Ascendio - Book 1

Chapter 2 - Crescentia

I don't remember how long I was out, but the train was in a completely different place when I woke up. I slowly sat up, and was immediately greeted with a bear hug from Chandler.

"What happened?" He nearly shook my brain out of my skull. Tristan gave me a nervous smile from across the seat, where he sat comforting Joyce--apparently she was afraid that I passed on some passing-out sickness.

"I-I don't know," I whispered shakily. "I just saw this man, out in the hallway..." My eyes drifted back towards the door, but the hallway outside of it was empty. The students must have found their seats.

Chandler looked at me strangely and put a hand to my forehead, as if checking for a fever. After he was sure there was no sickness about me, he glanced over to the door himself. "Did you see anyone outside?" He asked Tristan and Joyce.

"No," said Tristan. Joyce shook her head noncommittally. "I didn't see anyone either," Chandler said, turning back to me.

Was I hallucinating? That's not healthy. Maybe it was just a prank--after all, this was a wizarding school. I shrugged it off, and murmured, "I must've just not gotten a lot of sleep because of being excited for the first day."

Tristan and Joyce nodded, but I could tell Chandler was suspicious. He of all people knew I slept like the dead. The only time I ever slept badly was when I was sick--and at this point, even I was thinking I could have a cold. But that was impossible, since I have no symptoms...

It was at this point that I realized Tristan and Joyce had switched into their robes. Seeing a subject to switch to, I complemented their outfits. Joyce gave me a large smile--the first smile I've seen from her--and told me she'd made it herself. The robe she was wearing looked top-store quality. Tristan gave me a grimace and told me it was a hand-me-down from his older brother, Michael.

The rest of the train ride passed uneventfully, passing empty grassy fields, going over a bridge that seemed to go down into an infinite void (I felt like if I leaned to the side, I would topple us all into the abyss), and finally passing through a thick forest. Reaching the tree line, we glimpsed a extensive train station and the locomotive screeched to a halting stop.

Getting my pack was easy. Getting to be first in front of the compartment door was easy. But getting out of the compartment, down the hallway, and out of the train? Not easy. Not easy at all.

After swimming, fighting, and bashing my way through the living wall of students, my little group finally got outside. We were greeted by a tall, bushy-beared man who had to be the biggest person I had ever seen. He had a name tag--y'know, those My Name Is things--which spelled out Hagrid in really bad handwriting. There were a few crossed out letters too, like he had forgotten how to spell his name. But despite his faults, his smile was big and he was very friendly.

"This way, first years," he said, his voice gruff but warm. "Lemme show you somethin'."

Hagrid led us down a path, telling us to leave our luggage for the house-elves. I glanced behind longingly at my trunk as several elves apparated--not really 'apparated', because they use elf magic and not the same kind we use--near the pile of trunks and started whisking them away. I turned back towards the front of the non-orderly line and found Tristan hanging out beside me.

Now, I'm only eleven, but I have had people tell me that I act 'like a happy teenager'. Which is wonderful, I guess, because the older you get the more responsible you are supposed to be. I told my mom that, once, and she laughed at me, but I don't see how it's funny. Anyway, I've seen teenagers with their boyfriends and girlfriends, and it never really mattered to me before--they were just there. And their motives kind of confused me. But now I think I understand what they were feeling.