11 year-old Cygnus bobbed her left knee as she peered through the window in their compartment, watching the other families mill about. She could not contain her excitement! And her twin brother Corvus was simply sitting there next to her with his eyes closed! Usually she could rely on Corvus to understand her moods and be her sounding board (or the other way around), but he seemed overly bored with the entire process.
"Really, Corvus. I don't know how you can sleep at a time like this." she muttered.
"Who could possibly sleep when you're shaking the whole compartment?" Corvus asked, his eyes still closed.
Twin siblings they may be, but you would never find two children so dissimilar in appearance or personality. Cygnus was the baby girl of the family, and like their old brother Scorpius, could have been a clone of her father. She thought she was even a bit pale in comparison to him as her hair was nearly white. Father had always smiled and told her she looked as divinely elegant as grandmother in her youth.
Corvus on the other hand, though pale in complexion, had ebon black hair and rich brown eyes. Grandmother often said he acquired his features more from the her side of the family. Not that the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black had disapproving features; far from it! Like all Malfoys, the twins did have sharp features, but Corvus's chin was perhaps a little more broad and rounded. Today, they were both dressed in elegant but neutral black robes.
"It's just too exciting!" Cygnus whispered. "And why aren't we moving yet?"
"Sister-dear, really. This is what comes from your over eagerness. You were the one who encouraged Father and Mother to depart early, you hurried us all onto the train as soon as it arrived. Now we're settled and ready and for what? To watch everyone else blather about." He sighed and shook his head. "You asked how I could sleep, but the true question is how can you stay awake?"
"I hardly slept all night!" Cygnus beamed.
"Damn your chipper attitude, woman." Cygnus had no idea why he kept calling her 'woman'…it was like he was deliberately trying to mimic Father, but only when he wasn't present.
"The train hasn't even moved, and already you're damning your sister." Scorpius's voice came from the door as he smiled at his siblings.
"Have you settled into your compartment, big brother?" Cygnus asked. She noted that Corvus had opened an eye to survey Scorpius, but almost immediately shut it and returned to his fake rest.
"Of course. Sorry I can't sit with you two, but—"
"Oh, bah. You wouldn't want to sit with us anyway." Corvus grumbled.
"We understand, of course." Cygnus gushed making her brother gain a bit of color.
"Well, if you need anything, you know where to find me, right? The train should be fully loaded soon, and then we'll be on the move."
"We'll be fine, but thanks, Scoro." Cygnus said, whispering the nickname. Scorpius only nodded with a smile before closing the door and leaving.
Cygnus sighed at her still inanimate twin before looking about the cabin to see if anything could be tended to in order to kill time. Father had said that the food on the train was abysmal, and thus sent them with their own lunch and snack packs. Corvus had situated them on the seat across from them so that they would be easy to reach. Their luggage was, of course, already well secured. There really was nothing to do but wait.
If she was being entirely honest, she would admit that her nervous energy wasn't just from the excitement of going to Hogwarts... she almost feared her place there, and finding out what it would be. It was easy to see the house her brothers would fall into. Scorpius had already been in Slythern for ages now, and Corvus would no doubt be joining him... but after hearing their parents talk about it, she truly couldn't profess any enthusiasm for falling into that house. She had confessed that to her mother a few nights ago. She was afraid that thinking to refuse Slytherin would place her into the dreaded Gryffindor! Her mother had taken her hand and brought her to Father's office. Mother had explained their little talk to him.
Father only smiled at her lovingly and said, "Swan-love, it isn't as though we haven't known you may not fit in to the house of Slytherin for a long time."
"You have?" She asked drearily.
"You're nothing like your brothers, and there's little doubt that you would be torn to shreds from your housemates vying for position." he announced. She hung her head a bit. "But you'll still be our baby girl, no matter what house you're sorted into. You most certainly have the brain power to land you in Ravenclaw quite easily." He had said with a smile. "And if it's Gryffindor..." He sighed and smiled. "Well, Sirius Black was sorted into that house, and he's one of us, isn't he?"
"From the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, to boot." Mother had reminded.
Cygnus stared between her parents in awe. "Wow..." She murmured. After that, she had been fairly encouraged... especially after she had gotten big hugs all around.
Corvus sighed, pulling her out of the memory. "I hate these black robes." He grumbled.
"Only because it blends in with your fabulous hair so well." Cygnus sniffed.
"Whatever. Tonight we'll be in Slytherin green."
"Well.. you will."
Corvus blinked at her. "Huh... I never thought about it, but you probably won't be in Slytherin with us..."
"It's probably for the best." Cygnus pointed out. "Father said I might not survive the in-house scheming."
