Disclaimer: I still don't own. I'm writing this for my own enjoyment.
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to BookAddiction24, ILoveLuke98 and my swim-team buddies, who know that deep down we love getting up at 5 even if it is too cold to do anything but huddle on deck and shiver.
I left the bathrooms in my brand new Hogwarts robes. The train was definitely slowing down. It jerked forward and I nearly slammed into a group of second years.
"Sorry!"
"Oh don't worry about it. It happens to almost everyone." A slender Asian girl at the center waved away my apology. She offered her arms so I could steady myself. "Well, I hope to see you in Ravenclaw."
"Really? She's dead clumsy!" Her curly haired friend whispered, or at least tried to whisper. I could hear every thing she said.
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 the school separately."
"You might want to hurry. The first years take the boats. You wouldn't want to miss that. The views amazing!" It was the first girl again. The pack surrounding her nodded their heads in agreement. It was like they didn't have an original idea in their heads, except for the curly haired girl, who stood there her arms crossed in defiance.
I fought my way through the rush of people in the direction of our compartment to find it empty, except for Rigel.
"Harry and Ron went up ahead."
Obviously! Where else could they have gone? Its not like they could turn invisible or something like that. I mean how thick did Rigel think I was?
We joined the growing crowd in the corridor. They were all shoving their way toward the tiny, dark platform. It was an awfully cold night. The announcement really should say something about bringing a jacket. Rigel and I would have to fix that next year. Though I can guarantee that won't be the only thing we change.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there Harry?" A giant bearded man was calling. It was almost impossible to hear anything but his voice rang out over the chaos.
"There they are!" Rigel was pointing to some point inside a mass of people.
I was about to tell him that I had no idea where in the flood of first years he was pointing when I saw a flash of red hair. Aw, Weasley hair, you can see it from a mile away. Ron and Harry were at the very front of the group talking to a man that most be Hagrid. There couldn't possibly be another person on the grounds to match Nymphy's descriptions.
"C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"
Slipping and stumbling, all the first years followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. Rigel and I tried to push our way to the front to rejoin Harry and Ron. It didn't work well. We twice got shoved into some rather thick trees. Nobody spoke much except to scold us for being so "immature". Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffled once or twice.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!" Honestly I had never seen anything prettier in my life. Words couldn't do it justice. The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a 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 little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron jumped in the closest boat. By the time we reached the front, Hermione and Neville had already joined them. Rigel and I climbed into the last boat. A tall, skinny blond boy with an upturned nose came in talking to a nervous looking girl. She had her brown hair pulled up in a braid and was chewing away on her fingernails.
"There's a squid in the lake. A massive one, savage too!" The boy continued. The girl tugged nervously at her hair.
"No he's not-"
"He's rather friendly."
She looked slightly reassured.
"How would you know anyways? Its not like you've been here before!" the boy was outraged at being contradicted.
"It's not like you have either." The boy backed down after hearing us speak in sync.
"The giant squid's not anything to worry about. You hardly ever see him. I'm Amira, by the way, and that's my brother Rigel." Rigel waved in recognition.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Eloise Midgen."
"Zacharias Smith" Oh great, the idiot's back in the conversation. Well more like he became the conversation. We didn't say another word. He just started going on about how he was related to the great Helga Hufflepuff. Yeah Right! I just needed a way to shut him up. Now, how to do it? And then it hit me. Our boat was far enough behind the others so no one would know what actually happened, and it wasn't like there was anything dangerous in the lake. So, I did what any sane person would have done, I pushed Zacharias Smith into the lake.
"Amira, that wasn't a very smart thing to do. He could be seriously hurt-"
"I think it was brilliant."
We both looked at the previously quiet fidgety girl.
"It's not like he didn't deserve it. I swear if I had to hear one of his snide comments again, I was going to scream. If I had known I would never be able to leave his compartment, I'm not sure I'd have even gotten on the train."
"Next time you can sit with us," I said before Rigel continued his scolding. "We won't make it too bad."
Rigel muttered, "Emphasis on the words too bad. We'll probably end up blowing something up."
