On to Hogwarts
Early the next morning Lupin woke everyone p for breakfast. Amanda put her pillow over her head and tried to fall back asleep, Lupin didn't quit, he chuckled lightly. "Come on Amanda, time to wake up. You don't want to be late to Hogwarts, do you?" that's all he had to say. She was wide-awake and grinning broadly. She threw her covers off. Lupin laughed as he went to the next room to wake Ron and Harry (they slept in a different room each night for the heck of it.)

Amanda, after taking a quick look around her room in case another visitor was lurking about, got dressed at a slow pace. She knew breakfast wasn't ready yet and it would be two hours before they left. She was putting on some make up when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in." she said as she was applying some lipstick before she headed downstairs. "Hey, how's my little sis this morning?" Jacob asked as he came in. "I'm excited and nervous all at once." Amanda said and smiled sheepishly. "That's nothing wrong with that. You'll be fine." Jake was assuring his sister.

"I just hope everyone likes me. It would make things easier." She said as she looked at herself in the dresser mirror one last time before heading to the door with Jake following her. "Now tell me, who wouldn't like you? Trust me everything will be great. I just want you to focus on your work and have fun." He said as he put an arm on her shoulder. "What are you going to do before the holidays? Stay here?" Amanda inquired as they walked down the stairs. "Probably, oh yeah that reminds me. I have a surprise for you. Now, close your eyes and hold out your hand." Amanda obeyed. "Okay, open." Amanda opened her eyes and smiled. In her hand was a silver necklace with a mirror looking pendent on it. "It's beautiful." She put it on. "It's a necklace, but it is fixed so you and I can talk whenever we want. Just say 'Jake' and my pendent will glow and I'll see you in the mirror and you'll also see me." He finished and a smile made its way to his face.

"Thanks. I love it. I'm hungry, let's go eat." Said Amanda The two walked into the eating room where everyone was sitting down already to eat. Fred and George were laughing like crazy at a joke Ron made up. Hermione and Ginny were giggling away. Harry was talking with Lupin about the upcoming school year. It wasn't long before the group left for the train station. Jacob and Amanda's mother was there to see them off. "Now, Amanda, I want you to write us everyday. Alright?" Amanda nodded and gave her mother a last hug before joining the rest of the group. "Say where is this platform 9 and three quarters? I don't see it." Amanda said, as she looked at the space between nine and ten.

"Oh, yeah. What you do is walk at the wall between nine and ten. It's hidden from muggles." Mr Weasley explained. Amanda raised an eyebrow and gave him a questioning look. "What if the portal doesn't work? That would hurt." Amanda said. "Oh, don't worry. That's never happened before, besides it's not to close until eleven. If your nervous just get a running start." Fred said encouragingly. "Alright. Here we go. Are you ready Salem?" Amanda asked her new pet cat. Salem was still just a kitten. She had a black coat of fur, except her small paws were white. Salem just purred in reply to her master's question. Amanda took a deep breath took her trolley's handle firmly and ran into platform nine and three quarters, she gasped at the site before her. Harry and Ron came in behind her and she followed where they were headed. "This train is humungous!" Amanda exclaimed when they found Hermione, Crookshanks, Neville, and Ginny. The others smiled at her as they looked around for a compartment to sit.

"Here's an empty one." Ginny said and everyone piled in and arranged their luggage. Hermione let Crookshanks out of his cage and Amanda reluctantly let Salem out of her cage. Amanda eased up when she saw Crookshanks and Salem start to play with a ball together. The train ride to school was fun as the five talked and laughed. When they were ten minutes away they separated and changed into their Gryffindor robes, but Amanda was wearing what a first year would were before they were sorted.

The train finally stopped at the Hogwarts and the students slowly unborded the red train with eagerness, with first years and Amanda came off with a mix of fear and excitement. "Alright, first years follow me." The part giant Hagrid yelled over the noises the train was making. "Do I go with them?" Amanda asked Harry. "I don't think so. Just come with us and we'll ask Professor Magonagall (did I spell that right?). The five left their things for someone else too take to their dorms. As the teens made it to the door Amanda felt her head get soaked. "AHHHHHH! Marino? sa?" Amanda asked as she wrung out her hair.

"What? We can't understand your language." Ron said. "I said 'Was that water?' Where did it come from? It's not raining." Harry looked up at the overhang to the grand double doors to the castle and grunted. "I bet it was Peeves again. He does that every year when we come back. Sorry, I forgot to warn you." Harry looked mad t himself. "Don't be. It felt good. Water's never killed anybody, let's just get in before he does I again." Amanda smiled as she said this and her jaw almost hit the floor when they got inside. "Wow! This place is huge. I can't wait to take the tour of this place." Amanda said in awe. The three followed the other people their age into the Great Hall. Everyone who looked at Amanda would have thought she was hyperventilating. "Amanda, are you alright?" Neville asked.

