- A/N -

I'll spare everyone the detailed explanations as to why this update is so late and just sum it up as a combination of back-to-school prep, the necessity of having to buy a new laptop, and the general stress of job-hunting. I hope that it counts as enough of a reason for why this update is over two weeks late. Regarding updates actually, I have an announcement to make:

Update: From now on, all updates have been changed from every Friday to every other Friday.

Please note that this will only be a temporary change until things calm down a bit, but hopefully it's enough to be confident that updates are still coming, regardless of what time.

With all that out of the way, moving on to the details of this chapter. As promised, this will focus on even further interactions between Rose and James, a bit more detailed than in the previous chapter, and definitely to give readers more of a sense of their dynamic. As of yet, no one has made any comments on that yet, so I'll assume that there aren't any problems with it. To be honest, I'm really interested in making James more of a major character in this story, because he hasn't really had a share in the spotlight of the Harry Potter books, and so he should at least shine in fanfictions, right?

With that on mind, onward ho!

4 — Three Potters, Three Houses

It wasn't a moment too soon that Madame Hooch finally came to take over patrol duties, though not without exchanging a word or two with Rose about the upcoming tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Indeed, with the position of two chasers, a beater, and the keeper open this year, there were quite a few players that were needed to uphold the team. Also, because the position of Quidditch captain would be open once James graduated as well, Rose knew that she'd have to be on her toes if she wanted any chance of making it herself. After all, her goal was and had always been to be both Quidditch captain and Head Girl by the end of her time at Hogwarts, someone that both of her parents could be proud of.

For James though, since being Head Boy was out of reach anyway, he was content to just be Quidditch captain, though acted every bit as cocky as if he owned half the school. Indeed, even as Rose entered through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room, she could see him lounging about, taking up the entire couch, and levitating his apple core over the fire. Hearing her come in, he stopped, letting it drop into the flames, and gave her his usual half-smile half-smirk that both irritated and endeared her to him at the same time.

"Well, well, back already?" he asked.

Rose shoved him aside, taking a seat on the couch as well, unsure exactly how to get at the heart of what she wanted to talk to him about. With Albus, it was slightly easier getting him to be serious and focus, but with James, who was always unpredictable, it was near impossible. So, instead of bringing up Lily directly, she decided to address something easier to discuss.

"Have you seen Hugo at all today?" she asked.

James shrugged, leaning back on the couch, not at all affected by the discussion, despite having a slight suspicion of where it was going. "Yeah. Kid's all tuckered out by now, but he'll be alright for classes tomorrow. Didn't you already check on him?"

Rose shook her head.

"Oh, right. Prefect duties."

Giving a hefty sigh that let out all of her negative thoughts for the day, the bold brunette finally decided to address the matter at hand, seeing as James obviously wasn't going to take a hint and bring it up. Sometimes, when he was like this, so indifferent, she wondered if maybe both he and Albus really even cared for their siblings at all. Not that everyone had to get as involved in their siblings' lives like she did with Hugo, but it would've been nice for them to share some interest.

Boys, Rose thought, suppressing an eye roll.

"What about you with Lily?"

"Hmm, now that would be a problem, wouldn't it? Cause, technically, anyone can get into the Ravenclaw common room if they can answer the riddle—or, in my case, if they happen to know their way around really well—but first my cute little sister's got to get in before I can go and check up on her.

Rose blinked. "What do you mean?"

Snorting, James leaned forward with interest. "The first time, the prefect for Ravenclaw got her and the other first years in with no problems, but after she snuck out for an extra snack a while ago, she couldn't figure out how to answer a different riddle. I reckon that she's outside the common room in the hallway, probably waiting for someone else to come along and open it up for her."

"What?!"

Holding up his hands defensively, James kept up his smirk. "Hey, no worries—seeing as you're back, the Ravenclaw prefects probably are too and so she'll be in there safe and sound by now."

Giving a groan of frustration, Rose covered her face with her hands. Stupid, shouldn't she have gone personally to the Ravenclaw common room by now to check on Lily, especially seeing as she'd rightfully predicted that neither of her siblings would? If she had been around, she could have easily helped her younger cousin get into the common room by answering a simple riddle. She really should have done this, especially seeing as she was specifically asked to do so by Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry, and everyone knew that Hogwarts was not necessarily a safe place at night. If worst came to worst, what could have happened?

"Don't blame yourself, although you probably will anyway," James encouraged. "You were busy, so you wouldn't have had time to."

