Harry Potter: Reunion with the Enemy

Seven-year-old Draco stood in front of the drawing board a little overwhelmed. The beautiful custom-made clothes on his body made him feel a little breathless. He touched the belt around his waist. The waist design of this dress might be a little too tight.

But he still had to keep smiling, because his dear father and mother, Narcissa and Lucius, were standing by and watching him.

This was one of the gifts for Draco's seventh birthday. He was about to get his first portrait in his life, a delicate, animated portrait of a wizard.

Generally speaking, wizards will choose to customize a portrait when they reach adulthood or old age - because it is very expensive to invite a professional painter. At the same time, in order for the portrait to speak and behave like the wizard himself, the person being painted needs to communicate with the portrait frequently and impart various useful fragments and memories, so that the portrait and the wizard are almost the same.

"We will be happy to keep you as lovely as you are. You only turn seven once." This was the reason given by Lucius and Narcissa.

Draco could feel his hair being combed smooth and sticking to his scalp, and the Malfoy family ring that his father had put on his finger was showing signs of slipping off - the ring size of this silver ring with a snake pattern was made according to the size of an adult, and Draco hooked his finger nervously to make it appear to stay there obediently.

"You will definitely be a handsome boy when you grow up." The painter Filin praised. All the portraits of the Malfoy family came from this painter's family. At this moment, she was using her brush to depict Draco's appearance.

Draco said thank you politely, then kept smiling a little stiffly - please, he didn't want his portrait to look stupid.

"In fact, portraits can also be slightly adjusted according to the wishes of the person being painted. For example, how do you want your portrait to look? More luxurious? Or change the background to somewhere else?"

Draco frowned seriously, as if he had thought seriously, "Will it make me look like a hero?"

"Hero?" the painter Feilin asked with a smile. "No one dares to bully you now, and you have countless wealth. Isn't this still a hero?"

"That's the kind of person who is admired, well-known, and very remarkable." Draco described with gestures, "For example, the kind who defeated the big villain in everyone's mind. There are some scars on the body to prove that he has faced danger. In short, he is a great person."

The artist seemed a little confused. What? What was this pure-blood boy, whose clothes were worth an average person's annual income, talking about? But Filin still smiled and agreed, "Okay, let's make Draco look like a hero." How about adding some golden backlight?

After hearing the painter's agreement, Draco looked very happy, and his breathing seemed to be much smoother. He seemed to be ignoring the sticky feeling of the hairspray.

"You've told him the story of the Boy-Who-Lived too many times, Cissy," Lucius whispered to Narcissa on the other side of the drawing board.

"He likes this!" Narcissa stared at the image of Draco gradually taking shape on the canvas. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with this. The You-Know-Who won't come back anyway because of that boy. You also turned to the Ministry of Magic the first time, didn't you?"

The scene changed rapidly, and the scene changed to a clean, empty room in Malfoy Manor.

Draco seemed to have grown taller. The baby fat on his face had faded, and the familiar pointed chin and sharp facial features had begun to appear.

"You need to get closer to your dance partner." Narcissa was currently practicing dancing with Draco.

The dance teacher agreed, "Yes, Master Malfoy's dance steps are now very standard, but the distance between him and his dance partner is still too far."

"This will make the girls from other pure-blood families and business partners think you are too cold." Narcissa explained patiently, "You will be the center of attention at the charity ball the day after tomorrow."

Draco suppressed a silent "tsk" in his heart and just answered obediently: "Yes, mother."

"You need to be gentlemanly and reliable," the dance teacher added. "Let everyone have a happy memory."

There was no emotion in the gray eyes. Happiness? Was it listening to these old guys bragging about how they saved a lot of gold galleons by relying on charity and other methods to avoid taxes, or listening to another group of old guys showing off their new collections that they spent a lot of money on? There were also a lot of overly enthusiastic eyes that had to be faced. Every time the pure-blood families got together, they had to consider marriages for the few descendants of each family. However, love has its own vitality. It does not come from bloodline or gold galleons.

"Okay." Draco controlled his tone, smoothing out any boredom and impatience in it.

The scene quickly switched to Knockturn Alley.

"Young man, please be kind and give me some money." A piece of rag-like thing on the side of the road moved, and suddenly an arm stretched out and grabbed Draco's calf.

Lucius and Narcissa looked at the beggar with disgust who suddenly dragged their young child. Lucius quickly pulled out his wand and the beggar was hit by several spells and rolled several meters away.