"Yes and no." Amanda said once her fit subsided. "I'm so nervous about this sorting. I'm also glad to see all this. My old school is nothing this grand. It's big, but it's not really this extravagant." Amanda had this widest grin on her face, which caught on to the other four. "All transfers come over here to be sorted." Professor Magonagall yelled over the chatty people. "That's me" Amanda took a deep breath and made her way over to the transfiguration teacher. Amanda, to her embarrassment saw she was the only transfer this time. "Now I'm going to announce you, you'll come up, sit on this stool and I'll put this hat on you. Any questions?" the teacher finished and Amanda shook her head. After a few moments the first years arrived and stood with Amanda, then Dumbledore tapped his glass with his fork and stood up, everyone got silent.

"May I have your attention? I am pleased to announce we have a transfer student this year from America. We will start the sorting with her. Professor Magonagall if you will." Dumbledore sat back down and she stood up and took her place next to the stool. "Please come up when I call your name. Amanda Mitchell." Amanda walked up the three steps to the staff table. Hagrid had heard a little about Amanda from Ron, Harry, and Hermione and he could tell how nervous she was and gave her an encouraging smile. Amanda just smiled back to everybody. She sat on the stool. Why doesn't everyone look away? It would make things easier. The professor put the sorting hat on the teen's head. "What have we here?" the hat stated in an amused tone, Amanda gasped, Did that hat just talk?

"Yes I can talk. Now, where should I put you? (The hat sat silently for a moment.) I know, GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted for all to hear. Amanda knew where the table was. She just had to find Ron. That wouldn't be hard. She found the table and sat next to Hermione, who was sitting across from the two boys. "Hi, Amanda. My name is Seamus Finnegan. It's good to have you here." He held out his hand and they shook hands and everyone else took their turns introducing themselves. "I've got to call Jacob." Amanda took the necklace out of her red shirt she had on under her house robes and took it off her neck so she could use it. "Jake." Amanda said to the mirror. The pendent glowed for a second and her brother's face appeared in her mirror.

"Hey, how's it going over there?" Jacob asked. "Great. I just got sorted into Gryffindor. I'm glad I get to stay with my friends." Amanda was talking a mile a minute about her excitement. "I'm proud of you. Do you want to see Mom? She's right here." He said "Alright" Amanda wanted to see her Mom's reaction. After a minute her mother came on. "Oh, honey. I'm glad your having fun. Your father would be so proud." Her mother let a tear slip down her face. "Mom, he's out there. We just haven't found him. Listen, the head master is about to speak I'll check in later, bye." Amanda waved. "Good bye sweet heart." Her mother's image vanished and Amanda only saw herself and she tucked the necklace back into her shirt. "Cool, we all in the Order got one of those. It was your brothers invention." Said Harry then quickly looked back to the headmaster as he began to speak. Dumbledore explained the school rules and announced Sirius as the DADA teacher for the year. After the speech Dumbledore sat and everyone started to eat. "Say, who's the big guy who teaches Care of Magical Creatures?" Amanda asked

"Oh, that's Hagrid. He is our good friend and he's a great teacher. You'll love his classes." Ron explained. "I can't wait." Amanda said as she was reaching for a roll, but she ended up dropping back as she saw Nearly- Headless Nick's head looking up at her from the bowl of rolls. "AHH! Who are you?" she asked ass Nick finished going through the bowl and stood next to Amanda who was gawking at him. "Amanda, that's Nearly-Headless Nick, but he likes Sir Nick." Seamus explained. "Why Nearly-Headless? How can that be?" Amanda asked out of curiosity as she snatched up a roll and took a bite. Nick took his head and pulled it three fourths of the way off, Amanda coughed/choked on her roll bite. She grabbed her goblet of pumpkin juice and took a long drink to get the food down then she addressed Nick. "I'm not going to ask what happened to you, but I feel sorry for you." She said as she took another bite of roll.

"Thank you Amanda. You seem to be the only person who feels that way. That means a lot ." Nick then got to talking to Neville about his summer in Spain. Neville went into a long, exciting story of his trip to some ancient ruins. Everyone was listening with interest. A few minutes into his story Amanda heard her mother screaming for her. "Mom?" Amanda asked after she took the necklace off. Her mothers eyes were red and puffy from crying, she was still sobbing. "Mother, what's wrong? I am fine at Hogwarts, please stop worrying." Amanda was on the verge of tears from seeing her mother like this. "It's not that, sweetheart. I just got an owl for you and a file was with it. You have been asked to lead a demon extermination at a house on Halloween week. I read the file and I don't want you to go, but they need a 'sixth spotter' there. All their others are not able to take your place. Your required." Her mother finished. Her daughter was in shot. "Umm, Mom can I see the file? How fast could an owl get here from the castle?" Amanda asked in a squeaky voice. "I can do better than an owl." Her mother waved her hand over something in front o her and a red file folder and a white envelope.

"Thanks Mom. I'll call before I go to sleep. Bye." Amanda said in a fake cheery voice. Her mother couldn't even speak as her face faded from the pendent. Amanda started by reading the envelope.

TBC

Athuor Note- I finally updated. My family and I have been getting ready to move. Just to warn you guys it might be a while for me to get the next chapter up. I will try to do what I can.Thanks. Sangkagome89-