HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of  WITCHCRAFT and  WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards )

Dear Miss Ambrosio,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Ms. McGonagall

UNIFORM

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) 1 set glass or crystal vials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

↤|🌊|↦

I squeal once I read the letter over again. I run over to my mom who is currently working on some contract with a model in New York. My mother was the CEO of an international personal care product company known as Ambrosio, the company has been in our family for generations.

Unable to contain my excitement, I shove the envelope in front of her face, causing her hands to jolt while writing. I wince looking at the blot of ink on the paper.

She takes her glasses off with a furious look on her face, her straight red hair moving in her eyes, "Ella Colette Ambrosio! What do you think you ar-"

She trails off as she reads my letter. Her stern face dissolves into that of happiness, "You got in?"

I small smile graces her lips, which is the equivalent of her jumping off the roof in joy, "Good for you. I'm proud of you, honey."

I nod in excitement. I can't believe I got in. Dumbledore had told me that he would send me a letter but, I still wasn't sure since I was an American citizen, although my family only been to Hogwarts and that is where I always dreamed of attending.

Falling back to sit in one of the plush armchairs she has in front of her desk, I kick my feet in the air, unable to contain my excitement.

"Ella," my mother reminded me, in a disappointed tone. I quickly sit up, back straight, legs crossed, and hair over my shoulder.

"Sorry."

My mom moves her wine red hair out of her face, before giving me a small nod, "Well, I will make a few phone calls and see when Po is available to travel with you to London."

I frown, nervously playing with my fingers, "I was hoping you would see me off. I mean, don't you have business to do in London next week anyway?"

After a few seconds of hearing no answer, I look up to see my mom's reaction, but all she is doing is removing the ink blotch, I caused, with her wand. She wasn't listening to me. I move to stand up but my mother's voice stops me.

"I'm sorry, Ella were you saying something I didn't hear you. Could you repeat it?" She told me, her eyes flicking towards me before going back to the document in front of her.

"I said I was hoping that you would come with me to London," I reply making my voice clear so she could hear me. I wasn't foreign to my mother doing this, in fact, this was usually the only way to talk to my mom. I never blamed her of course, I mean she was a successful business woman and I understood how hard it was on her to run the company . . . but I still wished I would have some time with my mom without a conference call or million dollar contracts getting in the way.

I see my mother's phone begin to light up as her assistant walks in with her headset clipped firmly on her perfectly cut wavy blonde locks, "Sorry, to interrupt but you have Minister of the Ministry of Magic on line one. He said it was something about returning your call about meeting for lunch."

My mother nods the assistant away before she turns to me with an annoyed expression, "Ella, we have been over this before," she begins as she brings the phone to her lips, her finger hovering over line one, "You know my schedule is too full right now to spend any time with you. This proposal I am about to show with Fudge, will have Ambrosio become the official personal care product of the entire Ministry."

I nod, already anticipating her answer, and turn around to walk out of her office and back to the room my tutor is in.

↤|🌊|↦

Po and I transport through the floo network to our apartment in London, a few weeks later.

Po is my old nanny from when I was younger, although she looked more like a supermodel with blonde hair and green eyes. She would watch over me when my mom had to go to work. Now, however, she was just called in, for occasions like this, when my mom wasn't able to go some place for me. Needless to say, Po and I have been together for a long time.

I can't control my giddiness as Po taps the third brick to the left so we can enter my favorite magical shopping alley. Once we arrive, I immediately run to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, to get the first item on my list, pulling Po with me.

I walk in and see a pale boy with a pinched face standing on a black footstool and swatting away the woman who was trying to tailor his gowns, arguing that she was too rough. I immediately recognized him to be Draco Malfoy.

The Malfoys, like the Ambrosio's, were one of the few pureblood families left in the Wizarding World, but that didn't mean we were close. Ambrosio's and Malfoy's never got alone, much to the dismay of the latter, due to the Malfoy family's harsh support of pure-blood superiority.

Madame Malkin walks up to me with a smile, pushing her round cheeks so high up I almost didn't see her eyes, "Hogwarts, dearie?"

I beam at the woman, before proudly saying, "Yes I am."

