Hogwarts Return: The Prophecy

Chapter 7: To Hogwarts

For the rest of the shopping spree, I wandered with Amber. She was a very interesting girl. When she was younger, she had a pet horse, and apparently, she had a boyfriend, because age eleven was "not too young".
The best stop was at Eeylops Owl Emporium. The list of school equipment said that we were allowed to bring an owl, a cat or a toad to school, and owls were by far the coolest. Amber dashed straight over to the most expensive owls in the shop: the snowy owls, but I knew it would take a little more time.

After ten minutes of Amber begging me to choose one, I went with a small barn owl. I named her Milo because of the colour of a small patch of feathers on the top of her head. Amber's owl was called Sandy.

***

We arrived at King's Cross Station at ten-thirty the next day. Milo was perched in a cage on top of my trunk. Mae handed me the ticket to the Hogwarts Express with a stern look on her face.

"Hold on to your ticket. You will need to keep it safe."

"Wait just a second," I said. "This ticket says Platform nine-and-three-quarters. How is that possible?"

"Run at that wall over there and you will see." She pointed at a brick wall between platforms nine and ten. She was crazy.

"I can't do that."

"Fine. Then follow me." Mae walked over to the wall, then looked around. The platforms were empty. She then leaned into the wall. It was unreal. She just disappeared. But her head poked back out in a few seconds. "Run if you are scared." What a smart idea. If you feel like you are going to die, then just run at it. A stroke of genius, that was.

I directly opposed Mae's idea. When I reached the wall, I stepped through it slowly.

On the other side of the wall was another platform with lots of children my age. It was incredible. On one side there was nothing, and on the other side, everything. It was pandemonium. Broomsticks were flying everywhere. Owls in cages hooted so loudly that it was impossible to hear my own thoughts.  Parents were handing things to their kids through the windows of the Hogwarts Express, a black and red steam train with many large carriages lining the platform.

By the time all three of us walked through, Mae was already halfway down the platform. When we reached her, she barely said anything; only hurriedly telling me to get onto the train.

A whistled sounded as I stepped up. Mae helped lift my trunk up after me, and handed Milo to me.

Five seconds after I boarded, the door slammed shut behind me, and the train lurched forward. I started moving down the hallway looking in at all the compartments. They were all full. Eventually I reached a compartment with only one person in it. The boy had shoulder-length purple hair, and looked lonely. I was just about to open the compartment door when a door ahead of me opened and Amber's head popped out.

"Mason," she whispered furiously, beckoning for me to come closer. I forgot about the lonely boy and moved on to her compartment, careful not to disturb Milo. Just before I reached her, a large boy, almost twice my size, shoved me to the ground. Amber just stared in disbelief, but helped me back up so I could grab my bird. "Who was that?" she asked.

"Someone who is going to regret that later this year."

She invited me into her compartment, where a small boy with sharp features sat.

"You must be Mason," he said. "Amber has told me a lot about you."

***

At one point in the trip, a lady walked down the hallway and sold us lollies. The Bertie Botts Every-Flavour Beans were my favourite. And Milo's too, apparently.

"I am honestly surprised that Hogwarts is still open after everything that happened last year," Angelo said after a while of silent eating. "The damage should have at least postponed the arrival of new students."

"What happened last year?" I asked.

"This guy came in with an army to kill this one kid, which destroyed lots of the school. How have you not heard about it?"

"I only learned I was a wizard yesterday."

"Well, the sun's starting to go down, so I'm going to go change into my robes. You two should do the same." He hugged Amber and walked off.

***

The train pulled up to a station almost an hour after sundown, where a booming voice greeted us cheerfully.

"Firs' years, come with me. Leave yer trunks on the train. Yeh'll see it again." The voice belonged to a giant man with an untidy black beard, as I noticed when I stepped off the train.

The man strode across the platform, continuing to call for the first years. As we rounded the corner, I caught a glimpse of a small black horseless carriage, which was moving away down a spindly road, probably to the school. Instead of taking the remaining carriages, the giant man took us to a black lake, which had over a dozen small wooden boats.

I slid into a boat with Amber, Angelo and a scrawny boy with flaming red hair and pale skin. "I hear there are grindylows down there," he said.

I whispered to Amber, who was sitting beside me, "What's a grindylow?" She shrugged in response.

The boats moved across the glistening water without paddling. Eventually, the boats passed a bunch of trees that were blocking half the view. The landscape held a magnificent castle, with seven towers and many more windows. Far better than the Mattherson Mansion.

"Welcome," the giant man yelled, "to Hogwar's School o' Witchcraft 'n' Wizardry."