Chapter 4 - The Arrival
Hermione stormed down the train car's hallway, her eyes glazed over from annoyance and rage. The nerve of those boys! How could they so casually dismiss a fellow student's problems? How could they be so rude and crass about a simple request for help? She had nearly reached the end of the car when a sharp whistle interrupted her thoughts. It was only then that she realized two things. First, the train was beginning it's entrance to Hogsmeade and it would only be a matter of minutes before the car was flooded with disembarking students. Second, she had been so caught up in her anger that she was ignoring her companion.
Neville had followed behind Hermione as she stormed away from the other boys. He clearly knew something was going on, though he couldn't figure out what he wasn't seeing. He had begun to hang his head, depressed. Hermione seemed to be done with their search, which meant that Trevor was unlikely to be found. When the train's whistle rang out, he saw the girl stop and turn. She looked him dead in the eye and smiled. "Sorry, Neville. I guess I was carried away in the moment... We have to hurry, though. We're almost to Hogsmeade."
Hermione picked the nearest compartment door and knocked sharply against it's wooden exterior. "Excuse me, don't mean to be a bother but have you seen a..." She heard a loud crash and a series of bangs from within the compartment. It sounded akin to a pair of wild beasts rampaging within behind the door. With a bang and a crash, the door flew open and a pair of heavy looking boys tumbled into the hall, duffel bags falling around and atop them. An older student remained in the compartment, looking desperately for a hand hold as he tumbled onto the seats. With a leap and a flip a large toad flew off the older boy's head and landed atop the larger of the two boys collapsed in the hall. "...toad." Hermione blinked, then giggled lightly, before remembering what she had just seen. "Are you all alright?"
Neville stepped forward when he saw Hermione nod at the toad. He smiled and picked up the creature. "Trevor! We found you!" He softly hugged the creature, who passively croaked, barely noticing the child's presence. Meanwhile, the two boys on the floor picked themselves up off the floor and glowered at Hermione and Neville. The said nothing, letting their stupidly menacing glares speak for them as they picked up their things from the floor. Hermione, rose an eyebrow incredulously at the pair, wondering if the pair had any idea how unconvincingly their nonchalance was. She allowed herself a brief snicker as the boys stepped back into their compartment and slammed the door shut.
The train's whistle rang out again, and Hermione could feel the train's movement begin to slow beneath her. "It looks like we're finally pulling into Hogsmeade, Neville. We'd better get back to our compartments and get our things." She smiled and offered her hand to the boy and gently led him back through the halls, leaving him behind when they reached his compartment with a reminder to "keep Trevor caged up, at least until you get to your dorm room." This casual comment made Neville's face darken, to which she could only grin. "Don't worry, Neville. You can't fail the sorting, you'll get a house and a dorm, no problem. I'll see you on the platform!" With that, she returned to her own compartment, nodding casually at the young, dark haired first year she shared it with while she started to gather her things.
About 20 minutes later, Hermione stood on the concrete platform on the edge of Hogsmeade village. She constantly glanced behind her, trying to catch a glimpse of the small town through the gaps between the train cars. If she thought she could get away with it, she would have barely hesitated to dash away into the streets here, as the only purely magical village in England, Hogsmeade and its shops had intrigued Hermione since she first found mention of it in her books. However, now was not the time, that could come later: A few years, unless she found a way to sneak off school grounds before she reached the year for sanctioned trips. She finally turned back to face the rest of the crowd when she heard a loud bellowing.
"Firs' Years! Firs' Years! Could I have all firs' year students o'er here?" A giant, mountain of a man was wading through the crowd. His shaggy beard almost completely covered his face, making it seem as if his voice echoed out from the hair itself. He reached into his enormous coat and pulled out a brightly shining silver whistle, blowing it sharply. The whistle's cold and clear tone echoed through the station and conversations died in its wake. "I need all the Firs' Years to follow me! Leave yer things, they'll find you at the castle! Come with me!"
Hermione shrugged, grabbing a small satchel from atop her pile of trunks and bags. She never went anywhere without a few books, though she was unsure if she would need them now. She tucked the bag under her robed arms and joined the crowd of young students falling into line behind the large man. She glanced back, noticing the other students filing in the opposite direction, heading for a series of coaches lined up at the other end of the station. She shrugged and followed.
