Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter (Or anybody else for that matter- slavery is really not my thing)

Chapter 12- House Is Where The Heart Is

Hogwarts Castle-1st September 1991
Age 11

Draco's POV

That impudent peasant. How dare she trick me.

I had to wait until the sorting to find out how utterly and completely I had been fooled by a mudblood.

A Mudblood.

"Addison, Lyra" McGonagall had called out. And then the girl I had been doing everything in my power to avoid stepped up to the sorting hat.

It was beyond humiliating that I had thought she might have been someone from a branch of the family that I couldn't recall. I was thanking every deity I knew that I had been too embarrassed to ask my parents about my forgotten 'cousin'. That girl couldn't possibly be any relation of mine. That our appearances were alike was just a coincidence.

I had even avoided going up to Potter like I had planned- I didn't want to risk running into her. Probably a good thing seeing how she had walked in right alongside the boy-who-lived hand-in-hand and chatting away, pointing out something that caught her interest every three steps. She even had the gall to wave my way when she caught me staring.

Still, I didn't miss the glances thrown her way by the staff. Or the contemplative looks in far too many faces as they looked between me and her.

As much as it pained me to admit- she looked more like a pureblood Lady than half the females of my acquaintance here. She walked up to the hat with a quiet dignity and gracefully placed it on her head.

Lyra's POV

"Hmm… interesting head you have here girl… I wonder how such a strange mind came to be" The hat whispered in my mind.

'So it's true… You can only read a part of my mind, who I am and how I think, but not my memories' I released the breath I had been holding. I had managed to find that particular bit of trivia in a much older version of Hogwarts: A History. I had no proof of the books claims, and my occulmency shields had been up regardless. Seeing how the hat didn't even comment on the presence of the shields however, I had to assume they were immaterial to it. Either that or I was doing it wrong… hey! It's not like I had anyone to practice them against. At this point I was just following the instructions I had read to the letter and hoped and prayed I was doing it right.

"Yes… it is true. Godric barred me from looking to deeply into the students' minds. He feared it would be an unforgivable invasion of their privacy… despite how much his friends tried to convince him otherwise"

'Wait…Friends? As in plural? As in someone other than Salazar Slytherin?'

"Rowena always did believe that pursuit of knowledge was enough justification for anything"

I couldn't have hid the wave of surprise and revulsion from the hat if I tried.

"Hmm…I wouldn't be so quick to judge little miss, Ravenclaw is a house that would suit you well, you have a great thirst for knowledge… but that's not all you have is there… yes I can see it now, you have an insatiable need to be seen, a desire to be acknowledged and respected, but for all the right reasons … a need for justice, but a talent for masking the truth... You are in equal parts a Slytherin and a Gryffindor"

'So where will you put me then?'

"Oh? What's this… you aren't going to tell me which way you would choose to go?"

I gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. 'It changes nothing. I know who I am. I've already made my choices. Besides, isn't your purpose to send me to the house that would be best for me? You've been placing students for centuries… I'm sure you know what you're doing by now'

He (it?) chuckled "Such an odd soul… yes… the house that is best for you. It's been so long, I had almost forgotten…" he sounded slightly sad at that thought.

Then without any warning he bellowed out…

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

…Huh?

Hermione's POV

"Ah… another one… yes girl I know where you wish to go, and I know where you belong… and before you ask, no they are not the same"

It took me a second to get over the shock of hearing a voice in my head. And then another to try to figure out what it said.

'Pardon?'

"You desire adventure, yes. Even more than you desire knowledge… but which place is best for you? Where will you truly thrive? Where to send you … Ravenclaw will let you be who you truly are, and Gryffindor is where you might be who you want to be"

'Well if you put it like that…'

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Neville's POV

"You're a difficult one aren't you? Send you to Hufflepuff and you will find peace at the price of pride. Send you to Gryffindor and you will find pride at the price of peace. Either way, you will find happiness… either could be best for you… so Mr. Longbottom… in this case I believe a choice can be allowed"

There wasn't a choice here.

Not really.

"Very well then…"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Draco's POV

"You are more both more and less than you think you are Mr. Malfoy… and once I would not have hesitated with my choice for you, but now I wonder…"

'Wonder? Wonder WHAT? Malfoys have been in Slytherin for generations! You can't put me anywhere else… you…you CAN'T!'

I couldn't begin to imagine what my father would say to me if I wasn't sorted into Slytherin… let me rephrase that- I couldn't begin to imagine what my father would DO to me if I wasn't in Slytherin.

