A Malfoy's Duty: Prologue - DVD Commentary Edition
Hi there, and welcome to the commentary track for A Father's Duty, the prologue to "A Malfoy's Duty".
Title: A Father's Duty, Prologue to "A Malfoy's Duty"
I'd had the idea for this fic for ages, originally under the title "Brotherly Love" - which I absolutely hated. A word I no longer remember (and just might have been "duty") popped up on 15minuteficlets, and this popped out in three hours. When I titled it as "A Father's Duty" I realized that the name of the entire fic was "A Malfoy's Duty" and I never looked back.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Draco, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.
Setting: Summer vacation, Post OotP.
What Lucius is doing here and how he got out of jail if this is post OotP I have no idea. That got completely glossed over by my brain somehow. Sigh. One of those things that will be fixed in the greater fic as a whole.
Rating: PG-13 for implied violence
Spoilers: Minor Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire spoilers, Major Goblet of Fire spoilers.
What an utterly bizzare way to devide up spoilers. What was I thinking?
A Malfoy's Duty, By LadySmith
Prologue: a Father's Duty
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns the Malfoys (except for Xenia, she's mine), Harry Potter, Dumbledore, Voldemort and the wizarding world in general. They are used entirely without permission, but entirely with respect.
I think I came up with "...entirely without permission but entirely with respect" for The Real World and the Dream World and when I remember to put disclaimers on things (which I'm horribly sloppy with around here) it's my standard disclaimer.
A/N: The author apologizes for the hideous crimes against the Latin Language in this fic. She tried to keep it to a minimum.
Me and Latin do not get along. My vocabulary (as to be expected of a linguist fluent in French with a fondness for etemology) is fantastic - my grammer is abysmal. My Greek is much much better. Both are better than my Sankrit.
The name "Xenia" (along with the inspiration for this fic) can be found in the chapter/story "My Sister Xenia" in Victor Dragunsky's brilliant children's novel The Adventures of Dennis (translated from the Russian by Fainna Glagoleva).
A tresured possession of my childhood, which currently resides on the same shelf as my Harry Potter books. The story in question is about the protagonist, Dennis, being left at home alone to his own devices while his father picks his mother and his new baby sister up from the hospital. When they get there he's introduced to her and basically marvels over this tiny helpless little thing and "start[s] loving her right away".
The idea of Dobby being a wet-nurse for Draco is probably quite a wide-spread one, but was brought to this author's attention by Maia's Underwater Light, so she gets the credit.
A WIP classic in H/D circles (of which I do not belong but know people who do), and one I'm addicted to in spite of not liking H/D or Harry Potter non-gen at all. Maia writes damn good stuff, though. (FWIW, my favorite of hers is here, nice bit of g-rated het teacher fluff.)
As far as this author knows, the term (as well as the concept) of "midwitch" (as a play on "midwife") is original. It is, however, such a basic concept that I'm sure something very similar has occurred to somebody else.
Dedication: For kenderheart, with thanks for her patience, and as always, for billietallent.
Because ever since I came up with this idea Darla has been nagging me about it, and "as always" because Amber is the reason I write fic, as well as being hopelessly in love with Draco.
~~~
Narcissa lay her head back on the pillow, exhausted. The midwitch cackled happily and straightened up, carefully balancing the tiny bundle in her arms.
"There we are dearie, all over now, and oooh, isn't she just the most darling little girl? Yes she is!" The midwitch proceeded to make cooing noises at the latest addition to the proud and noble house of Malfoy, who was currently showing her heritage by screaming her new lungs out and waving tiny fists about.
*Giggles madly* I don't have to respect Malfoys in any way at all do I? No more so than canon, anyway. :D
"Ooh, she is a strong one, isn't she?" The midwitch said and continued to coo nonsense at the tiny infant as she laid her down in a basin of warm water. "Lave infantum!"
This should mean "wash infant!" if I've done my homework right. At any rate it's close enough to sound right to people who get all thier Latin from J. K. Rowling.
She incanted, leveling her wand at the infant, who was no longer howling quite as loudly now that she was divested of a layer of placenta and other muck. "There now, little one, isn't that much much better?" The midwitch straightened up again and smiled at Narcissa. "Have you and Mr. Malfoy thought of a name? Should I call him in and ask him?"
Narcissa weakly shook her head. "No, no, let him stay out for now; her name is Xenia. Xenia Bellatrix Malfoy."
