I hadn't even gotten to school yet, and somehow I was already in trouble. I was going to a new school, so I wasn't exactly sure about the rules yet, but apparently flying outside of the train window yelling "Josh!" is not allowed. Who knew? Despite the getting in trouble part, I was very excited about going to this new school. In all the schools I'd gone to before this, all we'd been taught was math and science and stupid things like that. I mean, what kind of school doesn't teach unicorn riding? Not a very good one in my opinion. I didn't know if this school taught unicorn riding, but at least it had an interesting name. Hogwarts. I really liked the sound of that. Currently I was sitting in a compartment with three other people. I had been forced to sit down in an actual seat after the whole flying outside of train thing. I looked around at my three companions and decided the proper thing to do would be to introduce myself.

"Hey um I'm Achillies and it's my first year here so obviously I'm 11. Anyways who're you and what year are you in. I mean, there is more than one year right?" I said, grinning.

"I'm Roxie." The girl said. "This is also my first year."

"And I'm Daa'nich." The boy next to Roxie said.

I wrinkled my nose. "What kind of name is that? It sounds like a girl's name."

"That was rude." The last boy said.

"Oh, really? I mean girls names are cool I just wondered. I wasn't trying to be rude. I didn't think that was rude."

The boy laughed. "You're either incredibly stupid or lying. Because that was definitely rude."

I shrugged. "People have called me stupid before so maybe it's true. I don't really care. You don't need to be smart to be an antelope. Anyways, what's your name?" This was directed at the last boy, who still hadn't told us his name.

"It's Geoffrey." He said. "And why were you talking about antelopes?"

"Oh!" I said cheerily. "Well, the thing is, I'm an antelope. Well I'm at least part antelope or something. Antelopes have hands, I have hands. Antelopes are very majestic creatures and so am I. Also; we both eat leaves so it's perfect. Everyone tells me I couldn't possibly be an antelope but I think they're all lying to me. Leave it to grownups to ruin everything."

I frowned in annoyance. Roxie, Daa'nich and Geoffrey all looked just the slightest bit confused. However, they didn't say anything, so I returned to looking out the window wistfully. Geoffrey edged just the slightest bit away from me. I spent the rest of the train ride wishing to be outside flying, except for the fifteen minutes at the end of the ride when I tried to change into my robes and knocked over luggage belonging to ten different students. Finally the train stopped. All of the people in their first year filed out of the train on to the platform. I stood next to Roxie. Geoffrey and Daa'nich weren't there, presumably because they weren't in the first year. The only thing I remember about getting to the castle is boats. I was slightly distracted because I was wondering if carrots could turn into potatoes under the right circumstances. I only stopped thinking about this interesting conundrum when I heard my name called.

"Yes?" I asked.

The man standing at the top of the stairs motioned me to come over. "You somehow managed to break the rules before even arriving at school. However, we will let it slide as you didn't know the rules. Any further transgressions will result in punishment. Any questions?"

"Actually, yes." I said. "What does transgression mean?"

"Basically, if you break the rules you will get in trouble."

I looked up at the ceiling, exasperated. "Well, why didn't you just say that?"

He ignored me, and said, "Welcome to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry…"

I tuned him out at that point, assuming he was going to talk about boring grownup things. The only other information I caught from his speech was that he was Professor Sylvan and apparently he taught something called Defense Against the Dark Arts. That part at least sounded exciting. Then he opened the door into a huge hall. The coolest part about it was probably the floor. It was a very nice floor, and looked top quality of whatever material it was made out of. I couldn't really tell at the moment, but I would be sure to come back and observe it more closely. I watched as kids went up to the front of the hall and had a hat with a mouth placed on their heads. It called out some strange words like "Hufflepuff" and "Slatherin", at least I think that's what it said;it was kind of hard to tell given the loudness of the hall. I figured out these words were actually "house" names from Roxie who was still next to me. However, I didn't see any houses so that didn't exactly make any sense. I asked the kid on the other side of me what was going on. He brought me up to speed with a really long and complex explanation I didn't want to hear. By that time Roxie had been sorted into Gryffindor and it was my turn. The hat deliberated a long time with me but then finally yelled, "Gryffindor!" I went over and sat next to Roxie. And then my favorite part of the whole entire day happened. The tables filled with food. And that's really all that is worth mentioning about my first day at Hogwarts. Aside from the fact I got lost on my way to the common room, everything went smoothly. That was only a little snag anyhow. I finally went to sleep; feeling very excited about having a new day of adventures and cool classes when I woke up the next day.