How Lucius Malfoy Became a Death Eater
For Kelly
"All right, Scorp, I give up! Where are you hiding?" called an exasperated Lucius Malfoy. Hide and seek was an evidently tiring game, as the now aged wizard leaned heavily upon his walking staff while pacing the hallway. The second floor of the east wing was the family area, and was where young Scorpius played when visiting the Manor.
Lucius heard a child's giggle from inside his and Narcissa's bedroom, so he entered, and not seeing the boy, sat down on the bed.
"I know you're in here, Scorpius. Come out now!"
The closet's double doors opened, and Lucius' heart stopped as he took in Scorpius' attire. The four-year-old child was wearing oversized black duelling robes; ones Lucius thought had been destroyed years ago. As the boy waddled out, he had his grandfather's distinctive black and silver Death Eater mask in his hands.
"Look at me, Grandpa! I'm a duellist!" Scorpius beamed.
"Take those robes off. Right now."
"But why, Grandpa?" Lucius saw the young boy's eyes fill with confusion. He internally cursed: Scorpius was so young, so innocent, and so in awe of his grandfather. Lucius hated to disillusion the boy, but it was time he learned the truth about his Dark family. Or at least, the big picture. Details were far too mature for a four-year-old.
"Come here and sit by me, my little scorpion," he stated gently. As Scorpius shuffled to the bed, Lucius started rolling up his left sleeve to reveal his now faded, but still present Dark Mark.
"You have the same tattoo as Daddy!"
"Yes, I do. But do you know what it means?"
"No. It looks cool. When I'm in Slytherin, I bet I'll get one too!"
"No, Scorpius." Lucius took a deep breath and then continued. "This tattoo is a bad sign. It's a reminder of a time when a very bad man ruled. I followed him, and I made your daddy follow him too. I didn't know how bad it would be when I joined him. When I graduated from Hogwarts, I was expected to do something worthwhile with my life. As a wealthy pureblood, I didn't need to work, so I wanted to align myself with political power. My father was an acquaintance with a man from his school days, Tom Riddle. When he came over for tea, he talked about his thoughts. He wanted to make things better for society, because mu-muggleborns were becoming more prevalent and they didn't know our customs. They made things dangerous for us, because we thought they would reveal the wizarding world to muggle society. He needed important allies, and as a Malfoy, I immediately decided to join him. I got this tattoo to show that I was his follower. He changed his name to Lord Voldemort. Eventually, things became more intense, and he started hurting muggleborns. As his right-hand man, I hurt them too. I thought that muggles and muggleborns were bad and not to be trusted. Voldemort gained more power and he started hurting purebloods too. He killed a pureblood man and his wife, and tried to kill their baby too. The baby survived, and Voldemort was conquered. I was so happy, because your daddy was a baby then. Granny and I were able to raise him without worrying he would be hurt by this man too. But Voldemort came back. When your daddy was a teenager, he was brought back to life, and he expected his old followers to join him again. He actually lived here, in the old south wing that we had torn down. It got more and more violent, and your daddy had to join him too. If he didn't, he would have hurt him and Granny. But in the end, we ended up helping the good guys defeat Voldemort for good. Your daddy was so brave, but it was Granny who saved us all, because she's a very brave lady. I wore those robes and that mask when I was working for him. It makes me think of a time when I thought wrong things and did lots of bad things. I forgot I even had them still."
"Grandpa, I still can't believe you were bad. You're always so nice to me," Scorpius mumbled, now snuggled into Lucius' lap. The older wizard stroked his grandson's flaxen hair and smiled.
"I like to think I'm nice now, Scorp. But I was bad. I spent some time in prison for being bad, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what I did that was bad. Now I want to do good things to try and make up for what I did. I learned that the problem wasn't muggles or muggleborns, but our own society. Now we have classes at Hogwarts for the muggleborns so they can learn wizarding culture. I've kept trying to do good things. This tattoo makes me think about all the bad I've seen and done, and to think about things before I do them. It's like your mummy says: if it hurts anybody, it's wrong."
Lucius stopped his second monologue to glance down at his grandson, who was now asleep.
"Wow, Dad, you handled that one well." Lucius looked up to find his son standing in the doorway.
"He had to know the truth, so that he doesn't make the same mistakes that I did, and forced upon you," Lucius responded.
"I know. Thank you," Draco whispered as he walked over to his father to pick up his son. He shrugged the sleeping Scorpius out of the Death Eater robe. "We'll be over for dinner tomorrow night. Love you, Dad," Draco finished as he apparated home.
Lucius pondered the afternoon, and smiled as he made a decision. He tossed the old robe and mask onto the fire, and walked out of the room to go meet Narcissa in London for dinner.