Societal Introduction

Time moves quickly when you are focused on something. After finding a way to strengthen my body with theoretically no limit, the last wrinkle in my mind since my rebirth was solved and time went by in a blink as I worked on everything.

I turned seven a few days ago and it felt like it came out of left field. I have been focused on my own things and Harry's development. For myself, i've been progressing steadily. My magic studies were progressing well, reaching the 4th year level.

With my advantages I could have finished Hogwarts education in this time but I was taking my time with it. There's no significant rush since i'm only seven right now. The only exceptions are runes and arithmancy which i'm already beyond hogwarts.

Honestly, it was pretty easy. Runes are all memorisation until 6th year where they start to apply them practically and arithmancy is even easier. I did mathematics in high school at 2 levels above the normal mathematics course. Hogwarts level arithmancy is even easier than that. Post Hogwarts is much tougher but i'm determined.

I've been taking things slow and steady, making sure to test and verify everything I come across in the process. It's a good thing too as I often find incomplete or incorrect information. Occlumency progress is going well. I've just been fortifying my mind bit by bit every day and decorating my tower, but nothing revolutionary has happened. It's not a skill you can ever be finished with.

Soul cultivation has been steady as well. It's hard to estimate but my soul is roughly 1.6-1.7 times stronger than when I arrived in this world. Finally, the progress with my body's strengthening is going absolutely swimmingly and i'm very happy. Even doing my magic cycle routine for just over a year now, my body has grown more than 2.5 times stronger and tougher than before in a comprehensive manner.

This has consequently made my magic stronger as my body no longer holds me back. It's around the same level as a teenager at this point. The only thing is I have to make sure to stretch regularly but that's no issue.

More than anything to do with me though, i'm beyond amazed and proud of the progress Harry has made. No wonder the Guardian said he has the best potential out of all the Harry's.

I finished fixing his skeleton in 3 weeks and went on to providing him with potions for malnutrition, creams for his scars along with a large serving of food for each meal.

Dobby has been an absolute lifesaver in this with him able to steal the funds from Lucius, purchasing and delivering everything. It's surprisingly cheap to get potions and ointments from potions shops and no one questions elves. For food it's even easier as no one will notice if Dobby makes an extra meal when preparing my food.

Harry's at a proper height and weight now and his scars have reduced to thin silver lines for the bad ones whilst most are gone completely. All the lumpy scar tissue has disappeared as well. His self-esteem has risen tremendously although he still struggles. It's to be expected. I really need to find some way for him to see a therapist.

He had so much time on his hands now and he's such a hard worker that he's on the verge of connecting his magic core to his mindscape! That's crazy! It's nearly as fast as it took me! The only thing that slowed my progress was having to wait for months on end for an opportunity to have a few days to myself.

I learned very early a few spells for writing and have been copy-pasting tons of books from memory over to him so he can read. So far i've really only sent history and magic theory books. Once he connects his magic core to his mindscape I will sneak over and give him a wand that's compatible with him.

Letting him do magic before his magic core is connected to his mindscape could be detrimental as i've observed that wizards and witches generally can't feel their magic. Learning magic without being able to feel it flowing through them is crazy in my mind.

That's why wands are such a huge deal. Foci have always existed, but wands are special in that they let you skip all the tedious years of meditating and studying required to connect with magic manually. The wand connects directly with the core whilst the motions of the wand shape the magic with very little input from the person.

One thing I overlooked however was that the pendant and ring with the notice-me-not enchantments on them made it impossible for him to make any friends, along with making it hard for him to interact with people generally. It's not an ideal situation for him but it's a lot better than how he was living before. 

I only realised later what they would do, having overlooked it in my *brilliant* plan. At least he didn't blame me when I explained what was happening. He was so mature about it as well! Telling me that he didn't mind considering what they did for him.

"Draco, come here please, we have something to speak to you about."

The voice of mother echoed through the bookshelves of the library where I was pretending to read whilst working on stuff in my mindscape.

"Coming mother!" I yelled back.

Upon arriving in the dining room downstairs, both Lucius and mother were sitting at the table waiting for me. I was surprised at this. Is something going on?

Lucius' voice broke through my musings as I sat opposite them.

"Draco." He said.

"Yes father?"

"With your seventh birthday just gone, your mother and I have decided to host a ball to introduce you properly into society." He said.

I looked at him quite surprised and mother chimed in to clear up my confusion.

"Draco dear, we would have done this much earlier so you could meet other kids your age, but after the war... well, everyone has been very careful." She said with a wane smile.

