It was a humid grey summer day, near the beginning of July. It was hotter than anyone could remember, and everyone wished it would rain, to wash some of the heat away. But it didn't; though the black clouds above looked so full of rain that it would let it all out any minute.
Although it didn't rain outdoors, in the depths of the forest, a storm was brewing at Malfoy Manor.
Narcissa sighed to herself as she tried to block out her pounding headache. She hated Lucius for doing this to his son, to their son. Every summer, it was the same. As soon as Draco got home from school, they started fighting about some little thing. This time, it was his grades.
Narcissa sighed again, one of those deep shuddering sighs that went right through your whole body. And to top it off, this was one of the hottest summers she had ever experienced. Just thinking about it made her head feel even worse.
She got up off her chair to change into a cooler dress. And then maybe down to the kitchen for a glass of ice water. Maybe her headache would subside if she were cooler.
As she walked to her room, she could hear angry shouts echoing throughout the hallways.
*~*~*
Lucius glared angrily at the boy standing across from him, his son who was already so much like him in many ways. He looked the same, with the same hair and eyes, and had already begun to develop Lucius' temper.
"How could you have only gotten nine OWLs?" shouted Lucius angrily. "I thought I told you not to embarrass me like that!"
"Only? Only?" Draco shouted back. "Father, that's hardly a good use of the word only. I got nine whole OWLs, which is only one short of having a perfect set!"
"One short! Perhaps that grade is good enough for you, but not for me! You have got to uphold the family honour! Especially since you let a Mudblood get a better mark than you!"
"I didn't let her!" said Draco indignantly. "Hermione's always gotten better marks than me at school."
"And you're just going to accept that?" shrieked Lucius. "God, listen to yourself Draco! Before you would've never let a Mudblood beat you at anything, much less call her by her first name! What's gotten into you?"
"What, I'm not allowed to make my own decisions anymore?" asked Draco, tossing his hair out of his face. "Whatever happened to leaving me alone and giving me a taste of independence like you said you would?"
"You're not fulfilling that responsibility!" said Lucius. "Therefore, I withdraw that from you until you prove to me that you can be considered a Malfoy. Furthermore, I forbid you to leave the house until you get your grades up."
"You must be joking, Father" said Draco, disbelief etched all over his features. "I'm fifteen! You can hardly confine me to the house."
"I can, Draco, and I'm doing just that. I'm your father, I can do whatever I want." said Lucius smugly.
"Well, Father" Draco spat out the word as if it was a curse. His hard grey eyes glittered icily and his anger was clearly shown. "If in this household, I can't be trusted to be responsible for my own actions, then I'm leaving!"
"Leaving? You can't leave!" yelled Lucius. He wasn't expecting this.
"I can and I am," said Draco. He was smirking now, as if to say look who's laughing now.
"Fine!" roared Lucius. "If you're leaving, then never let me see your face again! Ever!"
"Fine!" Draco yelled back. "I'm packing my bags!" He stomped off to his room.
"You ungrateful, insolent little brat!" Lucius yelled after him. "And after all I've done for you too!"
Draco poked his head back in at that. "All you've done for me?" he said coldly. "Oh no. Father, you haven't done anything for me, except for making my life a living hell. I hate you."
With that, he stomped off again, leaving a very shocked Lucius staring after him.
*~*~*
Narcissa sat under the shade of the largest tree in the backyard, wearing her lightest gown, sipping the glass of icy lemonade that a house elf had just brought her. It was quite lovely out there. The clouds had parted a little, enabling a little bit of sun to shine through. She was looking forward to a nice afternoon of rest and relaxation when Lucius stomped in on her fun.
He walked right up beside and started ranting and raving about something or other and it was several seconds before what he was saying sank in. She suddenly realized that she should pay attention.
"...can not believe that boy! After everything we've done for him, he wants to run away. When he comes back, I'll disown him!"
"Disown who, dear?" asked Narcissa absent-mindedly. She took another sip of her drink and leaned back on her chair.
"Draco of course! Who else would I be talking about?" Lucius sat down in the chair beside her and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Well, you were a bit hard on him," said Narcissa. "I could hear you two from all the way out here"
"He was letting himself be outdone by a Mudblood!" protested Lucius.
Narcissa gazed at him seriously, and he gave in.
