A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! And yes, there was a hint of romance in there. But will anything come from that? You'll have to read to find out.
Jenalla-your the greatest! Thanks so much!
Wacky-Tarz- thanks for the review! I'll have to check out your story sometime!
Makatochi- thanks for your understanding.
*~~~Chapter 9: A heart to heart talk, and an exam~~~*
As Laurali walked into her room at the Leaky Cauldron, she realized that she has a nice room. There's a nice, soft bed, a small, but complete bathroom, and a comfy chair in front of the fireplace. She found out that Tom, the owner was very friendly and trustworthy.
"Now don't get into any trouble, and don't go into Knockturn Alley; you would regret it." He had talked to her in a protecting fathering voice, and she actually found it comforting that a stranger would give her so much advice.
As Laurali walked down Diagon Alley's cobblestone street, she realized that she had only brought American money. In America, since there is mainly half-bloods, there was no "muggle money" and "wizarding money"; they used the same currency.
She didn't know where she was going, so being the woman she was, she stopped and asked directions.
"Gringotts, eh? It's righ' down the street thur'. Big, white place." A man with a big beard and hair responded to her question.
"He must be at least 10 feet tall" she thought while thanking the kind stranger.
At Gringotts, she found herself walking up to the counter. She was the fourth person in line, so while waiting patiently, Laurali took in her surroundings. Goblins were handling money, muggle and wizarding, jewelry, and other fine items. At the register, she smiled at the goblin, which nodded in return.
"Can I help you?" he asked politely. Laurali saw that he had a plaque on his portion of the counter, which read "Melvin"
"Hello Melvin. Yes, can I change 200 American bills into the correct currency please?" She calmly asked while handing "Melvin" her money.
"Here you are miss."
"Thank you Melvin." She said as she was receiving the pouch that he handed her. As she did this, she had that feeling that someone was looking at her.
"Probably some rich, pureblood, ugly old man" she thought while turning to leave, but she knew that she wanted to know if she was right. She wasn't. She glanced back quickly and was surprised. She was looking at a teenage boy, possibly her own age, with adorably messy brown hair and glasses. He looked to be about 5'6" tall, and had a athletic build. Around him was a family with red hair. The boy behind him looked at her and then looked back at the boy with brown hair, the red head nudged his friend in the gut with his elbow. She smiled and walked out the door.
Outside, she looked at her watch and saw that it read 1:00 pm. "Where did my morning go? I must have been stuck in line longer that I thought."
Wanting to enjoy lunch, she started her walk back to the Leaky Cauldron. While moving quite quickly, she accidentally ran into a girl with frizzing-brown hair.
"Excuse me" both girls said while looking at each other.
Not wanting to be rushed, Laurali quickly muttered "Sorry" and left for the diner.
At the Leaky cauldron, she ordered her classic meal: crispy chicken tenders, fries, and a lemonade. She'd worry about eating healthy for dinner.
After lunch, she grabbed one of her favorite books of all time: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. It was a Cinderella spin off, and a romance comedy. Such a great mix in her opinion.
Ella was just about to slide down the banister with Char catching her at the bottom when she heard:
"Good afternoon. Miss. Richardson I presume? -Laurali nods head- "good afternoon sir. Are you Professor Dumbledore?"
"Correct. Follow me please."
Dumbledore let her into a private parlor that had little tables all over.
"Miss Richardson, you are here today because you would to enter Hogwarts."
Once again, Laurali nods her head as to saying, "yes continue"
"And you are able to. I need you to take a placement exam, which would determine how far you are in your studies, and what year you would be put in. At Salem, I understand tha you are required to take muggle classes as well as wizarding"
"Yes sir. The United States does not have many pureblood wizarding families as in any other country; most of the students are muggle born. So in order to ready us for a life after school, we had to take a year of mathematics, muggle history and language arts. Those were the muggle classes that could help us. We also had Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, a little of magical history, Defense against the dark arts, and Herbology."
"Yes that's how I also understood the school curriculum. I understand that you would not know all of the history information that is usually questioned, so I took that out. This is the written portion of the exam. I'm afraid that the practical portion won't be until the start of school, I have other business that I must attend to immediately after this meeting." -Pause- " Now, I expect that this shouldn't take too long, about an hour I suppose. I shall be back at 3:30. I am expecting another student shortly. Take your time, and read all of the instructions carefully. If you don't understand something, you can always skip it and go back to it later. I asked Tom to check up on you every now and then.
"Thank you professor." Laurali says while Dumbledore stood up to leave. She was grateful that she would have the entire room for herself; she sometimes found it easier to answer a question if she said it aloud instead of thinking in her head. Hey, it worked for her, why not do it?
"hmm.. okay, let's see. 'Section 1. Multiple Choice.
#1. Which of the following is considered a water demon?
a. Grindylow B. dementor
c. Snowshoe hare D. hippogriff"
Smiling to herself, she picked up her pen and started to work.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
"My Lord, there is news that Potter is in Diagon Alley with no one but those Weasley scum." A voice says.
"Yes. But that muggle-loving fool Dumbledore is there as well! DO you not understand complete research?"
"Forgive me my Lord" the voice stammered.
"Yeah, yeah, get up. Those stupid people shopping need to know that I am back! And I am going to rule this world! No one can stop me!"
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Harry's scar started to prickle. Voldemort was either close by, or feeling extremely murderous. Harry didn't know which was worse.
"Harry!" Ron yelled. "You need to sit down! Let's go to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Ron," Harry started patiently, " I am not dying or anything. My scar is just prickly, kind of like back in our first year, but occasionally sudden sharp pains."
Ron looked hesitant but said, "If you're sure. Let's go to meet Hermione now. She's probably already there; you know how punctual that girl is."
"Ron, where not meeting her until an hour. Now you wouldn't like Hermione or anything, would you?"
Ron's face had a look of terror and confusement. This just made Harry burst out laughing. (AN: I don't know if confusement is a word, WORD doesn't seem to think so, but hey! I make up my own words all the time!)
"It's all right man. I wont tell her or anything. That's your job."
"Yeah, thanks. So do you like that girl we saw earlier?"
"Ha ha. What girl are you talking about? We didn't see anyone we knew. Nobody from school comes shopping this early until the end of the holidays."
"No you prat." –smacks him in the back of the slightly- "the girl at Gringotts. The one you were staring and drooling at for who knows how long."
"I wasn't staring or drooling, and your point is what exactly?"
"There really isn't one. Polite conversation. Guy talk. Call it whatever you want to."
"I call it nothing. Yeah, so that girl was pretty. Its not like I'll ever see her again or anything."
"You never know. She could be an exchange student for all we know."
"I doubt it Ron. After everything that happened last year, you really think that Dumbledore would allow for at transfer student?"
"He's trusting. And he's a little on the nutsy side." (another made up word!)
"Nutsy? What the hell is nutsy?"
Ron grinned. "My fabulous use of the English language."
