114 Gregorovitch

"I do know a place where we can get the wand tuned up." Lucius said, "But you will need to clear up your schedule?"

"Where?" Draco asked curiously.

"Mykew Gregorovitch"

"How do you know him? —That's not even important, I heard that he retired from wand making, so will he even work for us." Draco knew who Gregorovitch was and was surprised that his father actually knew the guy. Gregorovitch was one of the owners of the Elder wand who was later killed by Voldemort after he came to power but right now he was still alive and was said to have retired from wand making.

"He is one of the famous wand makers other than Ollivander, so of course I know about him, but personally I have never met him before." Lucius said, "Money can buy anything, so why can't he come out of his 'retirement' to tune a wand, it's not like we are asking him to build a new one."

"Father, you know how stubborn wand makers are, I am sure he wouldn't do so, even if we gave him a lot of money." Draco said getting a bit worried.

"Leave that to me." Lucius said, "I need to take care of some other business for now so I'll be leaving again. If you go out, make sure to take a house-elf with you and don't wander off far away."

"What work?" Draco asked.

"I need to handle some business with the man you just shot a spell at."

"Lockhart?" Draco asked raising his eyebrows, "What's he going on about? Isn't he okay with me just getting my wand taken away or is he hungry for something more?"

"I am afraid things aren't simple." Lucius said, "I am sure someone's behind him in this."

"Again."

"I don't know if it's the same person but as far as I know, Lockhart never had the gall to go against us purebloods." Lucius said, "I had my men capture him, so I am going to interrogate him on whether he is under a spell or working for someone or not."

"What about your identity?" Draco said reminding Lucius, "I made a mistake but again these are delicate times."

"I know what to do." Lucius said. "Don't worry he will never know it was me."

Draco nodded as Lucius disappeared from the fireplace.

"Let's just stay home." Pansy said, "I am really not in the mood to do anything else."

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After spending the whole day with Pansy, she reluctantly left leaving Draco alone. Draco sighed, as he went back to his room looking at the mark on his arm. Even though he didn't have the wand with him anymore, Draco could still feel its presence in a way, unlike the other wand.

Draco then went back to his suitcase, practicing spells to get used to his wand. Draco could clearly feel the difference between his original wand and this one, especially after using his wand for a year now the difference between the two was clear. Due to the wand being passed down from his ancestor, the wand didn't show too much resistance on its own but the problem lied with Draco himself. Unlike other wands, this one could still hold his power and not break but the effect was limited.

"I hope Gregorovitch agrees to tuning it, maybe then the wand would finally be more suitable." Draco said to himself as he went back to his lab for creating more potions. With the offense book, Draco had certainly improved in his potion skills more due to the complicated potions and created different batches of healing potions and explosive potions. With the book in hand, Draco quickly realized that throwing a potion was easier and quicker than chanting a spell, as he wouldn't even need his wand to throw a vial of explosive potion, doing double the damage a normal spell would.

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Lucius came home late, looking tired as he threw his coat on the couch and sat down sighing.

"So what was it?" Draco asked, "Is someone really behind Lockhart?"

"There is, but it may not be the same person." Lucius said. "His memories were manipulated."

"By whom and why?"

"We don't know." Lucius shook his head, "After a couple of spells, he kept talking about how he wanted to be famous and not be humiliated."

"So you think, that him complaining against me was just random?"

"Yes." Lucius said, "His memories were manipulated in a complex manner leaving him in that state where he wanted justice for himself and since you were the one who attacked him recently, he found a way to attack you, knowing this might hamper your reputation—I am certain that Lockhart isn't that clever."

"So did he woke up?"

"Yes." Lucius said, "Soon after he did, he started asking many questions to us, not wanting to be bothered we obliviated him and left him on the street."

Draco nodded, as he started thinking of who it could be on his own. Recent things that have been happening was far different from the book so he didn't know what it could be. Draco couldn't be exactly sure that it wasn't Ryan but to prove that, Draco would have to check on Lockhart himself.

Seeing Draco who was in a deep thought Lucius coughed, grabbing his attention, "Draco, he is teaching at Hogwarts this year, would you be fine? —I can talk to the board of directors and have him removed."

"With his reputation, it would be hard to do so." Draco said, "Since there are many half-bloods in the board, where most of them don't share out ideology, they might not care about our situation, especially considering that the one we want to remove is the hero of many wizards."

"I hate to admit it but with Dumbledore in Hogwarts, an intruder coming in would be quite difficult." Lucius said grimly, "As for the other part, you'll be away in Durmstrang within a couple of months, so it wouldn't be too bad but be sure to be aware."

"What are you talking about?" Narcissa said walking in.

"Nothing, mother." Draco quickly said to her, "We are just talking about my transfer to Durmstrang."

"Sigh! I don't know why would you want to go there, especially considering all the dangers." Narcissa said worriedly.

"Don't worry too much about it mother." Draco said, "It's just for a short while, isn't it? Besides, the danger is the reason I want to go to Durmstrang, with their way of teaching magic, I would have a better way to survive."

Narcissa nodded and didn't say anything else as she sat next to Draco, caressing his hair. The family sat in a peaceful moment once after a very long time only to be disturbed by the twins crying.

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"Do you know where we are really going?" Draco asked Lucius. After eating breakfast, both Lucius and Draco have been traveling towards far north in search for Gregorovitch who was nowhere to be found.

Even though Gregorovitch has wand stores in Diagon Alley around Carkitt Market and several other places, they only sell his wand and the person himself is nowhere to be seen.

"Finding a retired Gregorovitch is more of a tough job than you think it is." Lucius said apparating with Draco to another building, "This is the address the shop owner gave me, so this should be it."

Draco looked at the old house in front of him. The place was in a muggle town but there were no nearby houses. The place beard similar resemblance to an old hunted house and Draco was sure that he wasn't further from the truth as well. The two storey house looked old and cranky and it was hard to figure whether someone lived in it or not.

Draco and Lucius walked up to the door and knocked a couple of times, as the door suddenly flung open. Draco and Lucius looked at each other and entered the house, both cautious they took out their wand and looked around the place.