Can't close my eyes, they're wide awake

[Dannie Bennington-Heaton]

Sitting in the kitchen of their house, Dannie was reading the Daily Prophet, enjoying a cup of tea, and watching over her two youngest children as they played and watched a children’s program on the TV in front of them. It was a quiet morning and the mother had decided that it was alright to hold the cleaning off until tomorrow, there was not very much of it anyway. Jacob had the day off and was in the basement working on some sort of potion in peace and quiet. As the blonde sat there, absentmindedly reading, she heard a soft tapping at the window beside her. Turning her head to see what the noise was, she was almost shocked to find an owl sitting outside of her window, a letter tied to its leg, waiting for her to let it in to relieve it of its duty. Upon further inspection, she recognized the owl as none other than her son, Zachary’s owl.

Leaping out of her chair, excited to hear where her children had been sorted and how they were doing so far, the window flew open and the owl fluttered in, landing on the kitchen table, hooting affectionately as Dannie stroked its chest and untied the letter. Leaving the parchment on the table, she hurried into the kitchen and selected a few crackers to give the owl as a reward for delivering its letter. Then, sending the owl into he room where she kept her owl, she opened the letter, leaning against the kitchen counter, reading what her children had written them. There was an account from each of them about their sorting. Jadyn, of course, was sent into Gryffindor which made Dannie smile. Zachary was sorted into… No, she couldn’t be reading that right. Blinking and looking away from the letter, Dannie shook her head, almost as if the text written would change if she did this. It did not, however, and the mother was left wondering what happened.

Hands shaking slightly, she set the letter down and shuffled towards the basement door which was kept closed at all times, regardless of whether Jacob was down there or not. Reaching out and grasping the cold doorknob, Dannie pulled the wood towards her and stuck her head into the brightly lit basement, noises coming from below her. “Jacob,” she called, “Could you come up here for a minute? We have an issue.” Her voice was unsteady and her tone was a mixture of confusion and upset. Had they raised Zachary wrong? What had they, as parents from two upstanding houses, done to send their son there?

 

[Jacob Heaton]

Jacob had taken to the basement more and more since his eldest children had left. His youngest two were much easier to take care of, or at least he thought so. Bryan and Yvette hardly ever fought, and Bryan was old enough to actually help with major chores around the house. With their household reduced down to "average" size, Jacob felt like he had an average life. He missed the twins, of course, as it made the family feel incomplete. As he mixed up his potions, he wondered if Zachary had taken his first potion class yet. Out of all of his children, Zachary was the only one who shared his love for potions. Jadyn was nurturing like her mother, Bryan was too much of a dreamer to be focused on any particular subject yet, and Yvette was still too little.

There was a slight concern about what house his son would be in. He had predicted Gryffindor for Jadyn since she was a baby. He wasn't sure about Zach. Zachary was clever enough to be in Ravenclaw, but he could see a hint of pure Heaton in the young boy. Jacob and Dannie had done their best to prevent their children from the Dark Arts, but there was only so much they could do when the nature was inborn.

So there was nothing to do but wait. When he had retreated downstairs, the little kids had been playing quietly. He hadn't heard any angry shouting coming from the two, so he assumed that Dannie was having an easy time with things. Bryan had taken Jadyn leaving hard at first, but he was returning to his happy self. So Jacob was slightly surprised when Dannie called down the stairs. Everyone knew that he didn't like being disturbed while mixing potions. He added a ingredient to the current potion, and left it simmering. He quickly walked up the stairs, hoping that one of the children hadn't taken a nasty fall. "What's wrong?" he asked his wife, gently grabbing her hands. In doing so, he brushed against the sheet of parchment. "Is it what I think it is?" he asked quietly, wondering if the parchment held the dreaded fact that his son was a Slytherin.

 

[Dannie Bennington-Heaton]

The call for her husband that emitted from Dannie’s mouth was a nervous and scared one, indeed, something he seemed to take notice of as he came up the sitars to greet her. He grabbed her hands and saw the letter, asking Dannie if it said what they had both been fearing it would say. They had both hoped that, perhaps, Zachary would be in Ravenclaw. He was, after all, quite clever and showed much promise with his experimental potion making. Gryffindor was also an option, though for some reason or another Dannie could not see him there. Hufflepuff seemed to be out on all accounts for the boy, which left none other than Slytherin. The blonde had spent the past few nights hoping that he would end up in Ravenclaw, just like his father.

Taking a breath and holding her husband’s rough hand with her free one, she looked into his eyes, the same eyes she had looked into since she was fifteen, and nodded slowly. “He’s in Slytherin” was all she said before glancing back down, the need to take more deep breaths overpowering. She had to keep her composure. They were happy for their son, weren’t they? He got sorted and was at Hogwarts now, exactly where he was supposed to be, even a better one than the one her and Jacob had attended years ago.

Finally composed, she looked up at her husband again and smiled softly. “Jadyn is in Gryffindor, though,” she explained, a hint of excitement in her voice. Perhaps that would bring the two closer together, seeing as they had been slightly distant as her daughter grew. This would be Dannie’s chance to get closer with her daughter, sharing her own stories with Jadyn about Gryffindor. A thought occurred to her, however. “Oh, I wonder how they’re both taking it. Jadyn’s probably upset. But what about Zach?” motioning down to the parchment she skimmed it again and saw no mention of any upset or anger or anything, really. Perhaps he was enjoying himself. The only way to know would be to ask him.