Thanks to the two of you who left reviews! This one is a long one. . .
Disclaimer: This world and these characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The only thing I own is the plot.
"Can I come too?" Albus Potter demanded eagerly, leaning forward.
James turned to him and smirked. "Sorry, you're too young," he sighed wisely, ruffling up his little brother's hair.
"By a year!" Al was outraged. Typically, he was a very even-tempered person, but his brother had the ability to get on his nerves like no other.
Teddy smiled down at Al. "Next year," he promised. "And remember, not a word to Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, understood?"
Al and James exchanged glances and nodded dutifully. They both looked up to the tall, handsome fourth year in front of them; he was like their brother. Teddy grinned as Louis and Fred arrived. Taking them by the shoulder, he lead them away.
They were gone for a few hours; Al's mum had left Teddy to look after them and his dad was away on an Auror mission with his Uncle Ron. Al waited impatiently in his room, wondering what Teddy was showing James, Louis, and Fred.
Every time anyone in their family turned eight, they were taken aside by Teddy (and if possible, the other older children) to receive some sort of initiation. When they came back, there was always something different about them, a sort of newfound confidence and a weight of understanding and determination.
Al, Rose, Hugo, and Lily, the youngest of the Weasley children, had sat by for hours whispering mad theories about what they could possibly be doing. Al turned to look at his little sister. Lily Luna Potter was tiny, although that may have been a side-effect of being five years old, and she had dark red hair to match their mother's (although she had received her grandmother Lily's thick waves) and alluring brown eyes to go with them. Her brothers doted on her.
"Hey, Al!" Al jumped, turning to find his cousins Rose and Hugo in his room, dusting ash from the Floo off their clothes. "Sorry we're late. Mum wouldn't let me leave until I told her Teddy was here," Rose explained, looking around. "Today's the day, then?"
Al nodded. They had learned by now that attempting to follow their cousins would get them nowhere; instead, on every initiation day, the youngest would collect in a room and promptly start discussing theories again.
"Rosie?" Lily asked, yawning sleepily.
Rose grinned at her little cousin. "Hey, Lils. You're just in time! Teddy took James, Louis, and Fred away."
Instantly, Lily sat up straight, her eyes wide. "Maybe they're part of a giant smuggling ring! Maybe they're trying to bring Crumple-horned Snorkacks out of Mexico!"
"Don't be stupid." Hugo rolled his eyes, joining Lily on the bed. He and Lily were every bit as close as Al and Rose were. The children had formed little circles inside the family, although they were all a very tight-knit bunch – more so the older ones; going through initiation seemed to bring them closer together. It was Teddy, Victoire, and Molly, Dominique and Lucy, James, Fred, and Louis, Albus and Rose, and Lily, Roxanne, and Hugo. They were often joined by Alice, Neville's daughter who was Al and Rose's age, and Rowan and Morgan, Oliver's daughters, who were James and Lily's ages, respectively. Luna's children, the twins Lorcan and Lysander, were both Lily's age as well.
"Crumple-horned Snorkacks are only found in cold areas," Hugo continued, bringing Al back to the present.
"You've been listening to Luna too much," Rose said disapprovingly. "You know what Lysander told Dom? He said that his mum had found a lot of new magical creatures that really did exist, and that she supposed the Snorkacks are extinct because she hasn't found any trace of them. Apparently she only keeps looking for the memory of their granddad, Xenophilius Lovegood."
They digested that information. Finally, Al remembered, "We're getting off topic! And Lily, no more about smuggling rings. We've got to tell James, Fred, and Louis to censor what they say around you."
And they talked long into the night. Somewhere just after one o'clock, the older boys returned. James's hazel eyes, typically filled with mischief, were oddly serious, and Fred's typical grin had been wiped off his face. Louis's face was stoically unexpressive.
"Are you all right?" Lily ventured, looking up at them. James and Fred bore uncanny resemblances to their namesakes, and seeing them serious was a little worrying.
"Of course we are," Louis assured her, standing as tall as his little eight-year-old self could manage. Vic and Dom came up behind them, and the younger kids stood staring at the older kids.
Al and Rose looked at each other, green eyes meeting blue with startling intensity. Next year, it was their turn.
When Al and Rose were taken aside, it was at the annual Christmas Weasley gathering. They were all crammed into the Burrow, with multiple enlargement charms, and Lily, Roxanne, Lysander, Lorcan, Morgan, and Hugo were covering for the older kids, who were supposed to be "taking them out for a bit of fun."
Using side-along apparition, they managed to get all of them to Potter manor. Someone was waiting for them there. "All right. Guys, I want you to meet Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy," Teddy declared. A boy Rose and Al's age, with dark gold hair and sparkling grey-blue eyes, stepped forward with a wave.
Al took an immediate liking to the boy. The name Scorpius Hyperion was every bit as bad as Albus Severus, and Al felt a flash of triumph upon seeing the boy's hair, which was as messy as his own.
Rose was thinking among the same lines, albeit with less triumph; she had gotten her mother's bushy curls and buckteeth and her father's gangly height and blue eyes. Her hair was a pretty bronze, at least, she consoled herself, and her name, Rose Ginevra, was not too bad at all.
The older cousins were exchanging glances, but none of the initiates-to-be noticed. As Alice, Rose, and Al rushed forward to greet Scorpius, Teddy talked to the older ones in a low voice. "He's just like us, guys. He wants to escape the family name and make one of his own. And he's my family, so he's our family."
