27 Departure

"Draco, I know that you feel you are mature enough to handle your matters on your own, but that is not true," said Narcissa once all of them left the Minister's office and temporarily settled down in a hotel. "This problem could have been easily settled without your involvement, by trusting and calling us, especially since you now have the means to do it quickly."

Draco opened his mouth to protest. He felt that everything ended well, in the end. Who knows what would have happened if he and Johan didn't go to the hideout by themselves? All of the criminals could have escaped unscathed! Now, however, seventeen people were caught red-handed, not even including those from the Ministry, who were still being questioned.

"No, don't say anything!" Narcissa didn't let her son protest. Lucius silently sat on the sofa beside her and observed, showing support to his wife. "You are still a child! Despite the fact that your questionable plan worked, it doesn't make your decision right! We let you do what you want expecting that you will know your boundaries but after this, I am no longer so sure."

The blond boy really started to feel like a child, who did naughty things and got caught. Despite his quick acceptance of transmigration into a fictional book, he never really saw himself as a kid. Even though he started calling his 'parents' as 'mother' and 'father' with increasing frequency, he didn't really view them as such. Draco also didn't view his independence as something to be given, rather, to him it was something to be expected. So, as a thirty-something year old man, this scolding session was too humiliating to bear.

Draco's mother sighted after seeing her child's stubborn look, indicating that he didn't understand, what he did wrong. She felt that it was their failure as parents, not educating their son in self-preservation and leaving all of his lessons for tutors to handle. Merlin knows, half of them were Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs – it should be their influence, which made Draco so un-Slytherin.

"Alright, we won't discuss it with you anymore. After we return home, you will be tutored more extensively on family matters. This kind of foolish behavior is not to be tolerated any longer," finally concluded the topic Lucius.

He stood up from the sofa and, with a tired look on his face, retreated to the bedroom. After half day's worth of worrying over his only son's kidnapping in a foreign country, where he didn't have any influence to speak of, he was mentally and physically exhausted. The blond man could see that his wife was equally as tired, having cried for a long time. They both should get some rest.

Seeing that Lucius didn't have the energy to deal with this matter any longer, Narcissa also stood up and followed him to the bedroom. However, she didn't forget to leave a few parting words, "Your house elf will be punished accordingly, for not stopping your ridiculous behavior."

With his mother's parting remark, the bedroom's door closed, leaving Draco sitting alone, in a spacious hotel living room, with a shocked look on his face.

---

The Malfoy family didn't leave the Egypt the next day. Lucius decided to stay for a longer time, in order to ensure that the poachers were properly punished. He also demanded compensation – after all, his son saved quite a number of precious phoenix eggs, which could have been lost or smuggled out of the country. This could have caused heavy repercussions – the phoenixes would have eventually realized that their enclosure was not safe and migrated to other lands.

This would be a big loss to the country. Having phoenixes not only ensured the steady supply of their healing tears, magical feathers for wands and comforting songs to mental patients, but it also was a matter of national pride. After all, how many countries could boast having these majestic and widely revered birds living within their reach?

Safe to say, despite all the scolding Draco received from his parents, he brought glory to the Malfoy family. This incident also quickly got out and became internationally known. The biggest impact was caused in Britain, where Draco was already acknowledged as a 'genius child'.

The Egyptian Ministry of Magic was filled with international reporters – all asking uncomfortable questions about their Ministry's corruption and how many officials were found working with the poachers. Many of the media workers also gathered at the hotel, where the Malfoy family stayed. All of them wanted to interview the main characters of the incident – Draco and Theo. But, despite their persistence, none of the reporters got to see even a hair on their heads.

Both of the children were punished and were not allowed to meet each other for the time being. After calling his friend with the magical communication mirror, Draco found out that the dark-haired boy was much more severely punished between the two of them.

Theo's mother died almost a year after giving birth to the boy. Rumors said that it was because after being pregnant with Theo, not even a month later she got pregnant once again, and her body couldn't handle the toll – even magic wasn't able to save her. The second child also never came to be.

