I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it, as I'm sure you all know.

Edited: Feb 4th

In the heart of Great Britain there is a small town; in the center of that small town there is a long cobblestone road. The road is old, and missing many of its stones, making it hazardous to walk on in the dark. But the houses that line either said are beautifully built, and lovingly cared for by its inhabitants.

At the end of the row there is a different kind of house. It is no less loved and no less cared for; the lawn is always tidy, the windows always spotless, and holiday decorations seem to come and go as if by magic in the night. But, no matter how alike to the others it may look, there is inherently something different about the house.

This may have been directly linked to the fact that often several cloaked figures would walk into the house and never seem to come out of it again. The only figures that seemed to come and go on a regular basis belonged to a young girl and a rather decrepit looking woman in long shawls, about the same height as the girl she was escorting. But, as the pair never seemed to bother anyone the neighbors were willing to dismiss these oddities and keep the attempts to pry at the minimum necessary level.

"Miss Amanda! We must hurry or we will miss the train!"

The decrepit woman was standing at the bottom of a flight of stairs, wringing her long bony fingers and looking anxiously up the stairs. She was not, in fact, an old woman. The diminutive figure so often mistaken for that of a short old woman was actually that of a house-elf. The aging elf had been given the task of looking after the little girl, Amanda, and today they were running late.

Before the words had scarcely faded from the air the young girl was thundering down the stairs, her long black hair bouncing in its braid and her trunk rumbling down behind her. She came to a screeching halt at the bottom and narrowly avoided crashing into the elderly elf that had taken care of her for so long.

"Sorry," she said, breathless. "I'm ready, let's go."

The girl held out her hand, taking the handle of her trunk in one hand and the elf's in the other. There was a sharp 'crack' and the two of them vanished.

They reappeared in an alley just across the road from a train station, where the people were so noisy the loud snap that announced their presence went largely unnoticed.

The aged house-elf turned to her young charge.

"Remember Miss Amanda," she said anxiously, "platform 9 ¾. The train leaves at exactly eleven 'o clock. You remember how to get onto the platform, yes?"

"Yes," the girl assured, bouncing on her heels and trying to keep the exasperation from her voice.

She had been waiting for this day for years, ever since her mother had first described it to her when she was very young. When her mother had gone back to work, leaving five year old Amanda in the care of the house elf, Matilda, she had dreamed of going to Hogwarts with her mother. She had pressed her mother to tell her everything she could of Hogwarts, blue eyes sparkling with rapture whilst she listened.

Minerva McGonagall had never hesitated to tell her about Hogwarts, and as Deputy Headmistress she knew quite a lot. She was also, unfortunately, very strict about underage magic, so Amanda was more then eager to start school so she could finally learn.

Amanda hugged her friend tightly and said her good byes until the next summer. So having said, she turned and pushed her trunk into the crowd, being jostled along as she went. By following groups of people that looked like her, with large trunks, a few with Hogwarts badges, and several looking out of place and nervous to be around so many muggles, she was able to find platforms 9 and 10 with relative ease.

Amanda positioned herself in front of the pillar that separated the two platforms and took a deep steadying breath, trying not to think about what would happen if the barrier refused to let her through. She took a quick look around and rushed forward, plunging headlong into the solid looking brick pillar.

Platform 9 ¾ was just as chaotic as the station around it, even more so, in fact. Owls hooted in their cages, loose cats yowled and hissed underfoot, and through all the noise, a boy could be heard calling for his toad, Trevor.

The train itself was beautiful, ruby red and smoking silently in the middle of all the chaos. It was on this wondrous piece of muggle engineering that Amanda set her sights, pushing through the crowd of people reuniting with their school friends.

She ignored them, knowing that none of them were looking for her, most of her friends were muggles, and shoved her trunk onto the train, before turning down a corridor to look for an empty compartment.

The first vacant room she found was snatched away by a tall boy and his friends.

