Chapter 2 – The Unicorn
It wasn't even light outside, but it was time for Susie to go. She had barely closed an eye during the night because of the excitement. Susie said goodbye to her dad who couldn't leave the farm and then off she went with her mother. They had to go while it was still dark, so the Muggles couldn't see them. They couldn't lift the big trunk by themselves, so her mom had to use magic, so the trunk floated in front of them. They had to go the same way as the day before as the Scandinavian kids had to leave from Magic Alley. The two of them went through the big oak and went straight into Magic Alley.
"Come, the ship is leaving soon," Susie's mom said.
"Where is this ship, there isn't even a pond around here," Susie said.
"There is water below us," her mother said and then she hurried up the street with Susie trying to keep up behind her. They turned left and past Gringotts on the corner and at the end of the street to the left was a huge door where it said 'Ministry of Magic'. There were other parents who came running, with their kids trying to keep up with them. Out from the end wall of the street stepped witches, wizards and kids some in Muggle clothing others in their blue school robes. Susie and her mom went inside the Ministry and it was huge. On the left were several fireplaces and out came more people. On their right was several lifts.
"Come we leave the trunk in the Atrium and then we take the lift down," Susie's mom said. They left Susie's trunk with a young wizard who took it over to a huge pile of trunks and cages with owls and cats. A wizard was arguing with a witch over a girl's pygmy-puff.
"Every creature has to go through control," the wizard said.
"For crying out loud it's only a pygmy-puff," the witch said, "but okay I don't want to cause any problems. Anna you have to give Pippi to that man." The girl who stood next to the witch didn't look very pleased with giving up her pygmy-puff.
"You'll get it back soon," said the wizard and took the little creature. Susie and her mom went over to the lifts; there was one where 20 people were crushed together. Susie and her mom took one where only a girl and her parents were standing. They looked all three a bit nervous.
"Hi there," Susie's mom said.
"Hello," the girls dad said.
"First time I expect," Susie's mom asked.
"Yes it is, we didn't even know anything like this existed," the girl's mother said.
"Oh Muggles, fantastic." Then they were interrupted by a group of people who came into the lift. Susie was pushed over in the corner and then the lift went down. People rushed out of the lift when it had stopped. Susie followed her mom out of the lift.
When Susie stepped out it was an amazing vision. It was a dock and not far away was a huge ship with a unicorn head at the front.
"Wow," Susie heard someone say behind her, she turned and it was the girl from the lift. The girl stood with big eyes, open mouth and looked at the ship.
"It's huge," she said to her parents. Then she was interrupted by a loud voice. Everyone looked around, but they couldn't see the one who was talking.
"Attention please. There is 10 minutes to departure, all students please go on board," a female voice said. Then it struck Susie, she was going away and she wouldn't see her parents the next couple of months. She gave her mom a big hug.
"It will be okay, send us an owl when you have arrived, okay," her mom said. Susie nodded; she had a big lump in her throat and couldn't speak. Then her mom gave her a hug and shoved her towards the ship.
Susie went onboard; she didn't know where to go, so she decided to follow the older students. When she was about to get in she was stopped by an older boy.
"Hey you can't go in here it's for prefects only, you have to take the next cabin," said the boy. Susie blushed, now she was really confused, but she couldn't stand there all day so she moved on and tried the other cabin, but the kids in there said she couldn't sit there either. She had almost been around the whole ship when she finally found a cabin where no one sat in. So she walked inside. It was big; Susie took a seat near the window so she could look out. She had never been on a ship before and she was worried if she would get sea sick. She didn't sit alone for long before more students came in. It was the girl from the lift who came in.
"Hi again, okay if I sit in here, there isn't room anywhere else," the girl said.
"Yeah it's fine by me. I'm Susie."
"Nice to meet you Susie, I'm Christina," the girl said. Christina was quite good looking with her blond hair. She was taller than Susie and a bit thinner, not that Susie was fat, but she wasn't thin either. They weren't alone for long, just as Christina had sit opposite Susie the cabin door opened and in came a small group of kids all looked like they didn't know where to go.
"Can we sit in here, it's packed everywhere else," one of them said. It was a boy with a great big smile on his face.
"Yeah come on in," said Christina.
"Hi I'm Trym, I'm from Norway," said the boy, still smiling and gave the two girls hand. Then they all introduced to each other. There was Jan from Finland, Susie couldn't stop looking at his long hair and was a little nervous about him, and she thought he didn't look too pleasant to be around. Then there was Abelone, Susie couldn't place it but there was something about that girl. Then there was Colette also from Finland, she was a bit shorter than Susie and then she had blond hair that went down to her waist. At first Susie thought, Colette's eyes were black, but it was only because the pupils were so big, but in fact she had blue eyes. The last girl was Anna also from Denmark, it was the same girl who had to give up her pygmy-puff, but it looked like she had gotten it back as it was placed on her shoulder.
"This is Pippi," said Anna.
"Oh she's so cute," said Susie, "can I touch it?"
"Yeah, sure," Anna said. Susie stroked the little creature and it was the softest thing she had ever touched.
They were interrupted by the same female voice from before.
"Everyone please take their seat, we'll be diving in one minute.
"Diving!" Susie said with horror in her voice. It was bad enough with sailing, but actually go under water and the ship wasn't exactly a submarine.
"Don't worry," Colette said, "the ship is bewitched, so it's quite safe, besides it will go faster this way." Susie wasn't that sure what to believe, she looked out of the window. The ship cracked and squeaked when it began to dive. Soon they were under water. Susie felt like the walls came closer, she hated being locked in like that.
"Are you okay, Susie," Anna asked and looked concerned at Susie.
"Yeah, I'm fine; I just don't like being locked in like this."
"Well put your head between your legs if you feel sick," Anna said.
It felt like they had been under water forever, so when they finally came up to the surface, Susie was relieved. When she looked out there wasn't sight of land anywhere only water.
"Hey, anyone want to go outside?" Trym asked.
"Yeah I'll go, I need some fresh air," Susie said. Anna and Colette followed as well. It was great to get outside. The wind was cooling, but it wasn't easy to see anything as the ship hit a bank of fog.
"Oh we'll be there soon, we've hit the fog," Colette said. Then she explained that the school and island was hidden in the fog.
"Then we better get changed," said Anna. The four of them went back to their cabin. The kids changed to their blue school robes and Colette was right they soon arrived to the island where the school was.
