Harry Potter : the next generation

chapter 5

Albus Potter felt mildly guilty for the rest of the night. He was overwhelmingly happy to have been Sorted into Gryffindor, but most of his family's conversation wasn't about him; instead, they were all talking about Rose.

            "I can't believe it!" James exclaimed for what seemed to Al like the fortieth time; he had started as soon as the feast had begun, and they were now on dessert. "It put Rose in Ravenclaw? With those bores? And with a Malfoy in her House? It's almost as bad as being in Slytherin."

            "The Sorting Hat's never wrong, James," Artemisia Lupin reminded him from the end of the table. "It'll have had its own reasons for what it did."

            "It can look inside peoples' heads, you know," Artemisia's brother John chimed in, his mouth half-full of strawberry shortcake. "Probably knows more about Rose than you do. If it says she'll be happier in Ravenclaw, she will be." John was the Lupins' third-oldest child, a fourth-year who tended to be quieter and more serious than most of his siblings.

            "Don't sound like such a know-it-all, John," Rommy said sourly. "Rose should've been in Gryffindor."

            One of Al's fellow Gryffindors leaned over. "What was all the fuss about?" he whispered. Al wished he had paid more attention during the Sorting: aside from Amy Adams, the very first student to be Sorted, he didn't know the names of any of the other first-years in his House. "I don't understand."

            "It's my cousin Rose," Al said. "She got put in Ravenclaw."

            "Rose? That last girl who was Sorted? The one everyone was yelling about?"

            "Of course," another boy snorted. "Did you see our table making a racket over anyone else?"

            "But why?"

            "She was supposed to come here," Al said. "I mean, everyone thought she'd be here. Our whole family's been in Gryffindor, and Rose—" He glanced over at her, sitting and chatting with the rest of the Ravenclaw table, not looking upset or unhappy in the least. "—she's braver than I am."

            "Well, she must have been smarter than she is brave," the boy who had snorted said. He had a thin, gaunt face that looked unpleasant; Al decided he didn't like him very much. "We'll see when we have class with the Ravenclaws, I guess."

            "Is most of this House related to you?" a girl asked. There were more first-year Gryffindor girls than boys by nearly a two-to-one margin: Al had counted eight girls and four other boys.

            "It's about one out of ten," Rommy butted in, reaching across one of the first-year girls to grab a slice of chocolate cake, "if you include my family, and as soon as Teddy gets around to proposing to Victoire, we'll be related to the Weasleys, too."

            "What're you so upset about, anyway?" one of the second-year girls asked James.             "Fabian said she hexed you on the train."

            "Fabe!" James glowered at his friend.

            "Well, she did, mate," Gideon pointed out, more loyal to Fabian than James; Fabian and Gideon, Al reflected, were almost as close as brothers.

            "It's just – it's –"

            "Spit it out already," Rommy said.

            "Family pride," James finished. "Rose belongs in Gryffindor. And if the Sorting Hat won't put her here, what about Lily? Or Trina and Thecla," he asked, referring to Rommy's twin sisters, a year younger than Rose, "or Hugo? Rose is braver than any of them. If it put her there—"