I nodded. "I understand mother. When will the ball be taking place?" I asked.

Lucius cut in here. "The ball will be this Friday Draco. Enough time to go over your etiquitte once more before then."

I grumbled internatelly whilst putting on a polite smile. It was Wednesday today and I know just how demanding Lucius can be. I won't say I wasn't glad to recieve a noble education but there is a lot of unnecessary fluff. Still, I have good posture, perfect and stylish handwriting, ballroom dancing skills and a bunch of other stuff. I'd say it's worth it.

"Of course father." I said.

He nodded with a satisfied expression on his face.

"Good. I know you will do house Malfoy proud." He said.

"Well, why don't you accompany me for the day Draco? We'll go over your etiquitte while we pick out your outfit for the ball." Said mother.

I smiled at her, very happy with this. I've grown to care deeply for Narcissa as my mother ever since I was reborn. She's a bright soul that loves me dearly and is a genuinly good woman. I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would like with her recently owing to Lucius' lessons. Whether that was by design or not, I don't know nor care.

"Of course mother. Are we going to Diagon for a new outfit?" I asked.

She nodded. "Most definitely. What you have now is only good for daily wear." She said.

I smiled while feeling a little weird internally. The clothes I have now are only a single step below the highest quality. It would be the highest quality if not for the fact that it's stupid to use the highest quality fabrics for a growing child.

Thankfully mother and Lucius both have changed their taste of clothes over the years to display understated wealth as opposed to the gaudy displays from when I was a baby. Mother was always the better of the two but she was still a little gaudy back then.

"Well then, i'll leave you to it. I'll eat first then be in my office if you need to floo me for anything Naricissa. A new legislation is being proposed that I need to go over." Said Lucius.

"Of course husband." She said perfunctorily.

I ignored the byplay between the two as best I could and played dumb. I'm not sure what happened between them but honestly I think this is a good thing. Lucius is a rotten man who doesn't deserve mother. I'll subtly encourage this separation where I can with magic or otherwise.

"Well then Draco, go get ready, we'll leave in an hour for Twilfitt And Tattings." Said mother, sweeping to her feet to go and... do whatever it is she needs to do to get ready. Honestly, she looks stunning right now just as she does every day.

"Draco. After this ball is over, you will start spending time in my office so I can introduce you to the house's business and politics. You've been doing very well in your lessons and i'm pleased with your performance, so I decided it's time to begin teaching you about your future responsibilities." Said Lucius.

I was a little surprised at that but nodded. "Of course father." 

"In addition, I've worked very hard to aquire a suitable marriage contract with the Greengrass family for you and was finally successful earlier this month. I'll tell you the details later, suffice to say that this is a great opportunity for house Malfoy." Lucius stated.

Now this WAS surprising! A marriage contract! I looked at him a little startled but waited for him to speak.

"Tell me Draco, why is a contract with the Greengrasses such a big opportunity for us?" Asked Lucius. He sometimes does this, giving me little tests to confirm my knowledge.

"House Greengrass has an almost complete monopoly on potion ingredients owing to their large tracts of farmland where they cultivate plants, herbs and animals. In addition, they are one of the only families in England with strong international connections for their import/export business centered around the same vein." I answered, the information having been drilled into me years ago.

"Due to house Malfoy's majority ownership of potions businesses along with others, having a contract with the Greengrasses would inevitably cut down massively on our material costs and ensure much larger profits than currently." I continued.

Lucius nodded in satisfaction. 

"Very good Draco. I'm very pleased with your progress. Right, you're currently contracted to marry the Greengrass hieress, Daphne. Make sure to leave a good impression on her during the ball Draco. I've worked very hard to secure this contract for you." Lucius said before continuing to eat his meal, a clear dismissal.

"Yes father." I said before leaving and going to my room. I was leafing through different outfits in my wardrobe but my thoughts were miles away at that moment.

A marriage contract! This wasn't in my plans at all. After getting over the initial shock I couldn't help but snort to myself. So i'm contracted to marry fanon's favourite girl Daphne. Didn't she only have like a single appearance in the official series? Whatever.

Thinking over the ramifications of it, I relaxed immensely. No matter what, this contract doesn't particularly matter too much to me. It may be a magical contract, but those aren't all powerful in this universe. I'm sure there are other universes where contracts are absolute but not this one. It was a load off my mind when I researched it.

No one can write a contract for another person in this universe. There will be no ancient marriage contracts from centuries ago coming out of left field here. Lucius can write a contract for me that is legally binding as my head of house and father, but he cannot write one that is magically binding. Only I can do that.

