Just a quick one-shot about my second favorite wizard from Harry Potter, the illustrious and magnificent Lucius Malfoy. This is, however, an AU and he is not quite the illustrious and magnificent wizard we remember him as.
I always thought Lucius was a bit misunderstood. He's not inherently evil, but he is proud, stubborn, and is prone to extreme emotion, though he doesn't like to show it. This one-shot explores what could happen if he let those bad traits consume him, even after learning about the amazing power in love.
I don't own Harry Potter or any characters. Please enjoy.
Flame consumed his house. His possessions, his wealth, his personal life were all taken by the raging fire as Lucius Malfoy sat, undisturbed and out of touch with the destruction around him. What use was there in saving any of it?
'Let it burn...pay it no mind...' He thought.
…
"No, that's not….you're not listening!"
The fireplace cackled and sparked with Lucius' outrage. Of all the people to betray him, of all the ingrateful injustices he knew would come, this was the worst. Probably because he actually didn't see this one coming. The shadows around the manor danced with his pacing figure.
"I did what had to be done! I've always done just that!" He shouted, throwing his arm out in anger, trying in vain to strangle the phantom image of his wife that mocked him.
Narcissa replied with spitfire on the other end of the phone line and Lucius buried his face in his free hand. The curtains of his long, grayer hair hid the house from his sight as she yelled at him. He imagined he'd be seeing some offensive gestures if they were in the same room.
Lucius suddenly shot his head up at the ceiling and fell into an armchair, screaming back at her, "Well then I'm much better off here, aren't I?"
More yelling, more fury. More reason for Lucius to get upset, but he was quite tired of being upset. He was tired of many things. There was little room for a man stuck in the past, and Lucius was simply being strangled in the present. He couldn't even imagine his future.
The fire jumped out at him, but he did not recoil. He took in the message. He understood what he was being told. He swallowed as Narcissa's latest rant had ended, punctuated with one last insult.
"Then I think it's time we ended things. For good."
Her reply was short, but not devoid of the same rage as her tirades. Lucius managed a spiteful smile upon hearing her agreement.
"Goodbye," Lucius ended the argument and slammed the phone down onto the sideboard beside him, breaking the phone into many pieces and tipping over the accessory.
He brought his wand out of his cane, summoned a scroll and ink, and began writing.
My dearest Scorpius,
As always, your grandmother and I are at odds. You will no doubt hear my name slandered about your house when she arrives. Unfortunately, your father is not quite the man I had raised him to be.
Maybe that's part of the reason you're so dear to me. You are the young wizard I had always wanted to grow. You have the capacity to be a true heir of Slytherin, as I am. I do love your father, do not misunderstand, but he lacks qualities in areas that, I feel, are very important. Times change. I also understand that, and perhaps it is better for Draco to be the man he is. I certainly cannot find a place for myself in this world.
And that is precisely the point of this letter. I am saying goodbye to you, for good. I have already expressed my feelings with your grandmother, and I hope your father will understand why I must do what I am. Please do not let this secret out. All great families have secrets, Scorpius, and all great families keep them. Let others believe, theorize, or mock. It is their role. Yours is to smile as you pass by and know the truth that they never will.
I do so love you, Scorpius, and I regret that my decision leaves me without the opportunity to see you grow into the wizard of greatness I imagine you to be. Please, heed my advice. Everything I have ever told you is wisdom incarnate. It may sound arrogant, but these words come from experiences that I wish upon few.
I understand your father, and especially your mother, see things somewhat differently than I do, and it is well that you should listen to them, but do not neglect what I tell you either. They know much, but not as much as I.
So, take my advice. Learn from my legacy, and become the crest of the Malfoy name. Dare to seize greatness, never forget your values, even if they bring you scorn. Attend to your skills and you will find your ambitions will one day be more than met. Perhaps most importantly, never, ever forget those that walk this path with you. I had many a great friend and ally. I am sad to say that many of them are gone now, and that few will be left to aid you from my generation. I do take some comfort in knowing that I will be seeing them again, very soon.
Your are the future. You are the culmination of my life's work. You are destined for great things. Goodbye, Scorpius.
