A/N: I know some of you will kill me for saying this for the third time in this story: I have a snow day! Well, at least it gives me the opportunity to update, right? Here in my county in Missouri, there happens to be nine inches of snow, and it's still coming, so I could have another snow day tomorrow as well. Aren't you all happy I'll, hopefully, get to update two days in a row? Also, I have just recently looked back at the past chapters I wrote and there are some minor mistakes that I hope you corrected as you read (stupid Spell Check!) and in Chapter 5, I realize there is a bold (1), that was because I was going to explain what a 'Pikachu' and a 'Charmander' were at the end of the chapter, but because of my short term memory I kind of forgot, so I'll tell you here: they are two of my favorite Pokemon! And if you see any other mistakes that kind of annoy you, feel free to tell me. Please enjoy!
When the two of us arrived back at Hogwarts, in his office, Dumbledore immediately had me list off peoples' names for me to tell how I got here; he was going to call a meeting in the Great Hall with the rest of the school to tell them something different so word didn't get around that I knew the future.
"There's quite a few, is that alright?" He nodded. "Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Oliver Wood, and…how about Cedric Diggory?"
"I will go call for them, Kristin. Oh, and by the way, the bag you arrived with is on my desk." I looked at him with a confused look on my face as he winked and slipped out the door. My attention turned to the familiar purple bag, my only connection to my own dimension. I gently ran my hand over the coarse fabric as tears filled my eyes; I was so excited about coming here, I never thought about how much I might miss my family and friends. Picking up one of my many photo albums, I sat down in the middle of the room and flipped it open to the best picture of all time: my brother in a dress with makeup and bunny slippers. I smiled and looked through the rest of the book.
A cough caused me to look up and I saw Dumbledore with all the people I had mentioned to him. "Oh, I'm sorry, Dumbledore, I-I was just looking through some of my old pictures." I set the album back in the bag and sat in a regular chair next to Luna as everyone else sat down as well.
"Alright, all of you should know that this is the young woman who dropped in on us yesterday, and she has chosen the ten of you to tell her story to." He gave me the floor and I told them all about what had happened over the past couple of days and how I had gotten here, about how I got my wand a couple of hours ago, and about the actual Harry Potter series. They all listened to me patiently, until Harry Potter himself interrupted me.
"Do you really expect us to believe this?" he asked, a cold look on his face. I assumed he was still angry about Hermione getting McGonagall to confiscate his Firebolt.
Fred turned to him, "Harry, me and Luna were there, what she's saying is the absolute truth." He quieted down as I handed him my earliest photo album.
"These pictures, they quite accurately record my life, my life in my dimension. You all can look at them if you don't believe me, there are pictures of my friends, my school, and my family," I said, kind of hurt from Harry's words. As I reached into my bag, I realized that Dumbledore was no longer in the room and I was alone with ten of the greatest people ever. My fingers came across my Pikachu and Charmander figurines and I pulled them out, but I quickly dropped them as a random chill came across my entire body. I turned to see that all of the wizards and witches in the room were also feeling the effects of the same coldness.
"Why-why is it so cold?" Ginny asked, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to warm herself. All of a sudden, memories of my friend Vince moving away and of my grandparents' deaths flashed through my mind and I tried to blink away oncoming tears.
"Who's screaming?" Harry asked in a yelling voice, collapsing to the ground. I gasped in realization that a dementor must be in the room, but I couldn't see anything that remotely looked like one. Almost everyone in the room was crying and I finally had enough of the sad memories that I had to endure in the past five years of my life.
Raising my arm, with my wand in hand, I yelled, "Expecto Patronum!" Surprisingly, a white phoenix erupted from the tip of my wand and chased the dementor out from under one of the chairs and out the door. About a moment later, a tall man with a mustache and scars covering his face ran into the room; I don't think Dumbledore's office has ever had so may visitors at once.
The man leaned over Harry, who was now unconscious, and looked around at everyone else as he tossed them something he had grabbed out of his pocket. He quickly made his way over to me and kept me standing because of my now wobbling knees.
"Miss, you need to have some chocolate, it helps, I promise." I took a piece from his hand and popped it into my mouth; never has anyone actually encouraged me to eat the sweet candy.
"I-I Professor Lupin, is-is Harry going to be okay?" I asked, as he led me to a chair.
"Everyone will be just fine."
It was, what I assumed, dinnertime when Dumbledore led me into the Great Hall. As I stepped through the humungous doors, it felt as if everyone's eyes were on me—maybe because they were—and I walked as fast and graceful as I could between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables. Hermione caught my eye and gave me and warm smile while all of the Weasley's waved. I also noticed Harry give me an apologetic look and I grinned with newfound happiness. Once I reached the front of the room, Dumbledore put his wand to his throat to make his voice louder than normal.
"Boys and girls, witches and wizards, teachers and faculty, I would like to introduce to you, Miss Kristin Lacey." I waved and when my eyes glanced over the Slytherin table, I almost gasped when I saw a boy with platinum blonde hair and a pointed face look at me with an all-knowing look in his eyes.
"I know who you are," he mouthed. I quickly looked away and turned my attention to Neville, who was petting his frog, Trevor.
"Anyway," Dumbledore continued, "she is an exchange student from another wizarding school, but, unfortunately, the professors at her school were absolutely terrible, so she is a little behind. Therefore, she will be in the classes with the third years, instead of the fifth years." I breathed a sigh of relief; I could easily become closer to the Golden Trio if I was in their classes. "Before classes can resume this morning, we have to sort this young lady into a house, Miss Lacey, if you would?" He gestured to a random stool and I, slowly, made my way over to it and sat down. The Sorting Hat was placed on my head and I could hear it mumbling to itself.
After what seemed like an hour, it yelled, "Too much, too much!" and jumped off my head and into the hands of Professor McGonagall. My eyes grew wide as everyone in the room gasped.
"Um…" I started. I'm guessing the Sorting Hat couldn't deal with what was in my mind and in my memories.
"Well…since the Sorting Hat jumped into the hands of the Head of the Gryffindor House, Miss Lacey shall be a Gryffindor!" The entire table of scarlet and gold wearers jumped up and cheered as I made my way over and sat next to Fred.
"That was new way to be sorted," I said to my red-haired friend.
"You're telling me."