Elisabeth looked up as Harry walked into the room, toweling his hair. "Is this a female bonding moment or can I come sit down."

"You can come sit down but you can bet that you're in trouble."

"Uh-oh. What has my male mind been unable to process now?"

"Elisabeth is feeling rather pressured to be in Gryffindor. Can you explain why that is?"

"Because I'm being an unsympathetic jerk?" he said meekly.

"That's right. May be an apology is in order."

"Sorry Lib. I really am, I'm just kind of-" he looked at Hermione.

"Kind of an idiot."

He shrugged and smiled a bit. "Sorry."

Elisabeth went over and hugged him and he pulled her onto his lap. "If Hermione hadn't destroyed the couch we could all sit down on it right now."

"Oh shut up." Hermione said, cuffing him gently on the side of the head. "You sound like Ron. 'If Crookshanks were alive he could have had some of these chocolate flies' no point in dwelling on the past."

"I sound like Ron? You married the man."

"Oh listen to you two. You sound like an old married couple."

Harry grinned his lopsided grin and shrugged. "So if you're not going to be in Gryffindor where do you suppose you'll go?"

"I was thinking Slytherin sounded nice." Elisabeth said nonchalantly.

"Gah! Not Slytherin! Anything but that! Traffic drugs but not Slytherin!"

"No, Hermione and I decided that Ravenclaw sounded pretty good."

"Yeah, you aren't nice enough to be in Hufflepuff."

"Shut up."

"See? See? Definitely not nice enough. You know, the one thing I could never figure out was why you weren't in Ravenclaw 'Mione. I mean you're definitely brave but you really should have been a Ravenclaw."

"I always wondered that myself. But maybe the hat isn't as foolproof as we once thought."

"Yeah, Neville should have been a Hufflepuff."

"Neville turned out to be very brave." Hermione said pointedly.

"Sure. Parvati and Padma Patil should have both been kicked out. Or did they change?"

"No, they didn't change. Padma toyed around with Dean for awhile after he and I broke up and then he dumped her and eloped with Hannah Abbot. They are very happy by the way. And Parvati tried to snag Seamus. Actually she moved into his flat uninvited and then one day she let herself in and she found him snogging on the couch with some girl from Canada, who he has since broken up with. So that's the plight of the Patils. They have some sort of divination business. A bunch of hooey."

Harry smiled, "So are we all packed and ready?"

"Absolutely, and Lavender and Neville think that they've found a great house for you two. You'll have to check it out yourselves of course but I think it'll do."

Harry nodded, "And we're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow?"

"Yes. We'll meet Draco and his daughter at Flourish and Blots. His daughter's name is Apacia, by the way, and she's in Ravenclaw."

"Right. You have the list of books that you'll need Lib?"

"I have it all dad-can I get an owl?"

Harry looked at Hermione. "You'll have to talk to Hermione about that."

"I'm pretty sure it can be arranged." Hermione said nodding, "you aren't supposed to have a cat and an owl but-" she smiled, "I have considerable influence."

"Well the cat isn't really magical."

"Not magical? That cat is three-hundred years old."

"Really?"

"You bet, it's been in the Bones family for ages. It never really liked me, when we first moved into the apartment I kept locking it out but it can go through walls, see? And then I tried to run it over a couple years back, but you were already quite attached to it."

"Dad!"

"You locked my cat out too." Hermione said.

"That was Ron. And that cat deserved to be locked out. Do you know how many times I had to untangle it from the curtains?"

"Normal cat behavior." Hermione sniffed.

"I bet. So you think we can have this stuff out of the house in time to meet MALFOY?"

"Yes, I do think we can have it out in time to meet MALFOY. Actually I think I can get most of these boxes out right now. I'll move everything but the kitchen table. I put sleeping bags down in all the rooms too, so the beds are packed."

"Where are you going to put all these boxes?"

"Until you get a house?"

"Yeah?"

"The garage. There isn't anything in there except a couple of racing brooms and AN ILLEGAL MAGIC CARPET!" Hermione said, as though Ron could hear her.

"Where'd he get the carpet?"

"His dad."

Harry laughed. "Oh, and by the way you two, the Weasley's are coming to meet us in Diagon Alley." She glanced at Harry. "We're just going to stay there until the first, Neville and I have to go back to the school in the morning, but we're just going apparate."

"Haven't you read Hogwarts: A History? YOU CAN"T APPARATE ON THE GROUNDS!" Harry said in a high-pitched voice.

"We're going to apparate into the Forbidden forest and walk the rest of the way."

"You think you can get Neville into the Forbidden forest?"

Hermione stifled a laugh. "We got him in there in first year."

"That's because the alternative was going home to his grandmother."

"Don't speak ill of the dead."

"She's dead?"

"I wish."

Harry shook his head. "Well Lis? I think it's time for you to go to bed, big day tomorrow."

Elisabeth nodded; Hermione had already taken out her wand and was presumably sending the boxes to her garage. She said good night and went upstairs to her room.

Sleep came quickly to Elisabeth as she was lulled by the sounds of Hermione and Harry's laughter. Perhaps her father wasn't as lost as she once thought.