Here it is....reworked chapter three....quite a bit of improvement, thank God....
kisses
HG
And it was indeed Kelsey Modello that stood at the head of the room, flanked on her left by Hogwart's half-giant gamekeeper.
"Hagrid!" Harry and Ron shouted in unison, running up to the Head Goblin's desk. Hagrid, who had just been handed what was certainly the key to Kelsey's vault, turned around at the sound of the familiar voices.
"Well, I wasn't expectin' to see you two for another week!" Hagrid's broad face broke into a grin, despite his mouth being half-hidden in his massive coal-black beard. "Kelsey, these two are goin' to be your classmates, up at Hogwarts."
Kelsey turned around to face Harry and Ron, already smiling. Harry began mentally assessing her before he even knew what he was doing. Not bad, he conceded silently. Ron ought to be happy. She was also, he noted, dressed every bit the Muggle. A low-glancing black tank top, rather ratty-looking army-green pants, and even a silver-and-black studded wristband at one of her thin wrists.
Ron, usually the more forward of the two, stood for a few moments with that same slack look on his face. He finally began to extend his hand, presumably to shake Kelsey's, but she ignored it and threw her arms around him instead.
"Hey! ...What did you say your name was?"
She broke away to look at Ron's face, and Harry noted with a silent mixture of amusement and commiseration that his best friend was showcasing his famous ineptitude with girls.
"Un...I'm...Ron. Ron...Ron Weasley." And as the words left his mouth, in a bit more of a murmur than usual, a deep crimson flooded his cheeks.
Harry opened his mouth to introduce himself as well. He had hardly begun to speak, ("I'm-") when Kelsey let out a little shriek. She just as soon clapped her hand over her mouth, looking embarrassed.
"Sorry," she whispered, glancing around to see if she'd bothered anyone too much with her outburst. "It's just...you're Harry Potter!"
Yes, I'm aware of that, thank you, Harry thought rather uncharitably, but wisely chose not to speak his mind.
"It's all right...I get that all the time," he replied truthfully. He forced a grin; however, it hit him just about then that she hadn't exactly made a scene. No reason to be rude. The grin became a real one, and Harry had hardly drawn another breath before Kelsey launched herself onto him as well.
"Absolutely amazing to meet you!" she gushed before releasing him from the clasp.
Harry barely nodded, feeling a flush creep over his own cheeks as well.
"So, what year are you guys in?" Kelsey asked, giving them each a hopeful look. "Fifth?"
They both answered "Yes!" promptly.
"Awesome." She smiled again, and her blue-gray eyes sparkled. Her eyes. Odd, Harry thought. Her eyes are nearly the same color as Malfoy's, but different... A moment's furtive inspection, and he concluded that they somehow seemed warmer.
"So...tell me something about Hogwarts!" Kelsey said enthusiastically, trailing a hand absently through her slightly tangled tresses.
Harry couldn't help but smile at the infectious energy the girl gave off. Even her stance, all her weight on her left leg and gently popping her right knee out, added to the overall impression of bounciness she displayed.
"Well..." Harry began, casting about in his mind for what Kelsey could possibly need to know out of the numerous things he could tell her about Hogwarts.
"It's a giant castle, with all these-these ghosts and moving staircases and stuff!" Ron interjected, suddenly manic.
Kelsey giggled, in such a way that caused Ron to begin to resemble a very self-conscious plum.
"So, have you shopped yet?" Harry asked, rather slowly. It didn't occur to him for quite a number of seconds that this was an incredibly stupid thing to ask, seeing as how she had not even yet visited her vault.
"Not quite. No money." Her tone was matter-of-fact, but the wink she threw in made it clear that she was only teasing.
"...But of course," Harry managed to pull off a fairly decent response, but couldn't help feeling rather an idiot. Always the one to make great first impressions, I am.
It was then that a thought suddenly broke into his mind, like a wave splintering against the beach.
"Your money's here? At Gringotts?"
Kelsey gave him an odd look, and when she spoke, it was in the manner with which one would address a particularly inquisitive child. "Yes...I've got my key with me and everything..."
"But aren't you American?"
Kelsey's eyes narrowed slightly, confusion evident in her features. "Yes, I am. What's that got to do with anything?"
Harry felt slightly impatient, and he feared this carried over into his voice. "It just seems odd...why are you getting your money all the way over here, in London?"
Kelsey paused for a moment, staring at Harry. Then comprehension dawned, and she smiled, seeming relieved to have caught Harry's meaning.
"My parents are from here, and they have an account over here as well as at the branch back home. I guess it is sort of strange."
Harry nodded in response, then decided to tell Kelsey more about Hogwarts, seeing as how he couldn't really think of anything else to say.
"Well, you'll have to be Sorted, I suppose. You sit in the front of the Great Hall, and they put this-"
"...Ratty old hat on your head, and it tells you what house you belong in, except you don't want to be put in Slytherin, there's not a witch or wizard who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin," Ron prattled at a blistering pace, seeming determined to say everything that popped into his head.
Kelsey giggled. "Ron, slow down. You're going to spontaneously combust or something, if you keep that up!"
Ron stopped speaking immediately, his face taking on a red to rival his hair.
"Well, I'd better be going, but I assume I'll see you two at Hogwarts?" she asked. "I need to get my money," at this she winked at Harry. "You know, to shop with. Bye!"
