Fractured

Platform 9 & 3/4

Lily, Hugo and Nova were having an animated discussion about which House they would be sorted into when they finally went to Hogwarts.

'If you're not in Gryffindor, your parents will disinherit you,' Draco told Lily and Hugo, 'but no pressure.'

'Draco!'

Most of them laughed, but Albus looked solemn.

'He doesn't mean it,' said Hermione, glaring at Draco.

James had reappeared. He had loaded his trunk and owl onto the train, and was bursting with news.

'Teddy's back there,' he said, pointing into the billowing clouds of steam. 'Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!'

He gazed up at the adults, evidently disappointed by the lack of reaction.

'Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing -'

'You interrupted them?' said Ginny. 'You are so like Ron-'

'-and he said he'd come to see her off! And then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!'

'Oh, it would be lovely if they got married!' whispered Lily ecstatically. 'Teddy would really be part of the family then!'

'He already comes round for dinner about four times a week,' said Harry. 'Why don't we just invite him to live with us and have done with it?'

'Yeah!' said James. 'I don't mind sharing with Al. Teddy could have my room!'

'No,' said Harry firmly, 'you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished.'

He pulled out a battered old watch from his pocket and checked the time.

'It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board.'

'Don't forget, Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday. Don't mess with Peeves,' Ginny told James as she hugged him. 'And give Neville our love!'

'Mum! I can't give a professor love!'

'But you know Neville-'

James rolled his eyes.

'Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him love...'

Shaking his head at his mother's foolishness, he vented his feelings by aiming a kick at Albus.

'See you later, Al. Watch out for the thestrals. I hear Uagadou is infested with them.'

'I thought they were invisible? You said they were invisible!'

James laughed. He kissed his mother and gave his father a quick hug, then jumped onto the train. They saw him wave, then sprint up the corridor to find his friends.

'Thestrals are nothing to worry about,' Harry told Albus. 'They're gentle things, there's nothing scary about them. Anyway, there's none in Africa. The climate isn't good for them.'

Doors were slamming shut along the scarlet train. The blurred outlines of parents swarmed forward for final kisses and last-minute reminders. Students hung from the windows, waving and shouting. James waved from his window, his expression carefully nonchalant.

'Why are they all staring?' demanded Albus. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned toward Harry.

'Don't let it worry you,' said Teddy, appearing suddenly next to them, his hair tousled. 'It's me, I'm extremely famous.

The children laughed. The train began to move and Harry walked alongside it, watching James's thin face. James's lip quivered as Harry kept smiling and waving. Harry's heart tugged as he watched his son glide away from him. The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air as the train rounded a corner.

'He'll be alright,' murmured Ginny, as Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.

Harry lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead. The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years.

'I know he will.'

'Alright, who's ready for some ice cream?' Draco asked.

'Me! Me!' Nova yelled, jumping up and down.

'Ron just text to say they're saving us a table,' Ginny said, looking at her phone. 'The twins are causing mayhem. As usual.'

The group turned to leave the platform, not noticing Albus and Harry lag behind.

'What if I'm in Slytherin?'

Albus's whisper was for his father alone. Harry knew that it was seeing the others his age leave for Hogwarts that revealed how great and sincere that fear was. Harry crouched down so that Albus' face was slightly above his own. Albus was the only one of Harry's three children that had inherited Lily's eyes.

'Albus Severus,' Harry said quietly, 'you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.'

'But just say-'

'-then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al. Your aunt married a Slytherin, remember! But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account.'

'Really?'

'It did for me.'

Harry had never told any of his children that before, and he saw the wonder in Albus' face when he said it. But Rose and Teddy had reappeared, looking around the platform for them both and the moment was lost.

'Come on, you two!' Rose yelled, 'Mum dragged us along to wave everyone off, which is like...totally unfair, since we're not even going this year, and now you're making me wait on ice cream too?! What is this, "Torture Rose Day"?!'

Albus rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at his cousin.

'Come on Dad, let's go.' Albus said, jogging over to them both. 'Anyway, Rose, I thought you were here to support me?!'

'Yeah, I mean, I guess that too...'

Harry smiled, watching the cousins tease each other as they exited the platform.

*****

A/N: In case you didn't notice, this is lifted from the JK Rowling's epilogue, with necessary changes to fit in with the details of my story. I edited the wording slightly to fit in with my own "voice". I'll be honest, there's nothing quite so nerve-wracking as changing what JK Rowling wrote. Argh! I hope you can excuse my momentary plagiarism.

Oh! By the way, it looks like Broken is creeping up on 100k views (omg). I'd really like to do something to celebrate such an incredible milestone, but I've no clue what. Is there anything you'd like to request? The options I'm thinking at the moment are...bonus chapter / story aesthetics / character interview / Q&A session. If you have alternative suggestions or a particular one you'd love to see. Let me know! I think I've got a while yet, but I'd like to get something figured out ahead of time. Thank you all for being such awesome readers!

And now, back to our normally scheduled originality...