2 Kids Who Are Not Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone

The Sorting Ceremony

At long last, the train slowed, then lurched to a stop. Predictably, the corridors flooded with people pushing and shoving one another to be the first ones off the train. Not wanting to be trampled, Hermione took her time before stepping out onto the small, dark platform, Neville breathing heavily close behind her. It was much colder now than it had been in broad daylight in London, and they shivered and drew their robes in around themselves. A lamp bobbed over the heads of the students, and into view walked the largest man Hermione had ever seen in her life. He must have been fully twelve feet tall, and his face was almost entirely hidden beneath a mass of wild, dark hair and a long, untamed beard. He wore a long moleskin overcoat, and looked altogether quite intimidating. Beside Hermione, Neville gave a soft gasp.

"So that's Hagrid," he breathed. "He really is enormous, isn't he?" Hermione frowned slightly.

"Who?" she asked. Neville beamed.

"He's the gamekeeper," he explained, seeming delighted to be telling her something she didn't know. "My Gran told me all about him."

"Firs' years!" the gamekeeper boomed, and his voice sounded much kinder than he looked. "Firs' years over here!"

They followed Hagrid, slipping and sliding, down a long, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that they could scarcely see; if not for the lantern up ahead, Hermione thought, they would be entirely blind.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," called Hagrid over his shoulder. "Jus' around this bend here."

There was a loud "ooooh!" from somewhere up ahead, and a moment later, Hermione saw it. She'd never know what people meant when they said they'd had their breath taken away, but at that moment, she understood. The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake leading to a high mountain on the other side. Perched atop this was a vast castle with what must have been hundreds of turrets and towers jutting up into the starry sky. Every window in the castle, it seemed, shone with glittering lights whose reflections sparkled and glistened in the water before them.

"It's beautiful!" exclaimed Neville, and he sounded so surprised that Hermione stifled a laugh.

"Yes, it is," she agreed.

"No more'n four to a boat!" called Hagrid, gesturing to a fleet of small boats in the water by the shore. With a brief glance at one another, Neville and Hermione followed Harry Potter and Ron Weasley into a boat.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Righ' then--FORWARD!" At the same time, the boats launched themselves from the shore and began gliding smoothly across the lake. No one spoke as they crossed, all eyes fixed on the great, glittering castle looming overhead.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through the 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 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.

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

It swung open at once to reveal a tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes and wearing a pair of square spectacles on her nose. She surveyed Hagrid and the first-years beyond him with a stern expression that suggested she might rather be doing almost anything else.

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

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