*grins* Now, naming a character who is simultaneously the smallest and the most important role in the entire fic is something of great import. So naturally I used the first thing that popped into my head and never looked back. It rolls off the tougne, it's an allusion to something that resonates very stringly for me, it's evocative of a word meaning "alien" or "foreigner", and it sounds like a pompous old money wizarding family name. And the Bellatrix just reinforced all that. Nice work if I do say so myself.
"Xenia! Oooh, that's a lovely one, yes it is! Very pretty!" She bent down over the basin again and resumed cooing. "And so are you, little Xenia, yes you are! Pretty name for a pretty girl, yes yes yes!" For her part, Xenia sobbed and looked unimpressed. Narcissa was just about to scream at the witch to cease that infernal gibbering when she looked at Narcissa and said "My, she looks just like little Draco did at that age. Would you like to hold her now then?"
At that moment, Narcissa wanted nothing in the world more. She nodded, and all thoughts of how much she would like to curse the prattling idiot into the next millennium were forgotten as her daughter was settled into her arms and quieted immediately.
A note on Narcissa's charcterization: I had come to utterly loathe both fanon cold!bitch!Narcissa, and Fanon weepy!smothering!Narcissa (who in HBP to my dismay became Canon!Cissy), and so set out to make something between the two: someone haughty and proud and no-nonsence as a good Black/Malfoy should be, and yet utterly devoted to her children. I think I suceeded.
She was so enthralled by her newborn she absently nodded yes to the Midwitch's next question before she realized what she'd asked.
"Right then, I'll fetch him in right away, shall I?" Narcissa had just enough time to realize her mistake before the witch went to the door and opened it. "They're ready for you now, Mr. Malfoy."
No, no, not yet, not yet, I want more time, please, oh, too late too late, please let her be alright, please let me not have made a terrible mistake...
I should state that I knew all along Xenia's fate, and that she wasn't going to live past this fic - this is hinting at the darkness ahead.
Narcissa had just enough time to compose her features into a smile for her husband before a blonde blur barged in ahead of him, leaving a shocked and unmistakably angry Lucius in the doorway.
"Is it here? What is it? Is it a boy? What's it look like?" A smug sixteen year old face, trying to look unimpressed and failing miserably, peered down at the bundle.
My first hints of sympathetic Draco, while keeping him the obnoxious git he is in the books.
"It is your sister Xenia, Draco, Xenia Bellatrix, and if you're very good I might let you hold her." Well, that was it, she was going to pay for it now, but perhaps she would win out in the end, she could only hope...
I'm really starting to feel for Narcissa here, which surprized the hell out of me at the time, and pleased me too, because this entire thing hinges on making Malfoys sympathetic while keeping them as close to canon as possible. I was fighting an uphill battle against myself, here, and so far winning.
"Xenia, is it?" Lucius' voice held no trace of anger or malice but Narcissa knew the fury that was being carefully contained. Without warning, Lucius spun to face the Midwitch. "Thank you, Calliope, that will do." His voice was soft and sweet, and that was when Narcissa realized just how angry he was.
I am proud of that. It seems so perfectly Lucius. When he sounds light and sweet, you have to worry.
Incidentally she's called Calliope because I'd recently picked up the Matrix Comics vol II, and the Caliope is a hovercraft in that, thus the word was fresh to mind when I needed one of those goofy Rowling wizard names and a Calliope is a high, piping coconophous thing. :D
Calliope bowed, and with a final little wave at the completely disinterested Xenia, left the room and closed the door behind her.
I'm proud of the amount of personality I managed to put into Xenia (at least in my mind). She seems a perfect little Malfoy, and like Draco I can't stop thinking about what she would have been like... but I'm getting WAY ahead of myself.
Draco had lost track of everything in the room except the tiny being before him who, as soon as he looked down at her had looked up at him with blue eyes the mirror of his own. He was completely speechless when she reached up her tiny hand and seized his thumb in her fist with a surprisingly strong grip.
I ducked under mommy's elbow and offered Xenia my finger. I'd guessed right and done the right thing, because she grabbed it and calmed down completely. She clutched it as hard as a drowning man clutches at a straw. I felt so sorry for her, holding on to me of all people, holding on as fast as she could with her tiny fingers. You could see I was the only one she could trust with her precious life. She might have thought this bathing business was torture. It was horible and risky, and dangerous. She'd have to try and save herself by hanging on to a finger, the finger of her stong, brave elder brother. When I realized all this and finally understood how scared the poor baby was I started loving her right away. - Viktor Dragunsky, My Sister Xenia.
Now, there's important diferences here, of course, but thematically? Bang on. This is where this story started.
Draco smiled, and was amazed to have her smile back at him. He looked up at his mother, beaming. "Did you see that? She smiled at me! Right at me!"
