Elisabeth stepped inside the common room and any misgivings she may have had disappeared. It was beautiful, thick, plush blue carpet covered the part of the floor closest to the fireplace, and the rest was black obsidian, like the entranceway. Long blue tapestries, marked with the bronze eagle of Ravenclaw house stretched from the ceiling and pooled on the floor.

"Hey Elisabeth! Congrats!" Apacia got up from her chair and hugged Elisabeth.

"Thanks, have you seen William or Daniel?"

"Nope, but I just got here, had to send my dad a detailed letter. Had to tell him which house you guys got into and everything."

"Alright, well I better go look for them."

"Boy's dormitories." Derrick didn't even look up from his copy of The Daily Prophet.

"Am I allowed up there?"

"No, but it doesn't matter. No one cares, as long as you're not sleeping up there."

"Ugh. Thanks."

"No problem, Vivyann was wanting to talk to you, too."

"Yep, I'll talk to her later."

Elisabeth escaped up to the dormitories before anyone else could stop her. She found Daniel and William sitting on a bed, Will holding his head in his hands.

"What did I do wrong? Aren't I good enough for Gryffindor?"

"It has nothing to do with that William. If you had gotten into Gryffindor would you tell us that we weren't good enough?"

Will sniffed. "No."

"See? There isn't anything wrong with being in Ravenclaw."

"There is! I'm supposed to be in Gryffindor."

"Look, Will, if you were supposed to be in Gryffindor you would be in Gryffindor. Elisabeth and I aren't complaining. Look at Moira, she's in Hufflepuff and she's happier than a lot of people who are in Gryffindor."

"You realise how bad my sister is going to tease me?"

"She won't. If you're miserable she'll leave you alone and if you're happy she'll just go with it." Daniel shrugged.

"I want to be in Gryffindor."

"Give it one week. If you still hate Ravenclaw we'll go talk to your mum."

"One week. No more."

Daniel nodded. Elisabeth thought Daniel was probably the wisest person she knew. He saw people for exactly what they were exactly what they were thinking. He knew people better than they knew themselves. Elisabeth had gone through her life forcing herself to see the best in people, mostly because her father saw the worst in them. He could see their weaknesses and he would play them, then, when the person tripped up, he would hold that as further evidence into the untrustworthiness of all people.

"We're going to unpack, Elisabeth, then we'll meet you in the common room."

Elisabeth nodded and went to her own dormitory to unpack her trunk. There was no one there when she entered so she chose the bed closest to the window. All of the beds had the same midnight blue velvet canopy and bronze trim. The beds had thick, soft feather tics and big, plush pillows. Elisabeth fought the sudden waves of drowsiness that enveloped her and opened her trunk. She carefully placed her robes in her drawers and her hand brushed on a cloak at the bottom of her trunk. She pulled it out, it was light and silvery and she was quite sure she had not put it in there. A note fluttered off of it onto the floor, she picked it up and opened it.

My sweetest Lily Elisabeth,

This cloak belonged to my father before me and now I think it's time it goes to you. I hope you will not face the same difficulties I faced when I put this cloak on, but I do hope you will use it more wisely then I did. I'm sure over the next few years there will be places you want to go and people you want to meet in private. Make sure that you do not waste your time meeting unworthy people and going to unworthy places. I faced some of the hardest times in my life beneath this cloak but I never wore it alone. Not completely. As hard as it will be for you to believe this in the coming years, I do love you and I am always proud of you. I may seem indifferent when you get your first boyfriend. I may fall off my stool when you get your first kiss. But I hope that having this cloak will help you not feel so alone. When you wear it understand that your grandfather's exploits in it were tame; understand that my exploits in it were not. Understand that whatever you do, I may not understand it, I may not even like it but I will always love you.

