Challenge 28: Children
Title: Children
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy
Prompts: 028 Children
Word Count: 1,155 words
Rating: Eh, nothing dangerous.
Summary: Draco confronts his father on a pair of birth certificates he finds.
Author's Note: I like this one :D
“Father?”
I blinked open my eyes and stirred in my chair, uncrossing my legs and shutting the book that lay open in my lap. Draco stood at my left hand, a paper held delicately in his hands.
I set the book on the table beside my chair and looked up at him, “Yes Draco?”
“I came across this in the study.” His tone was calm, his eyes lowered and it was obvious he had spent a long time thinking about this paper and the information it held. I looked up into his face but saw nothing more than that in his perfectly sculpted mask. “Could you explain?”
I took the paper and put my glasses on. It was a birth certificate; no it was two birth certificates clinging close together. I separated them and held them separately, looking down at the patiently inked words. There was the scrawled name of the midwife, Noei Marcella. Below that name were tiny foot prints. I traced a finger along the curves and then looked down at Narcissa’s name and then my own. Between our names and under the tiny heels, there were two names. The first name was Charis Violetta and the second was Dorea Hesper. The birth year was 1975, five years before Draco’s birth.
“Ah…” I set down Charis’ and held Dorea’s in both hands. “Darling Dorea. She had your mother’s blue eyes.”
“Father,” Draco stepped closer, “Who are these girls? Are they my sisters? Where are they?”
“Patience…” I took the pages and stood slowly, my old bones complaining as I moved. I crossed my sitting room, where I spent most of my time, now that Draco was Master of the Manor and Narcissa spent more time asleep than awake. I crossed the dark brown wood floor with slow but sure steps and reached the floor to ceiling bookshelf soon enough. I handed him back the papers and looked over the spines of the books in front of me.
“Most of these are family albums. Of your childhood. Of mine and of your sisters as well.” I pulled out two very thin and very worn albums and ran my hand over the gilded name on top of the very light blue one’s front. It was Charis’.
“Sisters? I have sisters?” Draco’s shock was showing, his eyes wide and his voice high and sharp. “You never told me.”
“Mhmm,” I nodded and walked back to the couch. “Come on, sit here.” He sat beside me on the dark blue satin couch. “Charis was born first,” I opened the book, turning the delicate pages. “She had no hair when she was born and dark grey eyes. She was tiny. Smaller than little Scorpius when he was born; but she was noisy and so strong. See here? She screamed so much.” There were pages of a small baby girl screaming all of them progressing in age. From the captions the pictures were taken every few days.
“Here she is, six months old. Sitting up against your mother. This is her only picture where she isn’t screaming and is awake.” The baby girl was turned towards the photo, waving a silver spoon and grinning widely. We could just see Narcissa’s bright eyes, a few stray hairs curling around her face and her cheeks flushed.
I turned the pages through slowly and stopped when they were both blank.
I lowered my eyes and sighed.
“Father?”
“She died shortly after seven months. Your mother was devastated, but we still had Dorea.” I closed the book and opened the lavender one, setting Charis’s aside for the moment. “Dorea was quieter and smiled more. She had more hair and, see, it was darker as well.” I pointed towards photos of the sleeping infant. “She had your mother’s blue eyes from the very first.”
We passed through her photos, Draco staring in a mixture of awe and shock as he watched his older sister grow before his eyes. As we reached six months I hesitated. “Dorea didn’t smile too much when Charis got sick, and she seemed as if she knew her sister was dying.”
I turned the pages slowly, noting how the captions became weekly and then monthly. “She lived longer than her sister, and with her we were able to move on past Charis’s death,” I murmured.
“What happened?” Draco was breathless.
“She was a squib.” I said simply, turning the page. They were photos of Dorea struggling with her practice wand; a two and a half little girl trying to fly on a toy broom and failing. I turned to the last page. It was a photo of Dorea standing very straight and tall, her blonde hair held back with a green clip and her wide blue eyes shimmering with tears. She wore a very proper dark dress with white lacing and a bag sat on the ground by her feet. In her left hand she clutched a small white bear with a silver ribbon. In the photo she would smile a little and wave her empty hand.
“I think she knew we were giving her up, but we couldn’t have a squib in the family.” I shook my head slowly, “We put her in a very nice school for girls, gave her a decent sum of money to be had when she graduated and let go.”
“Three years later, we had you and we put them from our minds. You became everything then.” I closed that book as well and put it on top of Charis’.
We sat in silence and I could suppose what he was thinking. Where she could be, whether or not contacting her was a good idea, how she was doing…
There was a pop as a house elf appeared before me, bowing low and tugging her ears, “Poppin has messages. Mistress Narcissa is ready for tea for Master Lucius and Master Scorpius hopes Master Draco to be seeing hims fly his broom on the lawn. Poppin has made messages clear?”
“Yes yes,” I stood to put away the albums.
“Father, may I see those?” Draco hurried to my side, his hand out.
“Ah, I suppose…” I handed him the slim photograph albums. “You must take care of them and put them back when you are finished.”
“Of course.” Draco nodded, “I will Father. I understand these are heirlooms.”
“Priceless.”
“Thank you for the truth, father.”
I gave him a small smile and watched him leave. I stood alone in my private room for a moment before there was a tap at the window. Smiling I opened the window and let the small owl light on my hand. “Right on time as always, Bridget.” I took the letter and moved the owl to my shoulder.
I smiled at the perfect penmanship on the letter, To Mother and Father. I left then, to go meet with Narcissa. Nothing quite made her feel alive like Dorea’s letters.
