The next morning Draco Malfoy woke up early. As he opened his eyes he spotted his mum soundly asleep on a chair beside his bed and realized that he must have had another nightmare. Trying not to disturb her, he climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. After a quick shower he got dressed and went downstairs. As his mother was still asleep he decided that he would have to buy his breakfast on the way to school. He grabbed his school bag from a chair nearby. He had no idea of what to expect from his first day of summer school so he decided that some rolls of parchment , a quill and his wand would do just fine. As he got out of the house he found a guy waiting for him outside.

"Hi" the boy greeted him " My name's Fred de Valpour . I guess you are Mr. Malfoy"

Draco nodded

"Eve asked me to get you to your first class safe and sound" Fred went on " I thought we could drop by at The Enchanted Cake … I haven't had breakfast yet ; what about you?"

Draco shook his head : " I just woke up" he explained

"Wonderful" commented Fred "So shall we get going then?"

As they hurried down the street toward the center of the village, Draco took a closer look at the houses in the neighborhood . They were very different from each other. Some of them resembled traditional Muggle cottages, others had stranger shapes and resembled balls , pyramids or even everyday objects and animals.

"There are no specific rules regarding buildings here in Woodwill" Fred explained "They tried to pass some acts on the subject a few years ago ; but in the end Lyla's view seemed to prevail. She thinks that everybody should be free to express his or her own creativity when it comes to place one lives in. She's quite an eccentric woman. But I like her"

Draco seemed to ponder the information for a couple of seconds : "So you're a friend of Eve?" he asked in the end changing the topic.

"Eve's boyfriend to be more precise" Fred corrected him "We've been together for almost four years now."

Draco nodded again. All of a sudden he felt a strange knot in his stomach. However he quickly got a grip on himself. If Eve had a boyfriend , all the best for her. He had never felt a need for relationships in his Hogwarts days.

"De Valpour" he asked after a moment of thinking "How comes that name rings a bell?"

Fred shrugged : "You are not into magical dancing are you?"

Draco shook his head

"Dark Arts?"

"Yes!" Draco exclaimed "Yes ! I knew it! The Valpour family is the family that invented…"

"Avada Kedavra" Fred completed the sentence in a casual tone " The killing curse"

Draco looked at him. He hated to admit it but he was quite impressed : "So does your family live here in Woodwill ?"

Fred shook his head : " My family is still in France. I fled them a few years ago"

"Why?"

Fred seem to reflect for a while : " Let's just say that we had different visions regarding the world and its ways . And I was kind of fed up with Beaubatonx"

Draco suppressed a laughter : "I've met Madame Maxime during the Triwizard Tournament. "

"Nightmarish , isn't she? So obsessed with elegance and grace. It was like going to a good manners school. And she's one of the worst sexist that I've ever known. She only cared for girls there. She seemed to consider them superior to boys. Stupid woman…. Oh here we are"

Draco looked up. They had stopped in front of a small café . Inside it was packed with old wooden tables and chattering students. Behind a large counter , a young man was busy preparing trays of pastries and croissants.

Fred gestured for Draco to follow him. They grabbed a couple of stools and sat in front of the counter.

"Fred" the bartender greeted him

"Hi Matteo. How're you doing?"

"Not bad. I've started practicing summoning spells the other day. They seem to work fine for now."

Fred smiled: "That sounds great. I was sure you would manage it. By the way" he said turning to Draco "… this is Draco Malfoy."

Matteo seemed to study him closely : "Draco Malfoy , uh? Narcissa's son ,right? Great woman your mum …. There's no doubt about it"

Draco blushed slightly : "Th…thank you" he muttered

"Can you bring us the usual?" Fred jumped in "We are running late for school"

Matteo nodded and turned around. After a moment he dropped two mugs of black coffee and a couple of Muffins in front of the boys. Draco grabbed his and gave it a bite . It was full of a ruby jam that tasted of cherry and vanilla and it was covered by a pink cream.

"Nice" Draco commented

"Definitely" Fred agreed "There's nobody like Matteo when it comes to sweets"

"Why is he learning magic at this age?" Draco asked

"He's actually re- learning it!" Fred explained "We found him at the edge of the wood three years ago. He had lost his memory and showed no sign of magic whatsoever. We thought he was a Muggle at first but last year he prevented an egg from smashing to the ground by levitating it. He's been studying magic since then."

Draco nodded : "So he doesn't remember anything about his past ?"

"Not one single detail. Not even his surname. To tell you the truth I can't really tell you if Matteo is his real name. He might as well have picked it up after he started living here. But we know for sure that he can speak Italian so we guessed that he must have come from somewhere around Italy"

"It makes sense" Draco muttered more to himself that to Fred "Anyway it's an intriguing story"

"You'll find plenty of these stories here in Woodwill" Fred assured him "Now come on. You don't want to be late for Edward Hampton's lesson"

They hurried out of the café and throughout all the village. After ten minutes or so they came to an halt in front of a huge building.

