Eventually I found my way to a tree off in the corner. ¡®What should I do with my ¡®compensation¡¯? I wonder if I''d be able to get access to a time-turner? Maybe the restricted part of our library? Should I just ask for an allowance or something? Wouldn''t I just get one later anyway? Maybe I play into Lucius¡¯s hopes and request some stuff you''d only find in Knockturn alley? Didn''t he want to shape Harry into a new dark lord? ¡°Hi!¡± ¡°Eh!?¡± I must''ve been too caught up in thought, I didn''t even notice their approach. ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°Wanna play?¡± The brown-haired one seemed like a normal kid. But the blonde one, she was interesting. I think she''s similar to me. I looked happy for a moment before lowering my head. ¡°No thanks.¡± The brown-haired one looked like she was going to push more, but the blonde one pulled her by the hand, leading her away. I didn''t know there were any smart ones my age. I have a feeling Mr. Greengrass is smarter than my dad. At least I think that was little Daphne Greengrass? She looked like Mrs. Greengrass, at least. - Malfoy Manor ¡°So, how was it?¡± ¡°Horrible! I told you they were all going to be annoying! Did you see Crabbe and Goyle eating those bugs? And that Tracy girl! She kept bugging me to go play some stupid game. At least Daphne would pull her away after a bit.¡± ¡°Bugs?¡± She raised an eyebrow at Lucius. ¡°Dear, didn''t you say our son would get along with those two? That they had so much in common?¡± ¡°*Sigh* Their fathers have convinced everyone that they¡¯re different. I was hoping their mothers taught them... something, anything.¡± ¡°I''m glad you had fun, at least Draco. I''m sure Tanya enjoyed your little chat too.¡± Did she notice I set him up? Did she just wink at me? Haha, Narcissa is amazing. I wonder if she knew I set Lucius up the whole time? It''s even better if she was ¡®upset¡¯ and gave him a stern talking to with Mrs. Greengrass, while knowing the truth the whole time. 7.0 Malfoy Manor, Age 4y 10m ¡°*Sigh*¡± That was horrible. Narcissa just spent three hours watching and often, mediating negotiations between her son and her husband. Since the party, she knew something had changed between the two. Lucius looked almost wary of their little Drake now. She didn''t really know where he had learned about time manipulating artifacts. Or why he wanted his heir ring so soon (or how he knew about the ring in the first place). Her son finally got what he wanted. An allowance of (the cost of one broomstick) or 1k galleons bi-monthly, the heir ring, and access to their Gringotts vault to ¡®pick over a few things¡¯ whatever that meant. (An: Kind of guesstimated on the money stuff. Google tells me that a firebolt would be 600-800 galleons, but I rounded up, a lot. Also, apparently a galleon is only 5 dollars... or pounds or euros or whatever fake money it converts into XD. So what''s stopping me from making money in the ¡®muggle¡¯ world and coming to the magical world as an effective millionaire? The Weasleys only have a galleon or two in their vault, feeding their entire family for ~10 pounds. Sorry for the rant, but I had to sit and think for like half an hour after learning this. I feel like I''d abuse the hekk outta this irl. Like, why even work on the magical side? aah!) Draco had tried for access to the entire library and free reign of the house and purchasing him a wand, but Lucius was unbending. She thought the two were going to start brawling, several times, throughout the ordeal, but they both looked content by the end. - - Phew. If it weren''t for Narcissa, I''m not so sure things would have gone as smoothly as they did. I need to figure out whether grandma Black is still around. I''m sure using her name in future negotiations will help me gain an edge. Dobby will pop me into Diagon Alley and Gringotts from now on, as part of the allowance deal. Luckily, neither of them noticed my real motive behind that little tidbit. I plan on visiting the ¡®muggle¡¯ side. I know they wouldn¡¯t understand, but I''m pretty sure it''ll be beneficial in the future. Also, Lucius denied me buying a wand but let me pick things out of the vault? Are there no ancestral wands stored in the vault somewhere? Guess I''ll find out soon. If not, I just have to keep practicing wandless stuff. - - That was anticlimactic. Fanfiction had me believe there would be some ceremony or a ritual or a test, maybe a prick of blood¡­ nope! With literally no fanfare, the goblins just handed me a box with the heir ring and I put it on¡­ At least the vault was cool. We got to ride the rollercoaster- err, the carts. The vault door made some clicky sounds too! Who am I kidding, the only good thing about the visit to the vaults was the roller coaster ride and the books (and the wand but that''s a secret) I found. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Nothing super interesting, no wands, just a few beginner books on a few subjects that I couldn''t find in our library. ¡®Mental arts¡¯, probably Occlumency/Legilimency, ¡®rituals¡¯ and ¡®green magic¡¯???? While not exactly useful to my plans, I picked up the last one since I''d never heard of something like it in the cannon. Did this mean there would be major divergences with canon already? Was this part of cannon but it wasn''t mentioned or characters never knew about it? I needed to keep a closer eye on my surroundings from now on. Maybe I should start reading about the history of my new world. - - Malfoy Manor, Dracos 5th birthday party (I¡¯m skipping the party scene. Imagine a gross stuffy noble party, dresses and all. ugg) ¡°Happy birthday!!¡± ¡°Yea yea, you''ve said that already.¡± ¡°Jeez. you cant even be nice for once? Aren''t you excited? Did you already get your heir ring? Is it amazing? I wanna see it! Show us!¡± ¡°Tracy, calm.¡± It still amazes me how Daphne controls her like that. ¡°Fine. here¡± I flash them my ¡®new¡¯ heir ring. ¡°OOH! It''s¡­ it''s so. It''s actually a lot less impressive, dad made it sound so special.¡± ¡°Tracy, it''s special because of the enchantments, did you imagine it being some shiny jeweled ring? Could you imagine Draco walking around with something like that?¡± ¡°Haha true! All sparkly, strutting around like those new peacocks.¡± ¡°While I''m sure that''s a lovely image, I think my parents are calling me.