"Okay, so I was being a little rough on him. But it's for his own good. The world's a tough place. He could get clobbered out there!"
"He's fifteen, Lucius. He's old enough to make his own decisions."
"Why's everyone against me today?" moaned Lucius. "Draco said the same thing to me, just ten minutes ago"
"Well, let's go and apologize to him then" said Narcissa.
"Fine fine." said Lucius. "I give up." He got up and offered his arm to Narcissa. "Coming, Miss?"
"Thank you kind sir" she said with a laugh.
"Draco?" called Lucius, looking around. "Where are you?"
Narcissa wandered upstairs, still searching for him. Her face turned pale as she saw the piece of paper taped to the door of his room.
"Oh God" she whispered. "Lucius! You better come here!"
Lucius hurried up the stairs, his shoes clanking nosily on the wooden floor. "What is it?" he asked. "Have you found him?"
He too, went white as he read the note. "I can't believe he actually did it" he whispered.
You thought I wouldn't do it, didn't you? Thought I didn't have the guts to run away. Well, guess what? I have. And I hope I never see your sneering faces, again. After what you've done to me, you should be glad I'm not coming after you with a knife.
Draco
*~*~*
Draco leaned back on his broom, letting the watery breeze blow his hair back. It was surprisingly refreshing. He checked his bag with one hand, steering the broom with the other.
He had cooled down a bit since his heated argument. But only a bit. It was enraging to think that your parents didn't trust you.
He pointed the broom down, and felt the misty clouds graze his face. Below him was a Muggle city of some sort. At least, that's what he thought it was, as none of the people were flying on brooms, and it had little vehicles that had smoke coming from the back.
He landed in a deserted alleyway, shrank his broom, and put it in his bag. He set out into the city, hoping to find someone he knew, or someplace he could stay at the coming night.
He looked up at the gradually darkening sky he had just come from. It wasn't yet 3 o'clock and already it was as dark as if it was midnight.
"I think it's going to rain" muttered Draco to himself.
No sooner than he had said these words, the rain came pouring down in sheets, soaking him and everyone around him.
"Shit" muttered Draco as he watched people scurry towards their homes, trying to get out of the rain. "This is not going well at all."
He walked under the ledge of the stores, trying not to get any wetter than he already was. Ahead, he saw a merchant selling colourful umbrellas. He hurried over to her, grabbed an umbrella, and handed her some coins.
"Hey, what's this?" she asked crossly as she looked over the strange coins he handed her. "What are you trying to do, cheat me?"
"No, I just wan-" Draco started, but he was cut off by the woman.
"You think you can just come in here and steal an umbrella?" she yelled angrily. "Get out!"
"I was only try-" Draco tried to explain himself once again, but the angry merchant didn't care.
"Get out!" she shrieked. "Get out and never come back!" She waved an umbrella threateningly at him. "And take your fake coins with you!" She threw them at him.
Draco kneeled on the ground, trying to pick up the Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts he had given the woman. He quickly hurried away, not wanted to face her wrath any longer.
"I'm not thinking," said Draco to himself as he walked down the rainy street. "I'll just get my wand and perform a drying spell"
He took off his bag and kneeled under the roof of a store, rummaging through his bag for his wand.
"Here it is!" he cried triumphantly, holding it up in the air.
Just then, a child ran by, and grabbed it from his hand. He stopped and made a face at Draco, sticking his tongue out.
"Hey give that back!" yelled Draco angrily, walking towards him.
"It's just a stupid stick!" yelled the kid. "Why d'you want it so much?"
"I said, give that back!" Draco shouted impatiently. "Right now!"
"Make me!" said the kid. In a sudden flash of inspiration, he brought Draco's wand down on his knee, snapping it in half. "Now you'll never get it back!" he said, and ran away.
Draco sadly picked up the broken pieces of his wand, watching the magic leak out of it. That had been his best wand, twelve inches, willow, yew and dragon heartstring. And now, it was gone.
He felt so pathetic, so lost, so alone. He had had that wand since he was eight, even though he was too young for one then. It had been the only thing in his life that had always been there, that had never changed. Long before he learned its secrets, he had studied it with interest, cleaned it with care. He had been so excited when he finally performed his first spell. His wand was special; there was none other like it. He would never feel its magical presence again.
