Lying on his brocade-covered bed, his thoughts tangled like a mess of thread, Draco grew more irritated the more he thought. His chest felt stifled, and he really wanted to curse out loud.
He had thought that being born into the Malfoy family, with immense wealth and power his from birth, would mean a smooth, carefree life.
Who knew so many invisible shackles would weigh on his shoulders? Even his true wishes were constrained by family rules. These worries were no lighter than those of ordinary families.
Amid his turmoil, even racking his brains yielded no solution, so he simply cast those thoughts aside. To hell with it all.
He could look into it tomorrow. There was still some time before he started at Hogwarts; he would find a way to persuade his parents.
Once he put those heavy thoughts aside, Draco found himself rather bored as he lay on the soft bed.
The Malfoy family had always prided themselves on being pure-bloods, loathing and fiercely rejecting anything Muggle. He could search the entire manor, inside and out, without finding a single ordinary object to relieve his boredom.
His gaze went blank, and his thoughts involuntarily drifted to Hermione, the image of the girl in the wand shop playing over and over in his mind.
It was his first time seeing little Hermione with her hair in such a high ponytail. Thinking back carefully, she had looked particularly fresh and lovely.
At the thought, a faint smile unconsciously spread across Draco's lips. Drowsiness deepened, and before he knew it, he was sound asleep.
He had no idea that Professor McGonagall's solemn warnings the previous night had already made Hermione draw a firm line between them in her heart. The slight fondness from their first meeting had already been coated in a cold frost of distance, unlikely to thaw.
At daybreak the following morning, sunlight streamed through the carved windows, its warmth gently covering the bed and making the brocade quilt shimmer.
Draco slowly woke, feeling refreshed, his whole body relaxed. Yesterday's gloom and worries had been swept away.
He got up and stretched luxuriously, his joints cracking softly as he enjoyed the comfort of waking.
After eating the exquisite breakfast Dobby had carefully prepared, he sat upright on the velvet sofa in the sitting room, tapping the armrest lightly as he quietly considered how to spend the remaining time before school.
In fact, he already had an idea: find an opportunity to visit Hermione's home, study with her, and talk about magic.
The idea had quietly taken root yesterday in Diagon Alley.
But he knew Hermione was meticulous and cautious. They had known each other for only a day, and such an abrupt proposal would be far too presumptuous. It would certainly make her suspicious and set her thinking. After weighing it repeatedly, he had ultimately shelved it for now.
As for a chance meeting in the street, that was even less feasible.
With Hermione's knowledge-hungry, top-student nature, she would certainly spend this period shut up at home, buried in books and studying magic intently. She would never casually go out wandering to kill time.
After much thought, he could find no pretext to see her and could not help giving a quiet, helpless sigh. It seemed he would probably have to spend this period of preparation before school alone.
Still, Draco was at ease about it. He had already settled on two core goals, and everything else could be put aside for now.
The first was eliminating Voldemort, which was actually the easier matter.
He possessed memories of the original story and knew many secrets that others had no way of knowing.
In the future, he would only need to find the right opportunity to tell Dumbledore those secrets. With the old headmaster's extraordinary abilities and deep cunning, he would naturally devise plans to deal with them. Why should Draco trouble himself and venture into danger personally? He could simply enjoy the results.
The second was winning Hermione's heart.
In looks, he had platinum hair and gray-blue eyes, handsome and distinguished, with the exceptional bearing of a young aristocrat. Few wizards his age could compare.
As for ability, he had the system at his side, along with knowledge and capabilities far beyond ordinary people. With such exceptional advantages, winning her over should be easy; there was no need to worry too much.
With neither of his two core goals presenting any pressing concern, Draco gradually turned his attention to starting school.
Although he had always favored keeping a low profile and disliked showing off his talents too much, there was a good saying: you could pretend to be a noob, but you could not actually be one.
For a wizard, learning spells and building a solid foundation in magic were ultimately the basis of making one's way in the world. Only with genuine strength could one gain a firm footing in the unpredictable wizarding world.
But making Draco study dull, tedious magic books on his own would take far too much time and effort.
