DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and all recognizable characters/places/objects/etc. belong to JK Rowling.

Author's Note: Two things I promised myself I wouldn't do: 1) write another fanfic before completing one of my current works, and 2) write a HP continuation story. Damn. I just couldn't resist. I had this collection of characters tumbling around in my head and I had to put them down on paper, or computer rather. I'm still working on my other stories as well, but this one won't let me rest until I write it, so…

This story will continue with the next generation of magical children. It picks up about a year after the Epilogue. I have tried to keep all the children as close to JK's descriptions as possible (at least when they were given). Of course their personalities don't have much description, so I created my own. The only known changes that I have made are as follows: 1) moving Lily Potter and Hugo Weasley up a year (in the epilogue Lily cries she won't be able to go to school for two more years, but I wanted her to be only one year below Albus, and I decided to make Hugo the same age); 2) the epilogue hints that Rose Weasley is the brains of the family, but I chose to give that character trait to Hugo instead; 3) I kept Luna's sons Lorcan and Lysander as twins, but I added a young daughter to their family, named Leona; 4) I added a younger daughter to Draco's family so Scorpius will not be an only child, but will have a sister named Cassiopeia—she will be the same age as Lily. I hope these changes are acceptable to everyone! And I hope you enjoy. Please, please review. I don't want to beg, but reviews are the most encouraging way to get me to write more. So, thanks in advance!

A Potter Belongs in Gryffindor

Chapter 1. A Morning with the Potters

The sun that morning was as bright as the spirits of the youngest Potter child. Lily had been crossing off days on her calendar ever since the morning she had seen the large tawny owl flying towards her bedroom window three months ago, clutching her school invitation in its beak. She would never again have to go with her parents to see off her two brothers on the beautiful scarlet steam engine, taking them away for a year of excitement and education, while she had to return home and simply dream of one day seeing the wonders of Hogwarts herself. The year had finally come when she would be joining them, and that morning she was finally going to Diagon Alley to buy her very own school supplies.

In her excitement she barely gave herself time to dress completely before running down the four flights of wide winding staircases to the large basement kitchen where her father was already up making pancakes for breakfast. He heard her bare feet cantering down the short flight of stone steps that led into the basement from the main floor and turned to greet her with a smile.

"Morning Sunshine," Harry beamed at his eleven-year-old daughter as he continued to slowly stir the pancake mixture in the large bowl on the counter. "You're up early today. I can't imagine why."

"Oh yes you can," she replied in her insistent and slightly sarcastic tone that was so familiar to her family. "When are we leaving?"

"Not for a little while yet," he told her, knowing that nothing he said would be able to curtail her eagerness. "You'll just have to practice that thing called 'patience' that you are so good at…"

Lily rolled her eyes at her dad's good-humored sarcasm and dragged a stool over to the cupboards so she could reach the top shelf. Shuffling through an assortment of boxed and bagged dry foods she found a small bag of chocolate chips her mother had undoubtedly thought she was hiding by putting them out of Lily's reach. She retrieved them, jumped off the stool, and stepped up to her dad's side.

"Chocolate chip pancakes?" Harry laughed. "Your mum's not going to be too happy about that."

Lily gave him her widest smile, which never failed to win over her dad and he nodded his head, giving her permission to toss in a couple handfuls of the chips. As he stirred them into the batter, she ate a few plain and then returned the bag to its 'hiding' place.

"Are your brothers up yet?"

"Maybe, but their doors were still closed when I passed their rooms." Lily balanced on her tiptoes as she watched her dad pour the first pancake onto the already-heated griddle. "Can I do one?" Harry nodded and stepped aside so she could take over and pour the second pancake next to the first. She did it very carefully and precisely, making a perfectly round pancake. "How's that?"

"Perfect, as usual," Harry assured her as she handed the ladle back to him.

Even though he could cook with magic, as her mother usually did, Lily knew that her dad didn't take short cuts when it wasn't necessary. She had been raised hearing his lectures on how important it was to know how to do things the 'muggle' way as well as magically. "Just because we know magic, doesn't mean we should be ignorant of non-magic customs. It can only make us stronger," he would say. Lily wasn't sure if she agreed with him; she couldn't wait until her seventeenth birthday when she would be able to use magic all the time, but she never argued with her dad because he knew best—supposedly. She had always enjoyed cooking with him though, and he always told her she was exceptionally good at it, so she imagined that even after her seventeenth birthday she would continue cooking the muggle way.

When her dad wasn't listening, her mother would explain that he had grown up in a muggle world and had to learn how to do things their way before he was ever exposed to magic, and therefore he could never fully understand a completely magical upbringing like she had had. Her mother didn't correct him either though, and she obliged his muggle inclinations whenever they popped up, just to show her support. Besides, the magical community at large was much more muggle-friendly than it used to be, or so Lily's parents told her. Her Aunt Hermione was always talking about how important it was to understand muggle ways and participate in their culture as much as possible. Though she was biased, since she too was raised as a muggle, and now she worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, protecting muggle-born and half-blood witches and wizards.

"Dad, will you make chocolate chip pancakes when I come home for Christmas?"

