SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1AN: I'm back! Yay for you I guess. Umm... So I Just wanted to thank you guys for all the reviews! KEEP 'EM COMIN! And I also wanted to say that if you would like to criticize, please do, but if you could do it in a less harsh fashion. So yeah, less harsh reviews would be appreciated so I don't feel like I need to get in a bitch mode. Not exactly my favorite thing to do. So anyways, here's another long chapter! And don't forget to REVIEW!                                                                                   

*~~~Chapter 13. Back in the States~~~*

"Thank you so much for everything Tom," Laurali said to Tom as she was leaving shortly to go back home.

"Oh it was nothing Miss. Richardson. Anytime you feel like coming back, I'll be here with a room waiting for you," Tom said politely.

"Of course. Well, thank you. I received the bill, and I paid at the bar. I really must be off."

"Thank you. Enjoy your trip," he said with a bow.

"Good bye," Laurali said and, grabbing all of her shopping bags and backpack, she headed for the fireplace.

"Salem Witch's Institute!" she bellowed and vanished into the smoke. 

Stepping out of the fireplace, she saw her mother and Headmistress Lim, the headmistress of Salem. Her mother stepped forward and pulled Laurali into a hug.

"I was so worried!" she cried.

"Mom. Shhh. It's okay. I'm okay. Why were you so worried?"

"You never owled me, saying you were all right, or anything."

Laur had to think back to the previous morning, when she was so anxious to leave for London. Her mother had told her to make sure that she contacted her once she got to London.  With all  the excitement, Laurali had forgotten.

"Oh Mom! I'm so sorry! I was so busy I forgot all about it!" Laur cried.

"Well, you're safe. That's all that matters," Samantha said, relieved.

Remembering her manners, Laurali turned to Mrs. Lim and said, "Hello Mrs. Lim. Thank you for letting me use the fireplace."

"Oh it's not problem Miss Richardson. You know me, I always love to help my students."

"Well thank you." Laur paused, and hesitantly said, "Umm, Mrs. Lim, could I ask you a favor?"

"Of course."

"Okay, well I was realizing how far away Hogwarts is from my house, and so I was hoping that I could send letters for my family here via Floo network, and then my owl could receive them."

Mrs. Lim took a moment to think about this and then said, "Of course. But may I ask, how is your family going to send you letters?"

"Well," Laur started slowly, "I haven't really thought about that yet, but I did think that maybe our owl, Sonata could bring them to Danielle, and she could Floo them to me at Hogwarts."

"I guess that could work. Okay, my answer is yes. I will allow it," she answered with a smile.

"Oh! Thank you so much Mrs. Lim!" Laur said happily and hugged her former headmistress.

"Thank you Mrs. Lim. You are too kind," Samantha said graciously as she gave the other women a handshake.

"Alright then. Well if you'll excuse me, I must attend a meeting," Mrs. Lim said, exiting the room. 

"Good day," Laurali said in a cheery tone.

"Let's go home," Samantha said once Mrs. Lim was out of the room.

"Agreed," Laurali said, and led her mother out of the room.

* * * *

Harry was outside, on the hill in the meadow. He was thinking about the previous day. It had been such a great day. He left the Dursley's, went to Diagon Alley, met a beautiful girl like no other, had an actual birthday party, and even flew on his Firebolt when everyone was asleep. But he couldn't help but have the feeling that he was missing something. Ahh well, he was thinking about Laurali. Her smile, her beautiful hair, her eyes, and now that he thought about her, he remembered that she had kissed him.

Unconsciously, he placed his fingertips over the spot where she had kissed him. Then he thought about when he last hugged her.

"It was nice meeting you Laurali Richardson."

"And you Harry James Potter." She said with a smile.

Blinking his eyes from the memory in his head, he realized that he had never told her that his middle name was "James".

Running to the house, he ran up the stairs right outside of Ginny's bedroom, where Hermione was sure to be.

'Perhaps she told Laurali that my middle name was "James". But wait, I don't think that Hermione even knew that. Sure, Ron and Hermione are my best friends, but middle names are something that's never come up. Of course, last night I just found out that Ron's middle name was "Jonathon".'

Slowly stepping away from Ginny's bedroom door, he walked up the rest of the stairs to Ron's room to take a nap. Maybe he was just so tired that he wasn't thinking straight.

