Dark Legacy
Chapter 2
Lucius named him Draco. After the boy's father, Lucius' own ineffectual son.
The house-elves whispered among themselves in the kitchen. Of all names, why……the Master wishes to remember……no, remind himself, of the disgrace……and they whispered on and on, banging themselves on the head with each speculation……
Draco Jr. was a strong, healthy boy, much to Lucius' relief. He was not a sick child, as Draco had been, despite living in such poor conditions until Lucius found him. And he was exceptionally intelligent for his age.
Lucius invested much precious time on the upbringing of his grandson. He taught him his first word, Malfoy, and observed as the boy took his first, albeit wobbly, step. He taught him to hold a wand, and mounted him on his first broomstick at age four. Whenever Draco Jr. made mistakes, Lucius reprimanded him harshly, yet Draco Jr. never cried. To Lucius' puzzlement. He would look wistful, but he never looked frightened or sad. He looked so much like Draco, yet, his temperament so unlike him. Lucius occasionally wondered if this could have come from his mother's side, but just as quickly he would banished the thought, and bury the past.
Draco Jr. was four when he first ask Lucius about his parents. Lucius had unfeelingly stated his parents were dead, and dead people deserve no mention. He had forbidden Draco Jr. ever, ever to raise this question again.
Unknown to Lucius, Draco Jr. had cornered a house-elf that very afternoon, when Lucius was out, and had poked at the house-elf with his wand, demanding an answer. He decided to give up when the house-elf would rather surrender himself to the merciless poking from the obstinate four-year-old rather than divulge any past history of his parents.
And it remained like this for the remaining of his childhood years. No one in the Malfoy household would disclose to him, and as he was forbidden to raise the subject, his curiosity was slowly forgotten, and, like a raindrop falling into the vast ocean, it disappeared deep down into the recesses of his mind.
When Draco Jr. was eleven, Lucius sent him away to Durmstrang in Bulgaria. Bulgaria was a cold, distant country, far away from England, and a lonely, foreign place for an eleven-year-old boy who had never set foot out of England. Unknown to Draco Jr., there was a letter from Hogwarts for him, but Lucius had intercepted the owl and threw the letter into the fireplace. Minerva MacGonagall has not sent another letter since.
After Karkaroff's time, Durmstrang had evolved into a very exclusive educational institution under the administration of the new headmaster, and affordable only to children of well-to-do families. In terms of student admission, it was strictly for those who came from pure wizarding families. In other words, purebloods only.
Having been subjected to a strict home curriculum (under a private tutor) even before he started school, it came as no surprise that Draco Jr. excelled in Durmstrang. After his initial bout of homesickness, he settled well into Durmstrang's environment, and under the advice of Lucius, quickly make friends among his fellow students who came from equally esteemed wizarding families. He was picked to play seeker for one of Durmstrang's four Quidditch teams and he was an exceptional one. Lucius, in a rare display of support, had made a trip to Durmstrang just once, to watch him in one of the matches, and had nodded approvingly when Draco Jr. caught the snitch in less than ten minutes to the match.
Draco Jr. came home every Christmas and summer break. To Lucius, his grandfather; to the ghost butler; to the many house-elves that housekeep Malfoy Manor and watched him grow up. Lucius was seldom at home, but Draco Jr. enjoy the solitude of the stately Malfoy Manor, as the ghost butler and house-elves typically kept out of his way until he called for them. He enjoyed sitting in the Library, reading about Dark Arts, Wizarding History, Arithmancy, even the Muggle subject of Physics, which Lucius had a miniature collection hidden at the back rows of the shelves, thinly covered under a coat of dust. Draco Jr. was fascinated to no end at how Muggles attempted to use the science of Physics to explain the workings of the universe.
He never asked Lucius about his parents. Draco Jr. had, over the years, came to accept that his grandfather was only person in his life, and the most important person in his life. He needed no one else.
At sixteen years old, Draco Malfoy Jr. was as handsome as royalty. And he excelled in every aspect of his life. He was Lucius' child prodigy, the perfect Malfoy. To Lucius, he was what Draco, Lucius' own son, never was.
Author's Note: Hi, what do you think of this chapter? I deliberately left out the characterization of Draco Malfoy Jr. for the time being, and just focus on giving a narration of his childhood and teenage years. As this is a dark fiction, Draco Malfoy Jr. will probably not be nice in the conventional way. Do let me know if you like this chapter, will you?