A Little Chocolate
Disclaimer: All characters © JK Rowling.
Summary: It's Easter time at the Malfoy Manor.
Lucius Malfoy collapsed in the bright green armchair sitting under the light from the chandelier. He sighed. Today had been a long day.
Screams alerted Narcissa to Draco's awakening. She jumped up, a smile covering her face. Today would be Draco's second Easter holiday, the first one in which he would be able to find Easter eggs, eat chocolate, celebrate… Oh, it was going to be so much fun!
The young blonde angel in the crib watched her as she entered the room. "Hey, baby," she cooed softly. Draco smiled and clapped his hands, jumping up and down on his small mattress. The wooden crib, sturdy though it was, shook slightly.
Lucius entered the room following his wife, his hands clasped behind his back. "Darling," he said softly, "you forgot this." Narcissa quickly took Lucius' surprise and walked straight up to Draco's crib, still smiling into those big, silver eyes of his.
"Happy Easter, little one!" she said happily, showing the boy the green rabbit. Draco squealed and clapped his hands again as Lucius lifted his son out of the crib. The stuffed animal carried a treat that the baby had seen only once before (seen only once, but never forgotten): chocolate. He reached for the sweet brown delicacy with infantile pleasure.
"Alright, alright, honey, one piece." Narcissa couldn't help herself. Draco took the small piece from his mother and shoved it all into his mouth, looking for several moments like an overfed tree frog. The two proud parents shared amused glances and laughed. Draco was their pride and joy.
Lucius set his son on the floor and watched as the boy finished swallowing. "Now, Draco," Narcissa began, in that low and conspiratorial voice that children loved so much, "do you want to go find more presents?" Now there was a word that Draco knew well: presents. The two-year-old's face brightened and he stopped trying to lick the remnants of chocolate off of his fingers.
"Please?" he asked. Narcissa took his hand and led him out of the room. "Mommy and Daddy hid these little eggs," she said, showing him a purple one. "Inside they have little presents, but you have to find them first!"
Draco nodded and ran into the kitchen. Lucius walked toward his wife and kissed her nose, one of those romantic gestures that the Malfoys kept only between themselves, in the privacy of their own home. "He seems to be enjoying himself," Lucius whispered.
Narcissa laughed gently. "Why yes, he--" she was cut off abruptly as a sound came from the kitchen. A banging sound. The banging of pots and pans.
Narcissa was in the kitchen before the last pan even fell. Lucius rolled his eyes at whatever nonsense had just been caused. "Please, Master Draco, please stop!" the high-pitched voice of Dobby the house-elf floated through the door. "The pans are not play--AHH!" More banging. Lucius sighed. He had never liked Dobby all that much.
"WANT EGGS!" Draco yelled. He was beginning to throw a tantrum now. Dobby ducked as a rather well-aimed measuring cup narrowly missed his left ear.
"Draco, dear," Narcissa placated, "you have to find the eggs--" Draco looked her straight in the eye. Smiled devilishly. Even at the young age of two, the boy knew who ran this house. Or at least who could, to a point.
"I want my eggs," he stated in his small voice, picking up another pan. Lucius sidled into the room as Narcissa put a hand to her hip, her mind frantically wondering what to do. She didn't want to upset her baby on Easter Day…
Her hand felt the chocolate bar quickly melting the pocket of her pants. "How about you have another piece of chocolate and we can look for the eggs together?" Narcissa said, knowing what her son's reaction would be. Lucius shot Narcissa a long-suffering look but said nothing. Lucius knew how high-strung Narcissa could get about their son.
"'Kay," Draco agreed, taking the proffered bit of chocolate from his mother. Room by room, Narcissa led her son toward the eggs and Draco squealed with delight as he found each one, his temper quickly receding. As upset as he was about his son's tantrum, Lucius didn't waste his time and stayed with his wife and son as they went treasure hunting.
"Look, Daddy, a green one!" Draco stated happily, revealing the green egg he'd just found. "I like green!" Inside the pretty egg were two silver sickles, each clearly shined by an obsessive parent. "Money!" Draco was in his heaven.
"There's more, sweetheart," said Narcissa, her face glowing happily. For the next half-hour, Draco continued to dig through his bedroom and the garden in attempts to uncover the hidden treasures. He had never been so delighted in his life.
Later that afternoon, a figure knocked on the big wooden door of the Malfoy Manor. Lucius answered his best friend's call and invited Draco's godfather, Severus Snape, into the foyer. "Severus!" Narcissa greeted, her child, now fully dressed, in her arms.
