An American's Guide to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express

Emily Carter had never known London. She'd never visited, for that matter, until she moved there at age 15. Something about it, though, felt comfortable. Born in New York City, she had already grown accustomed to the noise. Over time, she'd started to feel coddled by the bustling streets. Her father, the American-born Eric Carter, had been relocated to the United Kingdom to serve as the American Ambassador for the British Ministry of Magic. Her muggle mother, Mary Carter (born Smith), was decidedly not pleased about this move. In fact, it was not until a few years prior that she'd even discovered the nature of her own daughter. For a period of time, she believed it to be a strategically-planned practical joke.

Emily had attended Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Massachusetts for the first four years of her magical education. Needless to say, she was not ecstatic about the idea of being a new student again. She was, however, looking forward to meeting Harry Potter. He'd been viewed as near-mythical at Ilvermorny and her friends had been green with envy when they'd heard the news. He had built quite the international following throughout the course of the Triwizard Tournament the year prior.

She stood on Platform 9 ¾ on September 1st, 1995, clutching the handle of her trolley so hard that all her knuckles grew white. As a muggle, her mother had not been able to pass through the brick wall (or rather, had been too fearful to try), and they had said their teary goodbyes a few minutes prior. Her father patted her back and, after a brief hug, left her to go meet Mary. Emily marveled at the glorious train ahead of her, becoming quickly overwhelmed by the sheer chaos and excitement on the platform. She noticed her periphery darkening and, before she knew it, found herself laying flat on the ground.

She opened her eyes to see a stout woman standing above her with her hand held out. "Are you alright, dear? Gave me quite a fright..."

Emily took her hand and nodded, noticing three ginger heads peering at her from behind her as she stood up slowly. "I'm fine. Thank you..." She felt her legs going weak again and leaned onto her trolley to regain balance.

The woman smiled at her for a while, a pitying, concerned look on her face. "Yes, well, you'd better get going. The train leaves at 11 A.M. sharp. Fred," She started, turning to one of the tall boys behind her, "Help this young lady with her trunk, will you?"

"He's not Fred, I am!" Chimed in the other. Emily blinked-- hard-- thinking she'd seen double before realizing that the boys were identical,

The woman rolled her eyes. "Yes, well, George then. Get on with it. Ginny, help her onto the train, dear."

As the lanky boy took her trunk, the redheaded girl the woman had called over approached and held her arm out.

Emily nodded in response, holding on for balance. "Thank you. I'm Emily, by the way."

"Ginny." The girl responded, beaming. "First year at Hogwarts?"

Emily chuckled, slowly making her way towards the train with Ginny. "Was it that obvious?"

"I saw you trying to get onto the platform. Looked rather confused." She paused, finally noticing her accent. "You're not from around here, are you?"

Emily shook her head. "I'm from the U.S. Just transferred from Ilvermorny."

"What year?"

"Fifth."

"Oh, same as my brother then!" She exclaimed as the two of them carefully climbed onto the train. "I'll introduce you."

Ginny led her past a few rows of full seats (and ignored strange stares from onlooking classmates), before pulling open a glass door and helping Emily through it. "Be nice. Have fun." Without another word, she spotted three people sitting together towards the back of the car and walked off.

Emily found herself sitting in the midst of three teens around her age. One had flaming red hair and was gnawing aggressively on a licorice wand, warranting a disgusted glare from the wavy-haired girl sitting beside him. Based on his resemblance to the boys on the platform, Emily assumed he was Ginny's brother. She immediately recognized the final boy as Harry Potter himself.

"Holy shit." She murmured to herself.

"Pardon?" asked the girl.

"Sorry." She shook her head. "I'm Emily Carter. Nice to meet you." She added, smiling, as she held out her hand.

"Hermione Granger." She responded. "Pleasure." She nudged the ginger boy to her left, who nearly choked on his treat.

"Ron Weasley." He stammered through his full mouth.

She nodded in response, forcing a smile despite being rather disgusted at the globs of spit soaring out of his mouth.

The final boy finally spoke up. "And I'm--"

"Harry Potter." She finished. "I know." She added, nodding.

He looked at her with a blank face, not knowing whether to be afraid or flattered.

"Sorry." She winced at her stupidity. "I followed the tournament."

He nodded silently until Hermione finally spoke up. "Why haven't we met you?"

"I just moved from New York. I've gone to Ilvermorny for the past four years."

"Ah." Hermione responded. "You haven't been sorted then, have you?"

Emily shook her head. "My American friends and I have made our bets, though. They reckon I'll be Ravenclaw, but I don't particularly agree."

"We're all in Gryffindor." Hermione smiled. "Hopefully you'll join us."

"Yeah. Maybe I will."