A/N Wow, twice in one day - whoo! Happy Christmas!:D

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the rights, it all belongs to J.K Rowling and other affiliations such as Warner Bros.

Chapter Two

The Journey from Platform 9 and ¾

The rest of the summer blurred by – Amara's parents, wanting to spend all the time possible with Amara before she disappeared to who-knows-where until Christmas, had an event practically every day. Amara was quite fond of it – she would miss her parents too.

As Clarisse had told them, the rest of Amara's family could not know about Witches and Wizards, so they told them Amara had received a scholarship to a special boarding school a way away.

Amara found her school books very interesting – there were all these spells and potions and completely different plants. She was eager to learn Charms, Potions and Herbology as they looked interesting. She read well into the night, absorbing the information.

All too soon it was September 1st. Amara's stomach was crossed between nervous jolts and happy leaps. It made her feel quite sick and unable to swallow any breakfast.

Mr Matthews offered to take Amara with him, for he had a meeting in London that day. They set off at quarter past nine and managed to arrive at Kings Cross at quarter to eleven.

Mr Matthews placed Amara's trunk that she'd brought on a trolley and wheeled it into the station. Amara followed him nervously. It was busy on the platforms but the two of them manoeuvred their way to the ticket barrier between nine and ten. Clarisse, before leaving, had told them all Amara had to do was run or walk between Platforms 9 and 10 to enter Platform 9 and ¾.

Mr Matthews glanced at his watch. "You okay to go in now Amara? You only have ten minutes."

Amara nodded, and after giving her father a hug, she walked quickly forwards towards the looming barrier. She squeezed her eyes shut to wait for the impact which never came.

When she opened them, she gasped. A scarlet steam train stood proudly with steam sweeping around the platform.

Before she could admire it for longer, a boy about fifteen asked if she wanted any help.

"Yes thanks." Amara said, and they hauled her trunk onto the train. After thanking him again, Amara set about looking for a spare compartment.

The first few were tightly packed – the next a group of mean boys. She finally found a compartment with a boy and two girls in who looked about her age.

"Hello," said Amara, creaking the door open. "I was wondering if I could I sit here?"

One of the girls smiled. "Of course – are you a first-year too?"

Amara nodded and with the help of the others, hefted her trunk into the rack.

"I'm Hannah Abbott," said one girl, with a pink-face and very high blonde pigtails.

"I'm Anthony Goldstein," said the boy with dirty blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes.

"I'm Amara Matthews." said Amara, smiling at the two of them.

The last girl introduced herself rather snootily "Daphne Greengrass." She said

Amara nodded, the aura around the girl seemed to be very… strange. Amara knew she wasn't a girl she wanted to be friends with, but being as she was, she still was friendly to her.

Amara sat down by the window and looked outside. The tall buildings of London had already whizzed out of sight – now there were neat green fields and towns.

"What House would you be in, if you had the choice?" asked Hannah

Amara blinked confusedly "Houses?"

"Why, yes, we get put into Houses where we stay in I think, I don't know how though. There's Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

Amara frowned.

"What blood status are you?" interjected Daphne

"Muggleborn – I mean, my parents are muggles." Amara said, hoping Daphne wasn't one of 'those' purebloods.

"Ah, that explains it." Anthony said smiling

"I've always wanted to know," began Daphne keenly "How muggleborns get their letters."

"Well a woman from the Ministry or something came and explained it all too me." Amara explained.

"You didn't receive it by owl?" Daphne blinked

Amara shook her head "No, I never have. It sounds odd to me; we get it by post – through the postman."

Daphne, who was a pureblood, asked a load of questions to Amara, which she thought strange, as Amara was more interested at Daphne's life.

'Though,' she mused inside her head 'It might weird for Daphne to think of life like mine.'

"What houses have your relatives been in?" asked Amara

"My mum was a Hufflepuff." Hannah stated proudly.

Daphne snorted.

"What?" Amara asked her

"Well," she said, ignoring Hannah's affronted look "Isn't it meant to be filled with – well – duffers?"

Hannah looked, if possible, even more affronted. She sniffed and turned away from Daphne, who looked rather amused.

"What about you?" Hannah said, recovering. Amara decided that she forgave easily.

"My family, except for a few, have been in Slytherin." Daphne said.

Hannah and Anthony exchanged a glance.

"What?" asked Daphne and Amara together.

Amara was starting to feel as though she knew nothing of the Wizarding World. Her textbooks were one thing – but Wizarding history?

"Um," Hannah said awkwardly

"Isn't Slytherin meant to be fullofbadwizards?" mumbled Anthony

Daphne's eyes narrowed.

"Full of bad wizards?" she repeated "Just because You-Know-Who was a Slytherin doesn't mean they're all bad!"

Before the others could reply, Amara cut in.

