Marauder era, post Hogwarts, pre lily and james potter death. Enjoy. :)
Lucius Malfoy sprawled out on the bar table of "Kingsley Pub". He was drunk. Again. It was gross, really. Oh well.
It was really rather depressing when he thought about it. Narcissa always got mad at him for drinking (even though he only did it occasionally).
"Ugh. My life is a wreak." he mustered under his breath, is head now resting in his hands.
"Eh? What did you say?" a young and handsome man, with the slight face of a dog was staring up at Lucius. He was wearing a legible robe, but still a bit scruffy.
I knew who he was. Black, the older one of the two brothers remaining. His brother was a weakling, simply killing himself to save his petty skin from the dark lord. As for this one, he was simply a blood traiter… he was even friends with that Potter and his mudblood wife… pitiful.
" You think your life sucks, huh?"
"Yep."
"Well…"
"What?"
"Well, maybe you should pay attention to that lovely wife of yours instead of drinking all the time,"
"I don't drink all the time, "
"Sure you do! You're as drunk as a skunk here every night,"
"How would you know?"
"I'm here everynight! I come for a swig of something earlier in the day and then bring my mates afterwards you know… When I leave earlier in the day, you arrive and when I come back, you're conked out. "
"I am?"
"Yep,"
"You're bluffing!"
"No I'm not,"
Lucius said nothing. What did he expect from a blood traitor like this anyhow?
"Just listen up. I knew a girl and I really loved her and maybe I didn't take care of her as much as I should have. And I lost her completely. She died and it was because of me. She went looking for me and got run over by the knight bus."
Lucius stayed silent and stared at the decaying grey chair sitting in the corner...
"You know... I made a lot of mistakes and those mistakes hurt the most for people who love you the most.
..There was a portrait above the chair. It was painted nicely and the textures were thick. The painting was of a watermelon. Slum and pink but somber all over.
"But you have to take initiative! You can't just use magic or pick up an auto-answers quill to solve all your problems. You need to figure things out yourself sometimes,"
... and outside the window, beside the grey chair and the painting was a puppy, sitting in the middle of the street in the rain. Puppies are supposed to be playful, but this one wasn't. It looked sad, oh so sad... scarred... and shattered.
"And your wife... she probably loves you to bits and pies, because that's all se can do... all she can do and the least you can do for here is show it back. She's worried about you, ya'know... All women are like that. I'm sure yours is no different," Black paused "So take care of her. Start to love her back and start caring about things that matter. "
He set his beverage down and left, the door swaying lazily behind him.
...After that Lucius started to care about the things that mattered.