* * * *

"So what happened in London?" Samantha asked her daughter as she turned onto the highway.

"Oh, well, first I got a room at the Leaky Cauldron, and then I went to the bank."

"The bank? What was wrong with the money that I gave you?"

"Oh, nothing. I just needed to exchange my American money for European wizard money. So I went to the bank and I was waited on by a goblin-"

"A goblin?"

"Yes, a goblin. A goblin named… Merlin, no, wait, it was Melvin. Yes. Melvin. So after the bank, I went back to The Leaky Cauldron, ate some food, read some of Ella Enchanted, and then Professor Dumbledore showed up."

"What did you eat for lunch?"

"Chicken fingers, freedom fries and a lemonade."

"Laurali Richardson," her mother said sternly. 

"Yes Mama?" Laurali asked as innocently as she could.

"I thought I told you that I wanted you to eat more healthy."

"I did have lemonade. Not soda."

"Do you realize how much sugar is in lemonade?

"So? Would you rather me order some alcohol? You know, I don't think there's a drinking age in England."

"Laurali. There is no way in hell that I would allow my daughter to drink alcohol."

"Damn, calm down Mom. You know I wouldn't drink. I was just kidding."

"Yeah, fine. If I find out that you ever, ever drink, I'd take away your driving permit for an entire month."

"Mom, I don't have my permit. Only 15. Remember?"

"Yes, I know that you're only 15, but a law was just passed last week. You can get your permit at 15, and license at 16."

"I can get my permit!" Laurali sang, and did a little dance in her seat. "Okay! So what are we waiting for? After lunch, we're going to the RMV to get the drivers manual so I can pass that test!"

"Laurali, honey. Calm down. We can't go today."

"What? Why not!" Laurali asked angrily.

"Because the registry isn't open on weekends."

"Fine. Monday then?"

"Deal. But you do realize that we won't have much time for lessons or anything because you'll be at Hogwarts."

"Oh yeah. Lessons and classes are mandatory, huh?"

"Yep."

"Okay, what if I took the class before I go to Hogwarts. It's only 2 weeks, right?"

"Yeah. How do you know so much about all of this?" Samantha asked.

"Oh, right. Well after my birthday, I did some research online." Laurali said while shrugging her shoulders

"Okay, yes, so continue."

"Oh right, I take the class before I go to Hogwarts, and I can practice with you anytime I'm home. And I can take the driving lessons during my breaks, and when I come home for summer vacation."

"Sounds fine to me, but you may have to take the class on one of your breaks. But, we first need to make sure your father agrees.

"Alright," Laur said cheerfully.

Moments later, they pulled into their driveway. Being all excited, Laurali jumped out of the car, grabbed her stuff and ran inside. Samantha, who was taking her time, shook her head and mumbled, "Kids these days…"

For the afternoon, Laurali had Danielle come over. They go bored easily and so after Laurali told her friend that she was going to get her permit within the next week, the two girls went swimming.

Laurali was lucky to have a nice big pool in her back yard, so that's where the girls went swimming.

"So tell me, how was London?" Danielle asked while jumping into a big tube.

"Fine," Laur answered before diving into the pool. Danielle waited for her friend to come back up to the surface then threw a small plastic ball at her.

"Ahhhhh! What?!" Laur said forcefully.

Something happened. Tell me," Danielle said.

"Nothing happened," Laur said. Again, Danielle threw a ball at her.

"You're lying. C'mon Laur. Tell me," Danielle said, pleadingly.

"Fine! Fine!" Laur said in surrender, throwing her arms up. Not being on a tube, she started to sink towards the bottom of the pool due to lack of balance. She hadn't taken swimming lessons for nothing, though, and forced herself to the surface and swam for her own tube.

"Alright, I'll tell you," she said softly.

"Damn right you will!" Danielle said as she splashed her way to Laur.

"I met a guy."

"Ohh…So is he cute? What's he like?" Danielle said bouncing up and down.

"Damn… down girl!" Laurali said, seeing how her friend was acting. "His name is Harry James Potter."

"Cute name."

"I guess."

"He told you his middle name the first day he met you?"

"Actually, no, now that you mention it. I don't know- it seems weird. I mean, I feel like I know him, we connected so well."

"That's cute. In a weird, freaky way."

"Yeah, whatever. So we first saw each other at the bank when I was talking to Melvin-"

"Melvin? What in their right mind would name their child 'Melvin'?" Danielle asked, interrupting.