Corvus nodded thoughtfully. "True." Then he smiled at her. "You would look spectacular in Ravenclaw blue."
Cygnus smiled back, glad for his understanding. A few seconds passed and Corvus was pretending to doze off again. Cygnus stared out the window. Ravenclaw blue? Yes, that would be a good compliment to her coloring. Not as good as Slytherin green, but her chances of earning her way into said color was improbable at best. Still, blue won hands down over the hideous Gryffindor red. She hoped she would never humiliate her family in such a way. She laughed inwardly, wondering what the founders would think if they knew their legacy was being weighed in the balance as a fashion statement.
The sound of the door sliding open brought her attention away from the window. A girl her age with long red hair and warm brown eyes eyed the two occupants. When no greeting came from the intruder, Corvus opened an eye before narrowing it at her in a glare. It looked ridiculous.
"Uh... sorry for interrupting, but... there are very few seats left open, and I was wondering if you had any spare room?" the girl asked, glaring back at Corvus.
"Oh! Yes, of course!" Cygnus gushed, reaching over and taking their lunch and snack packs from the opposite seats. "Please sit with us! My brother keeps nodding off, and I'm much too excited to sleep. I would love the company." She said, as she put the lunch packs on her lap. The girl smiled and sat down across from Cygnus.
"My name's Lilly, by the way." She said with a smile. Well, she was smiling at Cygnus. Corvus had opened both eyes to alternately glare between Lilly and Cygnus, which meant he was being ignored by both girls.
"Oh, what a pretty name." Cygnus whined softly. "Much better than mine. I'm Cygnus." she said drooping.
"...Cygnus?" Lilly asked in obvious sympathy and clearly confused.
Cygnus nodded. "It's a family name... My twin here is Corvus. Don't mind him, he just doesn't make friends with people easily or quickly." Cygnus said with a smile as she waved off her brother. Corvus glared at her momentarily before settling back with a sigh and staring off at the empty space in front of him.
"Yeah, he doesn't strike me as a people person."
"He can be, when he wants to. He just likes to make sure he doesn't waste the effort on people he doesn't know." Cygnus said with a shrug. "Silly if you ask me." She gave her undivided attention to this new person now. "Oh, I love your hair pins!" She said, gushing softly so as not to disturb her twin.
Lilly tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear self consciously, but smiled at the compliment. "My Dad got them for me." She said.
"Oh, my Dad got me some things too. He calls them 'vanity pieces' because it's all jewelry and hair things and such." Cygnus said with a smile. "But, I can't wear any of them till we get to our houses tonight. He charmed them so that they can switch colors to whatever house I get sorted into... since, well... we're not really sure where I'll be. He didn't want to buy me a bunch of things that I may never want to wear."
Lilly smiled. "That's clever." She said. "Dad just assumed that I would be in Gryffindor." She said with a shrug. "But I guess none of us really know where we'll be."
"Oh, I knew where my brothers would be long before they got sorted. It's Slytherin green for them."
Lilly blinked. "Albus is in Slytherin too."
"Albus Potter?" Corvus asked, his voice hard. For an 11 year-old at least.
The two girls paused, Lilly thrown slightly at the intrusion in the conversation, and Cygnus because if that were true, it meant that Lilly was THE Lilly Potter...
"Yes..." Lilly answered slowly.
"Hm. I thought I recognized you." He said, before settling back and closing his eyes again.
The two girls blinked at one another, wondering where that left them. Cygnus finally decided that it really didn't matter who Lilly was related to. She had been very nice after all.
"He's so odd." She said, shaking her head with a sigh.
"Sorry..." Lilly murmured looking away.
"What for?"
"Well... for not properly introducing myself?"
Cygnus smiled brightly. "Oh, but you look just like your mother, so it's easy to recognize. If anyone should apologize, it should be me. But I look so much like Father, I assume everyone knows who I am."
Lilly looked at her for a moment before cocking her head to the side. Her eyes darted up to their luggage in the rack before rounding and returning to Cygnus. "Malfoy?" she breathed in awe.
Cygnus beamed. "Explains the strange name, doesn't it?"
Lilly chuckled. "I suppose."
"Is that alright?" Cygnus asked, momentarily worried that the Potter/Malfoy feud may have carried over to this generation without her knowing it. "That I'm a Malfoy, that is?"
Lilly smiled softly, her eyes seeming to warm up again. "Does it matter that I'm a Potter?"
Cygnus smiled back. "Not at all. I think I'm going to like you."