¡± Thanks for the save mom! ¡°Indeed, happy birthday, Heir Malfoy.¡± ¡°Thanks Daphne.¡± Luckily, I managed to get out of there before Tracy''s parents told her it was time to leave. Don''t want a rerun from last year¡­ ¡°Did you have fun dear?¡± ¡°I guess, it would''ve been for the best if there weren''t so many people here. You know how much I loathe crowds, trying to keep up the cheery act is tedious.¡± ¡°You know it was special this year. It''s not every year an heir ¡®receives their heir ring¡¯. Besides, Daphne helped you out when you looked like you were struggling.¡± She gave me that infuriating smirk. Even after adopting my ¡®dark lord¡¯ persona around my parents, mom still acts like a mother. Even Lucius treats me more like an associate than a child. ¡°Stop it, you know we¡¯re far too young for that.¡± ¡°Nope! We could always draft a betrothal agreement-¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Fine, be that way. Your father called you to the study now that the party is finished.¡± We both walked in silence. Opening the door, Lucius was sitting at his desk. ¡°Draco.¡± ¡°Father.¡± He finally spoke up once we were seated. ¡°It''s tradition for an heir to take up some responsibilities once they take up their ring. Normally these would be simple tasks... But we both know you''re far beyond a normal 5-year-old. Your mother and I agreed we could trust you a bit more than usual.¡± What? Why? Can I just continue studying and practicing? Why are you trying to ruin my plans? ¡°No.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°No, I''m not about to do more than the bare minimum. You know I have plans. Where do you think these ¡®extra responsibilities¡¯ fit into them? Mother, you know I loathe when you try to volunteer me for things without telling me.¡± ¡°Dear, you know that''s not my intention. This is something you''ll need to know if you¡¯re to take up the lordship later. I know you have your plans, but, won''t you consider this?¡± I''m torn, this would cut into my time. I''d need to know what they wanted me to do, I can always reject them later (curse mother and those pleading eyes). When I got back out to the party, everyone had left already. Oh well, I needed sleep anyway. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. And after it did, I was struck with unimaginable pain. 8.0 I ''awoke,¡¯ if you can call it that, to blinding white. Looking around, I found a whole lot of white... nothingness. To one side, there was an encroaching black. To the opposite side, there was a perfect sphere of purple. Not wanting anything to do with the encroaching darkness that made me feel uneasy, I made my way to the purple mass. The longer I walked, the more I realized the sheer size of the thing. This thing was like three stories tall! Finding nothing new about it after circling it, I reached out. Only now noticing my current state. THIS, at least, was just like fanfiction! I was a kind of humanoid-shaped mass of blue energy smoky stuff, my hand just looked like a magical mitten or something. I immediately accepted this as normal and DIDN''T play around and check out the rest of myself. The mass was like a water balloon, it felt solid enough, but adding a bit of pressure made my ¡®hand¡¯ sink into it. With nothing else to do, I reached both arms into the orb. (I wasn''t about to mess with the darkness that was getting closer and closer.) Suddenly my arms were yanked in, pulling the rest of me along. ¡®This is bliss.¡¯ I could remember¡­ everything! ¡­ . Why did I do that thing when I was 10? Or that at 17? Oh god! I don''t know how long I was there, I stopped counting after the 5th recalling of my life. That could¡¯ve been a form of torture. Imagine remembering every little mistake you made throughout your life, then make it 30x worse since you now have an increased intellect, so you can think of at least 10 better ways to handle the situation. At least I can think clearer now... There might be something else too? Looking around, the orb was now gone. I was left alone with the darkness. It had expanded a lot during my time in the orb. It was now almost at my feet, the surrounding white ¡®nothingness¡¯ nowhere to be seen. Even if it felt less unnerving after entering the orb, I was still hesitant to do the next bit. If a relatively user-friendly power like Psionics tried torturing me like that, how bad was a scary power like gluttony going to be? I took a deep ¡®breath¡¯ and jumped in. I awoke to screaming. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Well, do something! You''re the healer here!¡± ¡°Lady Malfoy, there''s nothing to do. My diagnostic spells all tell me nothing is actually wrong with the boy.¡± ¡°NOTHING WRONG?!! He''s bleeding from... from everywhere!¡± Narcissa broke down crying before the end of her sentence. ¡°I-Its fine, mom.¡± Struggling to open my eyes past the blood (I assume), I heard footsteps, then a painful hug. ¡°Ow!¡± I felt lighter, I assume a cleaning spell? At least I can open my eyes now. Oh wow, do wizards have more blood or something? My bed is absolutely covered in blood... How am I alive? Was it the doctor? ¡°Draco, dear¡­ ar-are you alright?¡± ¡°I''m fine. Just a little sore still. What happened?¡± ¡°Your mother heard you screaming, and we called the healer. Though, he was utterly useless.¡± ¡°Your father called me over. The blood replenishing potions I keep on hand at least kept you from bleeding out.¡± Lucius and Severus are both here? ¡°AH! Finally feedback!¡± The healer started casting spell after spell all of a sudden. Only making everyone in the room more upset with him. The doc soon left the hostile environment. At least he made me feel better after everything was over. Mother latched onto me like I''d disappear as soon as she was given the go-ahead. What happened there? I doubt that was normal. What do I tell everyone here? ''Oh, sorry guys, that was just my superpowers coming in, gifted to me by some probably godlike entities. Oh, by the way, this reality is from a book, I''m not really your son, and the next wizarding war is right around the corner.¡¯ ¡°Do you know what happened, dear?¡± ¡®yup¡¯ ¡°No. All I remember is getting into bed to sleep...