A/N: All right, so I have received few responses to my poll so if you haven't replied at all, please do. Thanks to those who reviewed and voted! Here are some responses to some reviewers, and then the next chapter.
Jessie81589: Thanks for all of the criticism, I guess. When you said that they don't say hell in England, I would just like to point out that in the movies, and in Hp books, Ron says "bloody hell." It's sort of the same thing I think. So thank you for letting me know, but that's my thought on that. And yes, my writing style can be annoying, but that would be because I am not a very strong writer, that is one of my reasons to writing this fic. My 8th grade English teacher threatened to put me in the lowest English level because I couldn't spell her name right. Anyway, with Harry's locations in the first few chapters, I wanted it to be somewhat of a flashback. Then he gets Ron's letter, then he's at the Burrow, then Diagon Alley.
Jenalla: lol. Thanks! I love all of my made-up words too! I think they're the funny parts as of now. Thanks for offering to be my Beta Reader! I'm sure you're doing great!
Aedre: Thanks for the link thingy! I took the quiz and I got a total of 22 "yes checks." So I guess that Laurali is original enough. So thanks!
*~~~Chapter 11: Discussions at the Leaky Cauldron~~~*
"So you're all 5th year Gryffindors?" Laur asked eagerly.
"Yep, and proud of it!" Ron replied, the excitement evident in his tone.
"So do you know which House you'll be in? Or do you have to wait till school?" Harry asked.
"Just like you, 5th year Gryffindor," Laur said smiling.
"Great!" Hermione started, " We'll probably be in the same dorm. Finally, someone who isn't completely into gossip and boys." (Ron and Harry start to laugh.)
"Getting sick of Lavender and Parvarti?" Ron asks in between laughs.
"I didn't say that Ron! But now that you mention it, yes, I guess I am getting more annoyed of them now than I used to."
Through all of this, Laurali was quiet, but then: "So, who are these girls exactly?"
"Oh sorry Laur," Harry apologized. "But Lavender and Parvarti are also 5th year Gryffindors. All they care about are look good, gossip, and boys. In other words, they're extremely girly and annoying."
"Ahh, I see. Well just to warn you…" Laur started but stopped when she received looks from her three new Gryffindor friends. "I'm also girly, but I'm not exactly into the whole gossiping thing. I think that peoples' business is their own, and not for the entire world."
"Yeah, we know, especially me," Harry said with an almost bitter tone. Laur noticed, but when he said no more, it became obvious to her that he had no interest in talking about it, so she let it drop.
"So tell me, what kind of fun things are there to do at Hogwarts?"
"Well there's Quidditch," Harry started ("Best game there is!" Ron added quickly). "You do know what Quidditch is, right?"
"Yes, I know what it is..." Laur said.
"Good," Ron said. "'Cuz if I met one more person that didn't know what Quidditch was..."
"...It's a silly sport played on broomsticks, throwing balls back and forth. Like soccer and basketball mixed together, except in the air," Laur said, finishing her earlier statement.
Ron and Harry's mouths were again, open in shock. Hermione on the other hand looked the happiest she had been all day.
"YES! Someone else who feels the same way I do!" She said triumphantly
Ron and Harry's faces once again had identical looks of horror.
"How could you possibly think that?!" Ron said, practically yelling.
"Easily," Laur said while Hermione just looked around the room, innocently. " I don't really like sports. Yeah, watching is all fun and dandy, but playing them and getting into arguments about them, it's just not me at all. I'm a dancer. That's what I do."
"What? You mean you where those big pink poufy things and do little twirls and stuff?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Feels like I've been slapped in the face," she said, smirking. "And, if you can actually believe this, I don't wear one of those big poufy things, which is called a tutu by the way. Why is it that everytime I say that I dance, people automatically picture tutus? That's not what dancing is about. To you it may seem like some wimpy little thing not worthy of being called a sport, but to me, it's life."
Harry and Ron look at each other, wondering where she was going with this, and turned back to the girl. "You can think that all you want, but until you've actually gotten up in front of a crowd and danced, or even just taken some classes, you really have no right to judge.
"It may not be as competitive as Quidditch or you're other 'manly sports', but it still is. To get dressed up in our costumes and do our hair and make-up, that's only half of it. To be part of a dance class is something special. We train together for months, making sure our bodies are perfectly in synch with one another, and that we move as one. Like a team."
"Not to burst your bubble or anything, but in Quidditch, the players also have to work as a team," Ron said.
"True," Laur started, "But in dance, you have to move together, or you'll look kind of dumb. It's a lot, and I repeat, a lot of work. We put in as much work as you would for a Quidditch practice. True, there are some of my classes where we just fool around. But we're having fun doing it. And there are also other classes where we get a 5-10 minute warm up by-yourself period, and then there's no stopping after that. Learning routines, steps, dances, etc.
Okay, so now that I've bitched to you guys about dance, what were you saying about fun things to do at Hogwarts?" Laur finally finished.
"Err, right. Well like Harry said, there's Quidditch, and that's about it. There are the occasional Hogsmeade weekends, when we go to the village for the afternoon, and there's hanging out around the school," Ron said.
"Don't you ever get bored?" Laur asked.
