Not a Gryffindor - a Harry Potter fan fiction

Prologue

Just saying, I own NOTHING!!! Everything belongs to JK Rowling - except for the characters I made up, of course. Enjoy!

Zara Storm Potter had never been particularly brave. She was one of those children that seemingly feared everything; the dark, cracks in the pavement, the space under her bed, strange noises, etcetera. She was jumpy, paranoid and easy to scare.

Despite this, Zara was a sharp, determined and fiesty girl. She wasn't an imbecile and so she noticed how easily she was frightened.

However,  Zara's biggest fear was not the dark, or spiders or anything that a normal child would be terrified of. More than anything, Zara worried about being sorted into any house but Gryffindor. Coming from a long line of the latter and being the granddaughter of Harry Potter - the Boy Who Lived, the one who saved humankind, this was understandable, especially as Zara believed that she must have been the most cowardly person in world.

Zara's father,  Albus Severus Potter, having had the exact same fear when he was younger, completely understood, however he struggled to comprehend the issue.. He had always looked up to his father - once he'd forgiven him for naming him what he did, and felt it would shame the family. The very idea of this terrified him, yet he was never one of those people who could share their feelings, and so no one knew except him.

Albus tried to conquer Zara's fears;  he  'accidentally' broke her nightlight, took her to see A Bug's Life, bought a pet spider, but to no avail.

After a while, Albus had began to feel fairly ashamed of the fact that he'd tried so hard to change his daughter, and so, with great difficulty, he relayed his fears to his wife, Nikki.

She didn't even look up from the pot she was stirring as she prepared dinner. "Oh honey, it'll be fine," was her casual reply.
"Even if she isn't a Gryffindor, we'll still love her the same. And anyway, sometimes breaking tradition can be a good thing."

Albus sighed. "But what if... What if she's in Slytherin?"

"Albus, you can't say that-"

"It's a possibility!"

"It won't happen."

"But what if it does?"

"It won't!"

"But what if-"

"ALBUS, FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!"

Zara, who had been quietly playing in her room, jumped. Why were her parents yelling? She stood up and ran to the kitchen, in hope of stopping them from arguing.

When Zara reached the door though, she stopped in curiosity. Now they were whispering... Having been well trained by her brother, Remus, she pressed her ear up against the door and listened hard.

"Look honey, I know it's incredibly unlikely, but what if it does happen?"

Zara was intrigued. What could her dad be talking about?

"Look, even if Zara is in Slytherin," replied Nikki, "We'll still love her and treat her the same."

Zara gasped, as Albus sighed.

"Okay, okay. I just really don't want to disappoint my dad, and well, I hate to say it, but the girl's scared of anything that moves."

"Albus! That was uncalled for!" Cried Nikki angrily. But there was certain mirth in her voice as she added: "But anyway,  your father won't even notice. He's half deaf and going crazy." Gentle laughter emitted from the kitchen, but Zara wasn't there to hear it. She had ran to her room in upset. She had always worried about not being a Gryffindor, but it had never occurred to her that her father might share her fear.

A single tear ran down Zara's cheek.  She had always looked up to her father. However, she felt she'd failed him, for despite what she told herself and others, Zara knew that she'd never make it into Gryffindor, no matter how much she begged the sorting hat.