¡± - - Aside from Narcissa being more clingy than normal and Lucius burning my old bed and ordering a new one, nothing changed after the incident... Except these awesome powers! I feel like I''ve wasted all of my time up until now. All of the progress in the mind arts I made for the past three years has been overshadowed by two days of progress with my new powers. Psionics, so far, seems to GREATLY increase my ability to memorize things and learn/understand stuff. I feel like there''s more to it, but every time I try to delve deeper, I get a headache. Gluttony... I have no clue. Did I even get it yet? I don''t even feel it there like I do my psionics. Hopefully I will once I find something I really want to use it on. - - Note to self: Don''t try to push past the headache. I woke up to a bloody nose and Narcissa freaking out AGAIN. At least I managed to convince her I didn''t really need the doctor to visit once more. Is the rest of Psionics locked because I''m too young? Or do I need to progress in my ¡®mind arts¡¯ first? - - ¡°Dobby.¡± And with a pop, the little elf appeared. "Yes, master Draco?!¡± ¡°Take me to Diagon Alley please.¡± ¡°Right away.¡± With a snap, we were suddenly in a corner of the alley. It was... actually a little underwhelming. I always imagined it as some fantastical location, full of magic and wonder, but reality was disappointing. There were a few bits of magic here and there, and the buildings looked impossible without magic holding them together. Compared to the colossal glass megastructures of the modern world though? This alley was almost mundane. Dobby and I walked to the leaky cauldron mostly unnoticed. ¡°Dobby, can you glamor us both to look like plain adults? I don''t want to cause a commotion here.¡± ¡°Dobby cans!¡± With another snap, Dobby morphed into an average dude, your everyday background character. I assume I did as well. Umm... how do you open the brick wall from this side? 9.0 With another assist from Dobby, we made it into the leaky cauldron. We snuck through the bar, hailed a cab, and rode all the way to my destination. ¡®St. Grogory''s Primary School¡¯ (An: I looked up the spelling, but I was way off. Was it not St. Gremory¡¯s??? I feel lied to fanfiction!) This should be fun... Having Dobby change my appearance back to normal and changing his own (out of sight, of course), we entered my future prison. - ¡°Of course, mister Malfoy, have a seat.¡± ¡®Mister Malfoy¡¯ nodded. ¡°We can enroll Draco, we just need the paperwork for a late enrollment.¡± ¡®Mister Malfoy¡¯ nodded. ¡°Miss, can you show me around while dad is filling out the papers?!¡± I can already feel the pain of keeping up the kiddy act for the next six years. ¡°Of course! Where would you like to see first?¡± ¡°Mmmm... the library!¡± ¡°Oh my! A little bookworm are we?¡± - We toured the halls, the principal listing off all the rooms we passed. I really hope this was worth it all. The goblins took a hefty sum to set up all the paperwork needed to enroll. Ideally, I''d like to have a background for people to see once I start a business on the muggle side. It would be suspicious if I popped out of nowhere and started a corporation or something with no background or paper trail. The other reason for joining school here- ¡°This will be your classroom come Monday, they''ve already started, but a little peek wouldn''t hurt.¡± She said with a wink. Did this lady just wink at me? Kind of weird, lady. Though, I played the wide-eyed kiddo and peeked into the little window on the door. Bingo. I spotted the human dumpling. That means... there he is. The scrawny, scraggly kid in the back wearing glasses. The Harry Potter. - The poor lady visibly cringed reading the scribbles that were Dobby¡¯s handwriting. She schooled her face back into her smile though. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Great! We should be able to get this done before the next school week. I hope we will see little Draco next Monday?¡± ¡®Mister Malfoy¡¯ nodded. - - Malfoy Manor ¡°Draco! We''re going to be late! What is keeping you?¡± Dammit, I''ll go with green. I don''t want to make her think I''m mourning her death already. ¡°Just a minute, mother!¡± I quickly threw on the tie and rushed downstairs to meet Narcissa at the floo. ¡°I told you, we need to be on time. First impressions are important, especially to your grandmother.¡± Narcissa was already taking a pinch of floo powder. She''s been REALLY on edge for this meeting. I mean, I have been too. I imagine I''ll need the black family fortune if I want to experiment in Hogwarts. Not to mention such an ancient household will most likely have an impressive library. ¡°Follow quickly. ¡®Grimmauld Place.¡¯¡± Jee, great pep talk mother. These ¡®floo¡¯ still make me nervous, I don''t know how wizards can just walk into a burning flame like this. Deep breaths. ¡°Grimmauld Place.¡± I didn''t even have time to collect myself before Narcissa linked arms with me and led me up the stairs. Where is Kreacher? knock knock ¡°Mistress-¡± There he is; it makes sense he would be at her side I guess. ¡°Mistress and her son are here at last.¡± Kreacher opened the door and guided us to Walburga''s bedside. I wonder what happened to her? I remember one fanfiction claimed Narcissa poisoned her, another said she died in grief from losing Regulus and her husband. She doesn''t look particularly distressed to me... ¡°Look who finally decided to show herself, too good to visit after your dear Lucius took you?¡± ¡°No mother, my apologies for not visiting more often. I was quite surprised by your invitation...¡± ¡°Is this him?¡± ¡°It is.¡± Narcissa gave my back a nudge. "Hello, Grandma Black, It''s a pleasure to finally meet you, my name is Draco Malfoy.¡± At least I don''t need to play the cheery kid for this one, I suspect she doesn''t like anything to do with fun or cheer. I would do the customary hand kiss too... but for one, I don''t have a clue if that''s proper when someone is lying in bed like this. And two, I really don''t want to. The lady looks like she hasn''t bathed in weeks, her skin is yellow and greasy. (gross). ¡°Indeed, it looks like at least one of my children has done well.¡± Narcissa looked like she wanted to say something but was too slow. ¡°Kreacher! Fetch some tea for our guests.¡± ¡°Right away, mistress.¡± Walburga grabbed her wand that was on the bed next to her and, with a simple wave, pulled over a tea table from the corner of the room. With another wave, her pillows rearranged themselves and her sheets wrapped around her, pulling her into a sitting position. ¡°Take a seat.