"That's where Ron's older brothers come in. They're some of the greatest pranksters of all time...except for the Marauders of course," Hermione said.
"The Marauders?" Laur asked.
"We'll tell you all about them later," Harry added.
"Yep, and so the twins, Fred and George-Ron's brothers, cause havoc all over the school. Most of the outcomes are hilarious," Hermione finished.
"Of course, there was the time when Moody, err Crouch, turned Malfoy into a white ferret last year," Harry put in. All three of them, started laughing hilariously, except Laurali, who of course had no idea what they were talking about. Hermione had tears of mirth in her eyes, Harry doubled over with laughter, and Ron's face was beet red and he was banging his fists on the tables.
"Right," Laur said while laughing at the bunch in front of her, who were getting strange looks and glares from the various people in the pub.
"Sorry, Laur-" Ron started, and then laughed again slightly, "but you just had to be there; to see one of your enemies turned into a white ferret, with a little red nose- it was pretty hilarious."
"I'll bet...so who should I watch out for when I get to Hogwarts?"
Hermione, Harry, and Ron looked at each other and in unison said. "The Slytherins."
"What's so bad about them?" Laur asked.
"Well most of their families are dark arts lovers, and followers of...Voldemort," Harry whispered while Ron and Hermione shuddered. "And they're against Muggle-borns."
"And my family," Ron added.
"Umm, not to sound stupid or anything, but who's Voldemort?" Laurali asked. She had never heard of him. In shock, they all stared at her open-mouthed.
"You mean, you've never heard of Lord Voldemort?" Hermione asked quietly.
"No. Should I?"
"Well I'd like to think so!" Harry yelled.
"Harry..." Hermione warned. She knew Harry got mad easily, but she also had a feeling that he would blame all of the recent events on himself.
"Alright, sorry. I'll tell you what I know. First of all, he's half-Muggle, and grew up in an orphanage after his mother died, and his father abandoned him. He was also Salazar Slytherin's heir."
"Founder of Slytherin house," Hermione cut in. Laur looked from Harry to Hermione and nodded thanks.
"Now, as you can imagine growing up in an orphanage, he never received any type of love and comfort. So when he was in school, his friends called him Voldemort (Ron and Hermione shuddered again). And when he was about 16, he went to his fathers house, killed him, and his grandparents. Later that year, he sent a basilisk against the students, and ended up killing one girl.
Moaning Myrtle. She's the girl who was killed, and now she's a ghost who haunts the girls' loo. Now she's 'nutsy'," Ron said, and smirked at Harry.
"'Nutsy'? I like it," Laur said. "Continue please Harry."
"So after graduating from school..."
"Wait a second. If he made a basilisk kill a girl, and he killed other people, wouldn't he have been expelled from school and thrown into prison?" Laur asked.
"Well normally yes, but no one knew he committed those murders. He blamed another student for the basilisk, who did get expelled," Hermione said.
"I see. So when he graduated…"
"He went really deep into the dark arts, gathered followers, which are called 'deatheaters'. Today, most of the wizarding worlds, well at least in Europe, still live in fear of him."
"You speak as if he's dead. What happened to him? Is it still alive and around?"
"Well, about 14 years ago, he heard of a prophecy about the only person who would be able to kill him, once and for all. That person, who would have been a boy born in July, his parents had defied him three times. This prophecy could have been talking about two boys, and one of them...is me," Harry said quietly. "And although I know who the other person is, he doesn't, so I wont tell you."
"Harry you never told us that," Ron said, feeling hurt. Here was his best friend, telling a girl that they just met, some information like this, without even telling his best friends first.
"I know. Dumbledore just told me a few weeks ago. So anyways, when I was about a year old, he came to my house, killed my father and my mother, who died defending me. He tried to kill me, but I obviously survived. The spell backfired, led him to his brief downfall, and it made me 'the-boy-who-lived', and more famous that I would ever have wanted to be," Harry said sadly, looking down.
"How could I have not known any of this before I decided to transfer?" Laurali whispered sadly. She looked at the three before her; Ron and Hermione were closely watching Harry to see what he would do, and Harry looked quite depressed.
So, what do you mean by 'brief downfall'?" She said to the group. Hermione and Ron continued looking at Harry.
"He's back. Because I'm such a fool, and so stupid about everything!" Harry said angrily, his voice breaking.
"Harry! It's not your fault," Hermione said soothingly. She moved over to him and gave him a quick hug, like a mother would do to an upset child. Ron looked sad for his friend, but Laurali thought that, just for a second, she saw a look of jealousy shoot across his face.
"You know, Harry, I have a room upstairs. If you want, you can lie down for a bit, be alone for a while," Laur said comfortingly.
"Thanks Laur. I think I will," Harry said gloomily.
"Here, I'll come up with you for a bit, move all my stuff out of the way," Laurali said while picking up her purse, and leading the way to her room.
A/N: Well that's that chapter. I hope you liked it. The next chapter will be up soon, I hope. Remember to: REVIEW! And if you didn't review for the poll in the previous chapter, do that in this one, instead. It just asks if you as readers should think that Harry and Laurali should get together. REVIEW and VOTE!!
