Daddy
Taking a big gulp out of his glass, he stared aimlessly into the fire, watching the flames flickering in front of his eyes. He did not want to think of anything, hoping that the fire would numb his senses. Pushing back the strands of blond hair that fell over his grey eyes, he snapped his fingers.
There was a small 'POP' sound and a house-elf apparated next to him, opening a new bottle of wine.
"You may go."
Bowing, the house-elf disapparated. Pouring himself yet another glass, he thought briefly on the war that was raging on the wizarding world in Britain.
'Pathetic,' he thought. A word used so many times to refer to him. His thoughts traveled back in time as he drowned his fears in alcohol.
Flashback
Draco's six-year old-self ran down the corridor and stopped abruptly in front of his parent's room. Softly, he pushed the door open. He saw his mother in navy blue robes, brushing her hair. His heart raced. It was a sure sign that his father was back. When Lucius was around, she dressed like a queen in all his favourite colours.
He slowly closed the door; she didn't even notice him there. Truth is that his mother really loved him. However, when Lucius was around, she gave Lucius her full attention.
The soft pitter patter of his running feet started up again. Draco made his way down the stairs to the drawing room where he knew his father would be. Ever since he has turned six-years-old, he had been having private lessons with his father on 'how to be a Malfoy'. He has been having them every fortnight.
Draco knocked on the door and without a response let himself in. He threw himself at his father, tightly hugging his waist. Lucius pushed him aside.
"What did I say about entering without permission?"
"I know, I'm sorry. I just missed you."
Draco hugged his father once again. Lucius roughly shoved him away, trying to create more distance between them.
"Draco, do you remember what I taught you the last time?"
"Of course, Malfoys never bow to anyone." said Draco, eager to please his father
"Good, now tell me, what have you been doing these last two weeks?"
Having so much to tell, the young Malfoy quickly sped through his sentences.
"Well, lately, I have been talking to Spud. We have been getting along real nicely; he has been telling me all sorts of stories. They are really fun and-"
"Spud? Who's Spud?" asked Lucius, his back facing Draco as he poured himself a drink.
"Actually, he is in charge of the kitchen. I met him at midnight when I got hun-"
"What?"
Draco, sensing something amiss, quickly closed his mouth. Lucius wheeled around and stared at Draco angrily.
"Do you mean to tell me, that this 'Spud' is a house-elf?"
"Yes," started Draco uncertainly but quickened his speed," He's really nice, see; he made this toy for me. Out of wood, all by himself. Can you believe that?"
Draco looked up, saw the rage in Lucius eyes and kept still. Lucius took a step closer to Draco and snatched the toy out of his hands.
"We Malfoys are of a higher status!"
At that moment, Narcissa came in and went to Lucius side.
"Lucius darling, how have you been?"
"Narcissa, what did I say about disturbing me?"
"Sorry dear, I didn't know you were busy. Thought you would have had this lesson tomorrow."
"As I said, we Malfoys are of a higher status, we do not mix with mudbloods and filthy half-blood traitors, much less house-elves!"
Holding the toy in front of Draco's eyes, he continued, "We have no need of stupid toys, we do not associate ourselves with the worthless! I never want to see or hear about you meeting him again! Understand me?"
He then threw the toy into the fire, Draco, who had really liked the toy, started sniffling.
"Do not cry boy! You'll never amount to anything if you do. It is a weakness I will not tolerate!"
"Yes daddy," said Draco softly.
"And don't ever call me that again!"
"Lucius, he's only a child, we can teach him all of this later."
"Narcissa, pruning starts at a young age. I will not put up with a failure for a son; I will not let him continue to be a weakling!"
Trying to pacify her husband, Narcissa said gently, "Lucius, he's still young."
"It'll do you good not to interfere Narcissa."
"Lucius, -"
"Do not make me repeat myself." interrupted Lucius coldly.
"Of course."
Turning to Draco, he shouted," Get out of here!"
Draco quickly fled from the room and rushed to his bedroom. It wasn't until the next morning when he found that Spud had been sacked.