¡± The talk was mostly small talk between Narcissa and her mother. Narcissa would try to get me involved, probably trying to get Walburga to notice me. Then Walburga would redirect the conversation once more. I think she wants to test me or something, I can''t imagine the original Draco making a good impression at all. After being ignored. I can just hear him screeching about the insult to his honor and how his father would be hearing of this. ¡°Narcissa, why don''t you go inspect your old room? I''ve had Kreacher keep it tidy since you kids left.¡± Narcissa looked hesitant to leave me alone with the old lady, but she couldn''t really say anything without causing a fuss. ¡°Of course, mother.¡± Finally alone. ¡°Finally alone now.¡± Ha! The old lady and I are on the same page here. My face must''ve given me away. With a smirk she continued. ¡°Shall we start then?¡± 10.0 "You can drop the act now boy." ¡®Dear little Lucy was bragging to anyone who¡¯d listen that you were some never-before genius, let''s see if he was full of it.¡¯ ¡°Found out so quickly?¡± Oh? I thought the stupid blonde was just trying to stroke his ego, but this kid may actually be something. Its like he morphed into a different person, even the surrounding mana feels different now, more serious, sinister. Maybe Lucius was on to something. ¡°My apologies, Grandmother. I hope you understand, one can¡¯t just show their true colors to just anyone they meet.¡± ¡°Indeed, so Lucius wasn''t just being a doting parent. I''m assuming you''re the one who shut him up?¡± ¡°Of course, what kind of moron goes blabbing about secrets like this? It''s fortunate that all of his information came secondhand. Was it too suspicious that he just abruptly stopped one day?¡± ¡°A bit. Nothing anyone would take note of this day and age. Except for maybe Albus.¡± The boy''s face faltered for a brief moment. Interesting, does he dislike Albus because of his father? Or has he realized? ¡°You seem to not be a fan of our heroic headmaster?¡± ¡°*sigh* no.... it''s just that...¡± Spit it out already. ¡°Everything about him is suspicious. Knowing Grindelwald since they were children, suddenly saving the day right as Grindelwald was about to win. Leading the defense against Voldemort, then his ¡®prot¨¦g¨¦¡¯ is suddenly attacked, and their son somehow survives the killing curse, becomes a savior, then vanishes? Then there''s the fact that he''s supposedly the leader of the light side but hasn''t done anything to actually change things politically either. I stopped looking into him after this though, I know enough to know not to get involved.¡± If only you knew. - The old lady didn''t seem too surprised. Does this mean evil Dumbles is a thing in this au? Fuck. I''ll need to beef up preparations then. If dimensional travel is really my end goal here, wouldn''t the power hoarding, knowledge-seeking wizard boss be the furthest along in spatial research? ¡°I''ve decided.¡± ? The old bat drew her wand. Is she gonna kill me? Is it ending so soon? Should I have acted the child? ¡°I Walburga Black, hereby claim Draco Malfoy as one of our own, may the black magic flourish once more with the next generation.¡° I''m a black now? Just like that? I didn''t even have to... never mind, just accept the boon. This will give me an edge over Potter at least. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Thank you, Grandmother.¡± ¡°Don''t thank me yet, boy.¡± She gave an eerie smirk. Why do I have a bad feeling about this? Then all I knew was pain. I really hope this won''t be a common thing. - - ST Groggorys School ¡°Listen up! We have a new face joining us from now on, get along.¡± Luckily, the principal told me I needed to introduce myself because this bitch didn''t tell me crap. ¡°Hello. I''m Draco Malfoy, I hope we can ¡®get along.¡¯¡± With that, I took one of the only available seats, the one right next to my targe- umm.. Future friend? That sounds better. - After grabbing ¡®lunch¡¯ I made my way to the nearly empty table where my new bestie sat. ¡°Can I sit here?¡± He looked like a spooked cat, ready to bolt. ¡°Er- yes?¡± ¡°Great! Thanks.¡± This may prove more difficult than I thought. Harry was wolfing down the slop they served, an easy way in I guess. I slid my tray over to him. He looked at me, suspicious. ¡°Don''t look at me like that. You look really hungry. Besides, I brought my own from home just in case. ¡° ¡°What''s your name by the way?¡± ¡°Harry Potter.¡± He looked unsure of that himself. Did the Dursleys really just call him freak or boy? Damn. ¡°Nice to meet you, mines Draco Malfoy.¡± He just nodded and continued eating our lunches. This was going to be much more difficult... - - ~2y time skip, Malfoy Manor ¡°YES!! FINALLY!!!¡± Time to test it. A pencil will do. Staring REALLY hard... did absolutely nothing. ¡°*sigh* why can''t it ever be easy?¡± Using my hand to gesture at the pencil (in a gesture any star wars fan would recognize.) and staring really hard... still nothing. What am I doing wrong? - Picking up another pencil, Draco started to fiddle with it. Spinning it with his fingers, not noticing the original pencil mimicking the action on his desk. - - Aside from practicing my mental arts so I could unlock the next stage of psionics, I also took ¡®lessons¡¯ from Walburga (until she finally croaked.) I also made a bit of progress with Harry, I wouldn''t say we''re friends by any means... but I give him food and keep his walrus cousin away while we''re at school. Now he won''t discriminate against me like the original Draco, hopefully. I''ve also started a minor ¡®business¡¯ where I take in broken items and fix and refurbish them, flipping them for profit. It''s great practice for the Reparo spell, even if it''s a bit boring. I wish I had access to the black vaults already, but it looks like Sirius still has priority. The business was actually a great way to experiment. It turns out that magic DOES ruin electronics, well, Powered electronics. As far as i can tell, mana is like water. A little mist may not short a circuit but a bucket (spell) will. I''ve read a few fanfictions that use rune crafting or spells ON the object to protect it from mana but (not knowing anything about runes) as far as I can tell, you''d need a barrier around the object to keep out any mana. I tried a few small experiments, but I really need to learn more about runes before I can even begin to find a solution. One day I''ll need to make a supercomputer to calculate spatial coordinates for my dimension-hopping, but for now that seems like a faraway dream. 