"Who's You-Know-Who?"

Daphne and the others looked uneasy.

"Well -."

"Anything off the trolley dears?" asked a short grey haired woman at the door.

Amara, as breakfast didn't go down, hopped up, intending to buy some good chocolate.

There were a whole range of wizard sweets – Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs – Pumpkin Pasties and Liquorice Wands. Amara, spilling out her money, brought – what she hoped – was a little of everything except the Liquorice (which she hated).

"Hungry?" asked Hannah

Amara nodded, her cheeks bulging with a Cauldron Cake.

The others had brought sweets too and they had fun swapping sweets and making Amara try out everything.

"Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans," Amara read out, holding a colourful box.

"Be careful – they mean Every Flavour." snorted Anthony

Disbelieving him, Amara opened the box and chose one without looking. She popped it into her mouth and choked.

"Soap?" she croaked "That's gross!"

Anthony, Hannah and Daphne laughed.

They had fun with the Beans – Anthony got put off after a rather vile sulphur flavoured one. Amara got, after the soap one, shrimp, peppermint, yogurt, liver, strawberry jelly and mayonnaise.

She decided to collect Chocolate Frog cards too – Hannah had readily introduced them to her.

Sometime in the afternoon, there was a knock at the compartment door. A girl with a load of bushy brown hair and big front teeth walked into the compartment, dressed in her school robes.

"Hello, I was wondering if you have seen a toad. A boy in my compartment has lost one." She said.

Amara shook her head. "Sorry, but I could help look if you like."

The girl nodded and walked out of the compartment.

With a goodbye to the others, Amara joined her outside.

"If you go that way, I'll go this way." The girl said bossily "I'm Hermione Granger by the way."

"Amara Matthews – see you later then,"

Amara headed down the corridor, checking in the compartments with friendly-looking people in. She opened the door to one with only two people in.

One had very red hair with a load of freckles and was holding his wand, the other boy was skinny, with black hair and glasses.

"Hi, have you seen a toad? This boy has lost one." Amara said

"We've already told him we haven't." said the red-haired boy

"Oh, sorry," said Amara "I don't know why he bothers, a toad for a pet sounds really dull – and I have no clue about stuff in this world."

"Are you muggleborn?" asked the red-haired boy as they stifled a laugh.

Amara nodded "I'm Amara Matthews by the way. Can I sit down? I can't be bothered to look anymore."

They nodded.

"I'm Ron Weasley," said the red-haired boy

"Harry Potter," muttered the black-haired one

Amara smiled. "So, are you guys excited for Hogwarts?"

Ron gave her a slight weird glance and then at Harry.

"Yeah, I -"

"Has anyone seen a toad – oh, Amara, you've checked this one."

Hermione was back, she walked into the compartment.

"Are you doing magic?" she asked "Let's see then."

Ron looked taken aback, Amara stifled a snort. Harry shot her an amused glance. Amara noticed that Ron had a rat asleep on his lap.

"Er – all right."

He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,

Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

Ron waved his wand, Amara waited expectantly, but nothing happened. The rat stayed grey and asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Hermione asked Ron "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family is magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

Amara was very impressed at how fast Hermione said this. She looked at Harry's and Ron's faces and was relieved to see that it was obvious they hadn't learnt the books from heart either.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered after a while.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

"Are you really?" said Hermione "I know all about you, of course – I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" said Harry, looking slightly dazed.

"What?" Amara said "He's famous?" she turned to Harry "You're famous? Thanks for telling me!"

"I haven't known for that long," said Harry honestly "I didn't know anything!"

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me – especially you Amara, you being like me." said Hermione "Do any of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, I'd better go and find Neville's toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon. Bye Amara."

She left, leaving Amara staring after her in bewilderment.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. Amara agreed as he threw his wand back in his trunk. "Stupid spell – George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor," said Ron, for some reason gloomily. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the house Vol- I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

"Can someone tell me who this You-Know-Who is?" asked Amara "Nobody's told me."

Ron shifted uneasily, but Harry opened his mouth.

"That's why, apparently, I'm famous," he said "Voldemort – well, You-Know-Who," he said as Ron flinched.

"Why 'You-Know-Who'? Why don't they say his name?"

"Because people are scared too," said Harry.

"But it's just a name," said Amara.

"I know – anyway. You-Know-Who was a Dark Wizard about twenty years ago. He killed by parents but he couldn't kill me, for some reason." Harry said.

"That's why you're famous?" Amara said "What a horrible thing to be famous for!"

Harry nodded in agreement, while Ron still looked unhappy.

"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, Amara knew it was to cheer him up. "So what do your oldest brothers do now they've left, anyway?"

"How many do you have?" asked Amara in surprise, leaning forwards to hear his answer.

"Five – and a younger sister," said Ron, still looking glum "Charlie's in Romania studying dragons and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts."

