Springfic: "Something in the Night" for chthonya

[springmod]

Title: Something in the Night
Author: Peskywhistpaw
Recipient: chthonya
Character(s): Lucius Malfoy, Abraxas Malfoy
Rating: PG
Wordcount: ~1,500
Warnings (highlight to view): Nothing that I can really think of.
Summary: It is only upon the bridge between childhood and adulthood that what was right becomes wrong, and what was wrong becomes habit. A young Lucius Malfoy

Comments

[terravayne]

I quite enjoyed this little peek into young Lucius's life. Where he got his pureblood ideals from and if he ever harbored a flicker of doubt. I wouldn't be surprised if this moment, which makes him feel sick, actually ends up reinforcing and radicalizing his later beliefs. Sadly, it's how cognitive dissonance gets resolved lots of the time. Great job!

[vegablack62]

I love the way you made magic in the household so real. I love the book which Lucius's hand moves through like a ghost. I think you did a great job with the elder Malfoy's version of the Wizard and the Hoping Pot. It was both engaging and in tune with what JKR wrote in the Beetle the Bard books.

It's interesting to think about what took Lucius from this sensitive boy to the may who could bounce the Muggle children upside down through the air in the Goblet of Fire.

Something in the Night

[catsintheattic]

Damn, this was harsh. This is exactly how I imagined Lucius growing up, with every compassionate bone in his body being removed from an early age on. Young Lucius was characterised so well; I could see his future self in this little glimpse.

Those last two lines summed up his life so perfectly.

And I truly enjoyed the magic in this story. Everything felt so real, from the books in the library to the house-elves and the noises in the night.

[scabbyfish]

I really enjoyed this. I've somehow never imagined what Lucius' childhood must have been like, but the picture you paint here is utterly plausible. How sad to grow up in such a harsh environment.

[chthonya]

How could I not enjoy a story about young Lucius? ;) This is wonderful - not least for the sheer beauty of the writing. I particularly liked the way you used the bridge metaphor at the start and the end.

I, like vegablack62, loved the details of the magical library books. And I'm intrigued by the torches leading Lucius on a path - is that literal, the manor teaching its future master in its own way, or it is his own subconscious that is causing the torches to lead him to an appropriate place?

And I agree with terravayne about how an incident like this could end up reinforcing his beliefs; such a moment of doubt would need to be ruthlessly suppressed if he were to convince himself that his father was right after all.

Thank you, mystery author, for this gem of a story.