dear_mun | AU, OC -- omfg, seriously, don't even aaaask

You clearly need more experience with these people. Trust me, this is far from the worst that could happen.

[ but it's pretty fucking bad. Even though his bland tone doesn't suggest as much. ]

Of course she did it on purpose. And honestly, your friend's a vampire. What do you want from her?

So what if she's a vampire? Whatever must that have to do with anything? After all, nobody minds Father...or me, for that matter. I mean, I know I'm only a half-breed, but still!

...It really isn't the worst you've ever seen? I must say, I don't believe you. [In the impish, fascinated way of a younger sibling begging the elder for a good scary story, even as they're frightened of what they might hear.]

[ oh, don't remind him you're a half-breed. It's weird enough he's suddenly got a little sister, let alone one with as strange a situation as hers. ]

'Nobody minds', she says. [ he just sniffs. In a petulant sort of way. Because someone clearly never really grew up. ] You know, the joy of being considerably older than you is that I don't really have to tell you anything, whether you believe me or not.

[ but ugh, Draco's never been able to resist telling stories. Especially to such a rapt audience. ] For one, only a small handful of people died, and no one of much import.

Don't talk to me like I'm a baby, Draco, I did just start Hogwarts you know! [Scandalized.]

Only a small handful? And what do you mean, 'not much import'? According to whom?

You're still younger than me. And a good few months from even existing, as far as my timeline goes. [ please tell him that's not what his scandalised face looks like. ]

Vampire hunters. They're... [ a sniff. Wrinkling his nose in clear distaste. ] Your mun, really. She doesn't seem to believe they're of much import, if she's so willing to toss them aside for the purpose of horrifying me. And I'm not getting into the fact that Father technically died. I'm not thinking about that right now.

[Well she takes a bit more after Mother in features, so that might help? Though it is likely mostly a learned expression, and she clearly looks up to her father so...]

That's hardly my fault. [Says that like it gets to somehow be his, instead. SNIFF.]

I think they were originally supposed to be former Death Eaters. So, does that help? [Unknowingly, she says this.] Why aren't you thinking about it?

[ close enough!

[ And hey, you don't get to blame him for that-

[ His disdain is almost coming out more now, Lyra. See your big brother's bias? ] Even less import, then. I'm certainly not mourning them, and you shouldn't be either. [ another haughty sniff, and he lets his hackles fall a little. ] Because. He-

Because.

[ that's not a reason. ]

I never said I was mourning them! Whatever they were, they were awful people! They tried to burn Mimi. And Ginny, and Tulliola, and they did burn Father, and -- [She stops, trying and failing to hide she's shaken with typical baby Malfoy disdain.] Well. Maybe they did deserve what they got.

[But come on, she's not letting that go:] That's not a proper answer.

You certainly felt bad for them. [ frown frown frown. Disdain is the better course of action. ] So don't. They were awful people, and did deserve everything they got. For burning Father, if nothing else.

I don't have to give you a proper answer.

I didn't feel bad for them, I felt bad for you! And Father! And even Uncle Harry, a bit! That was truly awful. She did it just to give you all a scare. What good would that ever serve?

Mother would say that you would! Mother would say, if I ask you a question nicely and you won't answer, how am I ever going to learn? [Raised eyebrows, the 'I've just won this argument, surely' smugness.] She would say you shouldn't vex me, Mother would!

[She's so certain of this, and her fangs show all the more as she speaks crisp and childishly assertive.]

Well- [ ...okay, fine. He'll keep you, then. You may stay.

[ But Uncle Harry, wow, ew. ] Fine. And giving people a good scare can be quite entertaining, actually. Just not in that situation. Or from a vampire. From a vampire means that you're crossing a line.

You make it sound like you're Mother's favourite child, or something. [ when clearly she is not. He is. He must be. He has to be.

[ And put those fangs away, missy. ]

[What, Teddy is her cousin, Harry's his godfather, what else would Harry be? /naive face.]

I never did. She says you and I are very different from one another, and we were born so far apart, that sometimes we need minding with one another. That's all.

[She pokes at one of her fangs with a finger as she talks, a sort of distracted habit, eyes going up as she thinks aloud.]

You might even be right, about the scare, but I still don't really know what you're on about by saying a vampire makes it all so different.

[ internally tearing his hair out, because Uncle Harry. ]

Minding. [ just ignore this petulant pout. Seriously. Ignore it. ] Well, she's not wrong - we are rather different. For a number of reasons.

That's because you're partly one of them. Of course you haven't the slightest what I'm talking about. You haven't had to write the papers I have.

Well you do look a bit even more like Father than I do. You have his eyes. [She has Narcissa's blue ones. Also, she is obviously misunderstanding what he means by 'different', here.] Oh and of course you're a boy. That too.

