Alex- Destination: Hogwarts

The train pulled to a stop. Leaving our suitcases behind (a voice called down the corridor and told us to leave them in our compartments; they would be brought to school for us), we exited the train. I guess I didn't notice all of the pointing and whispering before, but now that I knew about James' dad, it was unmistakable. People would do a double-take at James, and then turn to the person next to them, most likely to confirm their suspicions. He wasn't liking the attention, which i thought was strange. Maybe it had something to do with being famous for something he didn't do, like maybe he feels he doesn't deserve the credit. Whatever the reason, I made a mental note to bring it up with him later.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" I turned to see where the voice was coming from, and gasped. A little bit away, a giant man was holding a lantern and calling for all the first years to follow him. I mean, he was HUGE! He had to be at least twice as tall as a normal man, and four times as wide. I turned to see Mark and Theresa gaping at the man as i was, while James' face suddenly lit into a smile.

"Come on" James said, strolling forward to the giant. The man had a big gray beard and long hair, and when he saw James, his face resembled one who was reuniting with a long-lost family member.

"JAMES!" he yelled, pulling him into a bear hug. When the giant set him down, he said "How've ya been?" And, without waiting for an answer, he hugged James once more and said "I remember when your dad firs' came to Hogwarts, an' I called him over, I did, an' I brought him to the school for the firs' time. An' now I'm getting ta do the same ta you!" He started getting teary-eyed.

James turned to us and said, "This is Hagrid. He's a family friend of ours, and he teaches at Hogwarts." The man named Hagrid smiled, and, remembering he had a job to do, continued shepherding first years into a group.

Once we were all present, we followed Hagrid and his lantern on a narrow path that lead through a forest. It was already dark out, and the forest was pretty creepy. A few times we would hear the noise of something scuttling through bushes. "Maybe it's a unicorn." I said with a smirk.

"Or a centaur," Theresa added.

"You'd be surprised o' all the creatures that live in these forests." Hagrid answered. Then "OK e'rybody, yeh'll get your firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a second." The path curved and we all stood in awe at what we saw before us. Across a giant black lake, stood a huge castle! It was definitely the most awesome thing I have seen in my whole life. Boats were set up obviously to have us ride across, and the four of us, along with our soon-to-be class mates started climbing in. Theresa, Mark, and James followed in after a small Indian boy. I was about to get in when Hagrid stopped me. "On'y four to a boat." After exchanging looks with them, I climbed into the last boat with only two other kids.

I sat down, and offered a smile to my company, just as the boats started moving towards the castle on their own. The other two kids in the boat were an Asian girl with long black hair, who was sitting cross-legged, staring at her nails, and a boy with perfect blonde hair, who was also sitting with his legs crossed. "Hey," I said.

The girl glanced up from her nails to look at me. She looked really annoyed, which led me to believe she wasn't happy with the seating arrangements either. "You're obviously not pureblood."

"What?" I said, a bit defensively.

"You're obviously not from around here, and from the looks of you, you're probably muggle-born." I didn't see how she could tell that just from how I looked.

"It's nice to meet you too! I seriously hope we're in the same house so we can talk all the time!" I said with my best sarcastic smile. If she wanted to be like that, I guess there was nothing i could do about it.

The boy spoke up "I'm Trauncy." (I suppressed a giggle).

"So what house do you wanna be in?" I asked. Trauncy said he didn't have a preference, and he was just going to sit back, and let the sorting hat do its job. At this point, the girl interrupted, saying that obviously she was going to be put into Slytherin, because of her pureblood line. She also didn't fail to leave out how I would probably be in Hufflepuff, because I wouldn't be able to live up to normal, pureblood wizarding standards.

Already fed up with her, I turned and looked over the edge of the boat, into the water. If only it wasn't so dark outside! I put my hand in the water, longingly wishing to go for a swim. I wondered if students were allowed to swim in the lake. I was moving my hand across the surface of the water, watching the ripples it made, when something brushed up against my hand. "Woah!" I said, yanking my hand back.

Trauncy stood up, asking "What is it?"

"Something touched my hand," I answered, leaning over the edge of the boat to try and get a closer look. What happened next, probably took a whole of five seconds, but time seemed to be moving in slow motion. Trauncy, following my lead, stood up and started coming over to look. But, apparently the wooden built-in seats were too much for Trauncy; he tripped over one of them, which sent him flying into me, knocking us both off the edge of the boat.

When the initial shock of the moment passes, and I found myself underwater. It was really dark, but the moonlight was shining through the water just enough to illuminate the outlines of some shapes moving around. I was instantly fascinated, and wished for more light so I could go exploring. Just imagine the creatures that could be living in a magical lake! I suddenly remembered that I needed to breathe, so I surfaced, and heard the murmur of the other kids wondering what the heck just happened.

I looked around for Trauncy, but didn't see him. Then a few feet away, I saw a disturbance in the water. It was Trauncy, who clearly couldn't swim. He was flailing around, trying to stay above water. I swam over to him, and tried to grab him, but he fought back at me in a panic. "Trauncy! Stop- Trau- STOP IT!" Fighting was useless, and would just waste time. I grabbed his arms, and tried to keep him still so he could get air. I was suddenly immensely glad of the fact that I was a strong swimmer, which was something I usually took for granted. Finally, Trauncy stopped freaking out. "Thanks," he said, breathlessly.

I helped him swim back to the boats, which had magically paused in their advance to the castle. The girl in our boat grudgingly helped us in, but I could tell it was only because everyone was watching.

When we sat back down, both soaked, Trauncy started complaining about how he was all wet and his hair was ruined. Theresa and I exchanged the same look from across the water, making me laugh out loud. This was going to be a very interesting year.

A/N: Only 2 reviews…. *sigh* I might have to take this story down if we don't get enough reviews. So advertise, guys! Tell your friends! I know there's not really an actual plot yet, but don't worry as soon as we get the technical stuff out of the way, the real story will be starting soon. So review!