(So... I'm going to start heightening the drama now that Aariya is in school and the story is boiling down to a close. As you all know, this story can't go on forever! But it will have AT LEAST two more chapters before I'm done.)

Chapter 27

"Calm down, students!" Minerva McGonagall took her stance at the front of the Great Hall, eyeing each and every house as the children settled down to listen, "The Sorting Ceremony will commence now."

Every first year student stared at McGonagall with bated breath, waiting for their names to be called forward. Aariya simply smiled and gave a little wave to her parents at the teacher's table, waiting quietly.

"First I will call forward the early starters. Those of you that are sorted into Gryffindor will be bunking in Ravenclaw until your room is fixed," McGonagall announced.

She called out name after name and watched as the little ones skipped and jogged up to the sorting hat, then off to a special place at their respective tables.

"Weasley, Elise," McGonagall called as an eight year old redheaded girl with Fleur's features walked briskly to the stool. She placed the hat on her own head.

"Without a doubt, Ravenclaw!" The hat bellowed.

Next was yet another Weasley, "Weasley, Rowena."

A seeming copy of Elise went jogging to the front, her red locks bouncing over her shoulders.

"Hmm..." The sorting hat hummed to itself, "This one is difficult... It will have to be... Slytherin!"

Rowena went beaming to the Slytherin table.

"A Weasley in Slytherin," Hermione muttered to Remus, "Who would've thought?"

Remus chuckled.

"Now, we will have the first years! Come forward!" The line shifted slightly toward McGonagall.

Name after name was yelled out before the L's finally came about.

"Lupin, Aariya," McGonagall beamed at the little Remus/Hermione mixture as she walked smiling to sit her turn.

"Oh, this one should have been easy. Both parents in Gryffindor, a tough, mixed soul. Yet she is shy, timid, and unsure of herself."

Hermione quirked a brow at Remus, "Aariya? Shy? Timid?"

He shrugged.

"She has an old soul... A soul I recognize. A soul of a Gryffindor. But I must think hard... Hufflepuff would be a good choice."

"No... Not Hufflepuff," Aariya thought silently, wincing.

"I shall place you in... Gryffindor!"

Aariya beamed at her parents before rushing to the cheering Gryffindor table to sit next to a gaggle of girls.

A few other names were called before one peaked Hermione's interest.

"Malfoy, Scorpius."

A platinum haired boy with skin ghastly pale walked soberly to the sorting hat. It had barely touched his head when it bellowed, "Gryffindor!"

The boy sneered, ripping the hat from his head, "Gryffindor? Gryffindor?"

The entire Hall went silent.

"My father will kill me! Not one man in my family has been sorted into anything other than Slytherin!"

"That is my decision," the sorting hat murmured sternly.

"Bloody hell!" Scorpius went storming to the Gryffindor table.

"That one has a temper," Remus snorted with laughter.

BBBB

"Mum! I can't wait to tell you everything!" Aariya came bursting into Hermione's office the next morning, panting from her full-speed run to the dungeons. Hermione had gained her position as Potions Mistress, and hoped to keep it.

"And I can't wait to hear," Hermione smiled, offering her daughter a seat in front of the desk.

Aariya folded her hands in her lap, "Okay. Well I made a few friends. Rita Skeeter's neice is a Gryffindor. You know, the famous reporter?"

Hermione groaned inwardly, "Oh yes, dear. I'm familiar with Rita Skeeter."

"Her name is Amy Skeeter. She's a little loud but I still like her. And there's Daphne, Cora, and Scorpius-"

"Scorpius Malfoy?" Hermione's blood ran cold. She did not want her daughter interacting with that brat.

"Yeah! He's sort of a snot. I like him all right. He's kind of cute," she smirked, knowing this would make her mother squirm.

"W-wha? You're too little to like boys!" Hermione gawked.

"I guess not since I like one," Aariya lowered her head, looking up through her eyelashes as she fidgeted.

BBBB

"Our daughter likes Scorpius Malfoy!" Hermione announced rather loudly as Remus walked into their chambers that evening.

"Well that's okay. It's good she's making friends," Remus smiled and sat down at the kitchenette table.

"No. She likes Scorpius," Hermione frowned as she poured her husband his nightly firewhiskey, setting the bottle down with vigor.

"Like like? She has a crush on him?" Remus smirked, obviously amused by this information.

"It isn't funny!" Hermione's brow furrowed considerably, "She's too little!"

"Hey, just because you didn't like boys at her age doesn't mean that she shouldn't," he lectured after wincing from a gulp of his drink.

"Thanks for the help, Papa Bear," she sneered, collapsing next to him at the table, head in her hands.

"Just let things play out. We'll intervene if need be," he ran his hand over Hermione's back before smoothing down her curls, "At least we're here to intervene. We could be hundreds of miles away."

"True."

The rest of the month faded by fairly quickly and suddenly it was October. Hermione had been grueling over her Potions work, miserable with the first years in her class. Scorpius Malfoy was the one student that was actually adept at the subject. He managed to brew every one of his assigned potions.

"Ten points to Gryffindor, Mr. Malfoy," Hermione smirked from behind her reading glasses, "for brewing a perfect pepper-up potion."

"Thank you, Professor Lupin," Scorpius said with little enthusiasm.

Aariya grumbled at her cauldron, eyes narrowed at Scorpius. He was such a know-it-all. He always did everything right in all of his classes, leaving her to look inadequate as his table partner.

"Mum says that I got my brewing talents from her," Scorpius murmured at Aariya, a small smile on his face.

"Who's your mum?" Aariya stirred her own potion until it turned the desirable color and then added her last ingredients.

"Pansy Malfoy," he informed her proudly.

"My mum says she's a little bitch. They went to school together," Aariya frowned.

"Miss Lupin! Mr. Malfoy! Ten points each from Gryffindor for talking! If it isn't about your potion, save it for the common room," Hermione scolded, her face flushed by what Aariya had just said.

BBBB

Severus sat in front of the window, staring out into the beautiful blue sky. His eyes grazed over each and every cloud, trying to discern some difference in each of them.

For months now he had been attempting to figure out what things meant. Aariya, Liam, and Isabelle were obviously important to the wizarding world in some way. That was obvious by his vivid dream of Lily just a few years earlier.

For now he was stuck. Either his dream was a load of rot, or it actually meant something. Yes, the children were magically talented, but was that due to Hermione's intelligent personality, or had they really been blessed with gifts from the dead?

Severus sat down with Sybil Trelawney, vowing not to rise until he'd contacted the dead, "Are you ready?"

"Yes, Sybil. Let's begin."

(Thanks for reading. Yes, this was a short chapter but there is more to come soon! Please review.)