Besides, he already had a shortcut like the system. If he still had to do everything himself, the system would have no chance to prove useful. Wouldn't that be a waste?
With a thought, he immediately summoned the system's exchange interface. A light swipe of his fingertips brought the various spells available for exchange into view one by one.
He had now accumulated 130 fortune points, more than enough to exchange for some ordinary basic spells without any difficulty.
But the shop was densely packed with spell documents of all kinds: defense, attack, support, transformation, and everything else. The dizzying selection overwhelmed him, and for a moment he did not know which to prioritize, leaving him in a quandary instead.
After pondering for a long time, Draco had an idea-why not fetch the Standard Book of Spells and use it as a reference, exchanging for what he needed? That would be more precise and efficient.
But he was in the sitting room, while his bedroom was tucked away on the second floor. Although the round trip was not particularly far, he could not be bothered to get up and move an inch.
As he hesitated, two spells suddenly flashed through his mind: Apparition and the Summoning Charm.
Malfoy Manor did have defensive anti-Apparition magic in place to prevent intruders.
But his father, Lucius, must surely have already made an exception for him, allowing Draco to use it freely within the manor. It would be convenient and quick.
On second thought, though, using advanced magic like Apparition just to fetch a book seemed like making far too much of a minor task.
Viewed that way, the Summoning Charm was more suitable. He only needed to recite the incantation, and the book would come to him, saving time and effort without attracting attention.
Yet after weighing the two for a long time, Draco changed his mind instead.
Apparition was, after all, advanced spatial magic. Ordinary wizards had to be at least seventeen and pass a strict examination before they could learn it. The slightest carelessness could put them at risk of Splinching, making it extremely dangerous.
He was only eleven now. If he could master this magic ahead of time, it would certainly give him more convenience and confidence in the future.
Besides, it cost only 100 fortune points, and he had 130. That was no problem at all.
His mind made up, Draco hesitated no longer. He tapped the exchange interface and resolutely chose to exchange for Apparition/Disapparition.
The instant he confirmed, a clear notification suddenly sounded in his mind: "Ding! Original plot trajectory altered. Fortune points increased by 10."
That works too? Draco was startled, then filled with intense delight.
Could it be that learning advanced spells ahead of time changed my original growth trajectory, earning me an extra Fortune Points reward?
If so, couldn't I exploit this bug endlessly by exchanging for all kinds of spells ahead of time and accumulating fortune points?
Although exchanging for powerful advanced spells offered a poor return, exchanging for ordinary basic spells would practically mean learning them for free while earning extra fortune points.
Just thinking about such a wonderful opportunity made his heart race with barely containable excitement.
For now, though, he should fetch the Standard Book of Spells first and put everything else aside.
He immediately clicked the option to learn Apparition. In an instant, an immense torrent of information surged into his mind.
Intricate spellcasting essentials, precise spatial perception, and steady magical control were all clearly imprinted in his mind. It was as though he had studied the art for decades, instantly becoming an Apparition master.
Unable to contain his delight, Draco stood up immediately. With a thought, he slowly stirred the magic within him, and faint but steady magical fluctuations rippled around his body.
The next second, he vanished from the sitting room into thin air and appeared steadily inside his bedroom.
He landed lightly and firmly, without the slightest dizziness or discomfort. Even his breathing remained perfectly even.
Ordinary wizards often suffered tearing agony when first learning Apparition, and the slightest carelessness could plunge them into the disastrous danger of Splinching. Yet the spell obtained through the system had not the slightest side effect. It was utterly reliable.
"Sure enough, anything the system produces is guaranteed quality." He praised it sincerely, inwardly giving the system a huge thumbs-up.
So convenient and reliable, it was far more comfortable than when his father, Lucius, had taken him by Apparition yesterday.
On yesterday's trip to and from Diagon Alley, the spinning dizziness and tearing sensation had mingled, nearly making his stomach churn with acid and leaving him vomiting nonstop. Even now, the memory still unsettled him.
After returning to the sitting room, he was just about to study when his two lackeys, Goyle and Vincent, came calling.