11; Good morning

You were the first fried she made in Slytherin. She just came up and sat right across from you at breakfast the morning after the sorting and it didn't take a genius to know why: the Hall is half deserted, none of her cousins are down yet and you are the only person she knows beforehand, her big brother's best friend.

"Good morning." She'd chimed and you looked up from your plate and smiled when you saw who it was.

"Morning person, huh?" you ask and her smile widens and so that you know the answer is a yes. You'd thought that she'd be awkward around you, because you were older and her brother's friend - the perpetual stranger that was around half the summer - but you were wrong. As time passes and you get to know her, you learned to be wrong about her more than you were right. Because there was one thing about that Potter girl: giving her one single definition was a mistake, she was too peculiar for that. Bottling her into one category – any category was impossible. You come to discover that she treats everyone as if they were already her friends, without reservation of shyness (you really don't think she knows the meaning of that word), until they gave her a reason not to… and she has the kind of intuition about people that it doesn't take her long to make up her mind about them.

You pass her the toast plate and she takes one and thanks you as she fills her plate with eggs and bacon.

"Welcome to Slytherin by the way." You say and she smiles again but this time keeps her lips closed because she is chewing and her expression is so funny that you chuckle. She narrows her brown eyes at you. Then she asks about classes and professors and you start talking with her easily. You wonder if she is going to remind you of Albus or James, but she doesn't. She is her own person so vividly that it doesn't take you longer than 5 minutes to realize it and you wonder how did you not see it before. Probably because you never really bothered to have a conversation with her before, seeing that she was just the kid sister of your friend.

"… and the seventh years pretty much own the seats around both of the fireplaces from ten o'clock to at least one after midnight so no chance of camping up in front of the fire until late hours." you've been talking for a while but she's been listening so attentively. At this last piece of information she shrugs a little and gets back to her breakfast.

"If I really need to, I guess all I have to do is mention my father and people no doubt with have the best seat open for me just to hear a war story or two." She says indifferently, in a neutral tone and you're left staring at her in disbelief and then trying to hide your smirk by shoving eggs in your mouth. That stuns you, maybe because you're just too used to Albus's reaction about this kind of thing: he always tries to shrug out of the son-of-the-hero persona. Her take on that whole ordeal seems too different from that not to surprise you.

"Wow." You say, admittedly not hiding your surprise, but she shrugs just as calmly.

"What?" She asks, looking at you with only curiosity in her eyes. She didn't think you were judging her, she was curious to know what you were thinking.

You smirk faintly. "I'm just surprised. That's not how your brother sees it at all."

She shrugs. "Albus has his own ideas. I like being my dad's daughter." She says smiling. "Lots of stuff are easier, like getting in stores – people always let me jumping the line! I get free candy when I go to Mrs. Grayson's ice-cream shop and I know a lot of really cool people. And my mum says that I am so good with my magic because of my dad – he was great too." You smile at that. She has such a clean-cut view of the world, it's almost funny.

"But really though, it's not like I can change anything. It's a fact – I might as well enjoy it." Then she looks at you attentively and for a moment you find yourself wondering why you're talking to this kid as if you've known her for years when in fact this is the only time you've really talked. But she makes it so easy, mostly because she talks to you like she's known you forever. You wonder if Al has talked to her about you.

"You can't honestly say you don't know what that's like. Albus has told me about what happened that time in Diagon Alley…" She says in all seriousness and there is an apology hidden somewhere in her tone – one that she doesn't own you, but that she gives anyway - and you find yourself shrugging before you really know you're doing it. And even though you hate talking about it with people in general, with her its different because she already knows everything. In the back of your head you think that Albus should really learn to keep his piehole shut every now and then.

"It's a different kind of attention." You clarify. "And it doesn't happen always."

