A/N: So here's the second chapter! I hope you enjoy, and please review! If you see any inconsistencies with the storyline, or just bad grammar, please tell me! I accept constructive criticism. ;)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
-:-
"I'm sorry," I giggle nervously, "I don't usually do that." Meaning pass out.
Once I came back to consciousness for the second time, the very confused Weasley twins moved me to a chair and gave me a bottle that said "Butterbeer" on the side. When I took a sip, warmth spread through my body, just like I had read in the books.
When I realized that the people I was speaking to were Harry Potter characters, I was sure I was going crazy. I was going crazy, or this was all a dream.
I chose to believe the latter.
Not wanting to have to explain that I had come from a completely different world and time period, I just told the twins that I couldn't remember anything but being chased. This could have been true, it wasn't like I had any life before now. They had taken it alright, and Fred thought it might be a memory charm.
It was so surreal seeing them. They looked exactly like I had imagined when I had read the books a few years ago. From the way I seemed to be in their joke shop, I could be in any book from the Order of the Phoenix to maybe the very first part of the Deathly Hallows, but I hadn't read the books in awhile, so I couldn't exactly tell.
The next day, Fred and George take me to the Burrow (which looks almost exactly how I pictured it in the books), where we are greeted by Mrs. Weasley. "Oh hello dear, you must be Lauren." She says once she opens the door. "Come in, come in!"
I had stayed the night in their shop, while the Weasley twins decided on what to do. Exhausted from the nights events (not to mention fainting twice), I just listened quietly, interjecting only a few times. It was then that they decided to send an owl to Mrs. Weasley, which is how I ended up here today.
Once she sat us down at the kitchen table and we explained what had happened, it was decided that I would stay there for the day while Fred and George attended to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. I agreed, not sure what else I could do.
"We'll come back." Fred promised before they disapparated.
After they're gone, Mrs. Weasley sighs. "Those boys, always so busy. I'm so worried that they're going to get into trouble, with all that's going on."
"What's going on?" I say, still feigning amnesia.
"Well there's the matter that You-Know-Who is back of course," she says with a shudder as she moves about the kitchen, "There's so many Dark Wizards about..." she informs me about various happenings that have given the Order (although she doesn't mention the name, I just assume) and her husband trouble. All things that I remembered mostly from the books, just in more detail.
I follow Mrs. Weasley around the house for the rest of the day, picking up tidbits of information. During these conversations I have learned that:
1. Sirius Black is dead, and it is the beginning of the summer, meaning that I arrived in the Potterverse at the end of OOTP and HBP, which is a shame really because he was one of my favorite characters in the series.
2. Harry Potter will arrive in July.
3. Hermione should come a bit earlier, probably late June.
4. I still have no idea how I got here.
I meet Ginny Weasley when she comes down the stairs at 10am, Ron following a few hours later around noon.
"Ginny, dear, this is Lauren, she'll be staying with us for a little while." Mrs. Weasley says as she hands Ginny a plate of toast.
"Blimey." Ron says, his mouth full of toast, when I'm introduced to him and explain how I got here to him and his sister, "D'you think it has somefink to do wif You-Know-Who?"
"Oh don't be silly." Mrs. Weasley snaps, "It was probably just a memory charm. She'll come around once we get someone from the Or- someone to look at it."
I'm certain that she was about to say the Order of the Phoenix. This is getting more and more interesting.
"So do you have a wand?" Ron wants to know.
"Er, no." I admit. "I don't have one now and... can't remember using one." This lying was getting harder.
Ginny and Ron looked at me sympathetically.
Fred and George come back in the evening to have dinner and check on me.
"Remember anything yet?" George asks me.
"Nothing." I lie.
I eat dinner with them - the food's delicious - and Mrs. Weasley insists that I take Fred and George's old room to sleep in tonight.
"I insist." She says, "We've got plenty of room."
Mr. Weasley is back by now, and after meeting and explaining how I got there (it's becoming quite repetitive), he welcomes me in their home too.
I'm grateful for their kindness, and fall asleep almost instantly that night. However, before I'm unconscious, thoughts of Paul flit through my mind, and of my old life. I wonder, how am I going to get back?
And then, a few seconds later a smaller voice says, do I even want to?
-:-
A month later, I'm starting to become accustomed to my new life.
Realizing that I haven't "recovered" my memories yet, Fred and George offered me a temporary job in their store. While I did like staying at the Burrow, I did like to get out of the house now and then. It was a dream working in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. I loved the magic of it. I had began to love magic in general, actually. At least all of it that I had seen so far.
At night, I'm back at the Burrow. I talk to Ginny more and get to know her better. She informs me about her life, her love life (it's actually extremely hard for me not to mention Harry a lot, but I don't want to mess with the storyline). I tell her small things I "remember" from my old life.
I'm saving up the money I earn, keeping it in a pouch in my room back at the Burrow. I don't know what to spend it on, but I'm sure I'll find something later.
One day while I'm working, Fred approaches me. "C'mon, we're going on a break." he says.
I follow him obediently out of the store in to Diagon Alley. Although it's a bit darker - there are more questionable people out on the street - I still enjoy seeing it. Knowing that it's real.
It takes me a moment before I realize where he's leading me. Olivander's. The shop where you can buy a magic wand.
"George and I were thinking that you should have one." he explains, "Since you don't, and can't remember having one anyway."
I shake my head, "I forgot my money."
"We'll pay." he insists, "As a present for working so hard."
"I can't."
"Don't make me force you." He raises his eyebrows.
I concede, because I've always wanted to try this.
Olivander's still in his shop, and the book was right, his eyes are kind of creepy. But he shows me a selection of wands, and let's me try them out.
Nervous, I try out a few, and to my surprise they work! Well, not the way they're supposed to, but it surprises me that I get a response out of them. I suppose that moving to this world has allowed me to pick up magic too. This delights me to no end.
Finally, I find a wand that suits me. "Birch, 10 inches with a dragon heartstring core." Olivander says, "Swishy."
"Thank you." I say as we leave the shop. "It's wonderful!" Since Paul and I were always short on money, we never got presents, and on the rare occasion that we could they were never as wonderful as this. It's the best thing anyone has ever given to me.
Before I realize what I'm doing, I hug him. He's taller than me, so it's a bit awkward, but after a few seconds of surprise he hugs me back. I break away after a few seconds, trying not to blush, but I notice him grinning.
I spend the rest of the day in a great mood. Fred and George say they'll help me learn a few spells later, and that makes me excited. For the first time, I'm actually happy.