The Unexpected Sorting
"Really, Draco," said Harry as he patted the distraught man on the back. "Is it the end of world?"
"Yes," replied the blond vehemently. "And it doesn't even make sense. Cissy and Sirius are in Slytherin and they're only Malfoys by blood not name. Lily is a Malfoy in name as well as blood, and she's in—she's in—I can't even say it, Potter." He paused, then glared at Harry. "This is your fault! Your bloodline's poisoned my heir, made her into a—a Gryffindor."
"Hardly," snorted Harry. "She just takes after my mother, which you were already aware of."
Indeed, it had been visible since their second daughter's birth, when she had been the only one of their three children to inherit Lily Potter's red hair. Back then Draco had bemoaned the Malfoy line falling to someone without the colouring most associated with the ancient house, but after he held his daughter, he had changed his mind. Harry still clearly remembered that day.
"Harry, she has red hair," Draco had said with wide eyes.
"My mother had red hair," Harry replied, cradling Lily in his arms. "I think it's rather fitting."
"But—but she has red hair," Draco continued. "Malfoys are blonde."
"This one won't be, then," said Harry.
"Is it too late to make Sirius the Malfoy heir?" asked Draco. He then winced at the look on Harry's face.
"Sirius is the Black heir," said Harry, "and Lily is the Malfoy heir. Are you really going to make this into such a big deal?" Harry handed the baby to Draco and walked out. He wanted to cool off a bit. He came back later and saw that Draco was sitting in a chair, Lily in his arms, and he looked utterly entranced.
"She'll do," he said, his face full of love. Harry leaned over and kissed Draco, and then they both went back to admiring their newest child.
Even now that the kids were all school-aged, Harry still disliked the fact that their three children had different last names, but it had been necessary. After the war was over Harry and Draco were each left as the last blood member of the Houses of Potter and Malfoy, respectively. In addition to that, Harry's godfather had left him the Lordship of the House of Black. Wizarding custom dictated that each title came with the obligation to produce an heir for the line.
Their first child had been named Narcissa, after Draco's mother, and given the last name Potter. She would take over the House of Potter upon Harry's death. Narcissa (called 'Cissy' most of the time so that no one confused her with her grandmother) had inherited most of her traits from her namesake and the Black line. The end result was a gray-eyed, black-haired child that resembled both Draco's mother and Harry's godfather. She had just started her seventh year.
Their second child had been named Sirius and given the last name Black. He would become Lord Black on his seventeenth birthday. Sirius had Draco's pale skin and hair, James Potter's hazel eyes, and Harry's always-messy hairstyle and nearsighted vision. He was currently in fourth year.
After finding out that their third child was to be a girl, Draco had suggested that she be named Lily Malfoy. This was to keep both the pattern of floral names that ran in Harry's mother's family and to keep continuity in the naming of their children after treasured family members.
Lily was the youngest, and definitely the most outspoken and rash. She had a tendency to clash with her siblings, and actually got along best with Lauren Thomas, Ginny and Dean's oldest child. Lily had her namesake's dark red hair, green eyes, and a face that resembled Cissy's.
Before Draco could say much more about how Lily should be resorted (or something else that would be, in Harry's opinion, just as rash and unwise), a knock was heard on the door of their quarters. Harry, the resident Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor, glared at Draco to get him to cease his ramblings for the moment, and opened up the door. Behind it were his three children. Sirius had his fist raised, so it was obvious that he had been knocking. Cissy had her arm around a tearful Lily. Upon spotting Draco, Lily ran to him.
"Daddy!" she shouted, jumping into his lap. The old armchair that Draco sat in gave a loud creaking noise but, thankfully, didn't fall apart. "I didn't mean to, really! I know you said that I would be a good Slytherin, and I told that bloody hat that, but he didn't listen! I'm really, really sorry that the hat put me in Gryffindor!"
After Draco said nothing for a moment, Cissy and Sirius looked at Harry with "what are you going to do?" expressions, and Harry could only shrug back. With Lily here, Harry hoped that Draco would see his daughter and be reminded that Gryffindor wasn't so bad. And perhaps also that Harry himself had been one—in fact, Harry very much hoped that Draco would remember that soon, as all this talk against his house was starting to get on his nerves.
"Are you very angry?" Lily eventually asked, her green eyes wide.
"Of course not," said Draco finally, his face's former expression already cleared. "After all, Potter over there was in Gryffindor as well. They can't be too bad, can they?" Lily hugged her blond father tightly, and Harry and Draco shared a look over her shoulder. It was obvious that this wasn't over, but hopefully Draco's words meant that eventually he could come to terms with Lily's sorting.
A/N: This was originally written for Liwen as part of the Big/Little exchange on LiveJournal. :)