House: Ravenclaw (HoH) Bonus Round Two! Theme: Spring, WC: 800
Prompts used (3), [pairing] Lucius Malfoy and Luna Lovegood, [pet] Fluffy, [song] In My Daughter's Eyes - Martina McBride,
Sooo... AU, for sure. Draco and Luna are married, hence she's referenced as Luna Malfoy in this piece. With regards to the song prompt, only certain lines were used from the song. Many thanks!
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Lucius was not senile, despite his old age and his short term in Azkaban for his Wizarding War crimes. His hair was silver, turned golden in the pale April sunlight beating down on the group. His hands still clutched that serpent-topped cane, but he'd had it extended to give him more support, occasionally unsteady on his feet. Yet, now he was frozen, as Draco's body was lowered down into the chasm of soil. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
It was a strange situation, he thought. His son had died suddenly, just over a week ago - a tumour on the brain, unnoticed by doctors - in amidst the newness of Spring. Nature's liveliest time, and Draco Malfoy was not there to enjoy it. Flowers were sprouting from thickets of lush grass, glittering dew and raindrops adorning their petals. Not only was the flora blossoming, but Draco had been gifted a child of his own in the last two months. A beautiful baby girl, who barely understood her senses, let alone the concept of death there in the graveyard.
"Do you want to hold her?" asked the short woman beside him. Lucius shook his head curtly. "I know you keep looking at her, Lucius." As if she had heard them talking, the baby's eyes quivered and her mouth opened a fraction. "I need to feed Fluffy, anyway. It would be helpful if you could hold her."
"Luna, I don't understand why you brought that ridiculous dog to the funeral," he snapped, but took the child with kindly eyes. He wondered whether she would grow up to be a Slytherin, like her father, or a Ravenclaw, like her mother. Or whether she would be something different entirely.
"I inherited him from Hagrid. Draco loved Fluffy, Lucius, and you know that. I think we're past the petty commentary."
"He loved the dog because he loved you," Lucius muttered in return. Luna laughed lightly, then rummaged inside her floral messenger bag in search of some food for the monstrous dog sitting at the graveside. It was a wonder there was room enough in her bag for food to feed all three heads.
Lucius looked away from the hulking hound and down at the child in his arms, her skin matching the pale colour of the cherry blossoms in the trees surrounding them. She was fully awake now, staring up at him with interest, listening.
The thought clicked in his head almost instantly. She wants her father. It made irrefutable sense. The Malfoy duo shared similar appearances, so the girl was understandably confused. She was expecting Draco after all.
Draco Malfoy had been brought up to think himself superior for his blood status. He had been pushed towards those same beliefs of every Malfoy, that status was everything to do with whose family you were from, never given a choice in the matter. He was afraid of doing something to jeopardize his family. During the second Wizarding War, however, he felt no such fear. There was a time for him to show his own colours, fighting to protect the light – strong, brave, a hero. Lucius didn't know whether he could reform to be half the man his son had become.
But now there was this new life between them – between Lucius and the grave - an archetype of innocence.
His heart smiled, as though it had teeth, as she looked up at him. How cruel it was that this baby would not grow into loving her father, but only grow into his absence and miss something she knew nothing of. She only knew his voice, the laughing and singing he had expelled at a kick against Luna's protrusive stomach.
"It's funny," Luna interrupted his thoughts. "To her, she will not know the pain and the misery, only that we felt it. The world is at peace and will have always been that way for her."
"I suppose," he responded absently, glancing over at her, Luna Malfoy. She had dressed white for the day, though he had forgotten her reasoning. "Violet will grow up to be big and strong and brave, just like her parents." As if listening for her own name, Violet wrapped a tiny hand around her grandfather's forefinger. His heart fluttered.
"I thought that maybe she was sent to rescue me," Luna mused. "With all the loss – Draco's mother, my father – I don't know what I would have done without him. If it hadn't had been for her, I'd be lost."
Lucius nodded. His heart, his mind, his entire body was too tired and heavy to operate correctly at that moment. The crushing sensation of loss made him want to give up. There with Luna and Violet, he realised; life was hard and unforgiving, but giving up was not an option.
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Thanks for reading!