"You firs' years are in fer a treat. Hogwarts likes ta start yer first years with a bang. The others have ta ride closed carriages, but you... You kids is the lucky ones." The large man grinned broadly, leading the children down a path, away from the station and towards a large river. "We'll be takin boats ta Hogwarts, so's you can see the whole school before enterin' it." He finished with a flourish towards dozens of boats along the shore. "Only two ta a boat, please. Safer tha' way." He smiled and gestured for students to enter the boats.
Hermione looked around curiously at her fellow first years. She saw Harry Potter and his cronie Ron climb into a boat, to the protests of the blonde boy from their compartment, who gestured at the brutes from the hallway and Ron. Finally, he growled in annoyance and pointed at one of the brutes and climbed into a boat, leaving the other boy to climb into one alone. Hermione spotted Neville, who waved her over as he sat down in a boat. She shrugged and walked over to join him. Noticing her compartment-mate climbing into another boat with a blonde girl with pig-tales. Neville was grinning with excitement while they waited for a few stragglers to find a boat and for the large man climb into the biggest boat alone. With a flourish and a wave of a pink umbrella, the boats pulled away from the shore of their own accord.
The boats drifted slowly and determined up the river, against the current but barely seeming to respond. Hermione held a book open in her lap, though she could barely focus as the boats drifted through an increasingly thick forest. She could only imagine that this was the fabled Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, impossibly large and ever changing, to thwart trespassers. Hogwarts was one of the few unplottable locations in Great Britain and this forest was a large part of how it remained so. She could swear she caught glimpses of creatures running through the darkened trees. Neville seemed caught between bald-faced awe and fear at the darkened trees. Hermione gave him a reassuring wink and pointed ahead at a small flock of glowing wisps floated over the boats.
After wending through the trees for seemingly ages, having lost all sense of direction and finally closing her book for now, Hermione saw the river widening and the trees thinning. Suddenly, seemingly without warning, the boats burst through the treeline into an enormous lake, a large castle looming in the distance. This was it. This was the school that Hermione had spent so much time studying, both for and about, it was not only real, but it was here before her. Her eyes were wide with awe, the pictures did the school grounds no justice, no sense of scope. She heard gasps of surprise and awe from all around her, though she doubted any others yet felt like they were coming home, as she did.
Finally, slowly, the boats drifted up towards the docks alongside the castle. The large man leapt from the boat and landed on the docks with a loud bang. He then proceeded to help the students out of their boats. Hermione waited patiently until her boat was ready to be disembarked, watching the man carefully. She noticed he lingered over Harry's boat longer than the others, if not for the familiar wink, she would have passed it off as more fanatical hero-worship. Instead, she couldn't help but wonder how the two knew each other, if they did. Perhaps the large man was simply interested. Something to puzzle out later, as the large man finally got to their boat. Hermione stood and helped Neville get out of the boat, watching as he stumbled awkwardly onto the dock, before she accepted the large man's reassuring hand as she pulled herself out of the boat as well. She then walked with Neville down the dock and onto the stone embankment with the other students where an older woman stood severely trying to keep order amongst the milling students. Finally when the last student had stepped off the dock, and the large man gave the severe woman a nod, the woman raised her voice sharply.
"First years! I am Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Though the formal welcoming ceremony will begin shortly, I would like to personally welcome you to the beginning of the rest of your lives. At this school, you will learn more in your seven years here than you could learn in a hundred years of public education, and you will all be made better for it. As many of you know, we rely on a four-house system to maintain order in this school, and the process of sorting you into these houses will begin shortly, as the opening ceremony of the welcoming. If you will follow me, we have a room prepared for you while we wait."
Hermione could only roll her eyes at the decorum with which the woman, McGonagall, put into the situation, but she couldn't deny that she was excited. When the woman turned and began to walk up the stone steps toward the castle, Hermione couldn't refrain from sharing her excited grin with the pensive smile of Neville beside her, and following the crowd into the darkened archways of this magnificent school.