7 Future*
When he reincarnated as Draco Malfoy, he sometimes thought about the future that awaited him as described in the Harry Potter series.
His father was a Death Eater.
Actually, no.
His whole family was supporting the Dark Lord.
Even the original Draco had to become a Death Eater. Sure, he may not have wanted it, but he was forced into it anyway.
Current Draco also didn't want to serve anyone, least of all Voldemort. Even not considering the fact that the Dark Lord was clearly insane, he would lose the coming war, so what would be the point?
Draco didn't know what exactly happened to the Malfoy family after the Second war. He felt that his father would have been sent to the wizarding prison, Azkaban. His mother... in the original series she wasn't as involved and even saved Harry Potter's life, in a sense. When Voldemort asked her to check whether Harry was dead at the end of the seventh book, she lied and said that he was.
As for the original Draco Malfoy - he married Astoria Greengrass and had a kid. However, current Draco wasn't sure what happened in between the end of the Second war and the Epilogue. The Malfoy family could have had to donate a lot of money to the Ministry. Draco Malfoy was also a Death Eater and should have participated in doing some unsavory things, so he may have had to stay in Azkaban for few months as well.
In conclusion, Draco had to somehow prevent his family from joining Voldemort.
Easier said than done.
As a hardcore fan of the Harry Potter series, Draco knew where all of Voldemort's soul pieces, horcruxes, were hidden. He may not have known all of the traps that guarded them, or all of the exact places they were at currently, however, he knew where they would be at certain points in time in the future (providing that the future didn't change).
As a matter of fact, one of Voldemort's horcruxes, Riddle's diary, was currently held somewhere in the Malfoy manor. However, Draco couldn't remember whether the books ever mentioned where.
He knew that when the Secret Chamber was opened, Harry and Ron took the Polyjuice potion and disguised themselves as Crabbe and Goyle to figure out whether the original Draco was the Slytherin's heir. At that time the original Draco wasn't careful and mentioned that there were some dark artifacts hidden in the drawing-room's secret chamber.
Right now Draco could only wish to know, where this 'secret chamber' was exactly and how to get to it. But even if he knew and found the diary, what would he do with it? He couldn't destroy it because if Voldemort really came back and asked for it and they couldn't give the diary back, Draco was sure that the whole family would be killed off. And if he prevented the Secret Chamber from opening at Hogwarts, Harry wouldn't find out about Voldemort's youth and the basilisk would stay alive. What if Voldemort used that basilisk to attack Hogwarts when he came back?
On the other hand, Draco also had to consider the fact that he couldn't exactly go to Dumbledore. Just looking at how Severus Snape was being used by both sides of the war turned him off of the idea. And, while Draco was sure that he would be useful because he could provide information on horcruxes and the future in general, his reincarnation aspect would be found out.
Maybe he could lie and say that he traveled through time?
However, either way, he would have to take the truth serum to prove himself and that would expose him, whether he wanted it or not. And who knows who else would find out about his secret then.
The conclusion was: Draco couldn't go directly to Dumbledore.
Draco felt headache thinking about the future.
In the end, he couldn't visibly be on Harry Potter's side and he couldn't visibly be on Voldemort's side, because after the war he would have a hard time establishing himself.
Draco also considered just going to Durmstrang or another magical academy, however, that was also dangerous. Draco Malfoy was Harry Potter's nemesis, he was also important in the original plot. Whether he wanted to or not, Draco helped Harry several times either by giving a clue to solving a mystery or unintentionally providing Harry with a weapon to kill Voldemort. Without his presence, Draco couldn't be sure that Voldemort would be defeated at all. And that would be a disaster.
Draco also had to decide how he will have to treat Harry Potter when they meet. He cannot be too friendly, as that could mean that Harry would end up in Slytherin. The only reason that Harry was in Gryffindor was that he begged the Sorting Hat to put him anywhere but where Draco Malfoy was.
However, if Draco acted like the original, he would alienate most of Hogwarts' student population. Maybe only the children of the Death Eaters would stay by his side, and he couldn't have that.
Draco's headache strengthened.
---
In the end Draco decided that whether he could do anything about Riddle's diary or not, he had to find the drawing-room's secret chamber first, as it could be useful in the future.
So one day during breakfast with his parents, when there were no lessons scheduled for the afternoon, Draco declared that he wanted to read in the drawing-room as its huge space allowed him to think better.
Lucius and Narcissa simultaneously raised eyebrows at their son's excuse.
"What brought this on, Draco?" His mother asked sceptically.
"I just got tired of reading in the library. I always sneeze because there's too much dust," Draco replied self-righteously.
His parents had nothing to say to that, so they allowed him to do as he wished. However, Draco was sure that Missy, his faithful house elf, would be looking into his activities from time to time today. Draco didn't care about monitoring, he felt that it was better to be open than sneak around. If he 'accidentally' discovered the secret chamber while resting from his readings, he would have an excuse. However, if he decided to be secretive and got caught, there would be questions.
That day Draco took frequent breaks from his 'reading' and freely explored the drawing-room. He tried shouting 'open', 'secret chamber' and other various phrases which he thought could work - they didn't.
He also tried looking under the rug and behind picture frames, but with no results.
By the end of the day Draco felt that he touched and proded every piece of furniture and every decoration that was placed in the room. However, he couldn't find a thing, not even a small safe, where money could be stored.
Thus, whenever he had any free time, Draco went to the drawing-room to 'read' and soon it became his routine. He didn't give up searching for the secret chamber.
