September 1, 1991
A dark cloud rose from the bright red locomotor, with dozens of people sprawled about next to it on the station platform, scurrying inside after last-minute hugs or waving at loved ones from afar. It was here that stood a young boy with bright, flushed cheeks, red hair and an easy smile, crammed into the Hogwarts Express and poking a head out of one of its windows. He stuck a hand out to wave at his mother, who smiled back in turn to raise a hand at him as the train began to move. Next to her stood an attractive young man, dressed all in black and with dark, messy hair. To a stranger, the pair waving could have appeared to be just another couple on the platform, sending their child off to a year at Hogwarts. But many recognised Lily Potter and Sirius Black, more discerning readers of the Daily Prophet even knowing them for the years of dating rumours hidden behind their public friendship.
"C'mon, Rob! Before everywhere gets too full!" A tall blond boy yelled out to his friend, who turned his eyes away from the crowded platform as it shrank further and further away. He tailed the excited boy through the tight throngs of other students that clogged the train's narrow hallway, through a few carriages until they found an empty compartment. The two friends sat down opposite one other on the plush seats.
"I still can't believe we're finally going to Hogwarts." Anthony Goldstein said, clasping his hands together. "It feels like forever ago since my sister's first year. Now we'll finally see where we'll be sorted!"
"Yeah." Robert said, smiling at his friend a little nervously. "Sorting. I'll be fun."
Anthony stilled slightly at the other boy's tone, frowning slightly. "Are you nervous? I guess I am, too. But my parents said that it doesn't matter where I'll be sorted. How do you reckon they sort them, anyway? I heard two older boys on the platform say that we might have to…" the boy stopped to gulp, "...fight a troll!"
"My mum said it wasn't scary." Robert said hesitantly. "That it was really easy. But she didn't say how. I'm just worried… what if I don't make Gryffindor?"
Anthony gave Robert a slightly exasperated expression, leaning back against the seat and running though his short hair with a frown.
"You're really worried about that, aren't you?" He said. "But I think you're super brave. Remember that time all those gnomes tried to bully Mrs Mittens, but you were the only one that tried to fight them?"
Robert grimaced, a picture of the ugly, unpleasant little magical creatures in his friend's garden springing to mind from the event. The poor cat was quite beside herself. "Yeah, I guess. But I don't know if that would be enough to make somebody a Gryffindor. My Uncle Sirius said Gryffindor is all about bravery, and courage. Albus Dumbledore was in Gryffindor. I wanna be someone like that. I don't wanna end up in… end up in…" The boy trailed off.
"Slytherin?" Anthony drawled, a knowing look in his eye. At Anthony's wide, fearful eyes, he let out a laugh. "Slytherin isn't that bad! One of my uncles was in Slytherin, and he's really nice. He always lets me stay up as late as I want whenever we go to his house. Plus, Merlin was in Slytherin, too. And everybody loves Merlin."
"Everybody loves Merlin." Robert repeated, nodding to himself. He glanced back out towards the train hallway. Most of the students had retreated into their own compartments by now, only occasional strays passing by their compartment window as they made their way down the train carriages.
"My mum wants me to be in Gryffindor." Robert uttered. "She didn't say it this morning, but I know she wanted me to be in it. Like her, and Dad and Uncle Sirius."
Anthony didn't say anything in return, staying quiet with a pensive look on his face. For a while, only the sounds of the locomotor travelling down the tracks filled the air.
"I think Mum will really miss me." Robert said, sighing and looking out of the window. The suburbs had given way to lush English countryside, inching closer and closer further north of the British Isles towards their eventual destination.
"You think?" Anthony asked.
"Well, she's been acting weird this past few days. Not really excited about me going to Hogwarts I guess." Robert said. "Being kind of… quiet. And sad too, I suppose." Robert frowned.
"Oh. I guess that's not that weird. My mum got all teary and embarrassing when I was on the platform before you came." Anthony responded. "You should've seen how much she cried when Sarah went to Hogwarts for the first time."
Robert kept frowning, folding his arms.
"Hey, don't worry." Anthony said, reaching down between them to gently hit Robert's leg. "She'll be fine. Besides, I can't wait to see my sister's face if I get sorted anywhere other than Ravenclaw. Imagine it!" The boy laughed, causing Robert's lips to upturn despite himself.
"You're totally a Ravenclaw." Robert chuckled. "Goldsteins are always Ravenclaws."
