I. Odd One Out
My name is Lily Luna Potter, I am eleven years old, and I am a famous witch. Not for anything I did, mind you. My father is Harry Potter, one of the greatest heroes in wizarding history. My mother is a Weasley, one of almost too many to count.
As the youngest child of the youngest child, almost all of my cousins and brothers have gone through ahead of me. My family has had Quidditch captains, head boys and girls, pranking legends, and more members of the Quidditch house teams than you can shake a wand at.
There's nothing I can do to avoid being famous, so I will simply have to make myself deserve it. I'll teach my cousins not to underestimate me because I'm small. I'll be the best. I'll beat them at everything.
I'll earn my fame.
Those were my thoughts as I boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time. I had always been a bit of a rebel, and knowing how to get what I wanted was key. If I wanted to earn my fame, I had to do something unique, something that set me above the rest of them.
I just wasn't expecting to start so soon.
Stepping into the Great Hall for the first time was a bit of a shock. I had heard my family's descriptions of it, but actually seeing it was something I was not fully prepared for. Still, I wasn't going to let that stop me. I was one of the first to get over it and walk in.
The sorting hat was brought in, and sang its song. I wasn't really paying attention. I had heard about previous songs, and this would be more of the same. I was more interested in working out where the rest of my family was.
James was at the Gryffindor table, laughing with Fred and Louis. I knew that look, and it meant that someone was soon to become a victim of the so called 'New Marauders'. Possibly me, given how they kept glancing in my direction.
Al was sitting a few seats along, with Scorpius Malfoy (who, to everyone's surprise, was a Gryffindor), his best friend.
Several other cousins were dotted around the rest of the hall. Rose and Dominique could be seen at the Ravenclaw table, chatting with the Scamander twins, and Molly and Lucy (Uncle Percy's daughters) were both in Hufflepuff.
Hugo, of course, was in the group behind her, waiting to be sorted.
The hat finished its song, and Professor Longbottom (as we were to call him at school) started reading out names.
"Appleton, Samantha."
A girl with bushy hair, not unlike Aunt Hermione's, stepped forward nervously. I felt kind of sorry for her. Nobody really wanted to go first for something like this.
The hat took a few seconds to decide, but eventually settled on Hufflepuff.
"Avery, Michael."
"SLYTHERIN!"
The list continued, each house getting a few new members. I made sure to keep track of where everyone went, and their names, so I would know who my (and Hugo's) housemates were without an introduction.
"Nott, Edward."
"SLYTHERIN!"
There was more applause from the sea of green on the far right.
"Potter, Lily."
This was it. I knew it wouldn't matter to my family (except James, perhaps) where I was put, so there wasn't really any pressure. I walked confidently forward and sat on the stool, catching a final glimpse of the hall before the hat came down and blocked my view.
"Hmmm," said a small voice, "that is interesting. There's courage, hardly surprising given your family history, but there's something more. There's a drive there that isn't in the rest of them, to do something different. You want to prove you're better than them. Definitely an ambitious goal, but you're willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it. That'll help you fit in.
"You want to be different, I'll give you the best chance of that..." It paused for a couple of seconds, and suddenly I knew what it was going to do. It almost felt like I had always known.
"SLYTHERIN!"
Silence fell on the hall. The teachers clapped as usual, along with a small number of students, but most were staring in shock. I looked over to where James was sitting, and saw that he had turned white. I smirked; that prank would have to wait (or, more likely, be targeted at someone else, knowing them).
Everyone probably expected me to hate this, but I didn't. A different house allowed me to get out from under all of the expectations, marked me out as different. This was perfect. I strolled casually over to my new housemates and sat down.
The sorting finished quickly, ending with Hugo being sorted into Gryffindor and a girl called Amanda Zabini becoming my final housemate.
Professor McGonagall made a short speech, and the feast began.
James Sirius Potter watched as his sister was called forward for sorting. The hat was placed on her head, and remained silent for the time being.
Ten seconds passed. Twenty. He leaned over to Fred and whispered, "Obviously a tough decision. Where do you think?"
"Gryffindor or... Ravenclaw?" Fred replied, not sounding too sure of himself.
"Yeah. Probably. She's certainly smart enough, but I don't know if –' He was cut off by the hat's decision.
"SLYTHERIN!"
