Chapter Text
DRACO MALFOY was seven years old when he realized he disliked his father.
perhaps it was the way his father was always absent, idly running around to attend secret meetings or push political agendas draco did not understand. how he could never be bothered to teach draco how to fly a broom, or hold a conversation with him lasting more than three sentences. maybe it was the way his father acted when his mother would try and push the two together to bond, "not now narcissa, i have business to attend to".
honestly speaking, draco could have pushed this all aside and figured his father was a busy man, respected him and looked in other places to find comfort, if not for what happened when he hit the age of 9.
the day was warm, mid-august. draco could feel the suns warmth from the window. the air smelt of pumpkin soup, which he figured the elves were making for supper.
"draco darling, can you go fetch your father? it's almost time for our meal" narcissa's airy voice filled the room. she sat watching draco from her lush couch, reading a novel whilst he played with his toy broom.
draco set the broom aside, "yes, mother. is he in his study?" he asked, rising. narcissa could have summoned one of the elves to get lucius, but he figured she just wanted him to get in his daily conversation with his father, as he had been promptly ignoring the two of them this particular day.
"yes darling, go on ahead" narcissa's voice waved him off.
draco dusted his pants, walking briskly to where his fathers study resided. taking small strides due to his tiny legs, passing malfoy ancestors stored away in paintings.
he rounded the corner to his fathers study, and heard groans coming from down the hall. alarmed, he thought maybe something had happened to his father and quickened his steps. pausing at the slightly ajar door, he looked inside.
draco wasn't an idiot. he knew what his father thought of mudbloods and blood traitors. he knew where he and his family lay on the political tier list, he knew he was special and better than most, or so he was told.
but more than anything he knew the values of right and wrong. and what he saw in his fathers study was wrong.
his parents rarely disciplined him harshly. he knew better than to disobey his parents. for some reason in draco's mind, he did not realize his parents were capable of violence. or more specifically— that his father was.
he gazed in shock upon the sight in the room, blood was splattered on the walls and pooling on the floor. he knew better than to assume it was a wizard.
the body's eyes lulled back towards him, and draco saw a brief flicker of recognition before the light in her eyes dulled. the woman looked to be no older than 30. she was wearing odd sorts of clothes he hadn't seen before. she was cut with deep, wide gashes that he could only assume were done with a cursed blade. her fingers were bent in an unnatural way, facing out and away from her body.
draco felt like he could be sick, but before he could relieve himself of his lunch he heard his fathers booming voice, "i do quite detest getting my hands red, with the blood of a filthy muggle"
the door slowly creaked open, revealing the closest thing to a disheveled lucius as he'd ever seen.
"apologies for you having to see that draco" his father nodded to him, "i figure your mother sent you to come get me for supper"
draco didn't respond. his feet planted to the floor.
likely taking in draco's aghast and petrified expression, lucius sighed "come here, son"
draco took a step forward against his better judgement. lucius took a knee and bent to his level.
"do you understand what it means to be a malfoy man?"
draco stared back, his mind still lingering on the dead woman.
"yes, father"
"no, you don't" he steadied his tone. "you're to lead, not just your family. but others as well." he took a breath, "and that muggle filth is what's getting in the way of us becoming everything we were meant to. do you understand draco? we wizards, not just the malfoy's— are in every way superior. this muggle couldn't even see me coming. it was defenseless. and yet we are supposed to share our world with them? hide our true selves from them?"
his fathers voice had increased in volume and distance, bouncing across the walls. his anger was palpable.
"as malfoy men, we are to spread the truth. in political setting, when amongst our peers, by every definition of the word— we lead." he sighed, calming down, "you must realize this draco"
unbeknownst to his father draco had taken this conversation to heart. the entire trajectory of his fate had changed. he realized then, in that room— staring at the still warm body on the ground, that muggles bled just like them. they bled red oozing blood, just like them. they were human, just like them. nothing differentiated draco from the woman lying beside him besides the fact that he had been born with abilities. in flesh and bone they were the same.
"i wish to give you the malfoy signet, draco" his father took draco's hand and placed a ring to draco's palm. a snake slivered across the stone, and an engraved 'M' was in the center. draco put the ring on, and it fit to the size of his small finger.
"when you grow, you will be in charge of this home, and you must teach the way i taught you"
draco nodded, his mind made up.
weeks later, unbeknownst to him— his father would fall to a treacherous fate, dead.
aurors thought to rule out foul play but draco knew better. he heard his fathers screams the night he was murdered, intertwined with another. who killed his father he didn't know, because as soon as him and his mother ran to his study, the culprit was gone.
but as he stared down at the second body he'd seen that month, he saw the life start to drain out of his fathers eyes.
draco shifted his eyes down at the ring that had begun to heat up rapidly, the 'M' glowing a bright green, and he knew that he was now head of his house and his father was dead.
roughly two years later, draco stared down at that same ring. now on the hogwarts express, twisting the ring between his fingers when he heard a knock at the compartment door.
"have you seen a toad, a boy named neville's lost one?"