Chapter One

Teal.

It was the beauty a peacock’s feathers. The mystery of the mermaid. The stone of the Sagittarius. The calm of the sea.

It was a name.

The name of a boy, who, at this point, had been sitting in compartment number thirty-one of the Hogwarts express for over an hour. He had been the first one to the platform. His godmother was busy today and hadn’t wanted him to be late, so she brought him early instead. He sat, his eyes glued to the window, watching the children on the other side kissing their families goodbye and hugging their friends hello.

Teal didn’t really have any friends. Not other than Edgar. He turned his head to look at the large frog which sat upon his shoulder, his expression matching his owner’s. Blank. Teal reached up and stroked Edgar’s head with one thin finger. The amphibian croaked in appreciation. Teal smiled. He didn’t really understand a lot of people. They didn’t usually understand him either. He and Edgar understood each other just fine.

From what he could tell, Teal seemed to be the only American student so far. All the accents he had heard at this point were British. Many looked to be around his age, but most of them were obviously returning students, some of them not too far away from being done with their teenage years. Teal cocked his head at the thought. What would it be like to be seventeen and spending his last year at Hogwarts?

Outside his window two boys waved to each other in greeting. The young American refocused his eyes, looking at his own reflection in the window instead of the people passing by outside. He lifted a hand and waved to himself. It was foreign to him. He leaned forward slowly, opening his mouth, and exhaled softly, his breath fogging up the glass. Then, lifting one boney finger, he wrote two letters: H i

People were beginning to shuffle onto the bright red locomotive more frequently as time drew closer for the train to leave. Teal turned and watched as numerous students passed by his compartment. The door was open, inviting, but no one came inside. His eyebrows rose as a small boy paused for a moment, looking into his compartment contemplatively.

Teal raised a hand, attempting a wave, but the boy simply furrowed his brow and continued down the aisle. Was something wrong with his hand? He moved it in front of his face to examine it thoroughly. Nothing seemed to be unusual about it. He would have to study other people’s hands when he got the chance. He made a mental note to do this and turned back to continue watching the growing number of witches and wizards in the world beyond his window.

They looked happy.

"Holy crap."

At 11 years old, David Jenson Shirey had seen more than his fair share of oddities. And usually, they had involved him.

Once when he, his mother and younger brother were driving from the southeastern US to the northeast, their tire had blown and they had spun out of control. After several spins they found themselves sliding backwards down the interstate at 70 miles per hour with two semis baring down on them. Although it was only a two lane motorway, somehow the two trucks managed to dodge the Shirey vehicle and the family had soon found themselves nestled in the relative safety of the roadside woods with a missing back bumper and minor paint damage.

Similarly, Jenson was riding his brother's motorbike bike in the sand dunes near their house and, after dramatically failing to launch himself through the air off of a ramp, landed headfirst on the pavement, the bike close behind. Doctors who were shown the footage said that his neck was almost certainly crushed beneath the 450+ pounds per square inch of pressure created by the fall. Again, Jenson defied the Reaper with no more to show for it than a minor laceration to the pinkie toe ,which had been quite baffling to say the least.

Other strange and amazing things he had also seen, but this...

The Shireys had received a strange visitor less than a week ago, claiming to be a "Professor Flitwick of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry". After turning their phone into a rubber chicken when Ms. Shirey had attempted to alert the police, they had no choice but to listen to the tiny man - who wore an odd assortment of clothing including rain boots, pinstripe pants and an Abercrombie turtleneck sweater - explain to them that Jenson was being invited to join the school as a student.

“Watch your mouth,” his mother admonished with a rap across his knuckles, her surprise at her sudden, strange visitor not diminishing her motherly instincts in the slightest.

"Muggles," he had explained, "are kept out of the loop. After all, how much panic would there be if you all suddenly learned about the existence of chimeras and dragons? Not only that, but you would probably all want us to use our magic to help you do perfectly ordinary things like, oh, boiling your puddings or washing your cars."

He explained to them the basics of the education that Jenson could expect and the job opportunities available upon graduation. He also revealed that Jenson had the natural talent for being a wizard, indicated by his brushes and escapes from death, and had given Jenson a series of tasks to perform to prove his ability. Jenson's younger brother, Jason Alexander, watched in amazement as, with Flitwick's instruction, Jenson charmed the family coffee table to a shocking shade of pink.

