61 Conversation Between Friends

In a quiet History of Magic classroom, where a bunch of first-year students was on the verge of falling asleep, Draco sat with a dazed expression on his face while looking out the window into the snowy grounds.

He felt like hitting himself for his obliviousness every time he looked at Alex. After all, it couldn't be more obvious!

Blonde hair – check.

Blue eyes – check.

Constantly smiling face – check.

Russian – double-check!

No matter how Draco looked at it, facts were speaking for themselves – Alex and Anastasia were siblings.

Was it a coincidence that two said people were trying to get close to him?

On the surface, it seemed that this pair of brother and sister was oblivious to each other: Alex thought that his sister was dead, while Anastasia lived as a member of another prominent family and undertook the name of a young genius witch who didn't know about anything that happened to her real family before.

But was it really so simple and coincidental?

If there was one thing that Draco didn't believe existed in the Magical World, it would be coincidences! Anything that happened by chance was usually a carefully prearranged set of events, planned to the smallest details and arranged with the meticulousness of a last-stage OCD patient. Even if it wasn't so, there was no way that all of this was happening due to a chance!

Draco didn't want to get unintentionally involved in plans of others – even the tiniest thought of being a disposable chess piece in the hands of others left a bitter taste in his mouth.

The young Slytherin turned his head away from the window and looked at the Russian boy's back. He ignored Professor Binn's ramblings about goblin wars and thought back to the last semester.

As first-years, the students of all houses usually walked in groups because there was a chance to get lost. Even if they called the Prefects by using communication mirrors – the older students would get angry if they had to run around all day between individual students in need of an urgent rescue from a locked cupboard or the moving stairs (which sometimes liked to play a prank on students of moving anywhere but the floor they needed).

So it was more convenient for everyone to be together, and Slytherins weren't an exception.

During the whole of September, as far as Draco could remember, Alex was always close-by. However, it was only natural – everyone else was there too after all, and the Russian boy wasn't some kind of a cast-off or a loner.

Actually, it was even the opposite – Alex was friendly with everyone, and his smiling face easily put others off-guard. As more time passed, the boy seemed to be getting more popular among other houses – especially Hufflepuffs, who almost considered him as one of their own by now (Hannah especially so).

Even though Draco was just as friendly with everyone, he couldn't boast the same rate of success as the other boy. It was - as Daphne assured him - because his face looked unnatural when he made an effort to smile nicely.

Draco couldn't argue – he knew that the best expressions he could achieve were sneers, haughty looks and mocking rises of an eyebrow. He could also maintain a poker face quite well, which helped him a lot last year when he was confronting Finlay Nott about Theo's torture.

The fact that he was a Slytherin and from a Dark family, certainly didn't make him any more endearing to other students. Even Zosar's presence made next to no impact on how people perceived him. In fact, many students still thought that he used some kind of evil magic to make the 'poor' phoenix submit.

Their words, not his.

So, as Draco was slightly jealous of Alex's easy achievements in the area where he was doomed to fail from the start (though he would never admit it out loud), he tried to distance himself from the Russian boy even more – mostly by completely ignoring the other's presence.

Besides, in later months, Draco had been busy with trying to crack the third-floor corridor's wards and practicing the spells for the dueling competition. As such, he had little time for his friends, let alone someone whom he disliked.

Also, he had never had a reason to closely observe Alex before, so it was no wonder that he couldn't recall whether the Russian boy behaved strangely or unusually during his time at Hogwarts.

Even the memories stored inside his mindscape didn't shine any light on the issue, as he didn't know where to look and couldn't exactly try to recall every minute of his every day during the last semester. It would take forever, and there was no guarantee that he would even find anything!

Draco sighed to himself and resolved to dig out more information about this pair of troublesome siblings and their complicated family matters. Just as he was about to concentrate back to the regrettably-undying teacher's lecture, his gray eyes suddenly clashed with a pair of bright blue ones.

Alex turned his head and smiled, even lightly waving his hand – looking as though he was greeting his best friend.

Draco grimaced and turned his gaze away.

