King's Cross Station; Molly and Lucy are hovering about their parents, and while Molly is doing nothing more than soaking up as much parental affection as she can get, Lucy is clinging to the only faces she knows, before she's swept up into Sorting, Quidditch, House Cups, and desperate attempts to make new friends. She's not quite sure if the Scamander-Weasley clan will persist into her first year of Hogwarts; she'd like it to, but then, she'd also like her own owl, and Daddy has made it adamantly clear that that won't happen.
Then someone yells something about Nargles behind her, and she's turning, and two warm bodies slam into Molly-and-Lucy; of course, it's Lorcan-and-Ly, and then everything's all right again.
They get their own compartment on the train (the perks, she supposes, of being third-years), and they talk and laugh and eat and debate Lucy's Sorting and House placement. Molly wants her sister to join her in Gryffindor; Ly thinks she's more likely to be in Ravenclaw herself (he hasn't been able to un-notice her intelligence since they met for the very first time); but Lorcan – Lorcan turns and considers her gravely, studying her features, and she feels as though he's X-raying her insides (Aunt Hermione had taught her a bit more about Muggle things after they'd gone to the construction site).
And then he says the last thing anyone expects him to. "I reckon she'll be in Slytherin."
He says it in his usual dreamy way, but his blue eyes are clear, not cloudy, and unreadable. And as Lucy tries to see his thoughts as she can so clearly see Molly's and Ly's, and Molly gapes at Lorcan, and Ly looks thoughtfully at the pair of them – well, this is when things begin to shift.
The Hat spends a good seven minutes debating (mostly to itself – Lucy has never been able to speak up) between Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Ultimately, after a rather angry outburst on her part (fortunately thought rather than spoken), it places her in Slytherin. Lucy can't say she is surprised. After all, Lorcan told her – and it is with a sense of finality that she descends to the Slytherin table, amidst the first instance of dead silence in the Hall since 1923.
It is only when she goes to bed that night in her cold, unfamiliar dungeon dorm that she realizes – not even Lorcan clapped.
.: :.
As the only Slytherin Weasley, Lucy finds that she has gained a reputation that she is expected to uphold. Fortunately for her, she has never cared much about such things.
Once the initial shock and awkwardness pass, the Scamander-Weasleys are as tight-knit as ever; though it takes Lucy months to fully forgive them all. Even though she did get put in Slytherin, she reckons they should have clapped. Not that anyone notices her attempts at passive-aggressiveness, but it makes her feel better in a petty sort of way, even if her 'revenge' extends only to casting tiny little charms to make their lives more difficult. At least, she thinks no one has noticed, until Lorcan corners her after Transfiguration one day.
"Quit it," he mutters. "Ly's getting suspicious about where his Quidditch jersey keeps disappearing to; he and Molly are dense, but they're third-years, and they'll wise up eventually."
She's so shocked that someone's noticed what she's been up to that she stammers out a promise.
He's on his merry way before she can think to ask, 'But Lorcan – how did you know?'