Werewolves are monsters. It is what he has been told ever since he was a child. He is supposed to run and hide when he sees one. When he grows older, he is allowed to try to hex any werewolf he comes across. But he never does either of those things, because when he first sees a werewolf, he doesn't know he is seeing one.
He thinks Remus Lupin is a strange boy when he first sees him. He is intrigued. He finds himself making sure his clothes are ironed and his hair sleek whenever they share a class with the Gryffindors. He is glad no one else points it out, because it is hard enough accepting it himself. He searches for ways to spend time with the Lupin boy, despite knowing that his friends do not approve
It is the Yule Ball when they finally acknowledge their feelings for each other. It is a hurried albeit passionate kiss, the kind of act a Malfoy would never be caught dead doing. And yet, Lucius doesn't mind, for once. Or even for the countless times they do it again, up until the day Remus sees the Dark Mark on his skin.
They rarely speak after that, but the longing looks speak world about the fact that neither of them has moved on. Sometimes, Lucius hopes and wonders about a time in the possible future when they are happy again. He doesn't quite realise he is to marry Narcissa, until he is standing in front of her and she is wearing a white dress.
This is what he is meant to do, as a Malfoy. This is who he should be in love with, he tells himself, even as he watches a familiar figure watching him, hidden amidst the trees.
Werewolves are monsters, he repeats quietly, before saying the words that reveal who the real monster is.
"I do."
Notes: For the Pauring the Character Drabble Competition and the Cruel and Unusual Pairing Challenge.