41 Interlude

In the end, to Draco's greatest regret, they didn't manage to taste the famous fast-food cuisine. Lord Dmitrij Sokolov, Alex's adoptive father and uncle by blood, ordered for a house elf to fetch them and, as a result, found out about their excursion to the muggle world.

Needless to say, when both boys returned, they got an earful from their guardians. Cassiopeia Black was particularly interested in lecturing Draco:

"To my utter shame! To be amongst those filthy muggles and by your own choice! If this gets out, how will I face Augusta? She will surely gossip behind my back and my reputation will be ruined! Boy, what were you thinking?"

Draco was sitting in the joint living room provided for the guests. It was usually used when the guests wanted to discuss something privately because gathering in a bedroom would be too unseemly and create an impression of scheming.

The room was filled with Blacks, who were currently staying in the Sokolov mansion. Most of them ignored Cassiopeia's rants and Lucretia Prewett nee Black even snorted into her cup a few times as she listened to the other woman. Having married into a family, which was Gryffindor-inclined, her sense of humor improved over the years and she found Cassiopeia's clamor to be amusing, rather than reasonable.

"Let the boy be," she finally intervened after putting down her teacup. "In the first place, we are guests. If you create havoc here because of something that the host's son has probably suggested, you will create a bad impression of our family."

Cassiopeia finally shut up and Draco could relax a bit.

"Children will be children," said Arcturus and sent a grateful glance his daughter's way. Although he didn't approve of Lucretia's choice of marriage partner at the time, he had to admit that, at least, she turned out a lot more reasonable than his 'forever alone' cousin.

Melania, Arcturus' wife, sighed and looked a bit rueful. "I just wonder, what will happen to that child now. Lord Sokolov and the Sokolov Patriarch seemed to be furious…"

Because Alex was older than Draco by almost a whole year, having been born in September, he was blamed for this matter.

Going into the muggle world was looked down upon by pureblood circles. Especially in Russia, where many muggle regions were currently living in poverty and where it was dangerous for children to wander. After all, muggles, who didn't have enough money and food, yet still had to somehow feed themselves and their families, had to somehow get their necessities. As such, crimes were still very frequent.

The Russian boy was also the host and everyone knew that without his approval, Draco would have never dared to go to the muggle world alone.

If Draco could hear the adults' thoughts, he would have begged to differ – the idea just never came to him. As an adult man, what wouldn't he dare to do?

Draco suspected that the Sokolov family knew of their half-blooded child's thoughts of revenge. He only wasn't sure about why did they go to such desperate means to get Alex and his sister back to the family at the time.

Both children had their surnames changed to 'Orlov', which was their muggle mother's maiden name. Even if they went to a magical institution later on, without Sokolovs admitting anything, would anyone know of their relation? Besides, both children were considered to have 'dirtied' their bloodline, why was keeping them so important?

Even more confusing: why, when Alex's father found out about his family targeting him and his children, did he not take them all out of the country? Was he too confident in himself or were there other reasons?

This matter only raised questions and didn't seem to have any answers. From what Alex told him back in the orphanage, the boy also didn't seem to be fully aware of anything. However, Draco wasn't so kind as to point everything out to the other. When the Russian boy grows up, he will think more deeply about it. Even if he doesn't, it wasn't Draco's business, so he decisively shifted his thoughts to other matters.

However, his eyebrow still twitched a bit when he heard the purposely lowered voices of the Black family:

"The boy will be put on house arrest for half a year. Then, he will be sent out of the country, where he will be able to create less trouble…"

---

After he returned to Britain, Draco resumed his normal schedule of studying, practicing magic and overseeing his company's development. From time to time, he went out to various social gatherings and parties, which included his friends' birthdays.

The rest of his free time was spent with Zosar, who was feeling abandoned after being left alone for over two weeks. Draco was forced to play countless chess games with the needy phoenix before the bird was somewhat appeased. The only bright side was that the games with Zosar let him train his Occlumency and Legilimency skills - they competed not only in winning the game but also in making sure that the other wouldn't, by accident, overhear the thoughts of the next move.

Gradually, it evolved into a competition – who would be able to predict the other's strategy or confuse the other by making him think that they knew, what the next move will be?

