Fairytale

Scorpius Malfoy wasn’t evil. He knew how it looked, how it seemed, but he didn’t feel very evil. Actually, right now, he felt quite thirsty. Did evil people get thirsty? The fact that he didn’t know must have proved that he wasn’t evil.

Andromeda Malfoy definitely wasn’t evil. She was smart, for a four-year-old - but Scorpius was smart for a six-year-old. Evil, she was not. Sometimes she took a swing at Scorpius, or at a house elf: but wasn’t that what four-year-olds did?

No, no, the Malfoy children were not evil.

‘Hey, champ, what are you still doing up?’ Theodore Nott said, ruffling Scorpius’ hair.

The six-year-old grinned up at him. Theo was like a stray ray of hope in Scorpius’ world. He was Scorpius’ secret. He had come to the Manor one day and Scorpius had caught him sneaking back out. He had asked Theo what he was doing there, and the older man had replied that he was looking for Scorpius. Theo made sure to always be nice to Scorpius, sometimes he even brought sweets, and he never shouted or made him scared. In return, Scorpius never told his parents, because they didn’t like Theo, because he was too nice.

Or so Theo claimed.

‘Waiting for you,’ Scorpius whispered, wrapping his small hand around one of Theo’s fingers. Scorpius was too small for his age, another thing that everyone always told him and he hated about himself. Theo never said it in a bad way, though. He called Scorpius brilliant and perfect and said that he could just eat him up. He was the best friend that Scorpius had ever had - not that he’d had many anyway.

Theo smiled. ‘Why don’t we go and get some water, doll?’

‘Yes please,’ he said, skipping along as they wandered to the kitchen.

Theo lifted him up so that he could sit on the counter, and he felt tall as he watched the man fetch two glasses. He filled the first one to the top, but only filled the second one half way.

‘Scorp, doll, is it okay if I put something in your water to make it taste nice? Water tastes boring on its own,’ he said, and he pulled a small vial out of his pocket. Scorpius nodded eagerly and Theo chuckled to himself as he emptied the vial into Scorpius’ glass. He passed it to the boy, who swallowed the entire glass greedily. The flavour of whatever Theo had added to his water was odd, and it stuck in his mouth, giving him a buzzy feeling.

‘It tastes weird,’ he commented, sucking on his thumb. His grandfather snapped at him when he did that, but Theo didn’t seem to mind. Instead, the older man started to rub his inner thigh lightly. Scorpius gasped, which made Theo smirk.

‘Does that feel good, doll?’ Scorpius just nodded again, not trusting his voice. ‘Can you take your shirt off for me, Scorp?’ He pulled his t-shirt over his head. It was significantly colder now, but Theo didn’t seem particularly concerned by the gooseflesh that covered Scorpius’ chest.

‘You’re so pretty,’ Theo cooed. That was a new one, admittedly. People shouted a lot of things at Scorpius and his parents, but pretty was never one of them. He opened his mouth to say so, but as he did Theo reached out and pinched one of his nipples. The only sound that escaped was a squeal.

‘Shush,’ he frowned, pinching Scorpius harder. Scorpius squealed again despite his words. It didn’t hurt, necessarily. In fact, it felt wonderful. But it also felt wrong. Scorpius thought that it felt like evil.

‘Fuck,’ Theo groaned, ‘that noise is so hot, doll.’ His free hand was at his own crotch, rubbing, which looked rather uncomfortable from Scorpius’ angle. Without a warning, Theo’s teeth latched onto the nipple that he had been rubbing. Scorpius screamed.

‘Daddy!’ he cried.

Theo moaned and the vibrations ran through his chest. ‘You don’t know what you do to me, doll. That mouth was made for moaning.’

Scorpius cried harder when Theo’s hand disappeared into the back of his trousers and groped his bum.

This. This was evil.

‘Daddy!’ he yelled, louder this time. ‘Daddy, Daddy!’

A house elf appeared, and her eyes widened in shock. ‘Master Scorpius, would you like me to-’

‘Daddy!’ he repeated, and the house elf nodded and disappeared. He screamed again when Theo’s teeth grew tighter. He placed a hand over Scorpius’ mouth to silence him.

‘Shut it, you little bitch. This is what boys like. If you’re good for me, I can make this good for you. But if you’re not, I can make it hurt. I can make it hurt a lot, Scorp.’ Scorpius shook his head frantically, and Theo scowled. He flipped Scorpius over, holding his hips against the counter and pinning them there.

‘Theo!’ someone shouted. Scorpius’ vision was blurred with tears, but he recognised the voice as his father’s.

Realising that he had been caught, Theo threw Scorpius away from him. Scorpius screamed for a third time as his head collided with the wall and began to bleed.

‘Draco, babe, there’s no need to get upset, I was just-’

‘Sectumsempra!’ Draco screamed. Scorpius saw a flash of white light, and then Theo fell to the ground, covered in red. His vision slowly faded into blackness as the shouts of adults echoed around him. Why did adults always have to shout?

‘He used a lubido potion,’ an unfamiliar voice said. ‘It would have taken a few minutes, but once it kicked in, Scorpius wouldn’t have felt any pain, only a pleasure.’

‘Like sexual pleasure,’ his mother’s voice barked.

‘Yes,’ the unfamiliar voice said uncomfortably.

Scorpius hummed in the back of his throat and opened his eyes.

‘Thank Merlin he’s awake,’ Lucius Malfoy said, tapping his grandson on the shoulder. ‘That Nott boy didn’t taint him.’

He spat the word taint, as though it was an insult. Was it an insult? Was Scorpius tainted?

A woman who Scorpius didn’t recognise frowned. ‘Please, Mr Malfoy, do not touch him. The back of his skull suffered a fracture and he will probably have permanent scarring on his back.’ On his back? What had happened to his back? He hadn’t felt anything at all on his back.

‘I’m not touching his skull or his back,’ Lucius snapped, ‘I’ll comfort my grandson if I want to comfort my grandson.’

‘Where’s Daddy? Where’s Andy?’ Scorpius asked softly, eyes darting over everyone in the room. The woman - a healer, maybe? - Lucius, Narcissa and Astoria: but not Draco, not Daphne and not little Andromeda.

‘Daddy and Andromeda are in the other room,’ his mother informed his calmly.

‘It hurts,’ he whined. Astoria took his hand in hers.

‘I know it does, my poor baby boy, but it will be better soon, okay? Your father was very bad to let that mean man touch you.’
‘It wasn’t Daddy,’ he protested weakly, but he didn’t have the energy to put up much of a fight.

‘Of course it was Daddy,’ Astoria said gently, ‘he brought the bad man into the house. He will be punished for being naughty. So will you, my little one, because you didn’t tell us that he was visiting you.’ Her voice dropped to a whisper and Scorpius felt her breath against his ear.

‘You are as dark and deceitful as your father,’ she whispered, ‘so I’m going to do my duty as a mother and help you be proper. I’m going to get rid of all your evil, Scorpius. Even if I have to beat it out of you myself.’

Scorpius curled in on himself. He was beginning to feel like he was evil, just like his father.