Gilderoy Lockhart.
A madman whose loyalties, thoughts, whereabouts, and attitude toward this war were all unclear.
Although he seemed to have some unknown connection to Kreacher, Draco was not overly worried about it.
If anything, that man did not seem to bear any malice toward him for the time being.
From what Draco understood, the man seemed to have some strange expectation for his future, as though he were waiting for him to grow stronger.
Because of that, until Lockhart achieved his own goal, Draco could be sure that, for now at least, Lockhart was still on his side.
As for those baffling words...
Draco withdrew his gaze from Kreacher and set the matter aside for the moment.
Right now, whether or not he could get in touch with Lockhart was completely unimportant compared to the predicament in front of him.
What he needed to solve now was how to carry out the plans and actions he had set for himself before the holiday began.
At that thought, the corner of Draco's eye suddenly caught Kreacher, who was still sprawled on the floor...
"I am curious how reliable your loyalty to the Malfoys really is. After all, you hid all this from us."
If that accusation had been aimed at Dobby, then in the very next second Dobby would probably have smashed his head against a wall or slammed his hand in a door.
An ordinary house elf, at the very least, would certainly have looked panicked and terrified.
But Kreacher's reaction was different from every other house elf's...
"Kreacher would never disobey Mistress's orders, and Kreacher would never harm the noble Black bloodline. Kreacher has served the Blacks for seven centuries. Kreacher must protect it. Kreacher will never let those mudbloods, traitors, and little brats defile it."
Listening to that muttering, which had no trace of noble refinement and sounded more like some street thug's ranting, Draco, who had not expected such a response at all, could not help the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
As for exactly who Kreacher was cursing, Draco had no interest in finding out. But judging from his expression, he was clearly cursing a specific wizard, not simply babbling nonsense.
It was also obvious that those words came from the bottom of his heart, and were not merely meant to reassure Draco that he meant no harm.
And in truth, Draco did not believe Kreacher could violate the long standing rules that bound house elves.
However...
"Did my mother order you to stop me from leaving Malfoy Manor?"
"...No, sir."
After a pause, and several seconds of silence, Kreacher still answered this question, even though it had nothing at all to do with whether he was loyal.
The reason for the hesitation was probably because he had guessed what Draco was thinking.
Sure enough, with his head lowered, Kreacher could already feel that almost tangible gaze examining him.
So Draco had chosen to make him the point of breakthrough...
...
A successful plan needed time to be refined.
Naturally, before he was certain, Draco would never act rashly and alert the enemy, because no one understood Lucius's ability and sharpness better than he did.
So after that conversation with Kreacher, the days that followed became uneventful. Most of the time, Draco stayed in his room reading, showing no sign at all of making trouble.
And Draco could indeed feel that his father's attention was no longer focused on him.
Of course, that might also have been because Lucius no longer had the spare energy to keep watching Draco...
'Just to put Father at ease, I really ended up spending quite a bit of time.'
As he carefully fed a dead mouse soaked in Firewhiskey to the owl perched on his arm, Draco let out a quiet thought to himself even while his mind was elsewhere.
Quite a bit of time had already passed since that day. Many things Draco had intended to do had now been temporarily set aside, and even Pansy and the others had been affected by it.
Yes, it was not only Draco. Pansy and the others had also been confined at home by their families. It could be said that aside from exchanging letters, they had not seen each other or spoken face to face for quite a long time.
As for the owl on his arm?
"An invitation from Lovegood."
Following Draco's gaze, one could see the letter on the table. The contents were a handwritten letter of thanks from Luna, along with an invitation to dinner.
Not only that, there was another letter on the table as well, one meant to be delivered to Draco's parents.
After all, the person who had truly stepped in and resolved this matter had been Lucius behind Draco...
"It is just that I have no intention of handing this letter to Father."
"Hoo?"
As though it had understood Draco's words, the diligent owl stretched one claw toward the letter on the table.
"Do not worry. I will explain it to your master."
"Hoo!"
Whether those words had worked, or whether the dead mouse flavored with Firewhiskey that was being fed right to its beak simply smelled too good, the claw that had just reached out quietly withdrew to where it had been before.
Seeing how greedy it looked for the food, Draco let out a soft laugh in amusement...
At last.
Once the owl was satisfied, Draco flicked his arm and sent it back up into the sky.
It was worth mentioning that the magical mist surrounding all of Malfoy Manor, along with the Fidelius Charm, seemed unable to stop these owls carrying letters and determined to complete their mission.
In a way, these owls, much like house elves, seemed to be blessed by the wizarding world...
...
Draco withdrew his gaze from the bird's silhouette as it gradually shrank into a tiny black dot on the horizon, and his expression turned serious.
Because of the invitation from Lovegood.
To be more precise, Draco wanted to obtain some important information from that Lovegood, and he also wanted to understand and win over The Quibbler, something that could be of enormous help to them.
In other words, whether this idea would succeed or not, accepting this invitation was a very important step for Draco and the others...
Holding the letter written in flowing script between his fingers, Draco narrowed his eyes and murmured, "So it has finally come. But with my current situation, it will not be easy for me to go."
"And... should I let Pansy and the others know?"
Before, Draco would not have hesitated at all.
But now, a trace of hesitation had appeared in his heart.
Without even realizing it, the confident, domineering Draco had begun to have people he cared about, and people he could not help but worry for...