To Hogwarts
It was dark now, night had fallen. The moon was glowing, and the stars were twinkling, everything was silent except for an owl hooting in the distant trees. A magnificent Scarlett steam engine came rolling into hogsmeade station, breaking the silence. It slowed right down before coming to a halt and it let of a puff of steam followed by a loud whistle, the doors flung wide open and students began to flood out of the train onto the tiny dark platform, causing quite the commotion as they tried to meet with their friends. Sirius and James, being smaller than most of the other students, were being pushed around and it was very difficult trying to stay together.
"Firs' years this way" bellowed a giant figure standing at the edge of the platform" Firs' years over 'ere, don' be shy now" All the new first year students were now fighting against the sea of older students, trying to make their way over to whoever had called them; Sirius and James amongst them. Now that they were closer, they could now see that the person who had called them was a huge man with black, matted hair covering his whole face. "Welcome firs' years. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, keeping of keys and grounds 'ere at Hogwarts. Now it's tradition that the firs' years make their way to Hogwarts by boat across the lake, so stay close" then he turned on his heel and started to make his way down a steep, narrow lantern lit path. The group of first years all followed at run to keep up with Hagrids giant footsteps.
The path was extremely dark either side of them, it made Sirius think that they must be walking through a forest of thick trees. The only source of light was given out from a few lanterns placed every few feet so Sirius made sure he could always see Hagrid; he didn't fancy getting lost alone in the dark forest, who knows what kind of creature could be lurking in there? The ground was very uneven which meant people kept tripping over and falling onto the crispy leaves that littered the ground; once or twice Sirius caught his robes on a stray branch and fell into James.
"Yeh'll be able to see Hogwarts in a sec" Hagrid called out " is' jus' around this corner" the narrow path they had been following suddenly opened up and they were now standing on the bank of a vast black lake which laid under a mountain with a magnificent castle perched on top, its lights stood out like stars against the night sky. The first years gapped at its beauty and many of them were pointing and talking excitedly.
"All right firs' years, is four to a boat. No more, no less" Hagrid said, pointing to a small fleet of boats that were docked at the water's edge whilst stepping into his own boat, which was considerably larger than the others. The first years all hurried into their boats, James and Sirius were accompanied by a tall girl with brown pigtails and smaller girl with long blonde hair and freckles. "Everyone in?" Hagrid yelled "Yes? right then - FORWARD" The fleet of boats began to move immediately, following behind Hagrids. Sirius did not like the boat ride to the castle one bit; the boat kept rocking from side to side threatening to throw him into the icy water and the two girls kept whispering and giggling to each other, as though they were talking about James and him. "You all right Sirius? You look a little green" James said with a little giggle. Sirius did not answer him in fear of being sick.
Once they had reached the cliff on the other side of the lake the fleet of little boats took them through a curtain of hanging ivy which was concealing a wide opening in the cliff face. The opening seemed to be the beginning of a very long, dark tunnel which the boats carried them down, they continued straight down the tunnel until they reached a dusty underground harbour. The first years scrambled out of their boats onto the rocky floor; a few people looked particularly green and queasy as they stepped out of their boat, they looked relieved to be standing on the solid ground again; Sirius among them.
Hagrid then led them up a dark passageway in the rock. Sirius was quite tired now, but he was looking forward to the start of term Hogwarts feast his mother had told him about. The thought of what food would be severed at dinner made his mouth water and it carried him all the way up the stairs. Once they had reached the top of the passage, they emptied out on to a patch of damp grass in the shadows of the castle. They walked up another, smaller flight of stone steps and gathered in front of a huge, oak door. Once all the first years had made it to the doors, Hagrid raised his giant fist and knocked three times on the castle door.