Chapter 10: Ginny's Birthday
The day had finally arrived for Ginny's birthday, and Draco was in his room standing near his fireplace looking at her gift he had gotten her in his arms. Ginny was, after all, somewhat of a tomboy, but he thought he'd get her something to help her relax a bit. In the end he had decided on high quality soaps and shampoos like the ones that Daphne had given to Holly, as well as bubble bath soaps.
He had boxed it up nicely, but was still a bit nervous. Draco worried that she might not like it, but hoped that the intent would get through regardless. The intent being that it is okay for her to pamper herself sometimes. Draco smled as he imagined her being grateful for the gift and hugging him. That would sure be nice, though he seriously doubted that she'd cave in and he'd get a hug with her family around, though he might get a hug later. He could hope at least.
Draco chuckled, thinking that he might be turning into a hug monster, because he really liked hugging his girlfriends and being hugged by them. It made him feel like he was special. He figured it was pretty normal to enjoy feeling like you are special to someone, and he hoped that he made them all feel like they were special to him, because they were.
Swallowing his nervousness, Draco tucked the box under one arm and grabbed some floo powder and entered the fireplace "The Burrow" he said while dropping the floo powder and then disappearing from the Malfoy Manor.
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Arriving at the Burrow right after that, Draco heard "Draaaaaco!"and had an Astoria-shaped missile flying at him and wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.
Draco hugged her back and then saw a new notification from his system.
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Hidden Condition Met
Relationship Tracker Received
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Draco immediately thought to add all his girlfriends to the relationship tracker and mentally opened it, wondering what hidden condition he had met.
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Astoria Greengrass - SOULMATE
Holly Potter - Love (37%)
Daphne Greengrass - Close (87%)
Ginny Weasley - Close 85%)
Luna Lovegood - Close (72%)
Hermione Granger - Close (68%)
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Draco was rather shocked by what he saw. After reading the functions description, he guessed that it was obtained by having someone have extreme feelings for him, either as a soulmate or an archenemy..
Sure, Astoria had always been loyal to him, plus he had cured her bloodline curse, so he understood her feelings might be strong, just not to this extent.
"Are Daphne, Hermione, and Holly already here as well?" he did not mention Ginny because she lived here, nor did he mention Luna because she Luna was staying over at the Burrow last night, so of course they were both here.
"Holly hasn't arrived yet." Astoria admitted.
"Alright, I'd better go check on her then. I'll hurry right back though" Draco reassured Astoria, who smiled up at him and nodded before letting him go,
The entry around the fireplace was currently empty except for Astoria, so rather then using floo to return to Holly's place, Draco decided to just apperate there. Astoria already knew he could do that, so it was fine.
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Holly was just getting dressed after showering when she heard the familiar popping sound of someone apperating in. She swiftly finished dressing and peaked out of her room to see Draco waiting "Good morning Draco." Holly smiled at him and stepped out of the bedroom and was wearing a nice white dress that just screamed adorable.
Holly saw his expression and blushed a bit.
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Holly Potter's love has grown by 1%.
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Draco saw the notification but was careful not to react. Draco kissed Holly's cheek, but her love did not increase again, so it obviously wasn't that easy. "Well, Ginny and the others are waiting for us."
"Right." Holly nodded in understanding and then quickly went to grab the box with Ginny's present in it and they both headed to the fireplace and then to the Burrow via floo.
As Draco and Holly arrived in the fireplace, there was a cute blond girl he'd never met before with a woman he had met once with his father. The woman was Amelia Bones, the head of the department of magical law enforcement, so he guessed that the girl was her niece, Susan.
"Oh, Hello" Draco greeted the little girl "You must be Susan, Am I right?" Draco asked the girl with a smile.
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Susan Bones's Friendship has risen by 1%
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'Nailed it' Draco thought to himself when he saw the notification, not realizing that he'd subconciously added her to the reationship tracker until he saw the notification.
Amelia Bones was quite surprised to see Draco "We dropped by to congradulate Ginny. It is surprising to see you here, Mr Malfoy."
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Susan Bones's relationship status is now Neutral.
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'easy come easy go' Draco thought glumly when he saw that notification "I had to go through being grounded for a whole year, but in the end I won out and my parents grudgingly let me keep being friends with Ginny." Draco admitted.
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Susan Bones's Friendship has risen by 6%
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"I see." Amelia was surprised to hear that "How very Hufflepuff-like loyalty of you."
Draco laughed "If I ended up in Hufflepuff House, my dads head might explode."
"You don't sound as though you object to the idea, though." Amelia noted.
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Susan Bones's Friendship has risen by 1%
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"Why would I? I am fiercely loyal and protective towards those I care about." Draco insisted to Amelia "Really though, I don't know where I'll end up. I don't mean it to sound like a braggart, truly I don't, but I am also intelligent, so I could be in Ravenclaw, I am brave, so I could be in Gryffindor, and I am not lacking in ambition either. I would not be surprised if I had a 4 house hat stall."
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Susan Bones's Friendship has risen by 2%
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Amelia chuckled in amusement "I look forward to hearing about your sorting then."
"Since you are here, Miss Bones, can I talk to you privately?" Draco asked Amelia, after all, he had gone to the trouble of writing her an anonymous letter and sending it to her through Olympia, hoping she'd come today. He just hadn't expected her to bring her neice or to come quite this early, but since the letter was delivered by a Pheonix, he guessed that she may have assumed that Dumbledore sent it. Whatever the reason, she was here now.
