"I wonder where we go from here," said Harry, looking about, then catching sight of and hurrying over to a rather large man, easily seven foot if an inch.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, 'Arry?" said the man as the other two caught up. "See ya made some friends, have ye?"

"Yes. This is Ron and Staros," replied Harry. "Guys, this is Hagrid. He's the one I told you about."

"Nice to meet you, sir," said Staros while Ron sort of stared at how huge the man was, eyes bugging a little.

"Blimey."

"Nah need t'call me sir, Staros. Hagrid is fine," rumbled the large man. "Ceptin' meybee in classes or summat. I help teach the Care of Magical Creatures, but yeh won't be havin' dat dis year."

"As you wish, Hagrid." Staros smiled at the man then reached over and nudged Ron as the boy was starting to look like he may have passed out standing. Ron jumped a bit, but his reaction was lost amid the last arrivals of other first year students.

Hagrid looked out over the assembled children, bobbing and shuffling, some staring open mouthed at the huge man before them.

"C'mon, follow me. Anymore firs' years? Mind yer step now! Firs' years, follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling along the dark path, lit only by a few lanterns and Hagrid's large lamp, they followed Hagrid down a narrow trail through some woods. There was very little conversation, mostly people like Neville, who seemed to have still not found his toad, calling out for their pets, some successfully, but most in vain.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o'Hogwarts in a sec," called Hagrid, "jus' round the bend here."

As the students rounded the bend, there was a collective sound of exclamations, sharp intakes, and other responses to the sight before them. Standing majestically atop a sharp cliff overlooking a dark lake was a large castle. The main section sat tall and square and looked impregnable, later wings obvious from the lesser amounts of ivy climbing the steep walls with additional towers poking up in some odd places. A single spiral type tower rose higher than the rest with a flat top, some students rightly guessing that would be where Astronomy classes would be held. The assembled children had never seen anything so grand and promising of adventure as the sight before them suggested.

"No more'n four t'a boat!" Hagrid called out, shocking them out of their reverie. That's when they all noticed the small boats moored to short docks just in front of them, previously hidden by the vision of the castle proper. Staros held the side of one boat steady from the docks while Ron and Harry climbed in. As he was getting ready to step in himself, the bushy haired girl Hermione from earlier stepped up to him looking a little lost. Being the gentleman he was, he offered her his hand and helped her into the boat, earning a pointed look from Ron to which Staros shrugged and simply got in himself.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a slightly larger boat all to himself, "Right then, FORWARD!"

All of the loaded boats started forward at once, sliding around each other in some kind of dance until they all spaced out evenly into ordered rows gliding smoothly over the dark waters. The group moved silently all looking at the looming cliffs as they got closer to the castle perched above that would be their home for the next several months and years.

"Heads down!" called out Hagrid as they approached a dark spot on the cliff. The spot turned out to be a curtain of ivy like the rest of the cliff walls, but with an opening behind that allowed the boats entry into a large semi-natural chamber with another set of small docks. As the students disembarked upon the wharf, Hagrid called out, "Oy, you there! Dis yer toad?"

"Trevor!" cried Neville as he rushed over to retrieve his toad.

They then all followed Hagrid up a set of wide stairs, through a large passageway and onto a grassy marshaling area in front of a set of large doors to the castle proper. Hagrid knocked three times on the massive doors before stepping back as they swung open immediately.

Out of the doors stepped a tall, black-haired witch in emerald green robes. Beneath her pointed hat stared a stern, uncompromising face that bespoke of little regard for trouble makers and a high value on rules.

"The firs' years, Prof'sser McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She nodded once to the big man as he tipped his hand at his brow before turning and making his way back the way they had come, disappearing around a bend in the passage.

Professor McGonagall pulled the doors wide and then gestured for the students to follow. Her stride was quick but even, the walk of someone for whom time should not be wasted. Through the massive doors was an entryway easily fifty feet across, maybe a hundred or so long and about two stories high. Students goggled at the room seeing as it was larger than many of the children's entire homes. Very few could be said to look unimpressed.

They followed the woman across this hall, then off to the side through another archway, up some stairs and into what appeared to be a waiting chamber. Professor McGonagall stepped up onto second step of a short flight that lead to another door before turning and gesturing for the students to halt. As they waited for everyone to gather, Staros idly wondered how many times the castle had been modified and if anyone in England had every bothered with blueprints.

As the final students gathered into the room, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and called them to attention.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she started out. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you can take your seats in the Great hall, you must 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. 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 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 we are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."

With that, she turned and walked through the door before them.

Harry looked at Ron and asked, "How exactly do they sort us into houses?"

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking," Ron replied looking rather nervous. Staros glanced around and saw that Ron wasn't the only one looking nervous, especially after that part about tests and hurting. Neville looked ready to throw up and Draco had paled a few shades beyond healthy. Hermione looked to be muttering to herself, probably going over things she had crammed into her head before coming to Hogwarts.

Sighing, Staros spoke up, "Seriously guys, we're eleven. What are they going to test us with? And what school causes kids our age pain? Discomfort maybe, but I doubt they'll torture us."

Everyone looked at him like he'd grown a second head or something before what he said sank in. As the tension level settled back to normal and hushed idle chatter started back up, Daphne walked over with a regal bearing to Staros and looked him in the eye. Not knowing what else to do, he looked right back at her. A few moments of this and she nodded once, turned and went back to Tracey. Staros watched her leave then looked at Harry and Ron in confusion. Ron shrugged and Harry shook his head at the unasked question. Putting it out of his mind as a girl thing for now, Staros turned to Neville and asked him about his family. The boy looked about to answer when someone towards the back of the room screamed suddenly.

"What the… " Harry started to say then gasped like several others around him. About twenty people had floated through a wall and were gliding several feet above the ground towards the group. A moment of shock and everyone realized they must be ghosts; the translucency, lack of feet in several cases, and overall weirdness being 'dead' giveaways. They seemed to be arguing about something, having not really seemed to have noticed the children in the hall.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance…" said one towards the front, a rather portly fellow wearing what could only be a medieval monk's robe.

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost. Oh, I say, what are you all doing here?" said the ghost next to the Friar, wearing rather dated clothing with ruffles and tight pants, seemingly just noticing the gathered students.

No one spoke.

"New students!" exclaimed the one called Friar, smiling and looking around. "About to be sorted I suppose?"

A few people nodded at him, still in a bit of shock. Some others tried to look rather bored with the whole thing, but didn't speak up either.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" he said. "My old house, you know. Call me the Fat Friar."

Before any of the other ghosts could introduce themselves, a sharp voice called out, "Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony is about to start."

No one had noticed Professor McGonagall's return, engrossed with the ghosts as they were. One by one, the ghosts bowed or nodded to her as they left the room through another wall, their previous conversation picking back up. "Seriously, now. As I said…"

"Now, form a line and follow me," Professor McGonagall told the students. Everyone hurried into a more or less organized line, Harry getting behind some sandy haired boy, Ron behind Harry, Neville, then Staros, followed by Hermione, all kind of in the middle of the ragtag line. Following the older witch, they trudged back out of the chamber they had entered, further up the long entry hall, and through a large pair of double doors into what must be the Great Hall.