Thrice Told

Chapter One: It is

Before I begin, I must mention that I own nothing. I am a very young opera student… I have nothing to my name. All characters belong to JK Rowling… yadda yadda yadda.

Young Lucius Malfoy sat in his father's study, legs flung up against the chair back, head dangling in the general vicinity of the floor, and hands searching through a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. He picked up a light pink one and popped into his mouth, then scrunched up his face at the taste of it. "Roses," He coughed, sticking his hand in the bag and finding another bean to experiment on.

A moment later, the boy's father, Abraxas Malfoy, came into the room bearing a large vase with at least a dozen roses the size of dinner plates in its water. Lucius straightened up, flinging his legs to where they rightfully belonged and straightening his askew clothing. His father was looking around the room, likely for a place to hide the flowers. Lucius didn't understand why he even had flowers; his father and mother rarely showed any sort of affection for each other.

"Father?" Lucius voiced, standing from the chair, the beans in his small hand. "Why do you have flowers for Mother?"

Abraxas seemed to have to think of a reason, "Because, it is your mother's birthday and it's custom to get a woman flowers on her birthday."

"Why?"

"Well… because roses are a symbol of affection… and women like to receive them. It makes them feel special."

Lucius pondered this reasoning, looking from the flowers and then back to his father. The gears in his mind weren't meshing up very well…

"Father? Do you love Mother?"
Abraxas pondered once again. He fiddled with his mustache and then downcast his eyes, "You know, Lucius. I believe you're old enough to understand that there are duties that a man has in the world." His son nodded solemnly. "…and I also believe that you are mature enough to take it when I say that your mother and I have never been in love."

"If you've never been in love than how do you know that you don't love Mother?" There was no sadness in the small boy's voice as he questioned his father. In fact, he continued biting the ends off of jellybeans and spitting them out into his tiny hand.

"Just because I am not affectionate towards your mother doesn't mean I've never been in love, my son," Abraxas answered. "I was in love before… a very long time ago."

Lucius's eyes didn't leave his father's strong face. His gray eyes focused on his father's amber ones. Those inquisitive eyes poked at Malfoy Sr. for some sort of an explanation.

"Take a seat, my son," Abraxas motioned towards the same dragon hide chair that Lucius had been sprawled across a few moments earlier. "When I was sixteen," the older Malfoy began, "I was deeply in love with a young woman named Loretta."

"Loretta was the daughter of an Irish farmer. She was poor, yes, but pure of blood and swift of mind. Loretta, or Lottie, and I spent so many evenings together. She was two years younger than I, a Slytherin, and so incredibly beautiful. She had deep mahogany hair, deep green eyes, and skin as fair as virgin snow."

"Lottie and I would sneak out of school to take walks around the village, swim in the lake in the dead of night, and visit as many of the classrooms as we could just to see what they contained. She was my girl and I loved her more than I have loved anyone ever before."

"What is love?" Lucius asked his father, abandoning the beans and dropping them haphazardly on the wood floors.

Abraxas sighed, "It's everything and nothing at the same time: nothing because you can't see it, feel it, hear it, touch it, or taste it… and everything because it encompasses you completely. Love is something you have to experience once in your life to have truly lived, I think. It feels amazing and it hurts at the same time."

"Kind of like eating ice cream too fast?" The small boy piped. Abraxas laughed, "Not exactly, son…"

Lucius returned to his bag of jellybeans. He grabbed a handful, and picked through it, looking back up at his father, "But what happened to Lottie, Father?"

"She died," Abraxas answered, his voice a little quieter than usual. "She got very, very sick one day and there wasn't much the mediwizards could do about it. Her parents couldn't afford the treatments and although I offered and practically begged them to take my savings, they wouldn't take it. She was hospitalized on July 18 and in three weeks… she was gone."

Lucius felt saddened by his father's tale. His father was generally unemotional, insensitive, and unclear… but even to an eight-year-old, the story was touching and informative. Abraxas sighed as he set the flowers in the corner of the room and put a vanishing spell on them. Lucius watched his father as he looked at the spot where the roses were set and he could have sworn he had seen a look of sadness on his father's unchanging visage, but he took it as a trick of the light.

This will be a trilogy, so be sure to maintain CONSTANT VILIGANCE and watch for the next chapter. :)

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