Was that really true, or was it just an excuse that she wanted to believe? True, Rose was constantly busy, sometimes taking on more than any other person could've handled, but that didn't meant that she couldn't ask for a fifteen minute break or something if she needed it. And that was all it would've taken to go to the Ravenclaw common room and check on Lily, make sure she was alright. So then...why hadn't she? Because she was disappointed in Lily for not making it into Gryffindor and that, even if it wasn't the girl's fault specifically, Rose still somewhat considered that it was?

In any case, she wasn't in the mood to sort through it tonight. The day had been full of enough frustrations and surprises, and seeing as James wasn't helping, as usual, there was no point in staying up and talking to him anymore. Standing up, Rose prepared to leave.

"We should both go to bed—and I mean it. Tomorrow classes start for us too."

"Yeah, whatever you say." James stood up as well. "Don't forget though—Quidditch tryouts start this weekend, and I'll need an organized assistant to keep score for me. Know anyone who's qualified?"

Rose turned around, and was met with her cousin's expectant stare. Geez, if he needed help, why didn't he just ask for it?

"Well, that depends," she said, putting a hand on her hip. "What qualifications would they need to have?" She didn't mean to be playful, or at least not that late at night, but as soon as the smirk returned to James's face, she knew he was hooked.

"For one thing, they'd have to know the rules of Quidditch. If they have them memorized word for word from the rule-book, it'd be helpful," he replied.

"Uh-huh. What else?"

"Hmm...it'd be good to get a girl. Y'know, it's mostly boys who try out for Quidditch, but we need witches as well as wizards who can play."

"Check. And...?"

Then, it surprised her when James slunk closer, tucking a finger under his chin just like he had done since they were children, and tilting her head up so that she could look at him more clearly. Their close proximity and James's disregard for personal space had never bothered Rose before, and yet, as she stared up at him now, alone in the middle of the night in the common room, she couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable, just like before in the hallway. Was it because they had finally spent a summer apart because James had traveled to Romania to study dragons while Rose mentored at the Ministry of Magic with her mother, and thus they lacked interaction for a while? Or was it...something else?

"And the best case scenario would be if they were organized, smart, dedicated, on the Quidditch team, and had it in with the teachers as well." Rose hitched a breath. "I don't know about you, but I can only think of one person who fits the bill for that."

Surprised that she had to try and keep her voice steady, Rose replied, "And if...that person agrees to help out, what would her reward be?"

Smirking, James stepped back, leaving Rose feeling much more comfortable, yet also strangely empty at their sudden distance.

"I'll decide that later. Maybe a chocolate frog," he said.

And then, too hastily for Rose to say anything else, he ducked out of the common room and up the stairs, leaving the Gryffindor prefect alone, out of breath, and, as usual, feeling foolish and hating every second of it. Sometimes, in moments like these, Rose remembered just why Albus was easier to deal with than his brother, despite being a Slytherin and all.

Meanwhile, speaking of Slytherins, both Ablus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy were still awake in their own rooms, discussing the events of their summers. For, close friends though they were, their fathers still weren't on close enough terms to plan their summer vacations together, so the boys had spent some time apart—Scorpius stuck at Malfoy Manor and Albus staying over at Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's house with Lily, and catching up on news with Teddy Rupin and Victoire. Speaking of the two, they had finally decided to get married, although the date wasn't set just yet. In any case, after coming back from Shell Cottage and reuniting with their eldest sibling, James had expressed regrets at not being there to tease the daylights out of their soon-to-be cousin himself.

"Sounds like you had it good," Scorpius commented, not having had as much to reveal about his own vacation. As usual, it was just him and his father, alone and cut off from the world. In some ways, it wasn't all that bad, especially since rumors of Scorpius being "Voldemort's spawn" had finally died down now that people knew the truth, but it was still pretty lonely, all in all. In any case, it was a relief that Albus was as happy to see him as he had been.

Shrugging, Albus turned on his side to face Scorpius, whose bed was right next to his, separated only by their nightstands and a window. "It was ok, but nothing compares to the trial."

Scorpius nodded as he remembered it as well. Earlier that year, just after they had finished their fourth year at Hogwarts, each boy had been called to the Ministry of Magic to testify against Delphini "Delphi" Diggory. The trial, Scorpius suspected, was more for show than anything else, seeing as anyone who so much as uttered Voldemort's name—for example, his grandfather, Lucius—was sent to Azkaban without question. Of course, Delphi, being Voldemort's daughter, was immediately given a life sentence without question, Harry Potter himself being one of the aurors who escorted her to her prison cell.