He laughed at her request and flipped the pancake he was cooking. "If you like."

She smiled. "Good. I'm going to miss your breakfasts."

"At school?"

"Yea."

"Sweetheart, you're going to have delicious breakfasts at school though. Lunches and dinners as well. I doubt you'll miss my cooking very much at all."

"Nope," she shook her head hard, causing her long auburn hair to shake wildly. "I don't care what James and Albus say, breakfast at school will never be as good as here."

"Well, I hope for my sake, you don't change your mind once you've been there for a couple months, but I'm not going to hold my breath because I remember the breakfasts at school. Those elves sure know how to cook."

"I'm not saying they don't," Lily assured him. "I always love Kreacher's food, but there's just something about your breakfasts…"

"Don't listen to her, dad."

Lily spun at the sound of her oldest brother's voice.

"She's just buttering you up so you'll buy her an owl and a cat today when we go shopping."

Harry laughed, but Lily narrowed her deep green eyes at her brother angrily.

"It's true!" James insisted. "She's been talking about it all week."

Lily looked up at her dad with a guilty grin and he laughed harder.

"I just can't make up my mind!" She defended herself. "Everyone says that having your own owl is great, but I love Aunt Hermione's cat so much. Please can I have both?"

"Sorry Lil, but you're going to have to choose," he told her. "You're brothers got one pet each, and the same goes for you."

Lily let out a sigh and finally left her father's side, not quite as interested in helping with breakfast anymore. She bumped into her brother on her way up the stairs out of the kitchen, still glaring at him for interrupting.

"I hope they can handle her at Hogwarts," Harry muttered, still laughing slightly. "She's got a temper to rival your mother and your Aunt Hermione combined."

"You're not kidding." James took up the spot next to the counter that his sister had just abandoned. "I have the scars to prove it."

"Not that you didn't earn every single one of them," Harry reminded him. "You do enjoy teasing her."

"She's such an easy target!"

"But she's still your little sister, and I expect you to keep an eye on her at school." Harry suddenly took on a more serious tone. "Please try to keep her out of trouble. I know we joke about it here at home, but at school…things are different. She needs to control her temper."

"Don't worry dad. She'll be fine."

"She better be."

Taking the cue from his dad's overly concerned tone, James started backing out of the room. "I'll go and check on her right now. I'll tell her she can use my owl whenever she wants, so she should go ahead and get a cat."

"Thanks James, that's really good of you!"

James shrugged, feigning humility, but clearly proud of himself for coming up with the idea. He took the stairs two at a time to find his sister. He passed by his brother on the third floor, where his own room was as well, and continued up to the fourth floor where he found his sister. She was in her room, and as he had expected she was flopped across her bed pouting, with her chin in her hands, as was her tendency after losing an argument.

"Lily," he rapped his knuckles on her open door before stepping into her room.

Determined to ignore him for as long as possible, Lily kept her eyes focused on the floor.

"Lily Luna…" he sang out her name in his common, teasing manner, and mock-tiptoed towards the bed. Still she refused to look up at him. "I've got something to tell you that I think will make you happy, but if you keep ignoring me, I'll change my mind…" James crossed his arms and waited. He knew that nothing caught his sister's attention like the possibility of a surprise. "Okay…I'm going to count to three and then you've lost your chance…one…two…"

"What is it?" She turned her eyes up towards him quickly, trying to suppress her eager smile.

"I thought that might get your attention."

Lily adjusted her position so she was sitting and gave her brother her undivided attention.

"I know how badly you want your cat, so I thought I'd make the choice easier for you and let you know that you can borrow Arturo if you need to at school."

"Really?" Her eyes sparkled excitedly as she leapt off her bed and wrapped her small arms around her brother's stomach. "Thank you, thank you!"

"Yea, yea," he pretended to squirm away from her, but really didn't mind the hug. As much as he had teased Lily growing up, he knew that when it came down to it, he would do anything for her. "Who's your favorite brother?"

"You are!" She assured him and sealed the declaration with a kiss on his cheek before pulling away. "Can I borrow him now?"

"Right now?" James laughed. "That didn't take long. What do you need him for right now?"

"I need to send a note to Louis." Lily and her cousin Louis had been inseparable since they were born; Lily was older by only two days. When they felt misunderstood by all their other older cousins, Lily and Louis found comfort in how well they always understood one another.

"Lil, you're going to see him when we get to Diagon Alley. Can't you wait a couple hours?"

She shook her head firmly and stared up at him with her full lips in a pout.

"Fine, go ahead, but hurry because dad's almost done making breakfast."

"I will!" She retrieved an already sealed envelope from her bedside table and ran past her brother and down the stairs to his room where she found his slate-gray owl just waking up. "Arturo, I need you to deliver my letter to Louis right away!" She held out her arm, but he simply stared at it, blinked twice and didn't budge from his post. "Arturo, it's important!"

James had made his way down the stairs, more slowly, and poked his head into his own room. He grinned at his owl's stubbornness.

"James, help!" She pleaded desperately, realizing that he was in the doorway.

"Come on Arturo," he ordered his bird. "Help her out."

