I accidentally deleted hidden system files! Please help!

Hi guys.
Well after purchasing a mint MBP today running Mountain Lion, I wanted to "tidy up" the desktop and Finder. I saw many hidden files and thought it was very peculiar as my iMac hasn't got anything of the kind. I thought it could have been some files from a USB that were left there from previous usage. Anyway, I've ended up deleting key system files which now causes the MacBook to fail boot and keep restarting.
I've attempted the highly recommended "Command R" function which gave me a choice of Time Machine Restore (system comes up with no backups), re-installation of Lion (which won't work because the system is running Mountain Lion) and a Disk Utility repair (which does its job but makes no difference on start up). I feel really upset and annoyed. The system had great installations of key apps I needed. I'd be sad to loose them but would be happy to just get the system rebooted and running from scratch.
The system is a late 15" 2011 MACBOOK PRO with an i7 Quad 2.44 (or 2.66) processor, 4GB memory and a 750GB hard drive.
What can I do? Is it just a case of take it to Apple so they can reboot it for you? And if that's the case will I be charged?
Many thanks for the advice.
Apologies if this is something you have heard before, it's a horrible feeling and I just want it fixed.
Thanks.
Hal.

To install Lion that belongs to you will require you to repartition the drive first. You cannot do a simple reinstall of Lion over a Mountain Lion system. You will need to follow this guide instead:
Install Lion/Mountain Lion on a New HDD/SDD
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Partition and Format the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your external hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
This is the procedure you must go through because your hard drive does not have a Lion version of the Recovery HD.

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