Draco is so cute here. And you have to understand when I say that that I'm so not a Draco fan.
His mother smiled back, but it was a sad smile, and it looked like she was about to cry. Draco started to ask her why she was sad when his father's voice came from behind him.
"You as well, Draco. Out."
"But..."
"I will not ask you again, Draco." Draco knew better than to say anything back to his father when he sounded like that.
It just occured to me that I didn't actually describe how Lucius sounds except "the tone that Draco knows better than to argue with". I'm not sure if that's sloppy or perfect. FWIW, the best specimin of this tone can be found in the scene in the CoS movie at Florish and Blotts: "Now, now Draco..." right when we first meet Lucius. *shivers* The term "inspired casting" comes to mind.
With a last look at Xenia, he left the room, solemnly promising to himself on the name of the Dark Lord and Salazar himself and most especially the Name of the House of Malfoy that he would protect his little sister from anything or anyone that would ever try to harm her.
Him promising on the name of the Dark Lord is me being terribly ironic, of course. Purposefully so. Draco going over to the forces of light because his father died in Maia's Underwater Light never clicked with me, but this did. There needed to be some terrible betrayal. The Dragunski story (which I could quote nearly from memory) clicked together with the potential for Ron and Ginny and Voldemort parallels and BANG an idea was born that sat around waiting for this fic to unlock it.
He didn't yet know that what presented the greatest danger to her was another Malfoy.
I debated about this line: it felt a little heavy handed. Still, it's pretty obvious at this point that trouble is brewing, and Lucius is the font of it, so this is just bringing things to head before we follow blissfully ignorant Draco's POV outside. There's precious little moments of safety for the reader in this one. It's always opressively dark and menacing, even if the characters don't know what they're in for.
***
"I know you're angry, Lucius, but little Xenia Bellatrix is sure to..."
"You will not pacify me by bringing up the name we agreed on, Narcissa. I am not sure I am willing to forgive you for giving my mother's name to something we are not yet sure is worthy of it... Though besmirching your sister's name is of course your own business."
Because it didn't make sense to me that he would let her name a child after her sister without a Malfoy name taking precedence, so "Xenia" became Lucius' mother's name. Seemed to make sense to me.
Narcissa sighed. There was nothing for it now but to go along and pray that she hadn't been hasty. It had been a mistake, and she knew it, but they'd been so sure that Draco would be her last; they'd been trying for so long, any child was a miracle. Draco had been a miracle, and before him...
This is me blueskying completely, but it feels right. That Draco was a dificult conception, a miricle baby.
No. Mustn't think of him, of it. Not now, mustn't jinx it for little Xenia....
Now, at the time this was me hinting broadly at what was in store - only later did it occur to me this could refer to something as mundane (as it were) as a miscarriage. Which led me to the realization that to Lucius, a squib is a miscarriage. Say it with me: ew.
Wordlessly she handed over the precious bundle to Lucius, who in the meantime had been putting ritual accoutrements on the side table.
...I get a flash here to Brown's worktable from the interrogation scene of The Matrix (or maybe the Joker's from Return of the Joker), crossed with something out of a doomed Lovecraft protagonist's lab.
***
Draco paced in the hallway. He knew that he should be getting to bed, but his curiosity was far too strong. He smirked. He'd never have been able to lurk outside his parent's bedchamber when Dobby was here. That would be the one thing in his entire life Potter had gotten right, getting that little snitch sacked. Of course, then the little idiot had been hired on at Hogwarts. Stupid Dumbledore. He'd get his someday...
Trying to get into Draco's head as best as I can, and simultaniously thinking "wow, you're a git", and pitying him for having no concept of what's going on.
Draco blinked in sudden realization and stopped pacing. As much of a bane of his existence Dobby had been in recent years, he'd been Draco's closest companion when he was little. Who was going to do the same for Xenia? Damn that jumped-up half-mud idiot Potter! Curse his name!!
I'm particularily fond of the complete one-eighty here when it comes to Harry: I have to admit that is a little Maia-influenced.
With Dobby gone, who would help her build secret chambers out of bedclothes and read the Illustrated Adventures of Merlin to her? Who would hold her in the night when the monster under the bed came calling? Draco smiled smugly. Why, he would, of course. And teach her to ride a broom and play Quidditch, and help her with her homework, and she'd earn Slytherin loads of points...
And this is where I'm actually feeling sorry for the little bastard. Because it seems so cruel, even for me, to line all this out and then snatch it away.
