Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter's characters, though the story is my own.
Thank you Slytherin Princess, TheAngelOnYourRight and KW3397 for your kind words!
UPDATE! So, I've just realized that Lysander and Lorcan are twins, so I've made some changes to it. Hope you like it :)
Chapter 2: The Sorting Hat
Rose was trying to stay calmed, slowly breathing in and out to focus. She felt Albus' hand in hers and gave him a quiet smile; he was probably more scared than she was.
"Dad told me that the hat takes your choice into account, still..." she gave his hand a little squeeze. "You'll be a Gryffindor Al, and in no time you'll be a Seeker just like Uncle Harry, you'll see" Albus gave her a timid smile but went pale white when he was called forward.
She felt her knees shaking when he let go of her hand, but she shook it off and crossed her arms over her chest. She was making a good impersonation of someone in control, and from the Teacher's table Neville Longbottom couldn't help thinking of her mother. He wanted to go and give Rose a little hug, but he'd be frowned upon for sure. So he did the one thing he could do, smile at her from far and wordlessly tell her "You'll be fine".
She blushed when she noticed Professor Longbottom looking at her. She wouldn't admit it to a living soul and wasn't even sure if it was true, but her stomach felt funny when he was nice towards her. The sorting hat yell brought her back to reality. Her cousin was heading to the Gryffindor table with a smile.
She started to look around, feeling less and less people around her. Her eyes moved briefly through the other tables… Lysander Scamander, her godmother's son had been sorted into Ravenclaw and looked proud with a tint of sadness. Sitting by his side there was Gregory Goyle II, looking incredibly gloomy and out of place. Her eyes followed where Goyle's were looking at and reached the Slytherin table. Lorcan Scamander was sitting there, eyes reddened as Goyle's. She didn't need to be good at Occlumency to know what they were thinking, how they wished they could switch places.
Then something odd happen. Scorpius Malfoy extended his hand and smirk from the corner of his mouth to her "cousin" Lorcan, exchanging sights with Lysander for a minute. Then he sat proudly with the green tie around his neck, his eyes lingering for a moment on Goyle, clearly missing him.
Her eyes met Malfoy's for a second and she blushed. She didn't like picking on someone else's feeling, she felt like she was intruding but she couldn't help it. Scorpius looked at her with an unreadable expression, and after blushing she nodded at him. She was going to follow her mother's advice. She wasn't going to pick a fight with someone she barely knew.
He smiled at her with the corner of his mouth and nodded back and she felt like relaxing, but then she was called upon to the Hat.
She was terrified, kept hearing her father's voice in her head about the proud line of Weasley Gryffindors but at the same time she heard her mother's voice telling her that Hogwarts had 4 very good houses and they'd be proud of her no matter what happened. She was terrified. She had to be a Gryffindor, she had to be a Gryffindor.
She looked around while hearing the sorting hat reading her qualities and her eyes travelled from Malfoy to Lys to Al… "You're intelligence and kindness define you Miss Weasley, you'll be a brilliant… RAVENCLAW!"
She couldn't breathe. She could hear the cheers from Lys and the Ravenclaw table but couldn't help the tears in the back of her eyes, she couldn't move, she just couldn't move. Professor Parkinson took the hat from her head and not-to-kindly asked her to move along to her table. Neville gazed at Pansy with disdain and took Rose, just as he had done with Goyle, Lorcan and two other more kids that were struggling with the hat's decision.
"Rosie, Ravenclaw is an amazing house, you should be proud of being sorted there, okay?" Her sobs were slightly louder than what she wanted them to be, so Neville stopped and talked slowly to his sort-of niece "Listen to me Rosie, this is not a bad thing. This means you're incredibly smart like your mother and that's not a shabby thing at all" She nodded while he cleaned the tears from her eyes with his thumb. "Here, that's your seat. Mr. Goyle, this is Miss Weasley" they curtly nodded at one another while Neville squatted in between them "Kids, I know you're sad right now because you wanted different houses but this isn't bad. This gives you, Gregory and you, Rose a chance to start new, letting go of what's expected of you because of your families" he grabbed their hands and brought them together in between his. "Make your own story guys, I have the utmost faith in you dear Ravenclaws" he smiled and gave a little squeeze which caused Rosie to half smile against her better judgement. Gregory was slightly more cheerful also. "Anthony is Head of your House but if anything bothers you, you can come to me too, alright? My office is on the corner of the Viaduct Entrance, behind the right Viaduct tower. The password is Hawthorn wood don't spread it around though" They both nodded and Neville gave them a quiet smile while he left.
