Family Matters
“This time, Draco, you have to succeed!“
It was a typical Saturday morning at Malfoy Manor. Draco and his parents sat at the breakfast table which was full of delicate food. Draco suppressed the urge of rolling his eyes as he bit into a croissant.
His father was lecturing him about his mission for the sixth school year which would be beginning in a month. Again.
The mission was to bring Harry Potter down for good. Since Draco couldn’t gain Potter’s friendship in his first year in Hogwarts he was supposed to be Potter’s bitterest rival.
Lucius Malfoy as his father and his father’s father before him had a great obsession with the Potter family. The Potters were great pureblood wizards as old as the Malfoys. And as rich as the Malfoys. Thus, both families had plenty of opportunities to clash against each other.
While the Malfoys were proud of their conservative and traditional ways, the Potters were open to change and innovation. Even though the Malfoys would never admit it publicly they were envious of the relaxed nature of the Potters and would have loved to be acquainted with them.
But over the generations the conflicts between the two families increased into a feud that drove them further apart. The Potter family members tried to act indifferent against the Malfoys which hurt the ego of the proud Malfoys gravely. If they couln’t be on friendly terms they would be at least not ignored. So, the Malfoys made it a tradition to seek the attention of the Potters through constant harassment.
That is also why Lucius Malfoy turned to Voldemort's side, just because James Potter was working against the Dark Lord. The death of Lily and James Potter was a very tragic event for Lucius. Who would he harass now? His family tradition was at an end.
So, Lucius was indeed very happy to hear, that one of the Potters was still alive. The famous Boy-who-lived, Harry Potter, was just the age of his own son, Draco. With his parent’s death the Potter boy wouldn’t be prejudiced against the Malfoys. There was a chance at last to get a close connection between the Potter and the Malfoy family.
Therefore, Lucius disappointment was big when he heard of his son’s failure in gaining Harry Potters friendship. But Lucius anticipated this outcome. Malfoys seemed to be destined to be the enemies of Potters. Thus, he helped Draco in every possible way to get revenge against Harry Potter.
Lucius did more than just help, in fact. He drilled his son to be most gruel and hateful towards the Potter boy. And thus far Draco did his job. His rivalry with Harry Potter became a school legend and their clashing conflicts were feared by all. But Draco would never be the real victor in those confrontations. Harry Potter always managed to outwit Draco’s schemes and would be the hero of all at the end of the school year.
And every time before the next school year started, Lucius lectured Draco to do better and ruin Harry Potter for good.
At first Draco was as enthusiastic as his father. But now that he turned sixteen, he didn’t see any sense in torturing Harry Potter anymore. Yes, Draco didn’t like the Potter boy because he was always favoured by Dumbledore and the wizarding world worshiped him just because he survived that one time against the Dark Lord.
But deep down, Draco knew that he was just jealous of Potter's fame and friends, and he couldn’t really hate him. Harry Potter, though being a stupid git, had some good qualities like defying He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named after all.
Draco was glad there was a wizard powerful enough to go against the Dark Lord who was absolutely insane in Draco’s eyes. He would not want to live in a world full of darkness and horror.
True, he thought of muggles and muggleborn wizards and witches as inferior beings but that was no reason to kill them. And he knew at least a dozen of purebloods that were low-grade as well. Yes, that includes you, Longbottom.
Moreover, muggles had useful and fascinating inventions like a television. They had to live without the advantages of magic, but they managed life really good without it. Draco found himself intrigued by muggle clothing and wouldn’t want the fashion industry destroyed because of one ugly maniac without a nose and no sense of aesthetics.
And right now, Draco had better things to do anyway such as exploring his own sexuality. He had several relationships with pretty girls. But this time he was in a relationship with his fellow classmate Theodore Nott.
Of course, Draco wasn’t actually in love – he wasn’t even sure he was capable of experiencing such a strong emotion because he learnt all his life how to suppress his feelings – but he learnt of sensations such as lust. Recently this physically desire was directed at blokes.
Coming to the conclusion that he could spend his time better focusing on himself than on others, Draco had decided to leave Harry Potter alone this year and wasn’t listening to his fathers ongoing rambling.
Besides, father just barely escaped a prison sentence because he followed an ugly, old wizard. Lucius Malfoy, the epitome of culture and taste. Absolutely atrocious. The man was his father, but Draco’s respect for him had dropped to a certain degree. Draco certainly didn’t see any sense in listening to him in that matter.
Draco was just about to reach for another croissant when a house elf plopped into the dining room.