A car drove by, splashing the street's puddles on Draco. He didn't notice as the cold water soaked his already wet clothes. Shock had taken him prisoner; his mind couldn't understand anything just then.
The world in front of his eyes was a blur. Night merged with day, the sky with the ground, until everything just swirled around him in a crazy blend of colours. He stumbled around, confused, almost as if he was drunk. Rain ran down his face, and all over his body, chilling him to the bone.
He started running, blindly. He had no idea where he wanted to go, he just knew that he had to get away from this horrible place.
He ran out into the road, then slid and fell on the puddles of water. Blinding spots of light charged towards him followed by the sound of screeching tires and a beeping horn. He tried to get up, but couldn't. His tired legs wouldn't support him anymore. The light and sounds charged closer and closer. The next thing he knew was darkness.
*~*~*
"Where could he be?" Narcissa asked worriedly. "Why would he run away?"
"He can't be far" Lucius told her soothingly. "He only left a little while ago."
Narcissa turned on him, fury in her eyes. "You!" she shrieked. "This is all your fault!"
Lucius backed away, his hands held up in front of him in defense. He knew Narcissa could get quite nasty when she got herself into one of her tantrums."Me?" he asked. "What did I do?"
"If it wasn't for you, Draco wouldn't have run away." She shrieked, her eyes narrowed into tiny slits. "If you hadn't been so fucking rough on him, caring so much about absolutely nothing! I knew from the start, that he would hate you for being so hard on him!"
"It's for his own good..." Lucius protested, but Narcissa wouldn't let him get a word in.
"So what if he didn't get a perfect list of OWLs?" she screamed. "It's not going to matter later on in his life! Nobody's going to remember! Why do you have to be like that? Stop trying to turn him into another version of you, because he's not! Why won't you just let him be himself! He has little self esteem as it is! You just have to make it even worse, don't you!"
She broke down crying, burying her face in her hands. "Why do you have to be so forceful?" she sobbed.
"Narcissa.." Lucius started, laying his hand on her shoulder.
She pushed him away and turned to face him, her tears gone. "Why won't you let him be himself? He can't do any better than that. He's just a child. Damnit Lucius!" she screamed suddenly surprising him. She hurled herself at him, beating him with her small fists. He held her wrists tightly until her strength left her, and she broke down crying once again.
"You don't treat Draco like your child. He's just another person you can order around, another person you hurl insults at" she whispered. All the anger was gone from her voice, only sorrow and disappoint remained.
"Narcissa, you're being completely unreasonable," he told her.
"Am I?" she asked. "Or is it you? I wouldn't blame Draco if he's thinking of suicide right now, that's how depressed he's been. Every time he comes home, you just have to pick a fight with him, and prove that you're better than him. But you don't know what he's like afterwards. He just sits in his room, staring blankly into space, drowning in self pity and trying to think of a way out."
"Look, Narcissa.." he tried again.
She turned her back on him. "I hate you for what you've done" she whispered, and he could see her shoulders shaking from exhaustion. "You've completely destroyed his soul, and torn apart his sense of freedom. I hate you. That's all there is to it."
"Booky, get my cloak" she said to the house elf standing by the door. The elf nodded, and ran away to a closet. "I'm going out to look for my child" she said, all traces of emotion got from her words. "And if you had any sense, you would join me"
She put on the cloak the house elf handed her, and left the house, slamming the door behind her.
Lucius fell back onto the couch, burying his head in his hands. "Oh, what have I done?" he whispered.
He got his cloak from the closet, and followed Narcissa out the door.
He caught up to her in minutes, since she walked much slower than he did. She ignored him at first, and only their footsteps could be heard, splashing softly in the puddles.
"Where do you think he'll go?" she asked him after a while.
"I don't know" he answered truthfully. "But we could perform a tracking spell"
"How?" she asked. "We don't have anything of his"
"I do," he said with a smile. "Grabbed it just before I went out"
"Great!" she said enthusiastically. She performed the spell quickly, anxiously. "There he is," she said finally, pointing to the map that showed up in the air in front of them. "Let's go"
They Apparated to London and, soaked from the rain, ran down the street where the map had said their son was.
"He should be right here!" wailed Narcissa.
"I think I see him," said Lucius, pointing to someone running across the road.
They started running again, then stopped, horror-struck. They watched helplessly, as a car slammed into their son, accompanied by the sound of screeching tires. They watched as Draco fell to the ground, his bleeding already evident.