"A goblin."

"A goblin?" Danielle asked.

"Goblins run the wizard bank, Gringotts."

"Ohhh," was all that was said once realization sunk in.

"Yeah. So we first saw each other at the bank, and were introduced by Professor Dumbledore," Laurali explained, before launching into full-blown story mode, retelling the events of the day to her friend.

* * * *

Harry was dreaming. This dream started with his mom pleading with Voldemort, then worked its way to the graveyard, and then last but not least, Lucius Malfoy with his wand pointed at Laurali's pretty face.

Malfoy was threatening Laurali to turn evil, and become a Death Eater or she'd die a most painful death. Laurali, to Harry's amazement smiled and said calmly, in an almost seductive tone,

"Aww, come now Lucius, you know that you can't resist me, you'd never be able to kill me."

Harry was floating off to a blur. With his head pounding, he woke with a start.

"NO! It can't be true!" he screamed, feeling the need to break something.

"What can't be true?" Hermione asked as she ran into Ron's room after hearing Harry's screams.

"My dream- I- I need to talk to Laurali," Harry stuttered.

"Oh. I have an idea!" She said while dragging Harry out of the room.

"Hermione, this is important! I need to talk to her!" Harry insisted as he was being dragged into Ginny's room. "What are we doing?! We're wasting time! I think Laur is in trouble!" he said as Hermione kneeled on the floor, searching through her trunk.

"What do you mean, Harry?" she said, slowly getting to her feet.

"I just had a dream that Lucius Malfoy was pointing his wand, threatening her! C'mon! We need to talk to her!"

"Harry, does your scar hurt?"

"No," he said while placing his fingertips over his scar.

"Then I think you were just having a nightmare. I'm sure Lucius Malfoy doesn't even know Laurali exists."

"I don't care! I want to talk to her!" he said yelling, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Well yelling at me isn't going to help at all, to let you know!" Hermione yelled back, putting her hands on her hips.

"I-want-to-talk-to-her-now!" Harry said quickly, anger rising in him.  Why didn't Hermione understand how important this was?

"Fine. I had an idea about that anyways." With this, she pulled out three pieces of parchment, and the charms book from last year. Handing Harry one piece of parchment, she said, "Write her a message on this. It doesn't need to be long though, because I am such a genius."

"And what are you a genius for?" Harry asked dangerously. She glared at him.  "You gotta a pen or quill or something?" he asked looking around.

"Oh yeah. Here. Sorry," she said while handing him a pen. "What we're going to do is charm these other two pieces of parchment. They'll be like e-mail. Sort of."

"I don't understand. How will that help me talk to Laur?"

"Because you'll have one, she'll have the other." She said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You write her a message on your parchment, and she'd receive it on hers instantly. More like instant messaging. I do it with a few muggle friends whenever I'm home. That's where I got the idea."

"Oh," Harry said as realization kicked in. "But what's the charm we'll use? And who will we have perform it?"

"Well, I'm not sure what the charm will be yet, just give me a second," Hermione said as she flipped through her book, obviously having memorized it.  "Ahh, here it is! Okay, so what we have to do is have the pieces of parchment next to each other, and with a swish and flick movement, say 'reparle talka.'  Sounds easy."


"Yeah it does. So the parchments will glow green if the charm is done correctly, right?"

"Yep. Now let's ask someone to do it."

"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded. "Right, let's go."

Downstairs, they saw Mrs. Weasley preparing dinner.

'What time is it? It must be later than I thought,' Harry thought.

"Mrs. Weasley, could you do something for us please?"

"Sure, dear. Just as long as it's not dangerous. Now what is it?" she asked grabbing an onion to cut.

"Well..." said Hermione and Harry, as they told Mrs. Weasley what they needed. She thought it was a great idea, and would be more than happy to help. So a few minutes later, Harry sent Hedwig to the United States of America with a short note, and one of the pieces of parchment.

* * * *

Laurali was just getting out of a relaxing bath when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

"Who is it?" she asked while putting on a bathrobe.

"Who do you think?" a squeaky male voice said.

"What do you want, Jay?" Laurali said, opening the door.

"Well, I just came to tell you there was an owl downstairs, but if you're going to be a bitch, I'll just leave," the boy said.

"No wait! Where is it?" Laur asked trying to remain calm, rather than rip the pipsqueaks head off like she really wanted to.

