Disclaimer: I only own Liliana Grey and some of the plot. The rest belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am not making money off of this and have no intention of doing so. This is just for fun. :-)

*Chapter Three*

When Liliana and Ron reached the door, they only hesitated to knock. The pair exchanged brief looks of uncertainty and Liliana tentatively pushed open the door. She murmured a quick, "Hello?" and then walked in. She ushered Ron into the room after her and quietly shut the door behind them.

"Would you mind waiting with me... at least until Dumbledore gets here?" she asked meekly. "That is, I mean, if you don't have anything else to do now..."

"No," he answered shortly, "No... Er... What I meant was, I don't have anything to do for a little while... at least not until break is over..." He was blushing furiously now, and wish as he might that the color would fade from his face, or that he would disappear all together, Liliana noticed it.

"Are you all right?" she asked kindly. "You're absolutely flushed."

Ron's brain was frantically searching for a plausible excuse for his behavior, "I'm not feeling too well," he blurted.

"Oh. Is it a fever?" Her expression quickly changed from sympathy to worry.

"Maybe..." he began, "but it's probably nothing," he added after seeing the concern on her face.

"Nonsense..." She took out her wand and touched the tip of it to his nose.

"What are you doing?" he asked anxiously.

"Just stay still..." she smiled reassuringly, "Temperantia Medic-"

"What do you think you're doing?" demanded Hermione from the doorway. She and Harry had just come through the door and had only seen Liliana with her wand dangerously close to Ron's nose. "Well?"

"I'm getting rid of his fever..." answered Liliana defensively.

"What fever?" asked Hermione skeptically, as she strode over to Ron and placed her hand on his forehead. "Oh, well he is a bit warm..." she began with unease, "but where do you get off trying to heal him? What do you think you are? A mediwitch or something?"

"No. A healer in training..." she replied frankly, "now would you mind?"

"Go on then," said Hermione as she stepped away and crossed her arms over her chest. "If you do anything other than make him better..." she trailed off precariously.

"Ready?" Liliana asked Ron. After a quick glance at a livid Hermione, he nodded. "O.K. then, Temperantia Medicosa!" Ron felt a wave of coolness surge up from the heels of his feet and wash over his face. "Better?" she asked modestly.

He conjured a mirror, "much better." Ron looked back to Hermione and laughed to himself. She was still fuming and now muttering something under her breath about a "show off, whelk faced" someone or other.

"Are you really training to be a healer?" asked Harry curiously, from the doorway.

"I do believe that she took a few supplementary classes in school last year..." said Professor Dumbledore from behind Harry.

"Oh. Hello there Professor," he replied, as he stepped away from the door to allow Dumbledore to pass.

"Good Afternoon Harry, Miss. Granger, Mr. Weasley, Liliana," said Dumbledore pleasantly as his eyes swept the room. "I suppose you received my note," he said specifically to Liliana as he took his place behind his grand desk.

"I suppose we'll all be going now," interjected Hermione hastily as she headed towards the door.

"Not yet," said Ron bravely, "if it's all right with you Professor, I have a few questions..." Dumbledore lowered his head once in agreement. "First of which; who is she?" with that Ron looked apologetically to Liliana and then expectantly back to Dumbledore.

"Your confusion is just Mr. Weasley," began Dumbledore as he removed his spectacles. "I'd forgotten that you, Miss. Granger, and Harry were in my office during the Sorting..." he now turned his attention to Liliana, "did I mention to you that these three students know about the Order as well?"

"I don't think you did," she responded, a bit startled at Dumbledore's sudden address. Her attention was focused on a shadowy figure moving about in the doorway.

Dumbledore now shifted his gaze back to the trio. "No need to be alarmed," he said to Harry who was slightly taken aback at Dumbledore's mention of the Order. "Liliana is quite familiar with the Order as her parents a part of the ABOP."

"The ABOP?" asked Ron incredulously.

"Yes," stated Dumbledore plainly.

"It stands for the American Branch of the Order of the Phoenix," added Liliana.

"Indeed it does. And as it remains, Liliana's parents will be away on assignment for... well they will be away for quite a while and since she's staying with her grandmother that happens to live in London, she will be attending Hogwarts this semester as a sixth year. And due to the fact that she will only be with us for one year, I'm allowing her to choose her own house. The plan is for her to spend three meals with each house and then on Friday evening she will make her decision," Dumbledore paused and smiled, "How were Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff dear?"

"They were fine," she replied wearily, "I'm just soo exhausted."

"Is time not treating you well?" asked Dumbledore with the familiar sparkle dancing in his eyes.

"No. It hasn't been treating me well at all. Can you tell?" she asked sarcastically, sweeping her hand around her face.

"And I'm just assuming when I say that you haven't been using your pensieve either..."

"No. I haven't had the time to use it..."

"Well one can only hope that you'll have the time to read a letter from your parents," said Dumbledore cheerily, as he pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket.

"Where are they?" she asked emotionlessly.

"You know that if I could tell you I would."

