I sit with little but my own thoughts for about five minutes. I see Sarah board the train, and less than half a minute later she knocks on the compartment door. Honestly, I'm surprised she's come to sit with me. With her demeanor and her family's history, I thought she'd already have friends in the wizarding world. I tell her as much and she laughs. She says she has a friend, Emily, who she hasn't seen yet but should be coming. And since she's sitting with me now, Emily will just have to take what she can get. I smile.
The train starts to move. I glance out the window, and that may be a mistake. I can see Henri, see him getting further away, quickly growing smaller as the train speeds away from platform 9 ¾. There's a tight feeling in my chest and I swallow a lump that's formed in my throat. Suddenly the loneliness of my position hits me; no one knows. I'm all alone and I can't tell anyone. I've got no one.
I'm startled out of my thoughts by a cautious knock on the door. I look up to see massive glasses consuming Sam's face. I smile at him and invite him to join us. He's wearing a black NASA T-shirt and jeans, and in proper light I can see that his hair is sandy blonde, slightly darker than Sarah's.
"Hi Sam. This is Sarah; Sarah, this is Sam. I met him in Diagon Alley," I introduce them. They briefly exchange pleasantries. The compartment descents into a brief state of uncomfortable silence. My curiosity gets the better of me and I ask Sarah about her life in a wizarding family. Sam seems interested in the conversation too, and for a while it's an uninterrupted stream of questions and answers until a woman slides the door open, accompanied by a trolley laden with sweets.
"Four chocolate frogs, a licorice wand, and every-flavoured beans, please," Sarah speaks up. Sam and I shake our heads at the woman.
"No thanks," I say. Sarah places the food on the seat beside her but makes no move to eat any of it. Almost as soon as the trolley lady moves on, another knock sounds on the door. A tearful, round-faced boy peers in.
"Sorry, but you haven't seen a toad, have you?" His voice is wavering a bit. We all shake our heads.
"Sorry. I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere," Sarah reassures him. The boy sniffles.
"Please, if you see him…? Thank you," he says and leaves. I can hear him wailing to himself quietly as he moves further down the carriage. The talk of animals reminds me of Hadley sleeping in his cage.
"Hey, do either of you mind if I let Hadley out?" I ask, kneeling down infront of it. At their shrugs, I open the door. Hadley stirs, then seems to notice the door is open. He stretches and emerges, then sets about exploring the compartment. I return to my seat just as Sarah lets out a squeak and opens the door. Another girl enters, who I assume must be Emily.
"Hey Sarah! Did you hear Harry Potter's on the train?"
"Really? Well, we best leave him alone for now. I'd imagine he's a bit overwhelmed by hordes of fans." Emily finally seems to notice me and Sam also in the compartment. She also notices the cat, and bends down to pat him while she introduces herself.
"Hi, I'm Emily Knapp. You are…?"
"John Smith," I smile.
"Sam Goode," Sam mutters lowly into his chest, his face a bit red.
"Here, now that Emily's here I've got something for all of you. And I thought these would be a bit of entertainment value." Sarah chucks a chocolate frog at each of us and gestures to Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans with a sly grin. Then she rests her hands on her camera, almost daring us with her casual manner.
I squint at her suspiciously and start with the chocolate frog. Opening it, I find that the frog fortunately doesn't move, but the picture in the card does. An aged man with a long white beard is moving about in a way that I inexplicably know is independent. It's not like a film or a recording; this thing, this magic is live. I stare at it in fascination and completely forget about the other people around me for a minute or two. Underneath the picture, the name Merlin is scrawled. Coming back to reality, I see Sam is in a similar state. Looking up at Sarah, she's watching us with an amused expression.
"Does your camera take moving photos?" I ask her, completely enraptured by the magic.
"Only if I develop them right. That wasn't supposed to be the funny part; I can't wait for the next bit." She and Emily shared a laugh.
The compartment door slides open again and the round-faced boy is back, accompanied by a bushy-haired girl in Hogwarts robes.
"You haven't seen Neville's toad have you?" she says in a bossy sort of voice. 'No's and shaken heads are her answer, and the girls sink back into laughter. Hadley jumps up on the seat beside me, bumps his head along my side then curls up and falls asleep. The door closes and Neville and the girl disappear. She reappears less than a minute later and sticks her head through the door.
"Also you should start getting changed. We'll be arriving soon, and you'll all need your robes on." She disappears again. I feel bewildered. She was like a hurricane, she spoke so fast and with so much enthusiasm it left me half emotionally exhausted and half trying to understand what on earth she'd actually been saying. I blink a couple of times to clear my mind. I'm the first to actually make a move towards getting changed, but once I'm up the others follow suit.
A voice echoes through the train; "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." My mind flashes to the Loric Chest in my bag. I feel a bit of panic at leaving it here, but decide it's better than carrying it. I scoop the sleepy cat up and put him back in his carrier.
"Time to enter the wild unknown?" I ask the others with a shaky breath. Hums, nods and varying shades of green are the answers. We're all shaking a bit, all nervous. I know Sarah has older brothers, but I doubt hearing about it is anything like actually being here. Sam looks like he's struggling to keep the oversized glasses on his face.
We join the crowded corridor, floating along with everyone else until the train stops and the crowd spits us out onto a tiny dark platform. The fresh air feels amazing despite the cold. A bobbing lamp appears over the heads of the students.
"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here! All right there, Harry? C'mon, follow me - any more firs'-years? Mind yer step now! Firs'-years follow me!" A mountain of a man appears behind the light, boasting a kind, hairy face and gentle beetle eyes. Sam jostles me, looks up and joins me in brief gawking. The girls come out a bit more prepared.
"That must be Hagrid, the Groundskeeper. Will says he's half-giant," Sarah says with awe. We join the shivering crowd of eleven-year-olds as they follow Hagrid down a steep narrow path into the thickening darkness of the wilderness. There's barely any conversation, from anyone. Occasional cold mumbles, chatters and sniffs break the silence.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here," Hagrid calls over his shoulder. I join in the excited 'Oooh!'s of the group. I can't really see Sam's face beside me in the dark, but I can feel him shivering, though whether it's from cold or excitement I can't tell.
The path opens out onto the shore of a giant lake, black as obsidian and smooth as glass. Across the water, a magnificent castle stands out, sitting atop a minor mountain, it's turrets and spires reaching into the night. Windows are illuminated by flickering light that only comes from flame.
It looks amazing at night, and I can't wait to see it in daylight. It doesn't even come close to comparing with the castles we saw on our way down from Scotland.
Hagrid's lamp swings around and I refocus on him. One of the faces caught in the light attracts more of my attention and my stomach drops. All the excitement from seconds ago drains away, leaving only cold dread. Shit.
Not after everything, not after we've been so careful. It can't all come crumbling down now. ot here, not now. I'm panicking. I've stopped shivering.