Draco was shaken out of his reverie by what sounded like his mother crying. He blinked. What in Salazar's blood was going on in there? He edged closer to the door and put his ear against it in time to hear...
Draco blinked. That couldn't be right. Did he really just hear his father cast impedimenta?
*sighs* Whoops. This is supposed to be "Impirius" - a plot point is that Lucius actually casts an unfogivable on his own wife and then keeps her mind-controlled - but the longer this goes on with me forgetting to correct it, the more I think maybe it works better this way: he freezes her here, and later we find out the depths of his crimes (in his own mind).
Why? Was someone attacking? Without thinking, intent on protecting his baby sister, Draco burst through the door in time to see the knife in his father's hand plunge downward into...
The "shadow on the wall" approach. I hope it works.
Draco never did completely remember what he saw. He wondered for yeas afterwards if his father had cast a memory charm as some small act of mercy.
An allusion to the fact that Draco will never fully get over this moment, and it becomes defining for the rest of his life.
Mercy he felt Draco deserved but Xenia didn't. The next thing he did remember was his father shaking him, his eyes full of concern.
I did what I could to not make Lucius a cardboard 2D mustache twirling villain: form his POV he's done nothing wrong, and this has spun out of his control and potencially affected his son, for whom he does care deeply.
"..sten to me Draco, you must listen. It was necessary, don't you see? It wasn't a wizard, Draco, wasn't a Malfoy. Your mother made the terrible mistake of naming it before we were sure, but there was no Xenia Bellatrix Malfoy, Draco. She never existed."
He needs Draco to understand this so badly, because it will make what he's done to his wife all right.
She never existed. Never held my hand and smiled at me. And I won't read her stories and teach her to fly and help her, because she was never born...
Something very cold awakened inside Draco. So cold it burned. ...because I didn't protect her.
Bang. Lucius has failed. The stage is set. The plot of A Malfoy's Duty is on the tracks and rolling. This was a key moment and I needed it to have impact. "So cold it burned" is breathtakingly vivid for me, having had close brushes with hypothermia but I hope it resonates for others too. The idea here is frostbite of the heart, giving birth to icy rage. But rage is always a flame.
He met his Father's gaze, calm and cool. He smiled knowingly. "I understand, father. A Malfoy's loyalty is to true Malfoys."
Manipulative little Draco. Poor Lucius has no idea what he's just done to the cause of the Dark Lord.
Lucius smiled. "That's my boy. Your mother didn't understand, but she will." Lucius' face grew distant with something Draco couldn't quite recognize. "She will" He whispered, then smiled down at his son again, all trace of whatever had been there a moment ago gone.
Again, humanizing Lucius, which is NOT easy. He's just made the decision that when she snaps out of what he's just done to her, if she still doesn't understand the necesity of what he did he'll MAKE her, with imperius. There's quite a few images from the continuing plot of AMD that are crystal clear in my mind: one of them being Drac's sickened outrage at the gostly shell his mother has become under constant uses of the Imperius curse.
"Now, we will need to take this," Lucius hefted the small bloodied bundle in his hand, "to the next gathering, to prove the Dark Lord's edicts have been fulfilled." He beamed paternally down at the expression of surprise on his son's face. "Yes, Draco, we. You're to be afforded a special honour, quite a treat. I need you to testify for me, Draco, as a witness to this."
Because there's no way in high holy hell you can convince me that Draco has been to Death Eater Meetings before this point. This is one of the many reasons I was shivering pretty good when reading HBP: the idea of Draco needing to "prove himself", and the crying in the bathroom, and all of that - the details are all off, but thematically it showed that JK's head and mine were in very similar places.
Lucius clasped a hand on Draco's shoulder, and his voice became soft, but there was a note of danger in it. "Can you do that for me, Draco? Can you do your duty as a Malfoy?"
Draco smiled up at Lucius. "Yes, Father, I can. I will."
...because a Malfoy's duty is to avenge wrongs done us. You made me break my last oath, so I'll make a new one. In Xenia Bellatrix Malfoy's name, I Draco Phineas Malfoy will avenge her. Even if I have to wreak that vengeance on the Dark Lord himself.
I can't remember now where I got that Phineas from, but I do know it was very deliberate. I've misplaced my copy of OotP or I'd look it up - I do know it's a canon member of the Malfoy/Black/LeStrange family tree.
Draco left the room silently, and closed the door behind him. "...Even if I have to wreak it on you, Lucius." he whispered.
And yes, that he calls him "Lucius" is Terribly! Significant! because Lucius not a Malfoy to Draco any longer. Draco will withhold the family honour no matter the cost.
