The Hogwarts Express began to slow as the last traces of daylight disappeared beyond the windows.
Students were already gathering their belongings, pulling trunks from the luggage racks and filling the corridor with the sound of voices and footsteps.
Fred reached up for his trunk while George helped him lower it carefully to the floor, and Cedric moved his own bag aside so they had enough room to get everything together.
“We’d better get ready before everyone decides they need the entire corridor,” Fred said, fastening the straps on his case.
“Charlie said it always gets crowded when they arrive.”
“He was right,” George replied, dragging his trunk closer.
“Though he never told us what Hogwarts actually looks like. Every time we asked, he’d just say we’d see for ourselves.”
“That’s Charlie for you,” Fred said.
“He’s been holding out on us for years.”
George snorted.
“Unlike Percy, who’d write us a three-foot essay on the castle’s history and expect us to thank him for it.”
“He’d include footnotes.”
“With diagrams.”
Cedric laughed.
“Percy’s not that bad.”
“You’ve never had to share a bathroom with him,” George said.
Fred nodded solemnly.
“The man has a schedule. For the bathroom.”
Cedric shook his head, still smiling.
“All right, fair enough.”
Felix made sure Kratos’s cage was secure before lifting it carefully.
The falcon shifted inside, settling himself against the perch as the train gave another long shudder.
Fred glanced at Felix.
“You nervous?”
“No,” Felix said, and meant it.
“Just ready.”
Fred nodded, and something in the way he looked back suggested he understood.
The twins had been waiting for this since they were old enough to hear Charlie’s stories, and now that they were finally here, Fred had stopped joking about it.
For a moment he simply watched the window, watching the dark shape of the countryside slide past, and George did the same.
The train gave a final jolt and came to a complete stop.
They joined the stream of students moving through the corridor, eventually stepping down onto the platform.
Cool night air swept around them, and for a moment Felix could hear little besides the hiss of the train and the hundreds of voices around him.
Then a deep, booming call rose above the crowd.
“First years! First years over here!”
Felix turned and immediately spotted Hagrid standing farther down the platform.
The enormous man towered over almost everyone nearby, his wild hair and great beard making him impossible to mistake.
He lifted an arm and waved the youngest students toward him.
“Come on, now! First years over here! Don’t be hangin’ about!”
Fred looked up at the giant, then at George, and a slow grin spread across his face.
“Charlie said he was big.”
George was still staring.
“Charlie undersold it.”
“Charlie undersells everything,” Fred said.
“It’s a problem he has.”
They joined the other first-years, and Hagrid counted them as best he could before leading them away from the station.
They followed him down a dark path until the trees opened up, and the sight before them made nearly everyone stop.
Across the lake stood Hogwarts.
The castle rose high above the water, its towers and turrets silhouetted against the night sky while hundreds of windows glowed with warm golden light.
Stone walls climbed into the darkness, with bridges and towers appearing between the shadows as the boats waited along the shore.
Felix had seen Hogwarts countless times in his previous life, but none of those images had prepared him for the feeling of standing there and seeing the real castle for himself.
“That’s bigger than I thought.”
George was still looking up at the tallest towers.
“Charlie definitely didn’t explain that properly.”
Cedric smiled.
“I don’t think anyone could.”
Hagrid began calling the first-years toward the boats.
“Four ter a boat! Come on, now! Four ter a boat!”
Fred looked at the three boys beside him and grinned.
“Well, that’s convenient.”
They climbed into one of the boats together, with Felix placing Kratos’s cage safely between his feet.
Cedric settled beside him while Fred and George sat opposite them.
Hagrid moved along the shore, helping the boats away from the bank, and soon the little fleet was gliding across the black water toward the castle.
For several moments they simply watched Hogwarts grow larger.
The quiet was broken only by the gentle movement of the boats and the occasional whisper from another first-year.
George leaned over the side to look into the water, and Fred caught the back of his robes before he could get too far.
“Don’t start,” Fred muttered.
“Mum’s not here to pull you out this time.”
George straightened and gave him an annoyed look.
