AN: I am an evil author. I know. I should update more often. It's just that the ideas don't COME so often anymore. I apologize for my awful timeliness and the shortness of this chapter.

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Hermione's blanched face quickly turned red. She immediately left and slammed the door. That was when Draco realized that the clothes hadn't disappeared. During his transformation, his feathers had fallen to the floor; but the feathers had really been his outfit. So Draco bent over and picked them up, hurriedly putting them on. He rushed over to his room and stuffed the bag with his father in it in his trunk.

"Sorry, father. I'll be back later," Draco said.

He then left his room and strode over to the fireplace in the den. Taking a dash of floo powder, he threw it in the fireplace and said, "Hogsmeade." He disappeared in a puff of green smoke.

Meanwhile, Hermione rushed to her room in an embarrassed state. She didn't think that she'd open the door to Ginny's room to find a naked Draco. 'What was he doing there anyway? I thought he went to Hogsmeade with the others?' After five minutes of excessive blushing, she decided to go back to Ginny's room and ask him what he was doing. It was while she was walking down the hall that she realized that she had missed the perfect opportunity to find out if the dark mark was on his arm or not.

She knocked on Ginny's door. Silence answered her. "Malfoy?" She called. When no one answered back, she turned the knob and peeked through a crack in the door. No one was there. "Maybe I'm just hallucinating? Oh Merlin, I'm going nuts—I'm hallucinating about that evil git."

Once Draco had resurfaced at Hogsmeade, He rushed over to the same bookshop he had left the Weasleys at. He pulled a random book off the shelf and pretended to be reading. He put a bored expression on his face. That was when Mrs. Weasley burst through the front door of the shop. Her eyes anxiously scanned the shelves, stopping on Draco's displeased face.

"Oh, we were so worried you'd disappeared—we only just realized—so sorry—" Mrs. Weasley blubbered as she smothered him with a hug.

"Mrs. Weasley, please get off me."

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry. (sniffle) Please don't tell the Ministry. I-I'm supposed to be watching you."

An amused smile played on Draco's lips. "Don't worry, I'm sure you won't get into too much trouble. They'll probably only fine you 100 galleons for child neglect. But no one has to know that you weren't with me for these past few hours."

"Thank you, Draco. I don't know how we could have afforded a fine like that. We still need to buy the children's school supplies."

"Don't worry about a thing, Mrs. Weasley. To all concerned, I was with you the entire morning." Draco smirked. He had an alibi.

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Voldemort paced in front of a dusty fireplace. He was expecting someone, Bellatrix Lestrange, to be specific. A flash of green coming from the hearth caught his attention.

"Do you have it, Bella?" he asked.

Bellatrix stepped out of the fire holding a thick, heavy book. "Yes my lord, it's right here."

Voldemort's eyes gleamed in the firelight. "Give it to me." She handed the worn book to him. "An Exhaustive Record of Wizarding Families," the Dark Lord read. "Excellent. This is exactly what I needed."

"I am glad to be of service to you."

"I don't doubt your devotion," Voldemort replied. "I am actually willing to overlook the fiasco at the ministry in light of your recent helpfulness."

Bellatrix looked relieved. "I knew you'd be pleased with the second prophecy. Thank you for your mercy."

"Yes, but you should be extremely careful in the future. I won't always be so kind." Bellatrix nodded in understanding.

"I need to discuss with you an important revelation," Voldemort began. "Why don't we sit down?" he said as he conjured two chairs for them to sit in.

"What is it?" Bellatrix asked curiously.

"I'm not completely certain that what I am about to say is true, since I still have to check in the book you gave me for the complete information, but from what I've seen so far, I think I may be on to something.

"What I am about to tell you, you may not repeat to anyone else." At this, Bellatrix smiled, for her Lord had chosen her above all of his other followers. "I think I may have found a relationship between squibs and muggleborn wizards. From what I have seen, there is exactly one muggleborn for every existing pure-blooded squib.

"As far as we know, magic is inherited. To explain squibs, we can presume that the parents simply did not pass on their magic to the child. But muggleborns…they are a different matter entirely. How are they able to receive magic?"

"That question has not been able to be answered ever since magic showed itself in humans," Bella replied.

"Perhaps now we may know the answer. My theory is that the magic stays dormant in pure-blooded squibs, and they pass on their dormant magic to their children."

"But then, if this magic is dormant, how does it become reawakened in what we presume to be muggleborns?"

"I'm not sure, Bella, but I think the magic becomes a bit stronger in each generation that passes, and that the magic chooses the person that it is best suited for. I could not see any other reason why some muggleborn wizards have been so powerful."

"So if you are correct, then does that mean that muggleborns are really purebloods?"

"No. Muggleborns couldn't be pure-blooded unless the squib had children with another pureblooded wizard. But in that case, they wouldn't be muggle-born. What I am trying to say is that muggleborns inherit pure-blooded magic."

"So if they aren't truly pure-blooded, why does any of this matter?"

"It matters because if a muggleborn was able to harness all of their stored pure-blooded magic, they could potentially be the greatest weapon in all of wizard history."

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"What did you do to the wand?" Ginny screamed.

"I can explain—"

"Don't explain. I don't need to know the horrors that befell it."

"I can pay for it. How much do you need?" Draco asked.

"What do you mean, you can pay for it? A wand that an underage wizard can use without getting caught has no price. You're so arrogant, Malfoy. You think you can buy your way out of anything. I hate you!" Ginny shoved Draco out of her room and slammed the door behind him.

'Merlin, that girl has a temper. It was only a wand.'

The group that had gone to Hogsmeade that morning had now returned, and Ginny had inevitably found out that the wand had been damaged.

Draco trudged to his room. When he entered he saw a black owl perched on the back of the desk chair. There was a letter attached to its leg, which Draco opened immediately.

Dear Nephew,

Hello. It's your aunt. I wanted to ask you how your father's been doing. I hear that he hasn't been doing so well lately. If he's becoming too much of a burden at home, don't be afraid to send him over here. Your uncle and I can take care of him.

Write back soon,

Your Aunt Trixie

Voldemort had obviously ordered Bellatrix to check up on Draco. He couldn't think of any other reason why she would write to him. They weren't exactly close.

"Blimey," Draco shouted. His father was still in his trunk.

Draco rushed over to get him out. Thankfully, the bird was still breathing, although it was breathing shallowly. Draco poured a bit of water from Hermes's water dish into its mouth. Draco decided that he had done all he could do for his father, and then put him back with the restorative potion in the parcel bag, which he then fastened to his aunt's owl.

"Go back to Bellatrix," he commanded the owl. 'She did say not to be afraid to send him over,' he thought to himself as he watched the owl fly out his window.

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