"I've received a letter from St. Mungo's saying that Draco is getting better," Abraxas remarked as he walked towards Lucius, who was sitting at the head of the large table in the dining room.

Lucius looked up from his plate of food and nodded his head.

Abraxas looked around. "It's just the two of us tonight, I see. It's been a while since it's only been us."

"Yes, it has," Lucius agreed. He then motioned for his father to take a seat at his right.

"Dobby," Lucius called out.

There was a crack, and Dobby appeared.

"Yes, Master."

"Bring my father something to eat and drink. The elf-made wine will do."

"Yes, Master." There was a crack, and Dobby disappeared.

"The last time it was just the two of us," Abraxas spoke, "I was the one sitting at the head of the table."

Lucius just shrugged his shoulders.

"But while it's just the two of us," Abraxas drawled, "we need to talk about some things."

"Such as?" Lucius drawled back.

There was a crack, and Dobby appeared.

The house-elf placed a plate full of meat and vegetables in front of Abraxas, along with a glass of wine.

"Will there be anything else, Master?" Dobby asked.

"No, you may go now," Lucius answered.

There was a crack, and Dobby disappeared.

"What was it that you wanted to talk about?" Lucius asked as he watched his father take a sip of wine.

"Draco."

"What about him?"

"What has happened to him recently is a sign that there need to be changes in how you raise him," Abraxas said. "Lucius, you can't afford to have your heir be so weak, especially considering that your wife had so many problems with giving you one."

Lucius's hand tightened slightly around his own wine glass, but he otherwise betrayed no emotion.

"I've always wondered why Narcissa had so many miscarriages before Draco," Lucius said casually as he took a sip of wine.

"Her family has a lot of defects in it," Abraxas replied as he took another sip of his wine. "If I had known about them earlier, I most definitely would have arranged for you to marry another Pureblood woman, a better Pureblood woman."

"We've been through this before, Father," Lucius returned, "and I don't feel like going through it again. I don't want another wife. I want Narcissa, and I will always want her. I don't care what you think of her or her family."

"You never have cared much for what I thought," Abraxas responded.

"We both know that's not the truth," Lucius snarled. "I have accepted many things from you, too many things, in fact."

"It was all for your own good," Abraxas said smoothly. "Just because you are satisfied with a weak son does not mean that I am."

"Draco isn't weak," Lucius hissed. "He survived something truly horrible, something that would have killed someone lesser than him."

"Only because one of those Healers was competent enough to do something right for a change," Abraxas returned as he took a bite of food along with another sip of wine.

"It wasn't the Healers that cured Draco," Lucius said.

"What do you mean by that?" Abraxas asked. "According to the letter I was sent, the Healer gave Draco a potion, and he started to get better."

"It's true that the Healer gave Draco a potion," Lucius replied, "but the potion did nothing. The Healer was just led to believe that it had actually done something."

Abraxas suddenly began to cough rather violently.

"Are you all right, Father?" Lucius asked. "That cough didn't sound good."

Abraxas tried to respond, but before he could get any words out, he coughed again.

"Maybe you've caught whatever Draco had," Lucius remarked casually.

"I'm fine," Abraxas snapped. "I'm not weak like your son."

Abraxas then grasped his throat and made sounds as if he was choking.

Lucius just watched with an emotionless expression on his face.

Rubbing desperately at his throat, Abraxas attempted to stand up. However, he was very unsteady on his feet, and he only avoided falling down onto the floor by grabbing onto the table.

"Are you sure you don't need to go to St. Mungo's?" Lucius asked.

"I don't need St. Mungo's," Abraxas hissed, even though it came out more like a strangled gasp.

"Then let me at least take you to bed," Lucius said. "It's clear that at the very least you need to rest."

Before Abraxas could protest, Lucius had wrapped his arms around his waist. Then, supporting his father, Lucius Disapparated from the dining room and Apparated right in front of Abraxas's bedroom door.

Lucius opened the door and helped his father inside the room. Lucius then helped the older man into his bed.

"Let me cover you up and make you warm," Lucius said.

"I'm not a child," Abraxas gasped. "I'm not Draco."

"Don't speak," Lucius responded. "You need to conserve your energy."

Lucius then pulled out his wand. He rolled up the sleeve of his father's robe and dragged his wand down Abraxas's arm as if he was holding a knife.

Abraxas cried out in pain as a cut was made into his arm. Blood began to flow out of his wound.

Lucius used his wand to create a bottle. He then held up his father's arm with one hand and held the bottle under his father's arm with his other hand.

Abraxas tried to do something to stop his son, but his limbs suddenly felt heavy.

"Lucius," Abraxas gasped, "what are you doing?"

"I need blood from a family member for the final dosage of Draco's cure," Lucius explained in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Cure? What cure?"

