Amelie and the Snakesking

Chapter 2

The train journey was silent. A silence had lasted most of the trip. Every now and then Adrian Purcey and Graham Montague had had short exchanges of words. But neither of the two had known what they could or wanted to talk about in Amelie's presence.

Marcus Flint had only joined them towards the end of the trip and usually looked at them with a dark look. He had not answered the question of his friends about where he had been.

Shortly before they had reached Hogsmead, Amelie rummaged out the letter to her from the school management. Once again, she wanted to find out what the further process was.

She quickly flew over the letter until she came to the said passage:

"When you have arrived, please contact our gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid. He will accompany you to school together with the first graders."

Inside, Amelie rolled her eyes. Did she really have to go to the castle together with the first graders? It was unpleasant for her to have to stand there with them. But she probably didn't have a choice.

The train slowed down and slower. Amelie packed her things together, put Mystic in her basket. She waited until Marcus Flint and his friends left the compartment first. She didn't want to make fun of Flint's mocking talk if he would immediately see that she stood with the first graders.

Uncertainly she stood at the door. From a distance she already heard someone shouting: "First grader to me."

Her gaze followed the calls. It was a tall, stocky man with a wild beard and a matching hairstyle. This had to be the gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid.

With her things in her hand, she went to him and asked: "Are you Rubeus Hagrid?"

"Ah, you must be Amelie Durand?" He asked her in a loud voice.

Briefly, she pulled her head in a little because of the volume. Did he have to call it through half the train station? She sincerely hoped that no one had noticed.

When the last first graders had gathered, they left their things at a mountain full of suitcases and went to the big lake together with the gamekeeper. There were already several boats waiting for them. Again and again, Amelie got on her way there, watching big eyes from the first graders, who stared at her in disbelief.

She tried to ignore the looks. Together with Hagrid, she sat down in a boat.

The trip in her boat was quiet. In the back, Amelie could hear many students talking excitedly to each other.

Nervousness slowly snealed in on her. What would it be like at school? Would she also make good friends here? How would other students react to someone who changes? Questions about questions in her head. Slowly Amelie recognized Land in front of her. The castle shone majestically in front of her.

When the boats stopped, she recognized an elderly lady in a long robe with a pointed hat.

Hagrid got out and turned to the lady: "Professor McGonagall, all first graders and the fifth grader are there safely. There were no incidents."

"Thank you Hagrid. From here I'll take over." With this, the professor turned to the group.

"Good evening, please follow me up to the castle." Then she turned around and moved to pure hugely long stairs.

Together with the other students, she followed the professor.

The stairs seemed infinitely long to her. The path led over a courtyard, in the middle of which there was a large and heavy door that led to the interior of the castle.

Entered the castle, Amelie looked to the right. There she was able to catch a fraction of a large staircase. A huge door stretched out in front of them again.