Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything that takes place in any of the eight books by J.K. Rowling that are out so far. Unfortunately. Some of the characters and most of the events in this story, have been invented by me however.

Chapter One: Prophecy Revealed

Severus Snape swept his onyx eyes around the Great Hall, as all the students filed in for the Welcoming Feast. 'Another year of dealing with dunderheads who probably couldn't tell the difference between Polyjuice and Draught of Living Death, even if you poured the stuff down their throats.' He made sure his customary sneer was in place, even though it really was second nature by now. The doors to the Great Hall opened once more and Minerva McGonagall entered leading the first years.

Severus briefly glanced over them, mentally calculating who would possibly go to Slytherin, and who would be the easiest to intimidate. He picked out four or five instantaneously that he knew would be prime targets. 'Hufflepuffs, for sure.' he thought. His eyes caught on a rather small girl, who was brimming with so much excitement she was practically bouncing. In fact, she was waving at somebody.

'Probably has a brother or sister here' he thought. But then he observed, she wasn't waving at the student tables, but at the Head table instead. He looked down the row at his colleagues, trying to match up the direction the child was waving at. 'Though,' he thought to himself, 'I don't know why I care who the brat is waving to. But there is something about the girl that reminds me of someone.'

He stole another glance at the girl, who was still waving and now was mouthing something as well. He looked back at the Head Table and saw Poppy Pomfrey waving back at the child. 'Ah, she was saying 'Aunt Poppy''. Mystery solved, Severus turned his attention back to the Sorting, which was just about to begin, the infernal hat having finished it inane song.

Midway through the sorting, there certainly had been some surprises. The Malfoy girl—which in itself had been a surprise, as Malfoys hadn't had a female child in the line for centuries, and certainly had never had one as the firstborn—had gotten sorted into Gryffindor. 'Must be due to the mother' Severus mused to himself. Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley had shocked almost everyone when they announced their elopement almost twelve years ago. She was already pregnant with the child Sorted here today, and would bring another five more heirs to the Malfoy fortune into the world. Another Malfoy first, having more than one heir.

The next major surprise had come when Stella Longbottom was sorted into Slytherin. The child of Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood was a Slytherin! Severus could feel a migraine coming on. 'Please, just please let her have some of her mother's sense in Potions', he thought. He didn't really think he could deal with someone of Neville's caliber in his house, it would be too difficult to refrain from yelling and removing House points. Yes, even though the War against Voldemort was over and Severus no longer had to favor the children of Death Eaters to maintain his facade, he found that many of the other teachers still were prejudiced against his little snakes, so he kept on favoring them, though he was more fair to the other houses. Just then a name was called that shook him out of his musings on the surprises the Sorting had offered so far.

"Potter, Lilian" Professor McGonagall called out.

Severus whipped his head around so fast, it was a miracle he didn't give himself whiplash. His eyes narrowed as the girl who had caught his attention earlier skipped up to the stool. Now, he could observe the girl more closely, without seeming to, because the entire hall was doing the same thing. Severus could hear the whispers. "Is that Harry Potter's daughter?" "Do you think she's related to the Harry Potter?" and on and on in the same vein.

The girl currently climbing on the stool, at first glance, didn't resemble Harry Potter at all, and one could be forgiven for believing it a coincidence that another family with the name of Potter had magic in the blood. But then when the Sorting Hat was placed on her head, he caught sight of something that made him realize that this was Harry Potter's daughter. It was just a small gesture, a habit really, that unless you knew Harry well, you wouldn't be able to connect the two. The child, once the Hat was placed on her head, seemed to be having an intense mental conversation with the Hat, and as she was thinking, she sucked in her lower lip and bit down slightly, while her eyebrows furrowed together. Severus recognized it instantly, having seen the same habit from her father many times before.

He wondered who her mother was. He examined the girl more closely, trying to decipher her ancestry through looks and behavior. He also examined his memory, trying to see if there had been any girls who Harry had been with. But try as he might, his mind hit a block. 'Of course you can't think of any girls he might have been with at that time,' he berated himself, 'you thought that he was with you.' Harry's abrupt departure from his life had cut him deeply, and it had taken him many months to recover, and now sitting on a stool not four feet away, was a living breathing reminder of Harry.

More to the point, this child would have been conceived almost twelve years ago, right about the time Harry left. So, if Severus calculated correctly, Harry had either been cheating on him before he left with his girlfriend/wife/whatever, or he had gotten with the whatever right after he left Severus and the Wizarding world altogether. Either way, cut deeply. Wounds that Severus thought were long ago healed, ripped open as if freshly cut. He could literally feel his heart bleeding.

Since his memory obviously wouldn't be of any assistance, he started to use his powers of observation. He desperately wanted to know whom Harry had left him for. The girl was rather small, but then again, her father had pretty much topped out at five feet ten inches. 'And she's only eleven,' he reminded himself. Her hair was a rather nondescript color, hovering between dark blonde and light brown. Rather odd, considering her father's inky black tresses of which Severus could almost feel the silkiness between his fingers. 'Enough!' he chastised himself. She did have Harry's nose and mouth, and the shape of her eyes was handed down to her from her namesake, Lily Evans Potter.

