Ameria

Chapter 2

I awoke startled when a mind pressed against mine. The mind was alien, but there was a familiarity about it that kept me from panicking. I looked at the dragon lying on my lap, and asked, "Is that you?"

The dragon stretched and began to yawn. It looked directly at me and began to nip at my hands. I realized then that it was hungry; I could feel its hunger within my mind, and that confirmed that the dragon was indeed the alien mind. Inside my bag, there were some sandwiches with deli meat. I carefully broke the sandwiches into pieces and fed them to the dragon one piece at a time. It ate the food greedily, and as I fed it, I wondered if it was a boy or a girl. Once it was finished eating, it layed down next to me and fell to sleep.

"How can I tell what you are?" I whispered to it. "I'd like to be able to name you."

I doubted the little dragon could understand me, but after I spoke, it showed me an image of myself.

"What does that mean?" I asked it.

Again it showed me an image of myself, then it showed me an image from my own memories, an image of my mother and Aunt Minerva.

"Are you trying to say you're like us? A female?"

The dragon bobbed its little head up and down. I understood that universal sign of yes. For the next ten minutes of the ride, I tried to come up with a name for her, and eventually settled on Ameria. When I told the dragon its name, she sent me a feeling of pleasure through our link.

"So you like your name?" I said smiling, and it again nodded its head.

Just then, the train stopped, and out of fear that she'd be taken from me, I placed her in my bag with the flap open just enough for her to breathe. "Stay in there," I told Ameria, and tried to send an image of her remaining in the bag through our minds to try to make sure she understood. I wasn't sure if she understood, but I didn't have the time to make sure, and I left the train to be called over by a giant of a man. The man introduced himself as Hagrid, and I followed him with my bag to a group of boats. We drifted across the large lake that spanned out in front of a magnificent castle. Once we reached the castle, we were led to a room where we were told to wait. It wasn't long before Aunt Minerva stepped into the room to explain to us about Hogwarts and how we were to be sorted into houses called Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Once she was done with her long winded speech, we were again asked to wait till she returned. While I waited, I decided I'd mingle with the others in the room. There was a girl with red hair standing in the corner who I felt would be a great person to start with.

I walked over to the red head girl, and introduced myslef, "Hi, I'm Lacy Dawn."

The girl held out her hand and shook mine saying, "I'm Ginny, Ginny Weasley. Any witches or Wizards in the family?"

"Just my Aunt Minerva. As far as I know, the rest have nothing to do with the wizarding world. Is that a bad thing?"

"No, no. My family doesn't mind Muggle Borns. One of my brothers has a crush on a Muggle Born to be more exact."

"Muggle Born?" I asked.

"Non magical folk are called Muggles," Ginny replied smiling.

"Oh, so which house do you think you'll be in?"

"Gryffindor, my whole family's in there. You?"

"I don't know. Are there any I don't want to be in?"

"Slytherin. It's the house of one of the worst wizards to ever live. Let's hope you're in Gryffindor; I think we'll make good friends."

"Yeah," I smiled.

"Hey, what's in the bag?" Ginny asked suddenly.

"This?" I asked nonchalantly. "Just some stuff that I take everywhere with me."

"Oh. Can I see?"

I wasn't sure if I really wanted all the kids in that room to know about Ameria, nor did I want to keep it a secret from Ginny, "I'll show you later, when there's less people."

"Sounds fair," Ginny nodded just as Aunt Minerva returned.

"We are ready for you now."

The large group of us followed Aunt Minerva into a large room with five long tables. Four of them were on the lower floor sitting side by side, and the fifth one was raised on a dais so that the teachers could watch every student. In front of the teachers' table, was a stool with a very old hat. We were led to that stool.

Aunt Minerva stood next to the stool, and announced, "When I call your name, step foreword, and I will place the sorting hat upon your head." She then called the first name.

"Where's Harry and Ron?" I heard Ginny ask. "I see Fred and George, but they're nowhere to be seen. I hope they're not in trouble."

I would have responded, but I heard, "Dawn, Lacy."

I stepped up to the stool, and the hat was placed on my head. About ten seconds later, it called out, "Griffindor!"

One of the tables began to cheer, and I ran over to sit near a pair of red headed boys who looked identical. I didn't pay attention to the rest of the sorting till I heard, "Weasley, Ginerva."

As Ginny stepped foreword, I heard the pair of red head boys call out, "Oi, Ginny! You better make Griffindor, or we'll disown you!"

"That's not nice," I whispered.

One of the boys turned to me, "It's only a family joke. She's our little sister. I'm Fred, and that's my brother George." He pointed at his brother next to him.

The sorting hat called out, "Griffindor!" and Ginny ran over to sit between me and Fred.

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There's chapter 2. I hope you like it.