It was one of the first times in my life that I was scared. I was just waiting here, waiting to see what they would do to me. I assessed the situation, and decided that it was not good at all. In short, I had stumbled upon a world that no one has ever known about at all.
I looked up at the two men arguing in front of me, one was a very, very old man, with a long gray beard, and surprisingly young, spry blue eyes, twinkling behind moon shaped glasses, his argument seemed to be in my favor, so I labeled him the protagonist of my story, and made a note of it in my mind to learn his name, assuming that he won and I could keep my memory. On the other hand, there was a man named Fudge, the one who I had caught in the middle of a spell.
"We cannot allow a muggle, a muggle child no less, to know that we exist." He yelled at the old man. I winced, this guy was really pissing me off.
"But this brings up the question, is it morally correct to deprive someone of their memories of what has happened to them, when we take away a piece of their memory, we leave an unfilled void in their lives, however small." The old man looked sober, and added to his rant in a low voice, "I have never used a memory charm on muggles." Fudge blustered, and turned red in either amazement, or in anger.
"But surely," he wheedled, it would do no harm to this girl to take a small bit of her memory-"
"Excuse me!" I broke in, wizards or not, this was not going to pass, "this girl has a name, it's Devonny!" (actually, I preferred Dev, but I'd let that pass for now), "and there is no way that my memory is being erased, ever!" The old man smiled faintly, and Fudge looked shocked.
"You see that Dumbledore?" Fudge yelled at the old man 'Dumbledore, I thought to myself', "she's from the states as well! We can't let this pass. He raised his stick/wand thing high in the air, and pointed it at me. Before the fat beast could say ANYTHING I grabbed it out of his hands and snapped it in half. Fudge had been angry before, but now he looked like he was going to have a coronary. I threw his broken stick thing back at him.
"Don't EVER insult Americans in front of me, and don't mess with me man, I'm not a good enemy to have." I sat back in the chair where I had been for the last hour or so while I listened to their argument grow. Hopefully this display hadn't changed Dumbledore's mind about me.
I was surprised to find him on the verge of laughter.
"Was it that pathetic?" I asked as Fudge stormed out of the room in the pub, and out of what had seemed to be a solid wall an hour ago.
"Actually, I'm quite surprised at you young lady." Dumbledore said seriously to me, his eyes still twinkling with mirth, "you see, that was about the most insulting thing that you could do to him. When wizards are exiled from the wizarding community, their wands are snapped in half. As you can guess, the fact that you, a muggle snapped his wand is almost overwhelming to him."
"Wicked-shway" I said absently, watching as a strange looking couple walked into the bar, and took a seat at the counter.
"What?" asked Dumbledore at my word
"Oh!" I said, looking up at him apologetically, "it's one of the words that me and my friends in the US adopted, we've made up a new dialect for ourselves." The old dude looked a bit confused at this, so I changed the subject, maybe making up new words wasn't a wizard thing, or an English thing or something. "so, what're you gonna do with me now? I'm not going to let you erase my memory, and if you let me go, I'm not going to tell anyone about your world."
"I have a better idea." Dumbledore told me, "The school that I… run, could use an exchange student, and a muggle from The States would do quite well." I thought about it, a school full of wizards… it sounded dangerous, and scary, and… fun!
"YEAH!" I yelled so that the whole pub turned around to look at me. I took out my cell phone and convinced my parents that this was a great opportunity for me, although I think that they were somewhat "influenced" by Dumbledore's wand. I would be staying there for a year, which worked out well, because all my friends were going on exchanges that year, and staying home would have been lonely.
After the arrangements for my clothes were made (England or not, I am not going to wear "slacks", jeans for me thanx), I was shown up to a room that I was going to be sharing with the girl who was going to be my "student advisor" at Hogwarts. I walked into the room after thanking Dumbledore profusely. Me and my roomy looked each other up and down. The first thing I noticed was the hair, it was well… big, but then again I told myself, you've been known to refer to your own hair as the beast. Actually, this girl looked like my kind of person, unconventional.
"Hi!" I smiled "I'm Dev, McNally." I held out my hand, and then added, "O, and I'm American." The girl looked at me strangely, and shook my hand.
