Forever Your Love

two

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." Seldoms stomach turned and the young girl suddenly felt quite ill. The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Seldom shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and she heard a loud voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

The large man knelt down to the boy she know knew as Harry. Harry simply nodded.

"C'mon, follow me -- any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

　　Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Seldom thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, a boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.

　　"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

　　There was a loud "Oooooh!"

　　The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

　　"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Seldom and Harry were followed into their boat by the red haired boy and a small girl with fluffy brown hair. "Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then -- FORWARD!"

　And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

　　"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

　　"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

　　"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak front door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Seldom immediately recognised her to be Professor McGonagall, her brother didn't like the lady but Seldom thought that she could be sweet.

　"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was huge, it had brightly lit candles and was big enough to fit a whole average house inside. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Seldom could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right, the rest of the school must already be here. Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.