Chapter 11

It was a little past three in the afternoon when Lucius came barreling to the study, Artie on his heels.

"Hello, little one." Draco said as he glanced up from the letter he was drafting. "What have you been up to this afternoon?"

"Playing" Lucius responded as he came round the desk and climbed up into his guardian's lap. "Who's 'Storia?" He asked, taking in the addressee of the letter.

"Astoria is my wife." The man said as he laid down the quill and pushed a lock of platinum blond hair behind the boy's ear. "She's currently staying in Italy so I'm writing her a letter."

"Oh." Lucius said, absorbing that information. He vaguely remembered Narcissa mentioning Astoria before. "Is she nice?"

Draco gave a small snort of amusement. "Yes. Very much so."

"That's good." The boy declared definitively as he nestled back against his guardian's chest.

Just then, there was a loud *pop* and Artie gave a startled bark as Twitzle apparated into the room. "Mister Zabini is being here to see you, Master."

"Send him in," Draco ordered. He kissed the boy on the top of the head as the house-elf apparated out of the room. "Go play." He ordered. "I believe Mother picked up some new paints for you. They should be in the drawing room."

Delighted, Lucius leapt down and started to scamper from the study, only to run almost headfirst into a wizard that had been escorted to the room. The man was handsome and elegantly dressed, and he looked down at the young boy with a smile that was almost a smirk. "You must be Lucius." He said.

The child nodded, unsure of what to make of this newcomer.

"Good afternoon, Blaise," Draco said from where he was still seated on the other side of the room. "Lucius was just leaving." He added, raising an eyebrow at the younger Malfoy.

The boy took the hint and ran off to find the new paints Narcissa had bought him, Artie by his side.

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"Alright, enough with business." Blaise said after the two men had been working for quite a while. "Let's talk about something else. How's Astoria?"

Draco banished the file he had been working on from his desk and leaned back in his chair. "Better. The warmer climate is doing wonders for her health, from what she tells me."

Blaise nodded. "She's been away this whole time, eh? I'm guessing she hasn't met the little you yet."

"She knows about the situation with Lucius." Draco said with a laugh as he stood and moved to the sidebar to pour them both some firewhiskey. He crossed to the armchair in front of the desk and handed Blaise the drink before continuing. "But no, she hasn't had a chance to meet him."

The other man took a drink. "So, how are things going with the kid? He seems . . . rambunctious."

Draco smirked at his fellow Slytherin's word choice, though that smirk was hidden behind his glass. He knew Blaise didn't really like children.

"Lucius –" He began, only to cut off suddenly when Hermanito jumped onto the desk, upsetting an inkwell in the process. Draco silently shooed the animal away with his hand before using his wand to clean up the mess. "He's such a pest sometimes." He commented much to Blaise's amusement, clearly talking about the feline. "Now, where were we?"

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A few moments earlier.

Lucius put the finishing touches on his painting before screwing the cap back on the paint jar and dropping his brush in a glass of water. Picking up the picture, he scampered out of the drawing room and down one of the side passages towards the study. He approached the door but paused when he heard that other man speak.

"So, how are things going with the kid? He seems . . . rambunctious."

The boy didn't know what that word meant, but he frowned slightly at the man's tone.

"Lucius –" He heard his guardian say. There was a clunking sound, and then, a moment later. "He's such a pest sometimes."

The child backed away from the door, hurt etched on his face. Draco thought he was a pest?

His picture fluttered to the ground as he released it.

Blinking back tears, he turned and fled.

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Draco and Blaise emerged from the study some time later. The elder Malfoy had invited the other man to stay for dinner, which Blaise had happily accepted since the Manor's cuisine was known to be exquisite.

As he stepped out of the room, Draco's boot struck a piece of parchment. Leaning down, he turned the paper over to reveal one of Lucius' paintings. Shaking his head, he folded the paper in half and placed it in his inner coat pocket.

As the two men entered the dining room, they found Lucius and Narcissa already seated and waiting on them. Draco raised an eyebrow as he eyed the boy. If he didn't know any better, he would say the child had been crying.

Soon, the three adults were in engrossed in a discussion about Blaise's mother and previous stepfathers.

"Lucius, stop playing with your food and eat it." Draco reprimanded the boy beside him quietly when he noticed that the child was just sliding his peas up and down his stack of mashed potatoes. He expected, as always, to be obeyed immediately. What he did not expect was for the child to take a handful of those potatoes and throw them at his shirt front, gravy and all, before dumping his drinking water in his lap.

The conversation at the table froze. All three adults turned their attention to the boy in the room, who had already stood and backed away from the table, an angry look plastered on his face.

"I hate you!" The child screamed at Draco before turning and fleeing the room.

Everyone sat in shocked silence for a moment.

"What was that about?" Narcissa asked finally, looking between the two men.

Draco withdrew his wand and dried his clothes, before wiping the excess potatoes off his front with his napkin. "I don't know, Mother," he said with a sigh as he turned to exit the room. "But I intend to find out."

