Draco and the Old Man

One

Draco Malfoy stood in front of his son. The boy had been running through the forest near their manor and had scraped himself quite badly. Blood slowly dripped from each small wound. The boy, himself, looked like he was about to cry. His lower lip trembled and his eyes watered.

"Don't cry, my boy." the father soothed the son. He gently used his fingers to turn the boy's face to look at the extent of the cuts. In truth, they were merely superficial cuts. Scorpius must have scared himself more than hurt. Nonetheless, Draco used his wand to fix them all up. "There." he said "All better." Scorpius forced a smile. A single tear slipped out of his eye.

"Thank you, daddy." he said. Even at nine years of age, Scorpius was still so much of a coward. Draco thought he knew what had happened, but he asked anyways.

"What happened, my boy? Tell me." he said. Scorpius' lip trembled some more. He shook his head gently and a few more tears spilled out.

"I was out past the moor," he mumbled, "and I heard a loud noise. I got scared then it got louder. It was chasing me so I had to run. I ran back to the forested ran as fast as I could home."

"The moor, my boy?" Draco's suspicions had been right. "I've told you that the noises are normal for there."

"But what are they, daddy? Why are they so loud."

"Scorpius," Draco held his son by the shoulders, "the noises are made by a deadly muggle contraption. It is their form of the killing curse. The moor is what they might otherwise call a shooting range. You know this. I know you do."

"It's still scary, daddy." the buy mumbled into his sleeve.

"I know, but son, the only way for you to stop being scared by the noise is to stop putting yourself in situations that scare you. Each time you go to the moor, you scare yourself, yet you keep returning."

"I know, daddy." Scorpius nodded slowly. "But there are beautiful daisies that grow in the moor. They are the prettiest daisies too."

"Son, if you keep returning to the moor, the same thing will happen again. I can't protect you from it, you know."

"I know, daddy."

"Good, now run along to your room. Your mother left you some arithmetic problems to practice." Draco gently shoved his kid towards the direction of his room.

"Mummy," Scorpius paused, "how is she?"

Draco hesitated. "Never you mind, right now. Run along." Scorpius said nothing more. He did as he was told, though, and went to his room.

"Your son is a pansy." a voice said from behind Draco. "Merlin knows that's your fault."

"Not in the mood for this." Draco muttered. "Besides, you shouldn't be chiding me for my parenting skills when you did such a good job with your son."

"You know I did everything out of love." Draco's father moved out of the shadows. "Our family name dropped slightly with me but I was trying to raise it up and strengthen it with you!"

"You lie!" Draco snarled. "You were only out for yourself throughout this all!"

"NO!" Lucius cried back. "I did everything for you. And for you future children. But you wasted it all. Are you really that ungrateful?"

"Father, Scorpius is a lovely child. He's everything that I should have been."

"You should have been a coward?" Lucius taunted. "Like I said before, your son is a pansy."

"I am proud that not a single inch of darkness is in my boy!" Draco stabbed his finger into his father's chest. "I did right by him, even if his grandfather isn't proud of him."

"The reason I am not proud of the boy is not for his cowardice, but for the fact that I could be proud of him, had my son not made him soft."

"You're sick father. You can't just like the boy?"

"I am not the sick one." Lucius said slyly. "Your wife is."

"Leave. Father." Draco spat.

"Draco, son, you missed so much with the idea of parenthood. It's about making your child great no matter the cost."

"No! You don't learn from any mistakes, do you? Parenthood is about loving your child and letting them become whatever they wish to be and teach them right by the world, but you wouldn't know that, would you. You did the exact opposite." Draco took a breath for a moment. "I want you to leave father. And I never want you to return. You're a stain on this household, so leave."

"Goodbye, Draco." Lucius said after a while.

A/N: I'll update once a day for as long as I can. Love you guys and thanks for reading! -J.C/Jul/Whatever the heck my name is