Theo's father was a very well-known Death Eater. Even though he managed to get away from Azkaban, he was recognized as one of the most loyal and cruelest of Voldemort's followers. The man didn't care much for his son, seeing him only as a required heir whom he had only because of his old age and necessity. After hearing of Theodore's involvement in the phoenix rescue operation, Finlay Nott felt that the boy was too different from what an ideal Nott heir should be. Where did the boy get ideas of caring about some beasts, even risking his own safety? Did the boy read so many books that he turned stupid?

After thinking for a while, the man could only blame the Malfoy brat as being bad influence on his heir. However, he couldn't disallow the boys from meeting, after all, both of them were from Sacred Twenty-Eight families and he didn't have any good reasons to discontinue their friendship. In the end, Theo was swiftly brought back home and was taught family education in form of 'Cruciatus' therapy. Finlay Nott thought that these daily lessons would not only help the boy in the future, if the Dark Lord returned (or new one arose), but also erase any self-sacrificing and Dumbledorish thoughts out of the child's mind.

Even though Theo never explicitly said, what kind of punishment he received, Draco could tell from the boy's pale complexion and occasional trembling reflection in the mirror that it wasn't anything good. Though he couldn't even begin to guess the actual extent of the disciplining that Theo was forced to endure. As a modern man, who reincarnated into a Dark, but caring, family, Draco never thought that one of his best friends, whose family standing was almost the same, would be tortured in his own house and by his own biological father!

That being said, in the following days Draco didn't have too much time to care for his friend's well-being, because he couldn't help but blame himself for Missy's punishment. His loyal elf, whom he came to view as his friend, had to iron her own fingers until they were covered in blisters. Then she had to pour salt on them and wasn't allowed to wash or bandage them until the next day.

However, when Draco could finally see her again, her expression didn't show even an ounce of regret.

"Missy is happy that young master helped the birdies get the eggs! Missy doesn't regret!" said the elf resolutely. Her eyes were shining with determination, not showing any pain or hesitation despite her hands still being covered in bandages. "Missy knows that young master cares for her, so she will help young master when he does good things!"

Draco felt both, speechless and extremely touched by her proclamation of loyalty. However, he couldn't help but have a weird expression on his face when he heard about doing more 'good deeds'. When did he agree to that? He only helped the phoenixes because he felt that if the situation got out of hand, he could always find ways to escape and throw responsibility to someone else. Even if everyone said that he was reckless, the blond knew best that his own life mattered the most and he would never truly risk it. He died once – he didn't want a repeat!

However, seeing Missy's huge admiring eyes, which hid her pain, Draco couldn't say anything to contradict her. Anyway, as long as she was happy, he was satisfied. As for the punishment that she suffered from – the blond boy decided that he would make up for it and, in the future, avoid involving her in trouble.

---

After three days of Lucius' rampage in the foreign Ministry, the matter of compensation was finally settled. Egypt was an ancient and magically-powerful country, so what they gave out left even rich family such as Malfoys extremely satisfied. Safe to say, their Gringott's holdings grew exponentially after the trip to Egypt.

On the last day of their stay, Draco threw his pride out the window and pleaded for his parents to allow him to make one last visit to the phoenix enclosure. The boy wanted to make sure that everything was alright and take Missy to see the magical birds.

Lucius and Narcissa finally relented and, after much begging, Draco was allowed to go. He went to the enclosure early in the morning, just before the departure back to Britain, and was given only an hour to say his goodbyes.

After all the events and investigations, which took place in the phoenix territory, the enclosure was still the same, as though it hadn't been disturbed at all. The only thing that changed was the birds' wariness when it came to unfamiliar humans. After Draco portkeyd in together with a Ministry worker, who was there to look after the child on his parents' demand, the birds circled around the two wizards.

They clearly recognized Draco, who helped them not too long ago, however the Ministry worker was constantly followed by at least three phoenixes wherever he went. The man even started to feel paranoid from countless observing beady eyes, staring at his sweaty back.

Draco ignored the uncomfortable company, which was forced upon him. With a smile he walked around the enclosure, once again enjoying the beautiful songs and lively atmosphere.

