AU: Thank you to kenziescott54, Durin'sFolk, standasawitness, and The Darkest wizard for your reviews! They make me so happy :)
"It's time for our lessons, Draco."
Draco glanced up as his father entered the library. This new year was entirely different than any year Draco had experienced before. Herculen's departure for Hogwarts had singled the beginning of Draco's lesson, as always. However, in the past, lessons had consisted of potions, a little about defense against the dark arts, ancient runes, and wizarding history.
All of these subjects had been continued by his aging tutor, however Lucius had stepped in for a new kind of teaching. It wasn't the kind that would be taught in school, Lucius had explained to his son, instead these lessons taught Draco how to act properly.
When the lessons had first began, they'd seemed rather silly to Draco. He'd been taught more deeply about pureblood history and about how a pureblood was meant to act in front of others. Draco knew these lessons were important so he listened carefully in order to please his father.
"Of course, you already demonstrated your aptitude for that in France a few summers ago," Lucius had told his son, who shrugged. So, that was how he was expected to act at school? Well, at least he'd be getting his way all the time. Getting his way couldn't be a bad thing.
Then the lessons had moved on, surprising Draco with unusual concepts like how to dress properly, how to eat properly (he must never eat in the same fashion as Crabbe) and even the correct expressions to place on ones face at various times. Draco noticed his father was particularly adept at looking down his nose at people.
"Did you teach Herculen all of this?" Draco had asked. His father's answer was: Of course! What a silly question, Draco.
They then moved on to talk about someone who Draco was commanded to call The Dark Lord. The Dark Lord, Draco learned, was a very powerful wizard who was going to save the wizarding world from invading mudbloods, however the Ministry of Magic had interrupted The Dark Lord's task.
"Why did the Ministry want to stop The Dark Lord if he had such good intentions?" Draco wanted to know, and Lucius had smiled.
"They didn't agree with him. They had their own ideas about how to control our world, and unfortunately they had enough power to repress our revolt."
"How?" Draco wanted to know.
"We'll get to that in a later lesson," Lucius had promised.
"Today," Lucius told his son as he entered. "We will be learning about a curse that you must never mention at school. It's called Avada Kedavra."
"I've heard of that," Draco rolled his eyes. "It's from a game."
"Indeed, I believe Herculen did play Avada Kedavra with you as a game; however it is also a curse used to kill other wizards."
"Yeah, if you get hit you die, Herculen said so," Draco nodded.
"The real curse is no game, Draco. You must never talk so lightly about this curse when you're at Hogwarts. This curse is only to be used as a last resort as you could get sent to Azkaban."
"What's that?" Draco asked.
"It's a nasty prison only fit for the likes of idiotic mudbloods and blood traitors. You mustn't cast this curse lightly. Here, I have a book about it."
Lucius then went about showing the book to his son. Once he was finished, he asked Draco if he had any further questions.
"No father," Draco shook his head. "Except, I guess I do have one. Why don't all the purebloods just cast this curse on the, the idi... the idi-o-tic mudbloods to get rid of them if the mudbloods are so dumb and evil? You said getting rid of the mudbloods would save pureblood culture"
"Like I said, the purebloods would get sent to Azkaban for mistreating muggles."
"But you said to be mean to dumb muggles otherwise it isn't proper," Draco argued, confused by his father's logic.
"You must be verbally abusive, but never hex a muggle at school or you will find yourself on the wrong end of many problems. Remember, these lessons are to remain a secret to just us two or daddy could get into trouble!"
Draco had a hard time digesting the fact his father had just referred to himself as 'daddy', and had a harder time refraining from rubbing his aching cheek after his father bent down and pinched it. However, Lucius ignored Draco's look of discomfort and continued speaking.
"Now," he said. "Tomorrow you're going to have a visitor. I have business with an old friend of mine, a Mr Nott, and his son Theodore will be coming to visit. Theodore will be joining you at Hogwarts, and I thought it was time you got acquainted. Nott is different than Crabbe and Goyle, as you'll soon find out. Don't order him around, he's a little sensitive."
"I won't, father," Draco promised.
"Good, now go get washed up, we'll be attending lunch in approximately twenty minutes."
Draco hurried off, memorising the rules his father had told him today. He had been told to keep these lessons a secret from even mother, but he had a feeling his mother knew they were occurring. After all, Draco's mother had talked about a boy named Potter who had something to do with The Dark Lord, and she'd never mentioned Potter before. His father had said something about 'the Potter boy' and how he was banned from the wizarding world due to being a dark and powerful wizard. Draco didn't know if the Potter boy had anything to do with The Dark Lord's downfall, but the way his father talked about the potentially powerful dark wizard, Draco didn't think so.
