I coolly gazed down onto the grounds of the Parkinson family from my vantage point on a balcony while swirling the wine in my hand in a counterclockwise direction and occasionally taking a sip of the fine vintage.

The soft noise of classical music drifted over from the brightly lit room behind me, bringing with it the trill of conversations and a tantalizing smell of apples.

I'd just absconded from the hustle and bustle of officials and lords who I'd collectively trounced in any topic they deemed worthy enough to bring up. Now I was here, waiting for my dance partner to grace me with her presence. I felt someone approach from behind, I did not turn around, slightly leaning into the hand that laid itself on my shoulder. I grasped it with my own and kissed it, making the woman behind me exclaim at the sheer scandal. “Master Draco!”

But the voice was not that of a beautiful woman, it was not even the voice of a human. I opened my eyes, seeing that I was lying in my bed, drooling onto the hand of Twenkle, the house-elf I'd tasked with waking me up every morning. I could have asked Dobby, but his countenance was not necessarily something I wanted to witness at the start of every day.

Twenkle and I stared into each other's eyes for a bit, before both averting our gaze, I stood up and started making my way into the bathroom, leaving the house-elf it's job fulfilled with a simple comment.

“That never happened.”

“What never happens?”

Good man.

I let my wand shoot out of my wrist holster, that yes, I also wore while I slept, into my hand and started my morning routine. It would probably surprise everyone, that the first book of spells I'd bothered learning was composed entirely of vanity, household, and personal hygiene spells.

Time was money, and with these spells I saved myself around half an hour everyday. A simple flick directed at my mouth, along with a drawled out incantation cleaned my entire mouth and massaged my gums at the same time. Another spell directed at my body had the same effect as if I'd taken an hour long bath, and one last spell directed at my hair combed the entirety of it in under two seconds.

I pulled a pose and smiled charmingly at my reflection in the mirror, almost blinding myself with the shine of my teeth. Say what you want about the validity of Lockhart's adventure books, but the man knew his way around household charms.

I cast some more spells on the clothes that I would be wearing today as I garbed myself, temperature regulation, softness spells etc. There wasn't anything particularly special about the clothes despite them being the ones I would be formally introduced in. Simple undergarments with a robe in dark grey, and a wizard’s hat that switched between the colours emerald green and wine red. It was a common misconception that every single article of clothing could be enchanted with numerous effects. Something as fragile as an article of clothing could hold at most two, and even that was inadvisable, therefore it was necessary for the gentle-wizard to be knowledgeable of the charms that turned his second skin from comfortable into downright orgasmic.

No really, wearing clothes which you controlled every aspect of to your own specifications was the greatest feeling ever. I luxuriated in it for a few minutes, losing some of the time I'd gained with learning all these hygiene spells, before starting to mentally prepare myself for the day ahead.

My family would be leaving soon, which ran completely counter to my own expectations of how I'd be introduced to society. Expectations that I'd just lived out in my dreams since I wouldn't be able to do so in real life. I had been expecting balls stretching out far after midnight, hundreds of people who made up the crème de la crème of magical society gathered in one estate, chocolate fountains, orchestras, dancing and all that jazz.

What I'd gotten instead was a morning fundraiser at St Mungo’s, where my father planned to donate a hefty sum.

In hindsight I was quite grateful, starting small and all. It would have also been fairly foolish for my parents to plan my exposure to happen amongst too many people, and foolish they were anything but. Well, at least in political manners. They were still human after all.

I made my way downstairs, I'd woken up later than I usually did, as I wanted to be as well rested as I could possibly be for the social function, and had not been planning on undergoing my usual morning tribulations of athletics and magic practice.

After breakfast I was promptly bustled off to our houses apparition point by my beautifully dressed mother and classily dressed father, there were not many words spoken, we'd already discussed everything beforehand, Grandfather was also not joining us as he'd recently abdicated all of his responsibilities to Lucius and would henceforth serve as more of an advisor. Once we'd reached the apparition point Mother gently pressed my shoulder, our signal, and I was promptly assailed by the feeling of being squeezed through a tube.

Which was my own decision, so I couldn't really complain. I came out smiling despite the unpleasantness of the sensation. We would have normally traveled by floo, but I found it a better exercise of a fairly complicated piece of magic for my parents if we apparated instead. They used magic much too little in their day to day lives in my opinion. Not even starting on their almost complete disinterest in learning new magicks.

We'd apparated straight to St Mungo's apparition point and after a few seconds, continued our journey to the small green pasture in the hospital's backyard that patients weren't allowed into, and that was being used to host the fundraiser today.

I received a questioning gaze from mother as we neared the gathering, we could already hear the sound of glass clinking and light chatter. I nodded at her unspoken question. I remembered my part.

Greet everyone politely and go join the children's corner as soon as possible.

Not the political manoeuvre I'd been expecting to complete today, but as my parents had reminded me when I expressed my doubts about the plan, I was seven years old. People would be absolutely smitten with me as long as I showed myself as a polite, well-spoken young boy who was capable of interacting with others his age in a respectable manner.

We entered the grounds, and I instantly noticed a certain ever shifting magical signature, and upon looking there, found a young teenager with pink hair. Ah yes, it was summer, and Andromeda Tonks worked at St Mungo’s as a healer? I thought at least.

Well, at least I now had a way to entertain myself after I'd greeted everyone I needed to greet. Time to meet my cousin.