They sat properly at the table and were mesmerized by the food, they started eating slowly and drinking pumpkin juice. By the end of the evening their eyes weren't as red and their expressions weren't that gloomy though they still looked longingly at the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables respectively, getting equally sad smiles from their friends.
When they were going through the spiral staircase towards their common room, Goyle reached Rose, who was talking to Lysander. "Weasley?" She sighed but stopped and looked at him, Lysander standing protective by her side. "Could- could we sit together at class tomorrow? I really don't know any other Ravenclaws" Lysander looked doubtful, remembering Malfoy's gesture towards his brother. Before he could talk, Rosie answered "Sure Gregory. Call me Rose, alright? This is my cousin- well, not cousin but sort of, Lysander"
The boys nodded at one another and listened intently to how their prefect explained the way into the Common Room. All 3 new Ravenclaws volunteered the answer to the eagle knocker, causing the prefects to snort "Uh oh, we have three newbie brainiacs" which caused the elder students to laugh and snort, which made them slightly hurt.
An elder girl from 3rd year who was standing next to Goyle held his left hand (where he was holding his wand). "Not worth it kid, Jack is a jerk. You get better grades than him and that'll teach him a lesson. Follow me c'mon" she winked at him and started walking into the Room.
Suddenly, Goyle felt the same funny thing in his stomach that Rosie had felt before. He smiled with the corner of his eye and shared a look with Rose, who giggled slightly.
Maybe this Ravenclaw thing wasn't gonna that bad.
Hermione was going through some depositions while drinking coffee slowly at the kitchen's island. She was exhausted of a day filled with emotions and wouldn't like anything more than being in bed hugged by her husband. But no, she had to wrap this up. Besides he was still mad about that bloody jerk driving you to work!
He could be such a child… It was appealing while growing up but now… they were grown up. Their daughter was starting at Hogwarts! Rosie was probably sitting at the Common Room with her cousins or maybe already in bed going over some book… And Ron was too busy brooding in front of the tellie watching some mindless reality tv show. How did they end up like this? How?
All of a sudden, a face showed up in the middle of the fire. Ron got scared "Neville, what happened? Is Rosie alright?"
Neville cleared his throat "She's great." Hermione dropped the papers and got near them. Ron asked again, "She's fine then? Already in the Common room with her cousins I take it"
His frown gave him away, which made Ron clench his teeth "She's with Goyle's kid and one of Luna's twins. She got sorted into Ravenclaw" Ron cursed loudly and Hermione was furious at her husband "How did she take it Neville? Should we go there? We could apparate now and be there in no time"
"She's fine now. I- I talked to her and Goyle and by the end of the evening they seemed to be in a better mood. I just wanted to give you a heads up because I'm betting that once they start with the classes she'll need your support" he stressed that last word looking at Ron.
"Of course she'll have our support. We love her no matter what" Hermione's words were directly aimed to her husband. "Thanks Neville, I appreciate it" The young professor smiled and bid them goodbye.
"A Ravenclaw? A Ravenclaw! Why didn't she get to Gryffindor?!" Hermione sat at the sofa while taking another sip at her coffee. "She's incredibly smart, she'll do wonderful things Ron. This isn't a bad thing. You shouldn't focus so much about houses anymore. We changed all that, didn't we?"
Ron sat down "I bet Albus is in Gryffindor and that Malfoy brat is in Slytherin. She's 6th generation of Gryffindor, Hermione. Our daughter! Our daughter is a Ravenclaw!" Hermione was starting to get hurt and frustrated "Yes, and she's beautiful and smart and will be an amazing Ravenclaw witch one day. So what? I could've been sorted there too"
"Yeah but you're"- he stopped mid-sentence and looked at her pleadingly. "Mione, I'm sorry" She got up and dropped rather forcefully the mug in the sink. He came near her and brushed her arm "I'm sorry" and that's how the sixth night of arguments on a row started.