Anthony twisted his face into an exaggerated expression of thought, bringing a finger to brush along his chin. "Yeah, you're probably right about that. Still would be funny, though. But I want to be in Ravenclaw anyway, so I hope I get in."
Suddenly, the door opened with a loud bang. On the other side was a boy, tall and with bright red hair. Robert didn't recognise him, and the two stared at the intruder for a few moments before he finally spoke, red faced.
"C-Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full?" The stranger stuttered.
"Sure." Robert said immediately, shuffling down his compartment seat to make room for him. Anthony shot the boy a small, reassuring smile as he sat down, doubtlessly pitying the lonely boy.
"I'm Ron, by the way." The boy said after a moment of awkward silence. "Ron Weasley. Are you guys first years, too?"
The pair nodded and introduced themselves.
"Potter? Robert Potter?" Ron gasped, taking in every detail of Robert's face in shock. "You're Lily Potter's kid?"
"Yes." Robert deadpanned. "That's me." The other redhead paused at Robert's expression, seemingly catching onto the other boy's quick shift in demeanour.
"Sorry." Ron said, looking down. "You probably get that loads of times. My brothers are all everybody ever wants to talk about, too. Perfect Percy, and Charlie the Quidditch Captain. And Fred and George…" He trailed off.
"No, it's okay." Robert said slowly. "I'm used to it."
Ron grimaced at his words. "Yeah. It sucks, eh?" He fumbled for words for a moment, scratching his face and leaving a noticeable brown splotch on the side of his nose. Robert felt too shy to point it out.
"Did she really do what… what everybody says?" Ron whispered. Robert only shrugged in response, uncomfortable.
"Hey Ron." Anthony piped up for the first time. "What house do you reckon you'll be in?"
And from then on, the boys discussed Hogwarts. There they learned that Ron was just as eager for Gryffindor as Robert, and that his brothers were the ones Anthony overheard talking about fighting trolls.
"You don't think it'll be us fighting anything?" Ron asked them as he chewed into a long snake lolly, ripping it in half with his teeth. Robert and Anthony had both spared no expense when the trolly lady came by, having no qualms about dividing the lot between the three of them when they caught a glimpse of Ron's utterly tragic sandwich.
"I hope not." Anthony responded. "Mum didn't let me practice any spells! I tried reading the textbooks, but I only got a few chapters in…"
"You read the textbooks already?" Ron gasped.
The hours passed comfortably. Before the three boys knew it, the sky outside had grown dark. They had rushed to get changed into their school robes not long before the train eased into Hogsmeade station. Emerging to crowds of other students, most old enough to have house symbols atop their robes, the three new friends made their way down the platform. At the end stood a tall man, taller than anyone the boys had ever seen.
"Firs' years this way!" The man boomed, lantern in one hand swinging as he called out. Anthony and Ron's faces were adorned with looks of shock and disbelief as they approached.
"Oh 'ello there Robert!" The man grinned as he saw him. He glanced at Anthony, and then Ron, and then back and forth between Ron and Robert several times. "For a secon' there I almost thought you was another Weasley!"
"Hello Hagrid." Robert smiled up at the great man.
"You know him?" Ron gasped, eyes widening as he took in the man's large belly and long beard.
"I met him a couple times." Robert said. "My mum's friends with him."
"FIRS' YEARS, COME THIS WAY!" Hagrid shouted again, causing the trio to flinch at the unexpected volume. Before long, a group of around forty children had gathered around them, each one nervous but some trying to appear less so. Hagrid led them out of the station and towards a dock down several flights of stairs. Robert glanced confusedly at the retreating backs of the older students, all going somewhere in the opposite direction.
"You've got this, Hermione." He heard a bushy haired girl mutter to herself next to him as he descended the final staircase. "You're prepared."
"Are you okay?" He asked the girl. She flinched at his question, hair whipping around wildly to face him as they came to a stop. Anthony and Ron glanced behind them, overhearing his words.
"Yes." The girl said, looking a nervous wreck. Robert frowned.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called out, seating himself down onto a rowboat. Without any prompting, the boat began inching forward, and the man was slowly leaving the dock, and the children behind. Quickly, the first years scampered into the rest of the boats. Ron and Anthony sat in the front of the first one they could get to, Robert quickly at their heels to follow on the back. The three had all just sat down before a fourth weight unexpectedly wobbled the boat.
