Hogwarts Express

"C'mon, follow me--any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, you follow Hagrid down what seems to be a steep, narrow path. It is so dark on either side of you that you think there must be thick trees there. Nobody speaks much.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid calls over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." There is a loud "Oooooh!" The narrow path has opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountian on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, is a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid calls, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. "Everyone in?" shouts Hagrid, who has a boat to himself. "Right then--FORWARD!" And the fleet of little boats moves off all at once, gliding across the lake, which is as smooth as glass.

Everyone is silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towers over you as you sail nearer and nearer to the cliff which it stands. "Heads down!" yells Hagrid as the first boats reach the cliff; you all bend your heads and the little boats carry you through a curtain of ivy that hids a wide opening in the cliff face.

You are underneath the castle, until you reach a kind of underground harbor, where you clamber out onto rocks and pebbles. Then you clamber 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.

You walk up a flight of stone steps and crowd around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here?" Hagrid raises a gigantic fist and knocks three times on the castle door.

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