Chapter 7 - Like Mother, Like Daughter

"Annie!" Lizzie nudged her daughter awake, who rolled over and groaned in protest. Ally was already on two feet, dressed, and folding clothes neatly into her trunk.

"Anna-banana," Lizzie said in a cutesy voice. "Annie!" She hissed impatiently a moment later and her daughter groaned again.

"Go to hell," Annie mumbled into the pillow.

"Not right now, but I've got great seats when I do, COME ON," Lizzie moaned in frustration.

"Go away, mum," Annie moaned back.

"I didn't think anyone could be worse than me in the morning, but apparently it breeds into the next generation," Lizzie complained. "Ally is awake and packed. So is Teddy..." she added.

"Good for them..." Annie mumbled into the pillow.

"Annie, we have to go catch the train," Lizzie said firmly through now gritted teeth.

"We can drive to the school, it is not that far," she retorted.

"Not the point, sunshine, you should experience the train," Lizzie said. "Get dressed please, Ally even packed your trunk," she added.

"Well Ally grew up a frumpy catholic with rules... and Teddy probably needed an hour to pick out what color his hair would be this year," Annie pointed out.

"I grew up a frumpy catholic with rules too," Lizzie interjected.

"Yeah, all while oppositional defiance was beaten into your flesh and bones, not the point," Annie grumbled.

"Well, to think I could have just been beating you the whole time and accomplished the same complete lack of discipline," Lizzie said sarcastically. Ally choked on a laugh from across the room.

"RHIANNON!" Charlie barked from the doorway and they both jumped. Annie sat up abruptly and rubbed her face.

"Is that how he gets you out of bed too?" Annie asked Lizzie indignantly. Lizzie scowled back.

"Baby, get up we need to go, I'll get Jamie," Charlie said more softly and left. Annie conceded and got up to rummage through her drawers.

"Which one?" She asked, putting down shirts on the bed and biting her thumbnail anxiously.

Lizzie looked them over and pulled a knitted top. "This one is cute without looking like you're trying too hard," she said and tossed it at her. "But you've got five minutes or I'm going to get out grandma's Christmas ensemble..." she warned.

Lizzie left and knocked on Teddy's door.

"You good?" She asked. "Packed?"

"In the car, yeah," he said.

"Bless your soul, you're so reliable, I know you didn't get that from me," she said and left to help get Ally's trunk in the car as well.

"You nervous?" Lizzie asked, looking over her goddaughter. Ally nodded and clenched her jaw. Lizzie stroked her head and looked her dead in her face.

"You'd be an idiot if you weren't, but no lone wolves in this family, I promise. Exceptionally tight-knit once we get there. Teddy, Annie, me, Charlie, Remus... it won't feel much different from here overall," she said. "I've already talked to the headmistress and the other professors about the situation with Ivy. I'm still working with the auror department and your sister is NOT by any means forgotten about. But I want you to make an effort not to let it consume you... I'll shoulder that, ok?"

Ally nodded and Lizzie kissed her forehead. Annie met them at the car with her little brother on piggy back while Charlie loaded the last of the trunks.

Lizzie's foot bounced most of the way to London. "Do tell me why we drive all the way to London at the ass crack of dawn, when we could floo powder to Grimmauld Place or The Leaky Cauldron? Just to take a train to a school we live not all that far from?" Teddy asked.

"For the road trip, games, obviously," Annie said sarcastically.

"You want to know the real reason?" Charlie asked and glanced at Lizzie who gave him a skeptical look. "She flies the car to the school, from Kings Cross, JUST to piss off McGonagall."

"Fly the car from the house, she'll never know the difference!" Annie yelled.

"I like the time to think. It's refreshing. Nobody asks me for anything, only time I'm ever by myself for any length of time...all bloody year," Lizzie argued.

"At our expense!" Annie snapped back and Teddy laughed.

