After several hours spent reading in the Malfoy library, Draco was getting sick of reading about pureblood traditions and dark arts. After the downfall of the Dark Lord, he didn't care about that anymore. It was actually quite ironic that he believed in his cause in the first place. He couldn't have felt more stupid that The Golden Boy got rid of him with a mere disarming spell. Even though he never got the opportunity to become a Death Eater like his father, he now felt like a complete moron to have ever wanted to be a follower to a crazy lunatic. Ironic that Harry Bloody Potter saved him from that vile future, and that he was actually thankful for it.

Typical, now I actually owe Potter

That acknowledgement wasn't something he would voice out loud.

After considering what he should do instead of reading, he got up to just stroll around the Manor.

Even though his mother and he hadn't gotten sentenced to Azkaban, they had gotten house arrest, and therefore couldn't leave the Manor until he went to Hogwarts on September. His father on the other hand had gotten a lifetime in Azkaban. Draco wasn't surprised by this, and was actually relieved that he didn't have to stand up to him anymore.

He was getting sick with boredom. There wasn't much to do at the Manor. As he walked around he saw nothing new, always the same boring hallways and corridors. After some time he got fed up with strolling around too and slumped down to sit on the floor under a painting.

"I guess there's nothing more to explore now." He sighed out loud.

As he got ready to get up again he heard a voice.

"If you seek exploring, then perhaps I should let you in on a little secret…"

"Who's there?" he got up on his feet fast and looked around. Then he saw the painting he had been sitting under had changed. It now showed on of his ancestors instead of a landscape.

"I'm Abraxas Malfoy, your great, great, great grandfather. As I said, if you seek exploring, then I will show you a secret storage room behind my painting"

Draco was still somewhat puzzled to this new turn of event. He had never before seen this painting, and never heard of a secret room in the Manor.

"I don't believe you. Why wouldn't I have heard about this before?"

"You wouldn't have. My painting and this room only appears every 50 years, its secret only revealed to those who seek more within the manor. As you now have, so would you like to see it?"

Draco's curiosity got the better of him.

"Okay, how do I get in?"

"You have to put a drop of your blood on the frame of my painting and the doorway will appear. But beware, you can't reveal anything about what you find inside, the room is an ancient secret in the Malfoy family, and its contents as well. If you decide to take something with you, you may not speak of where you got it."

"I will hold the secret." He bowed to the painting, awestruck that he got the honor to know the secret. He took out his wand and conjured a needle to prick his finger with. Luckily he had turned seventeen a month ago, so he was now able to perform magic whenever he wanted. After the blood dripped out of his finger he smeared it on the frame and stepped back.

After a couple of seconds the painting transformed to a door. He hesitated a moment, almost scared to walk in.

Get yourself together Malfoy

He finally pulled out of his stupor and opened the door. The insides resembled a simple office, with a grand desk, further in the room there was a fireplace and a comfortable looking chair. The walls were filled with row upon rows of ancient looking books and scrolls. He took a closer look and saw that some of the books were written by his ancestors and even a scroll by Merlin himself. He felt gob smacked and truly honored to be there. After some time looking through some of the titles of the books, he gathered a few and sat behind the desk to read them.

This was truly amazing; he had never imagined that Malfoy Manor had interesting books that not involved dark magic or poor blood laws. Other than reading material he had found many other interesting things. A secret passageway behind the fireplace showed another room attached to the office. This room was filled with magical objects he hadn't seen before, jewelry, regal dress robes and a collection of antic racing brooms. Even though many of the things were rather old, they were all charmed to look as new. He was glad to notice that the robes fitted him perfectly, as if they were made for him specifically. He decided to take some of the robes, jewelry and artifacts with him. He had found a Malfoy signature ring, much more beautiful than the one he owned now as he was the head of the Malfoy family. He had also found a beautiful Quill and ink set made out of pure silver. The Quill was engraved with emeralds and reminded him a little of Slytherin. The ink bottle was also engraved with emeralds, and had his name carved on the side. This puzzled him a bit, but he guessed it was just the magic in the room recognizing him as the new owner.

