AN: I decided to have a poll at the end, so check that out. I decided that every 10 chapters, I'll have a brief summary of what has been happening, that way u as readers, and I as a writer won't forget anything major that has happened. True, nothing big has happened so far, but I thought I'd just refresh your memories.
Summary of what has been happening from Chapters 1-9
Harry: Harry comes to Hogwart's during his break for about a week where Professor Dumbledore tells him of the prophecy and why he has to live with his aunt and uncle. (Review previous chapters, "The Truth" (both of them) for full detail.) During his stay at Hogwarts, Sirius Black, Harry's godfather comes to visit him. They get to know each other more and just hang out.
When Harry goes back to his aunt and uncle's house, he gets a letter from Ron. It was Harry's birthday, which he had forgotten, and the letter explained that he'd have to get his gift the next day, when Harry goes to Ron's. When Harry gets to Ron's, they eat breakfast and then head off to Diagon Alley for school supplies among other things.
In Gringotts, Harry sees a pretty girl, whom he suspects is an American teenage witch. Later that day, Ron teases Harry about the girl, and Harry teases Ron back about Hermione, who they were going to meet shortly.
Laurali: Laurali Richardson is a muggle-born American witch who is transferring to Hogwarts the next year. She lives in Massachusetts, where she previously attended a Salem's school for witches. She spends a week of her summer with her family in Newport, RI.
While shopping with her mother, they purchase a family owl (American magic folk don't use owls), and name her Sonata.
On August 1st, Laurali awakes early in order to floo to The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley, London, England. There, she reserves a room at the pub, and starts to the bank, Gringotts. There, she converts $200 American muggle money into Knuts, Sickles and Galleons. She feels someone staring at her, and turns around to find a cute boy, about her age staring at her. She smiles at him and walks out the door.
Laurali realizes that it's getting late, and goes back to The Leaky Cauldron for lunch. While reading her favorite book Ella Enchanted, Professor Dumbledore walks in and introduces himself. They go off into another room where Laurali will be taking her placement exam.
That took longer than I thought, oh well, here's the promised chapter.
*~~~Chapter 10-More of Diagon Alley~~~*
Laurali was finished with her exam. She quickly looked at her watch, and saw that it was nearing 3:30, the time when Dumbledore was to return. After reviewing her test for what seemed like the hundredth time, he finally returned.
"Hello Miss Richardson. I assume that you have finished your exam," Professor Dumbledore said kindly.
"Yes sir. Will it be graded now?" The young witch asked eagerly.
"Yes. It will take a few minutes to grade; you can wait here if you wish."
"Thank you sir. I'm a little thirsty, though, would you mind if I got a drink and came back in a few minutes?"
"Of course. Take your time."
"Thank-you sir," she said.
While Laurali was retreating to the door, she turned back and saw the Professor wasn't reading through her test with a red correcting pen, as she had thought he would have been, but instead he held his wand up to each page and muttered something she didn't recognize. Each page glowed a light green as he did this. Not wanting to be thought of as a spy or anything, she slipped out of the room carefully and went up to the bar.
"Hi Tom!"
"Good afternoon Miss Laurali. Did you finish your test already?"
"Yes, I did. Professor Dumbledore is grading it as we speak."
"That's nice. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Yes, could I have a lemonade please?"
"Course you can. Here you are."
While they were conversing, Laurali didn't notice that there was a teenage boy her age sitting not too far away from her. When she did notice, he was sitting right next to her. She saw that he had straight brown hair, blue eyes, and what appeared to be an expensive cloak. He was looking at her intently, and it made her nervous and somewhat annoyed.
Turning to the boy, she calmly said, "Can I help you?"
"Yes," he replied with a French accent. He paused for a second, and the girl had to wonder what he wanted exactly; maybe he didn't speak English so well. However, he was taking a long time to say anything, and this really annoyed her.
"Yes? Really?" *pause* "Then what?" she asked in an annoyed tone.
"Calm down. I want to ask you something."
"And that would be what exactly?"
"Oh, I just love your fiery attitude-."
"Fabulous. Don't get used to it," she said very sarcastically, and then turned to Tom, who wasn't too far away and said, "Thanks for the lemonade Tom."
She left behind a bewildered boy, and a confounded barkeeper. Turning back to the room where Dumbledore was, she shook her head slightly, and tried to keep from laughing.
~ ~ ~ ~
Harry and Ron were looking at the new Quidditch posters when suddenly they heard a familiar voice from behind. Turning around, they were face to face with none other than Draco Malfoy.
"Well look who we have here. Potty and the Weasel," Draco sneered.
"What do you want Malfoy? We don't have time for your weak-ass bullshit," Ron said sourly.
"What are you doing in a shop Weasel? I wouldn't be surprised if you were acting like a child whining about wanting something you couldn't have. You never know, some old person might pity you and buy it for you."
Harry had to hold Ron back by the collar of his robes.
"Well look at Potter. So, where's your great protector, Dumbledore? He's not always going to be around."
