Disclaimer: Most of the characters in this story are the property of Queen Rowling and are only used for fan related purposes. Any original characters featured are the intellectual property of their creators. Part one lyrics borrowed from Brand New's song "The No Seatbelt Song."
Beginning Note: I just wanted to take the time to state that, regardless of what my profile says, this is not my first fic. I left the HP archives a few years ago, because it was polluted with Mary Sue characters, and I couldn't stand it. But, since DH Part 1 is coming out soon, I got back into the swing of the characters in my head and created this little fun story. Regardless of my own original character, I am planning on focusing my attention on Draco's character. In case you were wondering, this takes place through HPB. I hope you enjoy it, as this is probably going to be one of my favorite HP fics to write. I'm all ready planning a sequel, depending on how well this fic is recieved, since I'm going to leave the ending, well, open. :)
Warning: This story contains mucho amounts of flashbacks as a storytelling device. You've been warned.
Sins of the Father; Part One
So take me and break me,
And make me strong like you,
I'll be forever grateful to, this and you.
It's only you, beautiful.
Or I don't want anyone.
If I can choose,
It's only you.
CHAPTER ONE
She could remember the exact moment she first met him. It was not a romantic meeting by any sort of stretch of the imagination, but it was one she would remember for years to come, because it was different. He was different.
It was his third year, making it her second, and she knew of him, but hadn't had the lovely chance to meet him properly, despite their parents' cordial knowledge of each other, both families being pure-blood and rather high in wealth. She was on her way to Charms class, walking happily with a girl she'd met on the train who called herself Adalia, a fellow Slytherin.
She hadn't been watching when she was going, of course, laughing and talking with her friend, when she collided fiercely with a sturdy wall. Luxy humph'ed in surprise, gripping her books to her chest a bit tighter, and then glared at the offending wall, only to find it was a howling boy who was gripping his arm. Her eyes flashed.
"Walk much, git?" she spat the words, annoyed, because now she was going to be late.
The Howler quit howling and glared right back at her, letting his arm go, which moments ago had been in 'pain'. "You don't even know who I am, little girl," he retorted. "Watch who you talk to. I'm a Malfoy."
Luxy snorted. "I'm well aware of who your affiliations are with, Mister Git."
An impish, pug-faced girl with dark bob haircut stepped up and got in Luxy's face. Luxy debated whether or not she was going to punch the little pug in the nose for invading her space. "Get out of our way. Draco is hurt," she said scathingly. "Unless you'd wish to follow us to the infirmary after I'm through with you."
She whipped her wand out and pointed it in Luxy's face, right under her chin, but Luxy smirked. "Sod off, git-ette. I just don't like being run into," she said and directed another glare to this Draco person, who had resumed clutching his arm in pain. What a hopeless fool.
"Come on, Pansy, My arm hurts. Let's leave the little firsties alone," the Draco person said in a derogatory way, directing his own cruel look to her, before 'Pansy' pulled Draco along towards the hospital wing.
"I cannot believe you just back-talked to Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson!" Adalia exclaimed as they continued on down the hallway. "You should have hex him for calling us firsties."
Luxy shrugged. "Not my fault Malfoy can't walk and that Parkinson girl doesn't know when to back off. And let him think what he wants. Doesn't everyone do that?"
Not the sweetest meeting in the entire Wizarding World, but Luxy always smiled and teased Draco about his arrogance whenever she thought about it. It was her fifth year now, and Luxy was excited. She enjoyed school, though not as much as Granger of course, but she still enjoyed it. Charms was consistently her favorite class, as she was the sharpest at it and Potions was pretty simple, seeing as Snape favored every single Slytherin, but she refused to take Divination because it simply bored her to tears, no matter how many times her father implored her to try new things. She smiled slightly and picked up her pace to the Great Hall for dinner, and her stomach growled in response to her thoughts.
She pasted on a rather Malfoy-like smirk and entered the Great Hall, waving jovially towards a group of Ravenclaw girls, of whom she got along with rather well. Adalia stood up from her seat and came to embrace Luxy, causing Luxy to grin and embrace her friend in return.
Luxy sat down at the empty seat next to her friend, and chatted animatedly with her about the excitement of the new school year. She could nearly feel Parkinson's sneering across the table at her and when she finally looked up, Parkinson wore a feral little grin that Luxy likened to that of a scowling gargoyle, and she grinned a bit in spite of herself, having amused herself without meaning to.
"You were almost late for dinner, Listin. Why's that?" Parkinson sneered, folding her arms on the table.
Luxy blinked and lifted her head slowly. "I was busy," she said simply, and then continued eating.
Adalia elbowed her in the side and they shared a secret grin. Parkinson was not amused, and her cheeks flushed red with annoyance. "I'm a prefect, Luxy Listin. Tell me where you were!" she demanded, as if her prefect status meant anything. All she did was use it for her own gain – which wasn't a far stretch for the self-righteous Slytherins – but still.
"I'm sorry, but I was under the impression that you were simply a prefect, not my bloody keeper, so why don't you just sod off and mind your own business, eh, Parkinson?" Luxy suggested in a sweet voice, her temper was rearing its ugly head inside her chest. She gave Malfoy a reproachful look when he smirked at her, having had his chin in his hand, sporting a rather un-Malfoy-like brooding expression.
"Besides," Luxy continued, "Since when do you ever get in the case of someone in your own House? Stick to pissing around the Gryffindors, would you?"
"Luxy Listin, hold your tongue for once in your life!" Millicent Bulstrode exclaimed, causing a few of Parkinsons' croonies to stare at her in surprise. She smiled demurely and looked down.