"Yes spending time with your family, such an expense," Lizzie retorted and turned to stick her tongue out at the kids from the front seat. She stopped and stared at Charlie's hand on the steering wheel.

"How did you get burned?" Lizzie asked. He clenched his jaw and sighed. "Charlie?"

"Nothing, just got singed in my lab," he said evasively. Lizzie didn't believe him. He glanced in the rear view at Annie exchanging chocolate frog cards with her god brother and made a noticeable effort to avoid eye contact with his wife. Ally looked between them suspiciously but remained silent.

"Jamie, you want to come with us to the station? Or do you want to go to Grandma's? Hugo and some of your other cousins are there," Charlie asked.

"Grandma's!" James confirmed enthusiastically.

"We drop him and run, we don't have time..." Lizzie insisted.

"Time for what?" Charlie laughed.

"Molly..." Lizzie said under her breath as she watched her husband smirk maniacally to himself.

The remaining kids spilled out of the car while Charlie got the trunks when they pulled into Kings Cross station. Lizzie followed them in a hurry and had an impulse to grab the back of Ally's shirt as she ran toward a man who looked astonishingly like his father.

"Dad!" She yelled happily and rushed toward him for a hug. Dudley lifted her off the ground and buried a kiss into the top of her head. Lizzie relaxed her shoulders and smiled at them. It was ominous from her point of view to watch someone so alike to her be so fond of someone so alike to Vernon. It didn't feel like so long ago that she was bolting from this platform away from the man who tried to haul her off to a prison school.

Charlie wrapped an arm around her waist and caught the sudden jolt under her skin when he did so. "Lizzie, can we talk when the kids are off?" Dudley asked. Lizzie nodded while her husband tightened a grip protectively.

Once through the brick barrier, Annie watched her dad load the trunks onto the train and suddenly felt extremely apprehensive. Lizzie wrapped arms around her neck from behind and kissed her head lovingly.

"Don't worry Annie," she whispered. "Nothing to worry about," she said. "You get to get taught by your own parents all year!" She added sarcastically as her mouth turned up in a wicked grin around the words. Annie rolled her eyes and Lizzie laughed. "Love you," she said and squeezed her into one more hug before bidding farewell to Ally and telling Teddy to look out for them.

Charlie stared at his daughter nervously for a moment. "What's with the face?" He asked innocently.

"Dad... I..." he got sad watching her apprehension pool in her eyes and crouched down to look her in the face directly.

"Please don't dwell until there's something to dwell about. No use worrying twice, sweetheart," he said. He kissed her cheek and gave her a tight hug. Teddy gave him a weak salute before helping Annie and Ally onto the train ledge.

To Lizzie's right she watched Draco and his wife bid farewell to their son, Orion. To her left she watched Pansy Parkinson fuss over her daughter Zoey's hair one last time before she boarded as well. She looked around hoping she would miraculously spot Ivy. Lost in plain sight, apparently, according to Ally, but not a like face anywhere in proximity.

Dudley appeared to be doing the same when they crossed back onto Kings Cross. He was noticeably scanning train windows and passersby. Lizzie tapped his arm to break his attention and he startled slightly.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Lizzie, I'm really sorry."

"It's alright... I..." she started to say.

"No, you don't understand. I was trying to scare you, I knew exactly what would. That was cruel and I'm sorry," he said guiltily. "I thought... I thought maybe you had her. I thought maybe this was your way of taking my girls from me. Your school, now Ivy. I know you have no reason to trust me. If I were anything like Dennis or even my father in that regard, I would expect no different. But... it was cruel to scare you. I can't even say I've never used my wife's trauma to get my way, to get her to cave. That's the only reason Ally is even here. Janine didn't even want to have her..." he was rambling with an eruption of guilt. Lizzie had known from the beginning Ally wasn't a wanted baby, she knew Janine didn't want another child. Lizzie had fought with Dudley about this, and it's why she stopped staying with them when she was pregnant with Annie. He was right to be scared she'd take Ivy, she had once... in a panicked uncertainty that her cousin would be just his father, or that Ivy would end up back with hers. The thought that she now might be weighed astonishingly heavy.