She sets me up on the barstool nearest his and tailors my robe quickly and efficiently. It's a wonder that Draco is still here. I bet he has made her redo a few of his robes, not happy with the fit or who knows what else. Once she finishes, she directs Po to come with her to the register.

As I wait, Draco finally decides to speak to me, "So, you got into Hogwarts?"

"Yes," I tell him with a smile. Happy to know at least one of  my classmates, well other than the Weasleys.  They were like a second family to me. And Ron is one of my closest friends, well...really, he is one of my only friends.

His face pinches up as he muttered, "No doubt with the help of old Dumbledore."

I bite my lip, knowing that Draco was right, Dumbledore was the reason I was going to Hogwarts rather than Illvermorny, the more liberal American school for magic. If Dumbledore hadn't been close with me, I bet he would have overlooked my special case, being my mom moved out of the country for business although my family is one of the oldest legacies at the school.

Draco continues, more interested in bragging about himself than mocking me at the moment, "My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," he seems bored of the entire situation, "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why the first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one, and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

"I'm know you don't play Quidditch," Draco went on.

I am offended by his accusation but defeatedly shake my head, knowing that I indeed do not play. We aren't that big on sports, my mom and I. But I know the Weasley's were big fans and always tried to hassle me into watching it, but I was never interested.

Draco smirks, "Father, says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my House. Know what House you'll be in yet?"

I am about to respond to his question, but he doesn't seem to care or notice and continues to talk, "Well, no one knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family has been. I bet you will get into Ravenclaw, based off of yours. But imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?", he asks me scrunching his nose in disgust and horror.

I feel my cheeks redden at his mean comment. I have heard wonderful things about Hufflepuff and couldn't believe he was talking about the house. I scowl at him, "Hey! I will have you know that I would be proud to be in Hufflepuff!"

Draco looks at me with a revolting smirk, "That's embarrassing. I thought you were cool."

I scowl at the blonde boy, "And I thought you were smart. Guess we were both wrong!"

I spin on my heels and walk away from the arrogant boy. I hope the others at Hogwarts were nicer than Draco. Although I knew that the conversation I just had with him, was his way of being nice.

By the time I made it to my Po she had already purchased all my robes and grabbed my hand so we could go to the next store. I turned my head to stick my tongue out at the pinched faced boy, as we walked out the door. He did the same.

Once we are out, Po looked at me, confused, "What happened in there?"

I roll my eyes, "Draco was talking about Hufflepuffs."

Po's eyes widened, "That isn't very nice," I nod along. "I hope you handled it appropriately." I avert my gaze from her.

Po and I usually get along fine, until she does something like this. Princess training, as I like to call it.

She basically repeats my mother's rants to me about how I must be the perfect lady and not talk back or use sarcasm or complain. Basically everything I do. We were always at heads about her idea and my own idea of how a girl should act.

I knew most of it was my mother's words, making me hate It even more.

Po sighed, not wanting to fight,  and looked at the bag of robes in her hand, before wrinkling her nose, "Hogwarts dress code still hasn't changed," Po's face was that of horror, "I mean these are the same robes they wore when the school first began."

I laugh at my Po, looking at her bohemian clothing, she was a big fan of muggle clothing, and I honestly, agreed with her. Since we were closer to the muggle world at home, and Po was basically the one who raised me, we tended to become attached to certain aspects of muggle life.

"-I mean look at these," Po said pulling out the plain black shoes I had to wear with my robes, "I remember when children wore these in the 1800s." I begin to fake yawn as Po begins to talk about the uniform at Illvermorny, her alma mater.

She shoves them back in the bag, before sticking her tongue out at me, "Well I hope you enjoy your ugly shoes."

We walk into the nearest bookstore, to get the textbooks on the list. I sigh as I take in the sweet aroma of parchment and leather, and welcome the cool air coming from the vents. I love Flourish and Blotts; Dumbledore used to take me here all the time when I was younger and allow me to pile my cart full of books that I would read.

I admire all the uniquely designed books that go on for miles in the store, until Po has to practically pull me away after arguing that, "Hogwarts will have a library full of boring books like these."

