Moonlight Sonata

By the time they finished talking to Narcissa and the twins, it was time to head back to the manor for lunch, and then the women took Hermione to discuss plans for the wedding, which was now only a few weeks away. Draco paused on his meandering of the gardens as he realized just how close it was to the day he would be married.


“I know that look.” His father’s voice, filled with laughter, made him turn in startlement. Just behind him, his arms crossed over his chest with a smile in his eyes. “You just realized why the women are getting frantic. Frantic enough to throw me out of my own study.”


“Is that why you’re out here?”


“Not precisely.” Lucius moved to stand beside his son, looking into the fountain with a faint sigh and shake of his head. “No, not at all. I came to see how you were holding up after your tantrums a few months ago.”


“Quite well, thank you.” Draco responded stiffly - not used to his father making any sort of attempt at checking on him.


“Oh? Despite the fact that you loathed Miss Granger throughout your school years? And nearly slaughtered your parents when we suggested her as your potential bride?”


“Yes. It was a good choice…is, a good choice.” Draco smiled, eyes never leaving the fountain, though it no longer seemed empty water to him - it was as though his memories of Hermione these last few months were playing across the surface.


Lucius stared as he saw the way his son’s face softened simply at the thought of Hermione as his bride, and nearly choked upon realizing what it meant. “You’re in love with her, are you not?”


“…what?! No, of course not!”


“…Son, you had the same look on your face just thinking of marriage to her, that I had the day I married your mother.”


“That doesn’t mean-” At his father’s look, he turned to sit on the fountain’s edge, resting his arms on his knees, and his head on his arms. “Very well…you are right to suspect I’m in love with her…”


“It is complicated, isn’t it? …finding just how very thin that metaphorical line is…”


“And how you enjoy seeing me squirm as I realize I am so far behind that line I don't know where it is anymore...” Draco muttered, glaring at his father from the corner of his eye. “Some sadistic tendencies remain I see.”


“Entertaining though your writhing is, I do not enjoy it out of sadism.” There was a serious tone in his father's voice now – a tone that was frighteningly warm, a tone he hadn't used since Draco's earliest memories of him. “I enjoy knowing you have crossed that line because that feeling will keep you safe, and sane, no matter what comes in the future...”


“And nothing else will? Is that what you're saying? But it isn't enough, is it?” Draco stood, his eyes full of pain and anguish as he looked at his father. The past four years he had avoided the man except in business, but now – now that he had confronted him with this kernel of truth – everything he had ever wanted – needed – to say now rose to the surface. “You claim what I feel for Hermione, you felt for Mother, once. What happened to it, Father? Where was that safety when you were throwing your life away in his service? Where was that sanity...” Draco's voice broke, and he paused, tears forming in his eyes as he faced his father as he had longed to do all his life. “...where was it when you were beating me within an inch of my life?”


Lucius stepped back as though he had just been struck, pain lancing across his face as he looked at his son, unable to speak in answer as his son stood shaking before him, open pain and confusion in those eyes so like his own.


“Where was it when you lashed out at Mother? You wanted to comfort me, Father?” His hand snapped to the side, gesturing to an area in the gardens where the white marble was stained dark brown. “Where was that comfort when I lay there bleeding after you threw me to the ground?! Where was it then, Father? You were so focused on my being the perfect heir you never stopped to look at the flaws in yourself! And for the past four years, I've kept quiet, I've avoided any chance of this happening, because I hated you for what you did to us! To Mother, and to me! And every time I look in the mirror, I flinch at the sight of myself so much like you! Especially now, when I find myself about to start a family of my own! What's to keep me from doing what you did? What's to save me from your fate?!”


“You are.” As much as it hurt to have every moment he had tried to ignore since his return thrown back into mind, every word and brutal blow to his wife and son, he knew this had to come someday. His hands rose to grasp Draco's shoulders, gaze locked on his son's as tears welled up in his eyes. “You are so much stronger than I ever was, Draco... You will never need to fear becoming me, because you aren't capable of it and never will be. I thought then I wanted a son who looked up to me, idolized me, and I got that every moment of your childhood, no matter what I did, how I treated you and your mother. The more you idolized me, the more violent I became. All I ever wanted, I know now, is for you to be exactly the man you have become, Draco. For you to be the kind of man who would go back to that first day I lashed out and stop me.”


“Well I am...and the worst part about being that man, Father...” Draco closed his eyes as the tears actually started to fall. “...is that even now, even after everything you did... I forgive you for all of it, because I know you have changed, and if you could go back, knowing what you now know, you would have taken a very different path.”


For the first time since he was a child, Draco felt his father's arms around him in a hug, holding him tightly. Draco let the tears fall as he hugged his father back, and as they stood there he realized he was not the only one crying. It was as though they were reliving every moment that they should have been father and son in that one prolonged moment.


“Ahem. ...Narcissa is looking for you.” Eriko's voice snapped both men out of that moment so quickly they fell backwards, quickly wiping their tears on their sleeves in one identical movement that left her with an arched brow. “Has anyone ever told you how like your father you are, Draco?”


Rather than flinch, as Lucius had expected, Draco just looked at him, then burst into laughter – standing and holding his hand out to help his father back to his feet. “...you know, it's not so bad a thing to hear, now...”


“...men.” Eriko muttered, shaking her head in confusion at them as she walked away. “...insane, the lot of them...”


Author's Note:

Wooo~! Yes! Another chapter! I am so sorry for the epic delay again, so much going on with school, then I got a mac and couldn't get the stupid program I was used to using to open .wps files, which this was saved as. I found a program that does (obviously) and so! Update!

I felt this moment of father and son is required before the story goes any farther. And yes. I was getting teary-eyed as I wrote this. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

OH YES! E-mail change! You can now reach me at eien.no.yuugure@gmail.com with any questions or random talking. I also use the google instant messaging client, so if you do as well, feel free to add me! I love talking to people!

Much love~!