The sorting hat gave a sigh. "Very well then… I shall send you to the house you desire to be in… but remember my words young Malfoy… Your name does not define you, your actions do. You are not your father- and that may just be your saving grace someday"

And then out loud it declared… "SLYTHERIN!"

Harry's POV

"Hmm… difficult… very difficult… So many roads, so many consequences"

'Umm… So… does that mean you can see my future in all the houses?'

"Future? No… Nothing quite so grand… I see possibilities… And you Mr. Potter are full of them."

'Well… as long as it's not Slytherin'

"I wouldn't dismiss that option so easily … Slytherin could lead you to greatness you know… you would do well in that house"

'I know they're not all evil and all… Lyra pretty much drummed it into my head after that lecture she gave Hagrid about being prejudiced… but if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not wonder every night… if I'm sleeping in the same room my parent's murderer once slept in'

"Ah… well in that case, better be…"

Ron's POV

"Another Weasley eh? Right… easiest decision I've had to make all evening. Don't worry Mr. Weasley despite the cunning and ambition I sense, you are every bit a temperamental and brave soul. Just like all your brothers before you, you belong in…"

The Gryffindor table burst into applause…I could see Harry and my brothers standing up to cheer for me. I finally let myself relax. It was going to be alright.

I let my eyes roam around the Great hall. There were a few familiar faces all around.

There was Malfoy down at the Slytherin table, surrounded by his minions…and he was glaring at someone at the Hufflepuff table, looking slightly smug… I followed his line of sight to… Lyra? I wonder what she'd done to piss him off like that. Scratch that there were more important things to wonder about- like how the hell did someone that powerful end up with the Puffs? Not that there was anything wrong with that house or anything. It was waaay better than being in Slytherin. But I always thought the more powerful people either went to Gryffindor or Slytherin. In fact going by the look on Malfoy's face I think I wasn't the only one who thought that. He must think she's not all that if she ended up in Hufflepuff… Boy was he in for a surprise.

Down the Gryffindor table I could see my brothers' dorm mates. I remembered them from all the times they'd been invited over last summer. There was Lee Jordan , holding something in his hand that seemed to be moving… I scooted over a bit in the other direction. There was Oliver Wood… Quidditch captain and oddly enough, one of Percy's (only) friend(s). Then there were my brothers themselves. Milling about, joking around(except for Percy of course), watching them, I felt kinda proud. They were all so good at what they did… just like Bill and Charlie had been, probably. I could feel that weird heavy feeling coming, the one that I got every time I thought about how high my brothers had set the bar for me. And then I looked up at the boy sitting next to me.

Harry Potter.

Somehow I had befriended the hero of our world. The legend from stories. But he looked like a normal boy. And he acted like a normal one too.

He didn't seem to think having that many brothers was a bad thing… in fact when I told him about my brothers he had looked jealous. Can you believe it? The-Boy-Who-Lived, jealous of me? Well I had to ask him why then, didn't I?

"Think of it like this," he'd said. "Every time someone wants to mess with you, they'll have to watch out for a curse breaker, a dragon handler, a prefect and a set of ingenious pranksters"

…And when you put it like that- I sound like the luckiest bloke alive don't I?

Just like that, the heavy feeling was gone.

Lyra's POV

Anyone who had ever been to school- any school will know- there are always cliques. It doesn't matter that the school you're going to holds no resemblance whatsoever to any normal mundane curriculum. In fact in Hogwarts, half the work of stereo-typing amongst students was done by the time you were sorted. Jocks in Gryffindor(mentally I'm equating this to the Sports clubs, the cheerleaders and the class clowns ), Nerds in Ravenclaw (The Science club, the Debates club, the Anything-for-extra-credits-on-assignments club), All the friendly cause people (You know the ones- the boy/girl scouts, the environment club, the social services club… Hell, probably even the music club! ) in Hufflepuff, and Socialites and Power hoarders in Slytherin (Student council, prom committee, etiquettes club… and now that I think about it, probably the Drama club too- what? They're supposed to be good at lying to your face-no?).

It wasn't so obvious watching the lower years- but by the time you get to the fourth years- it's fairly clear where people stand on the social ladder. What surprised me though was that those in the final few years weren't as obviously marked by their House affiliations. There were boisterous athletic people on all the tables. And every table had its own set of studious bookworms and vain plastic dolls.

