Fifth Year of Life (Familiar)
Draco had now started to consider his party over at Daphne's house, which included Ginny Weasley, her mother, Luna, Daphne, Astoria, Hermione, and the Granger's to be his true party. It was a blast,
Molly Weasley mentioned that Arthur and 'the boys' hadn't come since she'd been afraid that they wouldn't be able to blend in very well with muggles, but it had ended up being unnecessary.
Draco's formal fourth birthday at Malfoy manor was rather boring, but he did his best to be well behaved. Once he could cast spells properly, maybe he'd get more quests from his system? He'd been sitting on the same quest for a long time, which required him to cast his first spell. He was beginning to suspect that he could only have one quest at a time, and until he finished this one, he couldn't get another one.
Going with the theory that the rate of his magical growth would increase over time, with very little growth at first, even with his increased growth rate, which led hime to estimate that he could cast magic around four and a half or five years old, though he had hoped he'd be wrong and do it earlier then that. So far no luck, though.
The first interesting event following his birthday was Ginny's Third birthday on August 11th. Draco showed up at the Burrow along with Daphne and her parents.
"Daphne! Dayco!" Ginny, the birthday girl, was outside with Luna and her brother Percy, when she spotted the newcomers arriving.
Percy looked a bit confused, not recognizing these people.
"Hey Ginny." Daphne greeted the younger and somewhat smaller red-haired girl with a hug.
Draco recognized Percy's confusion "Daphne and I met Ginny and we became friends at Luna's birthday party. She invited us to her birthday." Draco explained to Percy.
"We went to Daphne's birthday, I met her and Draco there. They were nice, so I invited them to my birthday." Luna explained clearly, but she was clever and was older then Ginny, so it was no surprise she was able to speak better.
"I am Connor Greengrass., and this is my wife, Hannah. The little one she is carrying is Astoria." Mr Greengrass introduced each of them. Astoria was sleeping peacefully in her mothers arms.
Percy relaxed a bit, since while the Greengrass Family tended to be in Slytherin House, they did not have a bad reputation, and were generally accepting of muggles, muggle-borns, and half-bloods. Additionally, at no point in the war did they back Voldemort, and they even secretly provided aide to the Order of the Phoenix in regard to resources. Percy did not know that, but he listened to his father dutifully, and undertstood that they ere a family that his father respected.
Even so, one of them was not like the others… The Greengrass family all had black hair, while Draco was a blonde.
'Hermi-knee couldn't make it?" Ginny asked Draco.
"She wanted to come, but her parents, after hearing about your father, were a bit nervous to meet him, so they decided not too this time, but I brought a gift for you from her." Draco explained to Ginny.
Ginny giggled cutely "I get it. Can't blame them after what mum says.."
"I don't get it? What's the joke?" Percy asked with confusion. the boy asked with confusion
"Hermione is a friend of ours who recently discovered she's a muggle-born witch." Draco told Percy "Her parents are muggles, and your mom told them about your dads fascination with all things muggle."
Percy offered a nod, understanding the situation now.
"She's young, but I think Hermione will be the most intelligent witch of our age. I have high expectations for her." Draco declared. Considering what he read from the books, he was able to easily declare that. It was basically guaranteed!
Ginny then grabbed Draco and Daphne by their hands "Come. I'ma introduce you to my ervywan.." Ginny offered "Come Luna. Seeya Percy!" she started pulling Daphne and Draco along.
Either Daphne or Draco could have stopped her if they wanted too, as they were both older and bigger then Ginny, but they did bot want too. They let themselves be led inside by the excited red-head.
Draco genly squeezed Ginny's hand as she pulled them along. It was meant as a simple gesture to express that he was fond of her..
Ginny seemed to think nothing of the intimate gesture yet, which made sense as she was only three years old, but Draco could do it over time in the future with her, and eventually she'd get it.
When thet came to the dining area, Arthur Weasley was trying to wrangle all the boys together and stopped a moment when his daughter entered "Hello, you must be Ginny's new friends."
"We are." Draco agreed and then smiled at Ginny.
