Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter etc etc. I lay no claim to this except for the fact that the plot's mine.
Shattered
A rich, spoilt, snobbish brat - yeah, that's me.
I never used to pay much attention to my governess, frail old creature that she was. I guess she must have tried to educate me, to form some sort of foundation within me which would help me when I turned 11 and that letter would soar into my hands on feathery wings. Needless to say, her efforts were futile. I boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time, completely ignorant of everything that does not belong to the world of magic.
But one phrase she taught me does stick out in my mind like a sore thumb.
---
"Ignorance is bliss."
"Ignorance...is...bliss."
"Good, now...yes?"
"What does bliss mean?"
---
What followed was a long drawn-out explanation that slipped out of my mind as soon as I stepped out into the sunshine. But the phrase still remained in my mind and now that I reflect upon it, how very true it is.
I pretty much took my father for granted. He was always...well...there. Irritable, preoccupied but visibly there. I could always approach him for advice, for some fatherly love et al. Nevertheless I had great respect for him. He certainly had a respectable position in the Wizarding World and I would always admire the authority with which my father would go about his job. I was small then but I used to hold my head up high even then, aware of the fact that my father was undoubtedly a great man, someone who commanded high levels of respect from everyone.
I boarded the Hogwarts Express in much the same manner. Head held high. I waved goodbye to my parents once I had stowed away my luggage, my eyes a bit moist. It was the first time I was going to be so faraway from my parents and that too for more than just one long night. How was I to know that that was also the last time I would see my father in that light again.
Halfway through the journey to Hogwarts I had my first experience of the complexities of life. Prejudice. I daresay I was prejudiced against Muggle-Borns back then. It was something one picks up with a family background such as mine. But people being prejudiced against me?
---
"No, no, not this cabin. That fellow's father was a Death Eater"
"What did you say?"
"I said your father was a Death Eater. I'm not about to sit within ten feet of any Death Eater'soffspring."
---
Three days later found me, the first Gryffindor in my family in generations, sitting beside a green-eyed chap and listening to Professor Binns' monotone with a horrified expression on my face. I had never heard a word about the rise and fall of Voldemort before. Every word the Professor uttered sent sharp stabs of pain through my heart. Death Eaters, the fall of Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and...
...and Draco Malfoy.
---
Knowledge is power. But the loss of one's ignorance is too heavy a price to pay to gain this terrible power. My father - an idol, a hero.
A coward.
Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy
---
A/N: This one was penned down while I was supposed to be studying.
R & R, please!