We finally got all the books that I needed. We also managed to buy a telescope, pewter cauldron, and a cool set of scales and crystal vials to go with it. We had to go to the apothecary to get the ingredients, however. I was disgusted with the dead creatures and plants that were kept in the grimy store, which caused it to reek of death. Po and I both made sure to make our stay in that store short.

After that, all that was left to do was to get my wand from Ollivander's. I can barely contain my excitement since I have been dreaming of receiving my wand since I was a child.

We walk into the store, and I notice a wily man with distinct light eyes. He smiles at me, "Miss Ella Colette Ambrosio, you are just on time," his eyes shine in delight. The Ambrosio family was very well known, we were sometimes called "Wizard Royalty" based off of many wizards reactions when they see us.

"Nice to meet you," I tell the kind man.

Mr. Ollivander stands back up before smiling at Po, "You must be her guardian. Nice to meet you. I am Ollivander."

Po proudly pulls me into a small hug before extending her hand out to his, "Yes. It is my pleasure," while he smiles, warmly at us before directing Po to a tiny chair in the back, "Please."

She sits down and folds her hands in her lap in patience. Mr. Ollivander moved from behind his desk towards me before coming right to my face, "I wish I could say, I didn't know which wand was right for you but I knew the day you were born." A small frown graces his face as he thinks back to the terrible evening at Godric's Hollow.

I furrow my eyebrows and he smiles at me, turning to walk into the tiny office space seen in the back behind the shelves of boxes, "The day you were born my dear, I had a vision of a wand", he grabs a box from under his desk with a smile, "Mahogany, 12 inches, slightly springy, alexandrite metal core, with lavender overcoat for waterproofing, not a very typical combination."

He opens the box and shows me the beautiful wand. It was a lavender color rather than the normal brown with a gentle feel, the structure itself was a simple straight wand except for the alexandrite gem lattice which was held by silver branches that seemed to span the wand. I was in love with the wand.

"Well...give it a wave, dear," said Mr. Ollivander with a hopeful smile.

I hesitantly grabbed the wand out of the box and waved it and a white glow emitted from the wand, making a trail in the air of where I had just moved it. I felt warmth run throughout my body and knew that the wand was for me.

Mr. Ollivander began clapping in joy, "Woohoo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good! I knew it was the one for you!"

He took the wand from me, much to my dismay and wrapped it up in its box. I paid ten gold galleons for my wand and happily left, knowing that tomorrow I would be on my way to Hogwarts.

↤|🌊|↦

The next morning, Po and I get up early and head to the train station, so I don't miss it. We make it to the station and walk to Platform 10. I turn to Po, letting go of my buggy.

I stop in front of the entrance because Po's arm moves in front of the buggy, "Wait. Check to make sure you got everything."

Just as I am about to check over everything a girl walks over to me, with unruly brown hair and two large front teeth, "Hello, I am Hermione Granger. Are you going to Hogwarts?"

I smile at her, "I am. Ella Ambrosio, nice to meet you. But, call me Ella."

She smiled, "Nice to meet you, I love your accent. American?

I smile, my accent is American since all my tutors, and even my nanny, are from America.

Po walks over to who I assume to be her parents and introduces herself, before making small talk with them. By their conversation, it seems like they are muggles.

I look at Hermione, "Do you want to run in with me?"

Hermione looks at me with an embarrassed grin, "I don't know what I am doing. Where are we running?"

I smile at her before pointing to the post between platform 9 and platform 10, "You run into the wall, and you will reach Platform 9 3/4."

Hermione looks at me hesitantly, and I smile at her before telling her to follow me. I inform Po that I am going to show Hermione how to reach the train to Hogwarts, and she agrees before turning to explain to Mr. and Mrs. Granger what was going on.

I bring Hermione with me, "Okay grab your buggy", Hermione grabs her buggy and looks at me for more instructions, "Then just run into the wall, without any doubt or fear."

She looks at me, unsure, "I don't know about this, Ella."

I laugh, "We go together?"

She nods, and I count down from three before we both sprint right into the wall. I close my eyes, and when I open them, I am on the other side. The platform is packed with students and their families.

