This is a story that takes place immediately following the Epilogue in Book Seven. If you haven't finished reading through the 7th book, there WILL be spoilers. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling! Her characters (with a few exceptions), based on events in her books, her places, etc.

Harry awakened.

He lay there beside Ginny--still breathing peacefully in her sleep--and tried to forget why he had jerked back to consciousness.
A hawthorn and unicorn hair wand, abandoned after battle for its former master to crawl back to....

A pale face in the papers that bared headlines in the middle sections, screaming of the shame of the Malfoys....

A small, smirking article about the birth of Scorpius Malfoy four months after the marriage of his parents....

A pale face that differed from the one in the papers on a tall man in King's Cross Station beside his wife and child....

And a high, laughing, cold voice ordering Draco Malfoy to torture and kill. The same voice that still entered into the worst of Harry's nightmares, but sometimes alternating with a new voice--unrecognizable.

Then that final vision....

He shuddered.

"Harry?" Ginny had sat up to look at him; he pushed up beside her. "What's wrong?" "Nothing." He offered her a false smile. "Just nightmares, Gin." She put her arms around him, leaning against his chest. "Want to talk about it?" "No." He stroked her hair, his smile softening into a gentler version of the real thing. "Okay."

Sometimes, Harry wished that Ginny would push; struggle to get to the heart of the matter instead of letting him evade it. But he knew why she didn't. He hadn't wanted her to, especially immediately after the war, and she had been trying to respect his desires. He couldn't fault her for that.

He sighed as he lay back down and returned to sleep.

The next day, they got a letter that Harry had been half-expecting from Al. It tearfully described his trials under the Sorting Hat. Despite his best efforts, the hat had declared him a Slytherin.

Ginny recoiled a little. It was one thing to hear that your husband could have been in Slytherin. And it was another thing, not so horrible, to name one of your children for a Slytherin hero. But it was something completely different to hear that your child had gone into the Serpent's House--belonged there, even. It was less awful for Harry, perhaps because of his personal experiences. He was a Parselmouth--that skill had not deserted him with the Horcrux--had used the Unforgivables, and had barely managed to argue himself out of Slytherin. Although he hadn't necessarily enjoyed any of these experiences, he at least understood that having a few "dark" traits didn't make a person Dark. Ginny's closest step into darkness had been her possession by Tom Riddle--an event that she was unlikely to ever look upon fondly.

"What is it?" asked Lily. "A letter from your brother." Ginny smiled for her, but Harry could tell that it came primarily from a desire to comfort Lily, not because Ginny was truly accepting of Al's placement. "Al's in Slytherin." Lily lowered her eyes. "Oh," she said quietly, returning to her breakfast. Harry stifled an irritated sigh.

After the war, "Slytherin" had become synonymous with "evil". Although Harry had attempted to make it clear that Severus Snape had not been a traitor, but was truly a hero--that Narcissa Malfoy had deliberately lied to Voldemort and saved Harry's life--all that had happened was that the newspapers sighed even more, adding mercy and modesty to his many charms.

He remembered being eleven--remembered how he, too, had feared Slytherin House. And the stigma had only grown in the past twenty-six years; it was no wonder that Albus was so ashamed. Harry would just have to do all that he could to ensure that his son didn't grow estranged from the rest of his family.

The next letter, that evening, was more resigned. Scorpius Malfoy was showing a curious interest in Al--considering Draco's initial fascination with Harry, that wasn't really surprising--James had toned down the teasing and was trying to demonstrate that he would not abandon his brother, the rest of Slytherin was watching him warily, and the professors were fair.

Ginny was already in bed, murmuring about a "headache". Harry went to join her. He knew that, soon, they would need to discuss Albus's place--in Slytherin and in their family.

But not tonight.