Saturday, June 26, 1993.
The morning sunlight streamed through the tall windows of Malfoy Manor, falling upon Draco Malfoy's sleeping face.
Feeling the dazzling sunlight, Draco lazily sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes.
After quickly washing up, he went directly to the garden on one side of the Manor, where his parents were quietly enjoying breakfast.
"Father, Mother, today is the day Professor Swan is visiting. Should we have the House-elves clean the Manor again?"
Draco said loudly, his voice echoing through the Manor, breaking the morning's tranquility.
Lucius Malfoy frowned slightly, a hint of displeasure in his tone: "You've emphasized this eight hundred times since you returned with Sebastian's visiting card."
"Too impetuous. This is not the Malfoy way."
Narcissa, however, merely smiled gently, picked up her teacup, and calmly said: "My dear, Draco is still a child. He admires Sebastian, so naturally he wants today's visit to be perfect."
"Mother understands me," Malfoy muttered softly, "Professor Swan isn't some bumpkin who hasn't seen the world. If it's not clean enough, I'm afraid it will disgrace the House of Malfoy."
Lucius sighed, putting down the newspaper in his hand: "The Manor has already been cleaned three times, inside and out."
"There's no need to clean it again today. Just make sure you don't mess up the Manor."
"No matter how you look at it, this Manor is already respectable enough, even the most fastidious Wizard wouldn't find any fault."
"Come, Draco," Narcissa sat by the table, gently patting the seat next to her, "There's still a whole day. Don't rush, eat breakfast first."
"I can hear your stomach rumbling."
Just as Draco was about to retort loudly, he heard his own stomach make a protesting gurgle.
His face flushed, and he obediently sat down, devouring his breakfast.
Lucius sighed again, putting down the newspaper in his hand: "Manners, Draco, mind your manners while eating!"
"When your Professor arrives, will you still be wolfing down your food like this? Malfoy cannot afford such a disgrace."
"I don't know what you've learned at Hogwarts, losing all your eating manners."
"Hmph--" Malfoy pouted, "Professor doesn't care about these empty formalities."
"Unlike those old pure-blood families, Professor values a person's ability and wisdom more."
"I asked for the cleaning simply to show my respect for Professor."
Hearing this, Lucius was infuriated.
His little Draco had changed.
How obedient he used to be, doing whatever he was told.
Now, he kept mentioning what Professor Swan said, and how Professor Swan was.
He had even heard that his little Draco no longer had the pure-blood families' pride at Hogwarts, and could even calmly interact with Mudbloods.
This was outrageous!
When Sebastian arrived, he would definitely have a good talk with him.
Lucius stood up and said coldly: "Draco, your Professor may not care about these manners, but we need to."
"I don't want people to think that a child from Malfoy Manor is a crude monkey."
"You don't need to worry about anything else. Just review the etiquette for meetings between nobles."
Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was evening. Draco kept looking at the clock on the wall.
"It's almost seven. I'll go wait at the Manor gate first. Professor is always punctual, and I don't want him to wait long at the gate."
With that, he stood up and scurried towards the Manor gate.
Arriving at the Manor entrance, Draco had just finished checking his attire when he heard a familiar voice from outside the gate.
"Draco, are you waiting for me?"
Draco looked up and saw Professor Swan smiling at him.
He quickly opened the gate and said happily: "Welcome to Malfoy Manor, Professor Swan."
"Please come in, I'll show you the way."
"Thank you," Sebastian smiled and nodded, then took out a beautifully wrapped gift box and placed it in Draco's hand, "This is a gift for you, I hope you like it."
A gift?
For me?
Draco looked at the gift box in his hand, his heart itching terribly.
"Open it and see," Sebastian smiled slightly, "Don't worry, it's not a test paper."
Opening the gift box in his hand, Draco was surprised to find a delicate Norwegian Ridgeback model inside.
"It's made to look like Norbert. Do you still remember him?"
Of course I remember!
He had watched that little dragon hatch in his first year.
Malfoy was overjoyed, holding the model in his hand with adoration, wishing he could play with it right now.
He suppressed the eagerness in his heart, only quickening his pace slightly.
"What have you been doing these past few days of vacation?" Sebastian teased, "Are you bored at home?"
Hehe!
Here it comes, Professor would indeed ask him about his studies.
Fortunately, he was quite clever and had already prepared, not feeling guilty at all.
Draco patted his chest and replied: "Not boring at all. I've been working on the summer assignments given by all the Professors since I got home."
"Although they are quite difficult, I've almost finished them."
"I think the assignments Professors gave are a bit too little; I've almost finished them in just one week."
Seeing Malfoy's expression, as if asking for praise, Sebastian praised him with a grin.
"Impressive, truly the role model of our house."
"If only all the students in our house were as diligent as you."
To be honest, this was not Sebastian praising him randomly, but genuinely acknowledging Draco's change.
Sebastian had always seen Draco's efforts over the past year and had often helped him with his questions.
Moreover, take the summer homework for example.
Among Muggles, children's summer homework was mostly a formality, and teachers would not seriously check it after school started.
But Hogwarts was different; the summer assignments given by Professors were basically focused on the key knowledge points for the new school year.
Students needed to look up information themselves to complete them.
According to Sebastian's understanding, Snape's assignment was a preview for Shrinking Potion, which was a key topic in the third-year Potion Class.
After praising Draco, Sebastian quickly saw Lucius and Narcissa standing in front of the mansion's door.
Lucius stepped forward two paces and shook Sebastian's hand with standard noble etiquette.
"Welcome to Malfoy Manor, Sebastian."
Narcissa also said warmly: "You haven't been here in a long time. Don't just stand there, please come in."
...