End Flashback
Tightening his grip on the glass, Draco could still remember the hurt he had experienced as a child. Draco could never forget that day. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried not to let his emotions rule over him. That was the last time he ever called him 'daddy'. Instead, referring to him formally as 'father'.
His grip on the glass was now so firm; it looked ready to shatter any moment. Suddenly, Draco felt sick. When he was younger, he figured that he had done something wrong. That's why he always tried to please his father, but nothing he ever did was good enough. Something was always wrong.
Flashback
"That was pathetic."
Unthinkingly, Draco groaned. He knew what was coming and did not want hear it.
"Stop whining Draco. I'm sure it doesn't hurt at all."
Draco was in a private room next to hospital wing after a quidditch match with the Gryffindors. Of course he wasn't hurt during the match. It was all the twin weasels fault. After being scolded by Flint, he had walked past the weasels. All he had done was say that Potter deserved what he got, accompanied by a few choice words. Could you believe it? Those weasels let go of that bludger purposely and it had hit him in the stomach. Speaking of Potter, Draco caught a glimpse of him and his entourage being carried past. He caught snatches of their conversations, such as 'Lockhart' and 'broken'.
"Draco, I bought those brooms for the team to play well, for them to WIN not LOSE!"
Draco closed his eyes and wished he was far away from his father.
"Not only did you lose first place to that mudblood friend of Potter, you lost to him in a quidditch match too!
It was always 'lost'. You lost to this, you lost that. You're weak, you're a failure. Draco was always at fault, no matter how hard he tried. He never lived up to Lucius expectations.
"I did not raise you to lose to him. I feel ashamed to even call you my son!"
That had hurt. Draco tried everything he could to please Lucius, but how much did Lucius expect from a twelve-year-old kid?
End Flashback
How much did Lucius expect? That was always the question. The answer? Too much. It took Draco a while to before he realised that Lucius never loved him and never loved his mother either. How could he? That…that...
Quickly getting up, Draco stormed across the room. He needed something more than this bloody wine. He pulled out a bottle of Firewhisky. Draco downed two glasses at one go, savouring the burn in his throat.
Returning to his thoughts, Draco contemplated which word could describe Lucius but decided that there was no word foul enough. Lucius wasn't evil. He was a sadist; a blood-thirsty, sadistic bootlicker. Above everything else, Lucius was a bootlicker, almost literally. 'Malfoys never bow to anyone'. Wasn't that what Lucius taught him? Then why the hell was he bowing and kissing that half-blood's robes? Never bow to anyone – my arse!
Draco had found out, with much disgust that Voldemort was a half-blood. After all those speeches about out muggles, mudbloods and 'those filthy half-blood traitors'. Draco felt incredulous at the notion that Voldemort was a half-blood. What's more, he was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin! He had tainted the purest of bloodlines. What power had he to command the remaining pure bloods? The one thing that Lucius and Voldemort had in common was their unquenchable thirst for power. Neither could feel the emptiness that came without having love, nor could they feel the loss of a loved one, instead they could happily kill the one that loved them most.
Flashback
"You called my lord?"
Lucius bowed and kissed the hem of Voldemort robes. Draco followed suit.
"Yes, I have ignored a certain matter for some time."
"It is understandable my lord. The last six months have been busy."
"Yes, six months. Six months since Dumbledore died. Six months since Potter fled and we still have not found him, explain!"
"My lord, potter may be foolish but he is cleverer than his parents No doubt his sidekicks are helping him too. They also have not been seen. I believe Potter is using the Fidelius Charm, just like his parents. Though, he moves too often. My deatheaters have found magical near disturbance near Godric's Hollow."
Draco looked from his father to Voldemort.
"How touching, he went to visit his parents graves. Stupid Potter, we'll catch him soon enough. However, this is not the matter I was referring to."
Lucius frowned in confusion.
"It is not?"
Draco looked up.
"My lord, you are referring to my blunder six months ago?"
"Lucius, your boy is smart. There is hope for him yet. Yes, I was referring to that."
Lucius looked flustered, more confused than ever.
"You see Lucius, I entrusted a job to young Draco here. To kill Dumbledore."
Lucius looked shocked.
"Severus Snape killed Dumbledore, did he not sire?"