The large owl turned his head to his master briefly and then lazily climbed on to Lily's waiting arm, allowing her to carry him down stairs; James followed in case he was needed again. Stopping in the foyer, Lily asked her brother to help fasten her letter to the owl's leg and then moved to the door. Above the door was a window, large enough for an owl to fly through, which was always left open for exactly that purpose.

The Potter kids had grown up understanding the strange circumstances of 12 Grimmauld Place, so they knew all the unusual quirks about their home. Her parents had considered lifting the Fidelius charm that had been placed on the house years ago, but since her father would always be a celebrity they decided to leave the charm in place in order to maintain a small measure of privacy. The location of the home was not exactly a secret anymore though since all their family members and close friends had become secret keepers so they could visit with open invitation. Still, because of the charm the house remained invisible to strangers. Lily didn't understand how it worked exactly, but all she knew was that she could always enter her house like normal and see out her windows like normal, and somehow owls always knew how to find them, just as long as the window above the door remained opened for their access.

"Fly fast, Arturo!" Lily sent the bird up and he flew through the window at top speed, heading towards Shell Cottage to deliver the letter to her cousin.

"Another letter to Louis?"

The kids turned as their mother came down the stairs behind them.

"I told her to wait until we saw him later, but you know how impatient she is…" James shrugged and darted down the hall before Lily could swat him.

"We just have so much to talk about before school!" Lily explained to her mother as Ginny descended the last step and greeted her daughter with a hug.

"I know sweetheart. I think it's great that you and Louis are so excited to start school! You've been waiting for this year for a long time."

"We have," Lily agreed, "but only one more week now!"

"Promise me you'll miss home a little?"

"Of course I will." Lily had to reach up, but kept her arm around her mother's waist as they headed to the stairs at the end of the hallway to join the rest of the family in the kitchen. "I'm going to miss you, and dad, very much!"

"Good, because you know I'm going to be missing you every second." Ginny bent down to kiss the top of her daughter's head.

"You can write to me all the time," Lily told her. "And James is going to let me use Arturo whenever I want, so I'll write to you too."

"Promise?"

"I promise!"

"Mmm, I smell pancakes," Ginny led the way down the narrow stairway to the kitchen.

"Yep, dad's cooking!"

"It's about time!" Harry beckoned his wife and daughter to the long kitchen table where the boys were already seated and hungrily eyeing the large plate of pancakes in the center of the table. "We almost got started without you."

"You wouldn't dare," Ginny smiled knowingly and let her husband greet her with a peck on the cheek before she sat at the table beside Albus, their youngest son. "Chocolate chips?" Her honey brown eyes turned accusingly to her daughter. "Your contribution I assume?"

Lily just smiled and held up her plate to her dad who was serving the pancakes. Before they had gotten more than a few bites into their breakfast, the knocker from the front door echoed throughout the house, magnified by a charm so it could be heard from any room in the house. Nobody had to stir from their seats though since their loyal, old house elf responded to the knock and admitted the guests promptly, sending them down to the kitchen. A moment later the bright fiery curls of Rose Weasley bounced in to sight; her parents and her younger brother followed her.

"Sorry we're early," Hermione made the appropriate excuses for her brood as they automatically took seats at the table. "The kids were so excited to go shopping…"

"Trust me, we understand," Harry laughed and nodded to his three children who had already dived into excited chatter with their cousins about the school supplies they would be buying that day.

"Have you eaten?" Ginny motioned to the pancakes. "We've got plenty, if you don't mind chocolate chips. Lily snuck them in." Harry stood and brought extra plates to the table for the unexpected arrivals.

"My favorite!" Ron winked at Lily from across the table and forked three pancakes onto his plate.

"Aunt Hermione, can you help me pick out a cat today?" Lily spoke with her mouth full, earning a reprimanding headshake from her mother.

"You decided to go with a cat?" Rose asked. "Really? Are you sure?"

Lily nodded firmly. "I like cats."

"Well, you're the only one."

Hermione clicked her tongue against her teeth. "Just because you don't like cats Rose, doesn't mean nobody does. Besides, the only cat you've ever been around is Crookshanks."

"He's more than enough for me."

"Crookshanks is a genius!" Lily defended her aunt's big floppy cat. "That's why I want her help choosing one. Hopefully it will be half as brilliant!"

"I would love to help you choose a cat," Hermione assured her niece. "I had hoped that one of your cousins would want a cat, but it seems Hugo is determined to follow his sister's example and choose an owl of his own."

"I asked Teddy last night whether he thought I should get a cat or an owl, and he said that if he was choosing over again, he would have chosen a cat!" Lily announced happily.

"Really?" Harry showed his surprise. "But Teddy loves Nymph." Nymph was Teddy Lupin's owl, named for his deceased mother.

"I know," Lily agreed. "But he says that he's always wanted a cat, but his grandmother never liked cats."

"Where is Teddy?" Rose spoke up. "I assumed he would be here."

"He had to work early today," Ginny answered. "But he said he'll maybe meet us at Diagon Alley."

"Speaking of which, we'd better eat up or we're going to be late meeting everyone else!"

At Hermione's command, the kids ate quickly, everyone eager to start the day.