The twins' last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of them that he couldn't be in the same room, and Petunia and Vernon didn't lock the twins in their room, shout at them or force them to do anything. Half terrified, half furious, they acted like any chair with the twins in it was empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it made Nicole feel a little bored.

They had each other and their owls for company. Harry named his Hedwig from the book A History of Magic, while Nicole named her's Dreggen because it just seemed like a nice name. They continued to have their regular chats, but Harry spent a lot of time reading. Nicole also read quite a bit, but Harry wouldn't take his eyes off the books. Hedwig and Dreggen kept flying in through the window as they please, and kept bringing back dead mice. Every night, the twins would cross of the day, waiting for the first of September.

On the last day of August, the two started having a small argument of who should ask Vernon & Petunia about going to King's Cross. Eventually, they both decided to go.

"Er - Uncle Vernon," Harry said.

He grunted to show he was listening.

"We need to be at King's Cross tomorrow - to go to Hogwarts," Nicole said.

Vernon grunted again.

"Will you be okay to give us a lift?" Harry asked.

Another grunt. The twins both assumed that meant yes.

"Thank you," they both said at once, as they both went to go back upstairs, until Vernon actually spoke.

"Funny way to get to a wizard's school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"

"I'm guessing it's some sort of magic train," Nicole suggested.

"Well, where is this school anyway?"

"We don't know," Harry said, as they both took out their tickets Hagrid had given them out of their pockets.

"We just have to take the train from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at eleven o'clock," Harry said.

"Platform what?"

"Nine and three quarters."

"Don't talk rubbish," Vernon said. "There is no platform nine and three quarters."

"That's what it says on our tickets!" Nicole said.

"Barking," Vernon continued. "Howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."

"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked.

"Taking Dudley to the hospital," Vernon answered. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."

Nicole woke up at six o'clock the next morning, noticing Harry was already awake. They both got up and pulled on their clothes, they were going to change on the train. They both checked their lists to see if they had everything, and then they just waited for the Dursleys to get up.

"How long do you think we're going to wait?" Nicole asked.

"A day?" he joked. They both laughed.

Two hours later, the luggage was piled into the Dursleys' car, as the family then set off.

They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Vernon dumped the twins' trunks onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for them. The twins thought this was strangely kind, until he stopped, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.

"Well, there you are boy, platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be right in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"

He was right for once. There was a big plastic nine over one platform, a plastic ten next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.

"Have a good term," Uncle Vernon said with a nasty smile, as he drove off, all three of them laughing.

"Maybe it's hidden?" Nicole said to Harry.

"Hidden where?"

"I don't know, it has to be somewhere!"

"Let's ask someone," Harry said.

And they did ask a passing guard, but he thought they were playing a joke. He had never even heard of Hogwarts. They asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but he said there wasn't one.

"We have ten minutes," Nicole pointed out, looking at the clock.

How were they going to get there in time?

At that moment a group of people passed them, and they caught a few words of what they were saying.

"-packed with muggles of course-"

"Muggles?" Nicole said. "Come on!"

The speaker was a plump woman, who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair, each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of them, and they had an owl. The twins followed them, hoping they could answer what was going on here.

"Now what's the platform number?" said the woman.

"Nine and three-quarters!" said a small girl, also red-headed. "Mum, can't I go..."

"You're not old enough, Ginny. Now be quiet. Percy, you go first."

What looked like the oldest boy marched towards platforms nine and ten. The twins watched, as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, but a large crowd of tourists came past, and when they looked again, the boy had vanished.

"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell that I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy and off he went, the other twin asked him to hurry up, and then he vanished when he reached the barrier, as the other twin followed.

There was nothing else for it.

"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.

"Hello, dears, first time at Hogwarts? Ron's new too."

"Yes," said Nicole. "We're both new, and we don't really know how to-"

"How to get onto the platform," she said, and the twins nodded.

"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop, and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."

"You go first," Nicole said to Harry, as he walked into it, but then started to run, as it looked like he was going to crash. Nicole got scared for her brother for a bit, as she closed her eyes, but when she opened them, he had vanished.

"Go on, dear," said the woman.

"But where did he go?" Nicole asked, confused and scared, but ran up to the barrier as fast as she could, so she wouldn't be too scared. She looked around and saw on an iron archway 'Platform Nine and Three-Quarters' on it.

"We did it!" Harry said.

"It's great!" Nicole agreed. "It looks so great! Come on."

The first few carriages were already packed with students, out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. The twins pushed their carts along the platform, looking for two empty seats together. They passed a boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."

"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.

Nicole then heard a girl say, "Mum, I'll be fine. I'm too excited for this."

"Lily, it's a lot for you, isn't it?"