"Cool!" Amara said "I only have a younger sister and brother, they're not that fun. Wish I had older wizard brothers and sisters."

"No you don't, but did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles – someone tried to rob a high-security vault."

Amara and Harry stared.

"Really?"

"What happened?" asked Harry.

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happened in case You-Know-Who's behind it."

Amara didn't like the sound of this You-Know-Who – she felt safer calling him 'Voldemort' so that it would be less worry. "That's weird." she said.

"What are your Quidditch teams?" Ron asked.

"What's Quidditch?" Amara asked

"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world –," And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous fames he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. Amara found it extremely interesting and couldn't wait to get on a broomstick herself – Ron was just taking them through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open, but it wasn't Hermione this time.

Three boys entered, the two either side were huge and looked very mean and looked like body guards against the middle boy. He was skinny and pale and was looking at Harry in interest. Amara felt an immediate wave of dislike for him.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train they Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry, who was looking at the other boys warily.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and Goyle," said the pale boy, rather carelessly, noticing Harry's gaze. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Amara and Ron gave a slight snort that was covering up a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at them both.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford. And you," he said to Amara "I don't know who you are, and I don't care, because you're as worthless as the Weasleys – who count themselves pure."

He turned back to Harry.

"You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.

Draco Malfoy did not go red, but a pink tinge appeared on his pale cheeks.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like her, the Weasleys and that Hagrid and it'll rub off on you."

The three of them stood up. Ron was very red – it matched his hair.

"Say that again," Amara snarled.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered at her.

"Unless you get out now," said Harry, Amara gulped at the size of Crabbe and Goyle.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

Goyle went towards a Chocolate Frog near Ron – Ron leapt forward, but before he had even touched him, he let out a yell.

Scabbers, Ron's rat, was hanging off his knuckle painfully – his teeth were sunk deep into it. Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle started to swing Scabbers around, trying to get him off. He finally flew off and hit the window. Amara saw them leave quickly, and a second later, Hermione Granger came in again.

"What has been going on?" she said, looking at all the sweets. Amara ignored her and looked at Ron, was had picked Scabbers up.

"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry and Amara. He peered closer. "No – I don't believe it – he's gone back to sleep."

And so he had. Amara started laughing.

"You've met Malfoy before?" said Amara to Harry, recovering.

Harry told them his meeting.

"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

"Why are you here?" Amara said.

"I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"

Ron scowled as she left. Amara snorted "I'd better go change too, look, it's getting dark. Bye."

Harry and Ron bade her goodbye as she hurried out of the compartment. There were indeed people running up and down the corridors. Amara ran too, she wanted to be quick.

When she reached her compartment, she found Daphne and Hannah already changed. Anthony had disappeared.

"He went to get change somewhere else." Hannah informed her, as Amara slipped on her robes. "Where have you been?"

"Went and sat in another compartment," said Amara "Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."

Daphne and Hannah gasped "Really?" asked Hannah "What's he like?"

Amara shrugged, but didn't reply, as a message from the driver rang through the train.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time, Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Amara was a jumble of nerves as she stepped out onto the tiny, dark platform. She struggled against the surge of people to get over to the man saying first-years. She shivered at the cold and her nerves.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Alright Harry?"

Amara sped up as she saw Harry and Ron near a huge man with a massive beard.

"Who's that?" she asked behind them, making them jump.

"Don't do that Amara!" Ron said

"He's Hagrid." Harry told her, as the giant man kept calling.

"C'mon, follow me – anymore firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Amara had to grab hold of Harry for support as she slipped and stumbled on the steep narrow path. Amara heard Neville, the boy who lost his toad, sniffing.

"Yeh'll get your firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,' Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' around this bend here."

Amara gasped. The path had opened suddenly onto the edge of an enormous lake that was black in the light. Perched atop the high mountain on the other side was a vast castle with twinkling windows from the stars and loads of turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing at the fleet of boats sitting on the shore. Harry, Ron and Amara were followed into their boat by Hermione (Neville looked scared in a boat without her).

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who sat in one by himself "Right then – FORWARD!"

The fleet of boats moved obediently off the shore and glided across the smooth lake. Amara was silently gazing at the castle in awe – she couldn't wait to go inside. It got bigger as they sailed towards the cliff face.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as they reached the cliff; they bent their heads and the boats went through a curtain of ivy that carried them through a tunnel. They reached a sort of underground harbour that seemed to be right underneath the castle. The clambered out of the boats and onto the pebbly shore.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, as he checked the boats.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding his hands out. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock, following Hagrid's lamp. Finally they came out onto the smooth, damp grass in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up the stone steps and crowded around the oak front door that was huge.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

Hagrid raised on of his gigantic fists and knocked loudly three times on the door.