Deception

Lucius stood very still.

His children slept.  Cesypus was in his cradle, but Caelum was in his mother’s arms.

She was singing a lullaby, unaware that he was watching them.

It made him think of Draco. 

He had been…uninvolved with him during his early childhood.  It was merely the unspoken rule, that a father ignore a child until they were capable of interacting. 

He guessed it wasn’t until Draco was seven or eight that he began to take notice of him.

It was important, because he was his firstborn.  He was his heir.  He intended to teach him everything that was right about this world, and what was wrong with it.  This included the importance of purity in ones blood line.

How to make the right friends, how one’s worth was measure in terms of success and ambition.  Draco was intelligent, proud, in so many ways he was like himself. 

When the Ministry obtained the power to search his home, Narcissa finally confessed that she had been hiding the two. 

He had to give her credit.  She spun a wild tale of love and devotion between the two, depicting them as star-crossed lovers afraid to tell their families.

Then of course Lucius explained the veela truth.  He was fined for never registering his family as veela—undoubtedly there were a few snickers over that.

‘Do you think your Dark Lord would have accepted that?’

The question from someone he did not recognize. To which Lucius had replied coldly, ‘I wouldn’t know.’

Of course he did know.  It was something ignored, such as Voldemort’s own origins.  But what others didn’t understand was that the ones with the most power were quite free to break the rules whenever they wanted to. 

‘Is everything alright?’ Ginny softly asked.

She did not look at him directly.  He turned away, unable to look at her. He did not have regrets.  But sometimes, he found it difficult to look at her when she was aware that he watched her.

‘My son is going to die.’

She was silent.  Unlike most women, she listened.  She didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with useless drivel.

‘We..interfered with the natural instinct within him.  The part that defines us as veela…’ He hesitated, ‘I was too angry to tell him, but it kind of worked like a repelling spell.  If he found his mate, who Narcissa and I were able to locate through divination, then it would result in dangerous complications.  This seal would make him dislike her.  The more he was subconsciously pressured to claim her, the more it manifested as hatred.’

He waited to here what she had to say, but she was silent.  Cruel girl.

But then, he was far more cruel.  Not merely as a parent, but as a husband, as a father…as a human being.  Maybe it was what drew him to this girl in the first place.‘It seems that did not please him.  I suspect he is choosing death out of spite.’

Out of the corner of his eye he watched Ginny rise and then carefully lay Caelum in his cradle.  ‘I would be very angry too, if my life was so controlled.’

He turned away, and stepped into the hall.  He leaned against the wall.  Sometimes he wondered why he shared these things with her.  It only planted the seeds for discord, and he was too pleased with her current behavior…she had pleased him very much in the past few months.

Perceptive, she knew he lingered nearby.

‘I understand that it is not my place to give my opinion.’

‘Correct,’ He replied, immediately regretting the word.  He could never change himself, even if he wanted to.

‘…But it sounds like you placed this ‘seal’ on him because you were worried about him.  People often hurt the ones they love, I think, because they are scared.  Or worried.’

Lucius squeezed his eyes closed.

Were they talking about the circumstances involving their relationship, or his son?

‘Maybe Draco is doing this spite you.  He has that right, as an adult, to make his own choices.  Even if they might be regrettable ones.  Or maybe he is doing this because now that the seal is lifted, he finds it difficult to face the girl he hurt.’

Lucius was silent.  He had not considered that.  But it would not change anything.

Ginny left the room and stared at her clasped hands.  She was such a tiny little thing.

‘I think you should trust the people you care about.  If he is your son, then you should trust him.  If our children were in the same situation, I would hope that they would make the right choice.’

He lightly caressed her hair.  Like silk.

‘Sometimes there are no right choices.  You know this.’  Lucius wished he weren’t so sadistic, or so cruel, but some people were born…twisted. He often thought he was one of those types.

She flinched, as if struck.‘Yeah.  Sometimes you can only pick the wrong choices.’