"Wow, Millie, that's the most kind thing you've said to me since we boarded at King's Cross," Luxy teased her fellow Housemate. "You must be feeling generous."
Millicent almost glared at her, and then huffed. Luxy shrugged and then went back to her dinner, smiling in spite of herself the whole time, while Adalia snickered every so often. Parkingson moved on quickly, of course, eager to divide her time gossiping with her horde of girls or simpering over Malfoy's arm like a buffoon, which made Luxy contemplate stuffing a dinner roll in her mouth to see if that would finally shut her up.
Luxy finished her food easily and took her last gulp of pumpkin juice as Dumbledore got up to give his Welcome Back speech, which was rather morbid, and then dismissed them for bed. She tipped an imaginary hat to Adalia, before waltzing off out of the Great Hall, twirling her wand around in her fingers, little sparks of silver and green crackling from it. She stopped in the hallway – causing the students that had been trailing her to mutter in annoyance and walk around her, stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled one, high, sharp note. A few moments later, a small black kitten came scampering towards Luxy, weaving around students, his head held high with a sort of arrogance that seemed to suit his personality.
"Where have you been, Echo? I've been looking for you since we got off the train," Luxy told her friend, picking her kitten up from the cold floor. Echo squirmed until Luxy relented and put him back on the floor, allowing him to walk beside her like he wanted as she headed towards the dungeons with the other Slytherins.
She stopped outside the commons and folded her arms, searching the sneering Slytherin faces that passed by her. Echo bounded along happily, trotting inside with the others, as if he were a student himself. Luxy forced her mouth into a grimace when Pansy and her cohorts stalked past her, Pansy's shoulder bumping into her's rather hard. Luxy growled, resisting the urge to whip out her wand and make the bitch pay for what she did, but she finally noticed him. He stalked behind them all, having looked rather sharp in a black suit on the train, though now he was wearing his robes, but his head was down.
Odd.
Draco looked up slowly, drinking in the face of the girl that was waiting for him outside the dungeons, arms folded over her chest. Luxy Listin. Her mother, he knew, had a fondness for poetry, so she gave her only daughter a silly name that began with all L's. Draco had once teased her about it, when they were younger: "What sort of name is Luxy?" He stopped in front of her and peered into her murky gray-green eyes, and she waited for his next move. He gave a small puff of air that was probably a sigh (except Malfoy's do not sigh) and then tossed his head in the direction of the corridor, indicating she should follow him.
They walked together down the corridor together slowly, rounding the corner when they reached it and continuing on down, both pairs of feet padding quietly against the stone.
"You going to tell me what you've gotten up to this summer?" Luxy asked, a bit hopefully, and Draco slanted her a look that gave her her answer. She sighed and then grabbed his hand, forcing him to stop. "Why didn't you get off the train this evening with the rest of them? I didn't see you with Pansy," she said quietly, peering up at him suspiciously. "And, come to think of it, Potter's nose was all bloodied when he came into the Great Hall, late. Any idea what that was from, Malfoy?"
"Luxy, I hate it when you call me Malfoy, so just sod off," Draco snapped and she leaned back on her heels, folding her arms again, giving him a hard look. "All right, Lux, look. I have this... thing... I have to do this year. I'm not going to tell you what it is, so you can quit batting your eyelashes like that at me; it's not going to work this time."
"So this thing of yours is important, yeah? Something major and your life rests on it, yeah?" she asked, staring up at him again, a bit impassive.
Draco paused for a moment, staring down at her. Did she know? Had he actually, for once, underestimated Luxy Listin? "Yeah, it is rather important."
She smiled slightly. "Well, at least I know you're up to something, just in case you start buckling under the pressure. I know you too well, Draco. You jump in with both feet and it's going to be your undoing. I mean, I'm sure you'll be brilliant; you're a bloody Malfoy," she teased him.
He stood a bit straighter and grinned at her, the first genuine thing he'd done in a long time. "Bloody right I'm a Malfoy, little girl. Don't forget it."
He gasped slightly, only slightly, when she thrust herself forward and hugged him tightly. Why was she always doing things he didn't anticipate? She continued to hug him until he relented and hugged her back, leaning down slightly to rest his cheek on her head, the soft tousled curls of her hair tickling his nose.
"Draco, you do know that I'm here for you, correct? We're friends," she stated firmly, hugging a bit tighter to make a point. "If things become too hard with this thing, Draco, I will always be here. I know you don't really do friendship, because it gets in the way of things, but regardless of what you or anyone says, I am your friend."
Draco sighed. Stupid girl. She didn't know what she was promising. Helping a Death Eater? Not likely. She hated the Death Eaters, what they stood for, and how they used terror to control everything. She wouldn't help him, when she figured out what was really going on. Luxy would hate him, but for right now, holding her in the cold corridor of the Slytherin dungeons, Draco Malfoy allowed even himself to be fooled into thinking that Luxy wouldn't hate him in the end. He ran a hand over her dark hair, his arm curling around her waist, holding her to him. She was an anchor. An anchor in a raging storm, and he clung to her for dear life. And he would continue to cling to her until she figured out the truth.
"Yeah, Lux, I know you are. We're friends, and I would never do anything to hurt you," he lied.
Ending Note: Hope you've enjoyed! And I ugre you to keep me in line with Draco's character. I'm trying to follow what JKR had intended for him to be, plus adding a few things of my own, since we can't really go off of Harry's interpretation of Malfoy, can we? :)
- skylight; 10.21.10