A few days later, the Shirey's had received a letter of congratulations and a check for his flights to and from London and a stipend for basic supplies that he would need for classes. Since the school was in Britain and the Shirey's were under great financial stress since the divorce, the diminutive academic had reassured her that scholarships like this were available for Hogwarts' more meager-earning families.

Now, Jenson found himself standing at the King's Cross station between platforms nine and ten, carefully re-reading his instruction from professor Flitwick and searching for Platform 9 3/4. Staring at the space between them, where platform 9 3/4 ought to be, was a brick wall and various signage. After briefly wondering whether or not the last week's events had been merely his feverish imagination and he would wake up any minute to get ready for "Muggle" school, Jenson saw a group of oddly dressed teenagers speed past him and into the wall. They wore black robes similar to the one that had been sent to him by the Hogwarts administration. Jenson had yet to wear them in public, on the chance that this whole affair was some elaborate prank.

Wait, what had just happened?!

Scratch that. They had run, full speed, at the wall separating platforms nine and ten and had disappeared when they touched it. After looking around carefully and looking back at his own luggage trolley. Jenson set his shoulders with a determined scowl. He jogged back to his trolley and, gripping the bar tightly, rushed into the wall cart-first, fully aware that he might very well break his neck in his silly attempt. Nonetheless, he closed his eyes and braced for impact just before hitting the wall.

Jenson could suddenly hear the blasting of a train whistle and the loud chatter of a suddenly corporealized crowd and opened his eyes to find an immense, serpentine, scarlet train engine directly in front of him, with a seemingly endless series of matching cars tethered behind. All around him, various peoples milled about in various robes and pointed hats, waving wands, conjuring handkerchiefs, the whole nine yards.

He had made it to the Hogwarts Express.

Behind him, he turned to find a brick wall covered in various advertisements for Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and Helga Huglibup's Broom Handle Varnish.

Pushing his trolley along, he saw a tall balding man in a uniform and, upon inquiring as to where to place his bags and trolley cart, was told that it would be taken care of and to please board the train post haste.

Anxiously, Jenson boarded the fifth train car. Behind him, he could hear "No Trevor, not again!" and laughter of a few children, but he was too nervous to be curious.

Teal turned his head, feeling as if someone was watching him. When he looked, there was a girl, who appeared to be about his age, standing in the doorway of his compartment. She was examining him. Teal cocked his head a bit in confusion, then decided to take the time to examine her hands, remembering his earlier mental note.

“Hi. May I sit here?” the girl asked, pulling Teal’s attention away from her hands and back up to her face. She wants to sit here? He nodded. He definitely didn’t mind. The girl moved into the compartment, thanking him, and then placed all her things down on the seat opposite him. It was then that he realized her accent to be American, and he smiled slightly, glad to know he wasn’t alone.

“I’m Astrid. What’s your name?”

“Teal,” he responded after a moment, not used to people trying to start up conversations with him. Astrid introduced her cat then, Nipsy. Teal leaned forward, a smile on his face, and began to pet the cat for a second before leaning back and introducing the new girl to Edgar.

“Oh a frog! Cute,” she exclaimed. “So where are you from? I’m from Los Angeles, California in America but my family moved here when I got my acceptance letter.”

What does she mean, where am I from? I'm from my house.

“I’m from my house,” he answered truthfully. She had said she was from America, like him, maybe that’s what she meant. “...in America,” he added after a second.

She offered him something to eat. He attempted to size up his stomach, not sure if he was hungry or not. How odd, not knowing. He politely turned down her offer after she told him everything she had. She began to talk about her family then. This girl talked more than anyone Teal had ever met, not that he’d met a lot of people. He was pretty sure he liked that.

When she began talking about her hobbies, Teal found himself trying to remember what the word meant. Hobbies. He’d heard it before. She was listing off things that she liked, so perhaps that was what it meant. It seemed right, from what he could remember. Then she asked him about his own. Did he have any hobbies? What did he like?

“I like... water,” he replied finally, not sure that his answer was the one she was looking for. He figured it was though, as she continued to talk. The way she talked was very interesting to him, not at all the way his godmother spoke. This girl, Astrid, talked as if she were reading out loud. Like she had memorized what to say ahead of time. It was very curious.