Liliana rolled her eyes, "But you can't, probably for my own good I suppose... I'm not sure that I want that letter anymore," she said, folding her arms like a rebellious child.

"But would you care to know what the letter entails?"

"Go on."

"When your parents discovered that your sister had decided to stay with her friend in New York, they were beside themselves to say least. The letter was simply to prepare you for her arrival..."

"O.K. Maybe I will read the letter..." she grinned as she took the letter from Dumbledore. "Arrival where? Here?" she asked loudly, scanning the first few lines of the letter, her eyes bright with excitement... "When's the third?"

"If I'm not mistaken, today is September third."

"What?"

"Kathryn..." called Dumbledore as he extended his arm to the small hooded figure in the doorway. Four heads snapped around to see the figure lower its hood, revealing a smaller and doubly better groomed version of Liliana.

"Kitty!" exclaimed Liliana, as she ran over and embraced her sister. "What are you doing here?"

"Ileana and Dad didn't want me to stay with Heather anymore. They said that her parents weren't capable of taking care of me... 'What if something happened? They wouldn't know what to do... It's for your own safety Katherine,'" she said, imitating her mother's stern voice. She seemed close to tears. "And now Heather isn't speaking to me..."

"Heather doesn't matter..." said Liliana warmly. "You look so pretty," she commented, surveying her baby sister's face.

"And you don't," returned Kitty bluntly.

"I've been extremely busy. You couldn't even begin to imagine how much I've been doing lately..."

Hermione cleared her throat loudly.

"What?" asked Liliana curtly.

"Hi," said Kitty sweetly before shooting her sister a frown and going over to introduce herself to Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

"So how are you going to sort her?" asked Liliana once the introductions had been made and everyone had gotten comfortable in seats in front of Dumbledore's desk. Moments earlier, Kitty had pointed her wand at Liliana and exclaimed, "Belez Refresque!" The spell erased the dark circles from her older sister's face and fixed her hair into an polished ponytail. The spell had also noticeably improved Liliana's mood.

"Please let me use the Sorting Hat!" squealed Kitty excitedly.

"Yes, let her..." said Liliana. "The hat's sort of put off because I'm choosing my own house. He's not speaking to anyone..." she explained. Instinctively, everyone's gaze traveled to the shelf where the hat usually sat. In his place was a simple black hat box bearing the sign, *Do Not Disturb.*

"I think that's a splendid idea, and why don't we do it now? We've got a great audience, and this way the elves will know where to put your belongings." Dumbledore glided over the shelf and whispered something to the box. The Sorting Hat sprung out, landing on a desk. He looked around and cracked an odd, lopsided smile.

"Well Well," it said, "who do we have here?"

"This is Katherine Grey, Liliana's sister," beamed the Headmaster, "she'll be joining us this semester as well..."

"A third year I presume..." asked the hat, while staring intently at Kitty.

"Nope!" she exclaimed proudly. "I'm a fourth-year, just because I'm a bit advanced," she said with a slight trace of modesty.

"Intelligence..." muttered the hat. Dumbledore gently lifted the frail hat and placed it on Kitty's head.

"No song?" she asked aloud. Hermione and Liliana laughed, then stopped abruptly and glared at each other.

"Definitely cunning," said the hat, "maybe Slytherin..."

"Which one is Slytherin again?" interrupted Kitty.

"Never mind that," began the hat, "maybe Hufflepuff... No... AHA!" Everyone watched with bated breath. "Ravenclaw!"

"That was... fun," said Katherine distractedly, as Dumbledore removed the hat.

Harry groaned. "We've got Herbology with the Hufflepuffs in exactly five minutes. I guess we'll be seeing you around then..." he said, standing up to leave.

"Harry, would you and Ron take Liliana to class with you? I expect it's high time for her to get to know Gryffindor a bit better. And Katherine, Dobby is waiting just outside to take you to the Ravenclaw Commons room. Samantha Crane is one of the prefects there and she'll be expecting you. You all may leave, but I would like a word with you, Hermione."

So they descended the stairs in pairs. Ron and Harry walked very slowly so that they could mouth *why* to Hermione. She responded with a look of confusion and shrugged.

When they reached level ground, Katherine had already left and Liliana was just bending down to tie her shoelaces.

"Hey Liliana..." said Harry slowly, "how'd you and Ron get in?"

"Well..." she began, getting back up. As she reached her full height, the gargoyle that she had dealt with earlier reached out to grab her around the neck. Ron pulled her away just in time and she yelled.

"You O.K.?" Ron laughed nervously, he felt his face reddening since he had pulled her right into his chest.

"Thanks Ron, I'm fine... but would you..." she asked politely, indicating his arms, which were wrapped tightly around her waist.

"Oh. Sorry..." he muttered; his face going from crimson to white.

"Hmmph!" exclaimed Hermione as she turned on her heel and stormed off down the hall.

A/N: Finally! Whew... that one chapter took me forever... hope you liked it. Please Review... I think I could use some betas for my later chapters... Anyone interested? I hope so... :-)Well review please...