Leave Out All The Rest

Living Room Peeks

I scowled. It was not just from being home, but from dealing with this old bat's nonsense.

My grandmother nodded once at her son-in-law before turning on her heels. When she had crossed past the door, I turned to my mother and said, "If you don't have her living in a nursing home, I am leaving. I don't care if I have to live in the Forbidden Forest. I'll happily survive off berries and squirrels."

"It's adorable that you think squirrels are in the Forbidden Forest," my mother laughed. 

I rolled my eyes at her just as my father approached my side. He placed a hand on my right shoulder, looking me deep in the eye (he was big on that). "Your mother and I were thinking that maybe you should go see Liam."

My frown vanished from my face. "Really?"

"Really."

"Thank you!" I cheered, throwing my hands around his neck. "I cannot wait! His last letter said he was spending the weekend with Malfoy and Potter, but I'll just cut that short. Or they can deal with me because I have loads I need to catch up on with Liam! Oh!" I stopped, clapping my hands once together when I remembered Rose's letter. "Maybe he'll go with me to Godric's Hallow. Rose said she was staying a week there. I have to owl Emily again, or maybe Malfoy already has—"

"Nia," I had not realized my mistake until my father's eyes turned sharp in my direction. "When was it decided that it was okay for you to befriend that boy? I specifically ordered you to stay away from him, didn't I?"

"Kellan," my mother said in the same tone he had used with me. "Do not poison the girl's mind any further. She is just a child, as is Scorpius Malfoy. They have nothing to do with the past."

The glare on my father's face did not diminish. "My only child will not interact with the Malfoys, Mandy. Do you understand me? I will not allow it. The mere use of their name in this house is an insult to my family."

"You are judging a boy for something his grandfather did," Mother admonished. "What if that was Nia? What if someone rejected her off what your family did during time of war? You are not innocent, either, but you don't put your mistakes on our daughter's shoulders. Do not do it to someone's son."

It was rare when my parents argued about something. They had differences, yes, but they often met in the middle to resolve them. It worked for them, really, but the Malfoy subject was one that hardly was ever civilly discussed. Father would not stand for it. A part of me knew he knew what Mother said was the unchangeable truth—he was just too stubborn to admit it. As such, he stalked past my mother to exit the living room.

I lowered myself rather ungracefully on the open couch. "If he wants me to hate Scorpius Malfoy, I will, Mother. I swear it." I looked down at my dirty sneakers, frowning. "But I don't want to."

"In a whole, your father is a just man, Nia. Sadly, alike most of us, he is plagued by the demons of war. His nightmares consist of the Malfoys." Mother took a seat beside me, reeling me gently into her loving arms. One of her hands smoothed out my hair from my face. "He watched his father die at the hands of Lucius Malfoy. It torments him every day."

"Grandfather Harper and the Malfoys chose to be Death Eaters, did they not?" Mother nodded at my question. "And they have paid for their sins?"

"Yes, darling, they have," she said. 

"Then why can't Father forgive them?"

"Lucius Malfoy died alone in Azkaban," Mother murmured, "but your father, alike so many others, did not think it was enough. They wanted Narcissa and Draco Malfoy in a cell, too, until their dying day."