Some even crossed the invisible-but-clearly-there borders between houses to talk to or connect with people from other houses (Even though all Slytherin and Gryffindor interactions were (not so) subtly hostile). It looks like people grow into their own eventually.

Still- it didn't change the fact that like-minded people bonded into groups of friends with shared interests or circumstances. Which makes me wonder where I'll end up.

I could already see Harry bonding with Ron over something at the Gryffindor table… and Hermione looked like she was scolding them - not very effectively, going by the grins on their faces. That was the start of something really amazing- something I didn't want to mess with. At least not until the troll incident was over. By then they'd be too solid to topple with a careless remark or action… I hope.

Harry was like my best friend- my brother even. Over the years he had come to depend on me and my parents like one depends on their family. But we were the only ones he had. Here, he had the chance to explore and make his own friends. To find people that relied on him and not just the other way around. He needed that.

The more I think about it, the more I'm glad I'm not in Gryffindor. It would have been too tempting for me to mess with the story. This way I could just interfere at the right moments- and let the plot go where it was meant to.

And that wasn't the only reason Hufflepuff was good for me. I hadn't missed the looks the staff sent me. It seems Professor Sprout had not explained my lineage to her colleagues. Even Dumbledore was sending me measured and curious glances. All of those had eased up as soon as the hat sent me to the Badgers' table.

I looked around me to see faces that I could only vaguely put a name to. There were names –even in my own year- that I didn't recognize.

I knew I was sitting next to Susan Bones (a rather pretty, if solemn looking red-head), who had spared me a polite greeting and introduced herself and her blonde friend- Hannah Abbot - before resuming her conversation with said blonde. Across from me was one Wayne Hopkins, who was rather passionately (and loudly) declaring the many virtues of Quidditch to the boy sitting next to him- Justin Finch-Fletchley who was nodding on politely, even though I'm fairly sure he's a muggle born and probably hadn't heard of Quidditch before today. All in all- it was a fairly decent start- and we were all making polite small talk. A lot of effort had to be made by my peers to include me in their conversations (Hannah in particular seemed to be really stubborn about getting me to talk), but with a little effort they succeeded.

It turns out my father's occupation was a point of interest for the purebloods present. The Wizarding world had never heard of Cancer after all.

"But if it's incurable, what does your father do?" Asked Susan, looking absurdly concerned for the patients of a disease she had never heard about before today.

I shared an amused glance with Justin, who at least seemed somewhat aware of my plight.

"Well it can't be cured, but sometimes it can be put into remission" Confused faces were my only response "Beaten back " I clarified. That seemed to work for them.

Everything went on normally. I was introduced to the other Hufflepuff girls in my year-Leanne Robinson and Megan Jones. I couldn't recall their names from the story I knew. And for good reason. They looked like they would eventually fall into the plastic dolls category (I really shouldn't be putting people into boxes like that).I even got to talk to Cedric Diggory- who was currently in third year. Granted that conversation went a little like- Him: Could you pass the salt please Me: Sure, here Him: Thanks! Cue- blinding, heart-stopping smile (him- in case that point needed clarification) and flushed stammering mess (that would be me… Unfortunately).

I was rather happy with the way things were going. I even considered the merits of being just another Hufflepuff and keeping my strengths on the down low. This seemed like a fairly peaceful place to be. That is until some unfortunate Slytherin soul 'tripped' while walking towards the staff's table. And a lot of soup went flying over the air... Right at the Hufflepuff table. Or to be more precise- right at the first years on the Hufflepuff table.

Really? You actually expect anyone to believe you genuinely tripped with a smirk on your face? Not a particularly bright one, are you? Well I wasn't about to let myself get drenched in chicken soup on my first day here.

So with an almost careless thought (I couldn't count the number of times I had done something like this already) I froze the soup in mid-air.

Silence.

Not the sort you hear after a gun-shot goes out, but the sort of slow hushing up that happened in the wake of utter confusion. People were looking about, trying to figure out who to thank for this generous piece of magic… but no one had their wand out. The staff table looked equally bewildered.

Well it was now or never.

"Really now, you should be more careful … You could have ruined that-" I gave a rather disdainful glace at the obviously stunned Slytherin, looking him up and down and noting the disgustingly food stained shirt.

"Never mind – nothing there to ruin" And with another casual flick of my hand the soup disappeared.

This time it was the gun-shot silence.

After all- wandless magic had been heard off (even if it was in an abstract, maybe it exists-maybe it doesn't sort of way). But a vindictive Hufflepuff? That was just insane.