The girl, Lily, sighed.

"Want a hand?" someone, one of the red-haired twins said.

"Yes, please," said Harry.

"Sure," Nicole agreed.

"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"

Fred pushed Harry's trunk with him, and George pushed Nicole's.

"Thanks," Harry said.

"What's that?" asked one of the twins, pointing at Harry's scar.

"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you-"

"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?"

"Yes," Nicole said before Harry can say anything. "He's Harry Potter, the one that everyone knows." Everyone looked at her. "What?"

"And you are?" George asked.

"His twin sister," Nicole said. "The one no one knows."

"Who's just as important as I am," Harry pointed out.

"I never knew Harry had a twin sister," said one of the twins.

"Well, I guess we're not the most famous set of twins in the school anymore," said the other of the twins. They then started to laugh.

They seemed nice, if a bit annoying. Nicole didn't know what to think.

"Fred, George, are you there?"

"Coming, Mum."

With a last look at the Potter twins, the ginger twins got on the train. The two sat down next to the window. Harry on one side, Nicole on the other.

"Isn't this great?" Nicole asked. "Does this feel good?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "I don't think I've ever been more excited."

They could just about hear what the red-haired family was saying. The mother was being really bossy against the youngest, Ron, as Percy, the oldest was a prefect and the other twins complained that it was happening all summer. The mother then told the other twins not to blow up a toilet. They seemed like a very dysfunctional family.

But then…

"Hey, Mum, guess who we just met on the train?" one of them said.

"You know that black-haired boy near the station? Guess who he is?"

"Who?"

"Harry Potter!"

Nicole went red. "I'm going to have a look round the train."

"You want me to come with you?" Harry asked.

"No," Nicole said. "We've got seven more years together, what's a few minutes to spare?"

Nicole didn't want to admit that she might be jealous of all the attention her brother was getting, or maybe it wasn't jealousy, maybe it was anger. Anger that she was always being left out. Like were they even going to mention her. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice where she was going, and bumped into another girl.

"Oh my god," the girl said. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry, it's my fault," said Nicole. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"I'm just looking for an empty seat," said the girl.

"There's one over there," Nicole said, pointing to the first seat she saw.

"Thanks," the girl said. "My name's Lily, by the way. Lily Moon."

"Nicole," Nicole introduced. "Nicole Potter."

"Oh my gosh!" said Lily. "Are you related to…"

"Yes," Nicole interrupted. "Harry Potter's my twin brother."

"Wow!" said Lily. "I have so many questions."

"Talking of that," Nicole said. "I really need to get back to him. I just wanted to look around the train."

"Well, not really much to see," Lily said. "I'll speak to you when we get there. Bye."

Lily sat down, and Nicole went back to Harry.

"Have they gone?" Nicole asked.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Okay then," said Nicole. "Well, let's just wait and hopefully we'll have a good time."

The door of the compartment slid open as the youngest redheaded boy came in.

"Oh, is this full too?" he asked.

"No, you can sit next to me," Harry said.

"Hey, Ron," said one of the red-haired twins, joining them. "Listen, we're going to the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Harry," said the other twin. "Did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is our little brother Ron. See you later, then."

"Bye," said both Harry and Ron, while Nicole sat there.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" asked Ron.

Harry nodded.

"Oh – well I thought it might just be one of Fred and George's jokes," Ron said. "Have you really got that, you know…"

Harry pulled back his hair to reveal his scar. Ron stared.

"So that's where You-Know-Who…"

"Yes, but I don't remember it."

"Neither do I," Nicole said.

"Are you his sister?" Ron asked. "I heard rumours that he had a twin sister who You-Know-Who didn't try and get to. A girl who was there."

"Well those weren't 'rumours'" Nicole said. "They're completely true."

"Neither of you can remember anything?"

"I can remember a lot of green light, nothing else," Harry said.

"Not a thing," Nicole answered.

"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, and then at Nicole, and then realized what he was doing and looked quickly out of the window again.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I think so," Ron said. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we don't talk about him."

"So you must know lots of magic already?"

The Weasleys seemed to be one of those families Draco was talking about back in Diagon Alley.

"I heard you went to live with muggles," Ron said. "What are they like."

"Awful," Nicole answered. "They made our lives awful. But at least we had each other."

"Still," Harry said. "I could go for three wizard brothers."

"Five," Ron corrected. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left – Bill was headboy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new either, with five older brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand and Percy's old rat."

Ron searched inside his jacket and pulled out a fat grey rat, which was asleep.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless," Ron said. "He hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff – I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron's face went pink. He looked like he said a bit too much. Nicole thought it was okay that he couldn't afford an owl. Neither of the twins had any money before a month ago because of those damn muggles. Harry told Ron so, and they both told them about their stupid lives. This seemed to make him feel better.