"I am Daphne Greengrass, them's my parents abd my sister Astoria." Daphne intoduced her family. Astoria was still sleeping, carried by their mother, who had followed the children inside.
"I'm Draco Malfoy." Draco introduced himself.
Ginny's father, as well as her brothers, with the exception of Percy, were all stunned when they heard his name. No surprise there.
Draco sighed "I'm here for my friends birthday, not to debate politics." Draco told the male Weasley's "If I were too debate you, though, I'd win. My parents are wrong to be prejudiced against muggles and muggle-borns, but you are wrong to vilify them for it while ignoring the root cause of the problem. Both sides are in the wrong. All that matters is Ginny is my friend, and whether or not she is a Weasley matters not at all to me. I don't hate anyone for how they were born."
"Right." Arthur answered "I apoligize for being so surprised. Does...your father know you are here?"
Draco shook his head "I was staying over with the Greengrass family and they brought me here. I'm not ashamed to call Ginny my friend, but if my parents find out it may make it much harder to meet with her, so some discretion may be necessary, I hope I can count on you all."
Draco was still worried about the future, though, as when he tried to suggest Thro come along as well, he absolutly put his food down and refused. It seemed that handing out with a weasley was a line that Theo absolutely would not cross.
Over the months it had become apparent that he barely tolerated Hermione, and he wasn't joining them at the Greengrass Manor as often as he used too.
While visiting the Greengrass family, they stared going to meet Ginny more, or having Ginny over, and as a result Theo stopped coming over altogether. He never said why, but Draco wasn't an idiot.
Concerned that Theo might spill the beans, draco doubled fown on training his magic and managed to cast lumos for the first time three days before Hermione's 5th birthday, on September 16th, 1984, a few monthss eatlier then he had guessed.
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Quest Complete : Cast your first spell
Reward : Familiar System
New Quest Notification : Select a familiar
Reward : Secret
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The almighty secret reward once more reared its head and excited Draco immensely.
Draco used the system to open the Familiar section and saw a long list of creatures that he could select, many of which he'd never heard of before. He willed the list to sort by price, putting the most expensive at the top.
There were 7 creatures that just showed a '?' for their name, all of which had costs that exceeded his total about of Karma, with the most expensive costing 750 trillion Karma. Who could ever afford that?The most expensive thing he could afford was 200 billion karma, but it had a name Draco did not recognize, so he went down the impressive list until he found a creature he did know about. It cost 100 billion Karma, but as a potions expert having this as a familiar would definitely be convenient.
As Draco confirmed the purchase, a mystious black egg appeared before him, which surprised him since this egg looked different then he'd expected.
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Quest Complete : Select a familiar.
Soul Grimiore Power : Divine Luck Triggered
Familiar Mutated
Familiar Analysis : SSSS
Quest Reward : Familiar Tattoo, Telepathic Familiar, Soul Grimiore Random Power
Chlorokinesis skill has been added to Soul Grimiore.
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Draco was stunned by the notifications and made his Grimoire appear and opened it. It indeaad had four pages with skills on it.
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Divine Luck - Rank S
This power is activated randomly, and can trigger fortune to smile upon you, though after use it will not work again for at least 60 days.
Familiar Tattoo - Rank A
The bearer of this ability can have their familiar merge into their body in the form of a tattoo. The tattoo functions as a stasis effect while the familiar is inside of it.
Telepathic Familiar - Rank B
The bearer of this ability bestows upon his familiar the ability to telepathically communicate with himself and others.
Chlorokinesis - Rank SSSS
This is an activated skill that lets the user control plants, cause them to grow or move, or even imbuing them with a bit of sentience.
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Draco was not sure when he got the Divine Luck ability, but it seemed that his familiar was an incredible one, though he wondered if it might cause him troubles as well, if it was a new species, people might wonder where it came from.
Well, at least now he had an understanding of how his Soul Grimiore worked. It seemed that not only could he get abilities from growing his magical vessel, but it could also gain powers from his system!
Draco looked at the black egg and thenput it int his inventory until it was ready to hatch.
