If the house carrying out the home visit had not been Slytherin, or if those words had not come from Snape himself, then perhaps the wizards hearing it would not have found it so surprising.
If it had been Professor McGonagall instead, it would not have felt strange or out of place at all.
And the facts proved it. Narcissa, who was only hearing about this now, had a very obvious look of astonishment on her face. The way she looked at Lucius was almost as if she were checking whether this was some kind of black humor.
But to Narcissa's surprise, Lucius looked entirely serious, and Draco also nodded to confirm it...
"This is the first time I've heard of it... no, I certainly did not know Hogwarts had added something like that."
"Of course it has not. I am a school governor. It is probably that there is something important they want to discuss with Draco."
Hearing Narcissa's confusion, Lucius, as Hogwarts' most powerful governor, naturally understood the key point at once, and promptly confirmed her guess.
Narrowing those grey Malfoy eyes, Lucius glanced at Draco, who was silently cutting into the steak on his plate with aristocratic elegance...
"That Severus would not do something meaningless. So Draco must have done something at school. That is also why I have confined Draco here."
"Darling?"
Worry.
Reproach.
Faced with those two pressure filled gazes, Draco's hand holding the knife and fork paused, and a flicker of resignation and realization passed through his eyes.
Clearly, his narrow minded godfather had done it on purpose.
Especially with his mother looking as though tears might spill at any second, as if he were about to die in the next moment, Draco felt his scalp go numb.
He had no idea how much of it was an act, but even so, he still found it hard to endure that kind of gaze.
As for Lucius, he was thoroughly enjoying this. No one understood better than he did just how lethal Narcissa could be at a moment like this...
While soothing his mother aloud, Draco could not help cursing a certain someone inwardly.
'So that is why I was confined here.'
The moment he understood, Draco realized he had been thoroughly sold out by Snape.
Simply put, Snape had gone straight to Lucius and reported him.
As for what exactly he had said.
Draco could already guess...
At the time, Draco had thought it was only an exchange of information. But in reality, Snape had turned right around and told his father everything, very likely mixed with quite a bit of personal feeling as well.
Once he worked it out, Draco rubbed at his temple with a headache coming on. 'So the problem was Snape after all.'
As for the so called home visit, it could be true, or it could just as easily be false.
In reality, it was a warning aimed at him, and also a form of protection very much in Snape's own style...
...
After enduring those unsettling stares, Draco finally made it through that unbearably uncomfortable meal.
Back in his room.
"Honestly..."
He had really been played.
Though it had taken a little longer than it should have, Draco had finally figured out exactly where his plans and actions had been exposed.
For some reason, he could almost picture the cold sneer on Snape's face right now.
Compared with other people's godfathers, there was clearly something wrong with his...
Still, fortunately, the amount of information he had exchanged with Snape back then had not been much. Otherwise, things would probably not have ended with a mere confinement. Most likely, both his father and mother would have tried every possible way to get him out of magical Britain altogether.
All in all.
Though the result left Draco helpless, it also made him breathe a great sigh of relief.
At the very least, his father should still know nothing about some of the things currently in motion, including the organization of Celestial Dragon, or the secret investigation into what exactly that prophecy was, and... his contact with Lockhart.
Lucius might have his suspicions about these matters, but he definitely did not know the truth yet. And with his father's pride, he would never lower himself to ask Dobby...
At that thought, Draco suddenly looked toward the corner of the room.
"What has happened lately, or rather, has something happened in the wizarding world?"
At first, it seemed like nothing more than Draco talking to himself. But in the next second, Kreacher's figure began to appear in the room as though drenched in water, first his head, then the rest of his body.
If not for the fact that he was sprawled on the floor in that humble posture, one might almost have thought he was some elite assassin sent to kill Draco...
In truth, this had become a daily occurrence.
Ever since that day, Kreacher had appeared in Draco's room punctually every day. If Draco happened not to be there, he would even cast a Disillusionment Charm and wait there silently in place.
Though bound by the rules governing house elves, it still had to be said that Kreacher seemed to show Draco an almost excessive loyalty, as though he believed in something that drove him to act this way...
Just as Draco was staring at Kreacher and drifting for a moment in thought, that bullfrog like voice rang out.
"Yes, sir. Something major has indeed happened in the wizarding world."
"Oh?"
Draco was not sure whether it was just his imagination, but he seemed to hear a deliberately suppressed excitement in the other's tone.
From an angle Draco could not see, Kreacher's eyes had widened, the bloodshot veins in them seeming even more pronounced.
"Although it has been found, he does not seem to know it is actually fake. But old Kreacher cannot confirm whether he can destroy it, so..."
Draco frowned.
He could not make sense of Kreacher's muttering at all, and by the end it had grown so quiet it was almost inaudible. Had they not been standing this close, Draco might not have caught a single word.
Found what?
Fake? Destroy?
Just as Draco was thinking it over, Kreacher seemed to suddenly come back to himself and remember the question Draco had actually asked.
"The big matter. Yes, Dumbledore has been injured."
"Injured?!"
The news made Draco sit bolt upright.
If it was serious enough to be called a major event, and serious enough to affect Lucius's recent actions, then it could not possibly be a light injury. More likely, it was a grave wound severe enough to affect Dumbledore's strength.
And with that came another question.
How had Dumbledore been injured?
"Was it Voldemort?"
"...."
What was with that silence?
"We have not investigated that yet."
Just as Draco was about to press further, he suddenly stopped.
The look he turned on Kreacher became one of suspicion.
It was not that he doubted the truth of the information.
Rather...
Though Draco could not see Kreacher's expression at that moment, his instincts were telling him that the house elf was hiding something.
It was the sort of feeling that said the information Kreacher had just given was true, and that there really was no deeper intelligence available at the moment, yet the house elf before him seemed to know something anyway...