"…and until Hagrid told us, we didn't know anything about being a wizard or about our parents or Voldemort-"

Ron gasped.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" Ron exclaimed. "I would've thought you of all people-"

"Ron's right, Harry," Nicole said. "Hagrid told us not to say the name. And honestly, I wouldn't after what he did. He doesn't deserve it."

"Well, Nicole, I forgot," Harry said. "We've both got lodes to learn. We might be the worst in the class."

"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from muggle families and they learn quick enough."

"Really?" questioned Nicole. "Are you sure? I thought it would take all year."

"Well, it won't take long for you two," Ron commented. "I know that."

The train left London, and they were now speeding fast fields of cows and sheep. The three were quiet for a while, just watching the fields fly by. At about 12:30, a woman came over. "Anything from the cart, dears?"

The twins hadn't had any breakfast. Ron's ears went pink again when he muttered he brought sandwiches. The twins went round into the corridor. The two never had any money for candy with The Dursleys, but now they had pockets rattling with gold and silver. But both were a little disappointed when they got there.

What they had were Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Liquorice Wands and a bunch of other strange things that neither of the twins have had in their lives. They both took some of everything, not wanting to miss out. They both brought it all back to the compartment and put them on the empty seat.

"Are you two hungry?" Ron said.

"Starving," Harry answered, as he took a bite of a pumpkin pasty.

"We haven't ate all day," Nicole added, taking another pasty. She enjoyed it.

Ron had taken out a package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."

"Swap you for one of these," Harry said. "Go on –"

"You don't want this, it's all dry," Ron said. "She hasn't got much time, you know with five of us."

"Come on, have a pasty," said Harry.

The twins always shared stuff with each other at home, who else could they do it with? It felt weird sharing with someone else, but nice. As Harry did give Ron some of his leftover sweets and pasties, while Nicole did take some extras.

"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of chocolate frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?"

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you two wouldn't know, Chocolate frogs have cards inside them, you know to collect – famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred. But I'm missing Agrippa and Ptolemy."

"So collector's items?" Nicole asked. "Ooh, this is interesting."

Harry & Nicole both unwrapped their chocolate frogs together. On Nicole's was a figure wearing a cloak, he was wearing mostly green under the cloak, but the cloak itself was purple. He had a cheeky-looking face, and was putting his hands together like a cartoon villain. He even had the moustache and beard. Under the card it said:

SALAZAR SLYTHERIN

Medieval, dates unknown

Co-founder of Hogwarts. Gave his name to one of the four Hogwarts houses.

Now Nicole looked confused. So were all the houses named after people? Even Slytherin? The house Hagrid said was full of dark wizards and witches? Nicole remembered.

"So this is Dumbledore!" Harry said, obviously stating what was on his card.

"Don't tell me you've never heard of Dumbledore!" Ron said.

"A little bit," said Nicole. "But we didn't know what he looked like."

"Can I have a frog?" Ron asked. "I might get Agrippa!"

Nicole didn't know what to do with her card. Should she tell them about it? She guessed that the founder would be as evil as the house is. She didn't want to read about him more. She put the card in her pocket and waited to see what to do with it.

"He's gone," Harry noticed.

Nicole picked up her card out of her pocket straight away, Salazar Slytherin had disappeared from the card as well.

"What's on your card, sis?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," she lied, panicking. "I think I might've dropped it when I took out the frog."

Nicole avoided taking another frog. But later, they started eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and all three of them got very weird flavours in there. Just then, there was a knock on the door of the compartment and a round-faced boy who the Potter twins passed on their way to the train came in.

"Sorry," he said. "But have any of you seen a toad at all?" Ron and the twins shook their heads. "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"Hopefully," added Nicole.

"Well, if you see him…"

He left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," Ron said. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Then again, I brought Scabbers so I really can't talk." The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap. "He might've died and you wouldn't know the difference." Nicole just thought for a second of how horrible Ron is to his pet. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…"

He was looking around his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in a lot of places.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway –"

He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time a girl was with him. She was already wearing her Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, and lots of bushy brown hair.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl didn't look like she was listening. Instead, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic?" she asked. "Let's see then."

She sat down on the empty seat.

"Er – all right," Ron said.

He cleared his throat and said. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow."

He waved his hand and nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" the girl said. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learned all our course books by heart, of course. I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger by the way, who are you?"

She said all this very fast, and seemed like she would never stop talking.

"Ron Weasley."

"Harry Potter."

"Are you really?" said Hermione before Nicole could tell her her name. "I know all about you of course – I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Hi, I'm Nicole, his sister. Was I in any of those books?"

