Alternate Universe - brothers Draco & Harry

Chapter 4 - Brothers

The three people brought the baby to the nursery, keeping him hidden from the eyes of the elves and the paintings, portraits of previous Malfoys adorning the walls. Narcissa just looked on, closing the door of the nursery as her sister, Bellatrix, placed the new baby in a similar crib right next to Draco.

"Here he is, Harry James Potter," Bellatrix whispered, a sinister smile spread across her face, but her eyes filled with resentment. Narcissa could see her sister was trying to keep the mood light, but she was worried. No one had any idea how the baby had defeated the Dark Lord, nor did they understand just how Voldemort had predicted the events. Or why he was making the Malfoys keep that dangerous baby.

"His name," Lucius interrupted. "Is Hercules James Malfoy. Don't make that mistake again, Bella, you understand?"

"Ouu, already the protective father, I see," the menacing witch teased, all of them spoke quietly so as not to wake the children. Bellatrix's eyes seemed to be glued to the small child, Lucius saw hate and vengeance in them.

"Why is there a scar on his forehead?" Narcissa leaned over the crib carefully, she hated this situation more than anyone but her motherly instincts made her worry for the child. "There... that's a lightning bolt shaped scar. Like someone has placed a cut on his face."

"That... is the scar left over from the Killing Curse our beloved Lord cast the baby's way," Bellatrix replied, still staring at the child, her eyes cold and full of hatred. 

"That... is it? A baby survived the killing curse, only left with a small scar?"

"Yes," the witch answered, pulling her attention towards Lucius. "Our Lord is gone. Now we shall wait until he returns, even if it takes years. The Wizard World will believe he is dead, and we will be the only ones to know the truth. We have vowed to not say a word."

Narcissa nodded, listening as her sister spoke. She couldn't take her eyes off the baby, a warm feeling spread through her heart. She pretended not to notice this feeling, averting her eyes. "So the Dark Lord... is gone?"

"Yes... but he will be back. And until then, this child is your responsibility. Teach him our values, teach him the truth in life and... give him the vials. The sooner the better." With that the witch turned and left the nursery, leaving the small baby alone with the two new parents. 

"She seemed on edge-"

"YOU THINK!" Lucius almost yelled, trying to calm himself. "A child that survived a killing curse! Impossible!"

Before saying anything else, Lucius picked up the child. But this freaked out the wife, her running over and taking him out of his arms. "Shh~ You will wake him!"

Lucius took in a deep breath, thinking for a moment. "We will not hide or conceal the scar. No one besides us will know what it was from, and hopefully the boy's hair will cover it once he's older."

"You think he should hide it?" 

"Yes," Lucius replied. "Someone may figure out what type of curse leaves an unhealable scar like that and if they do, questions will arise. Once the boy is older, we'll tell him that he got it when he was small. I will say that Harry, I mean, Hercules, once came into contact with a powerful, cursed object, perhaps an ancient artifact imbued with dark magic. And so, the curse from the artifact left a permanent mark on the boy, a scar that no healer or spell could ever mend due to the deep-rooted dark magic involved."

"Where would a child come into contact with such a thing?"

"Well," Lucius stroked his chin, thinking. Both parents still kept their voices down. "We plan to keep the child away from the Wizard World, so we'll say it was an accident in a magic trading shop, you know exactly which one. That I took the boys there when they were small and... was careless. He found something behind a cabinet, took it and was cursed, leaving behind that scar."