Laura awoke to her mum pushing her softly; cooing her name.
"Come on Laura, it's time to get up"
Laura groaned and sat up, rubbing her head; "what time is it?"
"It's half-ten"
"...Ok"
Mrs King motioned towards a hot cup of tea on Laura's bedside table before leaving. Laura rolled out of bed and slumped in her desk chair. The first thing she noticed was her laptop was missing.
"What the...I didn't pack it did I?" she mumbled, looking round. She then noticed her TV and DVD player weren't there. She jumped up and looked around her room.
"Laura! Are you going to wash yourself?" Mrs King shouted up the stairs.
"Mum! Where's my stuff?"
"You packed it dear!"
"No, my TV! And Laptop!"
"Your what?"
"My TV! You know!"
"No dear I don't. Hurry up and jump in the shower, we've got to leave in about ten minutes"
Laura sighed and went to the bathroom. As she stood idly in the shower she could hear her parents talking downstairs.
"I have to go back to the Ministry after we've taken her to school"
"She said something about a, uh, TV? What is it?"
"Oh, it's a muggle artefact I think..."
"Why on Earth would she have one of those? She's gone right round the bend!"
Mr King laughed; "she'll be fine"
"...Did my dad just say muggle? This is a dream! I'll wake up in a minute and I'll have wet the bed" Laura said to herself.
"Can you hear her up there Henry? Talking to herself now"
Mr King laughed again; "leave her be Penny, she'll be right as reign when she comes down"
Laura hurried getting ready and pulled some clothes on. She downed her tea which had cooled down and practically jumped down the entire flight of stairs. The house looked different but she couldn't tell how, things were just different.
"You ready Laura?" her dad called from the front room. Laura wandered into the front room to find it a completely different room. Every electrical appliance was gone, there was a huge gothic fireplace in the middle of the opposite wall, and everything was a deep shade of burgundy instead of cream.
"Uh...What's going on?"
Her parents smiled confoundedly; "what are you talking about dear?" her mum asked.
"Everything's different..."
"...No it's not...Now come on, we're already late, Dumbledore won't wait forever"
"Dumble-what? Dumbledore?"
"Yes dear, now come on! Take some Floo powder, and it's Dumbledore's Office, Hogwarts, ok?"
Laura couldn't move, she couldn't believe anything that she was hearing. It was like...She was in Harry Potter! Suddenly she couldn't be more excited. She jumped over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of powder. She made sure she spoke loudly and clearly, she didn't want to end up in Knockturn Alley!
"Dumbledore's Office! Hogwarts!"
She threw the powder into the gren flames and was gone. She could feel herself being transported and in a second was standing in a different fireplace. She stepping into the round room and looked round.
"Oh my God I'm in Dumbledores office!" she hissed quietly to herself.
"Ahh, I was beginning to think you weren't coming!" a voice said behind her. She spun round to see Dumbledore coming down a small flight of stairs. Just then her dad appeared in the fireplace beside her with her trunk, followed shortly by her mum.
"Henry! Penelope! Lovely to see you, and this must be young Laura"
"Professor Dumbledore, thank you for taking her in so late in the term"
Dumbledore smiled; "it's only November, and under circumstances such as this, she's more than welcome"
"Thank you so much"
Just then there was a knock at the door and four people entered.
"And here they are; Laura, these are the heads of houses, we can sort you now..."
"Oh my God! It's McGonagall! And Slughorn!" she thought to herself. McGonagall motioned towards a stool as Dumbeldore went to get the Sorting Hat. Ten minutes ago she was just a boring old muggle who had nothing interesting ever happen to her. Now, she was going to Hogwarts!
"Are you ready? Let's get you sorted" Dumbledore said before placing the hat on her head.
"Ah-hah! A newcomer eh? A bit late too...Now...What shall we do with you? You're very loyal, and open-minded, and also quite brave...But you can be quite reckless at times can't you? I'll have to decide on...GRYFFINDOR!"
Laura breathed a loud sigh of relief, horrified at the thought of nearly being placed in Hufflepuff.
"Congratulations, I'll be your Head of House" McGonagall said shaking her hand. Laura smiled.
"Now, I just have a few things to run through with you, and then you can go and settle in"
Dumbledore ran her through the school rules, what was expected of her, where she was and wasn't allowed to go, be sending her off with McGonagall whilst he spoke to her parents.
"Be good! We expect great things" her dad said pulling her into a hug before she left.
"Don't forget to write! We'll send Archimedes when we get home with your gift" her mum said pulling her away from her dad.
"Archimedes?"
Her parents laughed; "your owl silly!"
Laura laughed along too; "oh yeah...I'm not really awake yet"
"What are we going to do with you"
"Leave me in the capable hands of this school?"
Dumbledore smiled; "anyway, we have things to discuss, if you'll follow Professor McGonagall"
Laura nodded and followed her out of the office and through the corridors to her office. On the was she asked another boy to accompany them.
"Now Miss King, there's just a few things I have to run you through, your timetable..."
McGonagall pulled a piece of parchment from a pile and handed it to her. "for now there's a map on the back in case you get lost, but if you are unsure, ask any Gryffindor, or try to collar Remus here, being Prefect it's his duty to assist anyone..."
Laura tried hard to contain her squeal of delight. She was at Hogwarts, with the Marauders! She found it hard to pay attention after finding out she was stood next to Remus Lupin, she kept sneaking glances at him, he looked exactly like she imagined.
"And you may go now, Remus, you'll take her to the common room and show her where she's to sleep?"
Remus nodded and looked at Laura; "coming?"
Laura couldn't help but grin and followed Remus out of McGonagalls office.
"So...How come you're late coming here? I've never known anyone to join in 5th year"
"Um...I was home-schooled, and, my tutor died, and we couldn't find another one, so, I was accepted here"
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that"
"Don't be...I've always wanted to come here"
He smiled; "you'll love it here, it's actually magical! Like they describe in fairy tales"
Laura smiled too; "I have a vague idea..."
They finally got to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Password?"
"Pennifold"
The portrait swung open and they stepped in. Laura gasped at how amazing the common room looked. The films didn't do it justice. The sofas and chairs were covered in red velvet with gold trimmings, as were the tapestries and drapes. The furniture was very grand, the fireplace was nearly twice the size as the one at her own house. The common room was very big and roomy, with a couple of students sat around, reading or talking. One of the students sat in the armchair by the fire looked familiar.
"Hey Lily! Come here a minute" Remus called. She looked up and smiled before coming over.
"Oh my God it's Lily Evans! No way!" Laura shouted inside her head.
"This is Laura, she's new...Can you show her the girls dorm?" Remus asked.
"Of course, follow me" Lily smiled. Laura grinned to herself and followed Lily up a staircase. They stopped at the third door and went in.
"This is our dorm, oh look, your things are here already"
Laura smiled; "thank you"
"It's perfectly fine, and my duty, I'm prefect"
Laura nodded; "nice"
"Would you like me to show you around?"
"Oh, I don't want to put you out"
"It's no problem, I was only reading, come on"
They went back down to the common room, Remus as still there.
"All settled?"
Laura nodded; "just about"
"I'm taking her on a tour of the castle, fancy coming along?" Lily asked. Remus shrugged.
"Sure, Nothing better to do seeing as James and Sirius are in detention"
"What for this time?"
"Another dungbomb outside the Slytherin common room"
"They're so childish!"
"Anyway Laura, sorry, we went off a bit there...Coming?"
