Arrival at the Castle
"There was the Weasley boy," Hermione said as they gathered again, after rescuing Neville's toad, which had ended up stuck among the luggage of some third-year students.
"Yeah," Harry murmured, touching his chin thoughtfully, though he quickly decided to set the matter aside for now. Instead, he kept watching Daphne, who was walking ahead, making some truly bizarre faces. "What is she doing?" he asked with an amused smile.
"She said she's practicing her character," Hermione explained, smiling as she looked at her friend with a hint of resignation.
"Character?" Draco echoed, just as confused.
"We're going to Hogwarts, where all the young witches and wizards from across the country gather… that includes…" Daphne began, pointing at Draco with solemn importance.
"The pure-bloods and heirs of noble houses?" Draco guessed, raising an eyebrow.
"Exactly. We're bound to end up in Slytherin, the snake pit, where everything is a constant struggle for influence and prestige. And obviously, as the daughter of the head of House Greengrass and the future leader of the neutral faction, I need to be cold and unshakable. That way, no one will dare to use me," Daphne explained with all the seriousness she could muster, as if she'd just had some brilliant revelation. "I'm trying to imitate Father's stoic face," she added, her smile completely ruining the attempt.
"Yeah… that's not going to happen," Harry replied with a mocking tone as he stepped ahead lightly.
"Not at all," Draco agreed, following him without bothering to hide his amusement.
Hermione simply looked at Daphne, shrugged in a sympathetic way, and hurried after them.
"Hey—I can do it!" Daphne protested with a touch of annoyance. She stopped in front of one of the glass panels along the corridor and tried on an expression completely devoid of emotion. "Yeah… I look like an idiot," she finally admitted, sighing before running after her friends. Although claiming she was imitating her father only to immediately declare she looked like an idiot wasn't exactly a compliment for the poor man.
…
"What the hell… did we really spend hours trapped on this bloody train?" Daphne complained, pressing her forehead to the window, staring out at the night sky with a defeated look.
"Yes, you've mentioned it about twenty times. Get changed, the boys are waiting," Hermione said, pointing toward the door where Draco and Harry were standing guard to keep anyone from coming in while the girls changed into their school uniforms.
Before long, the train shuddered to a stop, and everyone began pushing to get out, swept up in a mix of excitement and nerves. Harry's group climbed down onto the platform and immediately felt the cold night air seeping right through their clothes.
Then, a lantern started moving above their heads.
"First years! First years over here!" boomed a deep voice. A giant man, whose beard looked like a bramble bush, was holding a large lantern aloft, casting a wide circle of light. "Any more first years?"
"Wow… that is literally a huge man," Draco muttered, eyes wide as he stared at the gamekeeper.
Harry, for his part, watched him with curiosity. For a moment, Hagrid's gaze locked onto Harry, as if he recognized him at once, but then he frowned slightly, puzzled at not seeing any visible scar on his forehead. Without another word, he resumed gathering the children and motioned for them to follow along a dark, slippery path.
"Ugh," Daphne groaned, making a face as she tried to scrape the mud from her boots.
Harry calmly lifted his hand. From his palm, a reddish orb emerged and floated upward, casting a crimson light that illuminated a good stretch of the trail. Though, given the hue, the whole scene instantly looked rather… creepy.
"I think I'd rather walk in the dark," Draco commented, eyeing how the branches looked like twisted hands in the bloody glow.
"Sorry—I can't change the color," Harry apologized with a grimace. "But it's better than nothing."
Despite the eerie atmosphere, the group managed to keep moving without tripping. Around them, other students were huddled close together, faces tense, glancing nervously at the shadows that shifted at the edge of the red light. Almost no one seemed to notice Harry had just used wandless magic.
Daphne clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.
Neville, the boy they'd helped earlier, was trailing behind them, eyes watery and brow furrowed, as if he was about to lose his toad again—or just collapse from sheer fright.
"Don't worry. In a moment, you'll have your first glimpse of Hogwarts," Hagrid announced, casting a curious look up at the floating orb above their heads. "Just around this bend."
As they turned, a collective gasp of wonder spread through the group.
The path opened out onto the edge of a lake so black it looked like liquid glass. On the opposite shore, silhouetted against the starry sky, rose an immense castle, its high towers and countless lit windows gleaming like lanterns in the night.
Even Harry and the others couldn't help but stare, mouths slightly open.
"No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a line of small boats waiting by the shore.
Harry, Draco, Daphne, and Hermione climbed into one without trouble.
At the call of "Forward!" the whole flotilla set off at the same time, gliding over the smooth surface, each reflection as perfect as a painting. Everyone watched the castle growing closer with every silent stroke.
"Heads down!" Hagrid shouted suddenly as the first boats neared the cliff and passed under a thick curtain of ivy.
They drifted into a dark tunnel that seemed to run straight beneath the castle itself. When they finally emerged on the other side, they disembarked onto a small stone dock and climbed a damp path up to a wide flight of steps.
"Hey, you—this your toad?" Hagrid asked, holding up a green toad he'd just picked off the ground.