"We're finding eggs, Uncle Sev!" Draco announced. Snape tried to look excited. Really, he did. But some people just can't find any sort of exhilaration in something so mundane. Farmers picked eggs every day; why was Easter so different? Rabbits didn't even lay eggs-- where the hell did the idea come from?
Draco squirmed out of his mother's grasp and walked to his godfather. He lifted up his arms and Severus held back a sigh. The child wanted to be held. And soon to follow would be one of the most horrifying experiences in the Potions Master's life.
Draco was sitting on Snape's lap, happily relaying a loathsome tale of three little pigs and a wolf. Severus desperately hoped the wolf would eat them at the end of the story, just to serve the little swine right. The boy was quite talkative for his age. Snape did not like that. Narcissa did.
The mother sat in a chair opposite the silently-suffering Death Eater and listened closely to her son's ludicrous tale. Lucius was seated in an armchair fondling that damned snake cane of his, a smirk on his face. When the child's story finally did end (somehow, he'd added two more pigs in there and the last one urinated all the way home, for no apparent reason), Narcissa stood. "Would you like some tea, Severus?"
"Or perhaps our finest fire whiskey?" Lucius joked.
"Fire whiskey sounds like a good idea, Narcissa," the man replied smoothly. "Any alcohol, fully matured, would be quite a treat." Lucius' grin, if possible, widened as he awaited his wife's reaction. She would most certainly make Severus regret those words that indirectly insulted their son. Once, his brother-in-law Rodolphus Lestrange had called the new-born Draco an "it" and Narcissa had practically ripped the poor man's head off. No joke. Up until the time Rodolphus was carted off to Azkaban, he carefully steered any and all subjects away from the baby. (1)
Narcissa turned. "And for you, Lucius?" Thoroughly shocked and more than a bit disappointed, Lucius managed to second whatever Snape was having and he sat back in his seat, defeated.
Narcissa parted. Draco reached into his pocket and withdrew a crumpled, silver piece of paper. "Look at what I've got, Uncle Sev," demanded the two-year-old.
This time Severus did sigh as he averted his gaze from Malfoy Sr. to Malfoy Jr. (aka the Antichrist, as far as Snape was concerned) and froze. His eye twitched. No one breathed.
The child held chocolate. Not just a bit, mind you, but a whole wad of chocolate. Chocolate already melted. "Want some?" Draco asked politely. Severus was too revolted to speak. In those two short minutes, the boy had managed to smear the vile substance on Severus' robes and the chances were very high that he would ruin his own shirt. Lucius nearly gagged. Narcissa was going to kill him.
The frantic fears of maim and torture running through Snape's mind were not quite the same as Lucius'. 'Don't stare him in the eye,' Snape quietly told himself. 'And for Merlin's sweet sake, don't mess the hair!' But the child did just that.
"Eat some!" Draco pushed his pudgy little hands into Severus' face and smeared chocolate on the man. Snape jumped slightly and the baby, feeling his secure seat suddenly became unstable, clutched Severus' hair. With his hands. With the chocolate.
Screaming an inarticulate yell of rage and fear, Snape jumped to his feet and clutched his sleek, dark locks now covered with the little demon's snack. "My hair! My hair! I'm going to have to spend the next week standing over boiling cauldrons if I want to get it back to the way it was! DETENTION! DETENTIONS UNTIL YOU GRADUATE, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Severus used every expletive, insult, and slur that he had accumulated over the years as he screamed and clutched his head.
Lucius watched in horror as his son flew off his friend's lap and across the room…. Only to land in Narcissa's arms. And she didn't look happy. Malfoy Sr. gulped as her eyes bored into Severus' body. Oh no, she wasn't happy at all.
Lucius' thoughts were half-right, of course. Narcissa was not amused at all when she walked into the room, only to catch a bundle of her favorite little guy in the world. Inside, though, she couldn't help but laugh. How in the world was she going to tell Severus that what Draco had wasn't chocolate?
-FIN-
(1)-- an idea from and/or reference to the very talented Catmint's much-more-hilarious story called "The King and It." If you know anything about the Lord of the Rings whatsoever, and even if you don't (LOL), I suggest you go read it! I still laugh at the mere memory.
Another little side-note: I have recently discovered the pictures of Makani. She draws wonderful Harry Potter art and has a small obsession with Death Eaters. While writing this fic, I pictured her Malfoys and Snape in my mind the whole. I also suggest that you check her out-- you really won't regret it! I tried to post links to her site, her pictures on DeviantArt, and her fanart 100 but I couldn't. If you google Makani's site, Acciobrain! you should be able to get links there. Sorry!