[Well that just gets a sour annoyed face, because of course she assumes he's lording the age thing over her again.]

Whatever it is I'm sure I'll learn! Everyone says I am so very clever. I read with Father all the time. So there's no need to talk to me like it should be so hard for me to understand. I think you just aren't explaining it very well.

And it's abundantly clear that I got all the sarcasm in the family.

[ this is what life with a big brother is like, Lyra. One his age, at least. ]

You know that all the books that Father doesn't read with you are quite clear on the fact that vampires are less than human, correct? They don't even have magic.

[She just pulls an annoyed face. She might be a snarker too, someday, maybe, who knows, but for now she just reacts as she does.]

Well yes it's true they don't. But there are all sorts of things they can do, too. Mimi is amazing-- [ugh wait] --when she's not using her powers like that, I mean, and even Father can Mesmer now, when he wants.

But, but you're wrong to say that they're less than human, that's a terrible thing to say, you know. And it's just untrue.

[ one day, after he teaches her the ways of the snark. Learn well, little Lyra. ]

Mimi is amazing. Really? I think we have different definitions of that word. Whether we're talking about her using her powers like that or otherwise.

Ask Father, one day, just how human he really feels, then. I'm sure you feel quite human, still getting to go to Hogwarts and all.

I've known her my entire life, you know. Suppose I can't help it. She's always been so kind to me and she's so pretty and smart and she gives me presents, I can't help but like her. But I know that you don't. And I don't think Mother truly does, either. Though at least she's always polite.

[She doesn't say how she thinks Father feels. Maybe when she was even younger she would have cluelessly assumed Father must like Minette too - but even if she can't put it into words yet, she is old enough to observe; to know that acceptance and love are not the same things.]

Well, yes. Yes, of course. [She does have to get more quiet and thoughtful now, though, that he really brings that up.] But really I suppose I'm more like a human than I am a vampire. I mean I have far more in common - after all I am a proper witch.

[The Sorting Hat said so, even. And it only took it but a few seconds to know she belonged in Slytherin, too.]

Well. I suppose since you grew up with her. [ and at least she's grasping the fact that the rest of the family maybe doesn't like her little friend as much as she does. Minette's scary. Polite, yes, but still scary. ]

Precisely. With fangs, but you've still got a wand. Magic of your own. [ arched eyebrows of implication, because really, Father doesn't have that any more. Because someone bit him and decided to take him for their own, effectively ruining his life once again. Brilliant. ]

[Lyra always found it so fascinating, when she was small - how someone who looked just like her could act and sound so very grown up. But she is older now, and she understands. Mimi is smaller than she is, now, and unlike Lyra will never get any bigger. But she is anything but the little girl she looks like on the outside.

For the same reason that Father will always have the same amount of wrinkles he does now, and no more.]

...You know, it's so odd to me, to think. That things could be any different than they are now.

That Father was ever a wizard.

[She's never known him to be anything else but what he is now.]

[ Draco imagines that, of all the ages to become eternal, it would have likely been easier a few years back, when he was looking decidedly less old. It's the war's doing, of course; it aged them all. Only Draco wears it better, because he was younger than his parents.

[ Still, her words sting. More than he expects, given that...well, he hasn't even experienced any of this short of the meta flung at him by cruel individuals. But it probably shows on his face, because he's grown slightly less good at hiding his visceral reactions to things that bother him.

[ It takes him a moment to let that sink in, that she's really never known anything but Lucius the vampire. He's fairly certain they don't even really have the same father, in a way. ]

Then it shouldn't be too far a leap to fathom why it's odd to me that he's not one. He taught me to fly, you know. Taught me the basics of most charmwork.

[Lyra's eyes are wide, innocent, and a little apprehensive as she looks up at him and watches that look on her brother's face. She feels something squirm a bit, inside of her. As though she's done something wrong - but she didn't mean to, and what could her crime have been? She only told the truth.

But still she feels as though she must deserve some sort of scolding, to have somehow hurt him in the way it seems she has.]

Did he?

[ if there was anything in recent time to incline him to throw up as an emotional reaction, this would be it. But he manages to tamp that down, because he can see the look she's giving him, and he doesn't want to make it worse. Maybe he hasn't really known her the way he could, but she's still his sister. ]

Yes. Mother taught me too, but- [ a beat. ] It's not the same, obviously. And you know how Father can be.

No. I mean, well...yes, of course, I suppose that I do. [Resting her chin against her hand she manages to give him a cheeky - and fanged - smile.] But you're going to have to be more specific.

He taught me magic, how much more specific do I need to get?

[ stop it with the tiny fangs. They're weird. ]

Most of what I knew. Every time we learned something new, I'd be telling him about it over holidays, updating him on the state of the school so he might be able to add on where they left off.

[ implied: how's he going to do that for you? ]

wehehehe~

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