11.0 Greengrass Manor, Daphne''s 7th Birthday ¡°Did you have to invite her?¡± ¡°Yes. Mother said we should make friends.¡± ¡°Yea! She''s super weird! She won''t stop talking about Draco.¡± ¡°*sigh* Tracy, it''s unbecoming to call others names.¡± Tracy visibly drooped at Daphne''s reprimand. ¡°But I agree. Draco, tell your adoring fan that we would like to discuss something other than your magnificent hair.¡± Oi! How is this suddenly my fault? Didn''t you invite her? You think I want one of the most annoying girls in the series to be this obsessed with me? ¡°Dearest Daphne, I couldn''t bear to be so rude to one of your esteemed guests. I suppose we all must make sacrifices. At least her conversation topics are more handsome than dear Tracy''s.¡± ¡°Hey! Don''t make fun of Tubbles! He''s way~ cuter than you!¡± Daphne and I shared a look. ¡°Tracy, toads are in no way ¡®cute¡¯¡¯¡¯. ¡°Fine. I''ll have a talk with my guest.¡± Tracy took advantage of Daphne''s absence to mutter a few more insults at Pansy. ¡°Oh! When are you gonna ask her out, by the way?¡± What? ¡°What?¡± ¡°Hellooo~! Daphne? There''s no way you haven''t noticed... you''re smart enough to notice that... right~??¡± Really? ¡°We¡¯re too young to be thinking of these sorts of things Tracy, maybe when we¡¯re older?¡± Please leave it be, this can of worms isn''t something I want to open right now. ¡°What do you mean too young~? If you love each other it shouldn''t matter, right?¡± Yes. Maybe? Assuming neither is way older than the other. But... ¡°Besides, didn''t your mom say something about a betrothal agreement last time?¡± Yes but- ¡°And you like her too, right?¡± ¡°Please excuse me, I believe I''m being summoned.¡± Nope nope nope. Not ready for this. I wonder if the original Draco was already betrothed by now? Mother keeps pushing more and more recently too... Will I really have to- ¡°Draco! Hi!¡± Great. ¡°Hello Pansy, I believe Daphne was looking for you.¡± The girl just nodded and fluttered her eyes at me. *sigh* Do kids this age even have these sorts of feelings? First this girl and her antics, now apparently Daphne too? This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°So?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Did Daphne find you? She said she wanted to talk about something.¡± Her face scrunched in annoyance. ¡°Yes. We had a conversation.¡± ¡°Great, how''s the party been?¡± ¡°Great! I wish mother would have allowed me to join sooner. These parties have all been wonderful.¡± Right, I''m sure your father managing to get in the good graces of mine has nothing to do with your mother ¡®allowing you to join.¡¯ ¡°There you are!¡± ¡°Heir Draco.¡± ¡®Why?¡¯ ¡°Daphne, Tracy, I was actually just on my way to the restroom. If you ladies will excuse me.¡± Finally making my escape, I actually did go to the bathroom. Well, the sinks at least. To wash my face and cool down. Large crowds and being the center of attention, two of the worst things ever and something I have to suffer often as ¡®Heir Malfoy¡¯. I exited the bathroom to see three girls angrily hissing insults at each other, it looked like Daphne and Tracy were about to start throwing punches at Pansy. Before I could get there to smooth things over, Tracy had enough. ¡°Get OUT!¡± She grabbed Pansy by the hair, and proceeded to pull her out the door. Tracy, you absolute moron. The rest of the partygoers watched as the half-blood grabbed the Parkinson heiress by her hair and started to drag her to the exit, all while hurling insults at her. Even Daphne didn''t know what to do anymore. Her friend just painted a big neon sign on her back. ¡®Mudblood traitor here.¡¯ - Oh dear Tracy, what have you done? You haven''t even realized it, have you? Daphne could only watch at this point. If she stepped in now, they''d only punish her along with her friend. Is that Lord Parkinson? Could things get much worse? ¡°WHAT ARE YOU DOING? UNHAND HER, YOU FILTHY MUDBLOOD!¡± Tracy froze, remembering where she was... and what she was doing. Daphne could see the moment she realized exactly how screwed she was. Tracy quickly let go of Pansy. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± ¡°Actually, I can explain.¡± Draco? I thought he was in the bathroom? Then her mind froze, as Draco linked arms with Tracy. ¡°Darling, are you alright?¡± Tracy didn''t really know how to respond, and nodded dumbly. Darling? Even Lord Parkinson was caught on the backfoot. ¡°You see Mister Parkinson, Tracy was just discussing with Miss Greengrass and Miss Parkinson about our talks of a potential betrothal agreement.¡± What? Daphne could feel her heart sink at the news, even if she knew that that''s not what caused the fight and Draco was probably lying to save her friend. She couldn''t help it. ¡°Tracy dear, I thought we agreed to keep this between us? Now you''ve gone and announced it to everyone.¡± He ''chided'' in a very un-Draco manner, was he trying to show the crowd how ¡®close¡¯ they were? ¡°Is that so?¡± Lord Parkinson glared at Tracy, before turning his eye to his daughter. ¡°And why did that mudb-¡± ¡°Surely, you aren''t about to talk Ill of my soon to be betrothed, Parkinson? Again caught on the backfoot, lord Parkinson didn''t have time to compose himself and reacted on impulse. Draco is doing this on purpose. ¡°Watch it boy!¡± It happened so quickly that she barely caught it. Draco waved his hand. One moment Lord Parkinson was standing over Draco. The next, he was on his knees, almost as if asking for forgiveness from the 7-year-old boy. ¡°I''m sorry?¡± The room was silent. Nobody believed the sight in front of them. Not even Daphne, and she was the one who probably knew Draco and his capabilities the best. ¡°Would you kindly repeat that?¡± Draco said in his usual ¡®cheery child¡¯ act. Is he really going to keep using that after what he just did? Nobody''s gonna buy it. She couldn''t believe he''d give up on his ¡®peaceful life¡¯ just for his friends like this. Though, a small traitorous part of her wished it were her that he was doing this for instead of Tracy. ¡°Now if you''ll excuse me, I need to have a word with your daughter.