Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Forgiveness
By Silver Sailor Ganymede

Gryffindors claim to forgive all, but Scorpius knows that this is far from the case. They say they forgive, but this is only a lie: and they never, ever forget.

After the war ended everyone was happy. At least that's what they would have you believe. Anyone with even a remote connection to the Death Eaters was punished. Grandmother had saved the Potter boy's life, so their family go off lighter than most when it came to official punishment, but the punishment they suffered at the hands of the wider wizarding world was enough.

Scorpius remembers some of this. He remembers worried looking parents pulling their children away from him, saying such things as: "He's a Malfoy. He's bad. They're rotten, the whole family are." These people did not stop to think that he was only a child, that he didn't even know what a Death Eater was. When he had asked his father that question, Draco Malfoy had broken down in tears. It was the only time he ever saw his father cry. He had learnt that Malfoys don't ask questions, especially not about the war. He eventually got the answer he wanted from dusty old books in his Grandfather's library; it was sickening, in a way, but he could almost sympathise with it.

But the most sickening thing of all was when the blasted Potter boy had approached him on their first full day of Hogwarts. Albus Severus Potter was a Slytherin, like him (something that had shocked the whole wizarding world, he recalled. How could a Potter be a Slytherin? All Slytherins are bad: all Slytherins are Death Eaters – a Potter cannot be a Slytherin) but when he spoke meddling, Gryffindor idiocy was obvious in his voice.

"I forgive you, you know," Potter had said. "I know you're not bad even if your family did some bad stuff during the war. But you weren't born then and neither was I, so we're not to blame for that."

Scorpius never spoke a word to Albus Potter after hearing that, not in all their years as housemates. He knows that he does not need anyone's forgiveness. He has done nothing wrong. Why should he carry the sins of his forefathers? It's almost enough to make him believe that what the Dark Lord did was right.