If it had been any other emotion—disdain, anger, even disgust—Tver could have understood it. But envy? That was something he had never seen on Draco's face before.
Sure enough, Draco realized something was off and hurriedly lowered his head, a hint of panic in his movements.
"It's… it's Goyle and Crabbe…"
"Oh?" Tver looked at him in mild surprise.
Thinking it over, he realized that he really hadn't seen Goyle and Crabbe trailing after Draco much lately. In fact, he hadn't even seen the three of them together at all.
"You had a falling-out with them?"
A look of helplessness immediately settled into Draco's eyes.
"It's their fathers. After the… uh, incident over the summer, they were arrested."
"Goyle and Crabbe accused my father of standing by and doing nothing. They said he helped other people escape punishment, but just watched while their fathers were sent to Azkaban."
Tver paused, genuinely surprised.
That had indeed been something he instructed Lucius to handle. Those who were let off were generally Death Eaters with lighter crimes and no prior record.
As for those who were sentenced, they either had previous offenses, or had gone too far that night.
Anyone who ended up completely falling out with Lucius likely fit both categories…
What caught Tver off guard, though, was Goyle's and Crabbe's fathers. As far as he remembered, they were rather… well, incompetent.
They ended up in Azkaban?
That was enough to warrant Azkaban?
"So after we argued, the two of them started spreading rumors around the house, saying the Malfoy family abandoned their own," Draco continued.
"Some Slytherin students whose families were arrested too started blaming everything on us Malfoys…"
Tver immediately understood Draco's situation.
Pure-blood families were always intertwined. Slytherin wasn't made up entirely of pure-bloods, but the pure-bloods from Death Eater families were almost all there.
So among Slytherin's pure-blood students, many had relatives who'd been sent to Azkaban.
These students didn't understand that only half of the Death Eaters had been arrested. All they saw was the half that had been taken away.
Naturally, that anger found its way to Draco.
Draco and his peers weren't like their fathers' generation, bound together by shared interests.
Which made his situation painfully clear—he was being isolated, in some ways even worse than Harry.
No wonder Draco had been throwing himself into his studies this term, working even harder than Neville, who was single-mindedly obsessed with mastering the Cruciatus Curse.
So he'd been trying to numb himself through studying…
With a quiet sigh, Tver stood up, walked over, and crouched down in front of Draco, meeting his eyes.
"So what? You plan to punish yourself the same way they're punishing you?"
Draco jerked his head up. "I'm not—"
"You are, Draco." Tver's voice was calm but firm. "You've already experienced what it's like to have no friends. So why trap yourself within this small circle in Slytherin?"
"But… most pure-blood families…"
"Look at me."
The command made Draco flinch. His body trembled slightly as his gaze wavered, then finally settled on Tver's eyes.
"Do you really care that much about pure-blood status? Do you remember second year, when I had you punished and sent to clean?"
Draco was instantly pulled back into those memories.
"I think you've already realized this. Even Muggles with no magical ability can possess strengths far beyond what wizards imagine. So what about half-bloods, or Muggle-born wizards?"
"They're no worse than we are. In fact, many of them are stronger than a great number of pure-bloods."
"And I can tell you a secret that very few people in the wizarding world know," Tver leaned in close to Draco's ear and said softly. "Voldemort is actually a half-blood. His father was a genuine Muggle."
Draco was completely stunned.
Voldemort, the champion of pure-blood supremacy, was a half-blood?
If that ever got out, it would at least cut the effectiveness of his pure-blood propaganda in half.
But Tver wasn't finished.
"And Professor Snape, whom we all respect, is also a half-blood wizard."
"Draco, don't limit your perspective to pure-bloods alone. The Malfoy family intermarried with Muggles long ago. Otherwise, your family—and the Fawley family as well, among others—would have died out long ago for lack of heirs."
"Then why…" Draco asked, still dazed.
"Interest," Tver replied with a smile.
"If pure-blood supremacy brings us benefits, then we promote it. If it doesn't, then anyone who stubbornly clings to that idea is destined to be eliminated by history."
"So, Draco, that small group in Slytherin that's isolating you is simply part of the wizarding world that's bound to disappear."
"Widen your horizons. There are plenty of people in Slytherin who are worth getting to know. Building relationships with those who can bring you greater benefits is what you should be doing, not wallowing in self-pity because a few idiots are huddling together."
"Benefits?" Draco's eyes grew brighter and brighter. There was still uncertainty in his expression, but his tone was firm.
Before, he had never understood why his father could act like a scheming dark wizard one moment, then turn around and chat cheerfully with Aurors, all upright and righteous.
Now, a single word explained everything.
He even saw through the true nature of Goyle and Crabbe.
"No wonder Goyle and the others used to follow me around. It was because the Malfoy family brought them benefits."
"And once those benefits disappeared, they naturally went their own way…"
"Exactly." Tver gave his shoulder an approving pat.
Draco's sharp understanding in this regard was what Tver admired most about him.
In fact, if one were to search the entire wizarding world for someone who truly embodied Salazar Slytherin's spirit, Tver would never choose Voldemort, nor Snape.
He would choose Draco Malfoy.
"Whether they're pure-blood or Muggle-born, whether they're from Slytherin or Gryffindor, or even a Muggle with no magic at all."
"As long as they're useful to our goals, they're worth befriending. They should be befriended, even if it makes us look a little calculating."
"Of course, that isn't flattery. It's an exchange of interests."
"I understand, Professor!"
Draco jumped to his feet in excitement, grabbed his bag, and nearly ran straight into Tver.
"Wait," Tver said calmly. "There's still a whole stack of papers here that haven't been graded yet."