The Legacies Only They Knew

Chapter 6 - A Hogwarts Welcome

Professor Fig and Coraline walked in silence along the dirt path toward Hogsmeade Station, which Coraline was grateful for. She needed at least a little bit of silence in order to start processing everything that had happened since she first met with Professor Fig in her room at the group home. That meeting seemed like a lifetime ago by that point, it was honestly quite hard for her to believe that it had occurred just that morning.

Eventually, the path slowly started to transition from the rough, uneven dirt they had been walking on thus far to a smooth, dark gray stone. Then, after passing through a rather thick patch of evergreen trees, Coraline was able to get her first glimpses of Hogsmeade Station. Even though it was starting to get dark, Hogsmeade Station remained brightly lit by the numerous lanterns spread throughout the area. To Coraline's surprise, it looked exactly like the few other train stations Coraline had seen previously. Though she suspected it was a bit more upscale than typical train stations located in the middle of nowhere.

Located in front of the train station was a large roundabout that had a few carriages with the same dark-winged creatures that had been pulling their carriage earlier. Coraline looked over at Professor Fig in a bit of a panic as he led them toward the main entrance of the train station. She desperately hoped that Professor Fig didn't mean for them to take a carriage from the train station to Hogwarts; she definitely didn't think that she would be up to riding in a carriage again any time soon, if at all. A surprise dragon attack during one's first time riding in a flying carriage certainly ruins any motivation one might have in traveling in a magical carriage ever again.

As if he could sense her panicked glances at him, Professor Fig turned his head toward Coraline as they continued walking and was confused by the obvious panicked expression on her face. At first, he had assumed that her panic was coming from the possibility of a threat but quickly realized the issue when she briefly glanced over at the carriages before looking back at Professor Fig.

"If it's alright with you, Miss Evans, I was thinking we could take the Floo Network to Hogwarts. A much quicker way to get around, and we wouldn't need to take another carriage ride." Professor Fig stated with a small reassuring smile.

Coraline visibly relaxed at his words, letting out a small sigh of relief. She smiled and gave a small nod in agreement, glad that he didn't call out her obvious hesitance about taking a carriage. Instead, he led her off to the side of the front entrance of Hogsmeade Station, where they came across a metal plaque with a stone bust of a woman's face about halfway up the wall. Underneath was an inscription with the name Ignatia Wildsmith and a small metal bowl of sorts extending out from the wall with a strangely beautiful dancing green flame inside the bowl.

"This is a floo flame location, it's connected to a massive network of floo locations all over Wizarding Britain. We can discuss more about it at a later time, but for now, let's get up to the castle so we hopefully don't miss the Start-of-the-Year feast."

"Very well, sir," Coraline stated with a smile and a small nod.

"For now, what you are going to do is stick your hand into the flame, and no, it won't harm you. Floo flames aren't actual fire; they just have the appearance of flames and give off a very low level of warmth when interacted with. So, once your hand is in the flame, you clearly say the description of where you want to go, and it will take you there," Professor Fig laughed lightly at Coraline as her jaw dropped in surprise, and looked back and forth between him and the floo flames in complete disbelief.

"That's incredible, Professor!"

"Indeed it is. The location to say is 'Hogwarts Entrance Hall.' Make sure you say it clearly so there's no risk of accidentally ending up somewhere else. I'll let you go first, so in case you mess up, you're not stuck here by yourself."