"I don't know what to say Dudley, I really don't. I'm glad you're aware, bravo, but what are you trying to accomplish here?" Lizzie asked a little bitterly. She turned to see her husband chatting with Draco and her mind strayed elsewhere.

"I'm trying to find my daughter," Dudley said sharply.

"I'm trying to find your daughter, Dudley. I promise you that. You don't need to manipulate our history to accomplish that," she hissed back. "I've got to go. I need to be at the school. Did you get the call from the solicitor about Dennis?" She asked. He nodded.

"I spoke with someone else who knew them who doesn't believe they're dead..." Lizzie added.

"That's interesting because I didn't think they were dead either," Dudley said.

"Why?" Lizzie asked.

"That summer you left for good... after what they... did... Whalen had plans to write you off the face of the earth and essentially keep you wherever he planned to live, off the mark, Ireland I think. My father explained what Oscar Kellison did when his daughter ran away with that Lupton boy. Said it was easy, there were connections, identity could be reestablished..." he explained.

Lizzie nodded. "Christopher Lupton was who I spoke to..." Dudley nodded slowly in thought and looked around at passersby with desperation in his eyes.

"Are you taking the car?" Charlie asked as he came over to where they were talking.

"Yeah..." Lizzie said.

"Ok, I'm heading back to the house, but I'll see you at the sorting," he said and kissed her temple before leaving. Behind a pillar she heard a loud crack indicating he had apparated. Dudley extended an arm for an awkward hug and Lizzie obliged reluctantly.

"I've always thought you were an asshat," she said quietly.

"And you've always scared the absolute shit out of me," he whispered back. She smirked weakly and nodded in fairness. "We're going to find her, right?" He asked with a heartbreaking crack in his voice.

Lizzie closed her eyes and kept them closed for awhile. "Yeah, we will," she breathed with trepidation and squeezed his hand sympathetically as he walked away. She pulled the car keys from her pocket and started to head to the parking lot. She had a feeling of being followed, but before she turned around, an arm grabbed hers and she appeared in a nearby alley. The grip on her arm spun her around abruptly and she stared back at Draco looking furious.

"Your husband is no longer willing to help us? Was that your influence? What has Astoria, much less Orion, done to you?" He asked indignantly. Lizzie didn't have words.

"What?" Was all she could muster. He grabbed her jaw in a hard grip and she pulled her wand to jab into his ribs in warning.

"He has no orders from me..." Lizzie growled reproachfully. "I'm not that kind of wife..."

"Really? I find that astonishingly hard to believe, Azalea," he snapped back.

"Well maybe it finally dawned on him what you'd done to his wife," she retorted harshly. He rolled his eyes and laughed indignantly.

"If my wife dies, you'll pay for that, and he'll watch. I bloody promise you that," he hissed.

"Please tell me you've had him under duress this whole time, Draco. It'll make it so much easier to fathom why my husband would ever help someone who did what you did to his wife," she said scathingly. He raised a hand impulsively to strike her but clenched it hard instead.

"You participated. Every single time you willfully participated. You were easy. But I'm sure you told yourself whatever you needed to tell yourself to feel less guilty...Your husband was willing to help me and my wife. I told him about you because I thought he knew, and... to be honest, it didn't seem to particularly bother him," Draco jabbed. The words felt like a dagger in her chest.

"I don't believe you," she whispered.

"You don't have to," he hissed back.

There was a loud crack and he'd gone. Her temples ached with the pressure of the exchange and she leaned her hands into her knees to center herself.

Annie and Ally made their way down the train corridor looking for an empty compartment without any luck. At Teddy's she stopped, hunched her shoulders in concession, and opened the sliding door. Teddy looked up at her and smirked slightly.

"Hi Anna Banana, can I help you?" He asked, eyes sparkling at twinge of humiliation in her face.