Hermione ignored her. "Do any of you know what house you're going to be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds like the best one; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change you know, we'd be arriving soon."

And she left, taking Neville with her.

"Whatever house I'm in," said Ron. "I hope she's not in it."

"Me neither," Nicole said.

Ron threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell – George gave it to me, I knew it was a dud."

"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor," said Ron. "Mum and Dad were in it too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the house Vol- I mean You-Know-Who was in?" said Harry.

"Yeah," said Ron.

"I probably wouldn't be happy with that," said Nicole. Suddenly, Nicole had a thought. "What if me and Harry aren't in the same house? Will we still see each other?"

"I hope not," Harry said. Nicole couldn't think of the two of them being apart.

"I think so," Ron said. "Percy says he has friends in other houses, so there must be like a meet-up every week or something."

So the three continued to talk about weird subjects, like what Ron's older relatives do, a failed robbery at Gringott's and all about Quidditch. As he continued to talk about Quidditch, the compartment opened again, and Draco Malfoy, the boy who Harry & Nicole met at Madame Malkin's stepped in with two other boys either side of him.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"So that's why you never told me your name, Nicole," said Draco. "When you're the sister of a famous wizard, you might not want all that attention."

"Yup," Nicole said. "That's exactly it!" Nicole realized then that she hadn't told Harry that her and Draco introduced themselves to each other after he left.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said Draco. "And as your sister may tell you, I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough. Draco then turned to him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they could afford."

He turned back to the twins. "You two'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't shake it. Nicole looked confused. Draco was just being polite, even if he was being a bit annoying in Madame Malkin's, and posting this 'superior' business. Nicole shook his hand herself.

"I think I can figure out the wrong sort for myself, thanks," Harry said, just noticing Nicole was shaking Draco's hand.

"What?" Nicole said. "I was being polite."

"You're sister's right, you know," Draco went off again. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them either. You hang around with riffraff like The Weasleys and Hagrid, it'll rub off on you."

Nicole felt like he was being a bit harsh now.

Harry and Ron stood up. Nicole stayed sat down, wandering what the two were doing, as Draco continued.

"Oh, you're not going to fight us, are you?" Draco said.

"Unless you get out now," said Harry.

"Guys, I think this is all going a bit far," said Nicole, not wanting to start a fight. It's not like Draco was Dudley.

"Well, we don't want to leave now, do we boys?" Draco asked. "We've eaten all our food and you seem to still have some."

Goyle reached towards the chocolate frogs next to Ron, who then leapt forward, before Nicole said, "Here, have one of mine. I didn't want it anyway."

"Thank you," Draco said. "You know your sister seems to have it sorted. I hope to see you in Slytherin. Come on, boys."

The three of them left.

"Why were you being so nice?" Harry asked.

"Yes, he was being a bit harsh," Nicole said. "But do you really want to start a fight here? In the middle of a train?"

"Have you two met Malfoy before?" Ron asked.

Harry and Nicole told Ron about their meeting at Diagon Alley.

"I've heard of his family," Ron said. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go to the Dark Side."

"Why did you tell him your name at the shop?" Harry asked.

"For one, I was being polite," Nicole said. "For another, I was just happy that someone was giving me something instead of you! You ought to give people a chance even if they have a bad first impression." She got really high-rate by the end of it, like she was genuinely angry with her brother, and he looked genuinely angry with her as well. Nicole then turned to leave the compartment. She took her robes with her.

"I'm going to change," Nicole said. "You two should too."

When Nicole left the compartment, she took a while to process what just happened. She just got high-rate and angry at her brother. That had never happened before, unless they were playing a joke on the Dursleys or something. There was a never a genuine argument between them, they would always stick together? She went and got changed, then headed back to the compartment. Was she going to apologize? She didn't know.

"Hey Harry," Nicole said, who had noticed that he and Ron already had their robes on.

"Hey," was all Harry could say.

Nicole sat next to Harry, and as soon as she sat down, a voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time, please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to school separately."

Suddenly the twins got very nervous to talk to each other, but they pushed on. The three of them started to fill the pockets with the rest of the sweets and headed on through the corridor, joining the crowd.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Nicole heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

It was Hagrid.

"C'mon follow me," he continued. "Any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years, follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there might've been trees there. Nobody spoke much.

"Yeh'll get yer first sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder. "Jus' round this bend here."

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of the great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of boats on the shore. Harry, Ron and Nicole got in one, closely followed by Hermione.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat all to himself. "FORWARD!"

And the fleet of boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle ahead. It towered over them as it tailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads, and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that had a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, until they reached some kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" Hagrid said to Neville, checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" Neville said, happily. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here?"

Hagrid raised his gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.