"Sorry dear," he said, smiling brightly, "but we've got seniority."

Amanda looked him over; he had a kind face, with a charming smile that suggested he was used to girls fawning over him. She should be nice, but he had stepped on her foot when he had pushed to get in the doorway before her.

"Yes, I know," she said seriously, "I can tell by the wrinkles."

The obnoxious boy gasped and feigned horror, turning on his messy haired friend.

"You said no one could tell!" he cried.

His friend tried to console him and pushed him into the compartment, giving Amanda a sheepish smile as he went. An extremely greasy looking kid followed without giving her a second glance, but the last kid stopped, looking apologetic.

"Sorry about them," he said. "They can be a bit pushy."

Amanda rolled her eyes and relaxed, the older boy looked so worn out and sincerely apologetic that she couldn't be mad at him.

"Don't worry about it. I can find somewhere to sit a lot easier then the four of you could."

He smiled and stuck out his hand.

"I'm Remus, Remus Lupin."

"Amy," she replied, shaking his hand firmly. "Amy McGonagall."

Remus did a double take.

"Did you say McGonagall? As in Professor McGonagall?"

"That would be correct," she confirmed, wondering briefly if she should expect this type of reaction from everyone she met.

"Then I guess we'll be seeing you in Gryffindor."

"I don't think she would forgive me if I became a Slytherin." Amanda said, shrugging. "And as to whether you'll be seeing me, that all depends on how we act." She looked pointedly in on the obnoxious boys and Remus laughed.

"See you around, Amy." She smiled and started down the hall, once again searching for a room.

At the very end of the train Amanda pushed open the last compartment, more then a little relieved to discover that it was empty. Amanda collapsed gratefully inside and proceeded to shove her trunk into the baggage compartment, nearly dropping it on herself twice. She had just settled down comfortably with a book on goblin wars when the door slid open once again and a tall group of Slytherins looked in. They stood in silence for a moment before a definitively feminine voice broke the silence.

"Oh for lambs sake!" It said angrily from somewhere behind the group. "It's only a first year! Besides, everywhere else is full."

The group grudgingly climbed in and stowed their trunks quickly, not having anywhere near the amount of difficulties Amanda had had as they were all quite a bit taller then her.

The female voice from before had dark, curly brown hair that bounced around wildly when she moved. She plopped down next to Amanda and waited for the boys to do the same. Across from the girl sat a boy with long, sleek blonde hair. Next to him and squeezed in the middle sat a stockier boy who looked as though he were very proud of himself for no real reason, and directly across from Amanda and looking slightly older then the others was a tall boy with dark hair that fell to his shoulders in little straggles. He stared blankly at Amanda for a few minutes before being sucked into a conversation with the others.

A little over an hour later the conversation had turned ugly and Amanda was distracted from her book. They had started an argument about the number of gnomes that the goblins had slaughtered in their last war, with the guesses ranging from twenty-five to fifty thousand and were getting so worked up about it that two of them were reaching into their robes for their wands. Amanda hid a small smile, the information they were about to attack each other over was right in front of her, and she had just read it.

She looked up when she felt eyes on her; it was the eldest boy, the one sitting across from her. He smirked and gestured to her book so she mouthed the answer to him. His smirk turned into a victorious smile as he turned back to his friends and their now heated argument.

"It was forty-two thousand," he stated firmly. "I guarantee it."

They looked at him, mouths agape until the blonde boy recovered himself.

"And how," he said, his tone smooth and oily, "may I ask, did you come by this information so suddenly?"

The eldest boy gestured to her once again, causing the group to scowl at them both.

"Taking the word of a first year, Regulus?" asked the middle boy before sneering at her. "And what makes you think you know the answer, little girl?"

"I'm psychic," she said sarcastically, holding her book up and giving him a look that plainly questioned his intelligence. She didn't like stupid people.

The group snickered and the girl next to Amanda reached over, giving her cheeks a little pinch.