The leisurely and quiet days he secretly longed for seemed to be further and further away.

---

The first few weeks after the return to school passed quickly. The students were once again thrown into the routine of going to classes, doing homework, socializing and going to sleep.

As Draco had been busy for the last few months with studies, he had neglected the socializing aspect of a typical student's life. When he once again began paying attention to it, he found that many of his year-mates created their own cliques and groups of friends. Even his closest friends weren't an exception.

"Daphne, do you want to study together with me and Theo?" Draco asked one evening when he was sitting with his friend doing homework in the common room, and noticed Daphne, who was passing them by on the way to the dormitory.

"Oh, sorry, Draco," apologized the dark-haired girl with a slight frown. "I already promised Tracy that I would help her with the Transfiguration assignment. I swear, she's utterly hopeless in that subject!"

"Then why don't you invite her to study with us?" Theo asked mildly.

"You know that she's slightly afraid of Draco. Besides, she doesn't like the purebloods of noble lineages in general…" Daphne trailed off with a suggestive glance at the two said nobles, whose families belonged to the Sacred Twenty-Eight.

"I was polite and friendly every time we crossed each other!" protested Draco with indignation. "Besides, your family's standing is just as good as ours – how come there's discrimination in our treatment?"

"Well, for one – I am a girl," mused the dark-haired girl with a smile. "That's all that needs to be said."

"She should have met Aunt Cassiopeia - then she would know how nasty other noblewomen can be," muttered Draco petulantly and turned back to his homework.

Daphne raised an eyebrow and expertly ignored her friend's quiet complaints – it wasn't the first time he was unsatisfied with Tracy's attitude, however, she also couldn't do anything about it.

"Speaking of which, I heard that Cassiopeia Black is recently in bad health," Theo broke the awkward silence.

Draco raised his head from a book and thought back to his recent conversation with Melania - the grandmotherly witch and Arcturus' wife.

"Yes, it seems that her brother's death affected her greatly – she has been attending less social events and it seems that she has been shutting herself down at home more frequently…" Draco sighed and tiredly rubbed his forehead. "However, other elders from my mother's side of the family also don't seem to be doing all that well. Even Arcturus…"

The blond boy once again sighed as his friends looked at him with concern. Draco couldn't remember when Arcturus would die, however, he knew that it happened before Sirius escaped from Azkaban.

Even if his presence and the resulting butterfly effect changed anything, the Black Patriarch wouldn't be able to live for much longer.

Besides, he had seen how tired the elder Black was – what with dealing with all the political affairs as well as watching over the family's business and attending to other matters. The fact that he didn't have a direct Black heir didn't help to alleviate Arcturus' mind.

Aside from Cassiopeia and Arcturus, there was also Draco's grandfather from mother's side – Cygnus Black, who didn't seem to be too energetic lately. Narcissa, who usually avoided her parents due to her mother's unbearable temper, had been frequenting them more and more recently.

"I hate to say it, but Black Family's situation is certainly unenviable," said Theo with a frown. "They have so many elders, yet there are no descendants with the Black name who could inherit their fortune and restore the family's name to how it was before the Dark Lord."

Daphne nodded in agreement.

"Do you think that you will stand to inherit, Draco?" she asked the blond boy carefully.

"It doesn't matter," he replied after a moment of silence. "In any case, I will inherit the Malfoy fortune, which is only slightly smaller than the Blacks'. Though my father, of course, thinks otherwise – he has been pushing me to get into Arcturus' good graces."

Draco rolled his eyes with exasperation – after all, he was already Arcturus' favorite grandson, even if they weren't related all that closely.

"But if not you, then who?" asked Theo curiously. In his mind, Draco was the most likely candidate for the Black Lord position.

"Well, there's still Sirius Black," reminded Daphne. "And I believe that Harry Potter's grandmother was also a Black."

Theo snorted.

"Looking like that, even Longbottom or Weasley would stand a chance to inherit – they are also related to Blacks. Hell, half of the British Wizarding World could get a piece of their fortune!" he commented snidely.