~Fin~
Well, I hope you found that entertaining and enlightening. I did.
Title: A Father's Duty, Prologue to "A Malfoy's Duty"
I'd had the idea for this fic for ages, originally under the title "Brotherly Love" - which I absolutely hated. A word I no longer remember (and just might have been "duty") popped up on 15minuteficlets, and this popped out in three hours. When I titled it as "A Father's Duty" I realized that the name of the entire fic was "A Malfoy's Duty" and I never looked back.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Draco, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.
Setting: Summer vacation, Post OotP.
What Lucius is doing here and how he got out of jail if this is post OotP I have no idea. That got completely glossed over by my brain somehow. Sigh. One of those things that will be fixed in the greater fic as a whole.
Rating: PG-13 for implied violence
Spoilers: Minor Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire spoilers, Major Goblet of Fire spoilers.
What an utterly bizzare way to devide up spoilers. What was I thinking?
A Malfoy's Duty, By LadySmith
Prologue: a Father's Duty
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns the Malfoys (except for Xenia, she's mine), Harry Potter, Dumbledore, Voldemort and the wizarding world in general. They are used entirely without permission, but entirely with respect.
I think I came up with "...entirely without permission but entirely with respect" for The Real World and the Dream World and when I remember to put disclaimers on things (which I'm horribly sloppy with around here) it's my standard disclaimer.
A/N: The author apologizes for the hideous crimes against the Latin Language in this fic. She tried to keep it to a minimum.
Me and Latin do not get along. My vocabulary (as to be expected of a linguist fluent in French with a fondness for etemology) is fantastic - my grammer is abysmal. My Greek is much much better. Both are better than my Sankrit.
The name "Xenia" (along with the inspiration for this fic) can be found in the chapter/story "My Sister Xenia" in Victor Dragunsky's brilliant children's novel The Adventures of Dennis (translated from the Russian by Fainna Glagoleva).
A tresured possession of my childhood, which currently resides on the same shelf as my Harry Potter books. The story in question is about the protagonist, Dennis, being left at home alone to his own devices while his father picks his mother and his new baby sister up from the hospital. When they get there he's introduced to her and basically marvels over this tiny helpless little thing and "start[s] loving her right away".
The idea of Dobby being a wet-nurse for Draco is probably quite a wide-spread one, but was brought to this author's attention by Maia's Underwater Light, so she gets the credit.
A WIP classic in H/D circles (of which I do not belong but know people who do), and one I'm addicted to in spite of not liking H/D or Harry Potter non-gen at all. Maia writes damn good stuff, though. (FWIW, my favorite of hers is here, nice bit of g-rated het teacher fluff.)
As far as this author knows, the term (as well as the concept) of "midwitch" (as a play on "midwife") is original. It is, however, such a basic concept that I'm sure something very similar has occurred to somebody else.
Dedication: For kenderheart, with thanks for her patience, and as always, for billietallent.
Because ever since I came up with this idea Darla has been nagging me about it, and "as always" because Amber is the reason I write fic, as well as being hopelessly in love with Draco.
~~~
Narcissa lay her head back on the pillow, exhausted. The midwitch cackled happily and straightened up, carefully balancing the tiny bundle in her arms.
"There we are dearie, all over now, and oooh, isn't she just the most darling little girl? Yes she is!" The midwitch proceeded to make cooing noises at the latest addition to the proud and noble house of Malfoy, who was currently showing her heritage by screaming her new lungs out and waving tiny fists about.
*Giggles madly* I don't have to respect Malfoys in any way at all do I? No more so than canon, anyway. :D
"Ooh, she is a strong one, isn't she?" The midwitch said and continued to coo nonsense at the tiny infant as she laid her down in a basin of warm water. "Lave infantum!"
This should mean "wash infant!" if I've done my homework right. At any rate it's close enough to sound right to people who get all thier Latin from J. K. Rowling.
She incanted, leveling her wand at the infant, who was no longer howling quite as loudly now that she was divested of a layer of placenta and other muck. "There now, little one, isn't that much much better?" The midwitch straightened up again and smiled at Narcissa. "Have you and Mr. Malfoy thought of a name? Should I call him in and ask him?"
Narcissa weakly shook her head. "No, no, let him stay out for now; her name is Xenia. Xenia Bellatrix Malfoy."
*grins* Now, naming a character who is simultaneously the smallest and the most important role in the entire fic is something of great import. So naturally I used the first thing that popped into my head and never looked back. It rolls off the tougne, it's an allusion to something that resonates very stringly for me, it's evocative of a word meaning "alien" or "foreigner", and it sounds like a pompous old money wizarding family name. And the Bellatrix just reinforced all that. Nice work if I do say so myself.
