After sending a letter filled with content from Encouragement to Study, A Gift of Gold, and An Invitation to Travel to his son, Lucius Malfoy received nothing but a long silence in return.
Not only did he fail to see the gaming console he had requested, but not even the owl carrying Draco's reply was in sight.
As his restlessness grew unbearable, Draco finally sent another letter home.
The request in the letter was simple and direct: he begged for more Galleons, claiming that their poor son was destitute and on the verge of starvation at school.
Lucius frowned. Both his instincts and logic told him that something was amiss.
After all, he had sent Draco a full pouch of Galleons—enough to sustain an average wizarding family for months of food, drink, and entertainment.
Yet somehow, it had all been squandered in such a short time!
He couldn't shake the feeling that Draco had gotten himself involved in something he shouldn't have.
In his growing anxiety, he quickly sent a letter to Severus Snape.
The letter began with inquiries about Draco's behavior at school, subtly probing for any developments between his son and a young witch named Jane Yu.
What he received in return was a letter dripping with Snape's signature sarcasm.
The sarcasm was aimed at Lucius himself, while the ridicule was reserved for Draco.
Even the most oblivious person would sense that something was off.
His old friend and former schoolmate Snape was clearly displeased with Draco's interactions with Jane Yu, to the point of repeatedly making snide remarks.
Snape's attitude seemed more like that of a father worried about his "cabbage" being stolen!
This only fueled Lucius's rebellious curiosity, making him even more interested in this young prodigy everyone was talking about.
He decided to commission Snape to investigate what his son was up to at school—
And once again extended an invitation to the young witch, hoping to discuss potential collaborations.
...
Meanwhile, Snape, after receiving multiple letters from Lucius, could no longer sit idly by.
He decided to look into what exactly Draco, the "foolish heir of a wealthy family," was doing to end up so destitute at a school where food and lodging were free.
Thus, Draco found himself inexplicably targeted by his own Head of House.
During Monday's Potions class, he was reprimanded more harshly than even Potter, simply for sitting in front of Jane Yu and whispering a couple of words to her.
Determined to avoid further trouble, Draco behaved impeccably in the next Potions class.
But his newfound obedience did nothing to address the root of the problem. Snape escalated his punishments, deducting five points from Draco for merely glancing in Jane Yu's direction.
Confused and dejected, Draco wandered into the Room of Requirement—their Base 3.0.
Just as he was about to complain to Jane Yu, a shadow suddenly darted across the room, climbing up his leg and latching onto his head!
"My hair!—"
He screamed in panic, and Jane quickly pried the black creature off him, rescuing him from the brink of premature baldness.
"Sorry, your hair is just too shiny."
It was her Niffler. Spoiled by a steady diet of Galleons, it had developed a taste for finer treasures. Daphne's jewelry was often its victim, and Draco's shiny hair, resembling the shell of an Occamy egg, had unfortunately caught its attention.
In fact, before Draco's arrival, the Niffler had already ransacked the Room of Requirement, moving at lightning speed in its treasure hunt. It had taken Jane quite some effort to catch it.
Clutching his head, Draco puffed up like an angry pufferfish. But his eyes quickly lit up with an idea for compensation:
"Fine, fine, but I want something in return!"
"For tomorrow's racing tournament, I want to sit next to you!"
After all, her seat was always front and center, offering the best view of everyone's progress in the game.
Jane wisely swallowed the words "Sponsors always sit in the front row" and quickly agreed to his request, marveling at how easy Draco was to manipulate. His satisfied grin only confirmed her thoughts.
She had to admit, Draco had inherited his father's knack for negotiation.
He had spent lavishly on Jane's gaming tournaments, becoming the event's largest sponsor.
The thrill of competitive gaming had completely captivated him, making him forget all about his father back at Malfoy Manor—not to mention his original request to procure a gaming console.
After all, his Galleons had already been spent on donating two gaming consoles and sponsoring the tournament.
Meanwhile, the Weasley family, taking advantage of their numbers, participated in the tournament in shifts.
In the previous round, they had won first and third place, successfully treating Draco as their personal ATM.
If Lucius were to find out, he would likely storm over to the Weasley household to duel Arthur Weasley again—and then march to Hogwarts to drag Draco out by the ear, berating him as an unfilial, wasteful brat.
Feeling guilty, Draco dared not mention anything about the gaming console to his father. Instead, he resorted to playing the victim, hoping for another financial bailout.
But his futile attempts to cover his tracks had long been noticed by Lucius, who had tasked Snape with keeping an eye on him.
As a result, Draco lost his hard-earned front-row seat and missed the tournament entirely—
Because he had been caught shouting in the hallway and was promptly given detention by Snape.
To make matters worse—
When Snape dragged him into the dungeon, Draco was clutching a gaming tournament flyer in one hand, with a smuggled gaming console tucked under his robes.
The flyer, featuring a moving chibi version of Jane Yu making a heart gesture, thankfully omitted any details about the time, location, or participants. Otherwise, the club might have faced another raid.
Snape was furious.
"Violating school rules by purchasing contraband items... Perhaps you're even distributing them secretly, aren't you?"
"Maybe I should inform your father about everything you've been up to at school, so he knows exactly where his Galleons have gone."
Draco's face turned pale. The evidence was irrefutable, and he stammered, unable to come up with any defense.
He watched helplessly as Snape confiscated his gaming console—purchased with nearly half a pouch of Galleons—and assigned him twenty barrels of Flobberworm mucus to process, enough to keep him busy for a month.
Meanwhile, Snape, convinced he had cracked the case, quickly sent a reply to Lucius.
Along with the letter, he included the flyer and the gaming console, hoping to reassure the concerned father.
The letter maintained Snape's usual sarcastic tone, emphasizing the need for Mr. Malfoy to take his son's psychological education seriously and advising him to curb his "crooked ambitions" and stop pestering his intelligent and kind classmates—or worse, secretly collecting their stickers.
The Malfoys, however, chose to ignore Snape's sarcasm.
They were far more intrigued by the gaming console that had so captivated their son.
Narcissa smiled as she examined the flyer, showing particular interest in the chibi character depicted on it.
Out of curiosity—and perhaps a businessman's instinct to study a product—Lucius pressed the red button on the console.
It was as if he had opened Pandora's box.
By 4 a.m.
The couple, yawning and rubbing their sore necks, looked up in confusion—
Who were they? Where were they? What had they been doing?
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to ( 90 ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here:/ patreon.com/DarkGolds
Happy reading, everyone!