Voice of Love

26 | One Year Old

The first year of having the baby was bittersweet. Narcissa constantly felt a pang of guilt when she thought of Rigel. She didn't want to show any signs of sadness to Draco, so she kept her emotions buried up.

She would spend the whole day at the manor with Draco while her husband worked at the Ministry. Lucius would always come home with a special treat for Draco — whether it be a small souvenir from his work or sweets from Diagon Alley. When he came home, he would join Narcissa in spending quality time with his son. Narcissa was drained from constantly entertaining the child, so occasionally she would leave her husband and son alone. Lucius would then leave for his Death Eater duties in the evening, and it would be back to Narcissa and Draco.

This schedule was constant for the better part of the year. Sporadically, Lucius would be gone for a couple of days on the Dark Lord's orders and leave Narcissa with Draco for quite a while.

It was charming how clingy their son was. If she wanted alone time with her husband, they would let Giselle babysit Draco. And when it was time to pick Draco up, Giselle would always complain about Draco whining for his parents.

And at four months, Draco had spoken his first word, which was "Potter" (only joking) "broomstick." Her husband was so excited that he had Apparated to Diagon Alley to find a toy broomstick for Draco. That became Draco's favorite toy and started his obsession with Quidditch. Lucius was happy about this, being the former Keeper of the Slytherin Quidditch team. He vowed he would teach his son how to play as soon as he was old enough to.

Finally, on June 5th, Draco officially turned one year old. His birthday also marked the anniversary of Rigel's passing. The Malfoys held a small gathering for Draco's birthday.

Narcissa invited Giselle Rosier, Evan Rosier, and Giselle's brother, Charlemagne Parkinson. Charlemagne happened to have a child around Draco's age called Pansy. Lucius invited his old mate Severus Snape, the Crabbes, and the Goyles.

Draco already opened all of his birthday presents and played with them while Pansy, Vincent, and Gregory watched. Eventually, he got bored of playing alone and grudgingly allowed the others to have a turn. Of course, he screamed at them if they touched the toys for over one minute.

The cake was the size of a full-grown Quidditch player, and Draco loved it. However, instead of eating the cake, he jumped in it and got his birthday tuxedo all dirty. Narcissa wasn't too angry because the sight was amusing. Even Snape cracked a smile.

The party ended when Pansy fell off the toy broomstick, threw up, and started crying.

Once the guests had all left the Manor and Draco was put to rest, Lucius and Narcissa changed into black clothing to properly mourn for Rigel.

They both put delicate white chrysanthemums in front of Rigel's grave.

"I hope wherever you are, you are happy. I grieve for you every day. I hope you know that you will forever be in my heart," Narcissa murmured.

"I deeply regret not meeting you before you died. I apologize this had to happen to you. And I apologize because I know I wouldn't choose to switch places with you given the chance," Lucius said sorrowfully.

Narcissa slapped his arm. "You're the worst when it comes to giving condolences. Just keep your mouth shut and let me do this."

Malfoy shrugged and watched his wife shed some more tears. He was glad she didn't tell him to go away in such a vulnerable moment for her.

Once both finished mourning, they walked back to the Manor.

Lucius left for Death Eater duties. Narcissa sighed. Draco tended to scream and cry when he didn't get his quality time with his father. It was their son's form of punishment; not letting his mother rest.

"BROOMSTICK! GIMME BROOMSTICK NOW!" Draco had screamed that night.

Narcissa woke up to high-pitched screaming in the nursery room. She even felt sympathy for the house-elves who were covering their ears and staring at the baby in fear. Draco refused to sleep, continuing to scream and kick until Narcissa brought him the toy broomstick.

Her husband arrived home to a delighted Draco zooming around and a frustrated wife.

"He's both a blessing and a curse," Narcissa gasped in annoyance.

She left her husband to take care of Draco. It seemed Lucius did not have a pleasant time because the next day, they got into a small argument over Draco's behavior.

"He should be punished with a small spanking. Crabbe's child is about the same age as Draco and rarely cries. I feel as if our son is using you to his advantage. He seems to think you will do anything he says."

"Well, if we're comparing children, Crabbe's child reckless. He strangled his mother's neck. And Charlemagne's child is equally spoiled. Giselle told me all about it."

"You have a point, but I still think we're too soft on Draco. If he doesn't learn now, he won't learn later."

"How about we take away his broomstick?" Narcissa said.

"I suppose we could."

And that might as well have been the worst day of their son's life — so far. He had thrown the biggest tantrum and damaged all of the gifts he had gotten on his birthday, only to get even angrier when his parents told him they would be keeping the broomstick for even longer since he had done that. Eventually, the younger Malfoy realized the best option was to sit in silence and wait.

A/N: If anyone has any ideas or requests for what they want to happen between Lucius and Narcissa or what they want to see, please comment it here. I'll probably take a couple story plots that I like to add to the story because I need to use a lot more fillers hahah