Chapter 38
In the kitchen of Harry and Ginny Potter's house, the air was tense as the two couples, Harry and Ginny, and Draco and Pansy, sat far apart from each other. The atmosphere was heavy with unresolved issues from their past at Hogwarts.
Pansy, with a hint of remorse in her voice, broke the silence. "Sorry about your kitchen, Ginny."
Ginny, seemingly detached, responded, "Oh, it's not my kitchen. It is Harry's house and his kitchen."
Draco, passionate and eager to defend their case, chimed in, "It is evil that you say your son that he mustn't talk with his friend. He will become angry and won't talk with you."
Nodding in agreement, Pansy added, "Yes, Draco and I made a lot of mistakes in Hogwarts, but now we have changed. Now we don't think that magical blood makes you better."
Harry, resolute in his stance, asserted, "Whatever you may think . . . I need to protect my son from your son."
Draco, with a sense of introspection, shared his own experience, "My father thought he was protecting me. Most of the time. I think you have to make a choice — at a certain point — of the man you want to be. And I tell you that at that time you need a parent or a friend. And if you can't talk with your parent by then, and you have no friends . . . then you’re all alone. And being alone — that’s so hard. I am happy that when I couldn't talk with my parents, I had my friends: Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy. Friends can support you, when your parents can't."
Ginny, unimpressed, retorted, "Crabbe and Goyle were two lunks who wouldn’t know one end of a broomstick from another."
Draco defended his friends, "They supported me even if they weren't very smart."
Pansy, drawing a parallel to their current situation, said, "Tom Riddle didn’t emerge from his dark place. And so, Tom Riddle became Lord Voldemort. Maybe the black cloud Bane saw was Albus's loneliness. His pain. His hatred. Don’t lose the boy. You’ll regret it. And so will he. Because he needs you, and Scorpius, whether or not he now knows it."
Harry looked at Pansy and Draco, deep in thought. He opened his mouth to speak but hesitated. Ginny, trying to lighten the mood, suggested, "Harry. Will you get the Floo powder or shall I?"
Harry glanced up at his wife, a multitude of emotions swirling within him as he considered their words.