Draco looked at the beggar's face wrinkled in pain and stopped hesitantly.

In fact, he still had some pocket money in his pocket.

Lucius grabbed Draco's arm forcefully and took him away quickly, lowering his head and asking, "Do you sympathize with him?"

Draco was a little afraid of his father's expression, but Lucius would not scold him too harshly no matter what he said, so he nodded slowly.

"There are only so many good positions in the world. If you want to help him, be prepared to exchange yourself with him." Lucius stopped and let Draco see the beggar's trembling back. "If your kindness can support you to wear these rags or sleep on the street, then go and help him."

The sour smell he had just smelled when he passed by was still lingering in Draco's nostrils, and he shook his head in confusion.

"Then let yourself and him stay where you should be." Lucius pulled Draco and Narcissa and started walking again.

“Don’t look back, don’t look down.”

The scene quickly switched to the restaurant in Malfoy Manor.

Harry felt very familiar with this place; he had been here once before.

"The Master is back! The Master is back!" Bellatrix's laughter echoed off the walls. Her black, matted hair fluttered as she cheered. "I knew he would come back."

Lucius and Narcissa enjoyed their dinner calmly, while Draco kept his head down and remained silent. Harry noticed that he was already wearing the Malfoy family ring that had been too big for him when he was a child.

"We will have to clean up the filthy mudbloods sooner or later!" Bellatrix laughed wildly in the corridor and wandered back to the dining room. "The boy's blood also helped the master's return! Hahahahaha! What a stupid savior. What a pity, what a pity that he was not killed there."

Draco seemed to be pricked by something invisible. "Father and Mother, I'm full." He moved his chair and quickly left the table.

The scene quickly changes. Malfoy Manor dungeon.

The hooded Death Eaters had finished their meeting, Apparating away one by one.

Suddenly, someone came close to the Malfoy family and said mockingly in Lucius' ear in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft: "Fence-sitter. How can the master trust someone like you? You must be very happy in the Ministry of Magic. Why don't you just die?"

Draco subconsciously clenched his wand, and the Dark Mark was already branded on his forearm.

Lucius calmly grasped Draco's arm and let the Death Eater walk away, laughing wildly.

"Father—" Draco said through gritted teeth.

"You can die a thousand times because of other people's words, but you can only die once on the battlefield." Lucius patted Draco's head. "Cissy and I have tried our best to delay your involvement."

"But I—" Draco's eyes welled up.

Lucius pulled up Draco's arm with the Dark Mark and said, "Protect yourself well." Lucius overlapped Draco's palm with his own. The two silver snake-patterned rings shone with the same metallic luster in the dark.

The scene changes quickly. The Room of Requirement.

Draco tried various commands in an attempt to listen to the Potter Lookout while watching the debugging results of the Vanishing Cabinet.

"The Order of the Phoenix."

"Albus."

"DA"

"Mad-Eye."

The password was correct, and the radio's voice responded. Draco patiently listened to the nonsense of the Weasley brothers, Lupin, Lee, and a group of righteous wizards.

Still no news from Potter... Still no news from Potter...

The vanishing cabinet has been fixed.

Draco stepped back three steps and hit it with a powerful spell.

Repair it again.

Quick scene switching.

The battle was over. Draco followed Lucius and walked quickly. The color of the Dark Mark of both of them had become much lighter. There were still many scars of spells on Draco's mark, which seemed to be the sequelae of failed forced removal.

"The Malfoy family has invested in a number of research projects. Our task now is to check whether the funds for these projects are used reasonably and whether the progress of the projects is in line with the time schedule."

"Then eliminate and terminate some unqualified projects. This will also be your main job in the future." Lucius instructed, and turned around to find that Draco's eyes lingered on a certain project book, and he seemed very interested.

Lucius swiftly took away the document, which was titled - Research on Enhanced Time-Turner and Possibility of Rebirth.

"What's wrong? You want to be reborn, go back a few years or even more than ten years ago? To make up for your regrets." Lucius asked.

Draco turned his head hastily, "I didn't."

"Listen, if you can't even live well today, how can you be sure to grasp every day of your next life? Accidents and regrets will always happen." Lucius stared into Draco's eyes.

Draco lowered his head and remained silent.

"Are you happy now? Everything your mother and I did was to make you happy." Lucius sighed.

Draco's eyes flickered and he opened his mouth but said nothing.

"If you really want it, go find him." Lucius grabbed his son's shoulders. "Instead of pinning our hopes on the next life, let's live well today, okay?"