Even then, a magically binding contract that i've signed myself, even if signed in blood, isn't particularly strong. In the case of a breach of contract, the magical backlash isn't particularly terrible. If you're strong enough the backlash can be ignored entirely.

Only things like the Unbreakable Vow are absolute. The unbreakable vow is more of a ritual/enchantment than a contract. The wording has to be short and understood completely by both parties. It also has to be done voluntarily. Of course, things like blackmail can be used as well.

Finally, the only case where contracts are absolute is where a contract is arbitrated by a powerful artifact. Like the goblet of fire. In that case, the Goblet Of Fire is the arbitrator and extracts the punishment rather than the person's own magic. The same thing applies though. If you're more powerful than the goblet, you can fight it.

In my case here, once the contract becomes public knowledge, if I were to break it then the backlash would come from outside sources and not my own magic. Reputation, social standing etc. The results would be worse than a magically binding contract signed by me.

I would lose opportunities for business as no one wants to do business with someone who's broken a serious contract between houses like a marriage contract. I would lose reputation and my social standing would lower as a result. My life would get a lot harder.

All of that however doesn't matter too much anyway. By the time that I need to fulfill the contract which is usually either post OWL year or post NEWT's, mostly post NEWT's for this type of contract, I will be exraordinarily powerful and can just do whatever I want. Plus, I don't plan on house Malfoy surviving that long anyway.

As stated previously, house Malfoy isn't a house I can take pride in. The name Malfoy was given to us long ago by the french monarchy as a brand of shame. I don't even know our house's previous name as it's been struck from the history books in this house. I can find out later but I don't particularly care.

Additionally, i've had on my mind a particularly sinister plan to get Lucius out of the way. I'm not sure which method to go with just yet, but I don't plan on letting him live for too much longer. Maybe sometime when i'm in school. I'm not kind hearted enough to let him live not only because of the horrible things he's undoubtedly done during the war, but also because I don't want him to have any kind of authority over me.

Anyway! Back to the contract, I'll see how things play out for now. This isn't necessarily a bad thing for me if Daphne and I get along well. If not, well I can cancel it later. I heavily suspect that Lucius did a ton of shady things to get the contract signed so the Greengrasses are definitely not happy with it.

And I can't say i'm not a little intrigued by this universe's Daphne. She's the jewel of Harry Potter fanfiction. I wonder what she's like in this universe? I'll find out soon enough.

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The following couple of days were a little unbearable. I went out with mother to get fancy new dress robes. I had a lot of trouble trying to balance the wishes of my mother with my more conservative tastes in clothing. In the end we struck a balance and I felt comfortable wearing the result.

During the whole process, mother kept reiterating my etiquitte lessons as I tried on different clothes for what felt like hours whilst answering all her questions. I'm sure the seamstress had a hoot watching the byplay between us.

Thursday was filled with more etiquitte lessons with Lucius and dancing lessons with mother whilst the house elves prepared everything according to mother's specifications.

Finally today is the day of the ball. As I stood at the door with mother and Lucius, dressed in a dark blue dress robe of the highest quality that was decorated with silver seams and edging, I couldn't help but think that this ball must have been planned for at least a few weeks and I was only told recently.

We stood there greeting all the guests as they came in. Tradition dictates that the host welcome all guests into their home at least until a certain point. Already we have greeted over twenty guests and more just keep coming.

So far, they've all been adults with no kids arriving just yet and Lucius kept introducing them to me along with a little information on each of them. They were all movers and shakers in Wizarding Britain and I have no doubt that they're all here to do politics and business deals.

Ah finally! With a small pop, what looked to be a small family of 3 appeared. A clasically handsome woman with a strong jaw, stern features and reddish hair that was going silver early arrived with a young girl my age and a plain looking man with brown hair and eyes who stood in the back scanning the surroundings.

They walked over and Lucius started speaking.

"Madam Bones, I didn't expect you here tonight. This must be young Susan i've heard about." He said, looking a little Susan who was sticking close to her Aunt.

"Mr Malfoy. A pleasure." Madam bones stated dryly.

Lucius ignored her tone. "And who's this?" He asked, looking at the man standing in the back.

"This is Robards, one of my Aurors. He's here as chaperone for Susan tonight." She stated plainly, clearly not happy to be here.

Lucius didn't say anything to that. Maybe this is a powerplay to put subtle pressure on him? Not sure. Lucius nodded and mother spoke up at this time.

"Well Madam Bones, Auror Robards, be welcome in our home. I'm afraid you're the first party with children to arrive here so their area is empty at this time. More should be arriving soon and hopefully young Susan will be able to make some friends." Said mother with a smile.