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For Hermione's fifth birthday, Draco wanted to attend, but since his parents wouldn't allow him to go visit the Greengrass family on that day, he had to miss it. Daphne had explained that to Hermione, though, and a couple days later, when he was able too, Draco saw her and belatedly wished her a happy birthday.
This year, the books that Draco gave to Hermione were on the subject of magical law, thanks to his healthy allowance and frugal spending habits.
When Daphne and Draco showed up for Theo's birthday party, they found that Theo now had his own group of 'friends' that included Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, and a girl that Draco guessed was Pansy Parkinson.
Theo offered both Draco and Daphne a civil greeting, as was necessary, before ignoring them and going to join his new friends. Draco was naturally disappointed by the treatment, but daphne took it quite a bit harder and barely stopped herself from crying. This, she viewed as a betrayal.Theo also did not show up for Astoria's 3rd birthday, after which the sickly younger sister officially joined Draco's group. When Daphee and Draco attended Luna's next birthday (her 4th), Astoria came along and was much more enthusiastic this year.
Luna's birthday happened to fall on a day when Astoria wasn't feeling as sick.
While Luna, Ginny, Daphne and Astoria were all talking, Draco made his way over to Luna's mother "Good afternoon Mrs. Lovegood."
"Hello, Draco." Pandora smiled at him "I was wondering when you'd come talk to me today."
Pandora nodded "I have a way of knowing things. For example, I knew you wanted to talk to me, but I don't know about what."
Draco nodded, accepting her statement "Okay" he headed into the kitchen for a little privacy and carefully retrieved his familiar egg from his inventory "Can you identify this?" he showed it to her.
Pandora hmmed as she examined the egg "Not really consistant with the eggs I've seen before. The closest to it that I can guess would be a phoenix. The size, shape, and texture look like it, but the colors wrong."
Draco sighed and looked at the egg, which when in his inventory saif that it would hatch in thirteen more days. He had indeed selected a pheonix when he was choosing a familiar, then the mutation thing happened, and he had no idea what it had become. "Can magical creatures mutate?" Draco asked her.
"Usually not without assistance, but it might be possible. Just because it's not been observed doesn't mean it can't occur naturally." Pandora explained to Draco "Where did you get this?"
"It appeared before me in a burst of black flames" Draco told her "Also..." he activated his familiar tattoo ability and the egg sank into his palm and formed what appeared to be a tattoo there "Considering what I know about your family, you might be able to answer some questions."
"No. I'm sorry" Pandora apologized to him "I do not have the answers you seek, but if this truly is some kind of Pheonix, then you are incredibly blessed."
Draco thanked her anyway, and went to rejoin his friends at the party, in particular giving the birthday girl, Luna, a big hug.
Draco and the girls again got together the next day, along with Hermione, at Daphne's house, and had a good time. Astoria in particular was elated. She was sick again, and had low energy, but Draco was careful to pace everyone and to include her. Lillt Astoria started holding Draco's hand every chance she got and viewing him with a bit of reverence. He thought it would eventually grow into a crush, which he was fine with.
Sadly, on his fifth birthday, Draco was not going to be allowed to go stay with the Greengrass family the night before, so they actually celebrated his birthday there with all of his girls four days early.
It was on that day that he revealed to all of them his familiar, Olympia. From a distance, Olympia would look like a typical Pheonix, but close examination would reveal an oddity about her. Her feathers could change colors a bit, between Black, Red, and Gold, and you could see a bit that her feathers color looked like it was fluidic and could change at any moment.
Olympia, according to his system, was a Heavenly Pheonix, and in her red form had abilities like any other Pheonix, but in her Black and Gold forms, her abilities changed.
In her black form, she could become invisible, she could control shadows, and she could make and use physcally tangible darkness, called miasma, as a weapo.
In her gold form she could comtrol light, create illusions, and had her tiers had a healing power said to be a hundred times enhanced compared to a typical Pheonix.
Naturally, for now, Draco only introduced her as a Pheonix, as the truth, if it came out, would be too dangerous, but even so. everyone seemed to love Olympia.