The Trouble Tails of Life at Hogwarts

Chapter Two

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" a large hairy man, most likely with giant blood, called out over the platform.

"Bigfoot!" the Ditz squealed out, grabbing hold of the blond girl next to her.

"Dork," I snickered.

"Don't be such a ninny," Fred said shaking his head.

"It's only Hagrid," George finished also shaking his head. Lee laughed next to the twins.

We waved goodbye as we parted ways. Hagrid gathered all the first years around him before he led the way off the platform. Down a narrow path we progressed at a slow speed, a few students tripped on the way down, most likely caused by a cults (or a ditz), until we came to the edge of a vast lake. On the far side the lake, on top of a mountain, stood the Hogwarts castle. The towers reached high into the sky and lights shown through thousand of windows. The castle just screamed "magical place."

"No more 'n four in a boat," Hagrid boomed before taking a boat for himself, and then the frenzy began. Kids ran in a hurry for boats.

I climbed into a boat along with three other girls. One of the girls really stood out in the crowd because her skin was green. The other two girls were kind of normal, one being a brunette and the other red head. The Brunette sat in the seat next to me while the Red Head and the Green Girl set in front of us.

The boats glided over the water smoothly, most everyone looking in awe at the castle on the hill. Halfway across the lake I realized Ditz was in the boat next to mine. Seeing her sitting in a boat with Tattoo Guy, Stutter Boy, and the blond girl she had clung to on the platform only moments was a surprise. Tattoo Guy was turned around taking to Ditz, denying me the view of his gorges tattoos.

Anger bubbled inside me. How dare she block my view! Needing an outlet from my anger I conquered up a tidal wave in the lake and set to her, drenching her from head to foot. She released a musical shrill in response. Blondie started freaking out as well; best guess would be that I got her too with the wave.

"Whoa! Did any of you see where that wave came from?" Green Girl asked from in front of me.

"No, it just sort of came out from nowhere," Red Head answered before noticing my smirk. "Do you know?"

"No," I lied, looking back to the other boat to see Ditz glaring at me. There was no way she could know I did it, no one could. Turning to look to Brunette I asked her if she knew.

"I didn't even see it," she confessed. "I was admiring the portrait of the castle against the night sky. I really wish I had my paints."

"You pain? Cool," Red Head said. "I can only draw pictures."

We talked the rest of the ride across the lake, which was uneventful compared to my lovely wave.

* * *

We were standing in a small chamber; Professor McGonagall had only moments before left us, when a few students in the back of the room let out a scream (one of them being Blondie who stood next to Ditz who oddly hadn't screamed) as about twenty ghosts came through the wall.

"It's just ghosts!" Ditz yelled at Blondie. I was disappointed still that Professor McGonagall had seemed to think Ditz needed to be dried off, but I couldn't very well soak her again when there wasn't any water nearby.

"You screamed about Hagrid!" Blondie yelled back as the room erupted in laughter.

"Have you ever seen a ghost before?" Red Head asked me softly.

"Not this close. You?" I asked her in return. The ghosts had been arguing, but now had stopped to talk to the mass of first years before them but their voices didn't carry over to us very well.

"No," she answered then added with a laugh, "but I always wanted to though."

"Yeah, me too," I said with a laugh.

"I think ghosts are sad," Green Girl said somberly from the other side of Red Head.

"Not all ghosts are sad," Brunette said kindly. "They don't seem sad. In fact, they seem really rather happy, even if they were arguing about something."

"I guess," Green Girl said, though she didn't sound convinced.

"Have you been around ghosts before then?" I asked Brunette. Just as she opened her month to answer I spotted him. Tattoo Guy was standing close to the ghosts (still with Blondie, Ditz, and Stutter Boy), his blue diamond tattoos clearly visible to me.

Why can't I have tattoos? Did they hurt? I was so lost in thought that I missed the que that everyone else heard to signify a mass movement. One moment everyone was standing still, giving me a lovely view of tattoos and the next they were lost in the crowd as everyone exited the small chamber.

"Aren't you coming?" Brunette asked, stepping in front of me to look me in the face.

"Yeah," I said following her lead as we joined the rest of the first years to meet with our fates.