A/N: Something for the Houses Competition!
House: Hufflepuff
Category: Themed (Disappointed vs. Proud)
Prompt: Father and Son
Word count: 628
Lucius Malfoy had one son. There was no one else to share the attention or the pride, no one else to love and protect fiercely. There was no one else, and yet Draco had never felt any of those things, not in their entirety.
Oh, Narcissa had doted on her only child, and she had tried as hard as she could to keep her son from seeing the darker parts of the world (of their family) until it was too late. But there is nothing quite the same as a father's love, and Lucius did not know how to love his son.
Draco tried all of his life to live up to his father's expectation, but he always seemed to fall short in one aspect or another. As a child, he didn't understand why Lucius was so distant all the time but, as he grew, he began to realise that he would always be a disappointment. He didn't share the same overwhelming ambition as his father, and he certainly wasn't as driven to Voldemort's cause.
(Nor was he so cowardly, but he didn't understand this until much later)
Draco's O.W.L. results arrived in the summer before he was due to kill Dumbledore. It came whilst they were eating dinner, and Lucius was the one to intercept the owl, but he barely glanced at it before tossing it aside.
"News from the Dark Lord?" Narcissa asked.
Lucius shook his head dismissively. "Something for Draco from Hogwarts."
Narcissa leant across the table and picked up the parchment, smiling gently at her son as she opened it. "It's his O.W.L. results," she said. "Look, Lucius, he's done so well! Almost all Es, and an-"
"Letters on a scrap of parchment will not help the Dark Lord," Lucius spat. Narcissa fell quiet and a tense silence descended on the room, broken by Draco shoving his chair back and stalking out of the room.
"Draco!" Narcissa called, but her son paid her no heed. She glared reproachfully at Lucius before following Draco out, the results held tightly but carefully in her fist. That night she travelled with Bellatrix to the house of Severus Snape, intent upon making sure her boy didn't have to suffer more that he already was.
Arthur Weasley had seven sons.
He loved them all equally, even when Percy decided to cut all ties for years, even when Fred and George decided to quit school in favour of something different. It didn't matter what they did, he never stopped being proud of them for the strong, brave, intelligent young men they had become.
For five summers there had been an owl flying through the Weasley family's kitchen window, and every time Arthur had beamed with pride as his son opened the envelope, not even caring what the parchment would say. Bill and Percy both came out with twelve O.W.L.s, two of only three people to ever do so. Charlie excelled in Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology, and Fred and George, despite only gaining three O.W.L.s each, managed to build a thriving business only a year after they'd left school.
In the midst of all the chaos surrounding Voldemort, Harry and Ron's O.W.L.s arrived, and Arthur could not have been prouder as he saw how well his sons had done - for Harry was his son, not in blood, but in every way that mattered.
After each letter they held a celebratory meal, and Arthur always toasted his son, and wished them a bright and happy future. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that they all achieved it, however short that future was.
A/N: Hope you all achieved that! Thank you for reading, and please leave a review if you have a moment. Bye!