Because you've been a friend of Al's long enough to know that the attention you get is a lot different from the one the Potters get - even from those that don't like Harry Potter very much. Your father had warned you about it a long time ago. Even thought he made quite a name for himself after the war by becoming one of the best healers in Europe, your father didn't exactly get it easy and no matter how much he'd tried to prepare you for the war stories you might hear, he hadn't prepared you for a few nasty ways those stories could be told by some.

But that taught you how to keep to yourself, how to choose your friends well. It taught you to appreciate them and learn to keep them. You learned that it was important not let anyone make you feel like you don't deserve what you want. You're a Malfoy and you've accepted for everything its worth, because you're proud of your father in a way that nothing can pollute – just like the Potter kid seems to be. It feels like you both harbor the same acceptance: the good along with the bad. Knowing that you share something as personal as that is weird but it makes smiling at her easier. You sit there talking and little by little the rest of the student body joins you, until Albus is the one that swings his arm around his little sister's shoulders and pulls her for a hug.

"Congratulations sis!"

She smiles. "How's James taking it?"

"Well, he looked up aneurism in the dictionary last night to see if he'd just had one, but other than that he seems to be fine." Albus said with a smirk on his lips, but his sister didn't think it that funny because she didn't even hint a smile.

"Is he very angry?" she asks and you can tell that it's not just the causal question. Albus realizes too. But instead of answering he points towards the entrance door of the hall when James was just entering. You watch her get up and got to her big brother.

"God, the gold I'd have paid to be there when mum and dad got the news. I'd have loved to see their faces." Albus as he chuckles and he helps himself to some breakfast, eating from his sister plate. You turn to look at him and in all seriousness you ask him.

"Is it really going to be a problem?"

"What is?"

You can barely keep from rolling your eyes at him. "Her being in Slytherin."

He looks at you like you've just asked the most stupid question on earth.

"Don't give me that look Potter, you were scared shitless of ending up in Slytherin if I remember correctly, so there has got to be some kind of pressure going on there." You point out but Albus only shakes his head, smiling as if something you said amused him.

"No, no. Lily is… well, she has a mind of her own." Albus explains, "Dad always thought she was special - She is. And no, of course it's not going to be a problem." Then he smiles brightly. "Now we're going to have family members in all four houses, how cool is that!"

This time you do roll your eyes, and when you look over James Potter hugs his little sister and she laughs as a sea of cousins swarm over to her. They are their own little clan.

The next moment the owls have swarmed swarm in and everybody starts getting their mail, but there is again one little thing that gets everyone's attention: at least ten different owls drop their letters over the head of the youngest Potter and you can't help but laugh at the spectacle. So does Albus, but unlike you, he gets up and goes over there and you are left watching as the Potters and Weasleys gather the letters and sit at the Gryffindor table, listening as she reads out loud her letters from all the members of their huge family one by one, making everyone laugh, the sound resounding all around the Hall.

You notice how happy she seems over there, the smallest of the group but in the heart of it, with everyone around her and laughing with her and you can't help but wonder how she is ever going to fit in Slytherin when she seems like she is made to be in with them. Surrounded by her family is so obviously where she belongs… and you can't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at the sight. Their family is so big, so messy and loud. You've always wanted something like that. Even though you'd never admit it, Albus's huge, loud and messy family and the stories that he told you about them were the first reason why, as an eight year old, you were so fascinated by him. You envied him back then and admired him at the same time.

Ever since then, the Potters and Weasleys have shown you that big families are a lot less fun than they seem at first sight – so much that sometimes you enjoys the peace and quiet of your house when you return to it after a stay at the Potter Weasley get-togethers. But they have also rubbed off on you a little bit. Because as you turn back to your breakfast, you silently promise Al that you won't let his sister feel alone or alienated in her new House. She must be the first Potter to enter Slytherin in a generations… But, you'll be her friend, even if you are the only one.

It's not before second period that Albus really does ask you to keep an eye on her in the Common room. You've said yes to that three hours ago and that's how the Lily Potter starts to feel a bit like your sister too.