The color of her eyes though, was not the same sparkling emerald green that her father and late grandmother shared. No, her eyes, were a crystal clear shade of blue. It was almost familiar to Severus, he racked his brain as to where he had seen eyes that shade of blue before. It came to him in a flash—the Headmaster! Albus Dumbledore's eyes were exactly the same color of Lilian Potter's eyes. Brushing that aside as coincidence, Severus started to move on, but was interrupted by the Sorting Hat shouting out (finally!) a house for young Miss Potter.

"RAVENCLAW!" the Hat shouted with finality. Lilian heaved a sigh of relief, and clambered down to go sit with her housemates.

'Relieved to be in Ravenclaw? I would have thought that any child of Potter's would have been destined for Gryffindor, and would have been ecstatic to go there.' Obviously there was more than meets the eye, regarding young Lilian.

The next few first years were all sorted quickly—as opposed to the amount of time it took to sort Potter's daughter—and finally, there were just three first years left. Severus took a look at who was left and inwardly groaned. Two little red heads with bushy hair, one with warm chocolate brown eyes, the other with calm blue eyes, peered up at him. They looked like little angels standing there, but Severus knew better. They were the new generation's Weasley twins, and they had grown up in the castle, with their mother Hermione Weasley nee Granger as the Muggle Studies professor, and their father Ronald Weasley as the flying instructor. They were also his godchildren. He and the Weasleys had grown close through Harry, and then after he was gone and presumed by most to be dead, save for Severus and Hermione and Ron--they had grown closer still. Severus snuck a look down at the Weasleys to see if he could discern their reaction to the sorting that had taken place fifteen minutes ago. They looked like he felt, he supposed. To put it bluntly they looked shell-shocked, but Hermione at least, appeared to be trying to pull herself together, to watch her children's sorting.

"Weasley, Molli-Anne" the Hat called out. The redhead with brown eyes separated herself from her twin and sat on the stool calmly. Almost instantaneously, the Hat cried out, "RAVENCLAW!" Molli-Anne removed the Hat and turned around, flashed her parents and godfather a blinding smile and went and sat next to Lilian Potter. She had many questions for the girl, whose father she had heard so much about!

"Weasley, Orion" was barked out by the Hat. The blue-eyed child ran up to the stool, the exact opposite of his (seemingly) more reserved sister. Severus closely watched this sorting, almost as closely as he'd watched Lilian Potter's. He had a feeling about Orion and he had bet the boys parents as to which house he'd end up in.

FLASHBACK...EARLIER IN THE DAY

"I'm telling you my son will not be in Slytherin!" Ron exclaimed.

"And, I'm telling you that he will be. He is one of the most cunning and ambitious people I've ever met. He's like his uncles Fred and George, but with the brains and ability not to get caught perpetrating his pranks. Orion is destined to be one of my snakes!" Severus retorted.

"There has not been a Weasley in Slytherin, ever!" Ron said.

"Nor, has a Weasley not been sorted into Gryffindor in hundreds of years, I know. But mark my words, Orion will be a Slytherin, and if I'm not much mistaken, Molli-Anne won't be a Gryffindor, either. Would you care to place a bet?" Severus offered.

"One galleon says that Orion is not a Slytherin, and two galleons says that both of my kids end up in Gryffindor."

END FLASHBACK

'Well, so far I've earned two galleons, due to Molli-Anne being in Ravenclaw, lets see where Orion ends up' Severus mused.

The Hat barely touched the boy's head, in a scene reminiscent of Draco Malfoy's sorting almost twenty years ago, before it shouted out, "SLYTHERIN".

The Great Hall was in an uproar. A Weasley in Slytherin? It was unheard of! The professors at the Head Table were looking at each other in shock, except for Hermione Weasley, who was trying to revive her husband after he fainted, and Severus Snape, who expected the outcome all along. He quickly sent a look of approval over to where his godson was sitting with all the other first year Slytherins.

In the commotion, nobody paid much attention as young Violet Zabini was sorted into Hufflepuff.

But there was more yet to come, as the Hat appeared to be demanding an audience with the Headmaster. Albus Dumbledore put the Hat on his head and had a short conversation with the Hat, which he stopped in the middle of to ask Professor McGonagall for some parchment and a quill. He resumed his conversation, all the while scratching down information on the parchment. He then removed the Hat and asked for everybody's attention.

"As you all know, this school was founded by the four greatest witches and wizards of their time. Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, and Rowena Ravenclaw, each had certain qualities that they looked for in their students. Which, as you all know, is why the Sorting Hat sorts you into the House where you'd most fit in. Now, it has happened from time to time, where a student could do equally well in two houses, and so is in a sense given the option to choose their house—I believe the last time that happened was when young Harry Potter could have been sorted into either Slytherin or Gryffindor, and he chose the House of his parents, Gryffindor. Very rarely, there comes a child who could do well in three of the four houses. In fact, I can't recall the last time that happened, but I believe it was about four hundred years ago.

