Black coffee, with sugar

Chapter 26

Daphne was starting to tire of the same song and dance of the station 9 ¾, and wondered if it'd be bad parenting to skip it, give Lilian a portkey to the station or to her house and call it a day. Sure, it was probably exciting for parents who were taking their kids to Hogwarts for the first time, and it was probably sad when it was the last time, but the six years in between was basically a repeating montage of fog, whispers and animal screams.

"Are you ready to go, Scorp?", asked Lilian passing a hand through her hair, now long without the need for extensions. It had taken a few years of research, but Lilian and Millicent had finally figured out a cure for whatever the potion that stopped her hair growth had been. On the upside, Lilian was probably one of the youngest people with a potion registered with their name, at just fourteen years old. Well, her name and Millicent's, but no one needed to know.

Astoria, who seemed to be in a mood too good to be anything less than a red flag, simply giggled as Scorpius nodded excitedly.

"Yes, I can't wait! Lilian, can't you really tell me how one gets sorted?", he pleaded, and Lilian grinned. Oh, Merlin save her, Lilian was up to no good. She knew just by the curve of her smile.

"Well, I can't, but...", she paused, dramatic, and Daphne could see something brewing in her daughter's head. Draco seemed to be having issues controlling his upper lip, though, and Astoria kept her impish smile. "But there's a fight with a troll. How you react decides which house you'll go."

"You've spoken too much, Lilian,", hummed Astoria, sharing a knowingly glance with Draco as Daphne wondered if perhaps she should interfere, but she had done something vaguely similar with Astoria, under Blaise's suggestion. It had been a terrible idea, of course, because Astoria had then spent most of the train ride trading spells with Blaise until Pansy broke down and said the truth after one spell too many grazed her. Astoria then had proceeded to glare at Daphne for three entire hours, which, while commendable, also had made her want to get some sort of iron item to touch her sister and see if it burned her.

"Aw, sorry, aunt Astoria, I just got so excited I forgot I wasn't supposed to tell,", pouted Lilian, but Daphne knew it wasn't real. Scorpius seemed paler than usual, but she simply sighed. Let them have their fun; the boy would be relieved, later, when the Hat would be shown, but for now Daphne would let them pick on him.

However, she couldn't let it pass in blank.

"Don't listen to them, Scorpius,", Daphne started, and the boy's grey eyes stared back into hers. "It's easier than they make it sound. You can take on a troll, as long as you trust yourself."

Daphne was trying her best to make herself sound sure of what she was saying, like she had been able to take a troll at eleven years old and freshly getting in Hogwarts, while Lilian grinned like Daphne had given her a bag of galleons and free reign on the Portree market.

Maybe she could have a bit of fun. It couldn't hurt too much, could it? Astoria and Draco stopped near a pillar, in a corner that seemed more vacant than the rest of the train station, and Daphne wondered why.

"Lily!", called Molly, making her daughter turn and forget about Scorpius momentarily, waving to the redhead girl. Luckily for Daphne, Molly's father seemed to be engrossed with discussing with someone. Daphne made the decision to not approach and pretend she didn't see him, for the sake of herself.

"Molly!", called back Lilian, waving to Molly, who approached. Lilian looked to Scorpius - he was always wary of strangers, an eternal shy child, even around friends he had known basically since he had been born -, nodding to him as Molly approached. "This is my cousin Scorpius, he's a first year! Scorp, this is Molly!"