Work Text:
“Come, Draco!” Lucius Malfoy called out, distractedly, his mind still halfway in the meeting both Severus Snape and himself had attended. All that talk about the Dark Lord returning disturbed him and he did his best to put it out of his mind the best way he knew how.
When the little boy promptly ran from the primary school playground nearby to the two tall men that had apparated under the oak tree, he watched Severus follow Draco’s advance and his eyebrows quirk when the child extended his arms to his father.
Lucius picked Draco up, always surprised how light and small he felt but not at the strange familiar stirring on his chest when the blond boy immediately wrapped his skinny arms around his neck in an enthusiastic hug. Dark Lord who? It had been five years since his demise, Lucius had a family to take care of and only fools lived in delusions.
His attention should be at more deserving endeavors. For instance, did he see Draco wince when he ran? Were his shoes getting small again?
“A little big for that, isn’t he?” Snape asked, silkly.
Both Malfoys turned to face the Potions teacher with identically unimpressed expressions.
“Evidently not,” Lucius replied examining Draco for any scratches or bumps. He’d hear it from Narcissa as thought it was his fault when little could be done when dealing with an energetic boy and not a porcelain figurine like his wife expected their son to be. “Since I can still pick him up quite easily. If I were to protest at this, Severus, I would have acquired myself a plant not a child.” At his son’s stormy look, he added. “Don’t mind Severus, Draco. You know he was raised by wolves.”
“Yes, Father.”
Severus glared at Draco. Draco glared right back. They normally got along well, thick as thieves, so this wouldn’t do.
“Severus is coming home with us; he’ll use our laboratory to brew a very important new potion. Would you like to watch him do it, Draco?” That did it. Draco’s usual sunny smile came out, as bright as his Malfoy hair, which Lucius had no idea where he had got it from since neither Lucius or Narcissa were known for their congeniality. It was so charming even someone as dead inside as Snape seemed to soften an inch.
“Do you want to know the name of the potion, Draco?” The Potion Master asked with his trademark drawl.
“Yes, sir!” Draco rushed to reply, climbing off Lucius’ lap to stand between them. He took Snape’s hand without prompting when they crossed the street, his father’s hand a solid, protective weight on his shoulder. You should always hold onto someone when crossing the street, his mother always said, but there Professor Snape was all by himself. It wouldn’t do!
When Draco blinked again, they were back at the Malfoy state.
“Draco will help you find the ingredients in the garden, Severus.” Lucius Malfoy told them, walking up the steps that lead to the Mansion while the other two headed to the gardens.
“What’s the name of the potion, Sir?” Draco recalled, swinging their hands among the flowers.
“It’s called Wolfsbane, Draco. I’ve been informed an old… classmate is back in town and might benefit from this new potion.”
“Is he a friend of Father’s too?”
“Not at all, but your father agreed to help at Dumbledore’s prompting. He can be oddly… generous to us lost causes.” Snape didn’t add that Lucius Malfoy likely agreed because having Dumbledore indebted to him was something no one would sneer at. “He has a funny name too, you’re going to like it: Lupin. Remus Lupin.”
The boy’s grey eyes went round like two bright moons. “Like the wolves in the story.”
The smile Severus Snape flashed him was sharper that the blade he used to cut the herbs for the potion.
“Very good, Draco. Just like the wolves, indeed.”
“Is that Lucius’s son?” Remus Lupin inquired later that day seeing Draco asleep in an armchair on the private lab. The fact that Lucius had invited him in had thrown Snape off a loop until he remembered Lucius’s association with Greyback. For such a careful man, Lucius could be often dangerously careless at whom he invited into his home, around his family. “Has it been so long?”
Snape knew then Lupin wasn’t seeing Draco, but another boy that ought to be around the same age who he had deserted like the spineless coward he always was the moment he chose to run to the continent after Sirius Black’s arrest.
“There he is.” The answer came from Lucius Malfoy himself, entering the lab, making a bee line for Draco after giving Lupin a stiff nod. “Narcissa is convinced Draco ran off to get himself killed in the most horrific of ways.”
“Your son is your spitting image, Mr. Malfoy.” Lupin observed like the fool he was, instead of keeping quiet. Thankfully, Lucius Malfoy, a fool himself who clearly liked parading around his son way too much for Snape’s (and Narcissa’s) opinion, like a prized stallion, only puffed up at the comment.
“People like to say that, Lupin, and I accept the flattery of course, but I personally find he has Narcissa’s features, don’t you think, Severus? He will be much more handsome than I ever was.”
That prized stallion, unfortunately, was little more than knee high and currently waking up from his lounge on his father’s strong chest to someone he didn’t know, yet, was a werewolf.
“Say good evening, Draco.”
“Good evening, Father, Mr. Snape.” Draco yawned, peering at them from his perch on his father’s shoulder. “Good evening, Mr. Lupin.”
Lucius Malfoy tensed, discreetly, but was quickly distracted by Draco, once again, squirming to leave his father’s lap.
“Good evening, Draco.” Lupin responded looking charmed, the effect Lucius intended, making sure Draco always fulfilled his ornamental role even before those he considered low.
“Oh, no! Did I miss it, sir?” Draco cried out rushing to Severus’s bench.
“You’re just in time.” Snape put the last ingredient in, gave a final stir and poured the potion in two vials. It swirled and glowed like it was supposed to, before settling on an even lilac color. He gave one to Lupin and another to a very eager Draco. “For your collection.”
Lupin pocketed his and looked at the boy inches from him on the work bench with concern.
“Severus, won’t he drink it?” Remus Lupin asked with mild alarm. Lucius from behind Lupin, all too aware of Draco’s potion collection, seemed to be considering this risk for the first time.
“Are you going to drink it, Draco?” Severus Snape asked the child directly, looking bored at having to entertain the werewolf.
“Yuck!” Draco replied rather eloquently. Draco!, Lucius hissed. “I- I apologize. No, sir, they taste awful.”
Remus Lupin was looking less than satisfied with the answer, clearly wondering what Draco Malfoy had tasted to have arrived at such a conclusive answer, which is why Severus decided to cut that conversation short. Anymore and Lucius would be thinking as well and no one liked that.
“Draco likes the swirls and pretty colors, Lupin. Drinking them would defeat the purpose. Now, if there wasn’t anything else, you should take your leave.”
Remus Lupin bowed his head slightly remembering his position, nodded his thanks at Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape and gave Draco Malfoy a little wave, who smiled and waved back, and was then, thankfully, gone.
“Are you staying for dinner?” Lucius Malfoy asked Snape on the way to the door with Draco.
“I mustn’t, the school year is almost starting, there’s much to--”
“Wonderful, Narcissa will be thrilled at you joining us. And Draco, of course.” Lucius caught Draco’s little hand in one of his and half turned to Severus. “I’ll open a bottle; I think we’ve both earned a palate cleanser after today’s meeting.”
Ah, of course. Lucius’ little good Samaritan act with Dumbledore. It was all adding up. No one in their right might believed the Dark Lord would return after so long but if he did, Lucius Malfoy was making sure he built a world for Draco with allies on both sides.
One could not be too careful.