"Yeah, that was something, seeing her again," Scorpius replied at last, for once not bothering to make a joke about how Albus had a crush on her earlier on before they discovered how evil she was. Their experiences with the deranged witch, while brief, hadn't exactly left either of them with "proud battle scars". They had been duped, Albus more than anyone, and now all they wanted to do was forget that they had encountered her at all. Sure, they had saved the world and whatnot, but they were still outcasts, and maybe were best suited as such. As for Delphi, she was a maniac, pure evil, belonged in Azkaban, and that was the end of it.

"Did you see the way she looked at me?" Albus shivered. "If looks could kill."

"You'll never get to sleep if you keep thinking about it. Besides, everyone knows that it's impossible to break out of Azkaban, so why worry?" Scorpius sighed, trying to change the subject, albeit only slightly. The truth of the matter was that, while their encounter with Delphi was unpleasant and could have cost them their lives, it had also opened up the pathway to discovering many things about themselves. For one thing, it had given Scorpius the chance to travel to an alternate universe and see just what would happen if Voldemort had survived the Second Wizarding War, giving him the experience of being popular and evil and...well, overall what he had always thought his father had wanted, only to find out the truth in the end. Secondly, it had given him a taste of what jealousy was like, and given Albus a few much-needed knocks on the head. But, most of all, it had strengthened their friendship, and that something that Scorpius himself wouldn't change for anything in the world. It was anyone's guess just how Albus felt about it, but no doubt he was focusing more on moving on with their lives after their experience with Delphi rather than linger and reflect on it.

It's just as well, Scorpius had decided long ago. After all, he was fooled the most, and things could have ended up completely different if Delphi had waited a bit longer before revealing herself...

Other than Scorpius himself though, there was one other person who had yet to move on from what had happened, and that was the topic that he actually wanted to discuss: Amos Diggory. For, as Scorpius had found out after visiting St. Oswald's over the summer, the old wizard was still harboring a grudge over how things had turned out with Delphi and the Time Turners.

"You still could have saved my boy! No matter what you say you did or had to do or didn't do, you still could have saved him!" he had insisted to Scorpius, who was by far one of the only people who had still tried to make peace with him after he expressed his utter distaste for Harry Potter and the Ministry, and even dared to speak on behalf of Delphi at the trail—though no one had taken him seriously, of course. "I already know that things could have been very worse if Voldemort lied, but why did Cedric have to die?! He was innocent, and his death will always be the fault of Harry Potter, who refused to save him!"

Having been privy to the role of "spares" in Delphi's plan, the riddle she had lived her entire life by, Scorpius knew why Cedric's death was not only a tragedy, but an insult to his father; yet, at the same time, knew that he could do nothing about it. He and Albus had already tried to right that wrong once, and had only ended up making things worse. Now, because there really was no chance anymore for Cedric to be saved, Scorpius felt that it was his duty to at least help Amos find peace. So far, his efforts had been in vain, although the old wizard had stopped trying to hex him on sight recently, and that was a good sign.

"I think that it'll take me a while to forget, but now that we're back at Hogwarts, maybe it'll be easier," Albus commented, bringing Scorpius back from his thoughts after a period of silence between them. Because both Slytherins were so used to silence in general, especially after having been forced to spend some time apart, neither of them found it uncomfortable in the least.

"Yeah, you're right. At least now we have classes and things like that to keep us busy," Scorpius agreed.

"And prefect duties, right?" Albus prompted, grinning.

Scorpius looked away, blushing. "Y-yeah. Rose didn't seem to react much, though—do you think that she even saw the badge?"

"How could she not?" Albus snorted. "You were wearing it loud and proud for everyone to see."

Sighing, turned back to face his best friend. "You know, I've been doing a lot of thinking over this summer, and I've come to a conclusion: I don't think Rose likes me very much."

Albus blinked. "You say that like it's news to me or something. But didn't you say that you 'sowed your seeds of romance' or something at the end of last year after you asked her out and she turned you down?"

Scorpius shook his head. "I know I said that, but I figured that it was because...well, if I got into an important position or something, maybe made Rose see that I am up to her standards, she'd think twice about that and maybe start acting friendlier. But earlier today, on the train, when we met up, I'm pretty sure she observed that I was also made a prefect, but it didn't seem to faze her at all. I know I can't expect changes overnight or anything, but it's hard to keep going when I've got zero encouragement to go on, you know?"

If there was one thing that Albus didn't like, it was being put in the middle of something; and, even though he had acted as a sort of mediator for Scorpius and Rose, one of the only excuses his friend had to get close to his cousin, despite the fact that it hadn't made the slightest bit of difference, he knew that Scorpius would never cross the line and directly ask him to get involved or anything. That was why, he suspected, becoming a prefect had meant so much to Scorpius until recently, and now that his enthusiasm for it was wearing down, it was a sure sign that the Slytherin was starting to have second thoughts about harboring a crush on the popular Gryffindor. As for Albus and what he chose to do, he still opted for not getting involved, but couldn't just sit by and let Scorpius depress himself like that.

