Irrelevant Allegations
It doesn't matter anymore, he thinks. At least, not in the way it should.
It's funny how after a certain amount of time you can justify pretty much anything.
They'd all done thing during the war of which they did not speak. It wasn't that they regretted them, per se -- it just seemed unnecessary to bring them up now. Best to leave the past buried, really.
Hermione still wouldn't talk about how she had escaped when she was captured.
Ron had been attacked by Percy, his own brother.
Ginny had killed Lucius Malfoy.
And he, Harry, had killed Malfoy's heir.
It doesn't matter, he repeats again.
But however many times he says it doesn't erase Malfoy's face out of his mind.
Defenseless and bordering on pathetic, Draco Malfoy had been sprawled out on the floor. His wand was safely in Harry's hand, as well as his fate.
A true Gryffindor would have shown mercy, he thinks. A true Gryffindor would have captured Malfoy and let the legal system deal with him.
Malfoy was a death eater: repeat phrase as needed.
Two memories were prominent in his mind, though.
The day Dumbledore died and the night at the Shrieking Shack when he first met Sirius.
Malfoy had hesitated. He wasn't going to kill the headmaster.
Malfoy was a death eater.
He had spared Pettigrew.
But not Malfoy.
Malfoy was a death eater…but so was Pettigrew.
He swirls the drink in his hand and takes a long drink. A Gryffindor would have let Malfoy live.
His father would have let Malfoy live.
Harry tosses the glass against the wall and feels a certain satisfaction in the sound of the glass breaking. With a swish of his wand the glass is whole again. A moment later it smashed back into the wall.
He'd killed a lot of people during the war. But every situation had come down to the pure, simple fact that if he didn't kill them they would kill him. The choice was always simple.
Murder.
Harry wraps the word around his mind.
No. It wasn't premeditated, he reasons.
Manslaughter.
Well. It was a little better, he supposed.
No one knew. They knew Malfoy was dead. And most had reasoned that Harry had been responsible. But no one cared enough to open the case.
And even if they did…even if they somehow discovered that Malfoy had begged Harry for his life seconds before Harry ended it…they would just look the other way.
He was The Boy Who Lived. He killed Voldemort. Twice, if you want to be technical.
Malfoy was a death eater.
They would all say it. They would give Harry reassuring pats on the back and mummer those very words.
Harry could have tortured Malfoy for hours on end and he was sure that all he would hear was how the war did a lot of things to a lot of people.
Temporary Insanity.
He swallowed. At least it was a better label than the rest.
A/N -- So…I'm not dead. I have not written anything HP in a very long time and, frankly, hadn't really thought about it. But I was in Political Science today not paying attention (as usual…come on, it's public opinion) and wrote this. Eh. I'm sure it's not the best, and Lord knows it's not the longest, thing I've ever written. But consider me a born-again virgin of the fan fiction world…ergo, be nice in reviews.