Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this story, if I did I would be living in Europe not here in Canada. Nor do I own Tylenol®.
A Father's Teachings
"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"
A young man of about twenty-four was at his father's grave. No one knew him and no one dared ask his name. There were two things that they did know: one he was very wealthy. Anyone within a ten metre radius could tell, the young man was dressed in an Armani suit, Tanino Crisci shoes, and on his wrist was a gold Rolex. And two he really hated the man buried in this cemetery. Whoever had been here long enough might've seen him enter very early that morning and it was now nearly nine o'clock that same night. There was still one question burning in all their minds, why would anyone speak ill of the dead? If they had known the young blond heir to a multi-billion galleon fortune, they would know. Draco Malfoy had gone through a lot in his young life. This man –his 'father'- had caused him so much hardship. Lucius Malfoy was a terrible father and husband. He had always told Draco that he wasn't good enough; he had not once told his son that he loved him and he had always abused his wife Narcissa. Never physically, always emotionally so he had left her hurt and broken when he died. She no longer knew who she was and was in need of dire help. She had never done anything wrong either; she had always been a good wife.
"You never loved me! You always told me I wasn't good enough, always comparing me to Hermione Granger. How about now? I own a multi-million galleon pharmaceutical potions company. Am I good enough now?
Draco Malfoy had started his own potions business right after graduating from Hogwarts. With some of his father's money he bought crates full of healing potions, and he began mixing various strong potions together trying to create newer, stronger, more effective potions. And by his third try he mixed two very powerful healing potions with an extremely effective result; a potion that could cure the common muggle cold. Which he sold as a 'medicine' to a muggle company by the name of Tylenol®. And with that deal he made millions of pounds which he converted to galleons. And since then he started his own label to put his 'inventions' behind, M&F Ltd.
"You were the worst father to ever set foot on this planet. You cared about nothing, but your precious Dark Lord. Mother and I were just there for show! Not once did you speak about us unless asked! Did you think that I didn't notice? As a boy I wanted nothing else, but to be like you. Now I'm older and the one thing I'm sure of is that I want to be nothing like you, you sick bastard!! I actually want my family to love me, not that you ever cared about such a minimal thing like love!
As he's saying this he's stomping on the man's grave.
Draco's younger years were spent idolizing his father. He dressed talked and acted just like him. Ever since he said his first word (dada) all he did was talk about and like his father. He wanted to go to Hogwarts, be in Slytherin, and the person the whole house looked up to (figuratively speaking of course since he was quite a bit smaller than the seventh years. That was the only dream Draco had throughout his younger years so when he arrived at Hogwarts and said dream came true he was thrilled. The first thing any other boy his age would do was tell their friends, but you have to remember that Draco is no ordinary boy, he is a Malfoy. So the first thing he did was owl Lucius to tell him that he, Draco Alexander Malfoy had become the Slytherin Prince. The answer he got back was quite unexpected the piece of parchment had two words, "Work harder. –L.M." Mind you Draco was only a child of eleven, so those words crushed his young spirit. That was one of the reasons as to why he was always so cruel towards Harry, Ron, and Hermione, to impress his father. Yet still he was not impressed. Every year someone did something to outshine him, Potter saved the world or Granger received better grades, so needless to say Lucius was not impressed.
"Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, I was trying so hard to impress you that I realized you were wrong and became the exact opposite of what you wanted me to become? I became nice to people other than purebloods! Kids were starting to talk to me and not fear me like they previously had. I made friends, and one of them was a muggleborn the people you taught me to hate were the same people that become my closest friends!"
It was true; Draco tried so hard to impress Lucius that he realized that all he was being taught by this man was wrong and became the exact opposite of his own father. He became a nice person to muggle-borns and half-bloods, people began noticing and became his friends. And the most surprising thing was that Granger had become his friend, and had helped him find friends. And not only that, she had actually become his best friend. Draco knew that he could always count on her and confide in her. That isn't the oddest part of the story, the oddest part was that Potter, Weasley and She-Weasley (he preferred to think of them as Harry, Ron and Ginny now) had also become his friends. At first they were hesitant, but with a little push from Hermione they were sold. So he was glad that trying to impress Lucius had led him to her.
"All you did was lead me into the arms of your enemy! Like you didn't care and just left me there. You've made my life miserable and most of all you've made mother's life miserable and for that i'll never be able to forgive you. It's because of what you did to her that she's currently iin St. Mungo's trying to get rid of her memories of you!!" Draco was no longer able to keep himself up so he fell in front of the grave; he started to punch it over and over again, but with each punch he was getting weaker and weaker. Sometime during his speech it had begun to rain drenching Draco to the bone. He seemed not to notice instead he got up on his knew and cried unto his hands. His body shaking not only form the sobs he was emitting but also from the cold. With each rain drop the temperature dropped more and more. Draco didn't register the fact that his body was losing heat rapidly, instead he just registered that his father was just that; his father and that no matter what he owed this man his life.
"Even though you killed my spirit and didn't allow me to have a normal childhood, you are still my father and i love you!"
By this point no one was left at the cemetery. Draco is crying, cold, shivering and most of all alone. But he knew that once he arrived home his wife would be there, a shoulder to cry on, a person to love, who loved him back. She was his best friend, actually it was her who convinced him to come to his father's grave to say goodbye. She also offered to come, but she and Draco both knew that this was something he had to do alone.
"I love you! You're my evil bastard of a father, but I love you! And you know what? I don't care if you loved me back because atleast i can rest knowing that i became human. And you and you're Death Eater friends will never be able to take that from me.!"
It was now around midnight you could hear the owls hooting and the crickets chirping. Draco's sobbing was also coming to an end. Once he thought he was calm enough to return home without worrying his family, he slowly stood up and away from the grave, gave it a small nod that most people would've missed and left through the gates one last time.
That day Draco Malfoy didn't just say goodbye to his father, but also to all the resentment he was feeling. He dismissed all the anger he felt towards the man that had raised him Never again did he think about how much he hated Lucius, but instead went home to tell his children that their grandfather had taught him a great lesson. What lesson could Lucius have taught Draco you might ask? Lucius taught Draco that no matter how many people judge you wrongly today, they might just change their opinions if you show them a change in attitude.
A/N: I wrote this a few weeks ago, but school was ending and some of my friends were leaving so I had no time to type it up until now. Please review I really enjoy reading your comments and knowing what I can do to improve my writing.