Riddle

Chapter Seven

The room was bedecked in red and gold. There was a massive fireplace with a fire dancing merrily. There were places for students to work and worn sofas for relaxing. The floor was made of a dark wood and there were several rugs throughout the room. The room was circular with paintings adorning the walls. Ivy gasped when she saw one of them move. There were people milling about, catching up with friends and Ivy saw a couple in a dark corner making out.

Neville pointed to a stairwell only visible through a doorway in the stone wall.
"That leads to the girls dormitory and over there,"
He pointed to another stairwell cut out of the stone wall,
"Leads to the boys dormitory.'"
Ivy nodded and followed Neville to the sofa facing the fireplace. There were a couple of second years sitting there but they took one glance at Harry and scrambled. Harry's shoulders sagged.

The sofa was worn and sagged in the middle, there were beaten light yellow pillows which was a contrast to the red of the sofa. Ivy sunk down, jamming herself in the corner, feeling her body relax. She could not believe that it had only been this morning when she had been on the train with the Matron. She closed her eyes and breathed in. The room was exactly what she imagined a family home would look like. Well loved. She smiled slightly.

She opened her eyes to find Neville looking at her.
"What?"
He blushed and quickly turned his gaze to the fire,
"Nothing." He said turning back to her and smile playing on his lips. Ivy tried not to stare.

Harry looked at them and sighed deeply.
"Why am I always in the middle?"
He muttered to himself.

The portrait swung open and the first years entered chattering away. Hermione and Ron followed them, arguing. They came to join Harry, Neville, and Ivy by the fire. Hermione dropped into an armchair and glared at Ron. He shrugged and sat next to Harry.
"The whole school is talking about you Ivy." Ron said.
"Don't listen to him, they will realise you're not you father soon enough. You were put in Gryffindor for heaves sake!" Hermione told Ivy.

Ivy gulped not really sure what Hermione meant.
"Was he not?"
"Of course not! He was evil so he was in Slytherin!" Ron pointed out.

"Are all Slytherins evil?" She asked.
"Yes!"
"No."
Ivy looked at Ron and Neville confused.
"They get a bad rep because that is the house were Voldemort and his death eaters were in. And its where their children are too." Neville explained, "Peter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor, and he was Voldemort's most loyal servant."
Ron looked shocked.
"Never really thought of it that way." Harry said mildly.

Ron caught sight of Ginny talking to a guy, his face turned red
"Its past your bedtime off to bed!" He shouted across to her.

Ginny rolled her eyes and waved to the guy she had been talking to. Ivy tried not to laugh as Ron turned purple.
"She can do what she wants you know." Hermione told Ron "She is allowed to date whoever she wants to. You can't do anything about that."
"I'm her brother I have to protect her!"
"I think she can protect herself." Neville mumbled. Ron glared at him and he hastily added "Everyone knows that she has you as a brother and wouldn't dare hurt her!"

Hermione laughed openly while Ivy and Harry tried to conceal their grins. Ron looked suspiciously at Neville who looked slightly panicked. Hermione sighed,
"Plus you know Fred and George the two Gryffindor beaters and best pranksters in Hogwarts."
Ron looked annoyed but kept his mouth shut.

They sat there talking while the common room slowly emptied out. Hermione finally got up,
"If you don't go to bed now you will never be able to get up in time for breakfast tomorrow!"
Ron laughed but immediately regretted it when Hermione chucked a pillow at his head.
"All of you off to bed!"
Ron rubbed his head and made his way up to the boys dormitory followed by Harry and Neville.
Neville waved goodbye to Ivy.

Ivy followed Hermione up to the fifth years dormitory. They had to climb up the winding staircase passing four doors on the way up. By the time they reached the fifth one Ivy was out of breath. The dormitory had six four poster beds which filled the circular room. In the middle of the room was a circular rug with the Gryffindor crest on it. Each girl had a bedside table and a wardrobe beside their bed.
Hermione went over to her bed. The bedside table was crammed with books and Ivy could see that Hemione had put up shelves also filled with books above her headboard.
"There is a spare bed next to me which must be for you as it wasn't there before."
Hermione pointed to a plain bed which no personal belongings on it.
"We can go to Hogsmeade and buy you some personal stuff to help you feel at home." Hermione said brightly.

Ivy nodded and dumped her leather bag next to what was now her bed. She kicked off her shoes and sat down on the bed with a sigh. It was much more comfortable that the metal framed one she had had at the orphanage.
"If there are any belongings you want from the orphanage, I'm sure we can find a way to get them." Hermione continued.
"I didn't really have much at the orphanage. Anything I felt attached to I learned pretty quick to keep on me. Jimmy is like a magpie he can't resist shiny things." She said laughing at the memory of finding Jimmy going through her drawers looking for old chocolate wrappers. "And I don't have any money to buy anything nice."
"You deserve to have at least something!" Hermione told her.
"She doesn't deserve anything!"
They turned.

A girl sat on a patchwork quilt, glaring at Ivy. She had curly brown hair, pale skin with pink undertones and had her hair in two short plaits with a headband keeping her hair out her face. She wore a pale pink pyjama set. Hermione glared right back at her.
"Ivy has done nothing wrong! Lavender," Hermione crossed her arms.
Lavender rolled her eyes,
"Isn't it a bit of a coincidence that Dumbledore goes around telling everyone You-know-who is back and when nobody believes him suddenly You-know-who's daughter is suddenly appeared at Hogwarts?"
Hermione narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath,
"Voldemort," Lavender flinched, "is back. He killed Cedric and almost killed Harry. If you believe the daily prophet over what you saw you must be stupid because we all saw Cedric's body and if you believe that Harry killed him, Harry the boy you have known for over four years now then you should be ashamed of yourself!"
Lavender looked sheepish. Ivy noticed the other girls in the dorm listening in. She could see the cold looks they were giving her.
"I'm sorry,' she blurted out, "For whatever my dad did to you. I get that those words probably seem very empty, but I mean them. I understand if you do not wish to have anything to do with me but that says a lot about you. If you want to think I'm evil go ahead. I won't lose any sleep" Ivy shrugged.

"You can't blame her for what her father has done! She didn't even know she was a witch before the hat said" Hermione added.
Everyone in the room was staring at her. Still slightly fearful but more curious,
"You truly had no clue you were a witch?" Lavender asked.
"No clue."
Lavender nodded but didn't say anything else. Ivy took a deep breath and settled on her bed.
"The house elves brought you up some sleeping wear and some school robes." A girl -with long raven black hair and reddish brown skin, wearing a oversized hoodie which a team Ivy didn't recognise printed on it- pointed to a parcel of clothes left neatly on the window sill beside Ivy's bed.
"Thank you!"
The girl nodded and went back to reading her book.

As Ivy was pulling the curtains round her bed shut, she heard Lavender and the other girl whispering about her.
"She doesn't seem that bad."
"She could be working for You-know-who!"
"She seems lost. We should get to know her. We can at least make sure that if she is working for You-know-who we are on her good side!"
Ivy shut her curtains quickly and tried to ignore the whispering. She didn't want people to be fake nice to her in case she was working for Voldemort. She wasn't sure if that was better than openly being scared of her.
She closed her eyes trying to shut down her mind but she lay awake listening to the other girls breathing.