Magic at Midnight

3. The Bridge

I stood on my tippy-toes so I could see over the crowd. The bridge leading to the academy was just as i remembered. Old, big and beautiful. I looked around the crowd and saw a few people my age standing towards the back. The front was mainly the younger kids. My toes started to burn so I returned to being flat of the ground.

I remember my first time here. It was so magical yet terrifying. I knew absolutely no one and all the professors seemed to be the scariest people on earth. To be honest I am still scared of most of them. I chuckled.

"What's that?" Cynthia asked. Oops, I didn't realize I did that out loud...

"Nothing." I replied giving her an innocent smile. Thank god she's my best friend and actually believes me when I say it's nothing. This time I made sure that I chuckled in my head.

A couple more minutes passed by. The silence slowly started to disappear as kids started whispering.

"Where's the professor?"

"Do we just walk across the bridge without Professor Grimwood?"

More and more kids started to whisper. I looked to my left and right. A couple kids looked worried, some were even biting their nails. I nudged Cynthia, "Where's Professor Grimwood?"

"How am I supposed to know! Do I look like a magical wit-..." Her words faltered realizing that she was in fact a witch-in-training. We both exchanged a look before we started giggling at her mistake.

I looked down at my watch. It's almost 4. Grimwood should have been here by now.

More time passed. The whispers increased as did the worry's of students. I was starting to think that she would never show and we'd have to walk across the bridge and to the castle by ourselves. I don't want to have to lead the first years to the castle! I'll probably trip and fall flat on my face! 

Suddenly the train started to depart from the station. As everyone turned around to watch the train leave, the sound of clacky shoes echoed through the front of the crowd. 

Everyone turned around to see Professor Grimwood standing at the head of the crowd. She wore the same black cloak as the rest of us. Her black hair was slicked into a neat bun, making it hard to see the few grey hairs.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," her voice was loud and clear, even the people in the back could here her, "For those of you who don't know me, I am Professor Grimwood. I'm the head of The Academy for Young Witches and Wizards. Now without any further delays, let's get started." She started leading us across the bridge and towards the castle.

Now that Professor Grimwood was here, no one said a peep. All you could hear was the clacking of everyone's loafers hitting the stone bridge. I hope Grimwood doesn't notice that I'm wearing converses instead of the loafers.

The bridge was so long that it nearly took 10 minutes alone to cross it. Once we finally made it to the other end, Professor Grimwood stopped us at the entrances staircase. Great another speech for the first years that everyone has to listen to.

"Now everyone, before we walk in, please remember that we are going to the Great Room and there is where you will be assigned your dormitories and your team for the year." After Professor Grimwood finished her mini speech before the main one she gives during assignments.

Professor Grinwood then took out her wand, she muttered a spell under her breathe and then flicked her wrist. Purple sparks shot out of her wand and hit the giant entrance doors, making them slowly open.

She started leading us through the school and to the Great Room. The halls had knight armor sets evenly spaced across the walls and shields hung inbetween them. The was a giant cutout arch in the stone wall that was the entrance to the Great Room. 

The room was very large and open. Giant chandeliers hung from the ceiling. On the ground, there were rows of chairs for the students. In the beach of the room, there floor was raised slightly with larger seats for the other professors. 

As I was admiring the beauty of the Great Room, I got lost in thought until Professor Grimwood started speaking. 

"First years in the front, seconds behind them and so on and so forth." Grimwood pointed to the rows of seats.

Once everyone was seated, she made her way up to the podium at the head of the room. The other professors started making their way to the seats behind the podium. Everyone sat quietly until the last professor was seated.

"Now without further ado, let's begin assignments!" Professor Grimwood announced. We all started clapping.

A/N: I'm currently on vacation and haven't been able to write any chapters since I left my laptop at home. I'm trying my best to use my phone. I will be slightly slower with updates until I return home. And if you're reading this, thank you for making it this far!

- amelia