29 Back to France

After the visit to the Black Manor, Draco's parents decided that the boy was punished enough by just visiting his relatives and enduring them for the whole day. Thus, Draco was free to do whatever he wanted.

Due to the prolonged trip to Egypt, Draco didn't have the time to supervise the company's development, so the first thing he did was go to Dragon Enterprises and get acquainted with recent news.

"So, in the end, you think that we should prioritize the expansion to the mainland?" asked Draco when he finished reading a report on last quarter's situation.

"Certainly so," answered Deborah Aston, the manager who was hired to oversee the company. Draco hadn't had the time to interact with her a lot, but her qualifications were excellent.

"I see. Which countries should we focus on first, then?"

"The profits since the opening have been soaring, so we can afford to invest the money in opening branches in a few places at once. We can set them up in Prussia, one of Scandinavia's countries, Germany, France, Italy and Spain at first. Later on, we can expand to other nearby countries. This way no competitors will have the opportunity to use our idea in the development of their own product."

Draco nodded and considered the proposition. Before, he thought that the expansion to other countries would take place a year or more after the Dragon Enterprises opened its doors. However, now less than half year has passed and someone was already eyeing his ideas?

"Alright, tell Eugenius and Dirk to start working on new main mirrors and their networks. Let's abandon the research of other functions for now and focus on expansion. I trust that you know, what you are doing," the blond boy decided quickly.

Deborah was a little surprised that Draco didn't question her proposal more and directly agreed with it. She expected that he would at least consult his father but that didn't happen. However, this also made her job a little easier so she swallowed her questions and nodded. "Yes, sir," came her reply.

Before she could take her leave, the door to the office, where Draco was sitting, opened without ceremony and Eugenius Billwick barged in.

"Draco! We are nearing the breakthrough in setting up the messaging system, how can you stop it and make us do those boring tasks again?" he complained without pausing to greet the young boss.

Behind him followed Dirk Crowdling, the chief arithmancer. The emotionless man didn't say anything, but Draco could see the disapproval in his eyes. Despite their different personalities, Eugenius and Dirk got along very well when it came to researching magic.

"Did you guys listen to our conversation at the door?" asked Draco suspiciously. How else would they know that he planned to pause their research?

Dirk silently looked to the side, as though the matter didn't concern him. Eugenius, on the other hand, blinked his eyes a few times and guiltily shifted on his feet.

"Anyway, we were just passing by and accidentally heard it… That's not even the point! Tell me that you are not sacrificing us to do the dirty work! Please, please, please!"

Draco felt a headache coming up. He was sure that he was the one in the body of a child, but how come it seemed as though he was the only adult in the room?

---

Most of Draco's time in spring was spent accompanying the little phoenix in learning how to fly, studying, supervising the company's expansion overseas and visiting his friends. So it was no wonder, that the season passed very quickly and soon, the summer came. A week before his ninth birthday, Draco received a letter from Abraxas, demanding his presence for the summer. Lucius and Narcissa didn't have any protests, so the blond boy got ready and went to visit his grandfather in France.

"Long time no see," Draco said with a smile when he saw Olly, Abraxas' house elf.

"Olly missed young master. Master also missed young master," the elf said seriously. Draco found it to be very adorable. "Young master, yous have birdy on your shoulder."

Draco wondered whether Olly thought that he wasn't aware of having a bird perched on his person and was trying to warn him… "Yes, I know. This is a little phoenix, who will soon become my familiar. We haven't bonded yet, but we will soon," he answered happily. The phoenix chirped in agreement.

"Olly understands. The master is already waiting for yous, come inside," the elf didn't question the boy anymore and directly ushered him into the building.

Nothing seemed to have changed in the house – it was still sunny and bright, creating a comfortable environment for resting.

"Grandfather, I am back. How are you?" greeted Draco when he entered the living room. Abraxas was lounging in a comfortable chair with a book - a bored expression on his face would have been obvious even to outsiders.

