Three Hallows' Eve || Harmione & Jily

Chapter 16.2

The journey on the Hogwarts Express passed by quicker than Harry had expected - his unease at having left his family behind for this new adventure had been put almost entirely to rest by the easy conversation between himself, Neville and Hermione. As they neared closer to the train's terminus at Hogsmeade station, though, an entirely different sort of unease had bubbled up inside of him. It was that same sense of odd foreboding that he'd felt as soon as the Express had pulled away from the station at King's Cross.

He'd felt it before, of course. Several times in fact - before meeting Bertha Jorkins at St Mungo's; when the Headmaster had given him the Elder Wand on his birthday; once even during a trip to the London Zoo, though nothing abnormal had happened on that trip, so he still wasn't quite sure why he'd felt it that day. In the past, the feeling had been accompanied by a sense of duty or even purpose, but it was different this time, and it had the hairs on the back of Harry's neck standing on end.

The train finally came to a stop at Hogsmeade station, and the driver's voice filled the trio's compartment instructing them to leave all luggage and pets on the train, as it would be taken to the castle separately. The three friends bid the two owls 'goodbye, for now', and made their way out onto the platform, only to find themselves surrounded by a crowd of older and taller Hogwarts students who were making their way over to some carriages further along the path. With a series of quick glances and shrugs at one another, Harry, Hermione and Neville began to follow the crowd, not really knowing where they were going.

Thankfully, before they'd managed to follow the crowd too far away from the platform, a great booming voice carried over the hubbub of chattering teenagers.

'Firs' years this way!' the voice called out, and all three of them quickly turned their heads towards the source of the shouting. 'Firs' years with me!'

The crowd parted slightly in front of the trio, and Harry caught sight of the voice's owner - certainly, there was no mistaking it. On the other side of the platform stood a veritable giant of a man: no less than eight feet tall, surely, and wide enough around that Harry was sure he wouldn't be able to reach his arms around even half of the man if he were so inclined as to try to embrace him.

'That's Hagrid!' Harry told his friends with certainty as they moved across the platform towards him. His parents had told him a number of stories about the half-giant groundskeeper of Hogwarts, and surely no other person could be mistaken for their description of the man. Hagrid stood taller than any man Harry had ever met, and had more hair on his cheeks and chin than Harry thought he'd ever grow on his head.

'Of course!' Hermione said excitedly from Harry's left. 'Rubeus Hagrid - The Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. He's worked here for decades! I read about him in Hogwarts: a History.'

Harry grinned as he caught Neville rolling his eyes good-naturedly from Hermione's other side. A good portion of the conversation during the train journey had consisted of Harry and Hermione comparing passages from their favourite book, and Neville had grown increasingly flummoxed by the amount that they had both committed to memory.

Once all of the first years had crowded around Hagrid and he'd taken a headcount, he turned and set off down a path that led down a dark copse of trees. 'Follow me! And mind yer step, now!' he shouted, and the crowd of Hogwarts' newest additions slipped and stumbled after him.

'Yeh'll be gettin' yer firs' view o' Hogwarts in a moment,' Hagrid called out from the front. Sure enough, as they walked around a corner in the path and reached the edge of the black lake, the castle came into view, high on a cliff ahead of them. All around, the sounds of gasps, 'ooh's and 'aah's filled the air as the students saw the castle for the first time in the flesh.