Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except for Vriti Jain.
A/N: This is in fifth year.
Harry lay back on his bed in the Leaky Cauldron, going over all the recent happenings. Sirius, his godfather, who was an escaped convict for a murder he'd never done, had sent a letter by owl telling him to take the Knight Bus to the Leaky Cauldron. Usually his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would have never let him go, but this time there was Sirius. Earlier in the summer, Harry had told the Dursleys that he had an escaped murderer for a godfather, and had conveniently forgotten to tell them that he was innocent. On the other hand, the Dursleys were probably glad to get rid of him for a whole month.
Anyway, for whatever reason, the Dursleys had decided to let him go, as long as they had nothing to do with it. So, that morning he had taken all of his belongings, and had flagged down the Knight Bus with his wand. As usual, Stan Shunpike, the conductor, and Ernie the driver greeted him. This time, he didn't get hot chocolate, as it had spilled all over him when Ernie turned sharply, or a toothbrush, as it was morning.
Finally when he got to the Leaky Cauldron, he was led up to Room 11 by Tom, the toothless old innkeeper, where Hedwig, his snowy owl, waited on the mantelpiece.
It was the early afternoon, so Harry decided to go and walk around in Diagon Alley. It was too early in the summer to have gotten his list of supplies form Hogwarts. However, his robes were getting a bit short, and he needed to get more money from Gringotts, the wizarding bank run by goblins.
As Harry walked out the room, he bumped in to something. He was about to say sorry, but there was no one there. Instead, there was a distinct "thud". "Oops, sorry" said a strange sounding voice, "I was testing out my new invisibility cloak."
A few moments later a head appeared. The head, which apparently was a girl, had long black hair hanging down in two braids and bronze colored skin. She was very pretty, and was smiling. Her hands appeared, and took off the cloak. She was wearing light blue robes with gold embroidery on the sleeves and neck.
"I'm very sorry," she said.
"It's okay" he replied, "Where are you from? I don't recognize your accent."
The girl grinned, "I'm from Chapel Hill, North Carolina."
"Where?" Harry asked.
"Oh," she said, taking in Harry's puzzled expression, "It's in the United States. By the way, my name is Vriti Jain. You must be Harry Potter."
Harry didn't ask how she knew his name. "Pleased to meet you Vriti. Would you like to go down to Diagon Alley?"
"Of course, but perhaps we should go eat lunch first."
Harry and Vriti went down to eat lunch downstairs. As they ordered, they talked a lot.
"What school are you going to?" Harry asked.
"Hogwarts, I was looking forward to meeting you. Since I went to a wizarding school in the US, I'll be in fourth year. What year are you in?"
"Fourth. Any idea what house you'll be in?"
"I'm supposed to be in Gryffindor."
At that moment Hedwig and an unfamiliar eagle owl flew in. The eagle owl flew to Vriti, who gave it a bit of her pumpkin juice and some bread, after taking off the letter. Harry did the same. Harry opened the letter, and recognized Ron's untidy scrawl.
Harry,
Mum wants to invite you to some sort of a ball. It's by invitation only, and all the Ministry members, with their families are invited. Dad got us three extra tickets, one for you, one for Hermione, and one for some girl that's a year younger than us, who's going to be in Hogwarts next year in fourth year. She's the granddaughter of the Minister of Magic in India, and she's from the US. See if you can meet her, she's probably staying at the Leaky Cauldron. You also need some dress robes. Mum says you can get them form Madam Malkin's Robes for all occasions.
Ron
Harry hoped that Vriti was the granddaughter of the Minister of Magic. It would be fun to go to a ball with her. On the other hand, he had no idea how to dance. There was an image going through his head of himself in a top hat and tails, accompanied by a girl in the sort of frilly dress Aunt Petunia always wore to Uncle Vernon's work parties. But, he had to go.
"Um, Vriti?"
"Yes?"
"Are you the granddaughter of the Indian Minister of Magic"
She turned pink. "Yes. Why?"
"I was, um, wondering if you were going to the ball with the Weasleys."
"Oh, is that all?"
"Um, I was also wondering if you knew how to dance."
"Of course. In India I always have to go to parties. I've been taking lessons for a little while now. You want me to teach you?"
"Yes. Will you?"
"Of course I will. Let's go to Diagon Alley."
"OK."
A/N: This fic was a lot of fun. Please review.