"It depends," said Draco musingly. "If Arcturus leaves the inheritance to Sirius, then it may go to Potter as he is the man's godson. However, if the inheritance is left to Melania or any other Black – it could go in many different ways. After all, as you said before, Blacks have intermarried with many families and each person may favor different ones, depending on who they are more closely related to. On the surface, I might seem to be favored, however, that's not necessarily true..."

"I wonder, is there a chance that Sirius Back would be released from Azkaban? If that happens, then there's hope for Blacks, but you would be left with nothing…" Daphne looked at Draco with consideration.

"Anyway, it's too early to consider it and like I said, I don't care if I inherit or not," answered the blond boy with the tone of finality.

If he was really still a child, dreaming of fame, glory, power, and money being handed over with no effort on his part, he may have felt some expectations and regret if he received nothing.

However, Draco had long since grown out of it. Although he wouldn't refuse money if someone wanted to give it to him, he also wouldn't drool over someone else's fortune mindlessly. Maybe his thoughts would be different if he had nothing to his name, however, he was pretty well-off already. So, why would he need more money when he wouldn't be able to use up what he already had in this lifetime?

"Speaking of money, how's your shop doing?" Theo switched the topic.

Draco's eyebrows furrowed slightly when he heard the question.

"The communication mirrors are slowing down with their sales – everyone already has one, so they don't need more unless an accident happens to them. As for other products, like mirrors with other functions, casings, and similar stuff – there's just too much of it and the production is very disorganized."

"What are you going to do? Introduce more products?" Daphne asked with concern. She knew how important the shop was to her friend, so she didn't want to see anything bad happen to it.

"No, that would be pointless and only add to the mess. I want to position the store as more high-end and dependable. I heard that there are already some successful imitations in America and Asia. Even Europe has a few similar stores opened – and that's basically my territory!" replied Draco with some frustration.

Although only a minority of witches and wizards chose the rivals, it was still a significant chunk of the potential customer base. The only good thing was that these people couldn't contact the Dragon Mirror owners with communication mirrors of different brands. So, Dragon Enterprises still held the monopoly over the market.

However, Deborah Aston, Dragon Enterprises Chief Manager, reported to Draco that there were more and more complaints from others over this issue. It seemed that the rivals banded together and created magical networks which could be accessed no matter which mirror one called from, with the only exception being Dragon Mirrors.

"So what are you going to do?" Theo interrupted Draco's thoughts.

"Recently we created a new type of communication mirror," the blond boy replied proudly. "There will be slots for different crystals around the frames, which will allow the mirror to have different functions. Right now different functions appear only when one puts a different casing on the mirror and it's impossible to have several functions at once. However, with new mirrors it will be possible – one may insert up to twelve small crystals into the designated slots and the mirror will be able to beautify their image while also being able to float beside their face and have telescope function, or something different. In other words, people will be able to customize their mirrors according to their tastes and one item will be able to do many different magical things."

"So each crystal will have a different ability? If I want to have a potions tester function, I only have to have the mirror and insert the specific crystal into the slot?" asked Daphne with interest.

Draco nodded. He had this idea when he was going down the third-floor corridor – it was just too inconvenient to carry many different magical things with different functions. Having them all combined into one would definitely be a hit!

"Wow, I want this kind of mirror as well!" commented someone at the side.

Draco, Theo, and Daphne simultaneously turned their heads in the direction of the voice, only to realize that the Slytherin common room was strangely quiet as everyone had been listening to their conversation with curious expressions.

"…"

Suddenly, there were a lot of fake coughs from the students, as they realized that their eavesdropping was caught by the three first years.

The young Slytherins could only stare with wonder and amusement as conversations once again resumed (if slightly unnaturally) around the common room, as though nothing had happened.

"Ehem," coughed Draco. "I guess that I can consider the new mirror to be well-advertised already… Should I just cross it out of my 'things-to-do' list?"

Theo snorted and exchanged glances with Daphne, who also had a small smile on her face.

Suddenly, all three of them burst out laughing in the middle of the common room, among the many older students who could only awkwardly pretend that they didn't know why the kids were snickering.