This set of small drabbles was written for The Five Kisses Challenge by keepcalmandwritesomething.
It was given second place, ya'll!
The first kiss Rodolphus could remember in his life was gentle and kind, caring and warm.
He was five when his mother passed away, calling him to her bedside moments before she departed this world.
"My son, you must watch over your brother. He is little and he needs your help."
She pressed her lips against his forehead and whispered softly "I love you, my son. I will always love you."
His father looked on in mute horror as the life passed from her eyes. It was the day the light left them all.
When he was 14, Rodolphus met Emmeline Vance in a hidden alcove behind the Arithmancy classroom.
He understood that he'd never be her friend, that there was nothing in their futures, and she knew it as well. His father had signed them up to follow the Dark Lord, and she was rallying behind the Order of the Phoenix.
But he loved her, and it hurt anyways.
She pressed her lips against his, wrapping her hands around his waist and resting their foreheads together.
"I will miss you, Dolph. Forever."
It was the second worst kiss of his life. At that moment he knew that his dreams would never bloom.
Rodolphus had always assumed that he'd have to follow his father's path and marry into another pureblood line, but on his wedding day, as he stood at the altar, he hated the bigotry in all of them.
He didn't want to marry Bellatrix Black. He knew her to be a bit more than crazy, and couldn't imagine them finding any sort of peace together, and certainly not as parents.
Saying "I do" was painful, and when the Ministry representative asked them to seal their magical vows with a kiss, he nearly vomited.
Dry cracked lips pressed together in the quickest of moments, a flare of magic to bind their cores forever.
He cried that night, alone in his marriage bed as his wife was already with Riddle. It was his third kiss, and possibly the worst kiss he could remember.
When Rodolphus met Delphini, he wanted to hate her. The physical manifestation of his late wife's devotion to the Dark Lord was more than a bit infuriating, but as he looked down into her crib, he knew he couldn't hate her.
Her soft brown curls spiraled around her head and her soft breathing filled the room.
He hated Bellatrix at that moment and hated the Dark Lord even more for stealing the only dream he had ever clung to in his miserable life. Fatherhood.
He gently picked up the sleeping child, holding her close to his chest and promising to protect her against the madness of her parents, and the world.
As he kissed her gently, tears streamed down his face, as he recalled the heartbreak that kisses brought to him.
Rodolphus was bone weary and tired as he trudged his body through the tightly packed muggle streets surrounding the entrance to the Ministry for Magic.
He read in the prophet that morning about Delphini being sentenced to Azkaban for murder, and he knew his time as protector and watcher in the dark was finally over.
He turned himself into the Aurors, was immediately led to a dark and damp courtroom where he was strapped heartlessly into a cold metal chair.
"Guilty."
The dementor hovered over his body, removing his soul, his memories, and all the pain that his life had wrought him. It was the only kiss he'd ever enjoyed.