He was stirring up something dangerous within the Great Hall. Scorpius glanced back at the Slytherin table. Theva, Saul, Avery, Nott, and various others were paying eerily close attention to every word from his dad's mouth.
"I want everybody listening to hear me—really hear what I am telling you. A prejudice does exist against those associated with Death Eaters. You cannot refute this. To do so invalidates all that we have gone through since the War ended. To do so widens the divide between us all. There is a prejudice—those of you feeding this rebellion have a right to feel like you do. You have a right to be angry. You have a right to want change. You have a right to be frustrated with classmates and professors who won't recognize your hardships. But this hardship...this prejudice...is not undeserved."
Scorpius tightened his grip on Albus's hand nervously. Draco had to raise his voice to speak above the angry shouts rising from the Slytherin table.
"The only undeserved prejudice in our society was the dangerous and prevailing prejudice against Muggle-borns and Muggles. This is a prejudice I exemplified during my time at Hogwarts. It was a prejudice I was raised with. I hated Muggle-borns; I called our Minister for Magic a 'Mudblood' on multiple occasions as a child."
Many people flinched at the sound of the slur, Scorpius included. It sounded wrong to hear it coming from his dad's lips.
"Death Eaters were united against Muggle-borns, Muggles, and their sympathizers. Death Eaters tortured and killed more Muggles and Muggle-borns that I can count. We did so because we thought they were lesser. We wanted to rid the world of them. I would not stand up here in front of my son, who, to my amazement, has always loved me despite my past, and admit these horrible things if they were not true. And they're true. If you know somebody who was a Death Eater, they were the most prejudiced of all, and they put that prejudice into action. They took lives. They took the lives of parents, of children, of the elderly. They tortured parents into insanity in front of their children. They tortured children. When Voldemort was using my family's Manor as a headquarters, Death Eaters captured and tortured a Muggle child in the gardens. For fun. Six years old. For fun."
The Slytherin table was silent now. Scorpius felt sick. Where in the gardens? Where he and his mother had knelt and planted lavender? Where he chased the peacocks during long summer days? Where he and his family used to watch meteor showers together?
His dad's voice was quieter now. "I was here for the last rebellion that Hogwarts saw. We had two Death Eaters acting as professors. The things that you've heard—they're true. Students were forced to use the Cruciatus Curse on first years. The Imperius Curse was used for...horrible, vile things, things that still, to this day, make my stomach clench. Things that have forever made that the curse that my generation fears most of all."
Scorpius glanced down the table towards Lily. She was looking down at her empty plate; her hair was falling over her face and blocking her expression. Scorpius looked back to his dad.
"I...I used these curses on people. People that..." he trailed off, visibly upset. "People that are here now. Who lived through it. Professor Longbottom. Ginny Potter. I stood by as they were hurt—I didn't say anything. I avoided hurting people as much as I could...but when you get involved with Death Eaters...hurting others becomes a reality whether you want it to or not."
Scorpius glanced quickly at Albus. If Albus was surprised by the knowledge that Scorpius's dad had once harmed his mum, it didn't show. He met Scorpius's gaze and smiled reassuringly at him. It made everything feel just a bit lighter. Scorpius smiled weakly back.
