7 Years Later
7 years later
Alyssa sighed as she looked up the steps. Where is that boy? "Draco, you're going to be late if you don't get down here now." She shook her head, looking at the trunk that stood by the door, with an owl sleeping in its cage on top. Everything has been packed since last night, his trunk was brought down by Remus an hour ago; what's keeping him?
She turned to the couch, where their seven year old daughter was sitting, smirking over the top of the book she was reading. "Raven, when your father and uncles come over with Harry, tell them I'm extracting a dragon from its lair."
The girl laughed, tossing her ebony hair over her shoulder to reveal her stunning blue eyes, dancing with mirth. "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus," she quoted, smirking slightly.
Alyssa gave her an answering smirk before turning for the steps once more. "He had better not be sleeping; otherwise he will be in for a rude awakening." Raven's laughter followed her up the stairs.
Stopping outside the door to her son's room, Alyssa knocked, wondering why he hadn't come downstairs yet. Yesterday, he had been brimming with enthusiasm to go to Hogwarts. He had needed a potion to sleep, as his excitement was keeping him up. Today, he hadn't spoken much and had locked himself in his room directly after breakfast. In the chaos of ensuring that both he and Harry were packed (and checking that any of their possessions which the other had borrowed were returned) she hadn't given much thought to his silence.
A quiet, "Come in," interrupted her musings. Opening the door, she found Draco sitting on his bed, one finger lazily tracing the dragons that were embroidered on his green comforter. He looked up as she entered.
"Hi Mama," he said quietly, fixing sad grey eyes on her momentarily before staring at the bedspread once more.
Alyssa nodded to her son, saying nothing as she crossed the room to sit beside him on the bed. She gently carded her fingers through his hair, waiting for him to tell her what was wrong.
"I'm leaving today," he said after a few moments, scooting closer to Alyssa but still looking elsewhere.
"So I'd recalled," she replied cautiously, "It was all you could speak of yesterday. I think it was a toss-up whether you or Harry were the more excited."
He nodded, still looking anywhere but at her. She sighed slightly. "I can't help you if you don't tell me why you're upset Dragon. What's wrong? You were so excited yesterday…"
He looked up suddenly, and she saw tears in his eyes as he said, "That's before I knew what would happen!"
Alyssa was confused. "What would happen? I don't understand Draco. Your father and I told you everything you wanted to know about Hogwarts, as did your uncles."
"You'll forget about me," he said despondently, looking at her as though he was waiting for her to confirm it. "I'll be gone and you'll forget about me 'cause you've got Raven and then I'll have to go back to Malfoy Manor and live with the house elves."
Alyssa looked at her son, shock and confusion warring on her face. Where did that come from?
Years ago, days after Raven was born in fact, Draco had thrown a Grade-A tantrum, protesting that they wouldn't love him anymore because they had their own child, why would they need an adopted one? They had sat him down, explaining that he was theirs as much as Raven was, that blood didn't matter. That had appeared to settle his fears, and apart from the occasional outburst, which lessened over time, he seemed to accept that he was their son. Apparently, separation anxiety was combining with his old fears.
"Draco," Alyssa said, drawing him into her lap and letting him hide his face in her shoulder, "We won't forget about you when you go to Hogwarts. You are our son, no matter what." When Draco still didn't move, Alyssa tried to think of how else to convince him, but Raven took that out of her hands.
"They won't forget you Draco," she said, pausing on her way to her room. She had noticed Draco's mood and hadn't commented, but now he needed reassurance. "That's why you have Frosty, remember? Mama and Papa bought him for you so you could send letters home, because the school owls wouldn't make the journey."
Alyssa sent her an appreciative smile. Raven was mature far beyond her seven years. Most times she acted as though she was twice that, surprising them constantly with the ageless quality she seemed to possess. Young girl with old woman eyes, Alyssa thought, recalling the line from a poem read long ago. Quite an accurate description of my middle-aged seven year old daughter.
"You see Draco," Alyssa said, shaking her head to clear it, "You belong with us. We are your family and we love you. We didn't fight Lucius and Narcissa and the entire British Ministry to get you just to toss you aside on a whim. You are part of our family Dragon…like it or not," she said, lips quirking into a smirk as she looked out Draco's window, watching Padfoot show off for Harry and nearly drop the luggage on his foot. Draco looked up and saw the amusement, looking in the same direction as his mother, trying to see what was so funny. He saw Sirius, and laughed as the man did drop the trunk on his foot, imagining the creative words he was using as he was hopping about on one foot. Harry was doubled over laughing, and Severus just shook his head, shrinking the trunk and pocketing it.
Draco smiled, hugging his mother tightly. He should have known his fears were foolish, yet part of him craved the reassurance that Alyssa had just provided. Even after seven years, he could hardly believe everything that had happened since he went to hide from his father in the dungeon.
"Now, do you think you are ready to come downstairs? Your father will be back in a moment, and then it will be time to leave."
Draco nodded, hugging his mother tightly once more before sliding off her lap, waiting until she stood before following her out of his room, holding tightly to her hand. "Does it matter where I'm Sorted?" That question had been eating at him too. Alyssa and Severus were Slytherins, while Remus and Sirius were Gryffindors. Would one be made if the other's House was chosen? What if he was Sorted into Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw?
