Serpens Solus

Chapter III

Set Down the Laws

Draco woke up the next morning, half-tired and worried. He had heard the entire conversation between his father and mother. Draco knew his father well; Lucius wouldn´t disobey the laws of his ancestors. He didn´t know what to do, though he was half-angry at his father for being so stubborn. However, there was a party to occur and he had to face his relatives, rejected or not. Sighing, he headed to his closet to find a robe suitable for the evening.

Meanwhile, Narcissa was busy talking with the House-Elves about the dinner party that was due to start in a few hours. With a dutiful House-Elf following her, she rushed around the mansion pointing out various objects that needed to be taken care of. As she walked by Draco´s door, she paused, knowing she didn´t get a chance to talk to him since his rejection.

Narcissa walked into Draco´s room. She looked around, and found him half hidden in the closet, looking for a robe to wear.

"Draco, are you okay?"

Draco mumbled a quick reply and continued to go through his closet. He occasionally pulled out a robe, tried it on and threw it into one of many piles. He didn´t want to talk to his mother, knowing she would find out how he really felt, which was far from okay. Narcissa always managed to bring out Draco´s submerged emotions.

Narcissa sighed and decided to take a stand. Draco wasn´t going to avoid her forever. "Draco, it´s obvious that you´re not fine. No turn around and tell me how you really feel."

Draco turned around and faced his mother with bloodshot eyes. After staring at Narcissa for a while, he said, "I´m not fine."

"Of course you aren´t. Come here." She walked over to Draco and hugged his unmoving body. Draco stood there and let his mother hug him tightly, sniffing softly, but not once did he cry. Ever since he was born, he never cried, and for that specific attribute, his parents named him Draco.

After a short interval, Narcissa pulled herself away from Draco and brought him over to the bed. "Now, do you want to tell me why you didn´t make it?"

"I don´t know, mom, I really don´t know." Draco stared straight ahead, trying to remain calm when all he wanted to do was to stay in his mother´s arms and tell her how he really felt. However, inside, he knew that it was childish behaviour for his age. Sighing, he continued on. "He just told me that I wasn´t cut out for being a Death Eater and that I wasn´t like any Malfoy he knew. I don´t know, but the way he spoke to me, it was as if he loathed me and wanted me out of his sight."

Silently, Narcissa was shocked. She knew how much Draco admired the Dark Arts and wanted to join Voldemort ever since Lucius told him about it at the ripe age of five, or so Lucius claimed. Personally, Narcissa just wanted to gather him in her arms and tell him that it was okay and he didn´t upset his family in anyway, but she figured that Draco wouldn´t like that. Instead, she said, "So what do you plan on doing now?"

She didn´t know,

Draco thought, she didn´t know I overheard them. Dully, he answered, "I dunno, wait till father kills me."

"Draco!" His mother said sharply, "Your father wouldn´t do that!"

"Yes he would, it´s in the Malfoy Code, mum. You know he obeys that to every extent."

Narcissa shook her head, sighing, "I can´t deny that myself, but I still wish he wasn´t like that."

"So, what do you plan on doing?" Draco got up and headed towards the closet.

Sometimes the simpliest ideas are hard to discover, but for Narcissa, it was fairly easy. "I have an idea, but she´ll agree with it."

"Who?" Draco asked, anxious.

"Oh, you know," Narcissa smiled. "A Malfoy."

"Mom, which Malfoy?"

"You´ll find out Draco, just pick out something nice to wear."

Draco shook his head and got up from the bed. Shortly after, he pulled out a black robe made out of silk.

"You might want something less fancier than that, Draco."

Sighing, Draco put the robe back in his closet and pulled out another black robe, made out of another fabric.

"That´s better Draco. Just wait till tonight."

* * * * *

By the time evening came around, Draco still hadn´t figured out whom his mother was talking about. Still he didn´t care, as long as his father didn´t follow through with his fated task. A House-Elf knocked on the door and Draco let him in.

"Master wishes you to come downstairs now." Draco nodded, picked up his wand, which he placed in a pocket and followed the House-Elf downstairs, where his father was waiting.

Lucius seemed grave, but Draco could tell that his father was sincerely concerned for him. "Your mother probably told you already, but I have to do it."

"You could have had a choice, father, but no, you chose to obey every law that was set down. They´re just a bunch of rules that don´t have to be followed. No body, not one single Malfoy has ever failed to follow them, you know why dad? They didn´t, because they´re afraid of the consequences, but they don´t know, there are no consequences." Draco smiled softly, though he felt malicious, talking back to his father in this matter.

Lucius narrowed his eyes at Draco´s rash statement on his family´s heritage. "Damn it, Draco. You can´t just make up these lies about your family."

"I can, and there´s nobody that´s going to stop me."

"Stop you?" Lucius scoffed. "Who isn´t going to stop you? Everyone, except me, and I´ll hunt you down."

"Really? You´ll kill your own son for loyalty to some crummy laws?"

"I would, and besides, even if I hadn´t killed you, someone else would."

"So you´ll get Harry Potter to kill me?"

"I can think of better ways that just with that boy and Avada."

"Didn´t think you´d resort to Muggle killing." Draco sneered at his father, and began to walk away."

"Don´t turn your back on me, Draco. It´ll be the last thing you ever do."

Draco scoffed and replied, "Why should I turn my back when you´ve already turned yours?" He walked off towards the other end of his house.

* * * * *