After spending a night at the Weasleys', Draco didn't go straight home the next day.
Lupin took him and Harry to Hogwarts first. They stayed at Hogwarts for half the morning before he was finally returned to Malfoy Manor.
Although he would never admit it to anyone, it was clear he was no longer as single-mindedly focused on going home to his parents as he had been when he first left with Severus.
This experience of traveling with Severus and the others hadn't transformed him to the point of being a completely new person, but it had corrected many of his previous bad habits.
The moment Draco arrived home, Narcissa hurried down the stairs, her face full of delight, and pulled him into a tight embrace.
"Oh, my child! I never thought you would be away from me for so long one day!"
She spoke in a tearful voice, her face wet with happy tears.
"It's so good to have you back safely! You don't know how angry I was with your father after you left!"
While hugging Narcissa, Draco also looked happy. But soon, it was as if he could hear Harry's mocking words upon seeing this scene.
'Look, it's little baby Draco!'
So, he quickly struggled free from Narcissa's embrace.
"I'm fine, Mother. You don't need to be so emotional. I'm not a little child anymore, needing Mummy and Daddy to worry about me not surviving out in the world!"
Narcissa wiped her tears, still holding Draco's shoulders, checking him for any injuries as she spoke.
"You're only nine! What else could you be but a child? Did Snape mistreat you? Did that student of his hit you again?"
"No, of course they didn't dare bully me!" Draco's old habits resurfaced. "I'm a Malfoy! They wouldn't dare even if they had ten, no, a hundred times the nerve!"
Narcissa knew her son's character better than anyone.
"Then tell me, where did Snape take you?"
At this question, Draco's face lit up with excitement. He began telling Narcissa about his experiences traveling with Severus, Harry, and Lupin since leaving Britain.
A nine-year-old boy, of course, didn't understand the concept of shielding his family from worry… instead, he focused on the thrilling and dangerous parts.
Especially at the French Ministry, how he protected the wife of a pure-blood family member during the goblin invasion.
How he fished up a skull from the troll camp in Albania.
And finally, entering the legendary secret realm containing the Fountain of Fair Fortune, finding the fountain, only to discover it was cursed.
The more excitedly he narrated, the paler Narcissa's face became, and the tighter her grip on his arm unconsciously grew.
By the end, Narcissa's eyes were filled only with retrospective fear.
"This is too much!" Narcissa couldn't help but exclaim. "He actually took two children to such dangerous places, to do such dangerous things!"
"No! Mother!" Draco explained. "Snape was very careful about my safety. Whenever there was a dangerous task, he went alone and had Lupin watch over us. He never took us along."
"That's still not acceptable! You're only nine! Nine! This is simply absurd!"
Draco couldn't refute her words, so he just looked around the house and changed the subject.
"Where's Father? Where did he go?"
This question instantly silenced Narcissa, who had been complaining. After two or three seconds, she stroked Draco's hair and said, pretending nonchalance.
"He went to handle some matters. He'll be back once he's finished."
Lucius felt that he might never be able to properly manage his relationship with Dumbledore.
As a Hogwarts Governor, a financial backer who paid money to this centuries-old magical school every year, Lucius should have had no reservations about Dumbledore.
But Dumbledore was not just the headmaster of a magical school, and Lucius was not merely a wealthy benefactor.
Especially since his visit to Hogwarts this time had an ulterior motive.
"The Forbidden Forest is part of Hogwarts. The Board of Governors has the right to inspect and assess the ecology within the Forest." He sat seemingly relaxed in his chair, his fingers constantly tapping the desk, but in reality, his eyes had avoided meeting Dumbledore's from the start.
"Otherwise, with so much money spent annually on the gamekeeper's salary and the protection of the Forest, we receive no relevant reports. This does not meet the Board's expectations for Hogwarts!"
Dumbledore simply sat with his hands crossed on the desk, smiling at him.
"If the Board of Governors requires it, Hogwarts can certainly produce an annual expenditure report on the Forbidden Forest for the Governors' review. But I imagine such a minor matter wouldn't necessitate a personal visit from you, Lucius."
Lucius loudly criticized.
"It's because you've let this school fall into such disarray! Your management of Hogwarts is far too lax, leading to exceptionally undisciplined students. When I arrived at the castle today, there were actually two red-haired boys throwing Dungbombs in the corridor!"
Dumbledore blinked.
"That would likely be the two Mr. Weasleys. Thank you for reporting it, Lucius. I'll have Filch punish them, although it's only been less than two months into the term, and they've already served three detentions."
"And about the Forest, a report alone isn't sufficient. The Board must arrange for specialists to enter the Forest for an audit!"
Finally, after stalling for so long, Lucius stated his ultimate purpose for coming here.
Unlike previous face-to-face encounters with Dumbledore, back then he believed the Dark Lord was long dead, he himself had been thoroughly cleared, and as a Hogwarts Governor, he was practically half of Dumbledore's boss.
Back then, he could freely show displeasure to this old man, nitpick his school and students.
But now, Lucius could no longer recapture that feeling. No matter how righteously he appeared to criticize Dumbledore on the surface, he was actually guilty inside.
After he made his demand, Dumbledore didn't speak immediately. He just looked calmly at Lucius, as if pondering something.