"I wonder what his first name is?" Draco wondered as he got ready for lunch. "Maybe I'll have to find out!"
After getting dressed in his luncheon clothing, Draco had a visit from Dobby who told him to go down to the dining room. Draco hesitated, however, and he asked Dobby to wait a moment.
"Have you ever heard of anyone named Potter?" Draco asked curiously. "I've heard my father talking about him."
"Does Master Draco mean Harry Potter?" Dobby asked, and Draco shrugged. "Dobby knows that Harry Potter changeded the wizarding world forever! He is very famous! Dobby thinks Harry Potter is Master Draco's age. Harry Potter isn't in the wizarding world right now though, Dobby doesn't think."
Draco nodded and marched down to lunch, mulling this information over in his head.
At lunch, Draco demonstrated his new pureblood eating techniques, which made his mother smile proudly. A smile seemed to twitch at Lucius's lips, however he was careful to sternly repremand Draco when he used the wrong fork to eat salad.
The next day, Dobby helped Draco chose something nice to wear to meet Nott. (Draco assumed he'd be calling Theodore by his last name since that's what Crabbe and Goyle preferred. Then again, supposedly this boy wasn't like Crabbe and Goyle.)
At precisely 12:58, Draco stood downstairs next to his father in the front hall, silently waiting for Nott's arrival. Draco tried to puff his chest out like he'd seen Herculen do before, however Lucius only lifted an eyebrow at him before turning to look at the fireplace once again. Deciding against puffing his chest out, Draco let out a sigh.
Suddenly the fireplace roared to life and out stepped a thin, lanky boy who glanced around himself silently.
"Welcome, Theodore," Lucius inclined his head at the child, who returned the gesture but said nothing. Moments later, a man who was clearly Theodore's father stepped out of the floo, and he greeted Lucius warmly.
"Now, run along and play Draco. Remember the rules!" Lucius smiled warmly at his son, yet a shiver ran up Draco's spine. There was nothing real about that smile, nothing truly warm. Instead that smile made Draco want to hide beneath his bed and clutch Dobby for comfort. Still, Draco nodded at Theodore Nott and told him to follow.
Walking up the stairs to Draco's bedroom, Nott said nothing, and when Draco opened his door to reveal mountains of toys, Nott only frowned and then went to sit on a chair.
"So, you can play with the toys," Draco told Nott, confused by this boy's behavior, however Nott only shrugged.
"Toys are for kids," he told Draco dismissively, who frowned.
'We are kids,' danced across Draco's tongue, however he remained silent and sat upon the bed, watching Nott carefully. When niether boy said anything for about a minute, Draco spoke again.
"So," he said. "What do you spend your time with if you don't play with toys, Nott?"
"Call me Theo," Nott frowned. "And I spend quite a bit of time studying. I enjoy potions, wizarding history, and occasionally I find it fun to learn about dark arts, however that subject is a bit touchy."
"Oh," Draco replied. "I see."
"Do you play with toys a lot?" Theo asked.
"Uh, no not really. You're right, toys are rather childish. I study all the time. I like potions too. My father is good friends with the potions teacher at Hogwarts, so he teaches me potions that only older kids are supposed to know!" Draco bragged. "I'm already learning out of an advanced potions book. My father is also helping me to learn wizard history, as well as dark arts!"
"Oh really?" Nott raised his eyebrows. "That's good of your father to get Professor Snape to help you out."
"Do you Snape?" Draco asked, a little disappointed that he wasn't the only child with access to the potions master.
"Oh course, he came to visit just a week or two ago because my father wanted to get an ingredient from him, and sometimes he obliges to give my father unique ingredients."
"Oh, well he's my godfather!" Draco pronounced.
"That's nice," Theo nodded.
"Do you know what spell I just learned about?" Draco asked, some internal need to impress this cold, superior boy taking over Draco's mind.
"How could I know that?" Theo raised an eyebrow.
"I learned about Avada Kedavra," Draco proclaimed, and the boy's eyes widened. Mistaking the reaction for interest, Draco continued. "It's the killing curse, you ever hear of it? Father says to take it seriously."
"As it should be," Theo snapped, his eyes dark. "Don't talk about that curse, it's unforgivable."
Feeling chastened, Draco prepared to retaliate, however Theo continued quickly.
"Look, I just don't want to talk about that curse, okay? How about we talk about potions, since we both like that?"
The rest of the day was spent talking about potions, and when it came time for Theo to leave, Draco felt highly disappointed.
"See you soon Theo!" Draco told the other boy as Theo prepared to leave. Theo simply nodded back at Draco, his gaze dignified, and Draco suddenly felt sure that this boy would be his friend.
Theo turned and walked down the hallway without a second glance toward Draco, however a satisfied smile sat upon Draco's face. Theo was a proper pureblood, no doubt about that. Theo was cool, and Draco would see to it that they were friends at school.