"Trevor!" Neville cried, hurrying over to reclaim his pet with such obvious relief that his shoulders sagged.
Together, they walked up to the enormous front door, so tall it felt like a solid wall. Hagrid raised his huge fist and knocked three times with resounding force.
Almost at once, the door swung open to reveal a tall witch with sleek black hair pulled into an immaculate bun, and emerald green robes that flowed all the way to the floor. She wore the severe expression of someone who tolerated no nonsense and no excuses.
Harry and the others recognized her at once: Professor McGonagall, the same witch who often stopped by the bookstore where Wanda used to work.
"First years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid announced in his deep voice.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take them from here," Professor McGonagall replied, giving him a slight nod of courtesy.
They all followed her with uncertain steps as they crossed the threshold into an entrance hall so large it could have held several houses. The ceiling arched high overhead, supported by stone columns, and gleaming marble staircases rose to different levels. As they walked along a stone corridor, they could hear the hum of hundreds of voices coming from the Great Hall, where all the other students already seemed to be gathered.
They stopped in a space beside the wall, standing closer together than usual and casting nervous glances around.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said clearly, her tone solemn. "The start-of-term banquet will begin in a few minutes, but before you can take your seats in the Great Hall, you must be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is an important ceremony, because while you are here, your house will be like your family. You will attend classes with your housemates, sleep in your house dormitories, and spend your free time in your house common room. Each house has a noble history and has produced many great witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your achievements will earn points for your house. Any rule-breaking, however, will cause you to lose them. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup. A great honor, which I hope you will all strive to attain with pride."
As she spoke, her gaze fell disapprovingly on Neville's cloak, which was somehow tied around his ear, and then on Ron's nose, smudged with something he quickly tried to wipe off.
"The Sorting Ceremony will begin in just a few minutes, in front of the rest of the school. I recommend that while you wait, you tidy yourselves up as best you can."
Harry and his group looked at each other, checking their robes for any flaw, though the four of them were immaculate. They had all spent years taking etiquette lessons with Selene, Daphne's mother. Draco had joined a little later, but his own mother had made sure he learned proper manners as well.
Their robes were well-made and neatly pressed, and their hair had been carefully arranged… at least, as much as magic could do for Hermione's wild curls and Harry's perpetually messy hair. At least they would make a good first impression.
"Please wait here quietly," McGonagall instructed before disappearing through a side door.
"I wonder how they're going to sort us," Harry commented under his breath. After all, every time he asked about it, his godfather only gave him a mischievous smile, while his mother—who had never attended Hogwarts—just shrugged. Remus, for his part, insisted it would be more fun to find out on his own.
"Blood?" Draco ventured aloud, remembering how goblins required blood samples to access vaults at the bank.
The word seemed to hang in the air, and several children nearby immediately turned pale, trembling as if imagining something much worse.
"Highly unlikely that it's a blood ritual," Hermione said calmly, though inwardly she was racing through every defensive spell she knew. "There are too many dangerous curses that can be triggered with a single drop. No respectable magical family would allow that. And I doubt it involves demonstrating magical ability. Plenty of students only found out they were wizards a month ago. They wouldn't risk the life of a student. What sort of ridiculous school would do that?"
Even so, as she spoke, her mind was seriously weighing whether she'd need to use telekinesis—like Wanda had taught her—to rip up part of the floor and fling it at whatever appeared.
"It's an old school. They probably use some sort of magical object that evaluates your qualities," Harry said, nodding as he reviewed everything he'd read. "Remember: Slytherin, purity and ambition; Gryffindor, pride and bravery; Ravenclaw, a hunger for knowledge; Hufflepuff, loyalty and trust. That's probably what it measures."
Just then, a chorus of shrieks erupted behind them. The whole group spun around in alarm as several students cried out in fright.
A cluster of ghosts emerged through the wall, drifting in with a pearly, translucent glow. They glided across the room, speaking quietly among themselves, completely ignoring the commotion they caused.
"I'm telling you, Peeves will be up to his old tricks again," muttered one of the specters seriously, passing right through a boy who froze on the spot.
"Move along," came McGonagall's firm voice as she reappeared, cutting through the whispers. "The ceremony is about to begin."
One by one, the ghosts floated through the opposite wall and disappeared.
The students lined up and followed the professor with cautious steps, feeling hundreds of eyes turning toward them from the vast hall opening before them.
As they entered, they were left speechless. Thousands of candles floated in the air, lighting every corner with their warm glow. Four enormous tables stretched to the far end of the room, where the students of each house were sitting, whispering and pointing at the newcomers.
And on a raised platform near the head of the hall, a long table held all the professors, who were watching them with expressions ranging from curiosity to stern assessment.
It was near this platform that McGonagall led them and motioned for them to stand in a line before her.
Harry looked up and, for a moment, lost himself in the starry sky reflected in the enchanted ceiling. A fleeting memory of something his mother had once told him crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head, determined to focus on the present.
—-
(I'm skipping the Sorting Hat's song.)
Next chapter: Which house will the group end up in?