~ For 2D ~
A manor sat in the middle of a little wizarding village, surrounded by other houses and cottages, one where purebloods, half bloods, and even muggleborns lived. It was a beautiful manor, one with ivory gates and brilliant marble columns. The grounds sprawled for quite a ways, filled with the loveliest of flowers. It was hard to believe that people actually lived there, yet they did. Inside the brilliant home lived Abraxas Malfoy, his wife, and their son, brilliant little Lucius Malfoy.
It was the first of September, a bright and sunny day that seemed to be just perfect for playing outside. Yet, young Lucius Malfoy sat in his bedroom, left to do nothing more than gaze wistfully out at the sun filled streets that lay just past the manor's shining gates. He stared down at the papers that rested atop his desk, letting out a small sigh before dipping his quill back in the ink. Perhaps if he finished his studies quickly then he would be allowed to go outside and converse with the other children. Yes, that seemed doable.
A little spark of determination flickered inside his eyes as he scrawled the last word on the page, dotting the i's and crossing the t's, making sure everything was perfect. He was a friendly person, as a child anyway, and didn't care too much about the bloodlines of the other children he would hang out with. Because of that he wanted to get out and play with the other magical children in their little town. He hadn't been able to in quite a while, since his father would always fill the time with magic lessons and shared outings to the ministry.
But today was a good day, his father was out at the ministry due to some important business, and the only person left home was his mother - who was surely out in the garden planting flowers and making sure it looked immaculate. Lucius was sure most families would have their house elves do the gardening, but his mother had a green thumb, and a knack for plants - it helped that his father hadn't had any issues with the idea. It gave her something to do when his father went on long ministry trips, something to occupy the time spent alone.
He grabbed the papers in his hand and rushed down the stairs, through the hallways, out the backdoor, and into the garden. His grey eyes scanned the grounds before resting on his mother's crouched form. He moved quickly through the grass, waving the papers in his hand, the noise catching his mother's attention. Her gaze snapped up towards him, a smile taking over her features as she watched her son run towards her.
"Mother look! I finished my studies!" he exclaimed, causing the woman's expression to change to slight confusion and disbelief. She reached a gloved hand out towards him, beckoning for him to hand her the finished work. He did so, and he watched with bated breath as her eyes scanned over the work he'd done. Her disbelief turned to shock, though she quickly put a smile on her face as she shrunk his work and put it into her pocket.
"Indeed you did!" she replied, a loving smile on her face.
"I was wondering if I could go play with the other children," Lucius began, wringing his hands nervously. His mother opened her mouth to speak, though he spoke again before any sound could escape from her lips.
"Since father's away with the ministry and all." He shifted on his feet, moving his weight from one leg to another in anticipation. His mother got a soft look on her face, the one Lucius knew all too well - it was the same look she got when making important or tough decisions. The silence ate away at him. She let out a soft sigh before staring back at him once more.
"I suppose," she replied at last, and with that he began walking across the path towards the front gate. He was almost there when he heard her call out to him again, and so he spun on his heel, gaze back on her figure.
"Don't forget to be home for supper!" she called, and he replied, assuring her he would be back shortly. He practically sprinted out of the gate, moving swiftly through the streets and down to the park he'd loved hanging out at when he'd been able. A small crowd of children around his age were gathered around a redheaded girl, watching as she attempted a small spell. She failed and they all patted her on the back, he hesitated before stepping closer to their little circle.
"Hello." Their gazes turned to him with shock and slight panic on their features - he thought it odd and curious as to why they looked so scared, yet he continued anyway. "I'm Lucius Malfoy-"
"What do you want?" came the redhead's voice, cutting him off with a sense of hidden aggression he had rarely heard in someone's tone. His brows furrowed.
"To play with you, if that's alright?" He watched her gaze darken a little, watched as she looked him up and down. Her eyes telling him she was suspicious of him, though he couldn't fathom why.