"Oh, sure." Amelia looked at Susan "I'll returm shortly, go have fun with the other children."
Susan nodded "Thank you Aunt Amelia."
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Susan Bones's Friendship has risen by 1%
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Draco then gestured for Amelia and headed upstairs to a certain bedroom. It was one he had been in it many times before.
As Draco stepped into Percy's room, he retrieved a piece of cheese from his pocket and headed towards scabbers. He had been bribing the little rat to earn his trust, so that he wouldn't suspect anything or flee.
"petrificus totalus." Draco said, seemingly wandlessly, and shot the spell from a fingertip and at the rat.
Amelia was shocked by what she'd seen.
"I present to you, Miss Bones, an unregistered Animagus, Peter Pettigrew, who betrayed the Potters and killed a dozen muggles while faking his death and framing Sirius Black for all of his crimes. He's been pretending to be a rat ever since."
Amelia Bones immediately decided not to talk about his underaged use of magic when she understood the seriousness of what Draco was alleging. She got out her own wand and cast a spell to test if Scabbers was truly an animagus, and the spell forced him back into his human form.
"He really was an animagus." Amelia then looked at Pettihtew's hand and saw his missing finger. "How did you know?" she asked Draco.
"According to the Weasley's, they just found him, so it should have been a normal garden rat. Only they've had it for years, since not long after Voldemort was defeated. The timing, combined with the fact that garden rats do not live this long, and it missing a toe, it just made sense."
"That's all?" Amelia was surprised.
"Well, as far as evidence goes, that's it." Draco admitted "But from what I heard about Uncle Sirius he is a true Gryffindor, so I never believed for a second that he would have betrayed his best friend. Peter, however, was a hat stall that the sorting hat could not place because he did not even have a single quality of any of the four Hogwarts houses. I suppose I always had suspicions about Peter, and everything clicked into place when I found him here and heard how they found him."
Amelia looked at the paralyzed Peter Pettigrew "Please tell Susan I'll be back for her as soon as I can and to just enjoy herself for now."
Draco nodded and smiled "I'll tell her. And thanks for this."
Amelia bones grabbed Peter and apperated away with him and Draco left the room and went to find Susan hanging out with all of his girlfriends.
Draco walked over to Susan and smiled "Something came up with your Aunt, work related, she had to go, but she'll be back as soon as she can."
"What happened?" Ginny asked with concern.
Draco went over to Ginny and presented her with the present he'd been carrying "It's your birthday, Ginny, and I don't want to spoil it. I'll tell you after the party ends." he offered.
Ginny blushed a bit as she accepted the box.
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After the party when most of the guests had left, Draco indeed did sit down with the others and told them that 'Scabbers' was an unregistered animagus, and that he'd suspected Scabbers after hearing how long he'd been with the Weasleys, and he'd gotten Amelia Bones to confirm it, so she arrested him.
He did not tell them it was Peter Pettigrew yet, since he wanted to tell Holly first in private. Before going home himself, Draco went to Holly's place and told her about Peter Pettigrew.
Hearing that he was still alive and had been hiding under the same roof as her new best friend Ginny upset her, but she thanked Draco for handling it so well, and she started to hope that this godfather of hers might be released from prison in the near future.
She thought that after Draco had left, though, so he was already at home when he say that Holly's Love had risen by another 5%.
Seeing that, Draco opened his relationship Tracker to see what everyone was at now.
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Astoria Greengrass - SOULMATE
Holly Potter - Love (44%)
Ginny Weasley - Close 89%)
Daphne Greengrass - Close (88%)
Luna Lovegood - Close (73%)
Hermione Granger - Close (68%)
Susan Bones - Friend (13%)
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Draco smiled when he looked at everyone's feelings for him. Susan was the lowest, but that made sense given that he had just met her today, but after one day he had a net gain of 13% with her, so he wasn't complaing
Astoria had already taken the initiative to invite Susan over when they all hung out with their group, so even without him having to suggest it, he realized that he'd gotten another potential girlfriend. His new ambition was to try to get them all to soulmate level affection before they entered Hogwarts, though he highly doubted he'd be able too. Some level of Love might be possible, though.
As an afterthought, he decided to add a few more names of people he'd meet in the future, even though he couldn't raise their affection just yet, and he checked the Relationship Tracker one last time before going to bed for the night.
Luring Amelia Bones to the Burrow with Ginny's birthday as an excuse, and having Olympia send the unsigned letter, well as he guessed before she likely assumed it was from Dumblefore. That worked for his interests now, if she just assumed that Dumbledore caught on to his investigation and sent her there to provide that opportunity.
If he was ging to start collecting Horcruxes, though, he'd need an ally, or multiple allies,, and he thought of two people he should recruit as soon as possible. The first was Sirius Black.. After all, he'd probablu feel pretty grateful to Draco if he played his cards right.
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Astoria Greengrass - SOULMATE
Holly Potter - Love (44%)
Ginny Weasley - Close 89%)
Daphne Greengrass - Close (88%)
Luna Lovegood - Close (73%)
Hermione Granger - Close (68%)
Susan Bones - Friend (13%)
Hannah Abbot - Neutral
Cho Chang - Neutral
Fleur Delacour - Neutral
Gabrielle Delacour - Neutral
Padma Patil - Neutral
Parvati Patil - Neutral
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone