Written for:
Chocolate Frog Cards Challenge: Elfrida Clagg - A character in your story has absolutely no prejudice or judgements about other people or species in your story.
September Event: Draco Malfoy
Writing Bingo: Lumos
Gringotts Prompt Bank: "But just because you bury something, that doesn't mean it stops existing." - Jenny Han, "We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are." - Sirius Black, Rosy (colour), "History repeats itself.", suggested
For the first prompt, I struggled a little bit, because I think most people have some form of judgement about others, so I decided to go with the most unprejudiced and innocent kind of person. A baby! Enjoy.
Words: 918
Innocence
Scorpius was beautiful. Draco didn't know he'd fall in love quite so hard, so quickly, with rosy cheeks and bright blonde hair, soft skin and baby blue eyes. He was so innocent, so reliant on them, Draco was worried he would break him. But now, Scorpius was three months old, gargling away, holding his own head up, and smiling whenever anyone talked to him. Draco and Astoria doted on him completely, and life had never been better, even if it had been less stressful before.
In the Malfoy family, history repeats itself again and again with every generation. If Draco wasn't careful, he knew history would only repeat itself again.
He remembered one of the earliest conversations he'd had with Astoria, before he asked her to marry him. "We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are," she had told him. Now, Draco used those very words in his approach to raising his son. He didn't want Scorpius to be either except through choice. He knew the pain of parents making those decisions. His own father had raised him in the dark, while his mother instilled him with light. He couldn't act without disappointing one. He vowed he would never be disappointed in his own son.
-o0o-
Draco took Scorpius to visit his father only as often as necessary, but the visits could not be avoided completely. In a rare show of affection one Saturday afternoon, Lucius cradled the boy in his arms, smiling down.
"I can't wait for you to grow up into a wonderful young man. The Malfoy heir. We'll find you a suitable wife, of course, and you'll even take ownership of this house. You'll be brilliant in Slytherin, yes, you will!" Lucius cooed, and Draco couldn't help but think it grotesque. Scorpius stared up, wide eyed and interesting, before breaking out in a tiny giggle and a grin. He loved attention.
"Father, what if Scorpius doesn't want that?" Draco asked, tension rising in the muscles of his neck.
Lucius snorted. "You say that as though he has a choice. He's a Malfoy, Draco," Lucius replied.
"Of course he has a choice. I'm well aware my son is a Malfoy, but Lord Voldemort is dead. You were there. You saw it," Draco noted.
"But just because you bury something, that doesn't mean it stops existing. There is still honour to uphold, and dignity. We still have a reputation to maintain and a business to run," Lucius argued.
"And it's up to him to decide if he wants to be a part of that, father. I'm not making choices for him. Now if you give me my son back, we'll be on our way," Draco commented, tight-lipped.
-o0o-
If there was anyone Draco knew that did not judge, and did not throw opinions onto others, it was his new friend, Luna Lovegood. She'd come to interview him for The Quibbler, and the pair had stayed in contact ever since. It seemed they had things in common they didn't realise. So on the Sunday morning, that was where Draco took his son. Astoria was ill, so taking the boy out of the house gave her respite she sorely needed.
"Oh, he's adorable! And he's grown!" Luna cooed as she grinned, reaching out to hold the bundle of joy. She had twins of her own, of course, who were eighteen months old now, but they spent Sundays with their grandfather, who showered them with affection and wonder. It suited Luna just fine.
As they sat down in the living room, Luna stared at the little boy before turning to Draco.
"You know I could do him a tarot reading. You could find out what his future has in store," Luna suggested.
"No, thank you. I'd like to discover that as it happens," he respectfully replied, feigning to mention his belief that it was all a large pile of codswallop.
"But he might be the one to find the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. He could be a Minister for Magic! You never know!" she laughed, as if his future was some sort of lighthearted game. The song in her voice had Scorpius raptured, laughing as if nothing was funnier. That was the joy of children.
"Luna, he'll make his own future. Whatever that might be."
She looked shocked for a moment, and then thoughtful. Finally she smiled. "I understand."
That evening, he lit a lumos in his son's room so Scorpius would not be afraid of the dark as he fell asleep. It struck him that what he'd just done to the room was exactly what he wanted to do to his son - shed light on the world so he could see it exactly as it was, and make his own way through it in full knowledge of all its angles. He hoped his intentions would be enough to see it through.
-o0o-
"Why does everyone want to instill their own ideas onto our child?" Draco asked his wife over breakfast on Monday morning.
She coughed a little and sighed before responding. "It isn't their fault, Draco. It's how the world works. Babies are a blank canvas, and everyone wants to see their own ideals live on in them, in the belief it will make them happy," Astoria explained.
"I don't like it," he admitted. "If he's a blank canvas, he should fill it with his own colours, not everyone else's."
Astoria smiled. "I like that."