Many people, if they had ever taken a moment to think about it, would have assumed that Rose Aurum-Snape and Savin Silther-Aurum were the last people to worry about what Hogwarts House their children would be Sorted into. After all, weren't they themselves proof that friendship was possible even across the great Gryffindor-Slytherin divide? And if that was possible, surely there was nothing else for their children to worry about! But, contrary to popular belief, and despite making sure to never let their children see any signs of it, Rose and Savin did their fair share of worrying about their children's futures at Hogwarts. Their concerns stemmed less from any real fear that Sev and Meg would be ultimately unhappy in whatever Houses they ended up in, for both children had inherited their parents' abilities to amuse themselves and not care what other people thought of them, and more from a general worry about the uncertainty of the Sorting. Watching Sev and Meg growing up, Rose and Savin found it difficult to try to predict which House each child would be in. Both of the kids showed traits from each of the four Houses at different times, as most children do, so trying to guess which traits the Sorting Hat would feel were the most relevant was complicated.

Some days, watching Savin staggering out of the library carrying a teetering tower of books to read, or hearing Meg chatter away at length about something she was learning in school, it seemed obvious that both of them were natural Ravenclaws. But there were other times when the traits of other Houses were more apparent, like when Sev tried to physically attack three older boys who had been teasing Meg and, when that unsurprisingly ended up with him both injured and in trouble at school, continued to hold a grudge against them until he was later able to contrive a scheme to make sure they would be suspended for cheating on a test. No one at school ever knew for sure that Sev had anything to do with that, and while Rose and Savin had their suspicions, they decided that sometimes it was better not to know, and didn't press the issue (after all, they were proud of him for sticking up for his little sister, even if they might be less than thrilled with his method). Meg too often took loyalty to her family to an extreme, and while she was much more likely to involve authority figures than settle things herself the way Sev might, she certainly wasn't above setting traps to make sure people got in trouble when she thought they deserved it.

It was often after one of these sorts of events, where one or the other (or both) of their children so clearly displayed attributes associated with a particular Hogwarts House, that Rose and Savin would find themselves wondering yet again where their kids would end up. They would be sitting together at the kitchen table or relaxing on the couch after Sev and Meg were in bed, and find their conversation coming back to the same things, going around in circles as they tried to guess what values their children were more focused on, or whether they had shown any special inclination towards a particular House. It didn't help that looking at family history, which could often be a good indication of a potential Hogwarts House, was of no use in this case. Savin's family, the Silthers, had often gone to Slytherin in the past (as he himself had), though they had their fair share of Ravenclaws as well, and it wasn't as though Sev and Meg had any association with them anyway. There wasn't much to go by on Rose's side, of course, since her parents had been muggles, other than her own Sorting into Gryffindor. Counting "Grandfather Snape" got another point for Slytherin, and Rose remembered Snape mentioning that his mother had been a Hufflepuff, though there was no reason to think that could possibly have an influence.

By the night before Sev went off to Hogwarts for the first time, his parents thought it equally likely that he could be Sorted into any of the four Houses the next day. They could come up with solid evidence for why he would be a good fit for each House, and few reasons why he would not do well in any of them, and the boy himself had admitted that he thought they all had their pros and cons and didn't really have a first choice for where he would want to be, so he figured it would be a surprise. Meg, still with two years left before her own Sorting, declared at breakfast that she couldn't believe he didn't care which House he was in, though when Sev got annoyed and asked her where she wanted to go then, if she was so sure she had it all figured out, she admitted that she wasn't really sure, though she still had two years to figure it out, so what was his excuse. Rose intervened before the discussion could devolve any further, reminding both children that they needed to get moving if they didn't want Sev to miss the train, and sent Sev off to grab his bags while keeping Meg with her while she finished packing up some snacks for the train. By the time the Aurum-Snape family had piled into the car, driven to the train station, and gotten onto Platform 9 3/4, the kids had gone from being annoyed with each other to realizing that they weren't going to see each other again until winter break, and were more concerned with saying their farewells than in worrying more about either of their Sortings. Goodbyes, hugs, and kisses passed quickly, and soon enough Rose, Savin, and Meg were standing together and waving as the train moved away from the platform, carrying Sev off to Hogwarts.

The next morning, an owl arrived at the house on Spinner's End, carrying a note from Sev. The boy hadn't bothered with any salutation, nor with much in the way of words. Most of the page was instead taken up by a cartoon drawing of a badger wearing a yellow scarf, which had been charmed to dance on the page. There was a quick note scribbled at the bottom: "My roommate Teddy showed me this spell, isn't it cool? I'm in Hufflepuff, by the way, in case you couldn't tell. Love, Sev."