"Xenia! Oooh, that's a lovely one, yes it is! Very pretty!" She bent down over the basin again and resumed cooing. "And so are you, little Xenia, yes you are! Pretty name for a pretty girl, yes yes yes!" For her part, Xenia sobbed and looked unimpressed. Narcissa was just about to scream at the witch to cease that infernal gibbering when she looked at Narcissa and said "My, she looks just like little Draco did at that age. Would you like to hold her now then?"
At that moment, Narcissa wanted nothing in the world more. She nodded, and all thoughts of how much she would like to curse the prattling idiot into the next millennium were forgotten as her daughter was settled into her arms and quieted immediately.
A note on Narcissa's charcterization: I had come to utterly loathe both fanon cold!bitch!Narcissa, and Fanon weepy!smothering!Narcissa (who in HBP to my dismay became Canon!Cissy), and so set out to make something between the two: someone haughty and proud and no-nonsence as a good Black/Malfoy should be, and yet utterly devoted to her children. I think I suceeded.
She was so enthralled by her newborn she absently nodded yes to the Midwitch's next question before she realized what she'd asked.
"Right then, I'll fetch him in right away, shall I?" Narcissa had just enough time to realize her mistake before the witch went to the door and opened it. "They're ready for you now, Mr. Malfoy."
No, no, not yet, not yet, I want more time, please, oh, too late too late, please let her be alright, please let me not have made a terrible mistake...
I should state that I knew all along Xenia's fate, and that she wasn't going to live past this fic - this is hinting at the darkness ahead.
Narcissa had just enough time to compose her features into a smile for her husband before a blonde blur barged in ahead of him, leaving a shocked and unmistakably angry Lucius in the doorway.
"Is it here? What is it? Is it a boy? What's it look like?" A smug sixteen year old face, trying to look unimpressed and failing miserably, peered down at the bundle.
My first hints of sympathetic Draco, while keeping him the obnoxious git he is in the books.
"It is your sister Xenia, Draco, Xenia Bellatrix, and if you're very good I might let you hold her." Well, that was it, she was going to pay for it now, but perhaps she would win out in the end, she could only hope...
I'm really starting to feel for Narcissa here, which surprized the hell out of me at the time, and pleased me too, because this entire thing hinges on making Malfoys sympathetic while keeping them as close to canon as possible. I was fighting an uphill battle against myself, here, and so far winning.
"Xenia, is it?" Lucius' voice held no trace of anger or malice but Narcissa knew the fury that was being carefully contained. Without warning, Lucius spun to face the Midwitch. "Thank you, Calliope, that will do." His voice was soft and sweet, and that was when Narcissa realized just how angry he was.
I am proud of that. It seems so perfectly Lucius. When he sounds light and sweet, you have to worry.
Incidentally she's called Calliope because I'd recently picked up the Matrix Comics vol II, and the Caliope is a hovercraft in that, thus the word was fresh to mind when I needed one of those goofy Rowling wizard names and a Calliope is a high, piping coconophous thing. :D
Calliope bowed, and with a final little wave at the completely disinterested Xenia, left the room and closed the door behind her.
I'm proud of the amount of personality I managed to put into Xenia (at least in my mind). She seems a perfect little Malfoy, and like Draco I can't stop thinking about what she would have been like... but I'm getting WAY ahead of myself.
Draco had lost track of everything in the room except the tiny being before him who, as soon as he looked down at her had looked up at him with blue eyes the mirror of his own. He was completely speechless when she reached up her tiny hand and seized his thumb in her fist with a surprisingly strong grip.
I ducked under mommy's elbow and offered Xenia my finger. I'd guessed right and done the right thing, because she grabbed it and calmed down completely. She clutched it as hard as a drowning man clutches at a straw. I felt so sorry for her, holding on to me of all people, holding on as fast as she could with her tiny fingers. You could see I was the only one she could trust with her precious life. She might have thought this bathing business was torture. It was horible and risky, and dangerous. She'd have to try and save herself by hanging on to a finger, the finger of her stong, brave elder brother. When I realized all this and finally understood how scared the poor baby was I started loving her right away. - Viktor Dragunsky, My Sister Xenia.
Now, there's important diferences here, of course, but thematically? Bang on. This is where this story started.
Draco smiled, and was amazed to have her smile back at him. He looked up at his mother, beaming. "Did you see that? She smiled at me! Right at me!"
