Janna Black and The Cite of the Dead

The Hogwarts Castle

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Jake bound towards the fleet of boats, past the giant before hopping into a boat. He waved his arms in the air gesturing for the three others, who were carefully going down the steep hill behind the giant who bellowed instructions to the first years behind him.

Janna had slipped a couple of times already because of her bad leg not landing on the ground at the same time as her brain thought it would—she was usually in front of Juno, he was light on his feet with his scarf flowing in the wind with his black robes subtly blown by the wind—Orion usually had to catch Janna by her elbows before she fell and helping her up before putting his hands back in his pockets and following the giant like nothing had happened.

Finally the whole group of first years followed the giant got into the boats as instructed, Janna stared at the little fleet of boats which scattered the banks of a large black lake like small flowers in a sea of black glass, none of the boats had oars and it seemed obvious to her that nobody, except the giant, had the strength to move one of the boats on their own.

Juno leaned to the side of the boat, he was sitting next to Janna this time, Orion and Jake smirked as they saw Janna staring confusedly at Juno. A loud call went through the fleet, the giant was having his hand forwards, the boats went onwards to a cliff face which Janna looked up but couldn't see anything through the darkness, even with her eyes that saw most things in the dark.

The boats began to float towards the ivy, Janna continued to stare up at the cliff which seemed never ending, "Keep yer heads down!" The giant called as the boats came to the skirt of ivy, Janna looked forward to see a small breeze rustling through the ivy which waved  inwards to an even darker tunnel the lanterns struggled to illuminate.

The ivy brushed over the boat, Janna let a strand of it run over her palm as they passed through the mouth of the tunnel. Behind Janna there was a psst, she looked over her shoulder as she rested her hand on the back of her seat to see Albus wave at her, he was in a boat a few feet away, with him in the boat sat Scorpius, and the round faced girl with fair hair and a little grey beanie titling to one side as she stared up at the cave swayed by its eerie light, and a very jittery young girl with a long nose, short brown hair which swayed as she tried not to make any eye contact with anyone.

   "Hey guys, look" Orion pointed towards the shadow of light from the end of the cave like tunnel, Janna then turned around to see the end of the tunnel, it was a few feet away. The bank of this harbour was paved with pebbles and rocks, there everyone climbed out, one young girl with white hair nearly slipped as she stepped out a rickety boat. Janna felt the ferret moving around in her pocket, he squeaked and stuck his head out before letting out a few snowflakes.

Janna tried to catch him by his tail as he slithered out of her pocket but he was already zipping between  legs while letting white glowing flakes illuminate the stairs. Janna heard the boys chuckling behind her; she couldn't help but laugh as well.

The group followed the giant up to a large field of damp grass which seemed to have specks of diamonds from the dots of glowing flakes, the white ferret was nowhere to be seen now. As they came upwards on stairs to a massive oak door the ferret's soft fur brushed Janna's neck, she looked to her shoulder to see his little black eyes and pink nose twitching happily.

The giant oak door was knocked on three times by the giant, the door creaked open before slowly speeding up and opening quicker before baring the inner hall of what seemed to be a castle. In the hall stood a tall man, he stared at the crowd with a soft smile, his hair was black like Harry's but it was more tame and controlled, he stood with his hands clasped together at the front while robes streaked over his arms to lead to his feet.

As the  crowd stopped at the man's feet, he shifted his weight on his legs "Good evening, I'm Professor Longbottom. you can all follow me now" Professor Longbottom called before turning on his heel to lead the group further. Janna stared upwards at the entrance hall roof; she felt her mouth open slightly as she saw high beams supporting the shadowy roof she was distracted when someone tapped her shoulder to look forwards—

Before Janna was able to close her mouth they were stopped before another pair of tall doors which looked over the smaller children, Professor Longbottom then turned around to look at the group "Welcome to Hogwarts, everyone." Professor Longbottom confidently said "Before you take your seats for the banquet you are going to be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important event since you are spending the next seven years attending this school so you will need a family, that family will be your house.

The four houses are: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house is as equal in history as in nobility since each house has produced many extraordinary witches and wizards." There were a few mutters all around Janna, this had distracted her from Professor Longbottom; now she realised she had a stiff foot "While you are at Hogwarts, though, there are rules which are there to help you, such as your accomplishes: they will gain you points but if you break rules you will lose points. At the end of the school year there is the house cup which can be won by the house with the most points."

Professor Longbottom watched the faces before him staring at him—some were gawking up at the ceiling, searching for the end of it—a few students jumped when he cleared his throat before smiling vaguely in recollection "The Sorting will be starting in a few minutes before the entire school. I will come back when we're ready for you all"

Janna looked at Juno and Jake before staring at Orion who was bug eyed scared "A-Are you scared?" Janna asked Orion before he swallowed hard.

    "Are yu scared?" Orion echoed to Janna, she nodded slowly; he smirked as Jake chuckled behind Janna.

   "Not scared to be in front of the entire school?" Juno quivered.

    "Well, tha's wot de Professor said" Orion responded, Janna felt a shiver go up her spine; Juno's eyes became larger than saucers.

The doors opened again, Professor Longbottom looked at everyone as he stepped out "You can form a line, we're ready for you". Janna shuffled with everyone else into a line, Orion stood in front of her while Juno and Jake were lined up behind her.