"Sounds like fun. I'll be sure to join you!" Eloise's face lit up. It was such a change from the nervous girl we had seen before. Smith was no longer in the water. He had swum over to the nearest boat and was talking with exaggerated hand gestures. The boys in the boat kept looking in our direction, and so I could only assume what he was talking about.
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they bent their heads and the little boats disappeared through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face.
"What do you think would happen if we didn't duck?" Rigel asked.
"I think that's something we have to try." We exchanged mischievous grins.
Eloise added what I was thinking, "If Hagrid can make it under, we certainly can."
We stood standing, waiting for something to happen. Most likely, we would pass through the curtain and that would be the end of the story. But the ivy was so thick; it knocked us right out of the boat.
"What the-"
"Help!"
The water was freezing and murky. You couldn't see anything in any direction, not even your hand in front of your face. Suddenly something grabbed my ankle, and I screamed under water as I was rapidly pulled down. I tried to reach out for Rigel or Eloise but I couldn't feel anything. I kicked and tried to break free. It was like thin fingers were tugging me down into a bed of weeds. I reached down and tried to pry them off me but it wasn't working. I was frozen stiff. I couldn't move anymore. The whole world was going fuzzy from lack of oxygen. I felt darkness pushing in on me. It was all over. It didn't matter that a massive tentacle grabbed me by the waste until I shot out of the water and landed back in the boat.
"Oh my God! You're okay! I was so worried!" Rigel was shivering just as hard as I was. He pulled me into a hug. "We are never doing anything I suggest ever again."
"Yeah right! Where's Eloise?"
There was a 'thunk', as a very waterlogged Eloise landed in the boat. "It saved us. The giant squid saved us. It pushed me back into the boat!" We huddled together for warmth. The wind made things even chillier when you were soaked to the bone. I peeked over Rigel's shoulder and saw a pink tentacle raised in the air in farewell. Eloise must have seen it too because there was a small gasp from right next to me.
We reached a kind of underground harbor. Most of the other first years were already on shore. Rigel scampered up the rocky slope. I tripped over my robes. These things were extremely heavy when wet. Eloise helped me up.
"What 'appened to you lot?" Hagrid asked coming over
"Boat tipped." He looked like he highly doubted that but then didn't say anything. Hagrid didn't really get the chance. He was grabbing an escaping toad. "Oi, you there! Is this your toad?"
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then we 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. We walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. "Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad? Yer not freezing are you?"
Before Rigel, Eloise or I could answer the last question (I mean who else could he have been asking?), Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
The door swung open immediately. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and my first thought was that this was not someone to cross. But my second thought concluded that however we were going to do exactly that.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was enormous. I can't believe I laughed at Nymphy when she said she couldn't go anywhere without getting lost. I'm not sure it would ever be possible to find your way around this place.The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing the door led up countless floors.
We followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. It was a good thing Rigel, Eloise and I were the last ones otherwise someone would have slipped on the trail of water we were creating. There was the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be in there - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. There was a fireplace with a roaring fire. I felt my teeth stop chattering. The rest of the first years crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done. I didn't fail to notice that they all edged away from us, trying to avoid the water dripping off our robes.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall standing in the middle of the room, between the two groups. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts.
"Or they are your family." Rigel and I whispered. Eloise giggled.
"You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points."
At this Professor McGonagall gave some pointed looks, I noticed at least half of them were at us.
"At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."
Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which somehow got fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's still smudged nose before glancing at us.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
She started walking toward the door but Eloise stepped in front of her. "C-could you d-do something p-p-please? We're freezing!"
"Very Well." Professor McGonagall sighed. A rush of hot air raced from her wand.
"Thank you professor!" we chorused. It really was wonderful to be dry again. The Black Lake was not a good place for a swim.
A.N: It wasn't what I had planned but I had this idea and I liked it better. I always liked the squid. It doesn't get mentioned very often though. I promise next chapter that I will get to the legitimate sorting but I was having a bit too much fun with the whole getting into Hogwarts process.