Draco is so cute here. And you have to understand when I say that that I'm so not a Draco fan.
His mother smiled back, but it was a sad smile, and it looked like she was about to cry. Draco started to ask her why she was sad when his father's voice came from behind him.
"You as well, Draco. Out."
"But..."
"I will not ask you again, Draco." Draco knew better than to say anything back to his father when he sounded like that.
It just occured to me that I didn't actually describe how Lucius sounds except "the tone that Draco knows better than to argue with". I'm not sure if that's sloppy or perfect. FWIW, the best specimin of this tone can be found in the scene in the CoS movie at Florish and Blotts: "Now, now Draco..." right when we first meet Lucius. *shivers* The term "inspired casting" comes to mind.
With a last look at Xenia, he left the room, solemnly promising to himself on the name of the Dark Lord and Salazar himself and most especially the Name of the House of Malfoy that he would protect his little sister from anything or anyone that would ever try to harm her.
Him promising on the name of the Dark Lord is me being terribly ironic, of course. Purposefully so. Draco going over to the forces of light because his father died in Maia's Underwater Light never clicked with me, but this did. There needed to be some terrible betrayal. The Dragunski story (which I could quote nearly from memory) clicked together with the potential for Ron and Ginny and Voldemort parallels and BANG an idea was born that sat around waiting for this fic to unlock it.
He didn't yet know that what presented the greatest danger to her was another Malfoy.
I debated about this line: it felt a little heavy handed. Still, it's pretty obvious at this point that trouble is brewing, and Lucius is the font of it, so this is just bringing things to head before we follow blissfully ignorant Draco's POV outside. There's precious little moments of safety for the reader in this one. It's always opressively dark and menacing, even if the characters don't know what they're in for.
***
"I know you're angry, Lucius, but little Xenia Bellatrix is sure to..."
"You will not pacify me by bringing up the name we agreed on, Narcissa. I am not sure I am willing to forgive you for giving my mother's name to something we are not yet sure is worthy of it... Though besmirching your sister's name is of course your own business."
Because it didn't make sense to me that he would let her name a child after her sister without a Malfoy name taking precedence, so "Xenia" became Lucius' mother's name. Seemed to make sense to me.
Narcissa sighed. There was nothing for it now but to go along and pray that she hadn't been hasty. It had been a mistake, and she knew it, but they'd been so sure that Draco would be her last; they'd been trying for so long, any child was a miracle. Draco had been a miracle, and before him...
This is me blueskying completely, but it feels right. That Draco was a dificult conception, a miricle baby.
No. Mustn't think of him, of it. Not now, mustn't jinx it for little Xenia....
Now, at the time this was me hinting broadly at what was in store - only later did it occur to me this could refer to something as mundane (as it were) as a miscarriage. Which led me to the realization that to Lucius, a squib is a miscarriage. Say it with me: ew.
Wordlessly she handed over the precious bundle to Lucius, who in the meantime had been putting ritual accoutrements on the side table.
...I get a flash here to Brown's worktable from the interrogation scene of The Matrix (or maybe the Joker's from Return of the Joker), crossed with something out of a doomed Lovecraft protagonist's lab.
***
Draco paced in the hallway. He knew that he should be getting to bed, but his curiosity was far too strong. He smirked. He'd never have been able to lurk outside his parent's bedchamber when Dobby was here. That would be the one thing in his entire life Potter had gotten right, getting that little snitch sacked. Of course, then the little idiot had been hired on at Hogwarts. Stupid Dumbledore. He'd get his someday...
Trying to get into Draco's head as best as I can, and simultaniously thinking "wow, you're a git", and pitying him for having no concept of what's going on.
Draco blinked in sudden realization and stopped pacing. As much of a bane of his existence Dobby had been in recent years, he'd been Draco's closest companion when he was little. Who was going to do the same for Xenia? Damn that jumped-up half-mud idiot Potter! Curse his name!!
I'm particularily fond of the complete one-eighty here when it comes to Harry: I have to admit that is a little Maia-influenced.
With Dobby gone, who would help her build secret chambers out of bedclothes and read the Illustrated Adventures of Merlin to her? Who would hold her in the night when the monster under the bed came calling? Draco smiled smugly. Why, he would, of course. And teach her to ride a broom and play Quidditch, and help her with her homework, and she'd earn Slytherin loads of points...
And this is where I'm actually feeling sorry for the little bastard. Because it seems so cruel, even for me, to line all this out and then snatch it away.
Draco was shaken out of his reverie by what sounded like his mother crying. He blinked. What in Salazar's blood was going on in there? He edged closer to the door and put his ear against it in time to hear...