"Oh dear God" said Lucius quietly, looked at the twisted body on the ground. He held his sobbing wife in his arms, the fresh rain and her salty tears mingling with one another.
"Is he dead?" whispered Narcissa, sounding just like a child.
"I don't believe it," said Lucius, stroking her hair. "I won't"
*~*~*
Hermione walked down the streets of London, her umbrella not doing much to shield her from the pouring rain. In one hand, she clutched a shopping list, on which her umbrella was dripping water.
"Only my parents would send their child out in the pouring rain to get a stupid tube of toothpaste" she muttered to herself. "Only my parents couldn't wait under the storm was over. Only my parents think their dental hygiene is a lot more important than their daughter"
Hermione stopped in her tracks as her eyes fell on the road ahead. A car had stopped and the driver seemed to be moving something closer to the sidewalk. It almost looked like...Hermione gasped as she realized what it was. Why was he moving a body over to the edge of a road?
"Hey!" called Hermione, running over. "What are you doing?"
At the sound of her voice, the man jumped up with a start, dropping the body onto the ground. Now that she was closer, Hermione could see that the front of his shirt was stained with blood. He quickly jumped into his car and drove away.
"Come back here!" Hermione yelled after him. She walked up to the body, covered in blood. Lifting up his head, she felt for a pulse. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Where had she seen that hair before?
She was so absorbed in her thoughts, that she got quite a scare when the person groaned and rolled over.
She looked into the grey eyes, blinded with confusion. "Draco?" she shrieked.
He looked at her. "Hermione? What are you doing here?" He lifted his hand to his face, and as he brought it down, saw that it was sticky with blood. "Why am I bleeding?"
"Here, let me help you up" said Hermione, lending him a hand.
He took it, and once he was up on his feet, he staggered. "My head hurts" he said, leaning against her for support.
She studied it, trying to see through all the blood that was flowing from the wound in his head. "I think you should go to the hospital," she said.
She felt a sudden weight against her, and looked down, only to find that Draco had passed out again. "Draco? Are you okay?" she asked frantically.
She didn't receive an answer. "What am I going to do?"
*~*~*
Narcissa lifted her head up, wiping away her tears. "I'm okay now," she said. "Let's go help him"
They turned to the place where they had seen him, only to discover that he was no longer there. The car was gone too, only tire tracks remained.
"What?" she asked, not believing her eyes. "What does this mean?"
"He has to be here somewhere" Lucius told her. "Bodies don't just disappear into thin air." He scanned the area, trying to see through the darkness. "There he is!" He pointed to a figure in the distance, recognizing the silvery hair. "But who's that with him?" He turned to Narcissa, but she was already running in the direction he had pointed in.
He ran after her, not caring about how much water was being splashed on his clothes. "Who's that with him?" he asked.
"No idea" she said. "He was the only one there before"
And that's the position they found Draco in, unconscious, with Hermione kneeling over him, trying to wake him up.
"What do you think you're doing?" Lucius roared, pulling her away from Draco's unconscious form and throwing her onto the ground.
Hermione glared up angrily at him. "Oh, it's you" she scoffed, recognizing him instantly. "But of course. Only you would be this rude. Especially when I'm trying to help Draco."
He didn't answer her.
Narcissa made a bubble to shield them from the rain then tapped her son lightly with her wand, uttering a whispered "Enervate". He groaned and rolled over in his mother's arms. With another spell, she cleaned up all the blood coming from his cuts, and gave him some ice wrapped in a clean cloth to put on his head. "Keep that there" she told him. Seeing Hermione look at her strangely, she shrugged. "Sometimes Muggle ways are best" she explained.
She checked his body for major injuries, other than the small cuts and bruises he had all over. She felt along his back and in his ears for any spinal fluid, a sign of spinal injury.
Lucius was getting impatient. "Well?" he asked.
Narcissa sighed. "He's not in the best shape, but it could be worse. He has a pretty deep cut on his left cheek, from where the car hit him. There are chances of scarring, although we might be able to fix that with a bit of magic." She indicated the spot she meant, then continued. "He has a minor concussion, but that shouldn't do any serious damage. And of course, he has cuts and bruises all over, but that's only to be expected. They'll heal in time."
"Where did you learn all that?" Hermione asked, entranced.
