Chapter 9

August twenty-sixth. Traditionally, on this day, wizards prefer to gather their children to school, arranging a kind of holiday on Diagon Alley. The Malfoy family acted as well. After receiving the letter from Hogwarts, the next morning, my parents almost forcibly lifted me out of bed, forcing me to get ready.

I wasn't very happy about it. I didn't really want to be in a crowd of wizards. And I didn't like getting up so early. Yesterday I got too carried away with practicing metamorphism, and therefore I went to bed late enough.

Magicians are generally afraid to push themselves to the limit. I suspect the whole point is that overexerting the magician has a feeling of complete lack of magic. Some sensitive individuals mostly put themselves in a mental block after such tensions, literally suggesting to themselves that they no longer have magic at all, and they are now squibs.

That's what the educational system does to people. Most wizards do not even suspect that by constantly driving themselves to exhaustion, they develop their own reserve of magic. It's the same as with the body. When you push yourself to the limit, it will be easier for you next time, especially if the recovery time was sufficient, but not excessive.

I still continued my training, rejoicing at the speed of my development. I don't know what the reason was, but my magic was getting stronger every day. Such progress has not even been observed with Me-Tom, and this is already an indicator ... if this goes on, I will very soon be able to directly confront quite strong and old wizards. Not Dumbledore, of course. He's a real boss from magic, he was decades ago, and what heights he has achieved now ... Yes, I'm still very far from Albus, but many heads of influential families, their best representatives, will be behind me very soon. Although... judging by Lucius, I've already bypassed most of the current aristocrats.

It doesn't really matter. The main thing is that this morning I was sleepy, angry and generally wanted to throw curses at too arrogant personalities. For example, Dobby, this crazy elf has already managed to get me with his mistakes and failures in places where they can not be at all. But he pushed himself very well, so I even enjoy it. If it were otherwise, I would have cursed him the first time he made a mistake.…

And why not actually? I didn't curse him before, having had a lot of fun at his expense. But now his self-torture has already bored me, which means that I can practice curses ... hmm, what would come up with such a thing?

After spending a few moments thinking, I took out my own wand and pointed it at the elf. Dobby tried to escape, but my order made him stop. Well, the next moment the little body of the House-elf was convulsing, crawling on the carpet. I just chuckled at such a performance, watching the thin network of scars that spread over the body of the brownie.

Great! The spell worked just fine. I can already feel a thin trickle of life force being absorbed into my body. Yes, I would prefer a stronger donor, but House-elf will do for the first purpose. I needed to test a recently learned spell, by the way, a family spell, it was developed by Draco's great-grandfather. In general, I haven't had time to dig into the family library properly yet, but I still managed to learn some things from there.

The spell of the "vampire sign" has become one of the main finds. Mainly due to the fact that there are too few spells affecting the life force. Even some vampires couldn't always work with this energy. More often, they simply took someone else's life along with the blood…

Therefore, the spell seemed fascinating to me. All I had to do was make sure it was working properly. As you can see, it works fine, the descriptions in the log coincide with reality. Yes, I already felt someone else's life force, even though it was difficult to do. I didn't feel it before... I will need to search for information on this topic in the Room of Requirement. Otherwise, I somehow feel uncomfortable feeling ignorant.

"What did you do to him?" Narcissa asked, showing only a slight interest in the method of execution. She didn't care about House-elf, our family has a lot of them, and a few very young ones are already finishing their studies.

"Cursed to a slow and painful death. I'm tired of him, and I've also studied a suitable spell here." I simply replied, trying not to show my own satisfaction. My own success definitely lifted my spirits. Even the upcoming shopping trip no longer filled my heart with dull longing and boredom. And I'm also going out with Pansy today. I'm sure she already knows about my impending engagement, which means I can't avoid a scandal.

"You're my darling." Narcissa happily climbed up to me to hug, apparently finding something surprisingly sweet and joyful in my words. Black, what else can you say? I once heard rumors that in their family they teach various kinds of curses almost earlier than the standard Lumos. Looking at my mother, I was inclined to believe it. And the emotions of the woman literally screamed something like "all in me!".…

"Let's go." His father's voice rang out softly, but imperiously, as soon as he entered the room. The whole atmosphere of tenderness and fun somehow disappeared at once, and I suddenly remembered that today my father wanted to teach me some kind of lesson. Damn, he always climbs into my life, so he also interferes with enjoying the company of a new mother… Should I curse him? No, it's not worth it. The time has not come yet, and I have enough patience.

But Lucius better not piss me off. So he will live longer. Still, my main claim to my father is that he can control me. I understand that my father doesn't really want to harm me in any way. And I was able to notice some family feelings about myself in this person… But no.

I don't feel very good just thinking that there is a person in the world who can solve a lot of issues for me, while remaining right in everything. The head of the family, and the father to boot. You can't trample on such "authority"... if you are an ordinary child in a pureblood family.

I have already begun to think out a plan to eliminate my father. In which, the family will not go to the bottom, and I myself will not be guilty of anything. A difficult task, to put it mildly, but not about that now. At the moment, it was much more important for me to prepare for an early meeting with Pansy.

And I must not forget about my father's lesson. I do not know what this person decided to throw out this time, but my mask of the "past Draco" is still not ready for destruction. I should still live up to it… and keep your emotions under control. There are so many protective artifacts on the father now that they can work from a simple intention…

The only thing that pleases me is that my set of artifacts is no worse. It's like I'm going to war, not shopping.