Broken Ever Afters

Chapter 4

The Sorting Hat finished its song and Lily looked at her fellow 1^st years. Ali looked happy, but nervous. Maria was grinning. Lucas looked confused. Rion looked ill. Lily knew he was worried about what was to come. Deputy Headmaster Remus Lupin, also known to the Potter and Weasley children as Uncle Moony, unrolled the list of names and began.

"Andrews, Helena." A small, mousy girl scampered forward and sat. After a moment, the hat decided.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hufflepuff table erupted into cheers.

Next was, "Boot, Terrance Jr." who became a Ravenclaw. After this Lily's mind began to wander. She glanced over to the Gryffindor table, thick with vividly red hair. Remus waved and Thomas Granger-Weasley winked at her. She was jolted back to the sorting when she heard, "Jordan, Maria." The black girl swaggered up to the stool, invoking terror in the hearts of teachers who remembered her father.

The hat waited a long time before shouting, "GRYFFINDOR!"

A few more and then, "Longbottom, Alice." Alice practically skipped up to the stool.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat exclaimed. The Gryffindors cheered.

"Norman, Lucas" was a couple of names later. It took the hat a long time to decide, but it finally called out its decision.

"SLYTHERIN!" Lily's eyes widened. That was unexpected.

Then, too soon for Lily's taste, Uncle Moony read, "Potter, Lily." A hush fell over the room. She walked slowly forward, sat and placed the hat on her long red hair.

"Well, well, well. Another Potter. It's been a few years since I had a Potter. Though it seems like just yesterday I was sorting your father. Good man, Harry Potter was. He knew where he didn't want to be. Do you?" The hat said in its voice only she could hear.

She kept her mind as blank as possible. She was not in the mood to have a conversation with a hat. It chuckled inside her head.

"I like you, Lily Potter. I think I'll put you were I know you want to be. With your family in GRYFFINDOR!" She sighed. Hats. Thought they knew everything. She walked over to the Gryffindor table. True, this was where she wanted to be, but still. That hat needed something to shake it up a little. It was getting cocky. She sat between Ali and Remus. Across from her and down a ways, Sirius and Cass were cuddling. James was slumped even farther down.

When she finally looked back at the sorting ceremony, her cousin, Eleanor Granger-Weasley was walking toward the stool. The hat had barely touched her short red hair when it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"West, Victor" became a Ravenclaw and then it was Rion's turn. He walked forward slowly, head down and sat on the stool. The hat obscured his eyes completely but Lily could see his enormous smile when the hat finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

~

"James. James! James, are you in there?" Molly Granger-Weasley whacked her older cousin on the shoulder, "Fab, Thomas, Sirius, can you help here?" Thomas was busy leading rambunctious 1^st years to the tower, but between them, Fabian and Sirius hauled James up off the bench.

"He's drunk again." Sirius sighed. He looked over his shoulder, "Hey, Cass, I'll meet you upstairs." She smiled at him and left the hall.

"Sirius Evan Potter, what do you mean, 'he's drunk again'?" Molly put her hands on her hips in a scarily accurate imitation of her grandmother and namesake.

"He's been drinking since Dad...since summer. I thought you knew." Sirius and Fabian lifted James and started toward the entrance hall.

"No, I did not know. Does Aunt Ginny know?" Molly followed her brother and cousins.

"Yes, Molly. But she doesn't know he's drinking here. She made him promise not to." Sirius's voice was monotone and tired. Molly heard and let up. She shivered. She could not imagine losing a parent.

~

Remus flopped on his four-poster bed and sighed. This was nothing like last year. His year mates were avoiding him. Probably worried saying the wrong thing. But at this point, the wrong thing would be better than nothing.

~

"Potter! Damn it, wake up, will you?" James tried to lift his head and failed. The bright light burned his eyes and whoever was yelling was giving him a headache. A face swam above him and rough hands yanked him up by the shoulders. "You have class in an hour and by then, you better be sober."

James finally recognized the deep Irish brogue, "Finnegan?"

The sandy haired boy snorted, "So you are conscious. That's something." He hauled James off the bed and toward the bathroom.

~

Remus sat at a table in the back corner of the library with a pile of books. They were titled, Harry James Potter - A Biography; The Boy Who Loved - The Personal Life of Harry James Potter; Heroes of the Second War; The Hero and his Lady - The Story of Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley; and The Boy Who Lived - The School Years.

"Remus? What're you doing?" Grace dropped into the chair next to his and looked through the stack of books. "If you want to hear about Uncle Harry, why don't you owl Mum and Dad? They could tell you."

"I want to know what other people thought of him. Not just his friends and family." Remus shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."

"Probably not. Do you want help?" Grace asked, looked at the cover of Heroes of the Second War.

"Sure. Just find things that might be interesting to read." Remus sighed. Grace was one of his favorite cousins, but she had no idea what it was like. To have lost...never mind.

~

Sirius slid a hand under Cass's shirt and rested the other on the back of her neck. She parted her lips and twined her fingers in his black hair. He relaxed and they became oblivious to the world around them.

~

James lay in bed staring at the hangings of his bed. Those weird feelings this morning, it must have been because of the Firewhiskey. Not because Finnegan was touching him. It couldn't have been that.

~

Lily cried herself to sleep and dreamt of Rion Zabini and Uncle Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts and hidden passageways and the expression of pure hate on Mr. Malfoy's face at the train station.

~

Remus stayed up late reading. Resisting nightmares. He was halfway through The Boy Who Loved when sleep stole him. The book slid off the bed, where it lay open on the floor. The book was open to the last chapter. The heading read, Happily Ever After.