"This is our son Draco. Draco, introduce yourself to Heiress Bones." She continued.

I stepped forward with picture perfect posture drilled into me for years, lightly took Susans hand and brushed my lips over her knuckles before stepping back again. I made sure to keep it respectfully neutral.

"Heiress Bones. Draco Malfoy. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please be welcome in our home and enjoy the festivities tonight." I said with a polite smile.

Madam Bones said nothing as this happened and I didn't pay attention to her either, only my soul sense observing everything in and around the manor picked up her lack of reaction.

My eyes were on Susan and... well, she's a cute kid. Dark red hair, a pretty green dress, chubby cheeks. There was nothing physical that screamed she was special, but her eyes were firm and resolute like she was going into battle. Clearly, she's been learning from her Aunt. Soon enough the trio disappeared into the entrance to join the party.

"That was well done Draco." Commented Lucius.

I nodded, not thinking much of his praise. I've been quiet all this time as the adults conversed and only introduced myself a few times to the adults who were interested when I was presented by my parents. This was the first time I introduced myself to someone my age so I had agency in the greeting. It's all social fluff for high society in Magical Britain.

Soon enough, more people arrived and I introduced myself to a few different kids my age. Pansy Parkinson, Crabble Jr, Goyle Jr, Theodore Nott Jr... a lot of Jr's honestly. No imagination. Neville Longbottom came with his grandmother but at this time he was just a shy kid with a stutter. Hannah Abbot with the Abbots showed up and more soon after.

After a good half an hour, my fiancée's family showed up. The moment they appeared, they drew attention. The whole family was stunning to look at. The mother was a gorgeous woman that looked in her 20's with long blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a figure to die for.

The father was a tall, handsome man with high cheekbones, grey eyes, a strong jaw and hair as black as night that fell in a wave. He only looked 30 at the oldest.

They had two daughters with them. The eldest took after her mother with long blonde hair done in a braid, facial features that were cute now but would undoubtedly grow to be stunning and her mother's bright blue eyes.

The final person in the family was a young girl around 5-6 years old that took after the father. She had the same black hair as him that went to her waist flowing freely, the grey eyes of the father but she had her mother's face.

Honestly it was like a family of supermodels just showed up and stole the show. My observation only took an instant and soon they were in front of us. The entire family's expressions were neutral as if their faces were made of stone.

"Lord Greengrass. It's a pleasure to have you here. Please be welcome in our home for tonight. You know Narcissa of course. This is Draco, my son. Draco, this Lord Jacob Greengrass and Lady Elizabeth Greengrass along with the Heiress Daphne and miss Astoria Greengrass." Said Lucius with a tiny hint of smugness while introducing them to me.

"A pleasure." Lord Greengrass said as he shook hands with Lucius.

It didn't show on the surface but my soul sense picked up clearly that he was full of icy rage towards Lucius. It seems my thoughts on Lucius getting the contract through shady dealings was correct. Narcissa and Lady Elizabeth quitly chatted to the side and seemed to have an amicable relationship whilst I stepped up and introduced myself to my supposed finacée.

"Heiress Greengrass. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please be welcome in our home." I said, brushing my lips across her knuckles like tradition dictates.

I repeated the greeting with little Astoria and stood back, giving them space. Daphne spoke for them both next.

"The pleasure is mine MR Malfoy. Thank you for the warm reception." She said, putting emphasis on the Mr.

Was that supposed to offend me? I snorted inwardly, amused.

"Draco, why don't you show Heiress and and miss Greengrass inside? It's about time we joined the festivities." Lucius cut in.

I nodded. "Of course father. Heiress Greengrass, miss Greengrass, please allow me to accompany you inside." I spoke, offering her my arm. It was only polite.

She nodded imperiously and brushed past me along with Astoria, ignoring the offered arm. Clearly an insult. Honestly though, I just found this whole situation amusing. I wasn't close to being offended. I could feel her indignation and rage directed towards me from a mile away with my soul sense. She's clearly been briefed about the contract and not being happy with it is putting it mildly.

I nodded briefly to the adults and followed them inside. The party was being hosted in the largest room of our manor with marble floors and fancy decorations of ice that were spelled to never melt.

The adults were already mingling around tables full of nibbles when we got there, glasses of wine in hand whilst the centre of the room was empty for dancing.

Moving past them, I followed the Greengrass sisters to the small corner where the children were gathered. It was a miniature of the adults setup with juice, nibbles and low tables. Sigh... I can already tell this is going to be a long night.