¡± She watched as he led Tracy to where Pansy was, grabbed her by the hand, and started to walk to the hallway. ¡®Where he could find somewhere more private.¡¯ she thought, once again feeling her heart sink. Then they locked eyes, and he gestured for her to follow. She didn''t notice the smile that bloomed on her face and made her way to join her friends. 12.0 Greengrass Manor, side room away from prying ears. ¡°You know, you really fucked up.¡± ¡°Language!¡± ¡°Fuck no. If I hadn''t basically claimed you, you''d probably be dead. Are you an idiot? What were you thinking?¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°No. Be quiet.¡± ... ... ¡°Fuck. Daph, tell it to me straight. You think they''ll leave me be after that?¡± ... ... ¡°Fuck!¡± ¡°What even led you to do something like that?¡± ... All three of them blushed and avoided eye contact. Nope nope nope. Not even with a 10-foot pole. ¡°Nevermind. *Sigh* So now what?¡± Nobody spoke up. We''re gonna need to get our stories straight, I don''t want to be outed as a prodigy AND a liar on the same day. My excuse was pretty close to the truth by the looks of it. I imagine all three would act just like this if anyone else asked. Just convince them to slightly alter the story? But why would Tracy attack Pansy then? Maybe Pansy insulted me or something? Maybe she tried to break the betrothal talks? That could work... How to convince her though? Before I could even begin to formulate a plan, the girl was already bowing her head. ¡°I''m sorry! I didn''t know you were betrothed... *sniff, sniff* I- I just... I''m sorry.¡± Was she crying? What should I do? Surprisingly, it was Daphne who did something. She wrapped the Parkinson heiress in a hug, though her face showed exactly how much she wanted to be in that situation. I''m sure she''s thrilled to have all this happen on her birthday too. She must be thinking the same thing as me. We need Pansy¡¯s cooperation if we don''t want things to get worse. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Pansy.¡± She wiped her eyes before finally looking at me. ¡°We aren¡¯t betrothed.¡± ¡°But y-¡± ¡°I was protecting Tracy, my friend. There is no Betrothal. There are no talks of betrothal between our parents. If I didn''t make it seem like our houses were soon to be united, Tracy would''ve been in major trouble.¡± ¡°S-so you''re not betrothed?¡± That''s what you choose to focus on? ¡°No.¡± She visibly brightened at that. In fact, all three girls did. Nope. ¡°Now that''s out of the way, what exactly are we going to tell everybody?¡± ... Nobody had any better ideas, so we went with my plan. Pansy also agreed to be the villain of our story for some reason? - Tracy was bragging to the other two girls about our ¡®betrothal.¡¯ Pansy was upset and threatened to have her father try to interfere and convince Lucius to break the contract. Tracy was furious and lashed out at Pansy. It''s not a great story, but it''s believable and good for gossip. Love triangles are always popular. - *knock knock* All of the parents were here. Of course it was Parkinson who spoke first. Admittedly a lot calmer than expected. ¡°Would you please let us know what''s going on?¡± I mean, it''s probably gonna be common knowledge soon anyway. We (mainly the girls) explained to the parents the plan. I could visibly see Parkinson growing redder and redder as the story neared its end. ¡°I won''t have this! You won''t make my family the villain here. Why would we ever agree to this?¡± Hahaha! You say that in front of Lucius ¡°my family is better than yours,¡± Malfoy? The guy who allowed you and your wife to kiss his boots so you could join this party? Not to mention the Greengrass''s, the actual hosts, whose little princess¡¯s special day was ruined and now have an easy scapegoat? ¡°Is that so?¡± Lucius drawled. Lucius, trying his best to outwardly keep calm while secretly plotting how best to ruin you. Sadly, Parkinson seemed to understand this. The Greengrass''s didn''t even have time to say their piece before the Parkinson Lord did a complete 180. ¡°Of course if that''s what Lord Malfoy requests, House Parkinson could be convinced.¡± Eh? Is he still trying to get benefits out of this? You''re lucky that Pansy was so cooperative, or you wouldn''t even have a say here. Is Lucius actually contemplating this? ¡°Haha!¡± Everyone turned to the ¡®innocent¡¯ boy, laughing to himself like this whole scenario was hilarious. ¡°You! Haha! You think you get a say in how this will happen? You think you can get benefits from this? You ruined my friend''s birthday, and you''re still scheming?!¡± In the eyes of the onlookers, the ¡®innocent na?ve boy¡¯ slowly morphed into the visage of a malevolent demon as he continued. ¡°The only reason I put up with you being here was because of your daughter, and you dare ask for more?! Enough of this farce! You will do as we say and be happy for it. You should feel honored; you still have this little use.¡± (An: I really hate to pull the ¡°you dare?!¡± card, but it fits lol) By the end of his rant, there was a dark aura surrounding Draco, and his eyes had become nearly black. Parkinson had been pushed to his knees by some unknown force, and the other occupants had been pushed back to the edges of the room. As soon as the force had let up, Narcissa had her unconscious son in her arms. Everyone soon left. Just in time to miss a figure pop into the room and cast a few unknown spells and pop away. - - Draco woke up from his dreams of darkness and chains, to his mother once again scolding poor doctor Duncan for not instantly healing her son. 13.0 UGGG! People are dumb! Didn''t Harry''s fame from being a seeker only last like a week? Why can''t they forget that stupid party already?! It''s bad enough that I''ll probably have to watch out for Dumbles manipulations, but now I can''t even walk down Diagon Alley without being harassed as ¡®the genius¡¯ kid. Apparently the sheep thought I used wandless magic and stunned Lord Parkinson. Instead of (what I thought to be) the obvious conclusion, accidental magic. While I can do a bit of wandless magic, I didn''t want anyone to know that. I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone found out. - I ended up taking up my parents offer of increased heir duties. I couldn''t go out