Chapter Twelve: We Actually Arrive At Hogwarts
After Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle left, we started up a conversation again.
"What even is a Mudblood anyway?" asked Harry.
"I could tell it was really rude, of course-" Hermione started, but Ron interrupted her, saying;
"It's about the most insulting thing he could think of. Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born – you know, non-magic parents. There are some wizards – like that Malfoy – who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call pure-blood. I mean, the rest of us know it doesn't make any difference at all. Like you two, for instance," he said, pointing to me and Vi. "You just caught a criminal, and you're Muggle-born!"
Vi nodded.
I, on the other hand, said, "Yeah, we're awesome."
Ron continued speaking.
"It's a disgusting thing to call someone," he said. "Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's ridiculous. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out."
Then, we felt the train slow down and heard the bodiless announcer say, "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."
We exited our compartment and joined the crowd that was gathering in the corridor as the train came to a full stop.
People started getting off the train and filing onto a small platform where a familiar half-giant was calling, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" as he waved a giant lantern.
Slowly, the crowd trickled away until only Hagrid's group of first years was left.
"C'mon, follow me! Mind yer step, now!"
Slipping and stumbling, we followed Hagrid to the boats.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in as sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round the bend here."
There were many gasps. The path had opened onto a spot in front of the Black Lake, and across from it stood Hogwarts, in all of its glory.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, motioning toward the famous Hogwarts First Year Fleet (that's what I call it, anyway).
Vi, Harry, Ron and I piled into one of the boats.
"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who took up an entire boat. "Right then – FORWARD!"
The boats moved toward the castle, sailing along the Black Lake.
"Oooohhh, I have some candy, should I feed it to the Giant Squid?" I asked.
"Wicked, there's a Giant Squid in the lake?" said Ron, in awe.
"Yeah, so should I?"
There were nods of approval, so I took out a Licorice Wand and dropped it into the lake.
Before it could sink too far by itself, a huge tentacle snatched it and dragged it under.
"Oooh," said Harry.
"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Ron.
"Geez, Ron, where do you learn your language from?" asked Vi.
"From my five older brothers," replied Ron.
"I pity you, Ron. I really do. I only have one younger sister, and she's irritating all by herself." I told Ron.
"Hey!" said Vi. "I'm only younger than you by six minutes!"
"Oh, so you're twins?" asked Harry.
We nodded.
"When's your birthday?" he asked.
"Mine is May thirty-first." I said.
"Oh, yeah, and ummm… right, mine is June first." said Vi.
I stared at her and saw that little patches of red were disappearing from her cheeks.
I was about to ask why but (just my luck) then our boats sailed through a curtain of ivy, a strand of which entered my open mouth. I coughed and sputtered while everyone doubled over laughing (curse you, ivy!).
"So, um, Harry, what were you asking about our birthdays?" asked Vi once everybody stopped laughing.
"Oh, yeah. So your birthday is when again?" he asked.
"Birthdays," she said. "Wil's is on May thirty-first, and mine is on June first."
"Wait, let me get this straight. So, you're twins, but you were born on different days?" said Ron.
I said, "Yup." at the same time Vi said, "Mmm-hm."
"See, us saying it at the same time proves we're twins." I said.
"But… but… how does that work?" asked Ron, looking confused.
"You see, Wil was born at eleven fifty-six PM and I was born at twelve o-three AM." said Vi, smirking. "Since Wil was born before midnight and I was born after midnight, that makes us born on different days. We're still twins, though, because twins don't necessarily need to be born on the same day. As long as you're born from the same pregnancy, you're considered a twin."
"Ohhhhh, I get it now!" said Ron.
We sailed through a dark tunnel that seemed to lead us directly below the school. We went through it for a while until reaching an underground port, where we climbed out of the boats onto rocks and pebbles.
"Oy, you there! Is this yer toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Trevor!" cried Neville, and he went to retrieve him.
Then we went up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out onto a field of grass in the shadow of the castle.
We walked a flight of stone steps, and crowded around the giant, oak door.
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" said Hagrid.
Then he knocked on the door three times.
The door swung open, and Professor McGonagall stood there.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." said Hagrid.
"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here," said McGonagall.
She pulled the door open.
The entrance hall was huge. You could have fit our house in it with room to spare.
The stone walls were lit with torches, and the ceiling was too high to see, just as it says in the books. A huge marble staircase led up to the upper floors.
We followed Professor McGonagall across the stone floor.
I could hear the chatter from the Great Hall to the right.
Professor McGonagall led us to an empty room off the hall.
We crowded in, with some of the other students looking nervous.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you…"
Again, I tuned out the speech, as I knew it most of it by heart.
When I saw everyone try to fix themselves up, I knew the speech had ended.
McGonagall left.
"How exactly do they sort us into Houses?" asked Harry.
"All you have to do is fight a troll," I said, thinking of the twins' story.
"Really? The twins were actually right this time?" asked Ron.
I could tell the other students heard, as they had gotten a look of fear.
I let everyone be scared for a minute or so.
Vi was trying her very hardest not to laugh and give it away.
Finally, I said, "HAHA! You actually fell for it! I'm especially disappointed in you Harry. You fell for our tricks twice!"
Vi fell over laughing, with me joining in after a second.
When our laughter had finally subsided (which took a while), a very timid looking boy said, "So, we don't have to fight a troll?"
"No, what you really have to do is fight a dragon," said Vi.
The look of terror grew.
Again, I waited a minute before saying, "Okay, you probably won't believe us now, which means you're not stupid, but all you have to do is try on an ugly old hat in front of the whole school. Oh, and don't tell it I said that, or else I'll really make you fight a dragon,"
We got a lot of disbelieving looks.
Oh well.
"About now, some ghosts will come in and scare the living daylights out of you," Vi said.
A moment later, the ghosts appeared, and were welcomed with many screams and gasps.
"HAHA, Told'ja!" she exclaimed, triumphant.