"He did, you see, your distraught wife was under the impression that I was punishing Draco for your mistake in the department of mysteries."
Voldemort's red silts glared down at Lucius before continuing.
"She was right. She went to Snape asking him to talk to me. To convince me that by doing so, Draco would die. But that was my plan. How could a mere sixteen-year-old kill Dumbledore when so many more experience and stronger wizards have failed? Your wife managed to convince Snape to conduct an Unbreakable Vow, with her sister, Bellatrix, as witness. The vow was that if young Draco failed to kill Dumbledore, he would and he did."
"But sire, everything turned out right. What is matter?"
"The matter, you fool, is that I gave the mission to Draco! Your wife went against me. I told her it was forbidden to tell anyone about it! Draco was supposed to kill Dumbledore!"
"My lord, then why didn't you-"
"Kill Draco? For the exact reason why I didn't kill you and more! You, Lucius, have your uses but Draco here did something everyone said was impossible. He managed to get my deatheaters into Hogwarts! Your wife on the other hand betrayed me!"
Suddenly, there was a knock. Voldemort looked straight into Lucius eyes.
"Right on time, you know what to do."
"Yes my lord."
"Come in."
Narcissa opened the door and effortlessly moved forward and kissed Voldemort's robes. Draco didn't know why but he felt like crying out, as if something forbidding was going to happen.
"You called my lord?"
"Lucius."
Narcissa turned to her husband.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Narcissa fell to the ground dead. Horrified, Draco took a step back. He looked from Narcissa to Lucius. Draco looked into his father's cold steel eyes and saw nothing. No remorse, no nothing. Just blankness. It seemed to be an everyday thing for him. To kill someone who loved you seemed logical, even normal.
End Flashback
BAM!!
Draco slammed his fist onto the table. Now, eighteen-years-old, Draco could stand it no longer. He had planned this to perfection. He waited for this night for much too long. The only reason why he has waited so long was because he was needed here, with the deatheaters. Pouring himself glasses of Firewhisky one after the other, Draco stared into the fire, calming himself only just. His mother loved him but she had loved Lucius more and that monster did away with her! Just like that!
He didn't care if his father was ashamed to call him a Malfoy; he didn't care what Lucius thought. Replaying scenes of his childhood in his mind, there would be, without fail, Lucius scolding him, always putting him down; his looming face sneering down at him. Why? Right now, he couldn't care less.
A single tear drop fell from Draco's left eye as the clock struck twelve. He threw his glass into the fire, picked up his wand and walked away.
Lucius heard a knock on the door.
"Come in."
"Father."
"Draco, what are you doing here? Why aren't you asleep?"
Lucius poured his favourite French wine into a glass. Without a reply he said, "You are leading a raid tomorrow, you better not screw it up. I told Voldemort that you would die. It's too big a responsibility for a weakling like you, yet Voldemort deems you suitable."
Draco kept quiet and Lucius looked at him.
"Why are you so quiet?"
"Daddy-"
"I told you never to call me that!"
Anger flashed through Lucius eyes. Draco just calmly looked at him.
"Daddy, I just wanted you to know it was me."
Harry was wadding through a swamp not far from Godric's Hollow when a fluffy tawny owl swooped down and landed on his shoulder. They came here in the beginning of their quest for the Horcuxes and had stayed a night before leaving, but the trail of clues led them to believe that they had missed something on their visit. A Horcux.
While the rest of the world believed Harry and his friends were hiding (a clever plan from Hermione), they went searching for the Horcuxes and now were down to three soul objects, Voldemort, Nagini and the mystery object. They found Hufflepuff's cup and destroyed it, the locket was also proved to be destroyed by R.A.B. In the meantime, The Order of the Phoenix had grown much stronger and bigger. They were able to deal with almost every deatheater attack there was.
Ever since he started the quest, Harry had been receiving anonymous letters. At first all three of them were sceptical, but when the events written in the letters actually happened, Harry started communicating with Lupin, the new head of the Order through the twin mirrors Sirius had given him. It was virtually untraceable.
"Hermione, Ron! Come here!"
"What's wrong mate?"
"Look at this."
Potter,
Lucius Malfoy is dead.
xxx