Father
My father was a kind man. Someone who loved his wife and child. I looked up to him greatly in my younger years. But over time greed and hatred over took his heart and he was no longer someone i could trust or talk to. Of Course i could not act as such. I often told my people I would tattle to my father if they did something I didn't like but in reality after 4th year I didn't really ever tell him and just used it to keep up appearances. It saddens me to think about the man that he once was and who he has now turned into. I even called him papa when i was young though when i was old enough to go to social gatherings they nipped that in the bud. I remember how i cried the first time he hit me. It didn't happen all that often but what he did do often was threaten it. The worst part is, with how seemingly normal his descent was, I thought it was all normal. Besides the other slytherins at Hogwarts I was completely cut off from the world and we all came from similar circumstances and those who didn't were often ostracized. When the Dark Lord came to live in my house with his lackeys, my own bedroom wasn't even safe anymore. I lived in fear of being their next victim to lash out at, especially since I was one of the few children with the mark and by far the weakest among the magic users in the vicinity. I had to start getting crafty if i wanted to be alone or feel safe.
The good thing was, the manor is very old and old wizards really liked secret escapes and rooms. It didn't take me too long to think of the idea to look for secret alcoves and passages around the manner and even less time to find one once I had set my brain to it. When searching I always had to be very careful not to look suspicious because there were always eyes on me. So I glided through the library and the study flipped through books that felt out of place. Thankfully, normally the passages were in more secluded areas of the manner and i didnt often have to worry about someone spotting me tilting a piece of armor or saying a secret code to unlock whatever door I was looking for.
Once I had found 7 or so I started to write them down and I eventually made a map in order to not get lost when I eventually would explore on safer days when the majority of the death eaters were out. I soon started spending the majority of my time hidden in passages reading or just having time to myself. And over the months i even started decorating some of my favorite spots with cushions, blankets, and tapestries. I made sure not to be gone too often as to not raise suspicion but any moment i could slip away i would.
When I was around the other death eaters (mainly at meals), I was quiet and kept to myself. I smiled and commented when needed be but otherwise i did not contribute anything to the conversation that i didn't have to. I was always on thin ice due to my father and they didn't need another reason to harm me or my mother.
Mother wasn't always the best but she wasnt so hurtful like father, more of a bystander. She would sometimes make strict remarks but she wasn't often mean and the worst she would get was neglectful. All in all I loved my mother as most children would but I would never go to her with my issues once I was past the age of 12. Our family looked absolutely picture perfect on the outside but behind closed doors our frame was shattering.
My parents never openly argued but they sure were passive and did glare a lot. They got along as much as you would assume they would in their scenario. Ohoho but the moment they were in public it was all hooking arms and smiling until they got back to privacy. This confused me when I was a young child but once I got older I too put on the mask of faking perfection. Both the houses of Black and Malfoy were old pureblood families and we were planning on keeping up that spotless image our ancestors had held. Well until old Boldy Voldy came back.
I don't think father so much as agreed with the dark lord's beliefs as much as he wanted to be a part of something. He had always been obsessed over a legacy and he would go by any means necessary. He happened to not be very fond of Mudbl- ahem i mean muggles already so he wasn't too opposed to hop on the bandwagon and go slaughter and tourcher couple.
I won't lie when the Dark Lord came back I was excited at first. I was a 15 year old who wanted to be famous. I was and kind of still am extremely self centered and anyone who was going to validate me i immediately listened to. But as the months and year wore on it all got real and scary. My family was being dangled over my head to get me to kill other people. Even though our relationship hadn't been perfect a Malfoy always puts family first.\
Just because i wanted to keep my parents alive didnt mean i was a murdering frantic though. I only did as much as I had to and then I ran off to one of my hiding spots until the coast was clear. Thankfully over time as more children joined the dark forces i was less of a hot topic. Which also meant that they weren't paying as close attention to me as they had for the first half of the war. I soon took to sleeping in my hidden rooms and hallways any night I could and I started to horde food there just in case. I know it all sounds childish and stupid but it made me feel safer. It was an out.
When I went to Hogwarts I also started to notice that I was unconsciously looking for hidden spots. I found a few even but I always reminded myself that Hogwarts counted as public even if I was alone in the hallway and I had to keep up the act. There were times I broke down and cried in the bathrooms but that stopped after Potter nearly killed me when he found me there once and I took more to bottling them up and save my tears for breaks at the manor where I could hide away and pretend that the world was normal again.
When the last battle came i was absolutely petrified. I was now being faced with the biggest test of character I'm sure I'll ever have. My choice was to kill my classmates or be killed by them or the Dark Lord later. I knew I could never wash the blood off my conscience if I killed someone like that. Dumbedor was enough to break me and I don't know how I would have reacted if I killed a 17 or 18 year old. I also knew I couldn't just not casted any spells or do anything because then I was surely doomed. I ended up making the quick decision of casting minor hexes that will hurt but not properly damage. I got through the Last battle like that and I'm surprised I survived but by some miracle of merlin I did.
When my trial came I was ready to be sent to Azkaban like my father but one specific scarred faced boy testified for me and turned the tables. I will be eternally grateful to Potter for saving me from a life of insanity within those walls. The amount of dementors on the premises had doubled since the “jail break” and I would have surely died there from the sheer emptiness and fear that came with having your soul sucked out. I did have a lot of ties to being free but I would have taken anything over Azkaban.
Shortly after both my mother and my house arrest ended she moved away. She went to Spain and said she would write but never did. I wasn't too angry because she needed a clean slate and a fresh start and I so desperately wanted one too. But I was the Malfoy heir and that was something I couldn't make happen. So there I was, alone in the house that had haunted me for years. I knew that if I was to continue living here I needed to fixen it up and make it more me but all I could muster was getting rid of the dark magic before giving up for the time being. Event that took months but there was still so much to do. There were some left over blood stains and tears in the carpet. The paintings and tapestries were awfully dark and gave off a creepy aura, the people in them never moved except their eyes followed you as you walked past. I just couldn't bring myself to fix any of it, at least not yet.
Instead I spent the rest of my time in my hidden spots. They were safe and I didn't have to leave them much and even when I did I didn't have to use the normal hallways. I could just walk around the house in passages and go to whichever room I needed. Honestly I need to thank whichever of my ancestors came up with the architecture plan for the Manner because they were geniuses. They may have saved my life.
The only item I really bought after the war was an owl that I named Thistle. It's always convenient to have an owl and mother took ours when she left and even if she had left them they would be easily recognized which could get me in serious danger. Thistle was an Eatern Screech Owl which didn't exactly scream Malfoy so it was perfect. I didn't often send or receive letters given my social status but it was very nice to have company. She was quite well behaved and I often sent her on errands for ordering things. Just because I didn't need her for letters didnt mean I didn't need packages. I, obviously, couldn't use my real name so I went under the alias of Niel Plummers (don't ask me how I got that, it's just what thistle pulled out of the hat). I most often got books or fun snacks. Just little things that made me feel a bit more like a human.
One morning I sent Thissel out to go fetch a snack from the nearby town, I even added some owl treats in the shopping list. But imagine my surprise when she returned at sundown, which is very late considering she normally comes back within 4 hours of leaving, with a letter signed to Draco Malfoy from HeadMistress Mcgonagall. To my astonishment the letter was an invitation back to Hogwarts for a newly added 8th year for all the 7th years who didn't get to finish their schooling.