#dev: rabastan lestrange.

[ourpyrrhicvictory]

some notes i should make about draco / rabastan / abraxas / etc.

he does have dark hair. everyone assumes that it has everything to do with his maternal family. narcissa is the only one of her sisters who had the same hair color as their mother. there are very few blondes in that immediate family beyond that , and even with lucius also being blonde , shit happens so. 

narcissa may have considered coloring his hair idk ? that’s not for me , but if she did , it probably did not stay long. 

i played with the idea of draco being a werewolf. the reason i decided against it is because rabastan never would have allowed that to happen. it wouldn’t have made draco’s or narcissa’s life easier. it would have made it harder because his blood would have been tainted , and rabastan knows fenrir’s pack. he knows how hard they have it. and while they may be able to handle themselves , he isn’t sure draco can. he doesn’t have that type of hatred in him , no matter what he wants people to believe. 

draco does not at all find out his father is a fucking serial killer. like obviously he knows what he did to the longbottoms and other witches and wizards during the war but neither he nor narcissa knows anything about his extracurriculars , neither those done with bella or those done with amycus or those done alone. only rodolphus has ever known beyond that , but he did everything in his power to hide it for fear of his brother being executed on the spot. 

antares and abraxas are the oldest of friends , second to only abraxas and tom ( but of course , that all but dies when voldemort does the first time around ) so while abraxas is not all that happy about not having a true malfoy heir , his pride is aged and withering by the time he sees it. the cause has withered , and most everyone is in azkaban. plus , abraxas does care for his daughter - in - law. he also got along better with the lestrange boys than he did his own son , than their father did too. so keeping that secret was no skin off of his back. plus , he already loved his grandson , but he feared lucius’s weaknesses would cost him dearly. and he was right. 

rabastan has and always will love narcissa. and he does love his son. but he is a Mess. his mind was fragile before azkaban , and it is in shambles now. but the one thing he can offer draco is the one thing draco has lacked from lucius all of his life , and that is genuine empathy and compassion. because regardless of his track record , rabastan isn’t inherently cruel. not to those he loves , and for draco , by that time , it’s more than enough. in fact , it’s almost too much. 

[ourpyrrhicvictory]

Forgive me if you have this written up somewhere but I'm mobile and finding things is hard. Draco, canon wise, follows a lot of lucius footsteps and pays a lot for his crimes in the eyes of voldemort. Does this still happen in your timeline? If yes how does he few about it? How does his real father feels about it and reacts to it considering how intensely loyal the lestrange siblings seem to voldemort?

HELP ME DEVELOP DRACO !!! / accepting.

so i think i wrote about this briefly for other questions but not specifically this question , or at least not in its entirety. but yes , all of this still happens in my portrayal. little changes regarding draco’s timeline prior to his sixth year because he has no idea that lucius isn’t his father. he’s never even suspected otherwise , nor has anyone else because narcissa is guarded and efficient. so in that , draco is still led down the same path because he is raised with the same expectations. he suffers the same fate as far joining the death eaters and receiving the task of killing dumbledore. could it have been avoided if draco’s parents had told the secret ? it’s possible , but for plenty reasons with plenty council ( rodolphus ) , they didn’t do so , and draco has to go through with the plot. but now this is where it gets difficult , and i didn’t touch on this at all.

DRACO KNOWS ABOUT HIS FATHER BY THEN. draco knows ! he knows mid - fifth year who his father is , so by the time the ministry incident occurs and lucius goes to prison , he already knows. so imagine knowing this jackass isn’t your father and then finding out you have to pay for his sins. so draco is . . . he isn’t in a good place mentally as is. his real father is not coming to his rescue ( yet ) and he feels like his mother’s reputation is being regarded above his safety , which it does appear to at first because draco wasn’t in on that conversation. he doesn’t understand why they decide not to share the news with voldemort. which , odds are it may not have changed. if anything , because draco is rabastan’s son , voldemort would expect more of him because of how high in rank rabastan is. so they keep things as is , but draco is still struggling with that. he doesn’t want to die for lucius ? he doesn’t want to die for a man who hasn’t been much of a father to begin with and now , he doesn’t even have blood to be loyal to. so it is hard for draco , and he does struggle with trusting his parents , who have of course JUST admitted themselves to be liars to some extent and thus , do not inspire that off top. he feels betrayed. he feels helpless. he feels cornered , and he feels foolish because all that shit he’s been talking his whole life is now true , but it comes with the steepest of prices. 