"Welcome to the Experimental Academy of Magical and Non Magical Arts" Fred said in a not too enthusiastic tone "or as we like to call it the Melt and Mash"

Draco look at the school. He was perplexed. Of course it was much smaller than Hogwarts and it definitely resembled to one of those modern Muggle schools he had occasionally seen during his trips to London.

"It's not the finest specimen of architecture you might find in the U. K" Fred commented "but it's not so bad. And the academic quality is definitely higher than in most places I've seen"

Draco nodded unconvincedly. Fred led him inside and through a series of corridors until they reached a small door.

"This is your class" Fred told him " See you later at potions"

"What?" Draco exclaimed "Aren't you coming?"

Fred shook his head : " I don't do Politics. I've got Maths now. Don't worry, it will be allright. I'll collect you when the lesson is over"

And with that he disappeared from Draco's sight.

The boy paused for a couple of minutes in front of the door. All of a sudden the situation seemed quite absurd. What the hell was he doing there? He should have been at home, resting for the holidays and not in some lost place , attending summer school and Muggle classes. He considered going back home but he immediately realized that it was not an option. His mother would probably have been disappointed by such He put a hand on the door knob and, after a deep breath, he finally pushed the door open and entered the classroom.

He had expected rows of desks. Instead, he found a group of students sitting in a semicircle around a girl , who , from the look of it , was giving a speech. A man was observing them from a corner of the room. As the girl finished speaking , he clapped his hands

"Wonderful, Sabrina. You clearly explained the principles underlying the UN convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman , Degrading Treatments for prisoners. Now shall we try and apply this to the Magical Law System here in the U…?" he stopped mid sentence , suddenly aware of Draco's presence

"Mr. Malfoy" he exclaimed "welcome to Politics! Eve told me you were coming today. "

Draco smiled weakly.

"Draco Malfoy" he went on turning to face the class " has just transferred here from Hogwarts. Because of his family and personal history he's a living expert of the political views and the hierarchical structure of the Death Eaters Movement and therefore he's very valuable to the discussion we have planned for the next week I would say"

Draco gulped. Every single person in the room was staring at him. Mr. Hampton however took no notice. He simply gestured for Draco to come where the girl named Sabrina had stood

"So Mr. Malfoy , would you do us the honor?"

"W… what ?" Draco stuttered " I don't… I mean … I've never… "

"Don't worry , Draco." Mr. Hampton hushed him down "Now just relax and tell us what you think about the Magical Law System ; would you define it as cruel or inhuman"

"Yes" Draco answered without hesitating. There was a murmur among the other students . He bit his lips but Mr. Hampton smiled encouragingly " I mean" he went on "Let's take Azkaban as an example. The prisoners there are exposed every day to the Dementors , which torture them , making them live the worst moments of their lives over and over again. They do not get to talk to each other or to see their families. Many of them go insane and stuff like that."

A dark- haired boy raised his hand in the air.

"Yes? Mr. Reinolds?" Mr. Hampton gave him the word

The boy stood up : " But aren't maximum security measures , as denying interpersonal contact, also adopted in Muggle prisons when it is considered necessary?"

"True" Mr. Hampton agreed "So according to you , Mr. Reinolds, the question is … are the prisoners in Azkaban such dangerous people to require these particular measures?"

Draco opened his mouth to protest but another girl shot her hand in the air

"Yes! Mrs. Fourrier"

" I personally disagree, Mr. Hampton. The Un Convention says that nobody , no matter what's his or her crime, should receive a cruel or degrading treatment. Even when extreme security measures are adopted , the prisoners wellbeing should be safeguarded. So , admitting that what Mr. Malfoy told us is true, the use of Dementors in the Magical carcerary system is a clear violation of the convention principles"

"That's right" Draco intervened " and then there's the Dementors' kiss. It leaves the condemned completely unable to look after themselves, it turns them into empty shells with no possibility of ever talking or doing anything again. It's just not fair"

"A good example, Mr. Malfoy" Mr. Hampton agreed "Mr. Reinolds , do you wish to counterbate on this?"

The dark haired boy shook his head : "I still would like to know from Mr. Malfoy weather , according to him, the prisoners in Azkaban require special measures"

Draco felt a strange sensation in his throat. He had the distinct impression that the boy deeply disliked him and was clearly trying to provoke him.

"Listen" he began , trying to keep calm. But Mr. Hampton interrupted him.

"I think that's enough! Thank you Mr. Malfoy! You gave us a precious contribution today. As for your curiosity , Mr. Reinolds , maybe for the next lesson you could do a little research about that. Shall we say three rolls of paper? Class dismissed!"

He quickly walked out of the door, followed by most of the student and a protesting Mr. Reinolds. Draco stood transfixed for a couple of seconds , until he felt a hand resting on his shoulder. He turned around to see Mrs. Fourrier standing next to him.

"Don't worry about Reinolds" she told him "He's a total idiot! Shall we go?"