"Well, aren't you precious?" she said, smiling brightly. "I'm Bellatrix Black. The fool over there is Rodolphus Lestrange, the blonde is Lucius Malfoy, and tall dark and silent over there is Regulus Black, my cousin. And you are?"

"Amy," she said, rubbing her cheeks. "And please, never do that again."

Bellatrix laughed ad leaned back, just in time for Rodolphus to open his big mouth again.

"Are you a pure blood or what?" he asked.

"Are you stupid or what?" she asked, before rolling her eyes again. "And yeah, I am, not that it's any of your business."

"What's your full name?" Regulus asked, sounding somewhat suspicious.

"Amanda Sileas McGonagall."

The temperature in the compartment seemed to drop several degrees and the group seemed to recoil from her with a sneer.

Rodolphus sneered, "Gryffindor!"

"Retard," she replied.

Lucius snickered and looked her over.

"She doesn't act like a Gryffindor," he said finally.

"Just because my mother's head of Gryffindor doesn't mean I'll be a Gryffindor."

Regulus stared at her for another moment.

"She's right," he said finally. "She's too smart to be a Gryffindor."

Rodolphus looked indignant.

"You've never called me smart."

Lucius rounded on him smoothly, smiling evilly.

"You'd have to be smart for that," he said in the tone one uses when explaining things to a small child. "So you will never hear anyone call you that, ever."

The others nodded solemnly, hiding grins beneath serious faces. Amanda almost felt bad for the kid, and probably would have, had he kept his mouth shut.

"I didn't even know the old woman had a husband."

"She doesn't," Amanda said, reverting once again to sarcasm. "I came out of a test tube."

For a moment he looked like he believed her and Lucius shook his head pityingly.

"Some Slytherin you are," Bellatrix sneered.

"Well, then why don't we ever hear about Mr. McGonagall?" he asked, trying to regain control, the poor deluded child actually looked smug. Amanda glared at him.

"He's dead." An awkward silence followed her words, one that no one seemed willing to break. "So what is the Slytherin head of house like?" she asked, breaking the silence and making Bellatrix scowl.

"He's a cheese," she said. "He picks out his favorites; the ones he thinks will make it far, and does them little favors. Then he introduces them to old friends of his with connections in the wizarding world." Rodolphus scowled too.

"The man doesn't even make distinctions between bloods. He's no better then a mud-blood himself." Amanda narrowed her eyes.

"Maybe he doesn't distinguish bloods because there shouldn't be any distinctions amongst blood." She was stepping in dangerous territory now, and they all turned to her. Amanda leaned forward a bit. "Look, take Rodolphus for example. You all just agreed that he wasn't very smart; I'll bet there are loads of muggle-borns smarter then him."

Lucius smirked.

"That's probably true. But pure-bloods are far superior to mud-bloods in both wealth and magic," he said.

"Money isn't everything," she said.

"The only people who say that are the people who have money."

"You only say that because you never hang out with people who aren't rich." She eyed him seriously. "How many poor friends do you have, Lucius, that you didn't have to pay to spend time with you?"

Regulus started to laugh.

"She's got you there Malfoy."

Even Rodolphus laughed.

"How does it feel to be bested by a first year Lucius?"

Lucius glared daggers at him.

"You tell me, Rodolphus, it's happened to you more then me."

By the time the train pulled into the station in Hogsmeade the group of Slytherins had already decided that she would be a Slytherin with them and taken her in under their wing. They had also, thankfully, given up trying to convince her about pure-blood superiority, positive that they would be able to convince her later.

After they had all clambered off the train the group shoed her off towards Hagrid, an extremely large man with a wild tangle of black hair, who was calling over all the new first years.

"Hello Hagrid," she said brightly, when she was close enough. Hagrid had been a frequent visitor during the days when her mother was working, and they'd gotten quite close over the years. He thumped her on the back, nearly knocking her over.

