SETH VII

Seth was well accustomed to wearing a school uniform. Before this recent coming to wizard school, he had attended a private school, where he wore a uniform every day. However, as he dressed himself for Hogwarts, he decided that this uniform, he wouldn't mind wearing everyday. A simple white shirt with slacks was almost identical to what he was used to, but the accompaniment of a billowing black robe with a hood and cloak was definitely an improvement. The trim on the end of his robe was grey, as was the crest on his lapel, as he was yet to be sorted into a Hogwarts house.

Next to him, Michael spun around in a circle, letting his own cloak billow around him, as he posed about with his wand. Seth hadn't gotten a good look at it before, but Michael's wand was incredibly small. It was only about six inches long, yet an ornately carved yew branch. Seth wasn't sure about wizard customs or anything, but he was ready to believe that it wasn't about size, more about how you used it.

The train had stopped only a little while ago, and they had only recently remembered that they were to wear their robes upon entering the castle. As large numbers of students cascaded down the corridors of the train, the four boys waited politely for a chance to duck out.

"Do you think we'll all be in the same house?" Michael asked, sounding a little worried.

"Well, we're all in the same program, so I doubt it'll split us up too much if we get split at all." Seth pointed out. While they wouldn't be bunking together, they would still have plenty of classes together, so Seth wasn't too worried about the different directions the group would split. As long as he had someone else in his house, he was good.

Shortly, the boys stood out on the platform. It was well into the night, and the sky above shed barely any light at all down onto the lake near the station. As students began splitting and shuffling around awkwardly, a large, booming voice called out.

"FIRST YEARS! First years, follow me!"

Heads turned, all to see the biggest man you ever did see. He was well over ten feet tall, with a large coat, upon which rested a scraggly beard and long locks of hair. Many of the students gasped in alarm as they saw him, but he didn't seem to pay any mind. He produced a lantern from his cloak, and it lit itself magically.

"This way!" He shouted. He led them down a walkway from the station to the shore of the lake, where dozens of small wooden boats lay, upon each a lantern. Seth turned, and saw that none of the other students were following the man, only the first years. How did they get to the castle if not by boat?

He turned back, and saw that Michael and Conner were keeping close to him. He was the shortest of the trio, sticking out above the heads of the numerous eleven year olds, but not by much. Michael, on the other hand, was practically two first years tall.

Seth waited towards the back of the group, standing next to Michael and Conner, as the multitude of children all got into boat after boat. As soon as a boat held four students, it immediately took off into the water, without any paddles or a motor. The enormous man leading everyone took up an entire boat to himself as he flopped into it, cascading ahead of the group with the lantern.

Michael was hurriedly bragging about how much he had been on canoeing trips, and could easily row the boat, obviously not having yet noticed the boats were magic. He began looking for paddles as he climbed into one of the boats on the far left of the shore, and Conner followed in after him. Conner's behavior had been a little strange in the last few days. He was not his jovial charismatic self. Seth was perplexed at this, as surely what happened shouldn't be bugging him this much.

He climbed into the boat, still thinking, as it shoved off from shore, the sudden pull causing Michael to fall flat on his face.

"Aren't the boats supposed to wait until there are four people in them?" Conner asked, confused. Seth shrugged, until he looked back, and realized that they were the last boat in line, and there was nobody left.

As they rode swiftly through the water, Seth took the time to actually look up at the castle. And boy, was it a sight. Enormous towers and terraces stretched up, scraping across the sky, lit up by thousands of windows. Bridges connected places this way and that, and enormous pointed towers winded and extended upon each other, into a sprawling stone form. Hogwarts certainly looked like a wizard school.

"Wow." Muttered Michael, as he sat curled up beside Seth. Conner's amazement left him in silence. Seth saw the other members of the MAGES program in their boats. Some of them were all together, and poor Ben was stuck in a boat with no one but first years.

The boats moved ever onwards, and as soon as Seth was able to pry his eyes from the sight that was the castle, he turned instead to peer into the lake. The Black Lake. Phillis had told them all about it. Supposedly, the lake contained several magical creatures. The grindylow, a giant squid, and even, merpeople. Maybe there was a mermaid staring back at him right now through the pitch black water.

As Seth gazed into the small waves, he was suddenly startled as the boat bumped into the boat in front. Seth hurriedly looked up, and saw that they were no longer on the open water, but inside a quaint little boat house.

"Alright, everyone out!" The large man shouted, waving for everyone to come out of the boats. Michael was the first to scramble out, gazing in awe at everything around him, even though they were just inside a little boat house. Even still, Seth was excited. He was here. Hogwarts. Moving staircases, secret passages, magical creatures, spellcraft, flying brooms, ghosts! Who knows, maybe one of them would get to smooch a mermaid.