Papa
by Nehal

Six boys for a son and heir; that was the price and, since he was a good servant he obeyed, left hand upon heart, as his right became adept at snapping infantile necks. If Narcissa tried to stop him she would be punished. If any of the house-elves, in a mistaken show of loyalty to their young mistress, tried to hide one of the infants they would be killed.

Lucius was so relieved when the seventh was born that he did not notice she was blue as he kissed her. He did not see her decay slowly as he whispered the stories his own father had failed to tell so many years ago. And he barely noticed her crumble to ashes as he tried to be father he had always wanted to be.

It was a temporary weakness. The Lord did not tolerate incapacity of any sort amongst his followers for long, and eventually another child, The Eighth, was born. A boy forged in the image of Narcissa, who had hated him from his conception, Draco was delicate and pale; his constitution sickly, his heartbeat either too fast or too slow, he was a constant trial and as such did not leave his father's arms at all during his first year.

By then of course the Lord was dead. Killed by a child, a boy. But Lucius barely noticed.

 

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