Hi girls/guys! After spending a good while in the Avatar: The Last Airbender fandom, I've decided to start writing Harry Potter fanfiction again. I really hope you enjoy this collaboration project.
I wrote the first chapter. xSoulfirexCrookshanksx will write the second one. The plan is for us to alternate. Ammon is my OC, while Avery is hers. I created the supporting OCs that will appear in this chapter.
We do not own Harry Potter. Enjoy the first chapter! If you feel led to review this, please do so.
Note: The Sarah Good Academy of Magic is named after one of the first women to be accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials. Also, Headmaster Gray Sky is a Navajo Indian.
Let's see…Books, wand, Hogwarts robes, potions supplies…Inside his head, Ammon Pendleton went through a checklist of the things he packed, not for the first time that week. …My owl's here, I've got my quill, all the parchment I need and then some…He continued to run through everything and saw that he had it all. Okay! I'm ready!
He opened the door to his room and started to push the loaded cart out of there. He stopped at the staircase just outside his door and, with a couple quick flicks of his wand, leveled them out to create a ramp. Okay…Now let's do this without crashing into the wall for once.
Ammon made his way down the ramp carefully, trying to go neither too fast or too slow. Too slow would seriously test the patience of his family, which was waiting on him, and too fast would send him and the cart careening into the wall, which would almost certainly make him have to pack again. He had already re-packed four times, and did not wish to make it a fifth.
Before too long, he had made it down without crashing. However, the gray and white cat at the bottom of the ramp did not notice the wheels until they ran right over its tail. It screeched and ran away, hiding underneath the couch.
"Oh! Sorry, Gandalf! I didn't see you there!" Ammon called to the cat, which he had named after a wizard from a muggle book trilogy he read a few years ago.
"Ammon, are you ready?" A tall witch with jet black hair asked him. "Your father and sister are waiting for you outside."
"Yeah, I've got everything."
Ammon pushed his cart to the door, followed by his mother. The woman opened the door with a couple flicks of her wand, and soon enough she and her son were both out of the house. Ammon took one last look back through the open door before closing it, again with magic.
"Does have everything he needs?" Asked a wiry man with longish, sandy hair and glasses over his gray eyes.
"Yes, Orion," The witch replied, "He packed several times to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything."
Orion gestured to a twelve-year-old girl with straight, dark hair and icy blue eyes very much like her mother's. Like Ammon, she had a cart full of school supplies. "Avery's all packed, too, so I guess we're all set."
"Yes we are," The older witch said as she walked up next to her husband. "Lumos." A bright light emitted from her wand, cutting through the darkness of the early morning. "Let's go. The portkey is just a couple of blocks away."
She and Orion led the way, while Ammon and Avery followed with their carts. Well, Ammon thought, Hogwarts, here I come!
Last year, Ammon won the exchange student competition at his school, the Sarah Good Academy of Magic, located in Salem, Massachusetts. This earned him a year of education at the much more renowned Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft in Scotland, with all of his schoolbooks and everything paid for by the school. For the first time, his family did not have to spend a sickle on anything.
At least, not for him. Pendleton family excursions had increasingly become bonding experiences between Avery and her parents, with Ammon eschewing family time in favor of his friends and studies. Hardly did he speak to his mother, father, or sister anymore, even when he was home. In short, he was practically a stranger in his own home.
Because of this, Orion opted to have Avery transfer for a year from the Sarah Good Academy to Hogwarts. At first, the transfer was blocked by faculty at the Academy, but after Avery took some summer classes from home to pick up her grades, it fell through. Now, Avery was going to Hogwarts with her older brother as the renowned school's youngest ever exchange student.
Before too long, a pond came into view to the family's right. Standing by what appeared to be a muggle toolbox was a man holding a wand, using the lumos spell. He was an elderly Native American man, dressed in long-sleeved Native American clothing instead of traditional wizard robes. Twin black braids were thrown over his shoulders, falling about to his waist. He waved at the family, beckoning them to join.
He greeted every one of them as they approached. "Hello Ammon, Avery, Orion, and Callisto." All of them returned the greeting with a smile and a handshake.
"Headmaster Gray Sky…Not that I don't appreciate this, but what are you doing here? Didn't the semester begin last week?"
"It's a Sunday, meaning no classes. Besides, this is the first time ever that the Sarah Good Academy has sent more than one exchange student to Hogwarts. I couldn't not come to see you two off. Also, you can probably already tell, but that toolbox is the portkey." The Headmaster then turned to Orion and Callisto. "You two must be extremely proud of your children."
"Believe me," Orion replied, "We are. Both of them have worked very hard for this opportunity."
"They've earned it," Callisto agreed.
"Indeed they have."
Gray Sky turned to Avery. "Good luck at Hogwarts. If you need anything, send an owl either to me or to your parents. And please; do not go into the Forbidden Forest outside the school. I'd rather you not have a repeat of the labyrinth incident. Hogwarts is stricter than the Sarah Good Academy."
Avery nodded in reply, remembering the night she had wandered into the labyrinth underneath the Sarah Good Academy and got totally lost. A week of nightly detention taught her not to venture back down there.
Now Gray Sky turned to Ammon. "You keep up the good work you've been doing the past five years." He handed Ammon an envelope. "Also, your friends asked me to give you this. They thought it would be quicker than sending it with an owl."
"Thank you, Headmaster."
