New chapter! And its longer then I thought it would be! Enjoy!

Slowly but surely, Elizabeth started to improve little by little. She still had trouble with her wand, but became a little more confident in her abilities, mostly thanks to Remus's encouragement. He told her more about his early school days, and told her tips and tricks to become better at using her wand. Still, a part of her felt bad that she had changed so much. Almost nothing of her old life remained. She was around different people, learning entirely different things. Even the school had changed.

Elizabeth quite liked to take walks around the school between studying, Often, Remus accompanied her, or Minerva. Her walks with Remus were normally full of laughter and grins as Remus told her a funny story, while her walks with Minerva were full of questions. They had created a game, where Elizabeth would ask Minerva a question, usually about current events in the Wizarding World, or extra information. Minerva asked her about her old life. Elizabeth liked answering the questions, but they also made her homesick. She did notice Minerva remembered nearly everything she told her. One morning, after Elizabeth told her that her favorite meal was her mother's homemade bread with goat cheese melted on top, Minerva had created that recipe, just for her. She had asked the House Elves to teach her the recipe, which they happily did. When Elizabeth asked her why, Minerva told her, "I wanted to give you a taste of home."

Elizabeth gave her a hug, after that. She just couldn't help it.

One place Elizabeth didn't go to on her walks, alone or not, was the dungeons. She knew that the Baron was down there, somewhere. While she was intimidated by him, there was a piece of her that didn't want to see him after she had screamed so loudly. She felt guilty about how she had handled it, and knew she owed him an apology. It was just so odd, seeing someone as a ghost. She liked some of the others. The Fat Friar and Nearly Headless Nick were very friendly, in fact. She had asked them what it was like, living in a world that was so different then their own, and often thought of the Friars response: "The world has changed, and we have changed along with it. But that doesn't mean you have to give up what makes you special." Elizabeth smiled at the thought.

"Elizabeth?" Fillius called, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Sorry, Professor. What were you saying?" She asked sheepishly. She was in Charms, and had not been paying attention for several minutes. She was lost in thought, thinking about the ghost's advice.

"I asked if you could practice Alohamora." Fillius repeated. Elizabeth nodded, taking a few deep breaths to clear her mind. "Now, I will lock myself in the closet, and you will use your wand to get me out." Fillius said. Elizabeth started to get nervous. What if she couldn't do it? What if she made things worse? What if Fillius was locked in there forever? She took more deep breaths. She could do it. Remember what Remus said. 'I believe in you.' She could do this.

She heard the lock click. She walked over to the door, and raised her wand. She closed her eyes, and envisioned what was going to happen. The lock would click again, and the door would unlock. She repeated the vision over and over again in her mind's eye until she was certain. Then, she said, "Alohamora."

Magic flowed through her body, and she felt it flow right through her right hand, into her wand, and saw the spell shoot out, towards the lock. She heard it click! The door opened! She did it! Fillius came out, smiling. "You did it!" He cheered. "I did it!" Elizabeth responded in glee. "I just pictured what was going to happen in my mind, and it worked!" She explained. "Well, Remus has been very helpful to you, just like I knew he would be!" Fillius said. Elizabeth couldn't stop smiling.

Since there were only a few moments left in the lesson, Fillius dismissed her early to go and tell Remus the good news. "Remus!" She called when she entered his classroom. "What is it, Elizabeth?" Remus asked, curiously, from behind his desk. "I did the spell!" Elizabeth exclaimed. Her teacher's face lit up. "Really?" he asked. Elizabeth nodded. "Really! And it was thanks to you!" She said. "Oh, I'm sure it wasn't because of me, you were the one to do the spell, after all." Remus said. Elizabeth shrugged.

Then, Albus entered the room with Minerva "I have an announcement to make." He said. Minerva came to stand beside her ward. "What is it?" Elizabeth asked, still thinking of her victorious spell. "The minister will be calling the meeting tomorrow, to tell the rest of the world about you, Elizabeth." Albus told her. Elizabeth wasn't too surprised. She knew it was happening soon. "There are still six weeks left of the summer, and you are already halfway through the work. I have the utmost faith in your abilities, Elizabeth." he said to her. Elizabeth smiled, and nodded.