“I wasn’t going to fall in. I was looking.”
“You always say that just before something happens.”
“Nothing’s happened.”
“Yet.”
Cedric smiled and shook his head.
George ignored him and looked toward the front of the boat, where a loose length of rope had come free and was hanging over the side.
He reached toward it almost absent-mindedly.
A booming voice immediately crossed the lake.
“Weasley!”
George stopped.
Fred started laughing before Hagrid had even finished.
Hagrid had turned toward their boat, his voice carrying easily over the water.
“Don’t be gettin’ any ideas, you two! I know that look! Leave the boats alone, and don’t be causin’ any trouble before you’ve even stepped foot inside the castle!”
Fred raised a hand.
“We weren’t doing anything, Hagrid!”
George nodded quickly.
“We were just looking at it.”
“At what?”
George glanced at the rope and then back at Hagrid.
“Nothing.”
Hagrid folded his arms.
“Aye. That’s what I’m hopin’ it stays as.”
The boats continued toward the castle, and George quietly settled back into his seat, trying not to smile.
Fred leaned across the boat toward him.
“You’ve been warned.”
George whispered back, “I know.”
Cedric laughed softly.
“You’ve been here for about ten minutes.”
Fred shrugged.
George nudged him with his foot, and both boys immediately turned their attention back toward the castle.
They soon reached the far shore, where Hagrid helped the first-years out of the boats and gathered them together.
“Right, come along! This way!” he called, leading them toward a huge set of doors at the base of the castle.
The doors opened, and Felix stepped into the entrance hall with the others.
The inside of Hogwarts was just as extraordinary as the outside.
Stone walls rose high above them, torchlight flickered across ancient floors, and enormous staircases disappeared into corridors leading in every direction.
Fred looked up at the maze of passages with a mixture of amazement and uncertainty.
“We’re going to get lost,” he said quietly.
George looked around.
“Probably.”
Fred smiled.
“At least we’ll have each other.”
“And if we can’t find the way back, we can ask Charlie.”
“You think he’ll tell us?”
“No.”
They followed Hagrid toward another large set of doors, where Professor McGonagall was waiting for them.
She stood tall and straight in emerald-green robes, her expression stern enough to silence the first-years almost immediately.
“Thank you, Hagrid.”
“No problem, Professor.” Hagrid turned to the students and gave them a broad smile.
“Good luck, all of yeh. You’ll be fine.”
His eyes settled on Fred and George.
“An’ you two — try not ter give me any reason ter remember your names.”
Fred smiled innocently.
“We’ll do our best.”
George nodded beside him.
“We will.”
Hagrid gave them a knowing look, then disappeared through the corridor.
McGonagall waited until he had gone before addressing them.
“Welcome to Hogwarts. In a few moments, you will enter the Great Hall, where you will be Sorted into your Houses. Your House will become an important part of your life here. You will attend lessons with your Housemates, live in your House dormitories, and represent your House throughout your time at Hogwarts.”
She continued explaining the Sorting process and the expectations placed upon them as students, reminding them that Hogwarts had rules and that they were expected to show respect toward their professors and fellow students.
Fred and George listened with more attention than they had on the train, particularly when McGonagall mentioned that students could lose House points for poor behaviour.
When she finished, she looked toward the great doors.
“I shall return shortly. Until then, I expect you to remain here and wait quietly.”
McGonagall walked away, leaving the first-years gathered in the corridor.
For a moment, nobody seemed quite sure what to say.
Fred adjusted the sleeve of his robe and glanced sideways at George, who was already watching the doors.
“Still Gryffindor?” Fred murmured.
George nodded without hesitation.
“Still Gryffindor.”
Fred smiled.
“Good.”
Cedric looked between them and then toward Felix.
“I suppose we’re about to find out.”
Felix turned toward the great doors.
Beyond them waited the Great Hall, the professors, the Sorting Hat, and the beginning of their lives at Hogwarts.
He stood beside the three boys who had already become his first real friends at school, listening to the nervous whispers of the other first-years as they waited.
Soon, Professor McGonagall would return.
Then the names would begin.