"'S good to see ye' Amy."

He continued calling out to the first years, who traditionally made the trip to Hogwarts by crossing the lake. Amanda climbed into her boat and was joined by three others; a tall brown haired boy named Amos Diggory; a wiry red head who introduced himself as Charlie Weasley; and a sweet girl blonde haired girl named Amelia Bones.

After introductions were made Amanda leaned over the edge of the boat, hoping to see some of the magical creatures that Hagrid had described to her. Something flickered under the water, causing her to lean over even further to try to get a better look. Amos leaned in close to her.

"Whatcha' looking at?"

He leaned too far and suddenly the boat started to tip too far. Amanda's eyes widened, she couldn't swim! Something suddenly bumped the edge of the boat, hard. It tipped back the other way and Amanda was thrown to the ground. She shot back up immediately to see what had hit them and the boat rocked dangerously.

"Amy, stop rocking the boat! I can't swim and the water's freezing!" Amelia wailed. She looked more than a little freaked out, so Amanda settled down begrudgingly and Amos scooted back over.

"What were you looking at?"

"Don't end a sentence with a preposition," she said automatically, cursing her mothers' fascination with perfection as she did so. "And I thought I saw something in the water."

Charlie laughed.

"Ravenclaw," he labeled.

Amanda rolled her eyes. Would everyone place her into a different house?

Maybe I should try to be a Hufflepuff, prove them all wrong.

"There's nothing in the lake." Amos said, laughing a bit. She looked at him oddly.

"There are all kinds of wonderful creatures in the lake! There is the giant squid, a whole colony of mermaids, grindylows and countless other aquatic creatures." As if to punctuate her words a giant tentacle shot up out of the water, showering Amos with water. Amelia and Amanda giggled; the look on his face was priceless.

"Alright already, I believe you!" he shouted, making them laugh even harder.

The group laughed all the way up to the castle, but fell silent upon entering the great doors. Amanda saw her mother waiting for them at the top of a staircase, hair pulled into its usual bun and face set in a way that clearly said that nonsense would not be tolerated.

The deputy Headmistress stopped them just in front of the doors and welcomed them with a small, but warm, smile. The Head of Gryffindor explained that in a moment they would all be sorted into one of four houses, and that these houses would become like their family. Excellency would give their house points, and rule breaking would cause points to be subtracted. At the end of the year the house with the most points would win the house cup, not to mention bragging rights until the next year.

Professor McGonagall left them as soon as she had finished her explanation, disappearing back through the large oak doors without giving them a peek as to what was inside. Moments later the doors oipened of their own accord and revealed a hall filled with students, all chatting eagerly and craning their necks to get a peek at the new students. At the far end of the hall Professor McGonagall stood next to an old battered hat, and just behind her stood the Head table, where all the professors sat, waiting.

Amanda took a step forward, pulling her newest friends with her, and started down the hall. The other first years murmured excitedly at the size and grandeur of the room and Amanda leaned over to Amos.

"I suggest you look up," she whispered.

He shot her a confused look before glancing up and gasping. Stars sparkled brightly in the night sky, perfectly portrayed on the ceiling. His gasp of shock drew the attention of the others and soon they were all looking up at the ceiling, transfixed. Amanda couldn't help but giggle a bit; they looked so funny when they all stared straight up with their mouths open.

Suddenly a voice rang out in the hall and the crowd around her gasped again; the hat was singing. It wove a story of warning, about how they should all stand together and never forget that they were all human and part of one species. Amanda was confused; Hagrid had said that the hat sang about the founding members of Hogwarts, and the requirements set down for each house, it wasn't supposed to give advice. Surprised murmuring broke out amongst the older students, but if her mother was confused, she didn't let it show as she began reading out names.

Amelia's was the first name called out that Amanda recognized, followed not long after by Amos. They were both sent to Hufflepuff almost as soon as the hat touched their heads, while others had to sit on the stool for much longer while the hat deliberated.