"All of this brings me to my new role. I know it sounds slightly...ridiculous. Conflict Counselor. But there wasn't any other title that seemed any better, because what I'm hoping to do at this school is complicated and difficult. Because I know...I know that there are some of you listening who are involved in horrible things. I know that some of you feel powerful and you enjoy it. I know that you are good at it. My friends in my Hogwarts years...when the Carrows took over Hogwarts...they excelled at torture. They enjoyed it, and what's more, they enjoyed excelling at it. I know and understand that some of you feel that way. What I hope to do for you is help you understand the long-term consequences to this short-term enjoyment. And for others still...probably the majority of you...you're involved because you're frustrated, and you don't know what else to do. Youknow change is needed, but the only group offering change is this rebelling group, and even if you don't entirely agree all the time—at least they're offering change, right? I understand that. But you must believe me when I say a group's ideals reflect you wholly and forever. An ex-Death Eater who was for the extermination of Muggle-borns but thought we ought to leave Muggles alone was not recognized after the war as 'the Death Eater who thought Muggles were all right'. He was recognized as a Death Eater, and as such, he was forever associated with all the Death Eater ideals. Do you agree with all your movement has done thus far? I hope so. Because you will always be associated with it now if you keep moving forward. For this group of students, I want to show you that there is a better way, and I want you to work with me as I work alongside our Minister for Magic to draft laws to remedy some of the past mistakes." Draco took a moment to peer out and take stock of the students. Scorpius wished he could've seen all of them from Draco's viewpoint. "And lastly, I'm speaking to what I'm sure is a small percentage of you. Perhaps there's only two. Maybe there's even only one of you. But I know you exist because I was once one of you. If there is anybody out there who is involved in this rebellion because they are being forced to be, whether by peers or parents, I want you to know that I understand how complicated it is. Maybe you're involved because your own life was threatened. Maybe you're involved because somebody you love's life was threatened. It is not your fault. But if you don't step forward and get help now, you will be taken down with all the rest. For this group, I offer understanding, and most importantly,help. Let me help you."
Scorpius automatically searched up and down the table for Iset Goyle. He spotted her at the very end. Rose had entered the Great Hall at some point during Draco's speech, and the two were sitting side-by-side, their eyes chained on Scorpius's dad. Iset's arm was looped loosely around Rose's waist; Rose's returning hold was much firmer and protective.
"There are many things I'll be providing this year. Most importantly, I'll be available in my office—located in the Library Corridor, door on the left—during class hours. Every single professor has been instructed to allow passes to see me at any point during your lessons, with no questions asked. If you have a concern, come talk. If you've got questions about the war or the Death Eaters, come see me. I want to help you understand. If you wish to protect your identity, I am working closely with Ginny Potter and Lily Potter on their new project. As I'm sure you've heard today, they are opening an advice column. You can write anonymously to me directly and I will respond. At the suggestion of your Head Girl and Head Boy, we will be doing open discussions in the Great Hall every Thursday night. I hope you consider joining us if you have concerns or questions. Thank you for listening."
Scorpius was first to clap, but to his amazement, he was not the one clapping hardest. All around him, members of every House were rising to their feet and clapping hard. At the Slytherin table, Jillian Nott was in tears. Albus rose weakly to his feet and tugged on their joined hands, pulling Scorpius from his shock; he rose and clapped alongside Albus and everybody else. The only person who looked more surprised than him was his dad, who kept looking over his shoulder at the students as he walked back to his seat at the staff table like he halfway expected their applause to turn mocking at any moment. Professor Longbottom clapped him warmly on the shoulder, which only served to make Draco more disoriented.
"With all that being said—let us eat!" McGonagall ordered.
Food appeared, and after his dad had been so warmly applauded, Scorpius's appetite had thankfully returned.
The first thing he did when he saw his dad after dinner was hug him tightly.
"Oh, hello," his dad said stiffly, audibly surprised. He patted Scorpius's back.
"You're the bravest," Scorpius muttered, where only his dad could hear. His dad looked flustered and pleased when Scorpius leaned back.
"It wasn't enjoyable, but it went better than I thought it would," he said.
"It was great," Albus gushed. "Jillian Nott was crying afterwards. You really got to her."
"I just hope I managed to get to the ones who needed it."
He had, as it turned out, managed to get to enough people to make a discernable difference.
Over the rest of that week, the hexing and cursing completely stopped. More and more people joined the open-House table in the Great Hall for meals. And Scorpius often saw people hovering uncertainly in the Library Corridor, clearly debating with whether or not to pop in on Draco Malfoy.
Scorpius and Albus had Quidditch practice for two hours each evening as their first match approached that Saturday—something that Scorpius would've bemoaned (he was missing out on crucial reading time) if it weren't for how much Albus seemed to be enjoying them. His leg weakness was getting better and better the longer he took the potion, but the fact remained that he felt freer flying than he'd felt since his injury, and that led to an Albus who was carefree and, as it turned out, confident because of that exuberant mood. And when he was confident, he was a phenomenal Chaser. And when he was a phenomenal Chaser, he was even happier. And when he was that happy, Scorpius was that happy, and not only because it lead to many lovely and exciting dressing room rendezvous after practices.