With that, she flounced off to where Hagrid had engaged Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in conversation. After tapping him on the shoulder, she grinned at him and motioned back to where a goblin was waiting to take them to the vault, a sour expression on its wrinkled face.
Harry and Kelsey walked over just in time to hear Kelsey buoyantly introducing herself to Ron's parents, Ginny, Fred, and George.
"I'm really so excited to be coming to Hogwarts, I've never gone to any other school but Willowfletcher's."
Mrs. Weasley simply nodded, beaming at the girl she'd just met, but Mr. Weasley leant forward, an eager expression on his face.
"Did you know any Muggles, back in America?"
Mrs. Weasley promptly hit his arm rather smartly with her purse, but Kelsey only laughed.
"Certainly. It's odd, in America, the Muggles and witches and wizards all kind of... mesh their culture...I think we're more involved with Muggle things, like music and movies...it's hard to stay separate, really." Kelsey shrugged, then turned to Hagrid.
"Sorry, big guy. We really should be going."
Hagrid nodded, not even seeming fazed by the unusual way in which Kelsey had addressed him. He clapped an enormous hand the size of a platter on her slender shoulder, and led her off towards the mine carts. Harry was quite sure he was not imagining the slight green tinge to the half-giant's face: Hagrid loathed riding down to the vaults.
It was Mrs. Weasley's voice that made Harry (and Ron, he noticed) turn back around from watching Kelsey leave.
"Well, I've got our keys, let's go, shall we?" With that, the Weasleys and Harry all followed a particularly squat goblin down the passage Kelsey and Hagrid had passed through not a moment before.
The ride to Harry's vault was a bumpy one, slightly less comfortable than riding a bucking broom. Every dip in the tracks that the mine cart heavily followed brought a bit more green to the faces of Ron and Mr. Weasley.
Quite suddenly, the cart screeched to a halt, throwing its riders roughly forward. Harry had hardly righted himself when Mrs. Weasley gently prodded his shoulder. "That's your vault, dear."
Harry nodded, and stepped out of the cart. Mrs. Weasley handed him his key with a maternal smile, and Harry in turn gave the key to the diminutive goblin standing at the vault door.
A turn of the key, and the well-aged door of the vault swung slowly open, revealing piles upon piles of glittering coins. Harry resisted the urge to cast a nervous look back at the Weasleys; instead, he very nearly leapt into the vault, shoving the money into his leather bag as quickly as possible. He definitely didn't want to prolong the poorer family's view of his cushy bank account.
The sound of the vault door clanging shut sent relief through Harry, as he climbed back into the mine cart (actually rather rickety, he noticed).
Almost before he'd sat down, the cart began to once again take the tracks at breakneck speed. Harry fell back onto the seat, and saw stars for a moment when the solid black rim of the cart struck him at the base of his skull. Rubbing the nape of his neck, he leaned forward, bracing himself against the sides of the cart in order to bounce around less.
"So, what'd you think of that girl, eh?" Ginny said conversationally. Harry started, not having noticed he'd sat down next to her.
"Er," Harry stated articulately.
Ginny laughed, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners. "That's what I thought."
What on earth is she talking about? Harry wondered, casting a rather suspicious glance at Ron's sister, who'd turned back to face the other direction. And it was, in fact, an odd way for Ginny to be acting. Perhaps he just wasn't used to being around her, but he'd been under the (very strong) impression that she had a crush on him. And here she was, asking him how he liked some girl! Very strange.
After their visit to Gringotts, Harry and Ron made their hurried way to the Leaky Cauldron to meet Hermione.
Shoving through a maze of empty chairs, the two finally ended up at the table where Hermione sat with three mugs of Butterbeer.
"Hello, there!" she said brightly. "Pull up a chair," she gestured around the half-empty pub. "There're plenty to choose from."
Harry laughed and grabbed the nearest wooden chair. Ron did the same, and soon they were all three sitting around the table, sipping at the mugs brimming with frothy butterbeer.
As the unique warmth slid down his throat, Harry sighed and leaned back in his chair. "We met her."
Hermione looked startled; this had obviously not been the news she'd expected.
"You met her," she repeated. "Well...?"
Harry shrugged. "She seemed...relatively normal. A bit on the bouncy side."
Ron turned to his best friend, a fresh flush overcoming the traces of sickly jade left from the ride at Gringotts.
"What's wrong with that?"
Harry suppressed a laugh, with difficulty, and upon finding himself quite unable to speak without letting it out, he nudged Hermione under the table.
"Nothing, Ron," she responded, rolling her eyes. The three took to their drinks for a long few moments before anyone spoke again.
"But she didn't mention why she'd been transferred?" Hermione finally said, fixing both Harry and Ron with a serious look.
Harry shrugged. "We really didn't much get into our life stories, Hermione. We talked for maybe five minutes, and then she left to get her money."
Hermione nodded. "Well, I'm certain we'll see our way to finding out."
It was then that Ron piped up, a bit unnecessarily. "I'll find out all about it, if you like."
Hermione snorted. "I doubt you could string together three coherent words around her, much less interrogate her," she said caustically.
Ron's face contorted angrily, and Harry groaned and excused himself to use the restroom before the fireworks had a chance to start. You couldn't pay him enough to sit in the middle of one of their roaring arguments. He slipped around the corner, and, upon chancing a look back at his two best friends, was met with the sight of Ron and Hermione nearly at each other's throats.
Harry sighed in resignation. What else is new?
