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We got our baggage off the train, Harry, Ron and I craning our necks to get a glimpse of the school. You couldn't see much of the castle except for the lighted windows from the station, but it looked ominous.
Carriages up to the castle took our baggage, whereas we were transported by boat. A stern-looking witch, who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall gave us a small talk, before bustling out, leaving us first years in a small room off the side of the Entrance hall. Several ghosts floated through the walls and into the room we were in, and almost everybody jumped, cowering. I didn't. Not to boast but it didn't really surprise me. Hogwarts is a castle; what castle isn't haunted? There was probably a forest outside as well. It did please me a bit to see Draco Malfoy drain of colour at the apparitions though.
After another moment we were led into the Great Hall. It was huge, with five long tables spaced along its length. Almost everyone was seated and I crept slightly closer to my brother and friends, nervous at everyone eyes on me. Individually, Professor McGonagall called us up, and a tattered hat sorted us into our houses. I was plainly terrified.
"Harry Potter!" Professor McGonagall called, and I froze. I would be next sorted. I hoped that I'd be with my brother, wherever he was sorted, and not with Draco Malfoy who'd been put into Slytherin house, just as he'd assured me would happen.
People would describe, that when Harry was called, the Hall went silent. It wasn't. When Harry was called, everyone hushed his or her conversations to see what house the one and only Harry Potter would be sorted into.
"Amy Potter!" I was summoned up to the dais.
When I was called, all conversations stopped. Everyone who wasn't already watching was now staring. I guessed that not many people knew that Harry wasn't an only child.
'Hmmm, you are almost as difficult as your brother. Already have some ties to Slytherin, I see.'
I thought of Draco, and my stomach twisted, but I remained silent.
'And you are not as opposed to it as your brother, interesting. Ravenclaw or Slytherin would both be fantastic places for you, Amy Potter, but I think I'll put you in…'
"Gryffindor!" The Sorting Hat announced aloud.
'Gryffindor values courage, bravery and nerve, none of which are your strongest points. But I think you will do well there. Your heart is pure, purer then your brothers, for you are open to the Slytherins, where he is already lost.' It finished.
I walked to Gryffindor table amidst applause and incredulous stares, and took the spare seat on the right of Harry, who was also staring at me.
"Did you know?" he asked me.
"Er, yea." I admitted, unable to meet his gaze.
"Then why didn't you say?"
"I… I don't know." I looked down at my gleaming golden plate.
"How did you survive? Who do you live with? How long have you known?" Questions poured from his lips.
"I don't know, I was an orphanage child until I left. I lived on the streets, until a gardener took me in. Now I've moved on again." I swallowed the lump in my throat again, deliberately leaving out the fact the gardener was dead and I was living with murderers. Under my sleeve the Mark twinged painfully, warning me not to tell. "I've known – well, suspected – since Madam Malkin's. Didn't you know?"
"I knew I had a sister. When Hagrid was telling me about my parents, he mentioned I had a sister, a twin. But he said no one knew what happened to her. She was visiting relatives when he came and killed my – our – mum and dad. Know one knew what happened to her after that, as his followers killed all the relatives. Hagrid said she probably didn't survive, but nobody ever found a body."
Ron came over, grinning wildly, interrupting our conversation, which I was thankful for. Harry didn't look so happy. A pair of redheaded twins, who I assumed were his brothers, clapped him on the back as he joined us at the table, winking at me before returning to their conversation.
"Geez, what a drama." He shook his head. "Amy, Harry, did you know…"
Harry cut him off. "Yes."
I flinched at the coolness in his voice. He wasn't happy. I could imagine, living for eleven years with all of your family dead, to find out that one of your friends was your supposedly dead sister.
Finally the Sorting was over and a wizard with long white hair and a matching beard stood, his blue eyes twinkling behind his glasses.
"Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" He announced before he sat down again. Everyone applauded politely, before the plates before us filled. There was everything you could ever dream, and more of it then I could.
I didn't take much… a thin slice of meat, and two roast potatoes – about the same as I was used to at the manor. As I worked my way through it, Ron and Harry both looked over at my plate.
"Amy!" Harry said in shock, obviously over his little pout. "Is that all you're eating?"
Surprised, I looked up. "Yea, this is plenty." I smiled reassuringly at my brother.
"Plenty?" Ron looked as if he was going to explode. "Amy, that isn't even a snack!"
I looked down at my plate. "This is about what I get a day at… home. This is enough for me, especially after all that food on the train."
They both stared at me, horrified. Ron started heaping food onto my plate, filling it up with more meat, vegetables and other delectable items from the plates around us, pouring gravy over the plate. I had more on my plate at this moment than I'd seen in my whole life.
"And I thought I was starved at the Dursleys." Harry muttered to himself. "Amy, where do you live to get that little food? Tell me who you live with."
I shook my head, a blush creeping up my cheeks as Ron and Harry stared at me, my arm burning beneath my robes. "I… I can't. I really can't. Don't worry about it."
Harry grabbed my arm, and then released it, as if it were on fire. It felt like it was. He looked at it, and I moved it away.
"Amy, please?" Harry begged looking back up at me. I shook my head. Feeling guilty, I looked out across the room, and my eyes met with Draco's. He was staring at me too, and I realised he hadn't known my last name. There seemed like there was also something more in his level gaze. I looked back at my plate, heaped with food, before up at the red headed boy sitting opposite me.
"Ron, I can't eat all this." I protested.
"Of course you can." He scoffed, digging into his own loaded plate. "And we're loading your plate at dessert too."
I looked hopelessly down at the mountain of food, fists clenched under the table.