"Can we?" She asked desperately. He nodded and the boy sitting next to her godbrother looked up with vibrant green eyes slightly masked by blonde hair.

"Shit, it's your sister," he said suddenly. Smiling at her.

"God sister," Annie corrected. Teddy threw a jelly bean at her face in contempt.

"Hi, I'm Ian," the boy said. "You're Azalea Potter's daughter."

"Yes, I'm aware of who my mum is. I'm Rhiannon," Annie said shortly and Teddy snorted on a laugh. "This is Allyssa, Ally for short, my cousin and God sister," she introduced. He waved politely at Ally.

"Charlie is your dad, right Rhiannon?" He asked. She nodded.

"You can call her Annie," Teddy said.

"Gryffindor then, no doubt, right?" Ian asked. Teddy nodded fervently.

"No question about it, Lizzie basically reincarnated herself, they're so similar it's almost toxic," Teddy said.

"Oh shut up, we are not," Annie laughed.

"Lizzie and I have the same birthday," Ally added innocently.

Annie squirmed a little in her seat and seemed to tense at the comment knowing who she shared a birthday with. "I wonder how many people are going to think you're Annie, honestly, you look a lot like Lizzie even," Teddy said. Annie fixed her eyes at something outside of the window.

"How Lizzie's kids got black hair was surprising honestly with Weasley blood," Teddy added.

"Ok, well I'm betting Ally is in Hufflepuff with you both," Ally said to change the subject. Teddy seemed to consider it but didn't look convinced.

"No, I think you two will be soul sisters in Gryffindor, willing to bet big money on that," Teddy said.

Charlie apparated back to the house, checked to see if Remus had already left up to the school, and pushed open his shed doors in a hurry once he confirmed he was alone. On the work bench, he pulled out a syringe that he lodged between his teeth, dropped a phyle into his pocket and pulled on a pair of dragon-hide gloves.

Under a stack of burlap tarps was a trapdoor he unlocked and descended down quietly. There was a loud shriek from above as he entered the enchanted domain designed for dragon inhabitants. Up until recently, an old dragon by the name of Norbert, lived down here outside of anyone's knowledge but his own. Having reached an old age, Charlie felt compelled to give up his source of dragons blood and set him free in Romania where the other colony dragons retired. The habitat didn't remain empty for long, however, because he was met just a few nights prior by his former colleague, Seth, who brought a case with a very young Hungarian Horntail.

Charlie had long had an affinity with the species, starting when he was eighteen and eager to study them up close. Now he was forty-three, had retired from the colony years prior, but struggled with this breed in particular. Aggressive and young was the point of his next experiment, but he sought not to get completely torched in the process. Currently, he needed to act quickly, there wasn't a ton of time to spend in the lab, but he wanted the samples to brew until the evening.

The horntail landed and Charlie focused intently on the way the talons dug into the ground to gauge her aggression. With a quick flick of his wand, he'd rendered her temporarily blind. She roared in protest of the sudden darkness and he danced around her tantrum to straddle the tail, immobilized her with an exceptionally strong charm to keep her from thrashing blindly, and held her just long enough to extract a sample of blood and retreat back into his shed.

He fumbled through the parchment stack on his workbench, there was one stack which had AAM initialed in every corner, for Astoria Ava Malfoy, and another with RRP in every corner for Rhiannon Ruby Potter. Up on the shelf was a dusty stack with ALP labels, Lizzie's, both from when he brewed the dragons blood potion to cure the ophidians prior to the Battle of Hogwarts, and the potion he gave her when she was pregnant with James. In the event she had another daughter, that might have spared her Annie's malady, but he would never know because they had a son. If it had been successful, Charlie wondered how much better off his daughter would have been if Lizzie had not run away after the war and he'd been able to at least attempt to prevent the affliction he still struggled to understand. Charlie read through his notes of the most recent brew he'd done for the Malfoys, and compared it to the recipe he'd made for the chocolates he gave to his daughter.

