Et vivat in aeturnum
He is six when he learns that the Pureblood society is a menace, of course, a dull, throbbing headache that is a constant companion in life and death and everything in between. He hates it with a fiery passion. There is nothing more smiling and smiling and more smiling at those leeches who flock towards them, as if they bleed readily for them.
Reptiles, he thinks of them grimly. The people who rush towards them with ready grins devoid of mirth and warmth, hoping to get into his good graces so that he could appeal to his father to give them something-anything, they say, Anything, my lord, so that we shall remain forever grateful to the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy- he doesn't say anything, of course, merely smiles at them and nods and even relishes in the attention they give him.
They look as if he were Merlin himself.
*
He is ten now, of a fine age to prepare himself for the battle of complex minds', his father tells. His mother adds grimly, politics. He learns early in life that his parents do not love each other- not like Grandmother Jeanette loved Grandfather Emil. His mother is devoted to his father of course, and his father tolerates her-for she has given him three beautiful daughters and a single son, for whom father has longed for so fervently.
He learns it too, that daughters are always a prize, willing to be given to any man their father wishes for to gain a very prominent place in society. His sister Meliora, who is barely seven is promised to Theodore Nott who is at least two decades older than her-since his wife has died leaving him no heirs-in return for the mark his father and he now wear proudly on their left arms.
He vows he will never have daughters.
*
He is fourteen, when pretty Narcissa Black catches his eyes. She is two years below him in Slytherin and her elder sister has already married one of his cousins, Rodolphus Lestrange, and the other one a year above him, is firmly engaged to Evan Rosier. He watches her-subtly, of course- and finds that she has a brilliant mind for politics unlike her sisters' and she keeps it quiet.
He often sees her at the library reading war texts, of the Wizengamot constitution and everything a young girl of her age shouldn't be reading. He is drawn towards her, despite himself and the day she turns fifteen, he asks for her hand in hopes that she will be his constant rock when he ascends his father's place.
She doesn't blush nor lowers her gaze but meets his eye and says yes.
*
She gives him a girl first, a girl with blue eyes and hair as silver as the moon. His little girl is born in the Spring, amidst the song of the thrushes, and Narcissa's heart has firmly lodged itself in the girl's chubby hands. He is fond of his daughter, but he cannot help but think of his beloved sister Urbana, who killed herself for she did not love the husband his father chose for her. He doesn't know if he will be cruel and power hungry as his father, but knows that his wife and little girl will despise him for the whole of their lives, if he barters away their daughter to some old Lord.
Two nights after she is born, he goes into her nursery. He looks at her pale face, shining in the moonlight, mesmerised. She is a perfect little thing, and he almost leaves, but takes out a small vial with a liquid as black as his heart, and bends over the ivory cradle. He strokes her cheek and she sighs in contentment and he whispers into the dark that he is so sorry and forces her tiny mouth open and forces the liquid down her little throat. Her cries are silenced by the Silencing Charms he has placed and he watches with a morbid fascination as she thrashes and then her eyes open and she pins him with her stare.
And then slowly, the light goes out of them and she closes them. He waits for a long moment until the only sound he hears is his own heartbeat.
He then flicks his wand and the Finite dispenses all the silencing wards he has set up and walks out of the room, closing the ornate door beside him.
The manor wakes to Narcissa's scream.
*
She gives him a son in winter after a miscarriage and he is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. His hair is silver and his eyes are grey. She vows she will do anything to save this boy and he agrees to it wholeheartedly. They call him Draco for a dragon, when poked shall breathe fire and bring a destruction so great. Their boy grows mighty day by day and they focus their love on him and him alone and they raise him to be a perfect wizard.
He goes away sometimes, for missions which the Dark Lord chooses him specifically. She laments that he is never home and he merely kisses her.
And then that Potter boy vanquishes their Lord and they are not so safe anymore.
*
Severus is in constant correspondence. He writes what Draco does and more often what the Potter boy does too. They are constantly fighting, he writes, I believe your boy should hold his tongue more often, Lucius, it is not wise for us to be enemies of the boy who has the whole of the Wizarding world at his feet.
He doesn't interfere, of course, wanting to see how his boy fares in this contest, and wanting to see him as the victor. He waits and watches instead, subtly dropping his son hints and clues and aiding him through the entirety of his first year to form an alliance with the green eyed boy.
It appears as though Draco has inherited his grandmother's mind for hatred of anything political.
He is so severely disappointed.
*
In Azkaban, all he sees is piercing blue eyes in the face of a moon-child lying still and looking at him in terror. He wishes he had let his single daughter live in exchange for this son he was given as a curse. A son who does not know what he wishes to do with his life. He wishes he had named his daughter Aurelie for the grandmother she had never known. He wishes now, that he had chosen for his daughter to live as his jewel and heir, instead of the thick skulled brat who is his heir.
And then he remembers Meliora, who was killed by her own husband and his nephew who is trying to overcome the shadow of his mother's death and he thinks of Quintessa who was so ever lovely and who has lost her smile for the man she married left her a widow with two young girls and a very small fortune with which she tries to meet her ends meet.
He closes his eyes and curses everyone for the bitterness of his life and throughout all his stay at Azkaban, he dreams of a girl as beautiful as the moon with stars in her hair and the sea for her eyes and music in her laughter...
He cries in sleep, for all he dreams of is a delicate little flower which lies dead in its cradle.
*
He doesn't approve of his son's choice of bride. He doesn't trust Astoria Greengrass with raven hair and big blue eyes and a blinding smile. He hates her with such a burning passion that he drinks himself to a stupor on her wedding day.
Cissy approves of course, saying that they were lucky that their son chose a woman of elegance and grace-a Pureblood- and that they were lucky that the Potter boy had testified for them. He doesn't think the match is political for his son is soft hearted and scared of anything that might make his life complex, but he cannot help but wish that his son had not married this younger girl.
He watches with lidded eyes as his son twirls his new bride around the dance floor and they laugh and giggle and do everything that a Malfoy shouldn't and he finds himself regretting that he indulged his son in every whim of his.
When his daughter-in-law gives him a grandson who is already named Scorpius Hyperion- without consulting him- he feels more alienated from his son's life and the bitterness of disappointment overwhelms him.
*
He dies in Spring and he asks that he be buried next to his daughter. His son is surprised that he would not want to be buried next to Narcissa who had died two years previously and was buried next to her sister. He cannot tell him that he wishes to meet his only daughter in the Elysium and beg for her forgiveness.
Scorpius comes from the school and he sits by his bed watching him sleep. The boy is sixteen now, and is already much different than his father, and Lucius sees himself in the boy who is shrewd, attentive and charming. He names the boy his heir to inherit the Manor and the ancestral chateau in France, instead of his father.
Draco isn't disappointed for he has his mother's Black Castle as his own and the large Greengrass estates, but Lucius cannot help but want the boy to fight for his rights as his only son.
He dies at midnight on a full moon, when a wolf howls a note of mourn. He doesn't die happy. Neither does he die sad. He dies in his sleep, peaceful and with a strong heart that he and only he had controlled his life, influenced its course, made its decisions, choices, and through it all, with his spine straight and head high amidst the curses and fake smiles and backstabbing and fears, with a smirk, lived.
*
In Memory of
Lucius Abraxas Malfoy
10th of January, 1954-14th of March, 2033
Et vivat in aeturnum
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