The girl from before had sat herself down on the empty spot next to Robert, shyly looking down away from them as the boat began to move. The three boys spoke to themselves, the girl keeping to herself as the boat rowed itself down the dark lake. Robert glanced at her a few times, not quite sure what to say to her. Had she not made any friends yet?
Before long, the little boats curved around a bend to reveal a large, magnificent castle in the distance. The four gasped, echoing the reactions of the others as they marvelled at the view.
It was at that moment that Robert truly realised just where he was. Hogwarts. His new home. For months he had been nervous about it, nervous about fitting into his new home and with how much his life would change. But right there and then, where he was, with the three other occupants of the boat, he felt like he would be okay. The castle's lights glimmered beautifully in the distance, seemingly welcoming him personally.
"What's your name?" Robert asked the girl, as Anthony muttered something to Ron while wildly gesticulating down to the lake below them, the other redhead gasping in what was perhaps terror in reaction to his words.
"Hermione Granger." The girl said, too distracted by the castle to look at him. Robert couldn't help but feel in a similar way as he gazed up above. His mother and uncle had talked a lot about how beautiful Hogwarts was, and he had seen it in pictures, but nothing could compare to the real thing. Any fear about Hogwarts houses slipped away as he watched the castle slowly grow closer.
A witch with a name that Robert vaguely recognised greeted them at the front entrance after they left the boats. She thanked Hagrid before leading them into the castle's massive double doors, but not before giving Robert a strange look that the boy couldn't discern the meaning of. The woman spoke to them about the Hogwarts houses and the sorting before leaving them in a room off the side of the castle's great hall.
Minutes passed, and the students grew more and more nervous as time went by, anxiously whispering to one another different speculations about how the sorting would perhaps go.
"Oh hey, Sally!" Anthony called out, waving at a girl Robert didn't know standing nearby. She had long brown pigtails and looked noticeably pale, though that could have been because of the look of sheer terror on her face.
"Anthony!" She gasped, running up to them. "Mum said you were starting this year too, but I didn't know where you were!" The girl's eyes watered, tears almost brimming down.
Anthony shrugged, grimacing guiltily. "Sorry. I was hanging with Robert. And Ron." He pointed to the boy. At Robert and Ron's questioning looks, he spoke again.
"This is Sally-Anne Perks." He said. "My third cousin. Second cousin once-removed? I don't know. Something like that." The girl, Sally-Anne, only pouted and crossed her arms. Anthony introduced Robert and Ron in turn, Hermione taking it upon herself to introduce herself to the whole group as well. It seemed the girl had attached herself to them the moment Robert had first spoken to her. Robert glanced at her, noticing that she had large front teeth, and kept brushing anxiously at her hair. She was pretty.
The group mingled for a time, exchanging ideas about how the sorting would go, as were the rest of the cohort in their own little groups. Anthony proposed the troll fighting once more, which was quickly shot down by Robert and Sally-Anne, much to the rest of the children's relief. Hermione hoped it would be a quiz or some test of theoretical ability, given that she'd already read all the textbooks. Ron had been scandalised and Anthony had muttered "Ravenclaw" to himself before Sally-Anne proposed quietly that it had to be a practical test using wands.
"But I've never practiced!" Anthony complained. "That's not fair! I bet some people here already know loads of spells!"
"Robert Potter." A voice behind Robert announced. Robert turned around to face a blond boy with cold grey eyes staring at him, two burly boys standing at either side of the obnoxious-looking boy. He recognised the boy immediately as the one from the robe shop.
"Malfoy." He said, crossing his arms defensively. The two had already gotten off on the wrong foot, and he already didn't consider the second encounter to be much better if the other boy's sour look was anything to go by.
"Not surprising that you've already acquainted yourself with the worst Wizarding society has to offer." The boy sneered, looking Ron up and down as he spoke. Ron frowned angrily but said nothing, clenching his fists by his side and tensing his jaw. Robert grew incensed. Why does this boy think he can be so mean to people he doesn't even know?
"Funny you would say something like that. What was it that the Daily Prophet had to say about your dad the last time he was important enough to get a mention?" Robert clapped back. The words struck a nerve, Malfoy's eyes widening as he snarled.
"You don't know anything about my father!" He shouted, gaining the attention of the other students. The room quietened, all captivated by the sudden confrontation at hand.
"Look at you!" Malfoy went on, face carrying a more severe glare than earlier. "Red hair, looking like you never learned how to bathe. I guess I shouldn't be surprised you're hanging out with Weasleys. After all, one would think he," he stopped to point firmly at Ron, "was your brother."