Astoria achieved a six-month remission from her blood condition with the last brew. Annie, however, had become astonishingly sick. Charlie unilaterally decided to become more aggressive with his approach. He'd never confided in Lizzie about any of his research. Not in detail and not the purpose. He wanted his daughter cured without Lizzie uncovering there was anything wrong to begin with. There were too many nights to count over the years in which he held his daughter safe in his arms while she lived through relentless images of being tortured by someone she described as a young, dark haired man, with no eyes.

The brew he put together would need to cook for a number of hours. Like Lizzie and her reasoning for taking the car to the school, Charlie needed time to think as well. He grabbed his school bag and a jacket before taking Sirius's motorbike up to the school. Lizzie hadn't arrived yet when he entered the Great Hall and took a seat next to Remus who had lesson plans sprawled out in front of him at the staff table. It was at least an hour before the students filed in so Charlie sat drumming his fingers anxiously.

"Kids alright?" Remus asked without looking up from his notes.

"Yeah, they're on the train..." Charlie said.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked catching a glimpse of Charlie's demeanor and the burn Lizzie had noticed that morning. Charlie nodded, but Remus appeared skeptical until Hagrid sat down to his other side and launched into an animated conversation about the creatures he had lined up for lessons.

Lizzie couldn't shake intrusive thoughts about Ivy and the kind of person she was doomed to be in the hands of if their suspicions about the presumed deaths of Dennis and his friends were correct. She landed the car in a deserted field on the countryside and parked it before fumbling through her bag and pulling out the snitch still harboring the stone. Her hands started to shake violently along with her insides while she decided if what she was about to do was worth it. Her eyes stayed shut tight and she pressed her forehead into the steering wheel as she turned the stone thrice in hand. It was quiet for a moment despite feeling a presence in the car with her, but she wouldn't open her eyes.

"You're not going to look at me?" He asked, slightly amused but with a scathing undertone. The voice turned her skin to ice. She refused to look at him.

"Are you enjoying hell? I hope I'm not interrupting you getting drawn and quartered by horses with red eyes and demon horns," Lizzie said quietly. He laughed.

"No sweetheart, hell is not what you think it is. You're still scared to death of me," Vernon said.

"And you sound satisfied by that," she said with a shake in her voice.

"You killed me, Azalea," he said sharply.

"I'd do it again every day for the rest of my bloody life too, highlight of my fucking life," Lizzie grumbled with unveiled contempt.

"You've had children and the highlight of your life was cold-blooded murder?" He asked, almost impressed in tone. "You were always a psychopath. Giving life should have made you appreciate it more."

"How likely would you say it is that your friends in the church aren't dead if their records show they are?" She asked.

"That would depend," he said, confused.

"One of your granddaughters is missing," Lizzie added. "We think it was someone in..."

"I have one granddaughter, Azalea," he hissed.

"And thank God you can't fucking touch her," Lizzie growled and finally looked up at the hooded eyes that haunted her childhood. He glared back at her reproachfully.

"Do you want an apology? Is that why I'm here? Closure?" He hissed.

"I'm trying to find Dudley's daughter," she whispered. "I don't want your apology."

"I have none to give, you ungrateful little cunt," he spat back.

"It drove your wife to..." Lizzie jabbed. He shook his head in wide motions.

"I warned her about caring about you. I told her she'd be sorry if she did," he growled reprovingly.

"Are they alive?" Lizzie asked sharply.

"Probably," he admitted.

"Where?" Lizzie asked.

"To hell if I know where, most of those men have or had property in other areas of the UK, or the islands."

"Would Dennis Landry have gone after his daughter?" Lizzie asked.

"Dennis would have done anything to get his wife back. He wouldn't even want her anymore at this point, but when he found out that girl had secretly gone on birth control he promised to make her have kids until she died in a delivery room. I would imagine he would keep that promise or marry off his daughter so she could suffer in her mother's place. He wasn't someone to cross," Vernon explained.

