Young Master Malfoy was, for the lack of a better word, different.
He never referred to his parents as mamma or daddy. It was always madam and sir. That certainly wasn't the typical behaviour of a five-year old. Neither was him being…..well…so quite. Weren't children supposed to be demanding? Weren't they supposed to lift the house on their heads if they weren't given what they wanted? The young Master wasn't like that. In fact, nobody walking into the polished marble foyer of the Malfoy Manor, hiking up its frosted glass staircase with its emerald encrusted silver balustrade, or treading upon the plush green carpets would ever know there was a baby in the manor unless they lay their eyes upon the silver-blonde head of said wizard.
He wasn't known to talk much. Not even babbling the way some children did. On no, none of that for the young Master. Whenever he talked, his diction was superb and on paper, his grammar correct. It had come to the point that none in the Manor thought of him as a boy. The friends of the family gave him a wide berth. He never asked anyone for anything.
So one fine spring morning, when young Master went on the hunt with Mr. Malfoy and an entourage of acquaintances, it came as a surprise when he refused to let go of a black gryphon cub he had all cuddled up against him.
"You will put down that…creature at once, boy."
Mr. Malfoy forced out the words through gritted teeth.
"No, I will not."
Mr. Malfoy clenched his jaw until he looked ready to pop a vein.
"It's a wild gryphon, boy. We will go to London tomorrow and get you a….respectable pet."
"I already have a respectable pet, thank you."
Mr. Malfoy bent at the waist until he was looking into the obsidian eyes of his son.
"Let me rephrase. You will put down that gryphon, leave it in the woods somewhere and thank me for not taking a cane to you. You will then go with Dorinda back to the Manor, get showered and wait for me until I come home. Then you are going to get dressed, not in those rags that you favor, and come with me to London so that we can get you a respectable pet that did not come from the wild!"
Mr. Malfoy took a deep breath and looked apologetically at the Minister of Magic who waved away the matter and looked fondly at the young Master. Then he turned around to glare down at his son.
"Do you understand, boy?"
Young Master Malfoy raised an eyebrow-should he be able to do that?-but didn't stop petting the now purring cub in his arms.
"It's Dessendra, sir, not Dorinda."
Mr. Malfoy blinked at his wayward son.
"What are you talking about?"
"The house-elf, sir. You said Dorinda. It is not Dorinda. It's Dessendra."
The party snickered and Mr. Malfoy's pale cheeks coloured.
"I don't care. Now then, do you understand, boy?"
The Young Master blinked.
"Perfectly, sir."
Maybe there was hope for him yet, Mr. Malfoy thought as he nodded.
"Good then you will leave….."
"Whether I understand or not is completely different from whether I will comply or not, sir."
The party would have snickered again had they not been too busy exchanging startled glances. That was the longest anyone had heard the young Master speak.
Mr. Malfoy caught the boy's arm and apologized to the company before marching off with him to the thicket.
He took out his wand and muttered something under his breath before looking at the boy.
"What are you doing? Were you trying to embarrass me out there, boy? Where are your mannerisms? I will not allow some little midget to sully the Malfoy name….."
"That's silly, sir."
"What?"
"Midget implies little. Saying little little is grammatically incorrect, sir."
"That's it. I am never taking you out no matter what you say…"
"I didn't ask for this. You forced me to come out here."
"If you had any sense you would know not to answer back…"
"Whether I answer back or not has nothing to do with my sense."
"in front of our esteemed company. I tolerate your bad manners at the Manor…."
"Funny how I can't remember the last conversation we had."
"the Manor but I will not let you embarrass me in front of my friends!"
His voice rang several octaves higher than when he had begun.
"The problem isn't my not complying to your orders, sir, the problem is that you expect me to. I am a child and according to my knowledge, children argue with parents and are generally demanding."
"Well-behaved children agree with their parents and do their bidding."
"Then I suppose I am not a well-behaved child."
Mr. Malfoy was looking rather ruddy by now.
"Fine."
He snatched the cub from the young Master and took out his wand.
The Master's whole body lightened with wildfire. Mr. Malfoy dropped the cub in surprise. The Master walked over to the cub and picked it up in his little arms, the fire going out as easily as it had sneaked up.
"What…." Young Master Malfoy raised his eyes and cut off his father mid-sentence.
"I tried reasoning with you but you won't listen. So here's my proposal. Ask Dessendra to come here and we will leave. With Xela. You can go out to the party, tell them that you killed her and because I became hysterical you sent me to the Manor with Dessendra. In return, I promise to never come in front of you again if I can help it and I will keep my Xela away from you as well. Do we have a deal, sir?"
"And who will keep it from wrecking my house? Who will feed it? You?"
Master raised another eyebrow.
"Who else? I will be responsible for her welfare if that's what you are asking."
"It will not be permitted in my house beyond your room, which will be shifted over to the end of the third floor hall."
"Agreed."
"If it ever appears, and it had better not, I will kill it."
"Agreed."
"It will go with you when you go to Hogwarts where you will be spending all the holidays."
"Agreed."
"You will have to clean your room yourself; I will not let any of my staff to step into it. I will have a kitchenette made in your room for its feeding purposes. I do not want this creature to have the same food as I do."
"Fine."
"Fine. You can keep the creature. And remember the rules."
The Young Master nodded and averted his eyes as he heard his father remove the charm and signal the house-elf. He could care less what his father thought. And apparently, the green-eyed gryphon looking at him could too. He smiled into his eyes and the cub purred before settling in more firmly against his body. Its cub claws kneaded his shoulder. Dessendra came and asked him to follow her.
But she needn't have bothered.
He didn't need anything from the jungle anymore. He already had his treasure.
"I will keep you safe, my Xela."
The cub meowed in his arms and shivered a little.
The young Master smiled and called forth a little warmth and was rewarded with a yawn full of fangs before Xela the gryphon fell asleep in his arms.