What.
His little sister couldn't be a Slytherin, she was just too... James paled as he realised that one of the first words he would use when describing his sister would be sneaky. Quickly followed by manipulative. Her favourite way of getting revenge on him after a prank was to frame him for something. She was good at it too. 'It was Lily' was now almost always assumed to be a lie.
His sister did belong in Slytherin. He just hoped she wouldn't take it badly.
He nearly had a heart attack as he saw her smirk at him. 'Not taking it badly' was one thing, but that looked closer to satisfaction. He watched as she walked calmly over to the other side of the hall and sat down.
How could he have let this happen? Suddenly he didn't feel particularly hungry.
The other Slytherins looked slightly nervous around me at first. Inter-house relations may have been better than ever before, but that didn't mean there weren't certain expectations. Including that a Potter could never be happy in Slytherin. Still, I didn't like being compared to the rest of the family, so breaking expectations was a good thing.
Once they had relaxed a little, I found out about the other first year Slytherins. There weren't many of us; Slytherin had lost a lot of its previous generation at the end of the war, so some of the families were no longer represented. Amanda's father had been in the same year as mine, although they hadn't got on very well. Michael and Edward were both grandchildren of death eaters, but had been told to make their own decisions. Their grandparents' ideals didn't tend to be very popular these days.
The final one was Jessica Goyle. I knew about her father from Dad's stories, but she seemed to have inherited some intelligence from her mother's side. That didn't change the fact that she was built like a troll, but we were able to hold a decent conversation.
Many of the Slytherins had friends in other houses, something that would have been unheard of in Dad's time, but the end of the war had brought the survivors together, somewhat. Comparing blood purity was frowned on by almost everyone these days. At least in this generation. All in all, they seemed like decent kids. I could fit in here easily.
Stephen Flint was a fifth year prefect and captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, so as he led us down to the dungeons, I made sure to ask him when try-outs would be held. After Dad's time, the rule banning first years had been changed, so that anyone who could pass a basic flying exam would be allowed to join.
Mum and Dad (Gryffindor Quidditch legends as they were) had taught me to fly from a young age, and I was sure I could get on the team.
"What's your position?" he asked in response. "Based on your parents I'm guessing chaser or seeker."
"I can play chaser if I have to, but I prefer being seeker." I laughed before continuing. "Besides, I want to see the look on James' face when I get the snitch before him."
It was Stephen's turn to laugh. "James has been the bane of the team's existence these past four years, especially since we don't get so many coming through these days. If you can even come close to matching him, I don't think you'll have much difficulty getting on the team. Try-outs are a week next Thursday, if you take your flying test before then."
"OK. I'll be there."
"You know, my Dad would never admit it in public, but he did think yours was a good seeker. Just don't tell anyone I told you that."
He stopped in front of a blank patch of wall, before turning to speak to everyone. "This is the entrance to the common room. The passwords this year will be famous Slytherins; the current password is 'Severus Snape'."
The wall behind him slid open, revealing a room filled with a dim, shimmering green light. As we walked in, Jessica nudged me from behind. "Psst," she whispered, "congrats on being the first Potter to see the inside of the best common room in the school."
I laughed. "Not quite. Dad and Uncle Ron got in here using polyjuice potion in second year. If I remember rightly, Ron used your Dad."
"How'd they get the password?"
"Malfoy let them in. Never noticed the difference. I don't think he ever found out it had happened."
We were interrupted from their discussion by an extremely fat old man walking in. "Ah. The new first years, and I finally get a Potter in my house. I never thought the day would come."
I smirked, I knew of Professor Slughorn's reputation. As a member of his house and a Potter, it would be practically obligatory to go to his 'gatherings'. James and Albus avoided them as much as they could, but I had never seen what the problem was. It sounded like fun to me. Besides, it was always good to get your head of house on your side.
The Professor continued. "We may not have the biggest house right now, but we are still the best. I'm counting on all of you to help prove that.
"Anyway, boys' dorms are on the left, girls' on the right. I expect you're all tired after a long day, so I'll give you the full talk in the morning."
We walked through into the first year girls' dorm and I flopped back on the bed with my stuff next to it. They were all massive four-posters with green hangings. Professor Slughorn had been right. I was tired. I changed quickly and climbed into bed. I was asleep in seconds.