Your grandfather,
Lucius Malfoy.
He set the pen down on the tipped sideboard and stood up, taking the scroll with him. He pressed it firmly with a red wax, sealing the contents behind the Malfoy family crest's image. He also poked around his shelves and found a few trinkets to send along with it.
The first was an ornate emblem of Slytherin House. He hoped Scorpius would wear it proudly when his third year started in a month. He smiled at the memories behind the emblem and set it down on the chair with the scroll, going off to find the second momento.
He finally did find it, in a small chest that had been neglected in a closet for years. Digging through old letters and messages, he found a picture of himself and his closest allies, not long after Voldemort had disappeared for the first time. Draco was very young, nestled in his mother's arms. With them was Severus Snape and a few other Death Eaters. They held an air of greatness and firm belief in their future.
It was a bitter picture in some ways, and he honestly held a great disdain for many of the wizards in that picture, but the bond he remembered between the select few of them brought a smile to his face. He took the pen when he got back to the chair and scribbled a small message on the back of it.
Keep your enemies close, but your friends closer.
Lastly, he found a small box. He closed it and sealed it, and taped the key to the underside of it. He set it down with the other items and grabbed his hand. He apparated them away and took one last look around his dark manor.
The memories of the past begged him not to do what he was about to, but he paid them no mind. They were ghosts now, and soon he would be one too. He took the chair and dragged it into the center of his room. The fire was dying down a little, but he walked up to it and revived it. Then he set it into a blaze and walked away as it escaped the confines of the fireplace.
The flames spread around the floor and climbed up the walls steadily. He slipped his wand back into his cane. He firmly clutched it, holding it close as his last tie to the world around him. Then he broke it over his knee unceremoniously.
The two pieces fell in disharmony and rolled towards opposite corners of the room. He fell back into the chair, staring blankly ahead. Soon, it would all be over. He failed, in the end. A smile came to his face, however small, though, when he thought of the great success he had helped nurture. He had to be a great success.
As to Narcissa...well, maybe one day, when they were rejoined, it would be possible to reconnect. In any case, he paid her no mind now. She didn't deserve his last thoughts. And Draco? Well, he hadn't turned out so badly. He was still proud of his son.
He let the world around him burn. Flame consumed his house. His possessions, his wealth, his personal life were all taken by the raging fire as Lucius Malfoy sat, undisturbed and out of touch with the destruction around him. What use was there in saving any of it?
'Let it burn...pay it no mind...' He thought.
He heard the cinders pop and he smelled the ashes flow through the halls of old Malfoy Manor. Most of all, he felt the intense heat. No room for old wizards in the new day. They had to burn. Burn or die, but Lucius was not a believer in death. He was a Death Eater...once, anyways.
Even still, burning sounded better to him than dying. He did not cower from the flames, but he embraced them as they edged closer still to him.
'So this is it,' he thought, 'the final fall of Lucius Malfoy. They'll probably whisper about me in the taverns and the schools and ministry. I bet Arthur will get a kick out of it.
I went from a brave young student, to a profound wizard and excellent Death Eater, to a political power and a symbol of splendor...then to a stooge for evil. But then I had been for a while. Only then, sadly, did I find out that I had been missing something. From then on, I became an outcast.
But isn't there more to life than that? Isn't there for them to see than sin? Isn't there the chance...that I made the right choices? I guess the world says no. Damn cruel world it is.'
Flames swallowed Malfoy Manor.
….
The voice on the radio was crisp as the morning matured. The newspapers were telling the same story, but they lacked the emotion of a real voice. The informative but relatable edge of a man's voice.
"In a shock, Ministry authorities have pronounced the burning of Malfoy Manor as arson, and are looking for the cause of the fire that took away the Malfoy family's estate and the life of it's patriarch, Lucius Malfoy. Authorities report that his corpse was found trapped in the study, and unable to pry himself free, he was tragically killed. The wizarding world and the Ministry of Magic have expressed their sympathies to the Malfoy Family. Lucius is survived by his estranged wife, Narcissa, as well as his son Draco, daughter in law Astoria Malfoy, and grandson, Scorpius Malfoy."