The two girls ended up talking the entire trip. They barely even noticed the scenery outside as the train sped on its way to Hogwarts. Lilly found out that Cygnus loved to swim and ride horses, but that she felt a little lost in her family. Cygnus told her how her grandparents always scolded her over her posture, saying she was too timid.
"Now, Cygnus, you are the swan of the family." Cygnus said, trying to mimic Grandmother. "You must hold your head aloft and your shoulders must be squared back. We are Malfoys and we do not lack in confidence." Lilly had laughed at Cygnus who tried to hold her chin sky high and press her shoulders back dramatically. It almost looked like she was about to leap and flap her arms or some other silly interpretive dance.
Cygnus discovered that Harry Potter wasn't just the hero of the wizarding world, but he was his daughter's hero as well. Not because he was dynamic and heroic, but because no matter how high up in the wizarding world he may be, he was never too busy to climb trees or read aloud before bed. Lilly also liked to fly, but that was supposed to be a secret. Evidently, she and her dad would sneak out to fly together, but they had to keep it a secret because Lilly was 'too young' by…well… by someone's standards. She never had said who exactly objected to the notion.
By the time the girls stepped off the train, they were friends. The castle loomed ahead, and they both knew that it wouldn't be long before they would officially be Hogwarts students.
"Lilly?" Cygnus whispered leaning in to her friend as they waited just beyond the great hall.
"Hm?"
"... Will you still be my friend... even if I end up in Slytherin?"
Lilly smiled at her. "Don't worry, Cygnus. I'm from Gryffindor stock. We're a brave type. I'll be your friend no matter what house we're both in."
Cygnus smiled. "I feel the same way. Houses shouldn't be the way we label everyone."
Lilly nodded in reply, and may have elaborated, but then the grand doors were opening... and it was so much to take in. Cygnus could barely breath from the grandeur of it all. Two wizarding wars could not diminish the magnificence that was Hogwarts.
"I shall call out your names and you shall sit beneath the sorting hat." The speaker may as well have spoken in another language for all Cygnus heard. She was too busy searching out Scorpius at the Slytherin table. There he was! Oh, her brother looked fairly dashing in his Prefect robes... well, they weren't very different from normal robes. But she was biased, and Scorpius always looked dashing.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Cygnus jumped as the first person was sorted. A golden-haired girl she hadn't met from the train leapt off the chair and scampered happily over to the Gryffindor table. Perhaps it would be better to pay more attention. She forced herself to watch as each student's name was called, then the hat sorted them into their houses. If the wait for the train to leave the station had been long, the wait to get to the M's seemed an eternity.
"Malfoy, Corvus."
Corvus smirked, tossed a wink over his shoulder at his sister and sauntered over to the chair. Cygnus sighed inwardly envious, but smiled at him approvingly. If only she could be so confident. There were whispers among the tables, but none so much as the Slytherin table. The hat hadn't been on his head for five seconds before it declared its verdict.
"SLYTHERIN!"
Cygnus gave a little jump and actually clapped along with the other cheering students.
"Malfoy, Cygnus."
Cygnus made sure her chin was as level, high as it needed to be and her shoulders were straight, just like Grandmother had taught her. She wafted over to the chair and perched daintily, placing her feet together and to the side. The hat was placed upon her head, and immediately, the evaluation began.
"Oh my... my my my my my. Such a bright child."
"Thank you." Cygnus whispered with a bashful smile.
"Yes, but the mentality I see here is nothing like the mark left on you by your family name."
"Yes..." She responded, lowering her eyes a bit. "We assumed that would happen."
"hmmmm." The hat pondered. "You are quite intelligent... but, you do not peruse knowledge for the sake of knowledge."
Cygnus's brow drew up as she pondered that assessment. 'Well.. I suppose that is true.' She had never considered herself madly intelligent anyway. Still being told she was bright right away was quite the compliment. The hat seemed so good at seeing through to the heart of the matter.
"Such a lovely child. You are very brave in matters of the heart... you give your love quite freely, but without a thought of what you may get in return."
Cygnus pouted slightly, as was her habit when she thought of things. She kept her gaze downward, feeling there was no need to respond to that. Love and the act of loving was hardly something to reward. It wasn't as if the people around her were difficult to love. Even Grandfather was easy to love, and everyone always complained about him for some reason. Then again, of her entire family, Cygnus was the least noteworthy. She was average or passing in most of her pursuits and private studies, and that was a high praise.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Cygnus's eyes popped open wide, staring blankly ahead. Had she heard right? Hufflepuff? She was a Hufflepuff? She slid off the chair, fingers numb and arms so cold… barely noticing Lilly's cheerful, encouraging smile. The heated whispering that surrounded her grew to exuberant proportions, making her feel as though she were surrounded by vipers.
