The next few days passed quickly for Draco, and years from then when he'd look back on it, the entire holiday season would be little more than a painful blur. A lawyer visited him on that twenty-fourth of December, informing him that he was the sole heir of his parents' estate, save a few small things his mother had left to one of her cousins who was by then long dead.

Dumbledore sent Draco to the Manor by Floo that afternoon, where he gathered up a few important things before sending most of his father's belongings off to auction. He saved his mother's things: her dresses and robes neatly pressed and hung in her wardrobe, her photos tucked in a small box under her bed, her jewelry stowed in a grand mahogany case on her vanity. This he opened, and rummaged through in search of something very special. He found it at the bottom of the chest, wrapped in a very old sheet of parchment. When he unwrapped the bundle a small, glittering gold chain rolled out into his hand. He turned it over, the metal warm against the tips of his fingers. He held the necklace up to the window, watching the red, teardrop-shaped garnet glow in the light. This was the piece that had been closest to his mother's heart, the necklace given to her by her mother for her eighteenth birthday.

"Her last birthday before marrying him," thought Draco aloud, putting the fragile chain back in the parchment wrap and placing it in his breast pocket. From his hip pocket her removed a small glass container of Floo powder, and lit a fire in the hearth. He then retreated a chest of things that he thought he should keep with him, and stepped into the fire.

He emerged shortly thereafter in Dumbledore's office, and without a word he removed a parcel from the chest and handed it to the Headmaster.

"Thought you might find these things of interest," Draco said while resealing the chest. Dumbledore opened the parcel to find within a list, penned by Lucius Malfoy, of some of his 'associates' who had been in Voldemort's highest favor. Underneath it was a letter from Peter Pettigrew, dated before Draco's birth, explaining his importance to Voldemort's 'cause'. Dumbledore's face grew very grave.

"His study was full of letters and packages, some of them still unopened, all very heavily cursed. Only someone with Malfoy blood can enter, so I left it unlocked," said Draco, handing Dumbledore a small vial. "My blood," he answered simply. "There's a map to the manor in that parcel, you may want to take a look around. Don't disrupt anything, though."

"I'll be sure not to, Draco," Dumbledore answered, a small smile crossing his face. "You look tired. Would you like me to have some food sent to your dorm?"

"I'd like that very much, Professor," Draco said wearily. He heaved the chest up into his arms, and headed for the door.

"Let me help you with that," the Headmaster said, his eyes showing his concern. He bewitched the chest to be little heavier than a feather, and Draco tugged it along after him.