Lucy tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. "He was raised by an ex-Death Eater," she pointed out.
Scorpius's head snapped up at this. "He's changed," he said evenly, turning to stare at her. "And he was never evil – he's a Healer now; he hasn't instructed me to go on a rampage the second I'm sorted, beating everyone who looks like they might be a Muggleborn over the head with a broomstick."
"What's he talking about?" Rose hissed to Albus.
"Aunt Mione, Uncle Ron, and Dad saved his dad's life?" Albus whispered back, looking bewildered.
Nobody noticed them. Lucy was smirking at Scorpius's outburst. "I hope to see you in my house, then."
The Gryffindors in the family – Teddy and Dominique – immediately burst into a chorus of protests. "What's your house?" Scorpius asked curiously, watching Teddy's normally calm expression become fierce with indignation.
"Slytherin," Lucy drawled, "the best house at Hogwarts."
This was a very dangerous thing to say within a fifty-kilometer radius of the Weasleys. It was good to know that the Gryffindor attitude of being proud to the point of reckless idiocy had not passed her up completely.
Scorpius's eyes went wide. "You're a what?" he gasped.
Teddy recovered the quickest. "We don't have time for this," he said impatiently. "Everybody, inside, now!"
Scorpius had never been to Potter Manor before. He was so busy staring at a picture of three men – one who looked suspiciously like James playing with a snitch while the dark-haired, handsome fellow beside him distracted their friend, who was trying to write an essay – that he didn't notice when James announced dramatically, "The Pensieve, young children!"
He heard Albus and Alice gasp, and he turned around to find a large, glowing goblet in front of him.
"It's a giant goblet," Rose stated flatly, speaking his thoughts aloud. "This is the life-changing Weasley family secret? A giant goblet?"
Fred look insulted. "This is not just a goblet, Rosie! It's a pensieve! Even better, it's forbidden!"
"One of those memory holding things Dad told us about?" Albus wondered, recovering.
Teddy beckoned them forward, and they all went inside. "What I'm going to show you will take around six hours," he told them. "You need to watch closely. It may be difficult to understand at first, but you're all smart – you'll get there. Vic understood at about your age. Now, lunch was at twelve, about fifteen minutes ago, and dinner's at seven, so we've got just enough time. We'll sneak back here tonight, when everyone's asleep, and finish off. Before anything, though, I need your word – this is all a secret. Got it?"
They nodded dutifully, and Teddy pulled them into the pensieve.
Albus, Rose, Scorpius, and Alice stood together, stunned. Every one of the older kids was serious and silent for once, watching a bit sadly as their younger cousins were changed before their eyes.
The childish naivety was still somewhat there, but the look in their eyes was far too mature for eight-year-olds. They were all shocked at what they'd just seen – their own parents, war legends? Heroes?
Alice was the one who broke the silence, her brown eyes unusually solemn. "Those horcruxes," she said slowly, "they don't keep you fully alive, do they?"
The adults would be horrified to hear an eight-year-old speaking about such dark magic. But they needed to know. "It's very dark magic, and you can't ever mention it, do you understand me? This version – it's closer to the truth than most of the population of wizards that actually lived through the war will ever know. And we've got to keep it that way."
Albus was staring at the far wall, looking uneasy. "I wish they'd have told us," he said softly.
James looked down at him fiercely. "We'll never keep secrets from you," he declared. "No matter how dark, how dangerous, you can always ask us."
Victoire shrugged. "As the Ravenclaws believe, knowledge is far better than ignorance."
"And power is more useful to you than bliss," Lucy agreed. She winked at them. "Just a little Slytherin wisdom."
The mood was getting too intense for the eight-year-olds. "I can see why Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter and Mrs. Weasley hated my dad," Scorpius spoke up. "He was such a – such a Slytherin."
Dominique grinned at this. Needless to say, the memories were definitely changing the younger kids' view of Slytherin.
"Slytherin's not like that anymore," Lucy growled, narrowing her eyes at him.
Scorpius looked at her defiantly. "You'd think so."
"You don't want to get on her bad side," Rose hissed under her breath. She and Albus stepped in front of their new friend protectively.
"I worked hard to build up Slytherin's reputation." Lucy spoke in a low voice, her icy eyes glittering.
Surprisingly, it was Molly who spoke. "You're one of us," she assured him dismissively. "Lucy wouldn't really hurt you. She might be planning something horrible on the first-year Gryffindors, 'in case they need to learn what Slytherin House is really about,' so I'd shut up about it if I were you."
"We should be going back," Rowan warned, checking the time.
Teddy turned to look at the four. "Wait in your rooms until one of us comes to get you," he instructed. "When it's safe, we'll finish off here."
"There's more?" Rose asked, surprised.
"And it's even more interesting than this is," Rowan confirmed, grinning broadly.
"How could it possibly be more interesting?" Scorpius demanded. "This was amazing!"
"Because this is about them," Lucy answered. "What you'll learn next. . . it's all about us."
Rose, Al, Scorpius, and Alice exchanged bewildered glances.
"I want to be my dad when I grow up," Alice announced suddenly.
The older kids all turned to look at her. It was Louis who answered her. "Trust me," he promised. "You'll be better than your dad."