The boy paused again for effect, face beginning to entertain a wondering expression. The children around him tensed, holding their breath.
"Oh wait, that's right. Your real one wasn't smart enough to live, wasn't he?" Malfoy said, features twitching into a wretched smile.
Gasps sounded from a few different directions, and Robert wanted nothing more than to march the few steps it would take towards the boy to punch him in the face. He was only stopped by a hand at his side quickly surrounding his. Turning his face, he saw Anthony looking quietly at him, a worried expression on his face. Before anything else could be said, a few students on the other side of the room let out loose screams. The group was distracted enough by the sudden influx of curious, yet oblivious ghosts welcoming them to the castle until Professor McGonagall returned.
Robert, still incensed, followed his friends as the cohort was led into the great hall. Together all the first years stared up at the old hat sitting atop a stool in front of the whole school nervously, until the hat opened its brim and began to sing.
After, Abbott, Hannah's name was announced first. McGonagall placed the hat upon the girl's head, and she was loudly proclaimed a Hufflepuff soon after. From there, the sorting went by too quick for Robert, names being called out one after the other until the alphabetical order landed on 'G'.
Anthony walked forward to sit on the stool. With the taller boy stepping up, Robert could see the hat a little more clearly. It looked an old, frayed thing. He had never seen magic like it before. The hat was silent for several seconds after it was placed on Anthony's head. Robert could see the boy's fingers going white from where they pressed against the sides of the stool, eyes obscured by the hat's brim.
"Ravenclaw!" The hat announced to the hall, where a polite clapping sounded, accented by a few more enthusiastic noises from the students with a blue symbol etched into their uniforms. McGonagall promptly lifted the hat up from Anthony's head, to reveal an excited grin and sparkling eyes as he and Robert briefly exchanged happy looks. The boy then stepped off the stool to head to his new house table, other students clapping him on the back as he sat down. One of the boys that had stood next to Malfoy went up next, quickly being sent off to Slytherin.
"Granger, Hermione." McGonagall said next. The girl next to Robert muttered something unintelligible to herself quietly before marching forward and replacing the boy from before. The silence stretched on longer than it did for Anthony.
Ravenclaws were all about books and cleverness, weren't they? And also for having the more… weird students… Robert thought to himself. He couldn't imagine the strange girl going anywhere else. The seconds continued ticking by, and Robert considered whispering to Ron before the hat finally made up its mind.
"Gryffindor!"
Hermione Granger looked relieved and triumphant as she stepped down, marching to the red and gold table like she had claimed some sort of victory. Robert watched her as she went, confused. He hadn't expected that.
More names flew by. Greengrass, Daphne went into Slytherin. Jones, Megan and Hopkins, Wayne both went to Hufflepuff. Li, Sue to Ravenclaw. Malfoy was called after a Macmillan and pushed his way through the crowd with his nose turned up towards the seat. The hat took barely a second on him, shouting Slytherin as if it had been burned by the hair on his head. Robert tensed as the pale boy locked eyes with him for a moment, a faint, unpleasant emotion churning in his gut. He really didn't like him.
Before Robert knew it, McGonagall began announcing names that began with 'P'. Anxiety filled his body, hands fumbling at his sides by the time his name had finally been called.
The great hall grew still as he took his first step forward. A few stray whispers caught Robert's ears, but he ignored them, instead marching up to the stool. In front of him sat Albus Dumbledore, looking directly at him. He didn't dare meet the Headmaster's eye, much too nervous about the task at hand as he sat down.
"Hello there, Mister Potter." A voice in his head, alien to him, spoke suddenly. Robert did all he could to suppress a flinch as the large hat properly obscured his vision.
What was…
"What was that, you wonder?" The voice chucked to itself. Robert felt beyond unnerved.
"Not to worry, Mister Potter." The voice, the hat, continued. "Just looking at the most important bits of you. I see a great deal of loyalty, and a desire to help people that others may overlook, do I not? Hufflepuff would be a house proud to have you."
"Gryffindor!" He thought furiously to himself. "But I want Gryffindor!"
"Gryffindor?" The hat exclaimed, tutting. "Yes… yes… with a great deal of loyalty also comes a great deal of courage, wouldn't you say? With you, one would say foolishness, almost?"
"Please, I just want to be in Gryffindor." Robert screwed his eyes shut in concentration, the hat's insult barely registering.