"Draco! You are finally here! I almost fell asleep while waiting for you," the old man brightened up as soon as his eyes landed on his grandson. "Tell me honestly, have you been practicing spells? How about physical training? Let me tell you, if you slacked-off, don't complain when you are unable to walk later due to being unable to keep up!"

Draco sweat-dropped. He could never get used to the man's serious and noble appearance contrasting with his way of speaking and the obsession to train.

"I am not sure about how much I remember about the way of the sword, since you told me not to practice on my own in order to avoid developing bad habits when you couldn't supervise… But I did do physical training and practised spells. I can cast the ones we learned last summer without mistakes now," the boy explained a bit proudly. He was honestly very satisfied with himself. After all, neither of his friends could cast all three spells successfully and wandlessly every time. While he could!

"Good, good, good!" the man repeated the same word three times. "Have you learned anything else of interest?"

"Father gave me few practice wands and I can channel them successfully too," answered Draco.

Practice wands were just sticks which were given to children to practice using their magical power without strain. Each such wand had a measure of how much magic had to be channeled. If a child channeled the correct amount of magic through the wand, its tip would glow green. Otherwise, it would be red. This type of practice was very useful because it helped children learn, how to feel their own magic and measure, how much of it had to be used for every spell. After all, some spells required more magic, while others – less.

"Che, you are practicing Occlumency! This type of training isn't as useful to you as compared to the others. When you learn spells, later on, you will be able to tell, what is the optimal amount of magic you should use, anyway," scoffed Abraxas. "Our Malfoy family's talent lays in Mind Arts. This is half-internal magic, so being able to precisely sense your own magic is nothing hard."

Well, that was also true. When Draco practiced with training wands, he could make the tip constantly glow green only in few minutes. However, from his friends, the blond knew that it usually took a few weeks to be able to constantly channel the same amount of magic into the practice wands.

"I tried learning the severing charm, but I barely succeed in casting it every ten times," admitted Draco after seeing that Abraxas wasn't impressed. Truthfully, he tried a few more charms and spells, but they were all rather useless and he wanted to have something a bit more dangerous to depend on. The severing charm, whilst only a first-year spell, was very useful in cutting or tearing objects. It would even work on humans, though it wouldn't create any mortal wounds unless it was aimed at vital spots.

"Oh? You mean the 'Diffindo'? This charm is hard to cast without the wand because the movement has to be very sharp and quick. When you cast with a wand, you naturally move your wrist a bit more. Whilst doing wandless magic, people are usually more inclined to treat their whole arm as a wand and the movement becomes slow," explained the older Malfoy. "However, this spell is not very specific, as it can cut anything, though it works best on fabrics and clothes. So it is also a bit hard for you to learn at the moment…"

"Then I shouldn't focus on it?" Draco felt a bit reluctant. After all, he did succeed in casting it a few times already.

"I think that the fire making spell would be more useful. 'Diffindo' is a bit weak and hard to use, while 'Incendio' can cause more harm to others and warm you up if there's a need. In my time, every kid, who knew how to make fire wandlessly, was considered 'cool'," said Abraxas with a reminiscent smile on his face. It seemed that he was one of those 'cool kids'. Draco tried to refrain from laughing as he thought about it, though the corner of his mouth still twitched a bit.

"Alright, it's decided then!" exclaimed Abraxas after seeing that his grandchild didn't put up a protest. "Now go get changed! First, we run around the field, do a few exercises, resume your swordsmanship practice and, when you get tired, I will teach you the spell. No worries, you will be the coolest kid on the playground in no time!" Draco's grandfather chuckled to himself. The blond boy had the urge to face-palm.

Was the ever-serious Lucius Malfoy really this man's son? Someone, please answer!

"By the way, what is the phoenix doing on your shoulder?" Abraxas finally noticed Draco's companion. The blond boy wondered, how his grandfather was able to miss the flashy bird in the first place.

"Chirp chirp chirp!" The phoenix was also offended.

Safe to say, Draco's summer flew by just as quickly, as had the spring.