Soon winter break arrived, and Draco was endlessly excited to tell Herculen about the lessons with his father. No longer could Lucius claim that Draco wasn't a true pureblood, after all he was making sure that his son was perfect, just like Herculen! Of course, Lucius still spent half of the lessons smirking at Draco's 'silly questions', but as far as Draco was concerned, that's how a proper pureblood's supposed to act.
'If one doesn't spend half the time smirking at others, what kind of a dumb pureblood are you?' Draco asked himself. Obviously not a very good one, after all Lucius was the epitome of a proper pureblood, and the majority of his interactions during the lessons were smug and superior.
On one freezing December day, finally Draco found himself downstairs and waiting with his mother by the door. Snow flurries made the windows impossible to see out of, and the wind howled loudly, making some internal part of Draco want to hide in his mother's arms, however he stood straight and tall and showed no signs of fear, except for a slight wince now and again. He was highly disappointed by the storm because, according to a weather telling spell he'd cast, the snow was supposed to be light, not a blizzard.
Admittedly, Narcissa looked a bit worried as well, her eyes darting from window to window. Finally she spoke up, her clear voice making Draco's fears disperse a tiny bit.
"It's quite a blizzard," she remarked. "I do hope your father and brother are alright out in the storm! Draco, are you alright? I see you shivering, you may go get another coat if you'd like. When your father returns, I'm sure he'll warm the manor, but I'd rather wait until he's back."
"I don't need a coat, mother," Draco shook his head, yet still he winced when a particularly bad gust of wind howled outside.
Narcissa's eyes winded in understanding, and briefly she wrapped her arms around Draco.
"Don't worry, the wind can't come inside, nor can the blizzard. I'm sure your father knows exactly how to take care of Herculen, alright Draco?"
Draco nodded, snuggling into his mother's warm, safe embrace, his fear disappearing completely. It was unusual for her to show such outward compassion, and suddenly Draco found that he'd never felt safer than this time when Narcissa gave him a small hug before turning to the door.
"Straighten your collar," she told him suddenly, and he obliged just before the door slammed open and Luicus marched in with Herculen right behind him. Once they were inside, the door slammed shut against the blizzard, Lucius immediately placing a warming spell on both the manor and on the two of them.
"If everything alright?" Narcissa asked Lucius as she stepped forward to hug Herculen. Lucius nodded once, and then turned to glare at Draco.
"Your weather telling spell was completely off," he snapped. "I thought you said there'd be a light snow today. This is the last time I trust you to tell me how to get home. Once out in the storm, we couldn't aparate! Do you realize how dangerous it is being out in this kind of blizzard?"
"I'm sorry father," Draco mumbled, and Lucius sighed dramatically.
"As you should be," Lucius told Draco. "And don't mumble."
"I'm sorry father," Draco said louder, and Lucius nodded.
"Hello, dear little brother!" Herculen suddenly had his arms around Draco, who smiled happily.
"Hello," Draco replied. "How was Hogwarts?"
"Oh, simply wonderful, as always. Not much changes at that old place."
Lucius smiled for a moment as the son's interactions, then he stomped off, apparently to deal with something about the storm.
"Why don't you go unpack and tell Draco all about it?" Narcissa suggested, and Herculen shrugged flippantly.
"Come, Draco," he told his little brother, then he marched up the stairs softly singing in a beautiful, clear baritone: HogwartsHogwarts Hoggy Warty Hogwarts Teach us something please. Whether we be old and bald or young with scabby knees. Our heads could do with filling, with some interesting stuff."
"Wow, he's happy," Draco remarked, and Narcissa nodded.
"He'll tell you about what if you follow him," Narcissa smiled at her son, who began to run up the stairs before she gently reminded him to walk.
After Draco finished walking up the stairs, he hurried to Herculen's room where found his brother starring in his mirror, combing his hair with a dreamy expression on his face.
"You're happy," Draco remarked again, and Herculen smiled slightly,
"Close the door, I don't want father to hear. Now, Draco, guess what happened to me?"
"How could I know that?" Draco asked, and tried to copy Theo's eyebrow raise, however he could see in the mirror that he'd failed terribly.
"I suppose you couldn't know," Herculen shrugged. "So I'll tell you. Have you ever heard of a kiss?"
"A what?" Draco asked, confused.
"A kiss! It's like this," Herculen puckered his lips and threw kisses about the room. To this, Draco's eyes widened. He may have seen someone doing a kiss in Diagone Alley, but he might be wrong.
"Anyway," Herculen continued. "You kiss someone like a girlfriend. Father has probably kissed mother. Anyway, I had my first kiss, right before it was time to go to the train!"