"Could you take a look at Missy's fingers?" he asked one of the colorful birds, which flew around him, happily chirping something. Theo or Johan would have attempted to understand it but Draco didn't bother – he knew his own limits best and bird language was beyond them.

The phoenix took a look behind the blond boy and, seeing the elf, which had her hands behind her body – clearly trying to hide them from sight – it thrilled a short melody and flew to the little creature.

Missy squeaked with a startle but didn't move otherwise. The bird chirped something at her and the elf extended her hands, carefully removing the bandages. Draco winced at the sight and felt as though his heart was being squeezed as he started at the mangled fingers. Few more phoenixes gathered around Missy and with sad chirps they dripped their tears on the wounds. The elf's shoulders relaxed as the pain went away. She smiled happily at the birds, when they finished their task, and carefully stroked their feathers.

"Missy thanks pretty birdies. Missy likes you very much!" she said sincerely. The phoenixes started singing a song, when they heard her words, and Draco smiled at the sight of an overwhelmed little elf being surrounded by tens of red and yellow birds.

Suddenly, the blond boy felt his clothes being tugged. He looked down and saw a small phoenix carefully gripping his robes with its beak, trying to get his attention. Draco carefully crouched down, in order not to squash the little bird. As soon as the phoenix saw that it got the boy's attention, it hopped into the blond's arms and chirped something happily.

Draco almost fell back to the ground from the bird's unexpected action. He quickly balanced himself and looked down on the phoenix, which was now nestling in his arms. As he observed it more, he felt that it was very familiar. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind and Draco asked with astonishment, "You are the one we rescued from the poachers?"

The bird looked up at Draco's face and chirped in agreement.

The boy felt surprised. It had only been three days but the lifeless two-year-old phoenix, which had half of its feathers plucked, its colors dull and gaze sad, now was no different from other surrounding birds. If anything, its feathers were even more beautiful than other phoenixes as they resembled burning fire, and the bird's blue as crystal eyes were expressing happiness at meeting one of its saviors.

Draco carefully stroked its feathers, mindful of the fact that the phoenix may not have recovered entirely. However, he didn't have to be worried. After all, the enclosure was full of birds, who could heal. The little bird practically bathed in phoenix tears for the last three days, so there were no injuries left on its body.

The phoenix chirped something at Draco, however, the boy could only confusedly stare at it when it didn't relent. The blond could understand that it wanted something from him, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what. Hearing the chirps, other phoenixes flew up to Draco and also tried conversing with him, but with no results. The blond could only stare with even more bewilderment at the surrounding birds.

Finally, Missy shyly stepped forward and said, "Young master, Missy thinks the little birdie wants to come with you."

Draco stared with amazement and disbelief at the bird, which he was holding in his arms. The phoenix thrilled in agreement as it stared up at the boy's with its hopeful blue eyes.

"I don't know how to take care of you, though," the boy said hesitantly.

"Chirp!" It probably meant 'no worries!'.

"You just reunited with your family, do you really want to leave them so quickly?"

"Chirp, chirp!" 'Yes, I can see them any time, anyway'.

"You do know that I don't understand you at all, right?" Draco could only sigh with resignation. He felt that with his recent fame and achievements, he should lay low for a while and getting a phoenix as a familiar wouldn't be in line with this goal.

As he was still young, being labeled as 'genius' wasn't too detrimental. If there was too much attention on him at Hogwarts, Draco could pretend to be average at magic and he would be quickly forgotten. But, if he was in constant spotlight, when Voldemort came back Draco would attract the Dark Lord's attention. Dumbledore also, most likely, wouldn't leave him alone. So, in the end, it would be too troublesome. Better if he wasn't associated with any powerful pets – being from a powerful Dark family was already too much to bear in the upcoming war.

"Chirp chirp chiiirp chirp!!!"

The little phoenix didn't give up and even when Draco tried to place it back on the ground, the bird clung to the boy's robes with its claws, refusing to let go.

"I can visit you, you don't have to follow me, alright?" the blond tried to dissuade it for a while. However, as the time of departure came closer, the boy wasn't successful and had no choice but to leave the enclosure with the smug phoenix in his arms.

Anyway, having such a powerful magical bird as a familiar was also not bad.