His gaze wasn't particularly aggressive, yet it made Lucius feel uneasy, fidgeting in his chair.
Just as Lucius was about to lose patience and stand up to demand why Dumbledore dared not answer, Dumbledore finally spoke.
But when he spoke again, he brought up a matter completely unrelated to Lucius's reason for being there.
"I saw your son this morning, Lucius."
This seemingly random statement first confused Lucius. Then, as he processed what Dumbledore was saying, his face completely changed.
The next second, he shot up from his chair.
"Draco? He's here? With you?"
Dumbledore simply spread his hands.
"Don't be so agitated, Lucius. What do you take this place for? A den of child traffickers?" Dumbledore seemed amused by his own joke. "This is a school. Every corridor, every classroom, every staircase is full of children."
"It's just that this morning, Remus brought him and another friend of his to visit me. I had a chat with him."
Dumbledore praised.
"He's quite remarkable, better than most children from pure-blood families I've met. That's a credit to your upbringing."
Lucius didn't speak or sit down. He just stared unblinkingly at Dumbledore, unable to tell if this was genuine praise or some form of sarcasm.
Seeing his defensive posture, Dumbledore's smile faded. He re-crossed his fingers and said softly,
"Since you care so much about him, about your family, why not sit down and we can have a proper chat?"
Lucius's gaze never left Dumbledore. He finally sat down, his mind undoubtedly in turmoil.
"What do you want to talk about?"
He vaguely suspected Dumbledore knew something, but also felt it impossible for him to know those things. Coupled with the mention of Draco, his son, it made him feel intensely agitated.
"How do you find your life these days?" Dumbledore asked a question Lucius never imagined anyone would one day ask him.
A contemptuous smile appeared on his face, much like Draco pretending to be a grown-up in front of Narcissa.
"How's my life? I dare say no wizard in the Wizarding World lives a life like mine!"
"Ah, of course. The Malfoys have a long history, wealth accumulated over generations, and a social status you persistently maintain. The life you enjoy in the magical world is undoubtedly top-tier, unmatched by others."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
Such flattery made Lucius, whose heart had been uneasy, involuntarily lift his chin. What Dumbledore said was indeed true, as even Dumbledore himself couldn't compare to the Malfoys' standard of living.
"Your family is happy, you want for nothing, you are respected. Such a life is, of course, what everyone hopes for."
"But what if one day, someone suddenly approaches you and asks you to join him in a gamble."
"A high-stakes gamble where you wager the entirety of the Malfoy Family, the loved ones you cherish, everything you currently possess. If you lose, you lose it all. But if you win... your life couldn't improve much more, because you already surpass almost 99% of wizards in Britain, or even Europe."
Dumbledore met Lucius's eyes.
"Would you take such a bet?"
Lucius sneered.
"Do you think I'm a fool?"
Dumbledore smiled.
"Even a fool wouldn't take that bet, Lucius."
"Then why would you make a decision even a fool wouldn't?"
Lucius finally realized what Dumbledore was implying.
At that moment, he felt a chill run through his entire body, as if plunging into an ice cellar!
The entire Headmaster's office fell into silence, broken only by the snores from the portraits on the wall. They weren't feigning sleep, as they genuinely had little interest in this pure-blood wizard.
Looking at the utterly stunned Lucius, Dumbledore said calmly,
"A friend of yours told me that although you've done some bad things, you're not beyond redemption. Especially since you value your family deeply."
"You still have a week, correct? Perhaps use this time to go home and talk with your son and wife first, and then decide whether you truly want to engage in this inherently unfair, high-stakes gamble?"
Lucius didn't know how he left Hogwarts.
His mind was a chaotic whirl, filled with countless jumbled thoughts.
'Dumbledore definitely knew!'
'He knew I came to Hogwarts to look for something!'
'He even knew Master had given me a deadline of only one week!'
'Only those present that night knew such details. How did he know?'
'Who had informed him?'
'And that 'friend' he mentioned.'
'Everyone sitting in the drawing room that night could be called my friend. So who could it be?'
Thinking this, Lucius suddenly held his breath!
'Could it be... could it be him?'
The moment that name came to mind, he instantly dismissed the thought.
'It absolutely couldn't be him!'
'Master trusted him so much, and he had done so much for Master. Anyone else could be the traitor, even Barty Crouch Jr., but it simply couldn't be him!'
When Lucius returned home, he was so distracted that even seeing Draco didn't fully register.
Narcissa noticed his strange state and anxiously asked him what was wrong.
But Lucius didn't want to tell her such things. He shut himself in his study alone, forcing himself to calm down and think.
'What should I do next?'
'Dumbledore clearly already knew everything about Master's return. There was a mole among the Death Eaters. The task of obtaining unicorn blood within a week was clearly impossible to complete. How would I explain this to Master?'
And then Dumbledore's words resurfaced in his mind.
Even if he could explain it to the Dark Lord, was this gamble, where losing meant losing everything, and winning offered little additional benefit, really one he should take?
Especially when he would be gambling with Draco's and Narcissa's safety as well?
These questions kept Lucius thinking in his study all night long. But even after a whole night, he had found no answers.