The amazement persisted only for a few seconds: the moment after the castle had appeared in front of them and everyone had whispered a "wow", it immediately became a race to the boats. Dorcas let herself be influenced by the group and, tugging Mary behind her, she jumped on the closest boat.
«No more'n four to a boat» Hagrid shouted, as he boarded on a bigger boat all by himself.
Mary and Dorcas sat down and they were immediately followed by a stunned Regina.
«There you are, you two!» she said, climbing on the small boat «I've lost Mary's hand in the dark almost immediately and I couldn't find you»
«I actually hoped we'd lost you permanently» Dorcas said. She and Mary grinned, then they looked at their left, where Marlene had boarded with her friend James and with another boy with dark hair and a pale face. The blonde was waving her arms to gain the three girls' attention.
«Be careful not to fall» she said, then she mischievously looked at the two boys who had boarded with her; they both looked at each other and got a bit farther from her.
Dorcas looked at the water in front of her «What do you say, Regina, want to make a swim to Hogwarts?»
Her cousin gave her a crooked look «After you, Dork»
Dorcas grinned once again, but she wasn't given the chance to reply to her cousin because Hagrid shouted a "FORWARD" and the fleet of little boats started moving.
A strange silence fell on the kids in the boats, as if all of them understood at once the ancient magic that that place hatched. Magnus once told Mary that Hogwarts had been the first safe place for wizards and witches, in a past so long gone that barely anyone had certainty about it.
«Hogwarts is the proof» he had said «that people cling on places they feel safe in. I've never once heard about someone who had wished to leave it. Everyone wanted to come back, year after year, no matter how old they were»
«But not everyone can come back, can they?» Mary had pointed out. It was a warm summer day, but not beautiful enough to go out playing and very close to the first of September. A ten years old Mary was laying on Magnus' bed, looking at her brother sitting at his desk, where he had abandoned his attempt at his transfiguration homework.
«No» Brian had replied. He was perched on Magnus' armchair, with a book open on his legs; as usual he had pretended he wasn't listening, but to live with Brian was to know that his ears were always careful to catch what was going on «after seventeen we are supposed to never come back. But Magnus is right, there is something that pulls you towards the castle. No matter where you find yourself, at some point you want to come back»
«I think there is some kind of powerful magic dwelling inside of Hogwarts.» Magnus had murmured thoughtful «Something ancient.»
«Dangerous?» Mary had asked, with eyes and ears wide open: it had been one of the rare times her brothers had talked about Hogwarts so freely, it had been precious, very precious time for her.
«Perhaps.» Magnus answered «Perhaps not. But no one leaves Hogwarts at seventeen and never returns again.»
«Except those who die in there» Brian said, leaning dangerously towards his sister.
«Do people die in Hogwarts?» a breathless Mary had whispered.
«Oh yes» Brian had muttered, with a crooked smirk, getting up from his armchair.
«Brian-» Magnus started, annoyed.
«People say there are monsters in the hallways, leaning in the dark, waiting for students to pass by. And then, when a poor victim arrives, they... ARGH!»
YOU ARE READING
many moons ago - mary macdonald
Fanfiction⋆ ⭒ ⋆ ✧ ⋆ ⭒ ⋆ before the rise and the fall, before the grief and the despair, when death was still a faint frail light gleaming weakly at the horizon of life, when war was just a game, there begins our story. because before everything fell apart, th...
