Orectic: of or pertaining to a desire.

August 8, 2020

"Dad, that's not fair!" Albus fumed.

He had leapt to his feet some time ago, knocking his chair to the floor, and now stood gripping the edge of the table with a furious, vice-like grip, scowling mutinously across the kitchen at his father calmly boiling water for potatoes.

"Maybe not, but that's my decision," Harry told him evenly.

"Well it's bull –"

"Albus Severus Potter, mind your tongue," Ginny admonished, coming around the corner into the kitchen with a classic Mrs. Weasley expression in place.

"But he's being a –"

"Don't talk about your father that way."

"Or to your mother that way."

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"I grew up with six brothers. Believe me, dear, I knew what you were going to say. Now," she turned to Harry, who was still coolly minding the stove. "What is this all about?"

"Our son wants to spend a few days at a friend's house, and I told him 'no'," Harry explained.

"You said 'under no circumstances will that happen'," Albus accused. "I'm not in trouble, I got good marks last year, I've put up with James all summer. He's just being a jerk!"

Harry closed his eyes and took a slow breath through his nose.

"May I ask why you told him he couldn't go?" Ginny inquired.

"I told him his friend could come stay with us," Harry went on, ignoring the question.

"But he can't because he's going on holiday to France on Friday and his mum wants him to stay at home and help pack and things," Albus interjected.

"Which friend is it?" Ginny asked suspiciously, looking between her son and husband.

"Go on," Albus prompted, crossing his arms. "Tell Mum why you won't let me go."

"Scorpius invited him to stay the week in Wiltshire. At Malfoy Manor." Harry turned enough to meet Ginny's eyes, see understanding blaze there.

"For everything he's said about not judging people on where they come from, giving second chances, being all warm and friendly to Scorpius when he comes over here, he hates the Malfoys just as much as ever!" Albus shouted, flinging a condemning hand toward his father. "He's a hypocrite!"

"Albus, go upstairs," Ginny said shortly.

"You're on his side?" he demanded, voice rising an octave in indignation.

"Yes," Ginny said simply. "Now go up to your room and I'll be up to talk to you in a minute."

Albus gave her an incensed glare as he stalked past her to the stairs.

"I live in a family of bloody hypocrites!" they heard just before his bedroom door slammed.

Harry let out a gusty breath as he turned to face his wife. Ginny crossed the room and wound her arms around his waist, pressing her forehead into his shoulder.

"How do we explain this to him?" Harry asked exhaustedly.

Ginny shook her head against his chest.

"You know…" she said slowly. "Malfoy's already in France. You had to approve his passport, remember?" She pulled back to look at him, and Harry gave a barely perceptible nod. "Well, maybe it would be alright –"

"No," Harry interrupted shortly, pulling away from her to turn back to the stove. "It's not the people so much as the house. You should know what sort of things have been horded in there better than anyone."

Ginny sucked in a sharp, involuntary breath, stepping back. He whipped around, horror and apology all over his face.

"I didn't mean – I was talking about your dad leading the raids. I'm sorry, Gin, I wasn't thinking –"

"It's fine," she assured him, waving away his concern. "It was almost thirty years ago, Harry. I'm over it. But Scorpius has grown up in that house," she went on, a placatory note entering her voice. "I'm sure his parents have made sure he can't get into anything. It's the only time he'll be able to spend with Scorpius all summer between our holiday to Romania and their holiday to France. Harry, it's different for you and me, but Albus doesn't have to carry around our horrors."

She added the last bit softly, gently enough for him to consider it, glancing toward the stairs. After a moment, he shook his head.

"I can't. Too much has happened in that house. Too much –" he broke off, squeezing his eyes shut as the echoes of screaming, glass shattering, shrieked curses swelled around him. He saw pale, starved faces and ornate rugs sodden in crimson pools, felt an iron hand around his throat and silver streaked behind his eyelids. "He'll just have to understand that he can't always have what he wants, even if he's earned it."

"I'll try to explain," Ginny murmured, nodding. She brushed a kiss on the edge of his jaw and turned to follow Albus up the stairs.

A/N: This one's actually the proper length! Anyway, thank you all so very much for reviewing and please please keep it up! 113 more before the end of the year? I'll offer crazy fanfiction-related rewards to the first ten reviewers over 1,000.

But I do know quantity and review profit isn't everything, so I hope you enjoyed this little bit. I've always imagined something like this must have happened…. If you were tapped into my 'reading the books' story, I had intended to include this memory in the Malfoy Manor chapter. RIP, that story.