"Enough!" Headmistress McGonagall shrilled firmly, regaining order. "You may sit with your housemates, Child." She said.
Cygnus nodded politely and wandered over to the Hufflepuff table. She tried to ignore the girl she sat next to, since she had made a show of trying to edge away from Cygnus... She kept her eyes lowered, her gaze on the empty plate in front of her. There was no way she could meet either of her brothers' eyes... Outwardly, Cygnus seemed demure and resigned, but inwardly she was in torment.
Hufflepuff. The one house that had not even made it onto Father's list of possibilities. It was bad enough that she wasn't in Slytherin... but Hufflepuff?
"GRYFFINDOR!"
No doubt that was Lilly, joining her family at the Gryffindor table.
Why? Why had she been put into Hufflepuff? No Malfoy ever... It wasn't even possible to consider it... And yet here she sat. She, Cygnus Violetta Malfoy... the Hufflepuff.
She vaguely heard the hat call out a few Ravenclaws and wondered why she hadn't argued that she was intelligent! But it had said she was brave too... brave of heart. And she had started thinking about how much she loved her family. Had that been it? What had been the deciding factor?
"There she is!" The cheerful cry brought Cygnus out of her revere.
It was bright and early the morning after she had settled in, and the storm had long since blown past. Cygnus was very eager to get down to her classroom and survey it. She had rushed through breakfast almost tripping herself. The halls were empty and terribly quiet, which only seemed to increase Cygnus's giddiness.
But now, she had been discovered. She looked up to find the Headmistress coming her way with a kind smile on her face.
Minerva McGonagall had been an elder in the community when Cygnus had been a student. It shouldn't be too surprising to see the touches of white had bled through, silvering her hair entirely. If grey hair was the sign of wisdom and knowledge was power, then McGonagall was certainly a goddess.
"Oh, Child, how good it is to see you again."
Cygnus smiled, taking the offered hand. "It is my delight, Headmistress."
"Oh, Gracious. Minerva, my dear. You must call me Minerva. And I am the one who is delighted."
"I shall pretend that it isn't solely because I am saving you from teaching Potions yourself, Minerva." Cygnus replied with a grin.
McGonigal chuckled as she fell into step beside Cygnus. "Well, I do suppose you are saving us that chore for the year." she said. "Now that you've spent your first night back, I must ask if your rooms are to your liking?"
"Oh, yes of course. I felt terribly spoiled as they are quite grand."
"Nonsense. Considering all of the work you will be doing, I believe you shall earn them. Now you shall not hesitate to come to me if there is anything you need, yes?"
"I've little doubt that everything will go smoothly. I've been watching my grandfather and learning to mimic him. He's also given me pointers on how best to intimidate others. If the little whelps get out of line, I can pull some Malfoy charm on them."
Minerva chuckled. "Malfoy Charm. Is that what you call it?"
"Charm? Pride? Disdain?" Cygnus shrugged. "Why does there have to be a difference?" She asked with a sigh.
Minerva laughed out loud at that. "Now, I'm here to tell you that there will be a staff meeting tomorrow morning, and you are to attend. It will be at 8 am sharp, but as I recall, you always were an early riser."
"Guilty as charged." Cygnus said, stopping and turning to face the Headmistress. "Will you be requiring anything specific from this? You did already receive the copy of my syllabus, didn't you?"
"Oh, no it isn't anything like that, my dear. And, I received your syllabus, as you well know. I distinctly remember flooing back with a five-star approval."
"As do I, but there are some moments that we all enjoy reliving."
Minerva shook her head. "No, the meeting is more to aquatint the teachers with one another, and introduce new teachers. It helps for us to let you know what to expect."
"There are very many things one will never learn in a book." Cygnus said with a heart-felt nod. How many things had she been better prepared for simply for listening to one of her elders?
"Indeed. And you are not the only new face we have on staff."
"Oh?"
"Yes. He has asked to keep this all confidential, at least until term starts, but we will have a new DADA Instructor as well."
"I see. I suppose I'll be meeting him tomorrow morning then."
"Indeed you will. I assume you are off to survey your new class room?" Minerva said with a little grin.
"Guilty again." Cygnus said with a self-conscious chuckle.
"Well, make sure to review all of the stores. I'm sure I ordered everything you'll be needing, but a second pair of eyes never hurts. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must be off. Horrid this time of year before the children all arrive."
"Oh, our poor Headmistress." Cygnus cooed. "If you should need anyone to share tea and apple pastries with…"
"I shall not hesitate to summon you, dear." Minerva said with a parting smile.