Her Slytherin group had grown and were clearly pointing her out to their friends. Bellatrix and Lucius were both speaking urgently with a tall gangly looking boy, with shoulder length black hair and dark eyes. He looked at her disbelievingly. Amanda raised an eyebrow and Bellatrix mouthed that they'd tell her later. She rolled her eyes at them and turned back to the front just in time to hear her name called.

Murmuring broke out in the hall, 'Did she say McGonagall?' 'I didn't even know she had a daughter.' 'Bet she's a Gryffindor.' Amanda scoffed silently to herself; did these people really have nothing better to talk about then the fact that Professor McGonagall had a daughter?

Headmaster Dumbledore smiled when she stepped up and Amanda had to fight the urge to wave. Over the holidays and throughout the summer Dumbledore had visited nearly as much as her mother had. He'd been kind and encouraging; he was a fatherly kind of person. Hers had died before she was born and he filled the gap perfectly.

When the hat was placed on her head Amanda could hear it in her mind. It wasn't really that it was speaking, the words just kind of appeared in her head, completely bypassing the complicated hearing system the universe had gone through all the trouble of creating.

Hmm, curious, her brain registered the words while her ears swore they hadn't heard them.

A little different then most people here, you already know where you want to be. But tell me, are you sure?

Yes.

It's not really suited to you though. Ravenclaw would take you gladly for your intellect and Slytherin would welcome you like a comrade of old with that sharp tongue.

No.

You really would make an excellent Slytherin. You're sure you don't –

Yes!

Well then, if you're sure… You are sure?

YES! She thought, as expressively as she could.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Amanda glanced over at her Slytherin friends, they looked shocked, all but the dark eyed boy who just looked smug. She rolled her eyes at them and shrugged, grinning dryly. She could never have been a Slytherin, her mother wouldn't have approved of that at all.

Remus waved her over from his spot at the Gryffindor table, scooting over so that she would have a place to sit. Amanda eyed the spot between him and the obnoxious boy from earlier before squeezing in on Remus's other side. Obnoxious leaned back looking insulted.

"What, you don't love me dear? Have I got fleas?"

Amanda sweetly smiled at him.

"I'm sure you do but that's not it," she said brightly. "I just don't normally sit by crazy people until I know their names."

The boy frowned as the messy haired boy across from him burst out laughing and Remus chuckled quietly. He scowled a bit before moving his arm behind Remus to introduce himself and shake her hand. Amanda really did feel bad when he was knocked out of his seat by the sudden rising and cheering of the Gryffindor table. As bad as she felt for him, she couldn't help but laugh as Remus helped him up. They all sat there silently laughing until the sorting was completed.

He reached his arm around again and she took it this time.

"Sirius Black."

He brushed her hand with his lips and she made a show of wiping her hand on Remus's shirt, smiling a sickly smile the whole time.

"Charmed, I'm sure," she wiped the smirk from her face. "I'm Amy McGonagall. And I really am sorry you fell."

The messy haired kid spoke up.

"So they really did say McGonagall. Wow, I didn't know she had a kid." Amanda rolled her eyes for what had to by the fifth time that evening.

"She doesn't, the aliens created me as a clone using some genetic code they took from her years ago. They gave me back last year."

The greasy kid's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

"Really?"

I wonder if he'll be the Gryffindor equivalent to Rodolphus.

"No," she said plainly, completely bypassing him and turning to the messy haired child with gravy dripping down his chin. "And you are?"

His reply was completely unintelligible and a red head near him threw him a disgusted look. Amanda nodded sympathetically and turned to Remus.

"Care to translate?"

"If I had a clue I would, but as it is…" He started pointing out people instead. "The inarticulate one there is James Potter, Peter Pettigrew would be the one next to him, and the red head is Lily Evans."

The red head turned to her for a moment and stuck out her hand.

