Written for the "Once I Was 7 Years Old..." on HPFFC

Prompt: 12."I hope my children come and visit once or twice a month."

Word counts: 844

With the life fading out of him, he had only one wish. He hoped that his kids would come by before his death. He had hoped that they would gather around his deathbed and give him reassuring smiles, even though he knew he didn't have much time left. He wanted to give a word of advice and tell them not to worry. That this was a way of life, though he wouldn't have that luxury. Before they were adults that had been children and requested his attention and affection. He gave them none of that he kept to his nose into his work. He had always put off things and broke many promises. He had a hand in how they grew up, and if he could turn back the hands of time, he would go back and spend more time with them. It was undoing for him to die this way, with no family knowing about his death. Cygnus Black forced people to respect him and grabbed their attention. He made himself popular among the pureblood society, but not where it count, his family.

Cygnus remembered his three daughters and how when they were younger they would always try to grab his attention. They used to tug his robes and stare at him with big eyes. He would always mutter that he was busy and shooed them away. Back then Cygnus had hoped for a son so that he could carry on his name, and he wanted nothing to do with his girls. How foolish he had been. Cygnus cringes as he also remembered yelling at them when he had becomea drunkard fool. He would ask them why they couldn't boys and punish them for things that they had no control over. He wished that he could take it all back because he also remembered what they had become once they reached the age of 18.

It was a cold and dreary day when Bellatrix had visited him. There was no mischief or warmth in her eyes, instead, there was only madness and anger. That smile that once held innocence was now a smile of vengeance. He allowed her to torture him because he deserved every bit of pain that she gave him.

"Are you please father? Do I now represent that son, you desperately needed? Have I made you proud father?"

Cygnusgrimaced as she threw back his words. He had spoken similar words to her when he informed her about her marriage to Rodolphus.

"I don't want to marry him!" She had yelled at him.

He had backhanded her before grabbing her by the throat. "You have no say in this. That is your place as a woman. If you had been the son that I desperately needed, you would've had a say. But you do not, do I make myself clear?"

Her eyes harden and with barely contain anger, she said. "Crystal, father."

"I'm sorry." He told her.

It was silent as they stared at each other before she started to scream in frustrated. She wanted him to be like her other victims, the ones that asked for mercy and pleaded for their lives. She didn't want his forgiveness, she wanted him to feel pain. When he didn't do that, she left him on the floor to recover from her Cruictaus Curse. It was all that Bellatrix had wanted for him. Acceptance and he refused to give it to her.

"Daddy, watch me! I can ride a broom!"

"Daddy, the teachers say that I'm an excellent duelist. "

"Daddy-"

"Dad."

He had ignored each one of her attempts and made her into a monster. If he paid more attention to her, would she still have been the Dark Lord's faithful servant?

Then there was his disgraced daughter, Andromeda. She adored him just as much as Bellatrix did. She rebelled against being the perfect pureblood. Andi purposely associates with filth to irritate him, to get a reaction out of him. Even back then he knew what she was trying to do and ignored her as well because of this he didn't see that she had fallen for a mudblood. Of course, when he found out and he punished her. He had threatened to disown her. But that threat no longer held the power it once did, and she fled home to be with that boy.

If Cygnus had paid attention to her, maybe Andromeda wouldn't have married a mudblood.

Then there was little Narcissa, who was no longer little. She had been more of a mother's daughter but still craved his affections. He blamed her when Andromeda left. Cygnus had thought that she was protecting her older sister, so he punished her. And because of this, he had lost another daughter. It had been his fault that Narcissa became the cold woman that she is now. Her eyes hard with suspicion and misdirected anger.

He had once hoped his children come and visit once or twice a month. But, he had a misogyny bastard that turned his own daughters against him.