I think the movie portrayals of both Draco and Lucius might be in part responsible for this slight skewing of the fanon interpretations.
I have to disagree. I wrote a fanfic with this type of interpritation starting back in the fall of 2000 (Surfeit of Curses, over on Schnoogle) and while it was one of the earlier fics with such a theme, it certainly predated the book by a good two years, enough so that when CoS actually was released, I got a flurry of reviews saying (jokingly) that Jason Issacs must've read my story.

I don't actually *think* he did - but my interpritation is certainly consistent with his.