After many hours Draco finally pulled himself out of the room, with a silent promise to return the next day. He thanked the painting of Abraxas Malfoy and saw that he disappeared a little after. When he got back to his quarters in the east wing of the manor, he carefully put away his new possessions. As he picked up the quill he suddenly felt an ache in his heart, like something was missing. A moment later the quill got warm and letters starting appearing on the parchment nearest to him, like someone invisible was writing just next to him.

Draco was quite shocked when he saw what had been written.

July 14th,

Things have been exceedingly odd today. My headaches are nearly unbearable and the muscle ache makes me not even want to move. Padfoot knows what's going on but he acts like it's nothing. I doubt he'd tell me if I asked him. I finished with the drawing room today but skipped out on my morning run. Moony will be home later today I miss him when he's not home, he kind of balances out Padfoot's spontaneity. It'll be good to have him back. I feel my eyelids getting heavy a nap couldn't possibly hurt.

"What the fuck? Is there anybody here? Show yourself!"

When he didn't get a reply he started to read it again.

Padfoot? And Moony? What is this?

Draco took out his wand to examine the parchment; he was determined to find out what this was. Although the entry sounded rather innocent, the whole thing reeked of dark magic. He tried out a couple of basic revealing spells, but nothing happened. After a while he decided to figure it out later, as it was almost time to have dinner with his mother.

"Good evening Mother, I trust you have had a pleasant afternoon?" he asked while he pulled out the chair for Nacissa.

"Yes I did, thank you. How have you spent your day?" she said after sipping her wine, the house elf just poured for her.

"Nothing much, just reading and wandering around the Manor."

"You did? I didn't see you in the library?"

He pulled on his mask and lied smoothly, remembering the promise he had made to Abraxas Malfoy about keeping the room a secret.

"Well, no I wasn't in the library, I read in my room."

Narcissa scrutinized her son, sensing something he wasn't telling her, but pushed the thoughts away and started eating in silence.

Draco considered telling her about the odd writing that had appeared earlier, not sure if she would somehow guess he had been lying earlier. He had always been able to lie perfectly to everyone, except her, he wondered if it was some kind of motherly instinct of hers. He decided to keep it a secret a bit longer, perhaps he would find out himself.

After having eaten desert he bid her good night and retreated to his room, anxious to see if he could find out more about the parchment. Somehow he sensed that it was a good thing, not sure why he felt that. When he got back he saw that new words appeared under the others.

July 14th,

The oddness continues, Moony is home and he knows what's going on too, I wonder if I can get him to tell me. Anyway when Moony woke me up for dinner I discovered I don't need my glasses anymore my vision just corrected it's so bizarre.

Draco stared at the words dumbstruck, he had no idea what this was. It was as if the person writing this had no idea he could read what it said. It certainly wasn't any of his friends writing to him by some kind of spell, that much was for sure. But then again, he got a feeling that he should know this person, like he somehow had all his life.

As he considered this he gripped his new quill, feeling as if it was somehow connected with this other person. He was just about to write something when words appeared again:

Hello,

If there is anyone out there reading this? Could you write me back?

Thanks

Draco's heart jumped a beat, this was just too unreal. He started to write underneath.

Hello?

Can you read this?

After a moment the words disappeared just to be replaced by new ones.

Yes, does your words disappear as well when you are finished writing??

Draco was rather exited, he felt that this was somehow the right thing to do, but then again, he wasn't a Slytherin for nothing, and he was not about to reveal anything about himself to this person, for what he knew it could be anybody.

Yes they do. How is this possible? Is this some kind of trick?

I'm not so sure how it works, but no it's not a trick. I'm guessing you have found a quill today?

Of course if it was a trick, saying it wasn't would be rather obvious. And yes I have, not any of your business though.

You are quite defensive, aren't you? Who are you?

I'm not about to tell you that. Who are you?

I asked first!

Too bad, I'm not telling my real name.

Okay, I'm not telling mine either then.

Suit yourself. Good bye.

Draco threw the quill away, tired of responding to this person or whatever it was, and started getting ready for bed. He would deal with it tomorrow instead; right now he was just too tired. Not long after he fell asleep.