Having been dismissed by the Headmaster, Draco, Ron and Hermione headed back to the common room. It was a long time until Harry rejoined them and a longer time still until the end of term came round. Gryffindor's humiliating implosion in the inter-house cricket, with only Draco managing to bat into double figures, left the house completely out of the running for the House Cup, which went to Ravenclaw. The journey home was uneventful, save for Ron nearly turning Dean Thomas into a hamster when he heard that his roommate was dating his younger sister. Following a sad and heartfelt farewell, Draco was whisked back home by Noctifer.

'You going to be about much this summer?' Draco asked.

'No, 'Fraid not, kiddo, I'm working flat out.'

'What, you still haven't finished building the headquarters?'

'Nah. Finished that months ago, now everyone wants their security upgrading and loads of people are forking out to have me do it. That's one good thing about Voldemort being back- business is booming.'

'I suppose so. Anything I can do?'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, it looks like it's going to be another long, dull summer for me hanging about here. What do you want me to do?'

'Seeing as you're not allowed to use magic, there's nothing you can do Draco, sorry and all that. You could invite some friends round if you wanted. I won't be able to provide transport, but I'm sure you can work that out. After all, if you can get from Hogwarts to London...' Noctifer trailed off.

'How do you know about that?'

'Professor Dumbledore sent me a letter, telling me about how you and your friends escaped from school, flew to London, fought a load of Death Eaters, including, I dare say, certain members of the family.' Noctifer stopped and stared pointfully at Draco. 'and somehow managed to escape alive, even when the Dark Lord turned up. I must say, it was a very silly thing to do.'

'Well, Harry said Sirius was trapped there. Someone had to rescue him.'

'I suppose so. Well, what you do is very much up to you. You may not be of age, but you're very much capable of choosing how you live your life. Do try not to get yourself killed though, I haven't got time to organise a funeral.' Noctifer finished, with a wry glint in his eye.

And that was the last proper conversation Draco had had with Noctifer that summer, certainly, they'd grunted at each other in the morning in passing, before Nocitfer had gone to work, but he wasn't about much. Letters inviting Ron and Harry up had been replied to by responses saying that they weren't allowed but Hermione had been able to come up to spend a week. They had spent much of the time walking in the garden or in the kitchen, baking cakes and making sumptuous dinners. On Hermione's last day there, they went out to a restaurant in town for a final meal. The restaurant was lovely, if a bit dark and the atmosphere was delightful, with the quiet hum of conversation bringing the place to life. The food was glorious too, with Draco having a steak in a peppercorn sauce and Hermione having monkfish in tomato sauce. The next day, however, Hermione left and she left Draco feeling slightly deflated. He had enjoyed the time he had spent with her in the last week and was sorry to see her go, even if it was only about a fortnight until they'd meet again at Hogwarts, and maybe less if they bumped into each other in Diagon Alley. And perhaps Harry and Ron might be there too.

While in Madame Malkin's he did indeed see them.

'Hi Draco.'

Draco turned round.

'Oh. Hi guys. Had a good summer?'

'Not bad thanks.'

'Do you want to end up full of pin-holes? Stop moving.' Madame Malkin said.

'Sorry.' Draco quickly apologised.

'Don't apologise. Just stop moving.'

'Right.' Said Draco, before turning his attention, if not his body, to his friends.

'So, did you do anything nice?'

'Well, I saw Dumbledore over the summer.'

'Really, Dumbledore? Is this to do with you being the Chosen One?' Draco mocked in a friendly way.

'Shh. I don't want everyone knowing.' Harry replied snarkily.

'So what were you really doing?'

'Dumbledore took me to see someone. He was recruiting some old teacher to come back to Hogwarts.'

'Oh yes?'

'Yes. Some old geezer named Slughorn.'

'Slughorn. Name sounds familiar- of course! Father was always banging on about him. He taught potions.'

'Potions- but that jobs already filled. Snape's got it.' Ron interjected.

'Ron, do you remember what your brother Percy said to me on my first day at Hogwarts. What he said about Snape, that is?'

'Not really.'

'Percy said that he's always wanted the Dark Arts job. Perhaps, at last, he's got it.'

'There's a scary thought.'

'Not half. Is Hermione with you?'

'Yeah, she is, says her robes fit, though, so she's helping Mum buy our books for the year.' Ron explained.

'Everyone in the family alright, Ron.'

'Yeah. Everything's going really well, thanks. You know Percy was working for Crouch before he became Minister?'

'Yeah.'

'Well, he's just become the principal private secretary to the Minister.'

'Really. Way to go, Percy.'

'Well you're done, Mr Malfoy.'

