There was not three, but four heroes. Aurora Weasley, twin sister of Ronald Weasley, was the girl who knew. She was the heart of Harry Potter, the inspiration of Hermione Granger, and the hope of Ronald Weasley.
Read where her story begins at her fi...
I shivered in the cold night air. A lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and I heard a booming voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"
Harry, Ron and I look up to see a big hairy face beaming over the sea of heads. I recognized him from Harry's mind, that must be Hagrid. "C'mon, follow me —any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
Slipping and stumbling, we followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of us that I thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.
"Yeh'll 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 lake. 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. It was amazing, better than anything I had imagined.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry, Ron, and I were followed into our boat by Hermione.
"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 us as we sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
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"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; we all bent our heads and the little boats carried us through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. We were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking us right underneath the castle, until we reached a kind of underground harbor, where we clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" Hagrid asked, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands.
Then we all 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. We 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 my first thought was that this was not someone you wanted to cross.
