Chapter 6

On his way down the stairs, Draco remembered something he had almost forgotten.

„Kreacher, bring the locket Regulus ordered you to destroy to me."

Draco's words startled Kreacher even more severely than what he had done earlier.

Kreacher needed a minute to recover from this shock, that almost gave him a heart attack.

Reluctant and ashamed, but with a spark of hope blossoming inside, Kreacher finally followed Draco's order.

With a ‚pop', Kreacher teleported through the house.

After a little wait, Kreacher presented the old Slytherin locket with the stylized ‚S', that housed a part of Voldemort's soul, to Draco.

Unafraid of the soul shards mental powers and the locket's enchantments, Draco took it in hand.

Subtle whispers of general fears and desires tried to influence him, but with his mastery of mind magic it was not difficult to block them out completely.

„Fetch me a jewelry box that is not enchanted, please."

Draco's order was immediately followed this time, and Kreacher was quickly back with a gaudy but unenchanted jewelry box.

Draco emptied the box's content, a heap of earrings as gaudy as the box, into Kreachers arms, and carefully enchanted it.

Then he placed the Horcrux inside.

„I'm going to need some time but I will definitely fulfill Regulus dying wish and destroy this locket."

Draco declared.

„Really? Master Lord Black can really destroy it? Kreacher has tried everything."

Kreacher had tears in his eyes, staring up at Draco with heartfelt hope.

„You have my word, Kreacher. If you want, you can be present when I take care of it."

Draco promised, and Kreacher completely burst into tears, falling to his knees.

Kreacher sobbed and repeatedly thanked Draco.

„Thank you, Master Lord Black. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you..."

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„It's okay."

Draco patted Kreacher on the head and went back up to the Black Lord's office again, leaving Kreacher time to himself to process his feelings.

Up to his office, Draco corrected internally, it was his office now.

„Back again so soon, ‚Great Lord Black'?"

Sarcasm dripped from Phineas' voice as he addressed Draco with his new title.

Draco didn't mind, it still counted as his win.

Without any delays, Draco deposited the freshly enchanted jewelry box into the safe and closed up again.

On his way downstairs, Draco found Kreacher still sobbing exactly in the same spot, where Draco had left him earlier.

„Kreacher, I will be leaving now. I will be back in a few days. I want you to start cleaning the house properly again, do as much as you can without damaging your health. If you need something or someone visits, inform me immediately."

Draco didn't want to overwhelm Kreacher any more than he already had, so Draco postponed talking with Kreacher about his hygiene, his rags and his sleeping place.

Draco was back in Malfoy Manor long before lunch.

He used his down-time to ponder about the plans he had made for the new future and to consider new ones.

In the afternoon, Greg and Vince came by for training, as agreed.

The two had truly quickly adapted to the physical training, and they even seemed to enjoy the hard workout.

During magical training, they were by far less enthusiastic, but they still followed Draco's lead without protest and they tried their best mastering the shield charm, ‚Protego'.

After dinner, Draco spend his time practicing his more esoteric magic, privately.

Before bed, he meditated, sorting through the thoughts of his day and working on his occlumency.

...

Next morning, after breakfast, Draco made his way to Gringotts, using the Floo Network this time.

The goblins greeted him with their usual mix of scorn and indifference.

As one of the more wealthy clients, Draco just skipped the tellers on their high counters and went directly to the section where the offices were.

"What do you want wizard?" One of the goblin guards stopped Draco to question him before he could reach the first office's door.

"Take me to the Black account manager." Draco instructed calmly.

The guard sneered at him.

"Greedy wizards. Like father, like son. You're not getting access to the Black vault. Forget it. You are not eligible."

The guard sneered and let out a guttural laugh.

That was the thing in their little magical community grandiosely called 'Wizarding Britain', everyone knew everyone, and their business, especially someone prominent like a Malfoy.

"Just do your job."

Draco would have inserted a polite 'please', if goblins didn't look down on one-sided politeness.

The goblin grunted, "The manager will be very displeased if you waste his time, young wizard."

Draco just stared at him until the goblin huffed and caved, probably purely out of annoyance.

The goblin led Draco to a door pretty far down the corridor.

'Manager Skullcarver' it said on a golden plaque on the heavy steel door.

The guard knocked politely and informed the manager in Gobbledegook about Draco.

"I have the Malfoy scion here for you. The boy is dreaming to cash out the Black vault. He insisted to be told off by you personally."

Manager Scullcarver grumbled and cursed.

"Stupid greedy wizards... Let the dreaming idiot come in. I will explain it to him extra slowly with simple words, that he has no right to the Black Family fortune."

Draco's Gobbledegook was a little rusty but he got the gist of what they were saying.

Draco had learned many things during his long first life.

Patience was one of those things, that's why he didn't try to wow the goblins with his knowledge of Gobbledegook to hastily built a rapport.

Draco waited for the guard to bid him entry in English, before he entered the lavish office.