This was written for the Family Slice of the Chinese Moon festival competition, as well as the Taragh Word Limit Competition. I hope you like this :)
The moon shone dimly in the evening sky, as it began to darken. The three members of the Malfoy family were in their manor, going about their daily business.
Narcissa Malfoy sat primly on the couch of her sitting room, reading 'the daily prophet'. Her husband, Lucius, was currently perusing some of paperwork from the ministry. All was silent in the room, as the couple went about their daily night routine of clearing their legal matters. In fact, the only sound to be heard was the rustling of the pages as sheets of papers were flipped.
"Lucius, it's been six years since Bella was captured," Narcissa broke the silence as she spotted an article about the war and the mystery of the Dark Lord's disappearance, "Do- do you think she will ever get out?"
Her husband took a deep breath as he replied slowly, "I'm sure Bellatrix and Rodolphous can fend for themselves."
"I know, but I'm still afraid for Bella… He did something to her, he changed her." Narcissa spoke softly. "Azkaban will only make her worse."
"What we were doing… it wasn't easy Cissa," Lucius looked up from his papers as he put an arm over her shoulder. "To an extent, all of us changed."
"Yes, but you didn't change so much as her. You're still you. You can see it in her eyes; I don't think she even loves Rodolphous anymore. All she cares about is him," Narcissa continued, "When he disappeared, she actually went to look for him! And then she got captured… but we got off scot-free!"
"Cissa, we've been through this," He answered as he allowed his wife to lean on his shoulder. "It was all we could do to survive; we had to save ourselves first."
"I-I know," She replied, pausing for a moment, before her voice grew stronger. "Do you think he's really gone?"
The man stopped stayed quiet for a moment as he threw an unconscious look toward the dark mark on his arm. "No," He said firmly.
The witch nodded slowly as Lucius tilted her chin toward him. His cold grey eyes looked into her's for a few moments, before he kissed her lightly.
"You have to stay strong," Lucius told her in a hushed tone, "for Draco, and for us."
She found comfort and strength in his words. Lucius and Narcissa – she knew that they appeared cold to everyone else. But, he had been different from the rest of the Slytherins in her school years; he was more inspiring, more 'warm' to his close ones. Narcissa knew that he was right. She had to keep their family safe and clearly, breaking down was not the best option. It had already been six years since he disappeared – but she could not help the nagging feeling in her heart that all was not done and well.
"I've just finished reading this book!" The seven year old Draco Malfoy announced as he ambled casually into the room, breaking Narcissa's train of thought. She turned to watch her son as he explained about how the 'bad muggle' had stolen the wizard's magic, but gotten retribution in the end. Narcissa humoured the boy as he squeezed himself between his parents.
By this time, Lucius had lost interest in Draco's synopsis of the book and turned back to the stack of documents next to him.
"Daddy?" The seven year old Draco Malfoy prodded his father in the arm repeatedly, trying to get his attention. "What are you doing?"
"Working," The man answered in a matter-of-fact tone, displaying no emotions whatsoever, in contrary to just now. Narcissa had always been slightly jealous of the way Lucius could manipulate emotions so well – in both himself and others'.
"But you're at home!" Draco said, peering over his father's shoulder as he asked, "I thought that working is when you go out to the ministry!"
"That's… another part of your father's job, Draco," Narcissa Malfoy interrupted before her husband could answer. "Why don't you go and sleep?" She suggested kindly. She was a little too tired at the moment to entertain such an active child.
"But, I want to know what daddy does when he goes out," Draco insisted, refusing to be moved from the couch.
"Now now Draco, we wouldn't want to disturb your father, would we?" Narcissa said, shooing the boy off his comfortable perch.
"No!" Draco protested. "I want to know what daddy does; I want to grow up to be just like him and do the same things he does!"
The last statement caught his father's attention, as he looked up from the papers he had been reading, for the second time in the night.
"Let him stay, Cissa," He told her, with a hint of pride in his voice. Narcissa sent her husband a warning glance. Draco was still so young…
Draco cheered as he sat back down, and faced his father with a serious, attentive look on his face.
Lucius Malfoy told his son in a measured tone, "What we do as business men is not easy. You have to be good at everything."
"I bet I can do it!" Draco boasted, with an admirable amount of self-confidence – especially for a seven year old.
The corners of Narcissa's mouth went up. He was lucky, to have been born seven years ago, and not one year earlier. Her smile grew slightly wider as Lucius began to explain about the 'hardships' of dealing with business, and launched into a complicated speech. He definitely was in quite a good mood to humour the child – Draco simply worshipped him. Draco, on the other hand, furrowed his brow as he tried to keep up, nodding every now and then as if he knew what his father was talking about.
For now, Draco was innocent. But sooner or later in his life, he would have to learn about the hardships of being a death-eater, especially if the Dark Lord came back. And compared to the difficulties of being a businessman… Narcissa hoped he would never come back. But even if he did, Narcissa would support her family throughout all their endeavours, just as they would for her.
A/N: Was this a little too OOC? I thought that the Malfoys had proven they weren't completely heartless in the seventh book. Please review and tell me your thoughts :)