Chapter 9

The next morning, at the breakfast table, the interrogation continued.

And by now, Lucius had had the time to think everything over again.

Critically.

And Lucius was alarmed.

Yesterday, he had let himself get distracted by his emotions, but now he was much... not calmer, no... but much more controlled.

„Draco, did someone instruct you to do all this? Did that someone tell you about the ancient law and what to do to get the Black Inheritance? Is that person the manager, who is going to take over the Black businesses?"

What was his father thinking?

Now his mother looked really worried, too.

It seemed like Draco would have to tell people even earlier than he had thought...

But it didn't really matter...

Because Draco would have to do so many fantastical, magical and unbelievable things to achieve his plans and save the world, he needed some kind of official story anyway.

„No, no one instructed me. Actually... I saw the future. And that's how I knew what to do."

„What?"/„What?"

His parents thought, they had misheard.

„I saw the future."

Draco repeated.

„What?"/„How? Why?"

„Magic."

Draco answered his mother with a smile.

„You mean to tell us that you are a seer, and you had a vision of the future?"

Lucius asked with a special undertone.

„I prefer the term Master of Divination, but essentially yes."

Draco chose to tell the truth but not ‚the truth'.

Technically, the whole future had passed his vision once, so that was true.

Now that he thought about it, it wasn't ‚the future' anymore, but ‚a future'; since he had changed some things already, it wasn't the future of this timeline anymore.

And he really was a Master of Divination, so he didn't lie there either.

„Draco, stop talking nonsense! Visions are much more vague and never so direct to give detailed guidance. Think of a more believable excuse next time! Now tell me, who told you!"

Lucius was getting angry again.

Stolen novel; please report.

„I told you, no one told me. I really saw the future."

No matter how often Draco repeated himself, his father kept asking about his nonexistent puppeteer.

His mother stayed unusually quiet during the whole ‚I-saw-the-future/no-you-didn't-dispute'.

Draco was glad when he had eaten up, and it was finally time for him to leave.

„Where are you going?"

Lucius awaited Draco in front of the fireplace, that was connected to the Floo Network, stopping him.

„To the ministry. Do you want to accompany me?"

Draco directly invited his father, before Lucius tried to keep him home or tried to secretly follow him.

As suspicious as Lucius was, Lucius agreed immediately and followed him through the fire into the ministry.

With Lucius at his side, even more people than the day before shot dark looks in Draco's direction as the father and son duo made their way through the ministry.

And even more people came to chat with them.

But because Lucius was in a bad mood, these chats were all over really quickly.

So they came through faster than Draco on his own yesterday.

When the two Malfoys reached the Department of Registration, the Minister of Magic was already waiting for them there.

As soon as Fudge had heard they had entered the building, he made his way there to meet them.

Fudge received them with enthusiasm.

„Lucius, it's always good to see you."

Fudge smiled, and shook Lucius' hand.

„Minister, always a pleasure... You know my son Draco."

Lucius nodded in greeting and graced Fudge with his cool political smile.

Then he gestured to Draco.

„Yes, of course. The young man of the hour. It's nice to see you again. When was the last time we spoke? At last year's Yule Ball, right? How are you today, Draco?"

Fudge warmly and enthusiastically shook Draco's hand, too.

With the minister there, no problems arose with Draco's title inheritance and the bureaucracy was swiftly taken care of.

„Let me be the first to officially congratulate you, Lord Black. If there is something I can help you with in the future, please don't hesitate to ask."

Fudge offered graciously with the Wizengamot in mind.

„That is really generous of you, Minister. Thank you. I actually have some things I could need help with. I want to register a new business, and I want to buy some land from the ministry around Hogsmeade to build the headquarters on."

Draco immediately took advantage of Fudge's offer.

Fortunately, Fudge was interested in this new business and praised Draco's youthful entrepreneurship.

Lucius was alarmed again, but he didn't want to make a scene right there in the middle of the ministry, especially not in front of the minister, so he chose to remain silent and just watch from the side.

Fudge was really accommodating and led the way, the business registration office was really close anyway, „What kind of business do you plan on opening?"

„A mirror business."

„Mirrors?"

Fudge asked confused.

„Yes. Enchanted mirrors that can be used to communicate, face to face, even over long distances. Also the mirrors will be able to show and store recorded pictures and scenes."

„That sounds great."

Fudge just complimented and didn't seem to realize the impact this business would have at all.

„For example. If I'm ready in time, I would like to record the Quidditch World Cup Finals."

Draco tried to paint a clearer picture for Fudge, trying to take advantage of the minister's ignorance at the same time.

„That shouldn't be a problem. I already gave your father three golden tickets for the top box."

Fudge smiled proudly and didn't even ask for payment for recording an event the ministry was hosting.

Obviously, Fudge still wasn't getting it, and he definitely had no idea of one of the greatest no-maj inventions of all time, the television.

His loss, Draco's gain.

Registering the business was child's play with Fudge in tow.

When the ministry clerk asked what name he should note down for the business, Draco chose „Black Malfoy Unlimited."

Buying land around Hogsmeade afterwards, they finally hit a little speed bump.

Draco especially came to the ministry, because he didn't want land in Hogsmeade, what he would have to buy from the villagers, but around Hogsmeade.

Draco planned for Hogsmeade to grow and expand in the future.

That wasn't exactly the problem the ministry had, the problem was just how much land Draco wanted to buy.

So much, that they had to expand the wards around the exclusively magical village.

But luckily, this wasn't a problem galleons couldn't solve.

In the end, Draco put the full Black emergency fund money bag he had found in the Lord's safe on the table.

50.000 Galleons, that was really a lot of gold.

The responsible ministry clerk just gaped as he counted the money and calculated the bought land, minus the fee for the ward extension.