Draco blinked. That couldn't be right. Did he really just hear his father cast impedimenta?
*sighs* Whoops. This is supposed to be "Impirius" - a plot point is that Lucius actually casts an unfogivable on his own wife and then keeps her mind-controlled - but the longer this goes on with me forgetting to correct it, the more I think maybe it works better this way: he freezes her here, and later we find out the depths of his crimes (in his own mind).
Why? Was someone attacking? Without thinking, intent on protecting his baby sister, Draco burst through the door in time to see the knife in his father's hand plunge downward into...
The "shadow on the wall" approach. I hope it works.
Draco never did completely remember what he saw. He wondered for yeas afterwards if his father had cast a memory charm as some small act of mercy.
An allusion to the fact that Draco will never fully get over this moment, and it becomes defining for the rest of his life.
Mercy he felt Draco deserved but Xenia didn't. The next thing he did remember was his father shaking him, his eyes full of concern.
I did what I could to not make Lucius a cardboard 2D mustache twirling villain: form his POV he's done nothing wrong, and this has spun out of his control and potencially affected his son, for whom he does care deeply.
"..sten to me Draco, you must listen. It was necessary, don't you see? It wasn't a wizard, Draco, wasn't a Malfoy. Your mother made the terrible mistake of naming it before we were sure, but there was no Xenia Bellatrix Malfoy, Draco. She never existed."
He needs Draco to understand this so badly, because it will make what he's done to his wife all right.
She never existed. Never held my hand and smiled at me. And I won't read her stories and teach her to fly and help her, because she was never born...
Something very cold awakened inside Draco. So cold it burned. ...because I didn't protect her.
Bang. Lucius has failed. The stage is set. The plot of A Malfoy's Duty is on the tracks and rolling. This was a key moment and I needed it to have impact. "So cold it burned" is breathtakingly vivid for me, having had close brushes with hypothermia but I hope it resonates for others too. The idea here is frostbite of the heart, giving birth to icy rage. But rage is always a flame.
He met his Father's gaze, calm and cool. He smiled knowingly. "I understand, father. A Malfoy's loyalty is to true Malfoys."
Manipulative little Draco. Poor Lucius has no idea what he's just done to the cause of the Dark Lord.
Lucius smiled. "That's my boy. Your mother didn't understand, but she will." Lucius' face grew distant with something Draco couldn't quite recognize. "She will" He whispered, then smiled down at his son again, all trace of whatever had been there a moment ago gone.
Again, humanizing Lucius, which is NOT easy. He's just made the decision that when she snaps out of what he's just done to her, if she still doesn't understand the necesity of what he did he'll MAKE her, with imperius. There's quite a few images from the continuing plot of AMD that are crystal clear in my mind: one of them being Drac's sickened outrage at the gostly shell his mother has become under constant uses of the Imperius curse.
"Now, we will need to take this," Lucius hefted the small bloodied bundle in his hand, "to the next gathering, to prove the Dark Lord's edicts have been fulfilled." He beamed paternally down at the expression of surprise on his son's face. "Yes, Draco, we. You're to be afforded a special honour, quite a treat. I need you to testify for me, Draco, as a witness to this."
Because there's no way in high holy hell you can convince me that Draco has been to Death Eater Meetings before this point. This is one of the many reasons I was shivering pretty good when reading HBP: the idea of Draco needing to "prove himself", and the crying in the bathroom, and all of that - the details are all off, but thematically it showed that JK's head and mine were in very similar places.
Lucius clasped a hand on Draco's shoulder, and his voice became soft, but there was a note of danger in it. "Can you do that for me, Draco? Can you do your duty as a Malfoy?"
Draco smiled up at Lucius. "Yes, Father, I can. I will."
...because a Malfoy's duty is to avenge wrongs done us. You made me break my last oath, so I'll make a new one. In Xenia Bellatrix Malfoy's name, I Draco Phineas Malfoy will avenge her. Even if I have to wreak that vengeance on the Dark Lord himself.
I can't remember now where I got that Phineas from, but I do know it was very deliberate. I've misplaced my copy of OotP or I'd look it up - I do know it's a canon member of the Malfoy/Black/LeStrange family tree.
Draco left the room silently, and closed the door behind him. "...Even if I have to wreak it on you, Lucius." he whispered.
And yes, that he calls him "Lucius" is Terribly! Significant! because Lucius not a Malfoy to Draco any longer. Draco will withhold the family honour no matter the cost.
~Fin~
Well, I hope you found that entertaining and enlightening. I did.