Even Draco was left confused when he started thinking more deeply about it…

As winter ended and summer gradually approached, the most common topic between his peers at parties was, of course, schooling.

"You will attend Hogwarts? My father wants me to go to Durmstrang. It has a better reputation and they don't accept various mudbloods. That's why everyone can learn Dark magic in peace. My father would never let a woman decide, where the child has to go," said Caspar Yaxley with an arrogant sneer.

His father, just like Draco's, had been a Death Eater. Yaxleys were also members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, so Draco often associated with the other boy, who was his age. However, he didn't like Caspar, who constantly acted conceited, like the whole world owed him money, so they weren't close.

"Although my mother wants me to be closer to home, the ultimate choice lies with me and I already decided, where I will go," answered Draco impatiently. He wanted to move away from Caspar, however, the other boy decided to stick to him and wouldn't leave the blond alone.

"With Dumbledore observing your every move and favoring mudbloods and blood traitors – it will be a wonder if you learn anything useful. My father says to follow your example and train my magic, but I am sure that by the time we finish school, I will be able to defeat you without breaking a sweat, at this rate. Karkarov, Durmstrang's headmaster, will surely pull me aside to teach me some advanced spells because my father was close to him, if you know what I mean…" the boy continued to rant without noticing Draco's eye rolls or impatient foot tapping.

"Yes, sure," the blond replied distractedly when there was an occasional pause for breath from the other boy. Suddenly, his eyes brightened as he noticed something in the distance. "Excuse me, I saw one of my friends and I have something important…" Draco trailed off in the middle of constructing a polite excuse to get away.

"Why do I even bother?" he asked rhetorically and quickly escaped before the Caspar could understand the situation.

Draco sifted through the crowd of children, who were gathered to celebrate some eight-year old's birthday. He longed to be freed of the duty of attending these events. Before children were sent off to schools at the age of eleven, they had to attend other kids' birthdays and similar parties. This was done so that they could socialize and form connections from a young age.

However, Draco thought of these events as play-dates or days, when parents didn't need babysitters because all of the troublemakers were gathered in one place.

"Susan! There you are, I've been looking for you guys everywhere," said Draco as soon as he neared the redhead. Together with her was Hannah, whose blond hair wasn't as noticeable in the crowd.

"We've seen you merrily chatting with Yaxley and refrained from approaching," snorted Susan. Hannah nodded, her face scrunched up with distaste. Draco wasn't the only one who hated socializing with Caspar.

"Well, I have good news for you guys – he's going to attend Durmstrang, so, for most of the year, he won't be our problem," declared Draco happily. "Daphne and Theo couldn't come?"

Hannah shook her head. "Daphne's sister's health suddenly declined, while Theo went to Bulgaria with his maternal grandfather and still hasn't returned."

"Do you know, who else will be going to Hogwarts?" asked Susan curiously.

"I think most of our age group will be coming. Mostly because a lot of children hope to meet Harry Potter, since he will be in our year," snorted Draco. Truthfully, he was also a bit curious. Not because he assumed that Harry was some 'prince charming', as others seemed to genuinely believe, but because he would be meeting the protagonist of the books. How exciting was that?

"Oh, I can't wait to meet him! I read so many stories of him rescuing various animals all over the world – he must be a nice person, right?" exclaimed Hannah with excitement. Draco didn't want to return her to reality by telling that at this time, Harry still wasn't aware of the magical world.

When the topic shifted to Harry Potter, other children, who overheard their conversation, soon also joined in and Draco was squeezed out of the crowd. He could only helplessly watch as his friends were surrounded by other enthusiastic kids and ignored the blond boy. With an exasperated shake of his head, Draco gathered some snacks and sat by himself at one of the tables, thinking about the future.

In a few weeks would be his birthday and then he would receive the letter to Hogwarts. Originally, he had to meet Harry and create a somewhat bad impression of himself, leading to Hagrid warning off Harry of Slytherin. The meeting on the train was even more crucial - it would lead to Harry begging to be sorted 'anywhere but Slytherin', all because of Draco.

As a transmigrator, Draco didn't want to lose his advantage of the knowledge of the future, so he could only follow the book's script. However, if he wanted to shape the future to his own and his family's advantage, he also had to change some things.

First, he had to gain possession of the Philosopher's Stone.

Draco sighed and rubbed his aching head.