"With who, the girl who can't speak English?" Draco wanted to know.
"Oh no no, she's old news. I dumped her when she started wanting to spend all the time with Madam Sprout learning Hufflepuff things; it was awful. No, this was a Slytherin girl, the only kind worth anything, Draco. She's certainly not the brightest in the bunch, but she's wonderful!"
"She seems like it," Draco nodded.
Herculen turned back to his mirror, finishing combing his hair and running his fingers through it several times. It was then that Draco noticed that much less hair gel was being used in Herculen's hair, and Herculen nodded.
"Yes, I decided to tone it down for a few days. I still use the gel, and I recommend it to you, Draco! It's time to do something useful with those pale locks of yours."
Herculen tossed the gel in Draco's direction, and Draco caught it clumsily.
"There, keep it for all I care. I have plenty more."
"What else is new at Hogwarts?" Draco asked, pocketing the gel.
Herculen's eyes suddenly grew wild, and he whispered the next sentence.
"Guess what class I'm taking?" his voice was excited and rebellious.
"What?" Draco asked.
"Mudblood studies!'
"What, that's a class?" Draco was confused.
"Well, they call it Muggle Studies', but who needs to be so precise."
"Why are you taking that? Won't father find out?"
"No, he won't find out, no worries there. And I'm taking it just for the comic relief of course, little brother! Did you know that even some mudbloods screw up in mudblood studies? It's hilarious! Besides, every day I get to go back to the Slytherin common room and tell them about the stupid things mudbloods have to do in place of magic. Did you know they have these things called vacuum cleaners which they have to push manually around the house in order to make dust go away? It's marvelously funny! Besides, the teacher is actually quite nice. He's a little dull sometimes, but other times he's rather exciting. Also a lady came to visit and help teach lessons a couple time because she might take over the position in a few years. Her name's Burbage. If you ever get a chance to meet her, you might like her. Of course her charming personality is a little overshadowed by her love for mudbloods, however she really is quite alright. She caught me kissing my Slytherin girl, and didn't even turn us in. Besides that, she's rather understanding about things. The school'll lucky when she's teaching. So Draco, anything vaguely interesting happening at home?"
"Well, father is giving me lessons about pureblood history," Draco told his brother, who nodded.
"Of course, he said you'd get the lessons. You probably need them more than I do! How're they going, you learn any unforgivables yet?"
"Just the killing one, but I'm not supposed to talk about it."
"Of course not," Herculen shook his head. "Imperius is also quite handy, you'll find out."
"I also met a boy named Nott who's going to be my friend at Hogwarts!"
"Theo Nott? Yes, he's a smart one. If you can get him as your friend, you'll be well off. Might be tricky, he's a bit of a loner. Well, I suppose it's almost time for dinner. Come Draco, it's time I tell father all about my adventures at Hogwarts!"
Draco followed his brother down the stairs, wondering just which adventures Lucius would be hearing about, and which would be kept a secret.
After dinner, Draco was sent to his room by his father so that Herculen and Lucius could have a father-son time talking by the fireside. Disappointed, Draco wandered up to his room. He wasn't tired, so instead he rearranged his desk. Suddenly his eyes fell upon his old potions book from Snape, and Draco's eyes lit up. He hadn't talked to Snape in months, perhaps now he could ask if Snape would be coming for Christmas. Of course, Snape wasn't a pureblood, but some little part of Draco didn't care, and he pulled out a pen to write 'hello'.
'Hello,' Snape wrote back. 'How are you, Draco?'
'I'm alright. Are you coming for Christmas this year?'
There was a very long pause when nothing was written, then finally Snape replied.
'I don't know.'
'Why don't you know?'
'Your father didn't say anything to me. Would you like me to come, Draco?'
'Of course!'
'Well, you may ask your father about the idea.'
'How are you, Professor Snape?'
There was another long pause.
'I'm feeling adequately.'
'That's good.'
Draco spent a long time writing Snape, until Snape finally told him to go to bed. Draco obliged, happy dreams of potions and Christmas dancing through his head. The next day when Draco asked if Snape could come to Christmas, Lucius seemed genuinely shocked. However, Lucius said it didn't matter what happened with Snape as this year they planned on having the Crabbes and Notts come visit.
"If you wish to add Professor Snape to the list, so be it," Draco was told, and so Draco ran upstairs to inform his godfather.
'That's nice,' was Snape's only reply to the happy news, however Draco was sure that Professor Snape was happy, deep down.
AU: Okay, so not the angsty chapter after all. Sorry about that (or not, idk if you wanted that yet). It's coming up soon, but I hope you enjoyed this little look into the family life of the boys as they grow older. What's your new opinion of Herculen? What do you think Lucius really thinks of Draco? Please review and tell me your thoughts!