FIN
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy
Prompts: 028 Children
Word Count: 1,155 words
Rating: Eh, nothing dangerous.
Summary: Draco confronts his father on a pair of birth certificates he finds.
Author's Note: I like this one :D
“Father?”
I blinked open my eyes and stirred in my chair, uncrossing my legs and shutting the book that lay open in my lap. Draco stood at my left hand, a paper held delicately in his hands.
I set the book on the table beside my chair and looked up at him, “Yes Draco?”
“I came across this in the study.” His tone was calm, his eyes lowered and it was obvious he had spent a long time thinking about this paper and the information it held. I looked up into his face but saw nothing more than that in his perfectly sculpted mask. “Could you explain?”
I took the paper and put my glasses on. It was a birth certificate; no it was two birth certificates clinging close together. I separated them and held them separately, looking down at the patiently inked words. There was the scrawled name of the midwife, Noei Marcella. Below that name were tiny foot prints. I traced a finger along the curves and then looked down at Narcissa’s name and then my own. Between our names and under the tiny heels, there were two names. The first name was Charis Violetta and the second was Dorea Hesper. The birth year was 1975, five years before Draco’s birth.
“Ah…” I set down Charis’ and held Dorea’s in both hands. “Darling Dorea. She had your mother’s blue eyes.”
“Father,” Draco stepped closer, “Who are these girls? Are they my sisters? Where are they?”
“Patience…” I took the pages and stood slowly, my old bones complaining as I moved. I crossed my sitting room, where I spent most of my time, now that Draco was Master of the Manor and Narcissa spent more time asleep than awake. I crossed the dark brown wood floor with slow but sure steps and reached the floor to ceiling bookshelf soon enough. I handed him back the papers and looked over the spines of the books in front of me.
“Most of these are family albums. Of your childhood. Of mine and of your sisters as well.” I pulled out two very thin and very worn albums and ran my hand over the gilded name on top of the very light blue one’s front. It was Charis’.
“Sisters? I have sisters?” Draco’s shock was showing, his eyes wide and his voice high and sharp. “You never told me.”
“Mhmm,” I nodded and walked back to the couch. “Come on, sit here.” He sat beside me on the dark blue satin couch. “Charis was born first,” I opened the book, turning the delicate pages. “She had no hair when she was born and dark grey eyes. She was tiny. Smaller than little Scorpius when he was born; but she was noisy and so strong. See here? She screamed so much.” There were pages of a small baby girl screaming all of them progressing in age. From the captions the pictures were taken every few days.
“Here she is, six months old. Sitting up against your mother. This is her only picture where she isn’t screaming and is awake.” The baby girl was turned towards the photo, waving a silver spoon and grinning widely. We could just see Narcissa’s bright eyes, a few stray hairs curling around her face and her cheeks flushed.
I turned the pages through slowly and stopped when they were both blank.
I lowered my eyes and sighed.
“Father?”
“She died shortly after seven months. Your mother was devastated, but we still had Dorea.” I closed the book and opened the lavender one, setting Charis’s aside for the moment. “Dorea was quieter and smiled more. She had more hair and, see, it was darker as well.” I pointed towards photos of the sleeping infant. “She had your mother’s blue eyes from the very first.”
We passed through her photos, Draco staring in a mixture of awe and shock as he watched his older sister grow before his eyes. As we reached six months I hesitated. “Dorea didn’t smile too much when Charis got sick, and she seemed as if she knew her sister was dying.”
I turned the pages slowly, noting how the captions became weekly and then monthly. “She lived longer than her sister, and with her we were able to move on past Charis’s death,” I murmured.
“What happened?” Draco was breathless.
“She was a squib.” I said simply, turning the page. They were photos of Dorea struggling with her practice wand; a two and a half little girl trying to fly on a toy broom and failing. I turned to the last page. It was a photo of Dorea standing very straight and tall, her blonde hair held back with a green clip and her wide blue eyes shimmering with tears. She wore a very proper dark dress with white lacing and a bag sat on the ground by her feet. In her left hand she clutched a small white bear with a silver ribbon. In the photo she would smile a little and wave her empty hand.
“I think she knew we were giving her up, but we couldn’t have a squib in the family.” I shook my head slowly, “We put her in a very nice school for girls, gave her a decent sum of money to be had when she graduated and let go.”
“Three years later, we had you and we put them from our minds. You became everything then.” I closed that book as well and put it on top of Charis’.
We sat in silence and I could suppose what he was thinking. Where she could be, whether or not contacting her was a good idea, how she was doing…
There was a pop as a house elf appeared before me, bowing low and tugging her ears, “Poppin has messages. Mistress Narcissa is ready for tea for Master Lucius and Master Scorpius hopes Master Draco to be seeing hims fly his broom on the lawn. Poppin has made messages clear?”
“Yes yes,” I stood to put away the albums.
“Father, may I see those?” Draco hurried to my side, his hand out.
“Ah, I suppose…” I handed him the slim photograph albums. “You must take care of them and put them back when you are finished.”
“Of course.” Draco nodded, “I will Father. I understand these are heirlooms.”
“Priceless.”
“Thank you for the truth, father.”
I gave him a small smile and watched him leave. I stood alone in my private room for a moment before there was a tap at the window. Smiling I opened the window and let the small owl light on my hand. “Right on time as always, Bridget.” I took the letter and moved the owl to my shoulder.
I smiled at the perfect penmanship on the letter, To Mother and Father. I left then, to go meet with Narcissa. Nothing quite made her feel alive like Dorea’s letters.
FIN