Lucius Malfoy learned at an early age how to pretend.
It could be argued, of course, that most young children know how to pretend. For one thing, it was considered normal for them to have imaginary friends. For another thing, it was also considered normal for them to play make-believe games.
Lucius, however, did not pretend as most other children did. He did not have any imaginary friends. He did not play any games, unless you wanted to count Wizard's Chess. No, Lucius pretended to be the perfect son who desired nothing more than to please his father.
Lucius never knew his mother. She had died in childbirth, and whenever he tried to ask his father about her, Abraxas would do nothing but talk about how weak and pathetic she had been.
It quickly became clear to Lucius that his father had hated his mother. It did not take the young boy long, therefore, to decide that his mother must have been a wonderful person. Not that Lucius ever told his father this, of course. Even though Lucius could be bold at times, at least according to Abraxas, he wasn't completely stupid.
Lucius learned at an early age not to speak about his mother, but that didn't stop him from often fantasying about her, especially when he was thinking about what would be the best way to kill himself. Lucius had a feeling that, unlike his father, his mother would have loved him, and that she would have never dreamed of torturing him or locking him in the dungeons in order to teach him a lesson.
Abraxas often lectured Lucius on what a huge disappointment he was and how he never listened. This always left Lucius confused. He spoke the words that his father wanted him to speak. He acted the way that his father wanted him to act. In public, Lucius always acted like the perfect son, and he only challenged Abraxas in the most subtle of ways.
In private, though, Lucius liked to question things. It only made sense for him to do so. If he was going to have beliefs, after all, he needed to be able to defend them. He wasn't trying to be disrespectful nor was he trying to be a bad son. He just wanted to be able to better understand and explain his viewpoints.
Abraxas demanded complete submission. Lucius, however, refused to give him that, as he wanted to be his own person who had his own thoughts. Oh, Lucius believed in blood purity like his father did, but that didn't mean he had to be exactly like the elder Malfoy.
Narcissa was another thing that the two Malfoys did not agree on.
"Women are just there to give you children," Abraxas often told his son.
Lucius, though, could never agree with his father's views on women. Narcissa made him feel like he was important and like his life was truly worth something. Narcissa gave him hope, encouragement, and a reason to keep on living. Abraxas, however, didn't want to hear any of that.
Abraxas was also never able to understand why Lucius wanted to raise Draco differently than he had been raised.
"You are much too soft on that boy," Abraxas often told his son. "You are going to make him weak, and a Malfoy cannot be weak."
Lucius knew that he and Narcissa spoiled Draco. However, he also knew that he did have high expectations for his son and that he expected nothing but the best out of Draco. Lucius, though, refused to punish Draco as his father would have punished him. Draco received many lectures, but he never received any bruises.
Despite everything, though, a part of Lucius held some sort of feeling for his father. Then, Lucius found out that his father had caused Narcissa to miscarry numerous babies before Draco, and there was no way that Lucius could ever forgive or accept that.
Abraxas's spirit, however, never fully left Lucius. Abraxas was not someone who could ever be fully forgotten.