Alyssa seemed to sense where his thoughts were headed. "In my experience Dragon, most Hufflepuff's are patient, and you cannot deny that patience isn't your virtue." He grinned at the smirk on her face, likely recalling various times he had gotten into trouble for being too impatient. "I have no doubt that you have the brains to be in Ravenclaw, although I am unsure if you would end up there, as you are not as obsessed with learning as the few Ravenclaws I knew were." She paused, regarding her son once more before continuing. "I feel that you will either end up in Slytherin, because you are cunning, or Gryffindor, because you are recklessly brave." She grimaced at that last, remembering when he and Harry had convinced Nyx and Fawkes to bring them on their rescue attempt. That took Slytherin cunning and Gryffindor bravery.
"It doesn't matter what House you are in Draco," Remus said, meeting them in the living room. "You will be put in the House that is the best for you, and we'll love you no matter what." Draco went over and hugged him, loving the feeling of peace that Remus always radiated.
"You have the Portkey?" Alyssa asked, noting the multicolored scarf that lay across the lid of Draco's trunk.
"Ready to go. As soon as Harry, Sev, and Padfoot come over we'll be off," Remus said, one arm still around Draco.
"Good. Neither boy does very well with Apparation and Fawkes would make a scene," Alyssa said, gathering their cloaks to put on. "We'll appear on Platform 9 ¾ correct? Not on the muggle side?"
"Yes. Minerva said it was set to drop us to the side of the platform, out of the way of the majority of the crowds."
"One of the perks that comes from knowing the Headmistress," Alyssa murmured, handing Raven and Draco their cloaks as Severus and Sirius entered with Harry.
Remus picked up the scarf, waving his wand to shrink Draco's trunk after handing the boy his owl. "All set?"
"Ready when you are," Sirius said, patting his pockets as he searched for something. With the two 'Junior Marauders', as he called them, heading to Hogwarts, it was time to pass on the Marauder's Map, to aid in future mischief. Both Alyssa and Severus would have his head, but what they don't know won't hurt him. Besides, half the fun of Hogwarts is sneaking out after curfew to explore the school.
"Everyone grab hold then," Remus said, holding out the scarf. As soon as all of them were holding on, he said the password. "Hogwarts."
They landed on the platform just where Minerva had said they would. Along the platform, students were hurrying for the trains while parents called out advice. Slipping mostly unnoticed through the crowd, the Snapes, Lupins, and Sirius were able to get Harry and Draco's luggage safely aboard the train in an empty compartment with relative ease.
Sirius was able to pull the boys aside for a moment to pass over the map. Predictably, their eyes widened for a moment before their eyes danced with mischief. Minerva had sent James's invisibility cloak to Severus, having found it when she was cleaning out Dumbledore's office, but he hadn't given it to Harry yet. At least that was his plan. Sirius had managed to get the cloak away from Severus, and that too was passed over. As he watched the two boys whisper excitedly about the cloak and map, which had been hurriedly hidden, he smiled, nostalgic for the days he and James and Remus (he was content to forget the rat) would run around the school, concealed by the cloak and watching for trouble with the map.
Alyssa broke him out of his musings. "What did you do Sirius?"
He forced himself to look at her, instead of at his shoes like a naughty schoolboy. Merlin, the woman was only a few months older than him. "I don't know what you're talking about Lyss."
She looked skeptical, but not angry. "Earlier, Draco broke down because he was afraid we wouldn't care about him anymore if he left for Hogwarts. Now, he's back to normal. I know our reassurances didn't do that, so I assumed that something happened when you took Draco and Harry aside."
He opened his mouth to retort, and he wasn't exactly sure how he was going to respond, but Alyssa held up a hand, a small smile on her face. "I trust you Sirius. That thought would have been too ridiculous for me to consider years ago, but it is true now. I know whatever you have done, it won't lead them to harm."
Sirius smiled, but then he sobered as he looked at Severus and Remus. James and Lily were gone; so was Pettigrew. Frank and Alice Longbottom were as good as dead, although Severus and Alyssa were working on a potion to cure them. So many of their classmates were either dead or injured, and the ones that weren't had fled the country. That thought was enough to bring even the ever-cheerful Sirius down.
Raven was the first one to notice his mood. She didn't understand why he was sad, thinking that it was the memory of days gone by that made him so upset. She moved from where she had been leaning against her Uncle Severus, going to Uncle Padfoot's side and slipping her small, porcelain hand into his lager, tanner one.
"There's still good things," she said, trying to make him see the good times weren't all in the past. "I know you and Papa and Mama and Uncle Severus had fun at Hogwarts, but isn't it exciting that Harry and Draco get to see that now?"
Sirius smiled down at his young niece, so like her father in temperament. She hated to see anyone upset, and would do most anything to keep the peace. "I know kid, I was just thinking about something. Probably a bit morbid for a happy day." He squeezed her hand lightly. "Thanks for pulling me out of that train of thought flower."
Raven smiled, then ran over to say goodbye to her brother and cousin. Really, Harry and Draco had all the luck. They got to go to Hogwarts and learn magic, while she went to muggle school for another four years.
The whistle blew, signaling that the boys had to board the train. Both waved and called back promises to write about the Sorting as the train pulled away, leaving their family to watch until the train pulled out of sight.