The next morning, Elizabeth walked out of her room, she found Minerva, Fillius, and Ponoma seated at the table in the den, where Elizabeth ate with her guardian. They were all holding copies of the Daily Prophet, and whispering. So far, none of them had seen her. What were they saying? She walked a little further down the hallway, stopping just outside of the room's open doorway. She was then able to overhear the hushed conversation.

"Should we let her see this? She's got enough going on right now, this could discourage her." Pomona whispered. "She has a good point, Minerva. Elizabeth was so excited yesterday about being able to use her wand right. We don't want that to go away." Fillius reasoned. By the way he was speaking, MInerva seemed opposed to Ponoma's plan. But what were they talking about?

"I don't want to hurt Elizabeth, either, but if we don't tell her, that would make her transition to the actual school year so much harder. Look at Harry Potter's coming here two years ago. He didn't really know about it, and was so confused when people made a big deal about him. Elizabeth is already expecting to get attention, so why not tell her the whole truth?" Minerva questioned.

Elizabeth was confused, but mostly angry. They were debating fiercely about something, but what were they talking about? She bit her lip in frustration.

Suddenly, she heard the door to the quarters open, and heard footsteps. Before she could even move, Remus walked right by her, and spotted her. "Hello, Elizabeth." He greeted. Chairs squeaked, and all three adults came out to the hallway. All eyes were on Elizabeth. "Good morning?" She said.

Elizabeth and Remus joined the table, and the three newspapers were spread across the table. Elizabeth stared at the mahogany table instead, knowing she was likely going to be punished, and reading the newspaper would only make things worse. That was the whole reason she was in this situation.

"So, you chose to eavesdrop on a private conversation?" Minerva asked. Elizabeth nodded. Her guardian sighed. "Why would you choose to do that? You knew we were whispering, even before you eavesdropped. Wouldn't that tell you it was not something you should listen to?" Minerva asked. "It did. I just… wanted to know what you were talking about. I knew it was about me, and I couldn't help but want to know." Elizabeth said guiltily. It was quiet in the room for a moment, until Remus spoke up.

"Well, if you ask me, though it wasn't right that she eavesdropped, I understand why she did it. She's eleven years old, and everything is up in the air for her right now. So when some of the only people she knows in the world are keeping things from her the day her existence is announced to the world, of course she'd eavesdrop." Remus said while pacing around the room. "Very Gryffindor of you, Elizabeth." He said, winking at her. It dawned on Elizabeth, he had said her name loudly so the other professors would know she was there, and be forced to know what was going on during the meeting.

Elizabeth was not punished for eavesdropping, though she did get a stern lecture from Minerva. She was allowed to read the paper, and learn what the professors were talking about.

The announcement had apparently been made at midnight, so there were already articles written about her. There was even a special edition of The Daily Prophet concerning the announcement. There were several headlines, which Elizabeth didn't like whatsoever. They drew so much attention to her, and she was sure everyone in the school would know about her before they even set eyes on her, and many would want autographs or pictures. She had learned about those in her Current Magical Cultures class, and had found out that Gilderoy Lockhart had always carried around pictures to sign, he was so famous. Apparently he was in some sort of accident a few months ago, but was still famous.

Later that night, while Elizabeth was taking a break from a Transfiguration paper, she spotted one of the newspapers in her wastebasket. She had thrown it away after reading Rita Skeeter's article, questioning Dumbeldore's sanity. It had angered her very much. Dumbeldore had taken a chance on her, which she was eternally grateful for. Without him, she'd probably be in an institution somewhere. She saw Cornelius Fudge's quote for the article, saying what a surprise this was to everyone.

She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She knew she was going to be famous in the wizarding world, but hadn't given herself much time to contemplate it. But now, seeing it written clearly in ink, she started to worry. There was no going back now. Before the announcement, if she hadn't taken the opportunity for school, she might have been able to be put away somewhere quietly. Maybe only a few people would know about her. There would be no pressure.

Instead, no matter the outcome, everyone would know. If she passed first year, she'd officially be enrolled at Hogwarts, which was good, but she'd be surrounded by so many people…. No doubt they'd have questions…..

And if she failed, well, she'd sully the Gryffindor name forever. Not that anyone else had the last name Gryffindor as of late. But everyone would know she failed, she couldn't handle a world that everyone else could.

Pressure. It was closing in around her.

Aw, poor Elizabeth. Well, I'm trying to make it realistic. Really, she wouldn't just be fine with all this.