Prologue
I stood in front of the train, clinging to my godfather, Remus Lupin. I glanced over my shoulder to where my new school supplies, wand, and owl were. My school supplies, along with most of my belongings, were packed and locked in the trunk. I returned my attention to Remus as he tried to pry me from his leg as gently as he could. I simply tightened my hold. He sighed. "Amy, you're going to have to let go sooner or later, and the train's departing in a few minutes." He said gently. I shook my head. "No. I don't wanna go." I said like the stubborn child I was, despite being 11 years old. The train in question was, in fact, the Hogwarts Express. Remus sighed and knelt alongside me, finally succeeding in removing me from his leg. "Padfet. You know full well that you have to. You have to learn how to control your magic and I can't keep teaching you. You know that. Your father would want you to go. Besides, you'll probably make lots of friends and completely forget how much you miss me." he said gently but firmly. "All aboard! All aboard for the Hogwarts Express!" the conductor yelled. I sighed and nodded reluctantly. Remus took me to where my stuff was and helped me take it to the baggage area. He helped me load it onto the train and led me back to one of the passenger cars. He hugged me and smiled reasurringly. "You'll be fine, you'll see." He said and gently pushed me onto the train. I stood there and waved until I couldn't see him anymore. I took a deep breath and entered the train. I wandered around for a few minutes, looking for somewhere to sit, when I found it with two boys who looked to be my age. I gently knocked on the door to the compartment. "Excuse me, but do either of you mind if I join you? All the other compartments are full and I don't really know anyone here..." I started out talking at a decent level, but I was embarrassed to admit that I was mumbling by the end. To my surprise, both boys seemed to understand what I was trying to say. "Not at all! Come on in! Harry, do you mind?" One of the boys, a redhead, said enthusiastically. "No, of course not!" The boy called Harry said and moved over to make room for me. I smiled at both of them gratefully and sat down next to him. The redhead had just opened his mouth to say something when the trolley pulled up, making me remember the money Remus, a.k.a. Moony, gave me. "Anything from the trolley dears?" She asked cheerfully. The redhead muttered something about sandwiches, but the other boy, the one the redhead had called Harry, surprised both of us by pulling out a lot of money and saying we'd take the lot. After making his purchases, the boy sat back down. The redhead looked at me. "So, who are you? I don't think I've ever seen you before." He said, curious. I chuckled. "I'm Amelia. Amelia Black. But you can call me Amy; everyone does. Who are you?" I replied, silently hoping that he wouldn't make the connection to my father. He regarded me silently for a moment before replying. "Ron Weasley." He said simply. I nodded. I'd heard all about the Weasleys from Moony. They were a huge family, all pure blood wizards, like mine. "Nice to meet you Ron. And you are?" I said, nodding to Ron politely before turning my attention to the boy sitting beside me. "Oh, sorry. I'm Harry Potter." He said, nodding politely to me before resuming eating his sweets. My eyes widened in shock, not because he was The Boy Who Lived, but because of something Remus had told me. He'd said once that my dad, Sirius Black, was Harry Potter's godfather, which meant that if anything happened to his parents, my dad would look after him. So that made him my god brother. It was kinda weird sitting next to my god brother, but I had a feeling that I'd get used to it. The compartment door opened to reveal a girl, our age. She surveyed us for a minute before speaking. "Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost his." She said, causing Ron to shrug. She looked at Harry and me, causing us to shrug as well. She looked at Ron and noticed that he had his wand out and was holding it over his rat, who he'd said was named Scabbars. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then." She said, prompting Ron to continue with the spell he'd been trying to cast when she'd arrived. "Sunshine, daisies, bottle mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" He said, waving his wand at Scabbars. He succeeded in shooting the mostly empty box of jelly beans off of his head. I blinked at him, unimpressed. I've always been a powerful witch, I can even use magic without a wand, so I wasn't at all surprised the 'spell' hadn't worked. It wasn't even a real spell. As if reading my thoughts, the girl spoke up. "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it?" She said, an almost condescending edge to her voice. Ron looked at Harry and me and gave a small nod in her direction with an expression that said 'Can you believe her?' "Of course, I've only tried to do simple ones myself. But they all work for me." She said and pulled out her wand. She walked over to my other side and took a seat, sitting directly across from Harry. "For example." She said, pointing her wand at Harry's glasses. "Oculus Repairo." She said simply. Immediately, the tape wrapped around the bridge of his glasses flew away, revealing them to be perfectly restored, without any trace of ever having been broken. "That's better, isn't it?" She inquired as Harry pulled off his glasses and stared at them in amazement. He exchanged glances with Ron, who was staring at his glasses, almost as surprised as Harry himself, and myself. "Holy cricket, you're Harry Potter!" She cried in surprise. "I'm Hermione Granger." She said and glanced at Ron. "And you are?" She asked with slight disgust. Honestly, I couldn't blame her. Ron had been stuffing his mouth with jelly beans, so his mouth was full of food when she looked at him. "Um, Ron Weasley." He said around his mouth full of food. "And you?" She asked, looking at me. I swallowed my fear and replied. "Amy Black." I said, hoping she wouldn't ask what most people asked when they heard my name. Thankfully, she didn't. "Pleasure." She looked back at Harry. "You three better change into your robes, I expect we'll be arriving soon." Hermione said, getting up. She started out of the compartment but stopped at the door. "You've got dirt on your nose by the way, did you know? Just there." She told Ron, indicating a spot on the side of her nose. Then she spun on her heel and left. I sighed and looked out the window. This was going to be interesting.