"Well, now that's out of the way," I said, feeling very triumphant as we bounded down the spiral staircase and into the fifth floor corridor. Danni stopped "bounding."
"Do you realize, oh-ye-of-little-smoothness, that you introduced me as Danni Foster to Weasley One and Weasley Two-"
"And Lee," I added with another crazed, sugar-high grin.
"-and as Danni Montgomery to Professor Dumbledore?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, unperturbed by my sugar-high. It was quite funny, really. Danni's usually the one with the sugar-high, not me.
"Well..." I wracked my brain for an excuse. Danni's real name is Danielle Montgomery-Foster, and sometimes I switch around what surname I use when referring to her. "It just sounds more...professional."
"Don't even try," Danni said, rolling her eyes. "Let's just go find McGonagall's office." I looked around for a helpful student, but it appeared that it was class time. Or perhaps no one was on the fifth floor.
"Well, perhaps we should just wander around until we find something useful," I suggested. Danni rolled her eyes once again. "Hey, cut me some slack. I'm too hyper to think logically," I said defensively. She grinned.
"Sure it's not Draco Malfoy's million-dollar-smile that's got you so befuddled," she teased. I raised an eyebrow.
"Ooh, big word, Danni. Your vocabulary is just getting so much better, considering the only things you could say earlier were 'George,' 'hot,' and 'Charmed, I'm sure,'" I shot back. Danni scowled as a bell rang and the classroom doors opened to release students from their respective classes. They all seemed to be heading downstairs, so I assumed it was lunchtime.
"Hey, there's McGonagall!" Danni said, excitedly. Upon hearing her name, Professor McGonagall, tall, thin, and foreboding as ever, turned around to face us.
Your turn. I handled Dumbledore.
"Professor McGonagall, I'm Dannielle Montgomery-"
See! I told you it sounded more professional!
"-and this is Jaime Ryder. We're new transfer students. We've just been enrolled, and Professor Dumbledore told us to find you. We were sorted into Gryffindor," she added, by way of explanation.
"What year?" she asked shortly, ushering us out of the way of oncoming traffic.
"Fourth," I said, promptly.
"Well, all right. Do you have your schedules?" McGonagall said. I glanced at Danni, and she looked back, just as unsure.
"Well, we actually don't have any," I said, hesitantly. "We're supposed to-"
"Professor McGonagall!" McGonagall turned around. It was Nearly Headless Nick. "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you," he said, pulling up the ruff around his neck.
"Thank you, Nick," she said. He bowed, and disappeared through the wall. She turned back to us. "It's lunchtime. For now, you shall go to classes with the Gryffindors. Just go to classes you're interested in, and we'll get your schedule settled by tomorrow."
Thanking her, we hurried down the stairs, heading for the Great Hall. I turned a corner and nearly bumped into someone else.
It's just not safe walking around here!
"Hello," I said, brightly. The boy smiled back at me.
"Hello," he said. "Are you American?" He must have noticed the accent. I nodded. "I'm Harry Potter."