"Mudblood." Blaise muttered viciously before plunging back into the lecture of one of his magazines.
An hour passed, and it got dark enough that the Hogwarts Express turned its magical lights on. Knowing there was a good chance their destination was near now, Alexandra sent Blaise out of the compartment while she changed her clothes and put on her long black robe and the rest of her uniform. Due to the approaching night, the only thing that could now be seen of the countryside were mountains and a big forest. The train also appeared to decrease in speed regularly.
Just as she looked out the window a second time, a loud 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."
Alexandra felt suddenly nervous, and seeing how Blaise paled, she knew the boy was no stranger to the feeling of being ill-at-ease either. Both put their belongings in their respective trunks before locking them. She noticed her security system seemed to take longer to lock than Blaise's as he sang a short sentence in a language which sounded like Italian. Was her system of lock more complex than his or did the foreign tongue make things more difficult?
The train slowed down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Alexandra shivered in the cold night air despite her warm robe. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and she heard a loud voice: "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"
What appeared in her field of vision was without a doubt the biggest man she had ever seen. There was no way the colossus calling them could be a simple man. He was the size of at least two men, two great men. An ogre? A giant?
"C'mon, follow me – any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!"
Slipping and stumbling, the first years followed the giant man down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Alexandra thought there must be thick trees there. Blaise followed her and did not speak at all. The boy named Nigel, who she had already catalogued as 'the boy who kept losing his toad', sniffed once or twice on her right.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," called the giant over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!"
The narrow path had opened suddenly on to 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 and beautiful castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more'n four to a boat!" The huge man called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Alexandra and Blaise were followed into their boat by Nigel and the bushy girl, who glared pointedly at Alexandra. She had apparently not forgotten their last conversation. Too bad.
"Everyone in?" Shouted the giant, who had taken a boat for himself, a necessary thing considering his size, "Right then – FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once without any sign of outside help, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
"Heads down!" Yelled their guide as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which revealed a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" Said the giant, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Glob!" Cried Nigel blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after the man's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.
They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"
The huge man then raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
1 September 1991, Hogwarts, Scotland
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and a very rigid posture. Alexandra knew someone strict when she was looking at one, and she knew in an instant the woman before her had not a drop of humour in her whole body.
"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," said the giant man.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here," replied the woman, who by her name had to be the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts.
The teacher pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was so big you could have fit two whole houses like the Dursleys' in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was way too high to figure out its height, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Alexandra could clearly hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right – the rest of the school no doubt was already here waiting for them – but Professor McGonagall pulled the first-years into a small empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "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. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room."