"You're Amanda McGonagall right?"

Amanda grabbed her hand.

"Just Amy, please."

Lily nodded and returned to her previous conversation with the burnet sitting on her other side. Amanda turned to Sirius thoughtfully.

"Sirius, do you have a brother?"

He scowled darkly.

"I prefer not to think about him, he's a year ahead of us and in Slytherin."

"Regulus," she murmured. His scowl got even darker.

"So you met him. Tell me, Amy dearest, which of us is the fairer?" Amanda pretended to be deep in thought. Dumbledore was getting up to speak so she whispered him his answer quickly.

"If it weren't for those wrinkles on you're face you'd be almost as cute."

Sirius jumped to his feet in mock anger, shouting: "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" If the hall hadn't just gone silent to listen to their Headmaster no one would have really noticed, as it was…

Amanda put a hand over her mouth, hiding the shocked smile and slight blush that had appeared on her face. The group, Amanda included, tried to pretend they didn't know the shouting boy and were instead trying to listen intently to Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling merrily.

"I apologize if my words offended you, Mr. Black. Please sit down."

The hall snickered and rolled with laughter, Sirius couldn't have looked any more embarrassed if he tried. James actually fell off his stool, laughing and holding his sides. Peter looked like he was going to piss himself and Lily flashed a quick thumbs up. Over at the Slytherin table, her group was applauding and Bellatrix was blowing her kisses. The dark eyed kid looked like Christmas had come early.

Amanda felt her cheeks go red, or at least redder then they had when Sirius had started shouting. She glanced wearily up at the Head table; relieve to see that her mothers' eyes were also dancing with barely contained mirth.

When the laughter had finally died down enough Dumbledore said a few start of the year words and then waved his hand, signaling the start of the feast. James immediately started laughing again and Sirius sulked for a bit before tossing a spoonful of potatoes into the face of the laughing boy as payback.

The feast was amazing; Amanda had never seen so much delicious food before. Pleasant conversation took up around the table as they ate, nothing serious, broomstick models and new teachers, small talk, of sorts. Afterwards a Gryffindor prefect showed Amanda and her fellow first years to the Gryffindor common room and told them the password, 'Quid Aegis.'

Inside the newest Gryffindors were welcomed to a room decorated in rich warm reds and gold's, with two staircases leading upwards to the boys and girls dormitories, respectively. The older the older girls showed Amanda and the others where their rooms were and then left them to stumble into bed. It would have been nice to get to know her two other roommates a little, but the feast had left them all stuffed and sleepy. So they made do with meager introductions and then crawled into bed. It had been a long day.

Feel free to review with suggestions about this or any other chapter, as I mentioned before I am trying to go through and edit them all to make the story better/more believable.

Also:

A few things have been pointed out to me.

Charlie would be like 12 or 13 years younger than Snape so they couldn't have gone to school together.

I'm sorry but I really can't fix that, as it is the basis for my story. I didn't realize it when I started writing this and it is far too late to fix it now.

Bill can't be two years older and a prefect.

This I think I can fix, I'm not sure where I say that he is two years older but I 'm pretty sure I have him leaving at the right time, so when I find it I'll change it/

Malfoy should be a prerfect in Severus's first year and so cannot be in school after their third year

This will be a little harder to fix, as Malfoy kind of needs to be there, but I will try., I will most likely complete the story and then go back to fix it.

Bellatrix

Is not specifically mentioned exactly where she is supposed to be, so I am putting her where she is. She doesn't have a big part so it shouldn't mess with anyone too much I hope.

Care of Magical Creatures

Someone pointed out that this was an optional course for third years and higher, and I'm, assuming they mean that it then wouldn't be on Amanda's schedule in her first year. The class was required up until the third year, where it became optional. Because I recall none of the trio opted to take it and had a minor falling out with Hagrid over it.

Grammar

I'm human, I make mistakes. Point them out and I will fix them as I go along.