Abraxas Malfoy learned at an early age the consequences of being weak.
And of thinking foolishly.
There was a time when he had thought his mother to be strong. Every time his father started to beat and torture him for not getting his lessons right or for doing something else wrong, his mother was always there to step in between him and his father.
"You think that your mother is wonderful, don't you, boy," Abraxas's father said in a matter-of-fact voice one evening over dinner.
Before he could help himself, Abraxas glanced over at his mother's chair. It was empty because of the injuries that she had suffered earlier that day when she had once again taken the punishment meant for her young son.
"Well, your mother is pathetic, as are all women," Abraxas's father continued. "She doesn't fight back. She's not strong enough to fight back."
One day, however, Abraxas's mother finally did fight back.
Her duelling skills, though, had not been a match for her husband's. Her efforts had been pitiful at best.
Abraxas tried not to tremble as he looked down at the main drawing room floor and into his mother's lifeless eyes.
"See how weak she was," his father laughed. "She never was a match for me. She always was beneath me. Are you going to be the same way, Abraxas, or are you finally ready to be a Malfoy? It doesn't matter to me either way. I am not yet past my prime. I can always have another son."
Abraxas forced himself to meet his father's eyes. He hated that his father thought him to be so replaceable.
At the same time, though, Abraxas was afraid of dying.
He didn't want to end up like his mother.
"I will do whatever you say," Abraxas finally said. "I want to continue to bring pride and honour to the great and noble Malfoy name."
"Then help me to make your mother's death look like an accident," his father grinned.
Abraxas immediately nodded his head in obedience. He didn't want to end up like his mother, after all.
At first, Abraxas missed his mother. He missed his mother taking the beatings for him.
Abraxas, however, did not give in such depressing thoughts. Instead, he dedicated himself to becoming the son that his father had always wanted. There was not a single command that his father gave him that he refused to obey. And in time, the beatings decreased. And eventually, they stopped completely.
"You are a perfect Malfoy," his father said one evening over dinner.
Abraxas beamed with pride.
He no longer gave any thought to his mother's empty chair. She had been weak and pathetic and therefore not worthy of even his thoughts.
When Abraxas's father finally died, Abraxas did not cry. Pureblood men did not cry, after all.
Abraxas, however, did miss his father. He missed his father deeply.
When Lucius came along, though, Abraxas found himself being relieved that his father was no longer around.
His father would have been so disappointed in him for failing to make Lucius a perfect Malfoy.