Draco thought this this summer vacation might not turn out too badly, after all. The beginning of the summer had been horrible. He'd successfully passed his apparition test before leaving Hogwarts, only to find out upon arriving home that he had nowhere to apparate to. His mother insisted that he spend the whole summer safely within the confines of Malfoy Manor. She was much too busy working on the Dark Lord's business with Aunt Bellatrix to be constantly worried about the whereabouts of her only son. He'd protested that he was now of age and should be able to what he pleased, but his whining had only ever worked on his father, and with him still in Azkaban, Draco wasn't going to get any support there. His mother had listened to his arguments carefully and then told him firmly that she was not going to change her mind. "Furthermore," she'd added, "if I hear from the house elves that you have been apparating without my permission, Aunt Bellatrix here will be in charge of your punishment." One glance at his mother's sister, whose eyes were gleaming with madness, was enough to convince him he really didn't want to leave home anyway.
Not that it was any sort of a punishment to be grounded when your home was Malfoy Manor. The house, while smaller than Hogwarts castle, would have easily had room for 10 families the size of the Malfoy's, and the extensive grounds, fully warded against unexpected intruders, were large enough to get lost in for days at a time. Still, Draco didn't like limits, and he probably would have chafed against his mother's rules even if she'd limited him merely to staying on the isle of Britannia.
So he'd been extremely pleased when he'd gotten the owl from that Muggle boy, the one he'd been in the Chamber of Secrets with only a few weeks before. Oh, not at first. When he'd seen that big snowy owl of Potter's tapping at his window, he'd thrown a slipper at her in an attempt to make her go away. Nothing he could hear from Potter at this point would do him any good, and it would probably just make him mad. But the owl was quite insistent, and finally he opened the window and removed the parchment from her leg. But wait, there were two missives, and neither of them were parchment at all. One was on a creamy yellow piece of paper that reeked of flowers, and the other was on a rough white paper with blue lines all over it and funny scallops on one edge. Neither seemed like anything Potter would send, especially not the floral scent. So he opened the letters and read them. He got a delighted grin on his face as he did so.
He didn't really like the Muggle boy, Dudley, that much, but he was an ok sort and spending a week with him wouldn't be too terrible. Better than that, Draco would get to spend a week under the same roof as Potter. What wonderful opportunities for spying he would have! And of course there was the novelty of apparating all the way across Britain by himself and getting to stay in a Muggle household.
It took a bit of convincing before his mother would agree to let him go to Little Whinging, wherever that might be, but in the end the letter from Mrs. Dursley had won her over. "She sounds like a middle-class twit, but I've no doubt you'd be safe enough under her care. After all, she's managed to keep the Potter boy alive for all these years. And none of my associates would ever think of looking for you there." She seemed to have forgotten Draco entirely as she said the last part, and it took him by surprise. Why wouldn't she want him to meet the Dark Lord's other followers? He was of age by now. Was she going to treat him like a baby forever? But he wisely kept his mouth shut for the time being. Better she didn't know he suspected anything.
Without much practice at apparition, Draco was quite nervous about going there on his own, but on the appointed day and time, after studying the maps and charts in the library almost obsessively, he left the grounds of Malfoy Manor and arrived at the doorstep of Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. He knocked on the door and a large disagreeable-looking Muggle opened it. "Who the hell are you?" he said threateningly.
Draco gulped. "I'm Draco Malfoy, sir," he stammered.