Narcissa gave her a weak smile. "I studied nursing in school. Figured it might come in handy someday."
Lucius snapped back to attention at the sound of Hermione's voice. "Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be going home?"
"Why should I?" she snapped at him. "You can't order me around. This is the Muggle world, where you don't have any power."
Narcissa jumped into the conversation before Lucius could react to her comment. "Go take Draco home, so he can get some rest" she told him. "I'll be right along. I just want to pick up some medicine for him. Don't get him wet. The rain might not be clean and could get his cuts infected."
"Okay" said Lucius as he picked Draco up, carrying him just as he had years ago. He Apparated away.
"Sorry about that" Narcissa apologized quietly.
"It's okay," said Hermione. "I get that from people like him all the time"
"Listen," said Narcissa awkwardly, "I just want to thank you for helping Draco. He's never been the strongest child in the world."
Hermione nodded. Now that she thought about it, Draco did seem kind of frail, especially when he was ill. And he got sick very often. "I didn't do all that much," she said. "Just when I got him to wake up, he collapsed on me again. And that's when you got here."
Narcissa sighed heavily. "You ought to go home," she said. "You're going to catch a cold in this rain"
"But what about you?" asked Hermione.
"I'll be perfectly fine" Narcissa assured her. "Go"
And Hermione ran home, splashing water all over her pants, completely forgetting about the toothpaste that her parents had sent her out to get.
*~*~*
Lucius appeared in the living room of their Manor, Draco in his arms. It had taken longer to Apparate than usual, but that was only expected, as he had to transport two people instead of just one.
He gently carried Draco up to his room and set him down in his bed then tucked him in just as he had remembered doing so many years ago.
"You just stay here and rest" he whispered quietly. "I'll be here if you need anything"
Draco rolled over, an angelic smile on his face. It would've been a picture cute enough to make any girl faint, if it weren't for all the cuts and scrapes on his face.
Lucius left the room and closed the door lightly behind him, careful not to wake Draco up. He walked down the stairs, and fell back onto the couch, wallowing in self-pity.
Now that all the excitement was over, nothing shone clearer in his mind than the voices of his wife and son, voices full of hatred and spite. They hated them, both of them did. They had made that clear.
Especially Draco. Lucius couldn't stand to think that he had done this to his son, to make him so mad that he would run away, and get hit by a car. Draco's last words to him played over and over in his head, loud and clear.
"All you've done for me? Oh no. Father, you haven't done anything for me, except for making my life a living hell. I hate you."
Lucius buried his head, trying to get away from those words, those hateful taunting words. How could he have made his own son hate him?
The voices still didn't stop. Narcissa's face spun in his vision, her beautiful eyes, full of tears, going straight to his heart. Her softly spoken words haunted him.
"You've completely destroyed his soul, and torn apart his sense of freedom. I hate you. That's all there is to it."
He ran out the door before he went crazy, completely ignoring the chill of the rain. Yet the voices didn't stop, in fact more joined them. The faces and voices of people he had killed, people who were his childhood friends, people who now hated him. He clawed desperately at his face, at his eyes, trying to stop the visions. He just couldn't take it anymore.
"I'm a monster!" he screamed out into the night, lifting his face to the sky, letting the pureness of the moon bathe his wounds with light.
*~*~*
Draco sat up straight in bed, drenched in cold sweat. Something out there had called to him, and he had felt its chill. Also, there had been a voice, a voice so powerful and filled with such sorrow that it had sent shivers down his back. And it sounded like...like...well, almost like his father.
But that couldn't be. His father was cold and clipped, never showing any trace of emotion to anyone. There was no way.
Draco drifted slowly back into sleep, his weariness overtaking his curiosity.
*~*~*
Lucius sat by the fireplace, a trail of wet footsteps leading to his seat. A blanket was perched around his shoulders, a Repelling spell over the sofa to keep it from getting wet. In his hands he clutched a mug of warm butterbeer, taking small sips from it occasionally. Looking at him, you wouldn't think that he was cold, but he was. He was chilled down to the bone.
His icy grey eyes held a haunted look, and darted around nervously. He had curled himself up as small as possible, as if he was hiding from someone, or something. His hands weren't steady, they quivered every once in a while, sloshing around the hot liquid in the cups. His lips tinged blue, moved, whispering unknown words.