as for rabastan , it is the most difficult period in his life , even worse than azkaban. in that , he’s almost ALMOST grateful for not knowing about draco while in azkaban because it might have killed him. or weakened him faster , depending. but now , he’s out of prison —which in itself is an adjustment because bastan is very combative to change , and he’s learned to get on these past two decades , so now that he’s out and things are being expected of him and now he’s a fucking father— and he’s being faced with all of the responsibility of being a father all at once. so for one , he never had a good example to go by. his father neglected him at all times , and his mother terrorized him. but he did know his older brother , and he understands family and what it’s worth thanks to rodolphus , so he channels that , but he doesn’t even really need to because at the base of it all , he loves narcissa. he loves her purely and irrevocably and unadulterated. he loves her unconditionally , and loving her makes it so easy to love THEIR son. 

but love ? for a lestrange ? in times of war ? DANGEROUS. 

so it does become a bit strategic for rabastan , but remember , mentally , he didn’t handle azkaban as well as , say , his brother. better than bella for sure but not as well as rod. so rod is more or less the council as well as narcissa , and while rabastan isn’t just sitting back and letting them figure it out , he’s also struggling to carry out every act he wants done. but he does do it. speaking to fenrir about protecting draco , speaking to his brother about the fact draco is their blood , speaking to narcissa about the situation in its entirety etc . . . through the starting stages of this process , rabastan is externally calm. he is very attentive and observant. he doesn’t let his emotions show. he just handles it step by step. 

but after the ministry —where he is literally defeated by a child and it scares him because how the fuck can he protect his son if he can’t even defend himself???— he’s a lot angrier. he’s a lot more emotional. his fuse is short as all hell. and it’s hard for him. to sit at a table with a man willing to sacrifice his son based on a lie , to sit beside a woman he has loved nearly all his life , to sit across from a boy he should have been there for. it’s exhausting. but he sticks to the plan. he listens to his brother. he trusts narcissa. and —and this is most important to both of these characters— HE BELIEVES IN HIS SON. he believes in his son for no other reason than the fact that this is his son. not a lestrange , not a malfoy , not a black , but HIS SON. no one on this earth believes in draco more than rabastan , and that is key. that gets them through this. and from then on , rabastan just does anything he can to protect both narcissa and draco. 

[ourpyrrhicvictory]

rabastan lestrange meta 003 | general

there is nothing inherently alarming about the lestrange house. nadya and antares love each other. their relationship has been constructed to fit them since long before they were married , and it followed throughout said marriage. they were blessed with a strong and beautiful son the first try , and rodolphus was the first descendent of the knights. he was everything antares could have wanted and all that nadya could have hoped for. they wanted no more children after that. they were content. 

but they were constantly active in the bedroom , and they avoided pregnancy for so long with such fluidity that when rabastan was conceived , nadya didn’t know she was pregnant for months. and even after that , she was in deep denial. and when he was born , she figured her instinct would kick in , and while she did harness some care for the boy —she never let him starve or go without and neither did antares— there was nothing unconditional about the way she loved her son. antares could care less , spent little time with the boy , was hardly around for him. his care was often left to a house elf until he was older. 

now the only one to truly care for rabastan in his family was rodolphus , but there was always this shadow cast over him by his big brother of course. he was an outcast. his parents made it no secret that he had been a mistake , throwing their idealistic household out of sorts , making a mess of things. it did not help that he was odd , that he was soft and timid where his brother was strong , was a leader. rabastan’s only other friend would eventually be narcissa black , truly , because bellatrix would often pick on him for being so soft and andromeda was more reserved , not to mention that for a long time , rabastan was greatly intimidated by her. 

but this isolation would eventually take hold. it would make him bitter and thus , dangerous. when he and amycus become friends , their desire for vengeance against a world that was against them became a bloodlust , and for once , rabastan was able to take the lead. for once , he had a purpose. but he hid this from his brother for as long as he could , fearing the lecture that would come with such recklessness. even when bellatrix found out , in her pride , she agreed to keep his secret. but even then , rabastan always suspected his brother knew. his brother always knew everything , and so it made him more careful and yet all the more thirsty for carnage. 

the one person he ever feared finding out was narcissa. she saw him in a way other people could never see him , and he always feared ruining this image she’d had of him since they were kids. but he knows all too well that in time , she will leave him too. she has a duty to her family , and his father will not put him up as a viable bachelor. they’ve smeared his name everywhere possible , and it’s a shame that it does not in any way reflect back on his parents. but it does sponsor and spur his growth , which takes place just before azkaban and is uprooted and reconstructed during his stay behind bars. and by the time he emerges again , he’s something else entirely.