The train slowed down and stopped. Harriet grabbed her cloak and threw it on before she got off, leaving her bags on the train like instructed by the announcement made by the conductor.
People pushed their way toward the door and out onto a dark platform. Harriet shivered in the cold night air and pulled her cloak tighter around her.
A lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and she heard a familiar voice.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" It was Hagrid. "All right there, Harriet?"
He was beaming. Harriet smiled at him.
"C'mon, follow me!" he called to the group of 11 year olds that had gathered in front of him. "Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harriet thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much.
After a minute or so of walking, the pale boy from the robe shop appeared next to her.
"Hello," he said, "I never got your name when I met you in Diagon Ally. Sorry I forgot to ask. I'm Draco Malfoy."
"Harriet Potter," she replied, "I forgot to ask your name aswell so we're good."
"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, from up ahead. "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!" followed by various other exclamations of excitement.
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. Harriet and Draco exchanged excited looks. It looked so cool.
"This is our school?" Harriet gasped.
"Yeah!" Draco grinned.
"Groovy!" A guy behind them commented. There were many murmurs and nods of agreement.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore.
Harriet and Draco were followed into their boat by a girl called Pansy, Draco's childhood friend, and a boy who introduced himself as Blaizse Zabini.
"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"
The little fleet of boats began to glide across the water of the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Even at night you could see your reflection in the water.
No one payed attention to it.
Everyone was staring up at the grand and brilliantly lit castle overhead, watching it with wide eyes. It towered over them majestically as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. The moon cast it in a light, that almost made it seem like an illusion.
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff. They all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face.
They were floated along a dark tunnel. Draco supposed they were right under the castle. Harriet immediately thought of a siege and escape strategy. She couldn't help it.
A couple minutes later, the boats reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. Harriet managing to fall flat on her face in an ungraceful heap. She had never been the most elegant. Pansy helped her up and brushed her off, Harriet muttering her thanks. Why was she like this?
After that, they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out onto damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. It towered over them even more now. Everyone exchanged nervous glances. Standing there, in front of their future made Harriet feel awfully insignificant and inspired at the same time. In that moment, she decided she would become one of the most brilliant witches this place had ever seen so she wouldn't feel as insignificant again.
The group followed Hagrid up a short flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak front door. He raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times. Everyone waited holding their breath in anticipation.
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Thoughts? Feelings?
What are your Hogwarts houses?
XOXO Drachma
YOU ARE READING
I May have helped an Evil Wizard. (rewrite)
Fiksi PenggemarHarriet Potter was perfectly ordinary, thank you very much. That is, she thought so until she was wisked away into a world of magic. Now, sorted into seemingly the most unpopular house in the school and dealing with the danger of things she'd never...