And this was the state Narcissa found her husband in when she entered the living room, small bags of medicine in one hand. She dropped them immediately.
"Lucius, what's wrong?" she asked with concern, sweeping across the room in one large step. She took one of his hands in hers and gasped. "You're as cold as ice! Where've you been? It's not that cold in here, is it?"
He turned his head to her slowly, his features blank and unreadable. "Narcissa?" he asked. "Is that really you?" He grasped her hand tightly, hoping that this was true, that it wasn't a dream.
She sat down on the sofa next to him. "Of course it's me," she said lightly, but there was concern in her voice. "Who else would it be?"
He held her to him, and buried his face in her hair. "God, it really is you" he whispered. "I though you'd left and you would never come back"
"Why would I leave?" she asked him, running her fingers through his hair.
But before she could hear his answer, he fell to the ground with a yell of pain, clutching his left arm, the arm that held the Dark Mark.
"Lucius, what's wrong?" she asked, falling to her knees beside him.
He finally stopped twitching, and sat up, using the sofa for support. "I have to go," he said, his voice raspy, sweat running down his face. "He's called"
There was no need for Narcissa to ask who 'He' was. She already knew the unspoken answer. Voldemort. "But Lucius" she protested, "you can't go in this condition. You'll hurt -"
She stopped in the middle of her sentence. There was no use, as he had already Apparated out.
*~*~*
The meeting went as usual. They talked about some plans for the future, followed by a raid on some Mudbloods and Muggles. When they arrived back at the stone castle, Voldemort dismissed them.
Lucius stayed behind. There was something that he had considered asking Voldemort, something that he had thought about since Draco ran out. But he wasn't sure whether he should do it or not.
"Want something, Lucius?" Voldemort asked coldly.
It was now or never. "Yes Master" he said, "I want you to kill me"
Voldemort raised an eyebrow. This was not a request he heard everyday. "Kill you, Lucius? Whatever for?" He turned around to face the man that was asking him for death.
Lucius shrank under the harsh gaze of his master. "Yes" he repeated. "I want you to kill me"
Voldemort didn't answer, and Lucius rushed on. His words flew out of his mouth and formed sentences he didn't understand. It seemed as if his mouth had a mind of its own.
Voldemort listened thoughtfully throughout the whole thing. "So you want to get yourself killed since your son doesn't want you in his life. Am I correct?"
Lucius nodded.
Voldemort sighed, sounding almost human. "But what about your wife? Won't she miss you?"
Lucius thought about it for a minute, then replied. "Yes, but my son matters more to me than anything in the world. I want to see him happy. And if that includes me dying, then I'll do it. Narcissa will just have to get over it"
Voldemort sighed again. "Well, if you want it that way, then I'll do it. I'll put a curse on you, and you'll die in twenty-four hours. That should be enough time to explain this to your family and everything."
"Oh, thank you, Master," said Lucius.
Voldemort muttered a few Latin words, and a jet of blue lightning shot out of his wand and buried itself in Lucius' chest. Lucius let out a gasp, not expecting that much pain.
"There, it's done," said Voldemort. "Now go. I don't want you blaming me for your death"
As Lucius Apparated out of the castle, he reflected on their talk. It was the first real conversation he had had with Voldemort since...forever. Voldemort had actually sounded human, for once.
*~*~*
When he arrived back home, Draco was already awake, and Narcissa was down in the kitchen, instructing the house elves to make all his favourite things. He appeared with a pop, and Narcissa bustled out to see who it was.
"Oh good, you're back" she said, a large smile on her face. "I was beginning to get worried."
Lucius forced his face into a smile. "Where's Draco?"
"Up in his room reading" she answered. "Why?"
"Can I talk to the two of you in the living room in five minutes?" he asked.
"Sure," she said, sounding slightly worried. "I'll go call Draco"
The three of them gathered there just like he had said Narcissa and Draco siting on one of the couches, Lucius standing up in front of them.
"What's wrong?" asked Narcissa, as soon as they all had settled down.
Lucius looked at their anxious faces, unsure of how to tell them. He was regretting what he did now. I'll just tell them straight out, he decided finally. Taking a deep breath, he burst it out. "I'mgoingtodieintwentyfourhours"
Narcissa and Draco looked at him strangely. "Could you repeat that, slower?" she asked.