"If you find yourself having a difficult time, feel free to send me an owl. I'll see what I can do to help."
"I appreciate that." Ammon gave Gray Sky a grateful smile and shook his hand. Will Dumbledore care about his students as much as Gray Sky does?
"I will see you two next school year at the very latest." And with that, Gray Sky apparated away, leaving Ammon and Avery to say their goodbyes to their parents.
"We're going to miss both of you," Orion said, hugging both of his children. "You two stay on top of your work and stay out of trouble, okay? Ammon, I doubt you'll have much of a problem with either. If your sister's having a hard time, help her out. You got that?"
"Yeah, no problem."
"I'll miss you, sweetie," Callisto said to Avery, enveloping her in a tight hug, "Write to me every week, okay?"
"Okay, mom," Avery replied, looking simultaneously apprehensive and excited about her extended stay abroad.
Callisto now turned her attention to her eldest, taking him firmly by the shoulders. "You take care of Avery."
"I will." Ammon noticed a doubting look in his mother's eyes. "What?"
"That's what you said last year, when she went off on her own into the labyrinth."
Under different circumstances, Ammon would have sighed in exasperation. Seriously? She still blames me for that? "It'll be different this time."
"I hope so."
Ammon nodded and, without even a hug goodbye, walked over to the portkey with his cart. He and Avery took one last look back at their parents, exchanging waves with them, then both touched the portkey. Both were yanked forward by a very powerful force. Winds that would make any hurricane look like a mild storm pounded at them for a few seconds terrifying seconds that seemed to last a few minutes.
The landing was much cleaner, as it was on a lush, grassy field somewhere in England. Ammon deduced that it was mid-morning in England, but still extremely early in America, where most people were presumably still asleep. No bones were broken, although some of Ammon and Avery's books fell out of the cart and onto the ground. Putting them back in the carts proved no issue thanks to their wands.
Behind them, they heard a sharp crack. Turning around, they saw a graying wizard in formal-looking robes, standing a few feet away from them.
"Do you two have names?"
"I'm Ammon Pendleton, and this is my sister Avery."
"Avery Pendleton?"
"Yes." That's kind of a stupid question.
"Are you two the Ammon Curtis Pendleton and Avery Christine Pendleton I have listed?"
"That's us," Ammon replied, hoping he had succeeded in veiling his impatience.
"Both of you hand me your passports."
Ammon and Avery did what they were told. The older wizard looked at Avery's moving photograph that was found on her passport, then at Avery herself. He turned his attention to Ammon's photograph, then at Ammon himself.
"Yes, you're definitely them." He tapped both passports a few times, then handed them back. "Here, you are now officially permitted by the British Ministry of Magic to move about the United Kingdom. You two are here to attend Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, yes?"
"Yeah, that's where we're going," Ammon replied. What? All the books aren't a dead giveaway?
The wizard nodded. "I see. I've been ordered to take the two of you to the King's Cross station and escort you to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. That is where you will board the Hogwarts Express."
"Got it," Ammon replied.
"Have either of you side-along Apparated before?" Both Pendleton siblings nodded in affirmation. "Good, so you already know what to do. Just don't forget to make sure everything is secured."
Ammon and Avery both made sure their things were secured, then grabbed either sleeve of the man's robes. In an instant, everything went dark, and they were overcome with the feeling of being pulled in every different direction at the same time. Once it was over, they found themselves in dark closet.
The older wizard used an illumination charm to find the doorknob, then opened the door, leading them out of the closet. As they walked, they passed many muggles, who paid no attention to them. Likewise, they did not pay any attention to the muggles.
Ammon and Avery counted every platform they passed. By platform five, they began to see more people in wizard robes instead of muggle clothes. Some youths between the ages of eleven and seventeen were pushing loaded carts much like the ones Ammon and Avery were handling. More and more wizards and witches came into view until they got between platforms nine and ten.
Avery frowned, not seeing a sign that read, Platform 9 3/4. "Where's…?"
"Right there," The older wizard replied, pointing to a barrier between platforms nine and ten. Ammon and Avery both watched as a brown-haired girl pushed her cart into the barrier and seemingly disappeared. "Do exactly what they're doing, and you'll find the Hogwarts Express. Don't be afraid, I did this seven times when I was young like you two. The very worst that could happen is that you miss the eleven o'clock deadline and make fools out of yourselves in front of many muggles passing by, although, seeing as how it's about ten fifty right now, you don't have to worry about that."
"Great," Ammon replied, "We'll take it from here. Thanks."
"Just doing my job." With that, the wizard disapparated.
Ammon turned to Avery. "After you." However, Avery stayed rooted to the ground, eyeing the barrier apprehensively.
"Do you want me to go first to show you it's safe?" Ammon asked. Avery nodded in affirmation. "Suit yourself."
Ammon started to push his cart toward the barrier, accelerating quickly. This is crazy! We never rammed barriers to get across in America! However, a few seconds later, he had made it safely across, with a large locomotive to his right being boarded by many students. A few seconds later, Avery appeared at his side.
"Well," Ammon said, "I guess this is it. We're really on our way to Hogwarts now. Let's board that train and find some seats."
As he led Avery onto the train, Ammon grinned broadly, knowing how jealous his American friends would be when he returned for Christmas with all of his stories. Although he and Avery did not know it, both were in for more than they anticipated. So much more.