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Amelia, Snuffles asleep in her lap, drifted half-dozing, a new worry looming large with the shadows. It hadn't dawned on her before tonight, but if Harry ended up in Slytherin, Sirius was going to blame himself.
And Sirius wasn't just worried about Harry spending seven years in a hostile enviroment, he was worried about Harry choosing the ends over the means. Slytherins weren't all dark wizards of course, and each house had its own dark side, but Slytherin flaunted it's dark side, used it's dark side to tempt. Victory at all costs it promised. A Slytherin walked in darkness until they realised there were some costs they were not prepared to pay.
If Harry walked in that darkness, Sirius was never going to forgive himself. He had brought Harry up, brought him up knowing of Voldemort, exiled from the Wizarding World. It would not be so very surprising if Harry believed that victory was required at any cost.
Amelia squared her shoulders. As she had promised Sirius, whatever happened they would deal with it. Though if the little wretches didn't send word soon, she was going to scrag them next time she saw them.
The owl drifted in through the window silently. It circled the room, then keened softly. Snuffles sat up, turning back into Sirius as he did so.
He held out one hand to the owl, "Evening Hedwig."
Hedwig landed gracefully on his arm and tilted her head for a scratch. Sirius ran his fingers softly over her feathers, then retrieved the letter attached to her feet.
"Here, you read it Melia. You're the one who's worried."
Amelia let aspersion pass and carefully undid the parchment. She stared at it in disbelief,
"It doesn't say anything."
"What! Let me see that." Sirius reached out, and as soon as his hand touched the paper, it exploded.
Glittery sparkles cascaded down, paper streamers boinged across the room and black and yellow smoke swirled around.
Two joy-filled, beloved voices, cried out, "We're Hufflepuffs," then collapsed into laughter.
"Oh," said Amelia, feeling quite weak with relief. "They made it."
"Oh," said Sirius. "The little devils, it must have taken them ages to set that up. They knew, I tried so very hard and they knew all along. I am going to kill them dead."
"They can't have been sure though, about ending up in Hufflepuff," Amelia pointed out. "Nobody knows for definite."
"That just makes it worse."
"Don't be silly Sirius, every parent in the country wants one House above the others. The important thing is what would have happened if they hadn't made it. And you would never have said one harsh word to Harry or Susan about it."
"True." Sirius nodded to himself and began to look a little less fraught, then he grinned, "It was good work adapting that howler. It must have taken them ages. Not bad for a pair of firsties."
The smoke was still billowing about the room and Amelia was going to be picking glitter out of her hair for days.
"Yes it was quite good."
They grinned at each other, then Sirius suddenly put on his worried face.
"What?" demanded Amelia, unwilling to let anything spoil her delight.
"I just thought, in all of this, we never stopped to consider Hufflepuff House. Do you think they're ready for our two little devils?"
Amelia sucked in a breath of air. If she had one complaint about her old House, it was that it was a little stodgy, a little too sure that the party line was the right line. Once Susan and Harry got into their stride –
She laughed out loud. "They aren't going to know what's hit them."
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In their beds in Hufflepuff House Susan and Harry slept the sleep of the supremely self-satisfied.
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In the Headmaster's office Albus Dumbledore felt some of his control slipping away, though he couldn't have said how or why.
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