And while they practiced, Ginny, Lily, Draco, and Harry sat in the stands working on their 'advice column'. Their first issue was due out the following week, and they'd already gotten a lot more messages than they'd anticipated, with many being addressed specifically for 'Mr. Malfoy'. Scorpius had a feeling the publication would end up being a helpful tool, but in his opinion, one of the best things the publication was doing was giving Lily somewhere positive to channel her energy and drive. He was certain that this was one of the main reasons her parents had made her the leader of it—and it worked. She was not only entirely focused on it; she was great at it. She'd gotten so many volunteers that they had to be rotated weekly. She'd even talked Scorpius into agreeing to help out from time to time. He was just glad things seemed to be better. He didn't like when she was upset.
On that Thursday, the night of the first open discussion, Scorpius expected the Great Hall to be packed full. His classmates had certainly seemed to receive his dad's first lecture well. But when he and Albus entered, ten minutes after the time it was due to start, it was nearly empty.
"Oh," Scorpius said, surprised.
His dad waved at him from the far end of the middle table. Scorpius waved back hesitantly, and after exchanging a disappointed look with Albus, they trudged up to join the small group.
"What?" Albus demanded, outraged. He sat down beside Rose. "All the Sevens aren't even here!"
"Most of them are on patrol," Evvie defended. "They can't help it."
Scorpius felt slightly irritated with them, even though he knew it wasn't their fault. His dad had worked so hard on preparing for this discussion night, and they didn't even have enough people to fill an entire table. The Potter family was there, Caden Rowle, Aster Boot, Emi Crescent, Nora Thomas, Ben Wood, Evvie Wilson, Roxanne Weasley, Rose, Iset Goyle—where were the rest? Where were the ones who had been causing trouble, the ones who seemed to have plenty to say when they were arguing with Harry? Ones like Saul Montague and Claire Theva? Scorpius was frustrated that this hadn't gone the way his dad had planned. He felt embarrassed for him, too.
"Lily," Rose said, interrupting the awkward silence. "Your hair looks really nice."
Scorpius assumed the compliment was Rose attempting to rebuild her and Lily's friendship, but when he glanced towards Lily, he realized that her hair did look really nice. He wasn't sure how or why, but it seemed more captivating than usual. He found himself staring at the shine of it in the candlelight; he could see a plethora of different shades of gold and ruby that he'd never noticed before. And he wasn't the only one. Now that Rose had drawn attention to it, everybody was looking at it like it was a sudden, dazzling light. James—who was sitting beside Lily—reached out and patted it.
"Cool," said James.
"Oh, yeah," Lily said. "So my eye-sight potion went a bit...crooked when I tried to add a new ingredient. The good news is: my hair is unstoppable. Maybe even a bit hypnotic? Not sure what happened. The bad news? My eyesight actually got worse. I'm working on it."
"Lily!" Ginny said worriedly.
"Slughorn says it won't last long and we're going to fix it," Lily reassured her parents.
Caden reached out to touch Lily's hair, his eyes locked on it just like everybody else's were, but Lily shot a hand out and grabbed his hand before he could.
"We're not there yet, Caden," she said. "No hair-touching."
He frowned. Nora hurriedly switched topics, probably for the sake of interrupting Lily and Caden before they could start fighting (as they were prone to doing).
"So, Scorpius and Albus, before you arrived Caden and Iset were discussing how being related to ex-Death Eaters affects them," Nora said gently. "Did you want to say anything about that, Scorpius?"
With his dad watching? Absolutely not. Scorpius felt his face burn as everybody looked towards him.
"Er...well, people assume things about me that aren't true...that I'm a blood purist...that I'm, you know, evil..." he trailed off.
"But at least you're the son of the Death Eater who turned against Voldemort, even if it was at the very end," Caden said.