Hermione looks at me in awe, "This is amazing."

I nod, following her as she walks to the train. She turns back to me at the entrance, "Wanna get on?"

"Yes. It is best that we get a seat now. Do you want to share a compartment?"

Hermione grins, lugging her trunk on the train, "Of course! You are officially my first wizard friend!"

We both giggle, loading our things in the closest compartment in the back. Once we are all done, we exit to meet back with our families.

Once I see Po, I give her a tight hug, "I am going to miss you so much!"

Po gives me a tight squeeze before pulling away to look at me with tears in her eyes, "I am going to miss you too. Be good, and don't do anything I would do. Actually scratch that, do everything I would do and take pictures to send to me."

I laugh, knowing that Po would have herself get killed if she wasn't 1/4 giant, making her more resilient than most beings. You wouldn't know about her lineage however without asking since she appears to just be a tall female.

"Make sure to wear your cape," she bites her lip worriedly.

Thinking of the hooded red cape my mother had mailed to me a few hours ago, it was charmed with a protection spell. It was a beautiful velvet with a golden fastening in the shape of a lion. I nod, "I will, but Po, seriously, don't stress. I mean, mom is just being dramatic. What could possibly happen at Hogwarts? It is literally the safest place in the world," I laugh.

Po, who would usually crack some joke about the academy, looks at me with a serious look, "I am serious. Everyday."

Po's serious expression melts into a small smile, noticing my unease, "It is just a family heirloom, to keep you safe. You mom just feels better knowing you are wearing it."

I nod, knowing it must be important to her. I am about to leave when Po stops me, "Wait. I almost forgot to give her to you!"

I turn to look at Po in confusion, "Her?"

Po reached in her brown leather purse and pulled out a small cage, that almost looked like a toy and handed it to me, "A farewell present."

I eagerly grab the crate, "You got me a pet?", I smile, opening the crate.

Po smiled lazily "I couldn't leave you to go to Hogwarts without one. I found this little baby at the pet shop when you were getting sized. The moment I saw her, I knew she was a good fit for you."

I look inside as she says that to see a fluffy white ball at the back of the crate. I look at the shaking figure with a frown, "Hey, don't be scared," I coo, "come here I won't hurt you."

The white ball slowly unfurls itself and crawls to the end of the crate before nudging itself on my hand. I slowly and carefully grab the creature. I look at me with big blue eyes. It is a white kitten.

"I love her."

Po smiles, petting the yawning cat's head, "I knew you would. What are you going to name her?"

I smile, rubbing my nose on her small pink one, "Bluebelle, because of her eyes. They remind me of the flower."

I give my Po and hug, thanking her for Bluebelle. I giggle playing with the adorable kitty.

I hear the train horn blare warning it is time to get on. I place Bluebelle back in her crate, promising her I will let her out soon. I give Po one last hug while she kisses me on the cheek before waving goodbye and running to the train before it left without me.

I made my way to Hermione and my compartment to see she is already there waiting for me. I smile as I walk in, I feel the train begin to move and know that we have left, "We outta change into our robes."

Hermione agrees, and we quickly change into our uniforms for the rest of the year. I was grateful Po had braided most of my hair so it wouldn't drag on the floor my first day.

Hermione pauses putting on her robes when she sees my cape, "That isn't dressed code you know?"

I nod with a smile, "I like it."

Immediately, after we finish two red-headed twins stick their heads in the door, "Gee, Collie, we would have thought that you would say 'hello' to your favorite people in the whole bloody world! Nice cape by the way, really feeling the whole Little Red Riding Hood vibe."

I smile and jump up to hug Fred and George, I missed them so much, "Hey. Where are Ron and Percy?"

They make a disgusted face before sneering, "Don't mention them."

"Scum, I tell you," George sneers.

Fred nods, "Oi, I reckon he is right."

I laugh at their foolishness before introducing them to Hermione. They overdramatically bow at her.

Fred points to himself, "Duke Filinsworth," he nods at George, "And this is my twin Chip."

I roll my eyes, "Fred and George," I explain to Hermione, "The clowns of Gryffindor."

