why didnt you just get an update for 30 bucks?
and if it really was just the hdd that fried, it is childsplay to install mac osx on a new harddrive, if you'd like, i can walk you through it.
theres no need for a new macbook if it was only the drive, i messed up my harddrive on my old 2008 mb and just took apart an external harddisk and installed lion on it.