Now, as I was just informed by the Sorting Hat, the four founders came across a prophecy when they were deciding to build the school. Unfortunately, the exact words are lost to history, but it told of four young people, who would come to Hogwarts at the same time, and all four would sort equally well into any of the four houses---you can see how rare this would be, if the last time one student fit into three houses was four hundred years ago, and now there are four children who could belong to any house. These children, none of whom would sort into the house of their father, would need to be brought together, as they will be the light the wizarding world seeks when the Dark tries to rear its head again. As such, upon finding this prophecy, the four founders instructed the sorting hat to sort these four children into the house that they are the true magical heir of, and then upon completion of the Sorting, speak with the Headmaster or Headmistress, reveal the prophecy, and the creation of a new house just for the heirs of the founders. These four children are essentially the heirs to Hogwarts and as such are entitled to be taught here free of charge, housed in their own tower—which Hogwarts had already created, but hidden until the four heirs appeared---and taught that which they need to know to prevent the Dark from rising.

"I know that it seems an awful burden to put upon shoulders so young, but upon hearing the names of these children, I think you'll agree that our future will be secure in their hands when the time comes. They all come from families that have a history of fighting for the light, even though in some it is a rather recent history, their predecessors were some of the best witches and wizards the world has ever seen.

"These children will be part of what the Founders termed 'Merlin's House', however, as there are only and will only ever be these four, for classes, points, and Quidditch, they will be classed as member's of the house that they are heir to.

"Now I'm sure you are all wondering who these four children are, except perhaps, the four in question, as I'm sure they were told a bit by the Hat as they were sorted. As I call your name, please come to the front of the Great Hall."

"Serena Malfoy, of Gryffindor!"

"Stella Longbottom, of Slytherin!"

"Violet Zabini, of Hufflepuff!"

"Lilian Potter, of Ravenclaw!"

"These four young women are the heirs to Hogwarts. Neither this castle nor I will stand for any of them being given a hard time. It does not matter if you don't think their family name belongs in your house or not. They are in the house to which they are the magical heir, so in a sense, they belong in that house more than anyone else there. Treat them with respect, but do not ostracize them. They are just like all the other first year children here, but with a bit more responsibility. That is all. Ladies, you may return to you seats, and everyone may now tuck in!"

With that everyone dug into the marvelous feast that was prepared, most dismissing thoughts of the prophecy and Merlin House as inconsequential in their lives. Except, of course, the four concerned.

Later that evening, after all the children had gone to bed, and after his rounds of the castle were complete, Severus lay in bed thinking about the Feast. It had certainly been full of many surprises. Perhaps the least surprising thing was finding out that yet another Potter was a central figure in a prophecy that would determine the fate of the world. 'Bet Potter has a fit when he finds out,' he thought, knowing how Harry had felt about his own prophecy.

FLASHBACK...12 years ago...

"I have to do it, Sev, I'm the only one that can," Harry quietly told his lover.

"What do you mean, 'you're the only one that can?' Harry, we'll all be there alongside you. It could be any one of us that ends up striking the fatal blow. I know that most of the Wizarding world expects you to be the one, but that's just because of the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' thing. It'll probably end up being Dumbledore that'll end this whole mess." Severus tried to reassure his young lover.

"No, Severus, there was a prophecy.." Severus then interrupted Harry.

"So, there really is a prophecy? The Dark Lord sometimes mentioned something about a prophecy, but I never learned more than the fact that he was looking for the exact wording."

"Yes, Albus told me what it was the night that Sirius was killed in the Department of Mysteries. It was what Voldemort was after when he sent the Death Eaters there. I'm going to tell you, so then you'll understand. Trelawny predicted it some 18 and a half years ago, before I was born. It goes like this, 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives...The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...' There were two babies born at the end of July 1980 to wizarding couples, that fit the requirement of having 'thrice defied' Voldemort.

"One couple was the Longbottoms, and the other couple was my parents. Neville was born on the 30th of July, and as you know, I was born on the 31st. Both of us could have been the prophecy child, until Voldemort wrecked my life. He was the one that ultimately made the prophecy about me, by giving me this scar, he 'marked me as his equal', and made me the only one that could kill him.

"I don't know how to do it though, Sev, and I'm scared. I'm scared for you, and Ron, and Hermione. I'm scared for the Weasleys, and Hagrid, and Remus. I'm scared for Albus, Minerva, and the rest of the professors. I'm scared for Hogwarts. I'm scared for the whole Wizarding world. But most of all, I'm scared for me. There's nothing special about me besides this scar. How can I rid the world of this monster? How can people expect this of me? I'm only eighteen years old, and I have the fate of the entire world on my shoulders." Harry broke down sobbing.

Severus tenderly gathered Harry in his arms, rocking him, and rubbing his back with one hand, as the other carded through the silky black hair. "Shhh, its alright Harry. I'll always be here for you, no matter what. And I'm not going to let you die, so it will have to be Voldemort that gets killed. Its as simple as that."