"You seem to have your heart quite set on it." The hat said. Yes. Robert thought. Gryffindor was the house he wanted to be in. Like his mum and Uncle Sirius. Like Harry would have been, he knew it. He had to make them all proud. The hat took a few long, suffering moments before calling out to the waiting crowd, a table erupting in cheers and applause at the word.
"Gryffindor!"
August 28, 1991
Lily had seen pictures of the Italian ministry in photos, and despite herself wished she had gotten the chance to see the atrium as she felt her feet meet solid ground in a portkey room. Narcissa Malfoy landed by her side in the small, empty space, pocketing the portkey and turning to face her.
"We are in one of the smaller wings of the Italian Ministry of Magic." She said stiffly. "One that hosts the Child Protection Department."
Surprised, Lily turned her head to meet the other woman's gaze. "We aren't headed to Foreign Affairs, or International Magical Cooperation?" She asked her.
Malfoy simply shook her head, strutting to the room's exit. Lily followed suit, and soon the pair were walking alone down a long hallway. A few doors passed by revealing empty offices and storage closets before Malfoy stopped at a door inscribed with a department title. She paused before it, going still.
"The Italian wizarding world..." She began, ever-present look of faint distaste on her face glowing in the light. "Has always been quite… hesitant to trust the Malfoy family."
Lily regarded her words. What direction was this woman taking this?
"Yes." Lily responded slowly. "And your nephew…" the Malfoy woman's bottom lip twitched. "...I take it it will be a while until he can come home?"
"It's obvious that he is what we're here for." Malfoy said, turning to regard Lily with an indiscernible look. "But it's not what you think." The woman sharply turned the door handle, pushing it in and disappearing inside the next room. Lily followed quickly at her heels, intrigued.
They had walked into a kind of waiting room. The place was empty aside from an elderly receptionist who lifted her head up to look at them. Narcissa Malfoy did not even spare her a glance, marching off into a hallway to her left. Lily felt the set of eyes follow her as she trailed behind.
"If you haven't brought me here in an attempt to hasten the custody transfer process, then what reason do you have to do so?" Lily said as Malfoy stopped at another door, this one appearing to be some sort of meeting room or office by the looks of it.
"The boy that was found in my sister and her husband's custody is inside this room." She said, grey eyes boring into Lily's green in a way that made the redhead feel a little unsettled.
"The Italian wizarding population reveres you for being a powerful muggleborn witch that defeated the Dark Lord." Lily had to take a moment to register the woman's words. That was probably the closest someone from the great and mighty pureblood House of Black would ever come to complimenting a muggleborn.
Sirius didn't count.
"Lucius wishes for our family to humbly extend a public hand of friendship to you and the House of Potter. Both for your achievements in the Ministry in the last decade and for the vanquishing of the Dark Lord."
Lily's eyes narrowed. "And why would I ever do such a thing?"
Public hands of friendship were a big deal in the wizarding world, a fact that she had only learned more so when she began working for the Ministry. A show of trust from her, a muggleborn that was perceived to have done so much good, to a family that was rumoured to have served You-Know-Who…
It would certainly destroy her reputation. Or elevate theirs, in the eyes of Italians.
"Why does what the Italian public think matter so much to you?" Lily said, crossing her arms. "What are you playing at?"
"All in due time, Mrs Potter." Malfoy said, a smirk playing on the edges of her lips. "We will give you some time to think about it, of course. Public pledges are a big affair."
"What makes you think I would ever say yes?" Lily's words rebounded off the back of the Malfoy matriarch as she pushed open the final door to reveal the occupant inside.
Inside was a boy, no more than ten or eleven. He had scrappy, long black hair that sat like a bird's nest on his head. A youthful face, slightly thinner than should be for his age, with curious eyes sitting below the dark locks, watching her from a chair behind a desk. Instantly, all words died in Lily's throat as she felt as though all the wind had been knocked out of her.
In her mind's eye, she saw clear as day the moment an old, tattered hat shouted "Gryffindor!" and a boy jumped up off a stool to rush to a table decked in red. That same nose, that same jaw, those same almond-shaped eyes…
The boy stared, unblinkingly, silently. Lily felt as if she was being judged, or perhaps scrutinised in the very same way she was now staring at the boy in turn. Only his eyes were different from what she remembered. The very first time she had spotted another boy that had looked much like him, he had hazel eyes, framed with glasses. But this boy was different. He continued to stare, eyes a piercing green. And she stared back, with her own eyes an identical shade.