The twins stand proudly before looking to me, "We will be in the middle if you need us, Collie. Toodles."

They leave just as fast as they come. I smile at the two before turning to Hermione with an exhausted smile. The entire train ride we talked about everything there was to know about ourselves and played with Bluebelle. It was so much fun. I have never had a female friend before, well other than Ginny.

Eventually, a kind lady interrupted our conversation wheeling in a cart of candies, "Anything from the cart, dearies?"

I look at Hermione, who seems hesitant to try any of the alien candy. I turn to her with a smile, "I love the cauldron cakes. Do you want to try?"

I ask her, already handing my money to the lady for two. Hermione gives me a relieved smile before nodding and thankfully, grabbing the cake I was holding out to her.

We both bite into the cakes. I moan in delight of the zesty sweet cake, with creamy icing. I look at Hermione to see if she likes it, "How is it?"

Hermione nods, taking another bite of her cake, before quickly chewing and swallowing, "Delicious. I hope all the food at Hogwarts is this good."

I laugh at her. I notice that we are out of London and are now passing farms and pastures filled with cows and sheep, "Look, Hermione."

I point outside to the pastures, and we both look in awe. It was so beautiful. I notice that Bluebelle was now sleeping on my seat and move away as not to disturb her.

There was a knock on the door, and a round boy with short brown hair came in. He looked very bothered about something.

Hermione spoke up first, "Hello." I wave my hand in greeting.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but," he asked sadly, "Have you seen my toad?"

Hermione and I look at each other questioningly before glancing around out compartment.

I shake my head, "I'm sorry, but, I haven't seen a toad at all today."

The boy looked very saddened, so Hermione added, "But we will help you look!"

He smiled at her generous offer, "Thank you."

I shake my head, "No worries," extending my hand, "I'm Ella and this is Hermione."

He shakes my hand, then Hermione's happily, "Neville."

Hermione smiled, "It is nice to meet you, Neville," she looked out the compartment before coming back inside, "Why don't you finish this side of the train and Ella and I will check the other?"

I like the plan and look at Neville to see his reaction. He hesitantly agreed, and Hermione and I quickly left the compartment and went straight for the back of the train.

I was shocked we managed to avoid all the craziness that was going on in the middle cart before finally making it to the quieter back compartments.

I slide open the first compartment and notice a brown-haired boy with round glasses that have a deep scratch on the right lens. The boy with glasses seemed to be analyzing Hermione and me intently, probably wondering who we were. I turn to look at the boy next to him and my eyes widen in shock.

"Ron!" I quickly hug him, causing him to bring his wand down since it was previously in the air. Ron immediately hugged me back, slightly taken aback.

Once we pull away, he looks at me confused, "How are you here? Shouldn't you be in Ginny's grade? In Illvermorny?"

"That is what I expected too, but when I got my letter I surely didn't question it," I smiled.

Ron shrugs with a grin, "Cool. Nice cape, I should have expected you to break the dress code. I'll bet you, it was Mrs. Sissy's idea. And, Ella, you won't believe who I met—"

Hermione interrupts our moment to ask if, "Anyone has seen Neville's toad because he lost it an hour ago."

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," Ron says although Hermione seemed more interested in Ron's wand than anything else. I didn't comment on it's similarity to Percy's.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down across from me.

Ron looked shocked by her boldness, "Er — all right."

He cleared his throat before picking up his tattered wand and reciting "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

Nothing happened, however, and Scabbers was fast asleep. The spell didn't sound very real. Fred and George.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Hermione asked, not waiting for an answer, "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice, and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger and this is Ella, by the way, who are you?"

She rushed. I can tell she had intimidated the boys who hadn't even cracked open their books. I hadn't read any of them yet, but I knew not to tell Hermione that.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered. I frown knowing he doesn't seem fond of my new friend.

"Harry Potter," said the other boy. My eyes open wide in recognition once I notice the tiny scar covered by his bangs. Ron looks at me knowingly, pointing to Harry like he is some rare collector's item he found.

"Are you really?" said Hermione with a grin. "I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" said Harry, appearing confused.