"Hi" she said, "I'm Hermione, and I'm English."
I looked up at the two men arguing in front of me, one was a very, very old man, with a long gray beard, and surprisingly young, spry blue eyes, twinkling behind moon shaped glasses, his argument seemed to be in my favor, so I labeled him the protagonist of my story, and made a note of it in my mind to learn his name, assuming that he won and I could keep my memory. On the other hand, there was a man named Fudge, the one who I had caught in the middle of a spell.
"We cannot allow a muggle, a muggle child no less, to know that we exist." He yelled at the old man. I winced, this guy was really pissing me off.
"But this brings up the question, is it morally correct to deprive someone of their memories of what has happened to them, when we take away a piece of their memory, we leave an unfilled void in their lives, however small." The old man looked sober, and added to his rant in a low voice, "I have never used a memory charm on muggles." Fudge blustered, and turned red in either amazement, or in anger.
"But surely," he wheedled, it would do no harm to this girl to take a small bit of her memory-"
"Excuse me!" I broke in, wizards or not, this was not going to pass, "this girl has a name, it's Devonny!" (actually, I preferred Dev, but I'd let that pass for now), "and there is no way that my memory is being erased, ever!" The old man smiled faintly, and Fudge looked shocked.
"You see that Dumbledore?" Fudge yelled at the old man 'Dumbledore, I thought to myself', "she's from the states as well! We can't let this pass. He raised his stick/wand thing high in the air, and pointed it at me. Before the fat beast could say ANYTHING I grabbed it out of his hands and snapped it in half. Fudge had been angry before, but now he looked like he was going to have a coronary. I threw his broken stick thing back at him.
"Don't EVER insult Americans in front of me, and don't mess with me man, I'm not a good enemy to have." I sat back in the chair where I had been for the last hour or so while I listened to their argument grow. Hopefully this display hadn't changed Dumbledore's mind about me.
I was surprised to find him on the verge of laughter.
"Was it that pathetic?" I asked as Fudge stormed out of the room in the pub, and out of what had seemed to be a solid wall an hour ago.
"Actually, I'm quite surprised at you young lady." Dumbledore said seriously to me, his eyes still twinkling with mirth, "you see, that was about the most insulting thing that you could do to him. When wizards are exiled from the wizarding community, their wands are snapped in half. As you can guess, the fact that you, a muggle snapped his wand is almost overwhelming to him."
"Wicked-shway" I said absently, watching as a strange looking couple walked into the bar, and took a seat at the counter.
"What?" asked Dumbledore at my word
"Oh!" I said, looking up at him apologetically, "it's one of the words that me and my friends in the US adopted, we've made up a new dialect for ourselves." The old dude looked a bit confused at this, so I changed the subject, maybe making up new words wasn't a wizard thing, or an English thing or something. "so, what're you gonna do with me now? I'm not going to let you erase my memory, and if you let me go, I'm not going to tell anyone about your world."
"I have a better idea." Dumbledore told me, "The school that I… run, could use an exchange student, and a muggle from The States would do quite well." I thought about it, a school full of wizards… it sounded dangerous, and scary, and… fun!
"YEAH!" I yelled so that the whole pub turned around to look at me. I took out my cell phone and convinced my parents that this was a great opportunity for me, although I think that they were somewhat "influenced" by Dumbledore's wand. I would be staying there for a year, which worked out well, because all my friends were going on exchanges that year, and staying home would have been lonely.
After the arrangements for my clothes were made (England or not, I am not going to wear "slacks", jeans for me thanx), I was shown up to a room that I was going to be sharing with the girl who was going to be my "student advisor" at Hogwarts. I walked into the room after thanking Dumbledore profusely. Me and my roomy looked each other up and down. The first thing I noticed was the hair, it was well… big, but then again I told myself, you've been known to refer to your own hair as the beast. Actually, this girl looked like my kind of person, unconventional.
"Hi!" I smiled "I'm Dev, McNally." I held out my hand, and then added, "O, and I'm American." The girl looked at me strangely, and shook my hand.
"Hi" she said, "I'm Hermione, and I'm English."