"She's bound to fall for your charms eventually though, right? That's what you said yourself."

Scorpius sniffed. "Yeah, what charms?"

"Everything, obviously," Albus insisted, although in truth he was grasping at straws. "I mean, what's not to like? You're smart, thoughtful, a powerful wizard, considerate, a romantic, loyal, and, as we've found out, brave. Who wouldn't fall for you, actually?"

Scorpius stared wide-eyed at Albus for a moment, surprised that his friend had managed to list out all those qualities that he himself had never been aware of before, and with so much honesty. Maybe it was because he and Albus had always just paired up naturally together, but he had no idea that the boy had such a high opinion of him. It was flattering, and not a little bit embarrassing. As a result, Scorpius's immediate reaction was to blush, unsure what to say. Naturally, he could've complimented Albus back, but, seeing as his friend wasn't in love with anyone and showed no signs of being, he didn't need the same confidence booster. Actually, that was the one thing that Albus had that Scorpius didn't: confidence. Not as much as his brother, James, perhaps, but certainly enough to encourage his friend when he needed it.

"T-that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, I think, and you've said a lot of nice things," Scorpius finally managed to get out.

At this, Albus blushed slightly as well as he realized it, turning away so that he wasn't facing Scorpius anymore. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Well anyway, you looked like you needed it. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Each Slytherin to his own.

Unlike her two older siblings, each of whom was already accustomed to the house he had been sorted into, Lily Potter felt out of place in Ravenclaw. She hadn't specifically asked to be put into Ravenclaw or anything, but rather, just hadn't wanted to continue upholding the family legacy by being put into Gryffindor. So, really, either Hufflepuff or Slytherin would've been just fine as well. But Ravenclaw...well, she had never had a previous opinion on it, but from the moment she had observed that she would have to answer a riddle so as to be let into the common room, it had intimidated her and made her wish that she could put the Sorting Hat back on and ask to be resorted. Her doubts were only worsened when she couldn't answer a riddle by herself and had to wait until the Ravenclaw prefects came back from their patrol. No doubt that both of them would have given Lily some sort of scolding about being out of the common room so late at night, but she had darted up to her room so fast, mortified and in tears, before either of them could get a word in edgewise.

Once upstairs, she made sure that she was careful in moving about, not making any noise so as to wake up the three other first year Ravenclaw girls with whom she shared a room. The girls were, respectively, Elena Spinnet, Laura Brewster, and Belladonna Nym. All three of them, Lily had observed, were taller than her, prettier, and definitely much smarter. Laura, who was quite the bookworm, had already been out of the common room twice to go to the library, expertly solving the riddle each time, and Bella and Elena had gone off exploring the castle, coming back in giggles after having encountered some third year boys spying on Peeves and his girlfriend. Compared to them, Lily just knew that she was inferior, and, most of all, felt utterly sure that she just didn't belong.

Lying down in bed and staring at the ceiling, she remembered the words of the Sorting Hat in her ear before it had sorted her:

"I can see your family line very clearly, little girl. Yes, I can also see where your talents lie. Better be—"

"Wait, please!" Lily had insisted in her mind, though remained perfectly calm on the outside, sitting up on a stool before all those people. "I don't want Gryffindor!"

"Ooh, but what made you think that's what I was going to say?" the Sorting Hat asked, sounding slightly amused.

"B-because everyone in my family's in Gryffindor, that's why. It's the obvious choice," Lily replied.

"Wrong again, little girl—there is someone who isn't and has never been. I'll sort you into the same house I sorted them. Better me...RAVENCLAW!"

And the hall had erupted in polite applause, completely different from the uproar Hugo received upon being sorted into Gryffindor...

What had the Sorting Hat meant in saying that there was someone in her family who wasn't in Gryffindor? As far back as Lily could calculate in her family tree, absolutely everyone had been sorted into that house. So then who could possibly be different? Who could possibly be...like her?

- End Note -

Whew, this is the longest chapter to date, and I hope that it can make up for the fact that it's so late! Few comments on behalf of myself to end this chapter, although I am curious to hear from the readers as to what their opinions are. This chapter, I'm sure, has presented everyone with some new perspectives into what direction this story will be going, although the main conflict in itself has yet to be introduced. If there are any predictions, I'd be glad to hear them.

Reviews, follows, and favourites are all appreciated, thank you! Please continue to support this story, and I'll have another chapter up soon.