"Goodness didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," Hermione gasps. I wanted to talk to Harry but, Hermione didn't give me the chance.

"Do either of you know what House you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad...Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had a better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

And she left, taking my hand with her. I quickly call out a "Nice to meet you." to Harry before I left.

I turn to Hermione, wanting to ask what went on in there but deciding against it, "I think it would be faster if I took one side, and you took the other?"

"You are right. I will take a left", she decided and quickly went to the first door and walked in.

I open the first compartment door and see three boys. They all were very handsome and seemingly older. I tilt my head as I try to think of what year they could be in. I decide they are second years by the worn Slytherin crest on their robes, meaning they had already been sorted.

One of the boys who had curly golden hair and forest green eyes turned to me with a sly grin, "Can I help you?" His other friends snicker, but I ignored them.

"A boy, Neville has lost his toad, Have you seen one?", I asked him.

They all shake their heads, "Sorry," but then his friend mutters, "I would die if I had a toad for a pet."

His comment made me stop from leaving and whip my head around, "That is mean."

They all laugh, "Look at her defending her loser friend."

"You shouldn't judge things based on their looks," I roll my eyes and turn to walk away before stopping in my tracks, sensing the water bottle the rude boy was holding. With a small smirk, I concentrate on making the water burst from the bottle soaking most of the boys in the compartment.

"Ooops," I smirk noticing the strange look, the golden-haired boy gave me, and walk away.

I checked fourteen more compartments before I hear a huge raucous going on in Ron and Harry's compartment. I run back there and walk in, noticing the pale boy I had seen the other day running out with two very large boys.

I take in the mess of candy on the floor and an unmoving Scabbers.

Hermione walks in behind me, "What has been going on?" looking around.

Ron picked up, Scabbers by his tail. "I think he's been knocked out," Ron looking at Harry and me.

"No — I don't believe it — he's gone back to sleep," I tell him getting a closer look at the rat.

"You've met Malfoy before?" Ron asks Harry, who explains a meeting in Diagon Alley. I guess Draco had been the one to cause the mess.

"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."

I frown, knowing the story all too well. Ron looks at Hermione in annoyance. "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," Ron defended like a child. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

"All right — I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," Hermione said disapprovingly. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"

I laugh. That is when I decided that although Hermione seemed uptight and bossy at times, I liked her and would stand by her side.

Ron glared at me before shutting the compartment door in our faces, much to my amusement.

Hermione and I begin to move back to our compartment. Hermione frowns at me, "He is quite rude."

I nod my head, "Wait till you get to know him."

We made out way to our compartment, not wanting to have to fight against students trying to get off, I felt the train slowing down and was glad we were almost there.

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."

Hermione and I nervously smiled at each other excited to finally be at Hogwarts. I quickly ran to my compartment and put Bluebelle in her crate, much to her dismay.

Hermione and I boarded off the train, following our classmates to the first year area.

I heard Hagrid shouting for us, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me! Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

Everyone was in awe of the beautiful school that we would be attending for seven years.

The revealing Hogwarts perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

I had never actually seen the school myself, but, I remember Mr. Dumbledore's description of the academy.

"No more'n five to a boat!" Hagrid yelled, talking about the fleet of little boats sitting on the lake. Hermione and I shared a boat with Harry, Ron, and Neville.

Once everyone was loaded, Hagrid commanded the boats to move "forward."

Everyone was silent as we stared at the beautiful castle ahead of us. We glided on the water smoothly, and it almost felt like we were floating in the air as we moved closer.

We were carried through a curtain of ivy that seemed to be taking us under the school. The dark tunnel reached a harbor of sorts.

We all clambered off the boats onto the rocks and pebbles, once the boats stopped. Ron helped me out of the boat so that I wouldn't fall.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" Hagrid grabbed a toad from the boat that he was checking.

"Trevor!" cried Neville joyfully, grabbing the toad from Hagrid.

We then all followed Hagrid up the long passageway with little lighting. We climbed up a flight of stone steps and huddled around an oak door.

Hagrid stopped, placing his lamp on the ground, "Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

Hagrid looked at Neville before he raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the large door.