The Malfoy Principle (On Hiatus)

Living in a Shadow

First of all let me apologize for the sheer amount of time it took me to update. If you didn't read my all-fan message, I came down with a nasty case of pnemonia and then accidentally stabbed my left hand. All in all, it's been a bad month. But I'll be alright, and here is a chapter for all of my wonderful fans!

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Dinner didn’t pass by fast enough for Saphira as she kept passing expectant glances over at her friend. Severus seemed content to ignore her for the time being. The other teachers must have felt her restlessness because they tried to engage her attention.

“Saphira, have you helped Hagrid come up with a safe curriculum? I’ve heard some horror stories from my students,” Minerva commented as Saphira turned to her.

“Oh, well yes and no. He still insists only showing the students dangerous creatures, but I’ve given them the liberty to choose whether they want to endanger themselves or not,” Saphira answered easily. Minerva nodded her head. It seemed to be a fair compromise. She knew how stubborn Hagrid could be when it came to animals and how reckless he could be. Saphira seemed to be a perfect fit as Hagrid’s assistant. Although, Minerva had to admit she had been skeptical. After all, Saphira was Lucius Malfoy’s sister.

“So why did you decide our staff this year, my dear?” Filius joined the conversation as Severus paused to hear her answer.

“I have to admit it was for selfish reasons. I was simply bored at home and when I read about Black’s escape, I feared for Draco’s safety. I managed to talk Severus into getting me an interview with Albus, and well, here I am,” Saphira replied easily with a slight giggle. Filius and Minerva nodded, smiling. They accepted her answer, Severus noted. Of course, Saphira had perfected her lying skills when she lived with her parents and brother. She claimed it was how she had survived. Having met her parents, Severus fully believed her. They had been ruthless and cold. Once, Saphira had admitted to him that she had been dubbed the “left-over” of the family. He could never understand how her parents could ever call her such. She had been just as brilliant and cunning as her brother. She had been as beautiful as a girl could be.

“I’m sure your brother had quite a problem with it?” Minerva questioned. Saphira laughed outright.

“Quite a problem is an understatement. That man threw a temper tantrum fit for trolls,” Her words earned laughter from the adults listening. All except Severus.

“He is quite notorious for that,” Flitwick added. Saphira giggled and nodded.

“Indeed he is,” she agreed. Saphira looked over at Severus as he continued to ignore her. She jutted out her bottom lip and fought to stop herself from grabbing him by his robes and dragging him away. Her pureblood upbringing had taught her better than that.

“I have to admit I was a little skeptical when I heard you would be joining us this year, my dear,” Minerva admitted as Saphira turned to her in interest.

“Why?” She questioned as Minerva chuckled.

“I remember you as a student. You were quite…”

“Mean?” Saphira finished as Minerva nodded. Saphira chuckled softly.

“I was young, naïve, and stupid. I’m surprised I wasn’t brought to court alongside my brother on multiple occasions,” she remarked as she tucked a stray blonde strand away from her face. Minerva smiled sympathetically.

“It was not your fault. In our youth, we are usually at our worst. As we mature, we become better people,” Minerva replied as Filius nodded to agree with her.

“Oh yes! And you’ve certainly matured more than your brother has,” he added before he began to eat a bowl of blood pudding that had appeared in front of him. Saphira smiled, grateful they understood.

**

“Do you still want to know?” Severus asked as he walked beside the distracted blonde. Saphira frowned before turning to him.

“What did you say? I’m sorry,” she replied as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Severus frowned.

“What’s the matter, Lea?”

“The conversation I had with the other professors at dinner…bothered me a bit is all,” she answered honestly. Severus tilted his head to the side.

“What bothered you?”

“I don’t know. I guess, I’d forgotten what it felt like to be compared to my brother. It hasn’t happened since…I got married,” she remarked, feigning a nonchalant shrug. Severus’s frown deepened.

“How often did it happen?” He asked, although he knew the answer. Every day of her life she had been compared to her brother. Lucius had been the apple of his parents’ eyes. He had been spoiled. His sister, on the other hand, had not. She had felt the cruel and vicious stings of every barb her parents had thrown at her. Severus could remember one night Saphira had come to him, crying.

“Lea, what’s wrong?” Severus was surprised to find the blonde girl sitting in the middle of the common room during winter break.

“My mother told me I was a mistake! That I never should’ve been born!” She screamed, tears streaming down her face. Severus, just 13, had no idea what to do to comfort his friend.

“Lucius told her I tried out for the quidditch team! The damned snitch knew she’d hate it!” Saphira continued as she pulled her sweater tighter around her. The Slytherin common room was empty except for the two of them.

“Why would he do that?”

“Because father found out about him sneaking out at night to drink with LeStrange!” Saphira growled as Severus sat next to her on the carpet.

“He knows father likes me better, so he turned mother onto me,” she muttered darkly. Severus sighed. He had thought the blonde siblings had everything their hearts could desire, that their parents loved them, that they were happy. Saphira had all but disproved that theory several times in the past two years.

“Every time I breathed wrong,” Saphira answered darkly. Her eyes narrowed on the ground as she walked. Severus sighed.  

“Well you don’t have to worry about it now,” he remarked, trying to ease her troubled mind. He knew what painful memories could do to a person’s psyche. It was better not to dwell on the past.

“I suppose you’re right,” Saphira agreed after a moment of silence.

“So what’s the deal with Lupin?”