"What's the catch?" she began, "Purebloods like you don't usually hang out around people like us."
"People like you?" he asked, curiosity taking over his tone as his brows furrowed once more. The girl let out a scoff, and he watched as the people behind her gazed up at her with wide eyes. As if she was crazy.
"Muggleborns," she replied, as if he should have known. Her gaze was sharp, almost like a glare. She looked like a mother dog, one that despite being weak would do everything it could to protect its children. He didn't quite understand why other pure blooded children wouldn't hang out with this group, they seemed friendly enough.
"I don't really mind," was his reply, and with that her demeanor changed instantly. She smiled at him and allowed him to play a game they all enjoyed, a muggle game called 'capture the flag' or something along those lines. Time passed quickly with his new group of friends, and Lucius couldn't help but be excited for the next day, when he'd hopefully get to see them again. He rushed home, eating dinner quickly and writing in his journal. Writing down the new game and how it worked, after all, he didn't want to forget the rules in case they played again.
It continued like that for months, he would get his studies done earlier and earlier each day, and then race down to the park to play with the other wizarding children. He learned dozens of new games, muggle games, made up games, and each day he would write about it in his small leather journal. It was all quite literally fun and games, the days flying by. His father hadn't returned for a while, being out on a two month long ministry trip.
One day, towards the start of November, he had returned home as normal, right before dinner to wash up, when he was met by his father's loud voice. He crept through the hallways, moving towards the parlor where he knew his parents would be. He peeked his head through the doorway to see his mother's dark hair tied up in a bun, a change from the loose braids she'd worn when his father was away. She was sipping on her cup of tea, and sitting across from her was Lucius' father, Abraxas.
Everyone who saw the father and son together would say they looked shockingly similar, both with their platinum blonde hair and porcelain skin. The only thing Lucius got from his mother was her eyes, the shocking grey orbs that differed greatly from his father's green ones. He pushed the door open a little further, intimidated slightly by the serious air that circulated around the room. The door creaked as he pushed it open, and his father's gaze snapped to his shorter form.
"Lucius?"
"Yes father?"
"Where have you been?" Lucius looked towards his mother, hesitant on if he should tell his father. His mother only gave a small smile and a nod of her head.
"Down at the park, playing with some of the other children," came his voice, lower than it had been only minutes before when he'd shouted at a teammate because he'd gotten the flag from the opposite team's base. At the word children his father's interest was grabbed.
"What blood status were they?" Lucius was confused for a moment, why should that matter?
"They were Muggleborn father," he watched as his father's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You can't play with them," came his father's cold reply, emerald eyes turning to ice. Lucius still couldn't wrap his head around it, why couldn't he? They were children, just like he was. Weren't they?
"Why?"
"Because they are below us, below you," was his father's curt response, his tone holding a mocking sort of sympathy to it. Lucius' mind reeled, because though the answer didn't quite make sense, at least it was an answer. He pressed on, trying to clear up his confusion.
"How are they below us?" His father's face broke out into a wicked grin, as he began explaining all about blood purity. Lucius' mother's face dropping as the conversation went on - not that either of the males noticed this, nor did they notice when she slipped quietly out of the room to go garden. Lucius was far too entranced by his father's explanation to notice anything else.
His father said they were better because they were more pure, because they came from magic and were more talented at it. Because muggleborns were quick to anger, hostile, and lesser in all ways - magic included. Lucius let the information seep in, still excited for the next day, when he would go out and play again. He was somewhat shocked that his father had allowed him to go out again, but perhaps he would take his new information and play better now that he knew.
The weeks dragged on, and Lucius slowly began to not only think he was better than the other children, both magic wise and in general, but it slowly began showing outwardly too. Two days after the lecture he began making snide, almost rude remarks during their game of marco polo. Five days after the comments were now snide and openly rude, though it didn't seem to matter to Lucius, so the children tried to ignore it. One week in and he began to be degrading towards them, because in his mind he was better than them. He could get away with this, and so he did. Two weeks after listening to the lecture from his father he'd watched the redheaded muggleborn girl try at another simple spell. She failed three times before he waved his wand and loudly recited the incantation.