in public without being harassed anyway. My average day now consisted of. Morning lessons. (etiquette, history, basic magic theory (useless), and finance). Muggle school. Eating. Heir duties. Practicing magic and powers. Exercise On the weekends I replace going to school and private lessons with repairing items for the business and more training. That''s another thing. I hired someone to receive and find items for me to repair. Now I only have to stop by the business twice a week or so to repair things while they handle the rest. As nice as having a routine is, I''m getting frustrated at my lack of progress in my magic and powers. Psionics isn''t reacting as I thought it would, especially after my ''outburst.'' I''m not sure what I''m doing wrong. And magic... I don''t actually know. Wandless magic actually feels easier than using the old wand from the vault, so I''ve been practicing that more. I''m not sure if the wand and I are incompatible or if wands are just a hindrance? - - I- I''m an idiot. I made tons of progress in the magical mind arts. I created my own little bastion, defensive fortifications around my mind for if anyone actually attempted to invade. But for some incomprehensible reason, I never actually ¡®visited¡¯ my mind. There''s a popular technique known as a mind palace. It''s basically a nerfed version of occlumency¡¯s recall. You build a location (usually a house) and fill it with all sorts of information. While ¡®walking¡¯ around the location, you use ¡®visual¡¯ aid to help you remember things. Example: the kitchen is where all of my biology knowledge is. I know if I touch the fridge handle, I''ll recall that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, since that''s literally the first thing my science teacher taught us. Delving further (opening the fridge) may tell me more about cells in general. The condiments may describe different types or reactions of cells. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Now, being the ¡®genius¡¯ that everybody seems to currently think I am, I completely neglected this technique. Occlumency is clearly better, right? WRONG! Occlumency, at the end of the day, is magic, not ¡®mind arts.¡¯ I only thought of the technique after I realized Harry was having a hard time remembering things in class. - - St. Gregory¡¯s school ¡°No, just read the book. It helps me when I need to remember things. How do you think I am always at the top of the class?¡± Harry''s eyes lit up at that. Who wouldn''t want an easy way to be the best, a neat little shortcut? ¡°Fine, I''ll try it. Even if it does sound like a hoax.¡± ¡°Oi! I''ll take the book back if you think it''s some sort of trick.¡± ¡°No! ... no. I''ll take it. It just sounds odd.¡± - With the technique, Harry''s grades soon started increasing. Well... until the Dursleys found out ¡®the freak¡¯ was somehow doing better in class than their precious walrus and Harry was forced to intentionally lower his scores. - - Helping Harry, I also practiced the technique. But to my surprise, it was different now. I used to be slow to navigate my memories, and I had to intentionally place new memories, ultimately forgetting a lot of them. NOW my mind palace was exactly that, a palace. At some point it transformed from a homey cottage from my old life to a literal palace! In real time, memories were added, and I could recall any of my memories, even ones I couldn''t previously recall. The palace acted as a representation of my mind; there were already many defenses, some similar to my occlumency barriers. Inside the palace was a maze, past that was a library, which housed most of my useless memories. Deeper still, in a more fortified location, there was a smaller library that held my core memories. And even deeper yet again, at the very core there was a false wall. Inside was yet another library, which held all of my memories from before this whole reincarnation thing. At the center of the room there were two pedestals, one with a purple orb and the other a black orb, representing his connection to his powers. -There was actually a third pedestal that, for some reason, Draco didn''t seem to notice, almost entirely covered in chains.- - After discovering this mind palace and interacting with the two orbs multiple times a day (petting (An: weirdo)), I actually managed to intentionally use my psionics. - - Malfoy Manor, Draco''s bedroom ¡®This is it. From now on, you will do my bidding. I''ve been training for this for months now¡¯ (well, actually years, but we don''t count that). - From the doorway, a small house elf was watching his little master have a stare off with a pencil on his desk. Dobby didn''t know why the little master disliked that pencil in particular. Previously, Dobby tried replacing that pencil for another, but his little master did not want the new one and made Dobby retrieve the old one. He said Dobby didn''t understand. And little master was right, Dobby didn''t understand. So Dobby waits and watches, trying to understand his little master. - Come on! With my aggravation, something finally happened! The pencil was floating! It was wobbly, and only stayed in the air for a few seconds, and only a centimeter off the desk... but I finally did it! All the training finally paid off. - Already pondering how to train this power, now that he could consciously use it. Draco missed the little elf¡¯s already large eyes widen in understanding and amazement. It was a magical pencil! No wonder the little master was upset when Dobby tried replacing it! 14.0 Malfoy Manor, Age 11 Narcissa was so excited! They had just received her little Drake''s Hogwarts letter. She had so much to do now. They need to buy books, robes, and potion stuff. Severus would be annoyed if he didn''t bring the best. And a wand! She can''t forget the most special part; should she get him a pet too? Surely the headmaster would allow him a snake or something cool and intimidating? - - Draco had been waiting for this since before coming to this world. Even back in his original life, he had imagined receiving a Hogwarts letter and finally being accepted into his favorite fantasy school. To see THE ¡°HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY¡± on his letter was so many dreams come true; it was surreal. ¡®Dear Mr. Malfoy, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts scho-¡¯ was as far as he got before his mother swooped him up into a hug. It seems like they were both excited. His mother already had the next week totally planned out. She wanted him to be shopping the remaining weeks he was home. Diagonal Alley "Ooh, you''re right. We should get a trunk first, how about you do that and I''ll get your books?