AN: Written for Quidditch League Competition Round 5, word prompt Legacy
I do not own Harry Potter.
Scorpius Malfoy was mad. No. Scratch that. He was furious. His father had withheld thisfrom him? This of all things?
He stormed into his father's study, for once abandoning the face of calm he usually wore. His father looked up from his paper and raised an eyebrow.
"What could possibly—"
"This." Scorpius threw the newspaper onto the desk.
The front page was an article about the war.
"What about it Scorpius?" his father asked. "I have told you before that my family supported the Dark Lord."
Scorpius took a deep breath to calm down.
"Support? Yes. However I think you forgot to mention the part where he lived here."
"Scorpius-"
"Or that you tortured children for him."
"Scorp-"
"Or, and this one is my personal favorite, that you tortured Hermione."
"What?"
Scorpius stopped at his father's breathless question. "Don't bother denying it, it's in black and white," he said, gesturing to the paper.
"I did not—that was not me."
"I don't care. It happened here! It was your family."
"Scorpius please," Draco pleaded.
"No, I'm not going to listen to you right now. You listen to me!"
Draco stayed silent.
"You're always going on about family pride and the family name. About how the Malfoy legacy will be wonderful. How I am a Malfoy. Well if this," he gestured to the paper. "Is what I am a legacy of, I don't want it!"
"Scorpius!" Scorpius spun around to see his mother standing in the doorway.
"Yes?" he shot back.
His mother shot him a look.
"Draco there are some people from the Ministry here, should I go tell them—"
"I will go meet them." Draco opened his mouth to say something else, but changed his mind and simply walked out of the room.
Astoria Malfoy steppped fully into the room, glaring at her son. "Sit down."
Scorpius begun to object before thinking better of it and sitting down in the chair he had been standing behind. His mother pulled up a chair across from him.
"What was that about?" she asked.
"What was what about?"
"Scorpius." Scorpius winced at the warning tone his mother's voice took.
He sighed. "Did you read the paper this morning?"
Astoria raised an eyebrow. "Is that really what this is about?"
Scorpius looked at his mother. "What else would I be mad about?"
"Maybe something to do with a certain Rose Weasley?"
Scorpius felt his stomach drop.
"This has nothing to do with her. I'm mad because I found out that my dad helped torture children. I'm mad because I learned that Voldemort was living in my house!"
"So it has nothing to do with the fact that Rose's mother was hurt here?"
"Well of course, but simply because it's rather unnerving to find out that someone has been tortured in your house!"
"Do not yell at me Scorpius."
Scorpius sighed and put his head in his hands. "Sorry."
"So what is it then? You would not let a simple newspaper get to you so easily."
"It is my name mother. It is my name that is associated with these crimes." He paused. "Dad always told me that the Malfoy fortune would be mine and that the legacy I held was a gift. How can anything that comes from another's blood be anything but a curse? How can I look people in the eye, knowing that it was my family that injured or even killed theirs? How am I supposed to live with the fact that my 'legacy' is not fortune and respect but bloodshed and horror? How—" Scorpius broke off. "Mum I can't live with a name that is a synonym to suffering. I simply can't."
Astoria could think of nothing to say to comfort her son as he struggled to compose himself. She looked up to see Draco standing in the doorway behind her son.
"Then don't." Scorpius froze as he heard his father's voice.
Astoria smiled comfortingly at her son and left the room, Draco taking the chair she left.
Scorpius scowled. "How am I supposed to do that? It's my name, I can't exactly get rid of it."
Draco sighed. "No, your name you cannot change. How others see it, however, is something you can control. This," he gestured to the paper "Was not you. You did not live in the war and you were not influenced by it in the way we were. You can make your name mean something different. You can change your legacy. You might not want all that comes with it and that's fine, but Scorpius, you have to try to see them in a positive way."
Scorpius stared, dumfounded, at his father. "A positive way? A positive way? How on earth am I supposed to do that? There is no way that could be possible."
Draco smiled sadly at his son. "Of course it is possible. I do it all the time."
"And how do you do that?"
Draco stifled a sigh. "I remember my father as a powerful politician. I remember my mother as a master party planner and host. I try to think of my aunt as mentally ill." This time he did sigh. "And I try to pretend I was simply misinformed." Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "That works?" "For the most part." Draco stared at his son. "Scorpius, I want to give you a legacy that you are proud to that doesn't make your children storm into your office. But I can't change the past, I can only try to make amends."
Scorpius swallowed a lump in his throat. "Dad,"
"Let me finish." Scorpius nodded.
"You will make a name for yourself independent of the Malfoy history. That will be your legacy. The one you pass on and anything we can do to help you achieve that we will. Okay?"
Scorpius blinked a few times and nodded.
The two male Malfoys stayed silent for a moment before Scorpius spoke.
"She's going to hate me."
"Who?"
"Rose."
Draco's eyes widened. "Weasley?"
Scorpius nodded. "You may understand it but she won't."
"Well then you don't know me very well Scorpius Malfoy."
Draco grinned as Scorpius froze in his seat, eyes widening. "How…er…I mean what?"
Rose laughed. "Your mother got me."
She turned to Draco. "You don't mind if I steal him do you?"
"Not at all."
Draco gave his son's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before Rose pulled him from the room. As soon as the door latched behind them Draco collapsed into his chair. Hopefully Weasley's daughter would make his son see sense. He didn't know how many more prep talks like the one he had just given he had in him. He heard his son's laugh from down the hall and realized two things. First, if he had called in Weasley's daughter it would have saved him from a headache. Second, that he was going to have to start calling her Rose. He had a feeling they were going to be family after all.
Draco laughed. Now their kids would have an interesting legacy.
AN: Thanks for reading