'Oh. Thank you.' Draco summarily paid Malkin and left to go and get the books, agreeing to meet up with Harry and Ron later in the Leaky Cauldron for a quick half before heading home. He bumped into Hermione as she was leaving Flourish and Blotts and relayed the message about the meeting in the Cauldron. Getting books required some time. Following the arrival of a very satisfactory set of OWLs, Draco had decided to take Charms, Arithmancy, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Defence against the Dark Arts and Potions at NEWT level. Most of the books were quite easy to find, but it took Draco and the shop assistant a long time to find the textbooks for NEWT level History of Magic. Given how dusty the book was, it seemed that it had come from a corner of the shop that no-one had visited in a long time.

In the pub, Draco brought a round and went to sit with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

'There we go. Drink up everyone. Everyone alright?'

'Fine thanks. Had a good summer yourself?'

'A bit dull to be honest. Uncle Noctifer was out of the house most of the time, so I spent a lot of time entertaining myself. Not like that.' Draco suddenly changed tack, noting the look in Ron's eye. 'Anyway, apart from the week with Hermione I was pretty much by myself. Spent a lot of it trying to learn how to do non-verbal spells.'

'Why?' Hermione asked.

'Oh, Noctifer says that at NEWT level they expect you to be able to do nearly everything that way. It's a bit tricky, but I think I'm nearly there.'

'Really? How come the ministry didn't come knocking down your door demanding you stop doing underage magic?'

'Easy. They didn't know.'

'But the trace..' Harry left his question unasked, but Draco answered it anyway.

'The trace! Huh! No, that's simply not an issue if you know how to get around it. You just have to have the right defensive spells up around the house and bingo! You can do whatever you want, no matter how old you are.'

'Never knew that.'

Ron said.

'Well, no-one's supposed to know, are they, or else they'd get a qualified wizard to set up the spells and they'd carry on as if the law hadn't been enacted.'

'You speak as if that's a bad thing.'

'It is, imagine a first year got hold of his mother's book on household transfigurations- way to advanced for them- and tried to give them a go. They'd end up turning themself into a copper kettle or something and no-one would know. No, the law is definitely a good thing, even if it is a bit frustrating.'

'How'd you know about it anyway?'

'Oh, well, my grandfather was the permanent secretary to the Minister for Magic, he told my Uncle when he was young, my uncle told me.' By the time Draco had finished his tale he was quite thirsty, so he took a long, cool sip from the warming butterbeer.

'That's better. Got your exam results yet?'

'Yeah, I'm really pleased with them. I got everything I needed.' Said Ron.

'Yeah, same here. Except I screwed up potions. Got an EE when I needed an O to continue. Maybe this Slughorn chap will accept me though.'

'You never know.' Draco agreed. Privately he felt sorry for his friend, who would now probably never make it as an auror, but he didn't want to deny Harry the hope. Particularly when he didn't know otherwise himself.

'And you Hermione?'

'I got an EE in Defence.'

'And?'

'Everything else was fine, thanks.'

'O's all round, except for defence? Nice one Hermione.' Draco said.

'What about you, Draco?'

'Straight O's. Though, looking at the score, I only just scraped it in potions and astronomy.'

'Bloody hell, Draco. I thought Hermione had done well, now it turns out that you're really the brains of the group.'

'Nah. I'm just good at passing exams. As you said at the DA last year, there's a big difference between school and real life.'

'S'pose so.' Said Harry.

'How do you feel about your Owls, then, Ginny? Worried?' Said Draco, noticing that she seemed a little isolated from the conversation.

'Yeah, I don't think they'll be too bad. But to be honest they're still a whole year off, seems like ages, really.'

'True, but that time'll just fly by, you mark my words.' Said Draco. They finished their drinks and Mr Weasley came over to take the others back to the Burrow.

'See you on the train, guys.' Said Draco, and with a final wave goodbye, he was alone. The pub didn't seem to be doing its usual roaring trade, in fact, now he looked around, he could see he was the only person there, apart from old Tom, the landlord.

'Business been slow lately, Tom?' Draco asked, politely.

'A little, young Master Malfoy. Its all the panic on the street that's been doing it. No-one wants to go shopping if they don't feel safe, and if they have to go shopping, they don't have time for a quick drink, either. I must say, it's been very quiet round here of late.'

'Yeah, I'm sad to say, it looks like it too. Can I get another butterbeer, Tom?'

'No problem.'

'Thanks. Have one yourself.' Said Draco, sliding some coins across the counter.

'Thank you.' Tom said, getting out a second glass. Draco sat down at the bar and talked with Tom for a good half hour, until a foreign-sounding wizard came in and ordered a drink. Having finished his drink, Draco got up, left and flooed back home with his purchases. Another day gone. Not long now until he was back at school.