Affectionately yours,

Dad

There were tears in Elisabeth's eyes as she folded the note back up. She lifted the cloak and took it to one of the mirrors. She pulled it on and gasped. It was an Invisibility cloak. Daniel and William wanted one more than anything else and they had talked at length about it on the train. She folded it away quickly, wondering what her father had done in this cloak, who he had met, where he had gone.

She went down the stairs back to the common room and found William and Daniel. They were sitting with Vivyann and Derrick and another boy and girl Elisabeth hadn't met.

"Hey Lis, this is Madeline and Everett, she's a fourth year but he's a first year. They're brother and sister."

"Hi." Elisabeth said, nodding and smiling at them.

"Your dad killed my dad." Madeline's voice was matter-of-fact and to the point. Elisabeth stared at her.

The others stared at Madeline in shock; Elisabeth chose her words carefully. "Maybe he did. I'm sure if he did, he didn't kill him out of malice, only because it was necessary."

Her eyes caught the portrait of her father on the wall, it was just a head and shoulders shot, he was winking.

"No. He did it because he hated my dad."

Elisabeth swallowed. "Who was your dad?"

"Cedric Diggory."

"That's impossible!" Derrick and William both spat out the words at the same time.

"No it isn't." Madeline sniffed.

"Yes, it is." Daniel said in his calm, even, first grade teacher voice. "Cedric Diggory was killed when he was sixteen years old. There is no record of his having a daughter, as well, it isn't physically possible for him to have fathered and eleven year old."

"Ernie isn't my father." She said. "Everett and I are half brother and sister."

"Assuming you're correct, and Cedric Digory is your father, your mother would have been Cho Chang."

"No, no, no. You have no imagination. They broke up a month and a half before he was killed. Still friends of course. But he started dating my mother right away. She was a year older than my dad so she didn't have to drop out of school."

"Miss Jordan." Elisabeth was startled to hear Nevilles voice. "I knew Cedric Diggory very well. In fact he tutored me in Transfiguration. He dated Cho chang until the day he died and remained faithful to her. I also know your father and he would be very disappointed to hear that you do not consider him to be your biological progenitor."

"You're not allowed to be in here." She said, ignoring him.

"I am head of student affairs. I am allowed to be everywhere." Neville's normally bright voice was soft and somehow menecing.

Then he smiled. "You may have had some trouble explaining your dark colour considering both your mother and Cedric Diggory are white."

Madeline glared at him but said nothing, choosing instead to storm out of the common room.

"Miss Potter, may I borrow you for a moment?"

Elisabeth nodded and followed Neville to the far corner of the common room.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Why did she lie to my like that?"

"Maybe she wanted to get a rise out of you, more likely she just wanted attention. She would have had a tough time pulling off that lie."

"It may have helped if I knew who Cedric Diggory was."

"Did you know about the Tri-Wizard Tournament?"

"Yes." She had read about it in Hermione's book Hogwarts: An Unbiased, Un- glossed over History.

"Well your dad competed in that with Cedric. Cedric was killed by Voldemort in the final task. There have always been mutterings and rumours about how he really died. But those are shady, backstreet stories. Told mostly by Death-Eaters who managed to evade the Kiss."

"Oh. How come you came in here?"

"I forgot my Lumous Ambiades plant in here." He smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, well good night then."

"Good night. And try not to let Madeline get to you. She just wants attention."

Elisabeth nodded and Neville got his plant and left.

She returned to the spot where she had been sitting before to find Will and Derrick threatening to beat Everett up.

"She doesn't listen to me! I swear! I'm sorry! It won't happen again!"

"You guys. Honestly. If you're going to beat anyone up it should be Madeline. But!" she added quickly as the both got up and prepared to lunge after her. "You won't because we're going to put this behind us."

"Lisa-beth! Come on!" Derrick wheedled.

"Yeah! We won't kill her or anything, jeez."

"No. You haven't been here twenty-four hours and already you want a fight. No, no, no."

Will sighed. "Fine."

It was almost 2.00 by the time they went to bed and Elisabeth went with a light heart. Things were looking up.