Ballet Shoes

Chapter 4

There wasn't much talk for the remainder of the journey. None of them wanted to leave the compartment to go find somewhere else to get changed after what had happened, so they pulled the blinds at the door down and Blake faced one way while Lilleth and Piper faced the other as they pulled on their new uniforms.

Just like the uniform that Harry had brought home two years before, Lilleth's uniform was plain black, no colours or embellishments anywhere to be seen, other than a single, silver 'H' on the bottom of the tie. She wore a dark grey skirt, a white collared shirt, the black tie, black tights, a black jumper and her black robes. Her shoes were the same ones she had put on that morning – she had only managed to bring two pairs of shoes with her: a pair of simple running trainers that were falling apart and her black school shoes, as they had left in such a hurry that she hadn't had time to bring anything else.

"I'm never going to learn how to tie a tie." said Piper, sighing.

She turned around to look at them and Lilleth couldn't help a small laugh at the mess that was Piper's tie.

"Come here." said Blake, rolling his eyes.

Just as he fixed her tie, they felt the train beginning to slow down beneath them, and before too long, it came to a complete stop at a train station, and there was a great scramble to get out; owls hooted, cats meowed, and pet toads croaked loudly. It was freezing on the tiny platform that they stepped out onto; rain was driving down in icy sheets, almost as cold as it had been when the dementor had appeared on the train. Their trunks were quickly taken from them by porters, who also took Mourka – he was very unhappy at being put in his basket, which he was not at all fond of.

"First years, this way!" called a familiar voice. Lilleth looked around and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid – the friendly half-giant she had met two years ago when he smashed down the front door and given Dudley a pig tail – at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake.

"Guess we'd better go over there then." said Piper, shrugging. "Come on."

The three of them pushed their way through the crowds towards Hagrid, who spotted Lilleth with a wide grin across his hairy face, and he waved cheerily at her.

"Nice to see you again!" he called over the sound of the rain hitting the platform.

"You too!" Lilleth shouted, although she wasn't exactly sure he heard her. And it was very nice to see him – she would never forget that pigs tail on Dudley. It suited him quite well.

"Is that all of ye?" asked Hagrid, looking around at the bunch of first years around him. "Come on then."

The path through the forest that they took was incredibly slippery due to the rain on the rocks, and it was so dark that they could hardly see anything except for Hagrid's lamp up ahead. Lilleth, Piper and Blake gripped onto each other tightly the whole way down so that they didn't fall over as they got completely soaked from the rain.

But at last, they went around a bend and arrived at the edge of an enormous body of water. Lilleth knew that they would be crossing in tiny little boats, but looking at the rough and choppy waves blowing out across the surface, she felt a small stone in the pit of her stomach.

"No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid shouted. "And don't fall in!"

"Is it just me who gets seasick?" said Piper, although she was grinning widely.

"Come on, we'd better get a boat before there's none left." said Blake, grabbing his sister's hand.

They managed to jump into one of the free boats and were joined by a boy with sandy blonde hair and a smile that could melt butter.

"Hi, I'm Dennis." he said as he climbed in at the back of the boat.

"Blake." said Blake, grinning.

"Piper."

"Lilly."

"This is insane." said Dennis, trying to cover his head with his hands. "Why did it have to rain today of all days?"

"It's Britain." said Lilleth loudly. "What did we expect?"

"True!" shouted Blake.

There was a sudden jerk as the boats began moving. They bounced up and down the waves, clutching the edges of the boats, being tossed around, this way and that, almost falling in with every wave that was thrown at them.

Suddenly, about halfway across the lake, their tiny little boat was hit by an enormous wave, the biggest one yet, and their entire boat was practically thrown up in the air, and all four of them were thrown out of it, landing with a splash in the water before any of them even had a chance to scream.

Lilleth hit the water with the force of a house, without having time to take in a breath. She flailed in the water, feeling herself being sucked down lower and lower, her lungs burning for water. Her arms waved randomly, pushing herself forward with no idea what direction she was going, and suddenly, she found her head bursting above the surface. She took in the biggest lungful of air she felt like she'd ever had, kicking with her legs to keep herself above the surface.

Without warning, something grabbed at her collar and she shrieked, but soon realised it was just Hagrid. He pulled her out of the water and deposited her back into the boat that had now righted itself, gasping for breath and shivering from the shock and the cold. Piper managed to swim over to her, and Lilleth found her muscles again and helped pull her into the boat, while Blake was picked up by Hagrid as well. Dennis, however, was deposited into the boat by an enormous tentacle that had wrapped itself around his waist and lifted him up high in the air before dropping him down into the boat and disappearing once again under the waves.

"You four alright?" asked Hagrid in his gruff but kind voice, looking down at them.

Lilleth was so cold that she couldn't do much more than a tiny, shaky nod, still shivering.

"Right then! Someone will dry you all off at the castle, don't worry about that."

The boats continued moving forward over the choppy waters, Hagrid's in the front once again, and Lilleth raised her head to look at Piper, Blake and Dennis. To their shock, there was a small smile growing on her face, but it seemed to be contagious, because soon, they were all grinning, and it turned into laughter, their shoulders shaking from the mixture of laughing and still being absolutely freezing.

At last, they reached the shore and clambered very carefully out of the boats onto the rocky shore. Everyone was fairly wet after their crossing, but no one more so than the four in the boat that had fallen in.

Yet all four of them were still grinning.

Because there are some things that you cannot share without becoming friends, and falling into the Black Lake during the pouring rain on the first day of school is one of them.

A/N

I could not resist adding in that chapter. And anyone recognise that last line...?