"None of you were," Lizzie said quietly.

"No, you'll find that you can force people to do whatever you want, but you can't force them to want to. The more force you impose, the less they want to," he explained cryptically.

"Then why use force at all?" Lizzie asked.

"Because we want to," he replied with cold apathy. "When you win, it's more satisfying if there was a fight."

"You're cruel," Lizzie croaked.

"So are you, Azalea," he responded coldly. "Take what you did to Nadine Kellison, my actions were cruel but served a purpose, yours were evil from pure spite."

"Your actions?" Lizzie asked, confused by the sentiment.

"You don't remember. You were seen with her by one of the nuns at the school and refused to give myself or her father any information. I let him belt you bloody. Then I burned your wrist. You didn't budge. Knowing now that her dad buried an empty casket, but you and that Lupton boy - " he made a clicking noise with his tongue.

"Christopher wasn't involved, there was no way for him to have been involved with that," Lizzie replied, confused as she rubbed the familiar scar on her wrist.

"If that's the case, you're definitely more cruel than I am," he said.

"We were both possessed by the same thing, but you were actually a monster already," Lizzie looked up with boiling hatred but he was gone.

She started the ignition and the car gained altitude again, after about an hour of talking to herself in circles, Hogwarts could be seen in the distance. When she approached the main bridge there was a loud crack and Lizzie nearly lost control of the vehicle before steadying it in the air.

"Land it," Minerva ordered from the passenger seat. Lizzie smirked to herself. "Lizzie, land it," she said again in her sternest demeanor.

"I do this just for you, professor," Lizzie said.

"Do you want to run through all of your lesson plans with me this evening?" McGonagall asked, knowing damn well Lizzie had none.

"No ma'am," Lizzie said, but still couldn't veil a smirk.

"How are you holding up?" McGonagall asked as Lizzie pulled into the lot near Hagrid's Hut. She sighed and turned off the ignition before rubbing her temples.

"I'm distracted," she admitted.

"Do I need to take the NEWT students off your hands this year?" Minerva asked, her voice now of genuine concern.

"No, I like the NEWTs, but I hate the third years, can you teach third year? That particular age makes me cringe," Lizzie admitted. McGonagall's eyes laughed for her.

"I'll cover if you need me to, any of the years, whatever time you need off just keep me apprised," she said evenly.

"Thank you," Lizzie said.

"I'll meet you inside, I'm sure you're excited to see your daughter and goddaughter sorted..." Lizzie nodded.

The Hogwarts Express pulled up to Hogsmead station and came to a halt as Teddy and Ian left so Annie and Ally could quickly pull on robes and uniforms.

"It'll be a different color once you're sorted," Annie explained. "Really hoping we end up in the same house, I'm nervous about being... well... Lizzie Potter's daughter. Her name has always had so much stigma..."

"Yeah... I can see that being a big expectation to bear. Feeling a little grateful nobody knows anything about me," Ally responded as she did Annie's tie.

"I used to like to do my dad's tie..." she said as she smiled at the perfect knot she'd created.

"He's good to you, right? Ivy wouldn't have run away because..." Annie asked cautiously.

"No. My dad was sort of, still is sort of haunted by what happened to Lizzie. Sometime I think he's sort of haunted by Lizzie. It's a thick air in our house, he constantly corrects himself and tries to be the opposite of how he was raised. Says he owes your mum his life. There's so much guilt it just feels smothering... I don't know how to describe it but he'd never hurt us. He can get hot headed, he's still super conservative and traditional, but not like... the others. He really loves Ivy. I think he saw her as a way to redeem himself for failing Lizzie. I mean he took her in at the same age Lizzie was when her uncle took her in. Saved her from a father just like his. I think it was all very deliberate. Retribution."

"My mum can be scary. I understand what you mean..." Annie said quietly.

They left the compartment and exited the train onto the platform where Hagrid was waiving down the first years.