"The cure that I made," Lucius said. "The cure that I found out how to make after doing some research, after I found out why Draco got sick in the first place."

Lucius looked at Abraxas with a cold expression. "You poisoned Narcissa too many times, Father. There were still remnants of that poison in her blood when she got pregnant with Draco."

Abraxas looked at his son in horror, comprehension slowly appearing on his face.

"Ara is dead because of you," Lucius spoke in a deceptively calm voice. "The other babies that followed her are dead because of you. Narcissa and I will never know if they would have been boys or girls because of you. Draco got sick and could have died as well because of you. Narcissa could have died because of you."

Lucius then looked down at the bottle he was holding under his father's bleeding arm. "That should be enough blood."

Lucius then placed the bottle of blood on the drawer beside his father's bed before using his wand to heal the cut that he had made.

Abraxas could just watch as Lucius pulled a bottle of Blood-Replenishing Potion out of his robe and forced his mouth open.

"I can't have you bleeding out," Lucius said. "That would look too suspicious."

"You've poisoned me," Abraxas gasped.

"I thought it would be fitting," Lucius remarked as he gave his father the Blood-Replenishing Potion, "especially since you poisoned my wife so many times. Not to mention, we both are poison masters."

"This won't work," Abraxas breathed roughly. "The Ministry will find you out."

"Come now, Father," Lucius replied. "We both know that won't happen. You've taught me too well for that to happen."

Lucius then laughed unpleasantly at the look on Abraxas's face. "What's the matter, Father? Aren't you proud of me? Aren't you proud of the monster that you made? Haven't I done well for once in my life?"

"I did it all for your own good, Lucius," Abraxas tried to explain. "Those babies were defected."

"All of them?" Lucius said in an angry, doubtful voice. "Now, I could understand something being wrong with one baby, but there's no way that something was wrong with all of them. No, you murdered Ara because you found out somehow that she was going to be a girl, and you didn't want my first child and heir being a girl. The only thing wrong with Ara was her gender. And even if there was something else wrong with Ara, she was still a Pureblood. She was one of us. And you know how limited our numbers are, Father. Everything I do is to preserve our kind, yet you have no problem with going around and trying to destroy us."

"She could have been a Squib," Abraxas insisted in a weak, raspy voice. "That would have shamed you. That would have shamed the Malfoy name."

"If Ara had been a Squib," Lucius responded, "Narcissa and I would have dealt with it in our own way. But we would not have killed her. She was a Pureblood. But more importantly, she was our daughter. Our daughter."

"Brenan," Abraxas gasped weakly in a voice so soft that it was barely audible.

But it was enough for the house-elf to hear.

There was a crack, and Brenan appeared in the room.

"What have you done to Master Abraxas?" Brenan shrieked in both horror and anger. "You've gone too far this time. Brenan can't let you do this."

Quicker than the eye could blink, Lucius had his wand at the house-elf's throat.

Lucius didn't hesitate. He pulled his wand across Brenan's throat.

The house-elf clutched at his throat as he crumbled to the floor.

"The Ministry won't care that much about an old house-elf that's gone missing," Lucius spoke casually.

Lucius pointed his wand at the fireplace. Fire immediately shot up.

Lucius then used his wand to levitate Brenan's body into the fire. The house-elf's cries of pain did not last for long as the hot flames quickly burned him up.

"I wish I could do the same to you, Father," Lucius remarked in a dark voice, "but your death must be more sophisticated. I won't have the Ministry bothering me because of you."

"Lucius, please," Abraxas begged desperately.

"How many times did I beg you to stop beating me when I was a small child?" Lucius snarled. "How many times did I beg you to stop torturing me with the Cruciatus Curse? How many times did I beg you to let me out of the dungeons when you locked me down there with no food or water? And did you ever stop what you were doing to me? No, you didn't! Instead, you mocked me for being weak! So, don't you dare beg me for anything! I have no mercy! You've taught me how not to have any! You always said that mercy was a weakness, and you didn't want me being weak! Well, I am not weak! Aren't you happy about that? Aren't you proud about that?"

Abraxas tried to say something further, but he couldn't get any word out. It was a struggle just for him to breathe.

"You should rest, Father," Lucius said, his voice now dangerously calm. "I don't intend for you to die tonight. No, I want you to hold on for as long as possible."

Lucius then picked up the bottle filled with his father's blood. "I must go now," he said. "Draco needs his final dosage. Don't try to cry for help. I have told all the house-elves to not respond to you, and none of them would dare disobey me. I made sure of that. Sleep well now."

With that, Lucius walked out of the room, closing the door as quietly as possible behind him.

He didn't glance back at his father, not even once, even though he could clearly hear his father's weak, desperate breaths.


Author's Note: Just one more chapter to go, and this story will be over.