He held his head high with a smug sort of satisfaction on his face. Watching as the ten year old muggleborn girl's face slowly grew redder. She seemed furious - no, furious was too meek a word. She looked livid. It wasn't just her, the other children looked annoyed too. They'd noticed how Lucius had been changing lately, had grown rude, snide and stuck up when dealing with them. How he brushed off their annoyance, because by then his mind was already poisoned by his father's ideology. By then the seed had been planted and it was already far too late.
"What," she began, words trembling with poorly hidden anger, "was that for?"
"You were failing again, I did it for you."
"I didn't need you to do it for me!"
"Now, now, there's no need to raise your voice," her eyes were ablaze now, her face as red as a tomato. He was being condescending and rude, full of prejudice she was sure would burst out quickly.
"I was practicing, trying to get better at magic, and you-" she began, speaking in a tone that held anger, but as if she was speaking to a child who didn't understand. In all reality it seemed as if she was.
"But why?" She was stunned into silence for a moment once he'd cut her off. "You can't get better at magic."
"That's outrageous, of course I can!" she seemed tired of this, as if she knew how this would end. As if she'd had this conversation before. The other children in their circle of friends would understand her anger, after all, they were muggleborns in a village with some very prejudiced purebloods. It was all too often they dealt with people thinking they would forever be worse at magic than those of higher blood status. Lucius Malfoy was turning out to be just like everyone else. He scoffed at her reply.
"No you can't."
"Why not?" came her reply, anger radiating off of her. Lucius felt a suspicion that perhaps his father was right about everything. This muggleborn girl wasn't even trying to hide her anger and hostility anymore, she was being very aggressive, and wasn't great at magic. It ticked all the boxes.
"Because you're a Mudblood." There were gasps throughout the group before a shocked silence fell over them. Lucius could only feel a smug satisfaction, maybe now they would see that he was superior, that he was-
He fell to the ground, eyes wide in shock, cheek burning. His hand slowly moved to his cheek, covering it with malice in his eyes. He stood slowly, trembling with rage. His father was right, they were nothing more than dirt underneath his shoes. They were hostile, quick to anger, completely irrational, and terrible people. He was better than them in every way, and so he spit out the last remark he would ever say to her, to all of them.
"My father will hear about this." With that he walked off, hand still covering his cheek as the burning turned into a slightly more tolerable stinging. His mother's eyes widened when she saw him, and his father's face turned red with rage. They took him to a healer, even though it was barely an injury. A week later everything was in order and they moved to Malfoy Manor, away from his mother's brilliant home to his father's even more luxurious one. One that was away from Muggleborns, and full of purebloods with their same ideologies. It was heaven. Lucius Malfoy would start Hogwarts a year later, and take with him everything he'd learned from his father, and from the experience he'd had with that little muggleborn girl.
0-0-0-0
Barely six years later, in his last year of Hogwarts, he watched as Severus Snape - a Slytherin with just about as much pride as everyone else in their wondrous house had - engaged with a Gryffindor. Lucius wondered why the boy was hanging out with the girl, she was a redheaded muggleborn. She was below Severus Snape. Lucius watched as they laughed together about some joke she'd made, a scowl etched into his features.
He couldn't allow this to continue, they weren't supposed to be fraternizing and he would make sure they didn't. A Slytherin and a Mudblood hanging out together was unheard of, and just not done. He thought back to what his father would have done and decided to make something out of the situation. To do something that would make his father proud and stick to keeping bloodlines pure. He made a mental note to talk to the boy, to begin letting the ideology fester in his mind until he too shared them.
After all, allowing that friendship to continue was something he just couldn't do.