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The elder Malfoy heard the boy's sniffling before he even entered the bedroom. Rounding the bed, he spotted the child on the far side, sitting on the floor, hugging his knees, his back to the wall. Moving forward, he crouched down in front of the boy and waited for him to lift red-rimmed eyes to meet his gaze before speaking.

"You hate me?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lucius nodded solemnly.

When the boy didn't elaborate, the older wizard sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Did you hate me when you drew this?" He inquired as he withdrew the child's picture from his inner coat pocket and unfolded it, yielding a brightly colored picture of what was presumably himself and the child playing in the garden.

As fast as lightning, the younger Malfoy reached forward and snatched the drawing out of his guardian's hand, crumpling it in the middle where his hand grasped it. His lip trembled slightly, though whether it was from anger or something else Draco couldn't tell.

"Lucius," The man scolded lightly. "Enough of this. Tell me why you're upset with me."

The boy swiped the back of his hand across one eye. "You're mean."

Raising both eyebrows, Draco thought back over the events of the day. He had a hard time coming up with a single instance that could be construed as "mean" by the child.

"Are you upset because I had you leave the study when Blaise arrived?" he asked after a moment. "Love, that wasn't personal. We had business to discuss."

The man watched as his charge's face crumpled. "Don't call me 'love'!" The boy cried, "You said I was a pest."

Draco's eyes widened. "I did not."

But Lucius was insistent. "Yes, you did. I came to show you my drawing." He tossed the piece of paper in his hand on the ground. "And you said 'Lucius, he's such a pest."

The elder Malfoy thought back over his conversations from earlier, trying to piece together what the child could possibly be talking about. Then it dawned on him.

"Lucius, love, I was talking about the cat."

"Nuh uh, you said me."

"No." Draco said, shaking his head firmly. "I went to say something about you and then Hermanito jumped on the desk and knocked over my inkwell. I was calling him a pest, not you."

The child regarded him with mistrustful eyes, and the elder Malfoy sighed as he reached out and wiped a stray tear from the boy's face. "Lucius, I love you. I'm not going to say something like that about you."

The boy gave a small smile, which faltered slightly a moment later. "You don't love Hermanito, then?"

Draco laughed. "Yes, but he's a cat. Not my mini-me, as Blaise calls you."

Lucius smiled largely at the title, and Draco had difficulty forcing himself to turn stern. "Now, little one," he said, taking hold of the child's chin and forcing him to make eye contact. "We need to discuss what happened downstairs."

"I was upset." The boy said a little too quickly, which caused his guardian to raise an eyebrow.

"Hm." Draco said. "I understand that you were upset. However, next time, I would prefer it if you used your words to tell me that, rather than your dinner. Clear?"

Lucius bit his lip, and then nodded. "Yes, sir."

The man smirked as he picked the child up. "Very Good. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm still hungry, so let us go eat."

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Later that evening, well after Lucius had gone to bed, the boy awoke to the sound of loud thunder outside his window. Startled, he sat straight up in bed. He reached down to the foot of the bed to pat Artie, but the dog wasn't there (not that he was supposed to be sleeping on the furniture anyway, but what Narcissa didn't know wouldn't hurt her).

Another clap of thunder had the child scrambling out of bed and out of the room. He ran down the hallway until he finally came to Draco's room, pausing just outside of the door – which stood ajar. The soft light of the fireplace flickered within, and the boy could hear voices.

"Astoria, it's not funny." Draco was protesting, "He can't throw a tantrum every time he gets upset."

A woman's voice spoke next. "He's six, Draco. And if your mother is to be believed you threw plenty of tantrums at that age."

Lucius heard the elder Malfoy scoff. "Since when do you talk to my mother?"

"Since you moved in there and are raising a child with her. A wife has to know things." The other voice said, which caused Draco to laugh.

There was movement in the room, and the next moment, the door opened. Lucius looked up into the face of his guardian, who raised a stern eyebrow. "Why are you out of bed?"

"It was scary." The boy muttered by way of explanation, gesturing to the lightning flashing outside the window at the end of the hallway.

"I see." Came his guardian's quick reply. "Come in." The man moved backward to allow room for Lucius to slip inside the door.

Once inside, Draco led him over to the fireplace. Inside, the child could see a lady's face. "Lucius, this is my wife, Astoria."

"Hello." The boy said, unsure of what to make of the fireplace lady.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lucius." Astoria gave him a kind smile. "Draco's been telling me about your many adventures. Maybe one of these days I can go on an expedition with you."

The younger Malfoy gave an enthusiastic nod. "You could come play with me!" He said, before turning to his guardian. "She can, can't she."

Draco laughed and nodded.

"When?"

"Soon." The man turned to his wife. "I'm going to let you get some rest my love, as we should be doing the same."

A moment later, after everyone gave their goodbyes, the floo call was extinguished. The elder Malfoy crossed to his bed and pulled back the covers. "In." He commanded.

Before Lucius could climb inside, though, Hermanito jumped up in his place. Draco shooed the cat away before turning his attention back to the child.

Lucius shook his head as he crawled into the bed. "He's such a pest sometimes." He said with a straight face.

Draco tried and failed to hold back a laugh.