ALULA (VOL.1)

0- a dark night

a dark night

{1981}

Malfoy Manor

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

It was dark. The black-haired man looked out the window of his cousin's manor, gazing at the stars- he knew their personalities as if they were his blood. A giggle turned his attention to the room, a nursery. A child, no more than two months over the age of one, was bobbing on the knee of his cousin who had begged him to let her see her niece of some sort. The child had settled after earlier when her screams came from nowhere and then suddenly stopped. Their family was a little more than confusing like a bramble that had grown out of control, sprouting new growth without the main vine's knowledge.

He had visited now as it was the safest time with very few in the manor. His cousin, who he had previously pushed away due to her involvement in the dark arts, was still family and if it would ease the life of the dear child somehow in the future then he would put trust lightly in her. He never hated the woman sat carefully holding the child, in fact, he pitied her. She was not like her eldest sister (whom he utterly despised due to her admiration for the Dark Lord) or her other sister (whom he was close with after she had married a muggle and was cast out by her family). She had been corrupted. He believed she married for love though it was love that had long past with the remains being a child two months older than his own. Both adults, though they had not told each other, hoped that they would get along- being that they were cousins.

"She's beautiful," the woman said softly, being careful not to wake her own son who was asleep in his cot, "I can see so much of both of you in her."

He smiled. He, too, saw the resemblance of himself and the woman he loved in the small girl. Her raven hair sat on her shoulders with curls, thick, like his own and she had already learnt how to furrow her brows like him, but it was her eyes and slightly freckled cheeks that made him so very happy to be a father- the vast ocean blue mimicked that of her mother's eyes. Her freckles, though faint now, grew more vibrant in the summer months like the ones he had fallen in love with as he grew up. He knew that his daughter was beautiful and he could not wait to hear people remark it to her; he could not wait for the day when she would run to him, questioning whether she really was pretty only for him to detail one million reasons why and he definitely could not wait for the day that he chased off the boys (or girls) who would come to pine over her beauty.

He had been there three hours talking about first words and first steps. The little girl yawned and he took it as a sign that it was time to go home. It had already been past his daughter's bedtime, but he had an inkling that she was going to be a nighttime person after surveying her sleeping pattern. Just like him. He stood up and sighed before walking over to his cousin and reaching out towards the most precious thing in his life.

"I think it's time to take our leave." He said, now holding his little girl. She was light as a feather but had a grip which made him never want to let go. Little did he know, he had forgotten to share some important information.

"Of course," His cousin replied, also now standing, "Stay safe, you know how witches and wizards can get carried away with Halloween. I hope to see you soon Sirius."

"You too, Narcissa. Don't worry about me." He flashed one of his signature smirks and apparated.

If only he had known that he should have been worried- worried that from the moment he stepped through the broken-down door of his home that the certainty of his and his daughter's happy lives would be uncertain.