The Boy who died - Ready for Anything

Off to the boats

POV of Parvati Patil

I glanced at my new wristwatch. It was an early birthday present from my godmother. The watch had a black faux leather strap. Golden numbers and stars stood out against the black dial. My suspicion that we would arrive soon - at least according to the time - was confirmed. Hermione seemed to know this too, as she was just announcing that it was time for us to change our clothes.

Soon after, we were all back in the compartment, wearing our Hogwarts uniforms, and a feeling of restlessness began to take hold of us. Ginn was suddenly so excited that she stood up and went straight to the window, hoping to catch a first glimpse of Hogwarts. I immediately knew what was happening when her eyes suddenly widened. Now I too saw for the very first time the castle that would be our school, but more importantly our home, for the next seven years. What my parents had told me was true: Hogwarts Castle was simply breathtakingly beautiful!

As the train began to slow down, we packed away the scattered remaining sweets and Chocolate Frog cards and grabbed our trunks to step out into the corridor, since we were near one of the doors.

As soon as we got off, we heard the loud voice of Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts. "First years to me!"

In the crowd, I lost sight of the others. However, as I followed Hagrid to the lake along with the other first years, I found my sister Padma again. She was talking to two boys. Also twins, judging by their similarity. They both had dark blonde hair and blue-gray eyes. They were also very tanned. They must have spent the summer somewhere warmer than here.

"Hey, there you are, Par!" she greeted me. "This is Oliver and James, we met on the train."

I nodded to the boys in greeting and smiled briefly. My attention was now fully on Hagrid again, who was starting to help the first students get into the rowing boats. There was room for up to four people in each boat, so I now joined my sister and the twins and sat down next to Oliver. As soon as I sat down, the boat started moving with a jolt. The boat rowed itself, as was fitting for a magical means of transportation. This circumstance allowed us to look around and take a closer look at the castle, which we were now approaching. I could hardly wait to enter it and explore it at the next opportunity.

Lost in thought as I was, I had put my hand in the water and was almost scared to death when a giant tentacle noisily broke through the water just a few meters behind us. I flinched so much that I pulled my hand out of the water and now placed it on my leg, where it dripped all over my robe. The others had also been startled.

"So it's true that a giant squid lives here..!" I heard James almost whisper. "And I always thought that was just a rumor.."