"Oh look," they heard and turned to see Zoey Zabini staring at them with an agenda in her eyes.

"Rhiannon and... Allison?" She asked.

"Alyssa," Annie corrected sharply.

"Well, excuse me for not recalling, muggles aren't too memorable," Zoey said with a snide scoff.

"She's not..." Annie started to say but Zoey cut her off.

"This is Aster Nott and Rebecca Bulstrode," she said.

"I didn't ask for an introduction," Annie retorted condescendingly. Zoey smirked and waved her off as they filed into the boats. Ally couldn't take her eyes off the castle. Annie felt a sense of sudden dread wash over her as her eyes flicked over the reflections on the black lake. She'd seen and been to the castle, but it felt different.

Upon entering the courtyard once they had offboarded the boats and climbed an endless flight of stairs, Annie stood at the entrance arch of the courtyard and lagged behind. She stared straight up imagining what it looked like to see her mother hang. The stories played in her head, the battle of Hogwarts was a story she knew well. In one sense she was there.

Ally turned around and stared at Annie curiously. "Are you alright?" She shouted over. Annie took a moment to come back into herself and nodded before catching up to the line of new students entering the Great Hall. The Headmistress's opening remarks felt distant in her mind. Something felt like it was eating her insides and she swallowed back the feeling to push it lower within herself.

They took the long walk down the hall and stopped at the stool. Annie caught eyes with her mother and smiled weakly. There was a sudden pang of tension and she could see apprehension build in her mother's eyes.

Lizzie couldn't describe the feeling at all and reached for her husband's hand. He squeezed hers reassuringly.

"Do you want to do the honors?" McGonagall asked Lizzie. She reluctantly nodded. Remus had done the year prior because his son was being sorted. When Lizzie stood, the first-years perked up with interest. She took the parchment and the tattered hat in hand cautiously.

"Lionel Justin Towler," she said. Kenneth Towler's son approached timidly. She set

the hat on his head and it took less than thirty seconds to yell "Gryffindor!"

"Aster Vanessa Nott," she said next.

"Slytherin!"

"Paxton Elliott Finnerty."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Chloe Allison Alton."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Patricia May Belby."

"Slytherin!"

"Allyssa Petunia Dursley," Lizzie said and held her breath while she the hat down on

her god daughter's head. It stalled very noticeably.

"I have no question where I would like to put you. But I'm curious where you would like to go?" It asked. "You are familiar to a degree I cannot quite place."

Allyssa didn't have her heart set on a house, but thought either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor out of practicality. Gryffindor to be with Annie. Hufflepuff, Teddy. She didn't want to be alone.

The hat went quiet and then said evenly, a contrast to its usual yell into the hall, "Gryffindor."

Lizzie smiled wide and squeezed her shoulder as the hall cheered.

"Zoey Ellis Zabini."

"Slytherin!"

"Jacob Fin Cattermole."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Kirk Russel Dagworth."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Rebecca Ophelia Bulstrode."

"Slytherin!"

"Emma Kate Goshawk."

"Gryffindor!"

"Orion Scorpious Malfoy."

The hat stalled again and Lizzie found it curious. Orion had an anxious expression and dug nails into his knee. Lizzie cast a glance at Charlie who was anticipating the decision as well. Like Ally, the hat didn't speak with loud authority, but unlike Ally, it also didn't speak with full resolve.

"Slytherin." There was an obvious sigh of relief and he retreated to the Slytherin table.

She continued to run through names. Perhaps McGonagall put Rhiannon last on purpose. She paused before she got to the name and smiled fondly as her eyes welled with maternal pride.

"Rhiannon Ruby Potter." Annie approached nervously and the hall was silent. Charlie

sat up with anticipation. There was a collective breath being held and Lizzie hesitated to drop the hat on her daughters head for a moment. Annie glanced up at her before hat came down.

Before it even touched her head, it yelled "Slytherin!"