Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and neither is the story.
Lucius came home late from work, tired and irritated. He already knew that Narcissa was probably fast asleep in their bed, and was surprised to find their five years old son waiting for him at the door standing behind the house-elf who is opening the door for him.
"Father, may I ask you a question?" Draco asked, bright silver eyes looking to his father's face.
"What is it?" Lucius replied without his usual graceful, polite yet commanding tone.
"Father, how much money do you make in an hour?" Draco said with ease from the daily practice of etiquette his parent imprint in his mind.
"That's none of your business. Why would you want to know?" The head of Malfoy asked angrily. Due to stress after a day's work, today was practically chaotic.
"I'm just wondering. Please answer my question. How much do you make in an hour?" The young blond repeated, pressing his luck.
Sighing, he doesn't have the energy; Lucius only rolled his eyes slightly. Something only his family have the privilege of seeing the expression; Malfoys are of the higher class after all. "If you must know, I make fifty galleons an hour." The taller blonde replied, randomly choosing a number that came to his mind.
"Oh." The boy said, his head lowering a bit. "...Father? May I please borrow twenty-five galleons from you?"
Lucius was furious. "If the only reason you asked that is so that you can borrow some money to buy some silly toy, or some other nonsense, then you can go straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish, when I have given you everything you want. I didn't work hard every day for such childish frivolities. I better not find your studies have been affected or else I'll have to make necessary actions." Almost letting out a growl but kept it in, not wanting to scare his only son and maintain his Malfoy mask.
Looking hurt as he tried to masked it unsuccessfully; the Malfoy heir nodded, turned, and quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The older man sat down at the kitchen table so that he could eat the meal that the house-elf had left him on the dining table as soon as he steps into the room. He got angrier over his sons' questions as he thought about them again.
After about an hour or so, Lucius had calmed down and started to re-think his actions; maybe there was something that Draco really needed to with those twenty-five galleons. And it wasn't like he asked for money that often, he usually just asked for the item.
With a small sigh, the man got up and went upstairs. He went to the east wing where his son's room is, he had Draco's room moved away from the west wing, away from his and Narcissa's bedroom since he was three (he felt that it's high time Draco was too old to be afraid of nightmares and should start being more independent, with much protest from his wife but Draco got over it after a year), and slowly opened the door.
"Are you asleep, son?" He called in quietly.
"No, father, I'm awake." Draco replied.
Entering the large room fully, Lucius slowly walked towards the queen-sized bed and sat on the edge, releasing a bit of his Malfoy mask. "Listen...I've been thinking...maybe I was too harsh on you earlier." He said awkwardly and reached into his pocket, pulled a bag out and beginning to shift through it. "It's been a long day, I'm tired, and I took my aggravation out on you. Here are the twenty-five galleons you asked for."
Draco immediately straightens his posture and smiled brightly as he accepted the galleons from his father. "Thank you." He exclaimed.
Then climbing out of bed, he reach behind his shelf and pulled out a beautiful glass jar containing galleons.
Lucius, seeing that his son already had money, his frustration grow again. As Draco slowly began to count his money, Lucius huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why did you want more money if you already had some?" He grumbled.
"Because I didn't have enough before, but now I do." Draco replied, smiling as he looked back up at his father.
Gathering all of the money together, the little boy stood up and held out the galleons towards Lucius.
"Father, I have fifty galleons now. May I buy an hour of your time? Please, come home early tomorrow. I want you to have dinner with mother and me."
Lucius was absolutely crushed. Letting his Malfoy mask off, he put his arms around his young son and silently begged for his forgiveness. The action confused Draco to no end since he has never seen his father acted this way before.
The next day, Narcissa almost squealed and cooed at Draco's way of asking Lucius to come back early. She hugged the living daylights out of the poor boy as soon as he stepped into the dining room that morning after hearing the whole thing from her husband.
"Draco, I have no idea! I'm sorry if I have been neglecting you." Narcissa said, still hugging her only son.
"Narcissa." Lucius stated.
"Yes?"
"You're suffocating him."
AN: Wrote this after reading a few story similar, from different anime of course. I can never imagine Lucius or Narcissa being cruel to Draco intentionally. Unintentionally maybe, considering how their childhood is like back then. But definitely not intentional. I love fics that portray the Malfoy as a misunderstood family, it always have me grinning afterwards. Young and cute Draco, really makes me want to hug the daylights out of him.
Review please.