¡± ¡°No. You know I¡¯m not about to miss out on browsing more books. If I have to go clothes shopping for days, then you have to sit through me shopping for books, mother.¡± Looking sheepish ¡°It''s not that, dear; I just thought we could save time if we split up.¡± ¡°And we couldn''t split up while clothes shopping?¡± Mother had the brilliant idea to rent out the whole clothing store for the day and have her son do an impromptu fashion show. *shudders* ¡°Fine, I guess we can go get a trunk and then split up after. I''ll go get the remaining supplies while you browse books. I should only be there for half an hour.¡± Approaching the shop for trunks, I already had an idea of what I wanted. I remember Newt having a trunk that basically held a zoo. I¡¯m sure there are some that could house an apartment or something. I think I''ll need somewhere like that, as long as it''s safe. ¡°Welcome! Welcome to Terrence¡¯s trunks, where all your storage needs can be met!¡± Eh? Ok¡­ Draco could already tell that his mother wouldn''t want to stay here longer than needed; it would eat into ¡®their¡¯ clothes shopping time. ¡°I¡¯m sure. We need a standard pure blood 1st year Hogwarts-¡° ¡°Actually¡­¡± ¡°Draco?¡± Turning to the shopkeeper, Terrence? ¡°How much internal space do your trunks have?¡± ¡°Uh, that depends! What size trunk are we looking at? This here-¡° the man gestures at a fancy black and gold trunk, nearly the size of Draco. ¡°has an internal space of 100 cubic meters. But most wouldn''t even consider using it, given its size.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Fair enough, I¡¯m not sure if shrinking charms work on expanded space. Even if they did, I haven''t bothered learning that yet. ¡°THIS one- '''' gesturing at a small purse-looking bag, ¡±can hold 25 cubic meters, but the opening is rather small... but this is our standard. It can hold almost 50 cubic meters.¡± The man finally pulls out a plain brown and grey trunk; it was quite a bit smaller than the large one, and the opening is big enough that he could probably fit compact or shrunken furniture pretty easily. Actually, that¡¯s a good point. I remember in some fanfiction, the main characters would shrink down their trunks so that they''d fit on a keychain. Can¡¯t I just do that for anything I want to add to the trunk? Then I could have a small bag. And if shrinking charm on expanded space IS allowed, I can shrink the bag to fit in a pocket or something. And anything I can''t shrink, I can maybe enlarge the bag? ¡°Umm, first. Can I shrink the trunks once I learn the spell? And if that works, wouldn''t an enlargement charm work too?¡± ¡°Yes to both, actually. We used to get constant complaints about people using them and ruining the spatial enchantments. It got so bad that my grandpa and my dad closed down the shop for a year to research a better enchantment. As far as I know, nothing short of physically damaging the trunk will affect it.¡± Good; that actually leaves me a few ideas. I could just use my ¡®muggle¡¯ backpack, but I doubt mother would like that. I like the idea of a draw bag; it¡¯d look kind of like a money pouch then, but I really like having multiple pockets like my backpack has. Wait, do they even have modern backpacks yet? Would she even notice? ¡°If I write down a design, can you make it?¡± ¡°A custom order?¡± ¡°Yeah, do you know what a zipper is?¡± Terrence just looked at me dumbly. I''ll take that as a no. Guess I''ll have to use the old-school strap and buckle then. Narcissa watched as her son drew a detailed sketch of a cute bag (not that she would let him know she thought it was cute). It had 4 compartments, the main one and three on each side (front, left, and right). The two on the left and right were no bigger than pockets, and the larger one in the front was about the size of a small purse. Each compartment had a cloth cover and a strap that would ensure the flap would stay closed. If she were being honest, she would have loved one of these back when she went to Hogwarts. ¡°Is this possible?¡± ¡°I think so. I don''t see any issues, and these straps are basically the same as the buckles I usually work with. Do you want all of the pockets to go to one space? Or should they each have their own?¡± ¡°Actually, can you do both?¡± After Draco explained his idea, both the adults were surprised. Terrence even offered to buy the schematics for this. He said it would sell really well. Sadly, I still had to buy the basic pure blood trunk since the custom one would take a while to complete, and we needed something to carry today''s purchases. Mother soon left for the other junk required for classes (scale, telescope, potions stuff) and I was free to browse the bookshop. It¡¯s not like I haven''t been here before, but every time I see such blatant magic, I¡¯m always amazed. The bookshop had mail owls and flying parchment constantly coming and going from a window to the side. The door would automatically open for you as you approached, and once inside, there were countless ¡®flying¡¯ books, who would flap their ¡®wings¡¯ and land on the bookshelves. Even the bookshelves were magic, growing and shrinking for you so you never had a need to reach up or bend down. They were really busy today, though. Usually, I just walk around the aisles, searching for anything that catches my eye. *sigh* Guess not today. "Hey, Miss Dantello, do you have the list of new additions? OH and the basic first-year package.¡± ¡°Of course, Draco, just a moment.¡± ¡°Oh! Draco, dear, is it time already? You¡¯re all grown up now, leaving us and going away on your own.¡± I didn''t even have time to run away before Dalia had me in her death hug. ¡°Here you go, Draco. Let me know if you need any others. We should be getting a new batch about a week after your first day. Do you want the owl order list now that you won''t be visiting every week?¡± "Yes, actually, I''d love that. Even though Hogwarts has a lot of books, apparently they haven''t had anything relatively new in a few decades.¡°