Year 1 Book 1 Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express

Emery Bridget Morgan

Emery Morgan of number 17 Privet Drive, where nothing magical of extraordinary could ever happen, was now at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. It was crowded with children and their parents. "Er- Mum, are we in the right place?" Her mother scoffed. "Oh, Emery of course we are! You're acting like a Muggle for goodness sake!" Emery's snowy owl, which she named Albus after the headmaster, was making desperate attempts to escape his cage. It was drawing attention and getting dirty looks from the surrounding crowd.

"Shush, Albus!" whispered Emery, "I'll let you out soon." The two finally reached a train entrance that wasn't jammed with people. "Bye Mum! Say bye to dad for me," said Emery as she got on. "Bye bye, dear. Have a wonderful first year!" Mum smiled. Once on the train, hardly any seats were available. She had come late, so it's not really much of a surprise. Emery found a seat with no one in it and sat down. Just as the Hogwarts Express was about to leave, ten or so late kids came on.

Then, a girl with long, curly light brown hair opened the sliding door. "Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full," said the girl. "Sure," said Emery. "My name is Lily. Lily Dancewell," said Lily, grinning. "I'm Emery Morgan," said Emery, returning the smile. A boy suddenly appeared outside of the glass door. Seeing that there were only two people he began pounding on the door.

"Oi! Can I sit here?" he said. Before either of the girls could respond, he came on, and plopped himself down next to Lily. "Filthy in here, isn't it?" he acknowledged. "Name's Hollister Fliggall," he said. Hollister was a pale boy with sleek blonde hair. The train was now slowly rolling along the tracks, when a girl entered and sat next to Emery, without asking.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "The train was moving and..." Her black hair was messy, but in a good way. "That's okay," said Emery. "Anyways, My name is Natalie Black," she said. Albus, Emery's owl, was flapping his wings, hitting the cage, making a loud racket. "Can you shut that dang bird up?" said Hollister. "And I assume you don't have an owl?" said Emery. "I have a toad," he said proudly. "Anyway, what house do you'll reckon you'll be in?"

Lily looked slightly confused. "House?" Hollister pauses for a second, "I had a feeling one of you were a dirty mudblood," he sneered. Lily looked hurt. It was obvious that she knew what a mudblood was. Emery and Natalie gasped, astonished. Emery felt angry, and she could tell Natalie was too. "Shut up," said Natalie. Hollister turned to her, "And I suppose you're also a mudblood."

"Actually, I'm a pureblood." Hollister looked taken aback. Emery looked at Lily. "The Hogwarts Houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and... Slytherin." Natalie jumped in on the conversation. "I'd like to be in Ravenclaw, or maybe Gryffindor." "My mum and dad were in Gryffindor, so I probably will too," said Emery. Lily was deep in thought. "I did some reading on the textbooks I bought, and from what I read... I want to be in anything but Slytherin," she said. Hollister simply stared in disbelief.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin. They'd probably murder me if I got a different house," he said. The four sat in silence for a while until a plump woman with a trolley full of sweets knocked on the door. "Anything from the trolley dears?" Natalie and Emery handed Lily a small sum of money each. Hollister jumped up immediately and bought almost everything the poor lady had. Emery paid for her one Chocolate Frog, Natalie and her Every Flavored Beans, and Lily bought two pumpkin pasties.

"Um Hollister? Shouldn't you have your robes on?" said Emery. "But the train-" he was cut off by the Hogwarts Express coming to a halt. Hollister scrambled out of his seat, and rushed to change. The three girls giggled and gathered their own belongings. They headed off the train and heard, "First years follow me!"

A large man, about ten feet tall, was holding a lantern and shouting for the first years to follow him. "Who's that?" said Emery and Lily in unison. "That's Rubeus Hagrid. Or just Hagrid," said Natalie. "He is the Keeper if the Keys and Grounds here at Hogwarts." Hollister finally stumbled off the Hogwarts Express and ran to some mean looking boys. "I had to sit by three girls..." Emery could hear him whispering.

"Keep up, follow me!" Hagrid was yelling in his loud voice. "Where do you think we're headed to?" asked Lily quietly. "No idea," Emery whispered back. Hagrid led all the first years to a dark narrow path. Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." Kids were "Oooooh!" and "Aaaaah!" The narrow path opened to the edge of a black lake. In the distance, perched atop a high mountain was a great castle. Hogwarts.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called. There were small boats in the water, near the shore. Emery, Lily, and Natalie climbed into the same boat along with another girl; she had blonde pigtails. "FOWARD!" Hagrid shouted. At the same time, the fleet of boats were rowing across the lake. They went through a dark tunnel and then walked up a passageway. Large front doors appeared and Hagrid raised his gigantic fist, knocking three times.