"Yeah, that's true," Scorpius allowed. "Er...if you don't mind me asking...who were your parents? Are you related to...Euphemia Rowle?"
Albus shifted beside Scorpius. Scorpius was sure he was remembering Delphi's not-so-kind words on her guardian Euphemia Rowle.
"Distantly," Caden answered shortly, which seemed a bit too suspicious for Scorpius's liking. "My dad was Thorfinn Rowle. Death Eater during the Second Wizarding World. He did a lot of rubbish to pretty much everybody."
"I knew him," Draco said curtly.
Judging by the look Ginny and Harry exchanged, they did, too. Lily was staring at Caden.
"Was?" she finally asked, her voice smaller than usual. "He was Thorfinn Rowle?"
A silence settled over the table. The adults shared an uncomfortable look. Caden turned to face Lily.
"Oh, yeah, I'm an orphan," he told her.
Lily stared. "Wait, what? You're a what?"
"An orphan."
"You...wait. So over all the time we've known each other, you didn't once think to mention the fact that you're an orphan?!" Lily seemed extremely disturbed by this. She was looking at Caden as if he'd just admitted he had a terminal illness.
"It never came up," he shrugged.
"How does something like that just...not come up?" Lily demanded.
"I never really knew them. And anyway, they were sore losers. They killed themselves when I was two. I was in the room, but I don't think I remember it. They couldn't cope with living in a world where they lost...couldn't cope with being the losers for once. Good riddance."
Another heavy silence fell over their group, but this time, it was a horrified one. Scorpius cleared his throat and looked down at the table. Albus had stiffened beside him.
"I'm so sorry," Iset whispered.
"Oh," Caden said. "Really, don't be. It's not a big deal."
Scorpius glanced back up. The adults didn't look entirely surprised, so Scorpius guessed they at least knew a bit about this beforehand. Mostly everybody appeared horrified. But Lily looked positively gutted. She looked as if somebody had randomly smacked her across the face.
"Are you going to cry or something?" Caden asked her.
Instead of offering awkward condolences or teasing him back, she reached out and grabbed onto Caden's hand, which was resting in a tight fist atop the table. She brought his hand up, unfurled his fingers, and then set his hand on her hair. He tentatively stroked through it once, a shocked expression covering his face now, too.
"Soft," he appreciated. His voice sounded a bit thick this time.
"I think it was the unicorn hair that did it," Lily explained.
"Oh, that makes sense," Caden nodded. He continued pulling his fingers softly through it, his eyes watching the candlelight dancing off the golds and rubies.
"You're a great loser, Caden, nothing like your parents. And when I beat you on Saturday, I'll appreciate your graceful acceptance of it even more," Lily said.
Caden gave her hair a light tug in response. They both smiled.
"And what about you, Iset?" Ginny asked loudly, clearly a cue for Lily to stop blatantly flirting. "Did you have anything else you wanted to add?"
Iset hesitated. She glanced at Rose. Rose murmured something, Iset whispered something back, and then Rose nodded. Iset took a deep breath and glanced down at her hands.
"Well—for me—and I know it's not...like this for everybody...I know that your childhood wasn't like this, Scorpius...but..." she bit her lip uncertainly. She fiddled nervously. "When you're raised by somebody who was...proud to have been involved with the Death Eaters...who took pride in the things he did..."
She was struggling so much that Scorpius felt uncomfortable for her. It was obvious she was trying to say something but was wary of saying too much.
"Your father took great joy in the Cruciatus," Scorpius's dad interrupted gently. "In our seventh year, when the Carrows were here and he got to practice it daily...it was the happiest I ever saw him. I don't know if it was hurting people that he liked, or if it was just the fact that he was good at something and felt powerful for once, but he certainly did enjoy it."
Something flashed behind Iset's eyes, but it was gone before Scorpius could begin to put a name to it.
"I don't think...I don't think the craving for that sort of power could ever really go away," she said quietly. "And that's...that's what I...that's what it was like for me."
It took everybody a minute to realize what she was really saying underneath her evasion and stumbling words. She was absolutely refusing to look at any of them.
"Iset," Harry said gently. "Are you
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