"That's true, but for now, I am," said a calm voice.
"Good afternoon Professor. Ron and I were just looking at the new posters here when he came up to us," Harry explained while glaring and pointing at Malfoy.
"Well, that's not what I'm here about. I was just walking down to The Leaky Cauldron to meet a new student."
While Harry and Dumbledore were talking, Malfoy managed to slip out of the shop. The wise professor of course knew this, but allowed Malfoy to go, for now.
"That boy will have a lot of trouble life later on if he doesn't learn to act civil," he thought carefully.
"I must be off. Why don't you come meet the new student later? I would say about quarter to 4. I saw Miss Granger waiting at the Ice Cream Shoppe. If you happen to meet up with her, why don't you three come meet me there? I'm sure this student wouldn't mind meeting some other students her age before school started."
When he mentioned Hermione, Ron and Harry faces turned to identical looks of terror and panic- they had forgotten about meeting her!
"Thank you Professor, we'd love to meet the new student. But right now, we're supposed to be at the Ice Cream Shoppe with Hermione, so until later if you please…"
"Of course boys," Dumbledore said as they walked out of the shop, the professor going one way, and the boys the other.
"How could we have forgotten about meeting Hermione?!" Ron exclaimed. "We were supposed to be there 10 minutes ago!" he finished while breaking into a run.
"Hermione, we are so sorry. We got distracted at the Quidditch shop-"
"It's alright. I hope you don't mind, but I got bored waiting for you so I ordered my ice cream already. And, speak of the devil..."
A young looking waitress came out with a dish of black raspberry ice cream heaped with numerous toppings on it. After they placed their orders, Harry turned to Hermione.
"Do you think you have enough toppings Hermione?" he asked sarcastically.
"Actually, no, they ran out of jimmies. So I had to settle without them," she said laughing.
Ron wasn't saying much, but kept looking at Hermione. Harry turned away, pretending to be looking at some flowers so he could laugh lightly.
"I sure do hope that he does something about that," he thought while turning back to his friends.
* * * *
"Miss Richardson, I have finished grading your test. I am pleased to say that from now on, you will be a 5th year. Congratulations."
Laurali sighed a breath of relief.
Dumbledore continued, "There are some students who should be coming here to meet you soon. They are rather friendly; I thought that you would want to meet some other students before school."
"Oh yes, thank you. I was hoping that I would be able to make some new friends. That would be wonderful. However, I was wondering...could I be sorted now, instead of in front of the rest of the school? Because, no offense sir, I wouldn't want to meet people from Hogwarts, if I didn't know what house I would be in."
"Actually, that is our next order of business. I brought The Sorting Hat with me incase you wanted to be sorted now. If you would take a seat please."
Laurali sat down and the professor placed the hat onto her head.
"I see that you want to prove yourself, and you are sly. You're bravery overcomes your intelligence. You are loyal. My, you fit all 4 houses. The best better be: GRYFFINDOR!"
"Cool! I'm in Gryffindor!" she squealed.
"Yes, my old house. Congratulations. From what I have seen from you today, you will get along nicely with your fellow students." With a quick look at a watch with many dials, he said, "I best be going. It was wonderful meeting you Miss Richardson. Now remember, school starts September 1st. You need to take the train from Platform 9 ¾ from London."
At that moment, a group of teenagers walked into the pub, and looked around. The girl with frizzing-brown hair that Laurali ran into that day pointed over to Dumbledore and whispered to two boys.
"They look extremely familiar," Laurali thought as she looked over at the group.
"Ah, here they are. Miss Richardson, these are the students that I told you about. They are also in Gryffindor. This is Hermione Granger," he said pointing to the girl, "Ron Weasley," while pointing to the boy with red hair, "and Harry Potter," pointing to the boy with brown hair and glasses. "Harry, Ron and Hermione, this is Laurali Richardson. She is a transfer student from America. I'm sure she'll tell you more about herself later. Now I must be leaving. Good night."
"Hi. I'm Laurali. You can just call me Laura or Laur," she said shyly.
"Hi, I'm Harry. You know, you look awfully familiar," Harry said.
"Yeah, you do too. I think that could be because I saw you two" *pointing to the two boys* " at Gringotts earlier."
For some reason, Harry blushed, but said, "Oh."
"So you're from America?" the girl asked.
"Yeah. I used to attend a school in Salem for witches, but I always wanted to come to Hogwarts so I owled Professor Dumbledore a few weeks ago, and here I am."
"How about we go get a table to something? We're sorta standing in the middle of the doorway," Harry said reasonably.
"Good idea, let's go," Ron said.
AN: what do you think so far? Lemme know in a REVIEW! I am open to suggestions. Here's this quick poll:
Poll:
Should Laurali and Harry date/go out (call it whatever you want)?
* Yeah, that would be so cute!
* Do whatever you feel like chica
* Definitely NO!
Just thought that I'd do whatever every1 thought would be the best, although I may add twists to it.