"Downstairs in the kitchen."

"Thanks Jay. I'll be down in a minute."

"Yeah, whatever," he said and walked out of the room.

"Damn, his voice is so annoying! It better finish changing and soon!" Laur thought while putting on some pj's and heading downstairs.

"Hi dad. Jay told me I had an owl," she told her father, who was reading the paper.

"You did. She's in the kitchen with your mother. It's such a beautiful creature," he said while flipping the page.

"Thanks," she said and thought, "Who would be owling me?"

While walking into the kitchen, she saw her mother sitting down next to a package, and a beautiful white owl.

"She looks so much like Sonata," Samantha said.

"Yes she does. My letter?" Laur asked her mother, who just pointed to the package.

Picking it up she noticed unfamiliar handwriting with her name on the front of the parcel. Opening the note, she read:

"Dear Laurali,

I just had an awful dream about you (not dirty, don't worry!)." 

 Laur laughed at this and continued reading.

"But I had to make sure you were alright. With this short letter, I attached another piece of parchment. Hermione said it should work like email or instant messaging, or something like that.  Just write something on it and I'll receive it.

-Harry

"Well who is it from?" Sam asked.

"One of the people that I met in London. Could I have a pen please?" she replied while opening up the parchment. There was already a message waiting for her:

"Please tell me you're alright, Laur. –HP"

"'Course I'm fine. Should I not be? –LR"

"Thank Merlin! It was just a dream. –HP"

"Harry, what are you talking about? –LR"

"I had a dream that you were threatened to turn evil or you'd die a most painful death…I wasn't sure if it was reality or a nightmare. –HP"

"The latter. Plus I'd never turn evil. Evil people are usually ugly. –LR"

"I'm just so happy that you're alright. – HP"

"Yeah, well I am, too. So what are you doing? – LR"

They spent a lot of that night and many others "conversing". Each night, they got to know each other, little by little, and everyday, the two were growing closer than before, and liking each other more and more.

Along with her nightly "conversations" with Harry, Laurali went to the beach, to the movies, having fun with her friends that she'd known for a long time, before she had to leave for Hogwarts.  Secretly, she hoped they would throw her a going-away party, but they showed no signs of doing so, so she let it go.

A few days before Laurali was supposed to leave, Danielle surprised her with a nice, little party. Laur had so much fun with all of her oldest friends that she hoped the night wouldn't end, but all good things must come to an end. That night was the last time that Danielle and Laurali were going to see each other for a long time, so after everyone left the party, Danielle slept over Laur's house. They never went to sleep, but they talked about all the good times that they had had with each other. In the morning, when Danielle's mom came to pick her up, the girls hugged each other for at least 10 minutes before they broke away.

"Never change, Danielle. You're a great person. You don't need to change."

"Don't you even think about changing Laur," Danielle warned. Then they hugged each other again, each with tears in their eyes.

"Honey, c'mon. We have to go," Danielle's mom said gently. 

"Bye Laur. Owl me or whatever!" Danielle said while walking to her car, waiting until she had her back to her friend before wiping away her tears.

"Don't worry! I will! Bye hon!" Laur said with a teary smile, and walked inside her house, lest she should start bawling in broad daylight. 

"Laurali, what do you say we go out for lunch and take a little trip to the RMV?" her mom asked, knowing it would cheer her up a little. 

"Are you serious?" Laur asked. Her mother just nodded and smiled. "I'll grab my purse and let's go."

So Laur got her driver's permit and passed the test with flying colors.

"I mean, really, how stupid do they think people are?" She was saying an hour or so later. "Listen to one of the questions I was asked: 'If you're going to make a left-hand turn, which lane should you be in?'"

Samantha laughed as she was preparing to make a left-hand turn into a big, empty parking lot

"Mom, what are we doing here?"

"Well, I thought that you'd want to learn the basics first," Samantha said, turning off the engine. 

"The basics?" Laur asked.

"To driving, but if you'd rather wait, that's fine," She started, turning the car back on.

"No! I want to drive!" Laur said, undoing her seatbelt, and opening the door, she ran over to the driver's side. She spent the rest of the day with her mother in the parking lot, learning to drive while nearly giving her mother a heart attack at least twice. 

A/N: Don't you wish that we really could get our permits at 15 and licenses at 16? (Mass. readers) REVIEW!