Summary: Lucius felt his son needed to know that some witches and wizards are under them. Young Draco just didn't understand what his father was trying to say.
I would like to start off by making it clear I do not own Harry Potter. I never have, and never will. With that copyright matter out of the way, here we go, a bit of Malfoy family shenanigans. Because really, there was nothing stopping me from doing this. I should never be left alone with Draco Malfoy on my mind.
-oOo-
"Filthy Mudbloods." Lucius Malfoy roared as he stepped through the Floo system. His face was contorted with anger as he stormed through the living room, paying no mind to his wife and son as he went. "The lot of them! Disgusting!"
"What's a…" Draco trailed off, almost afraid to bother his father while he was like this. The six year old, setting down the picture book he had been thumbing through, had found himself on the receiving end of one of his father's tantrums before, it wasn't something he wished to repeat any time soon. But curiosity was strong in him. He had heard his father use the word once or twice before; usually whenever he thought his son wasn't around. Draco had yet to learn what it meant, and curiosity was getting the better of them.
"To allow them into the Ministry! Into my place of work!" Lucius continued ranting, showing no signs of hearing or seeing his son. He reached for the glass bottle of Firewhiskey that sat as a decoration on the table between the couches. Popping the cork from the bottle, and pouring himself a drink into one of the large shot glasses that set with him, he downed the alcohol and frowned. "The filth."
"What's a Mudblood?" Draco repeated quietly. His mother reached over to her son sharing the couch with her, and patted his head lovely. She whispered for him to hush before he angered his father.
Lucius wasn't angered by the boy's question. The complete opposite really. Setting the glass onto the coffee table, he turned towards his son. The child shrunk into himself, trying to hide the fear in his eyes as he wiggled uncomfortably under his father's harsh stare. Lucius smiled viciously at the opportunity before him. He had been raising his son like the proper pureblood he was, making sure he understood what the name Malfoy meant, but he had yet to explain some of the more derogatory terms to his young son. The last thing he needed was the boy absentmindedly blurting out the word Mudblood in the middle of a gathering or near the ears of a Ministry official.
But maybe it was time to teach him the meaning of those words. The boy's intelligence and inquisitiveness was highly mature for a child so young. Draco was a smart boy, highly curious and very impressionable.
If Lucius didn't start now, if he didn't begin to establish those thoughts into his son, he feared he would miss the chance. He had just recently been able to break Draco from his tendency to play with the house elves, he didn't wish to take the chance of his son's friendly nature being directed towards the Muggleborns.
Crouching down in front of the child, he chose not to take note of the way the boy cringed away from him. "I will tell you, Draco." The father spoke quickly, his voice monotone and without compassion. "You know how we are wizards. How we can perform magic." He waited for his son to nod before continuing. "And you are aware that there are those who cannot perform magic."
"Muggles." Draco whispered quickly, hoping that by answering the statement that he would please his father with the knowledge. He tried to keep the excitement from his voice as he spoke of the magic less world his father tried to keep him away from. He found the world exciting; the little bit of it that he had seen when his mother rushed him through the streets, or during his trips with his Godfather Snape, anyways. He knew his father despised the Muggle world, and his mother held a tolerance for it, and he tried to understand why.
"Yes." Lucius nodded. He didn't pick up on the gleam of excitement in his son's light blue eyes. "A Mudblood is someone who can perform magic, but is born from Muggles."
"Is that bad?" Draco asked before he could stop himself. "If they can do magic that makes them like us."
Lucius cringed at the innocent statement. "They are not like us. You must understand Draco that Mudbloods are filth. That you are above them."
"But why?" Draco knew he was treading on dangerous ground with his father, but he couldn't resist asking.
"Because Draco…" Lucius sighed at his son's timid curiosity. His eyes caught the book Draco had been flipping through. The pages lay open on the couch, detailed prints of birds dotting among the text. A smirk pulled at his lips as he realized how he would go about with this conversation.
"Take a bird for example." He motioned towards the book. "A bird and a bug. We are the bird, while Mudbloods…. they are the bugs. They are insects that crawl across the ground, making a nuisance of themselves. But we, we are the birds in the sky. We can fly-"
"So can some bugs." Draco defended, forgetting his fear for a moment. The hard stare Lucius cast him silenced the boy.
Lucius bit his lip, trying to keep his patient in the conversation. He knew reprimanding the boy for his interruption would not be of use for him in this situation. He needed to get Draco to see what he was trying to explain to him; disciplining the boy at that moment would not assist in that.
"Yes Draco," Lucius spoke, "some bugs may fly. But while both can fly, we, the birds, are the superior ones in nature. Do the birds not eat bugs?"
"Yes." Draco answered. He looked at his father thoughtfully, glancing occasionally at his mother who had yet to move since the start of the conversation. "But I don't understand, what this has to do with Mud… with…"
"Mudbloods." Lucius filled in the word his son had already forgotten. "The point I am trying to make son, is that just as birds are superior to the bugs, so are we to the Muggleborns. Our blood is pure, we come from generations upon generations of witches and wizards. Magic is in our bloods. Mudbloods, are a different story. They come from a savage world. A race of people that kill one another without cause and destroy everything they don't understand."
"Are Muggles really that bad?" Draco asked, remembering the wonders the young boy had seen of the other world. Snape's house had such Muggle items scattered throughout, and while his Godfather had never made much mention on the items, Draco had still noticed and admired them.
"Yes." Lucius answered before his son was even finished speaking. "They are dangerous and stupid. They destroy. It is what they do. If they knew of the Wizarding world, they would no doubt destroy it as they are destroying their own world."
"But why are Muggleborns so bad?"
Lucius bit his lower lip, his temper boiling at his son's abundance of questions. He was used to Draco just blindly accepting everything he said as the truth. The boy looked up to his father, feared him greatly, but looked up to him none the less.
"Because, Draco," Lucius said, "they come from that world. They come from a violent and stupid world, and they leak into ours. They take our magic, take our purity and taint it with the filth of the Muggle world. Are you understanding what I am saying?"
Draco blinked several times, attempting to absorb all his father had said. The young boy's mind tried to come to a conclusion, tried to see what it was his father was saying, but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't shut his mind to the wonders of the Muggle world. But then again, his father was always right. It was a fact that the young child had been made painfully aware of. What right did Draco have of countering his father's beliefs?
Nodding slowly, white blonde hair hanging just over his innocents filled eyes, Draco stopped his questions. He watched as a satisfied grin spread over his father's face as the man rose and reached once more for the glass of wine.
He didn't fully understand his father's hatred of Muggleborns, but he knew that it was best to accept what the man said.
-oOo-
Well. Thanks for reading my little daydream.
I hope you enjoyed and feel free to check out the rest of my stuff. I've got a nice little Dramione story in the works, so if you like the ship, keep an eye out for it.