"I'm going to die in twenty four hours" Lucius repeated, slowly and clearly.
"B-but why?" Draco asked, horror etched all over his face.
Lucius sighed deeply. "I asked Voldemort to put a curse on me, to make me die. Because both of you said you hated me, that your lives would be better if I was out of it. So I asked him to kill me. In twenty four hours I'm going to be dead"
"But Father, I didn't really mean it!" cried Draco. "It was just one of those silly arguments we always have!"
"I knew that first," said Lucius, exasperated. "But then you got hit by that car and I felt so horrible about it. I blamed myself, and I did something about it. I regret it now"
Narcissa had recovered from her initial shock. "Isn't there a counter curse or something?"
Lucius shook his head. "There's no such thing. I wanted you both to be happy so I made sure it couldn't be reversed. There's nothing you can do about it. "
Narcissa lost her temper at that. "How can you be so calm about it?" she shrieked hysterically. "You're going to die! Don't you know that?" She burst into tears, sobbing loudly. "You're going to die…"
Lucius embraced her, letting her tears soak his robes. "Shhhhhh…" he whispered. "I've already thought about all this. You'll just have to get on without me. And I know you'll manage. Wipe your tears away. We'll make the best of our last moments together"
Narcissa sat up, doing as he had said. "You're right" she agreed. 'We'll just have to make the best of this. What do you want to do first?"
*~*~*
They walked into the backyard and sat on the swing that was perched between two large oak trees, the swing that hadn't been touched since Draco was a child. They flipped through old photo albums, remembering.
Most of the photos showed three stiff people, none of them smiling. A little boy in a suit, with hair perfectly in place, sat on a chair while his father, a man in fancy clothes with a slight sneer on his face, and his mother, a woman in a gown, her hair piled atop her head in abundant ringlets, stood around him.
But there were some more carefree pictures, taken by servants and maids, without the people in the picture even knowing it. Lucius had been furious with them, when he found out they had done that, but now he was glad. Now there would be some happy times on film for his family to see.
They spent every moment of that day with one another, just relaxing and talking about fond memories. Finally, they sat upon a rolling green hill, watching the sun sink down into the darkness of the valley.
"This day has been amazing," said Draco, breaking the silence.
"And it's almost over" said Narcissa sadly, resting her head on her husband's shoulder.
"Just concentrate on the happy times, not the sad," said Lucius. "Even though I know I haven't left all that many for you"
They sat there silently as the sky darkened, and the first stars appeared in the sky. Nothing was said, they just sat, cherishing each moment they had left.
Lucius coughed, and his family gasped when they saw the dark red blood that appeared on his chin.
"I guess this is it," said Lucius weakly, hacking up more blood. "Don't ever forget me"
"Father, how could you even say that?" Draco said desperately. "Don't worry, you're not going to die, there has to be more time left. There just has to be!"
"Draco, be realistic about this" Lucius told him. He coughed, sending up more blood.
"No, don't talk, Father" said Draco, tears welling up in his eyes. "You'll make it worse."
Narcissa didn't say a thing, she was crying too hard. Her tears fell onto the grass making little puddles of salty water.
"I just want you both to know…" He stopped in mid-sentence and coughed again. Talking was getting more difficult now; his throat felt like it had been sliced and cut by a knife. He tried again. "I just want you to know, that I love you both"
They say someone knows when their end is near. This must be true, for Lucius knew his time was up. "Don't ever forget me" he whispered, and collapsed on the ground, his body lifeless.
The sky was the only the thing that remained the same as the pure, golden light of the dancing stars bathed the faces of the two people crying bitterly over the life that was lost, their tears shining like shimmering moonstones in the dimness of the night.
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine.
AN: I'm going crazy. I think it's the book I've been reading. Makes me walk around in a daze being all delusional and untalkative and stuff. I need to do a songfic!!!! But there haven't been any songs that I like out lately!!! And even when there are songs I like, they don't fit the plots I do!! Stupid music!! Heh heh…ignore me. Forgive me if some of the people are kind of out of character. I didn't plan it when I started writing this, but it kind of turned out to be a Lucius fic. I'm just not really good at those. Nope, that's an understatement. I'm really bad at those. You know, my fic things have been a lot longer now, it just takes me longer to write them since I write really slowly…I hate this. *walks away muttering to herself about how she needs to kill someone* Um, review? =)