And then she asked him about his Hogwarts house of choice. This was, indeed, a good question. Teal wasn’t sure. He actually hadn’t given it much thought. He was told the sorting hat would place him, so he had decided to let it do its job. He knew that his godmother had been a Hufflepuff, along with his mother, and that his father had been a Gryffindor, but Teal didn’t really know where he belonged. He’d never really known where he belonged.

So that's what he told her.

“I don’t really know where I belong… I think, maybe, I’ll let the hat decide.”

She told him that was “awesome”. Awesome. He liked that word. His godmother never used it. He knew he had heard it somewhere, and remembered liking it then, too, but couldn’t remember where.

Astrid pulled out one of her snacks then, along with a notebook, and started to write something. Teal found himself craning his neck, attempting to see the words she was creating. They must have been something important because she was concentrating very hard.

Finally giving up at trying to read the words in Astrid’s book, Teal turned back to the window. A second later there was a shuffling sound in the doorway and he turned to see another kid, also around his age, standing there. A boy, with dark brown hair and glasses. Teal looked at him expectantly. Should he try and wave again? He hadn’t seen much difference between Astrid’s hands and his own.

Yes. He wanted to try again.

He cautiously lifted his hand, trying to smile a little this time. Maybe that would help. He remembered his godmother telling him how a happy face always made people want to be your friend.

Teal wanted more friends.

"Urgh!"

Jenson wiped his mouth off on the nearby paper towel and dispensed it.  

After nervously boarding the Hogwarts Express, Jenson had felt a nervous illness well up inside of him and, feeling sick to his stomach, had rushed to the nearby WC (water-closet a.k.a. toilet) and emptied his stomach of its contents.  

Upon entering the bowl, an eruption of scents assaulted his nostrils - rose petals, vanilla, and cherry blossoms to be specific.  His surprise doubled when the toilet flushed silently and with a dazzling array of colors before closing its own lid.

Glancing at himself in the mirror, Jenson grimaced at his appearance.  At the age of eleven, he had already begun gaining weight quickly and had become, as his mother lovingly put it, "her wittle butterball." Since his parents divorce, he had sought comfort from food and television and, until his letter came from Hogwarts, had little else to occupy his time and attentions besides the upcoming elementary school year.

He had already had to change schools once his parents separated, his mother unable to continue paying for their private school education.  Thus, he had had to start over with all of his friends. This was difficult for several reasons.  

First, all of his friends at Grace Academy had known him since nursery school, so they had had history together (for literally as long as any of them could remember). Second, even for eleven, Jenson was a bright kid.  Though he goofed around and seemed to take nothing seriously, he maintained nearly perfect marks in all of his advanced placement classes. Even then, he remained a distraction, building towers with his erasers, drawing pictures on the back of his exams, correcting mistakes made by the teachers... Thirdly, because of this, Jenson had trouble understanding the children his own age and often overcompensated by acting overly childish in order to garner attention. How would he make in a world so different from his own?

Professor Flitwick had seemed so excited to extend to him an invitation and yet...

What if he sucked?  What if he couldn't use magic, really?  What if it had been all Professor Flitwick and nothing of him?

Well, he thought sourly, at least I'll get to see some Europeon stuff.

As Jenson made his way back down the corridor to the student cars, he could hear the laughter of the other students, probably the upperclassmen.  Suddenly, he was jolted in the ribs by another student pushing past.  Round glasses and an unkept head of hair flashed in his vision along with a "sorry ol' chum" and the student disappeared into one of the student cars four doors down on the right.

"Oi, 'arry! 'bout time you made it!"

"Sorry Seamus...you know how my mum is..."

Jenson rubbed his sore ribs with a pained look on his face.

What a douche...oh well.  At least he apologized...

A parchment caught Jenson's eye and announced, quite cheerfully, that bags and trunks may be collected/accessed in the rear compartment, next to the statuette of Baldor the Bewildered.  Turning back to find the aforementioned statue eight doors back, which featured an older gentleman wearing plaid trousers and a raincoat scratching his head, he decided to check on his baggage to make sure he had easy access to any of his possessions.  

Across from the statue was a small window labeled "baggage" and what looked to be a speaker box.  Before he could say anything, a tinny voice said "Please state your full name and year."

Taken by surprise, Jenson tried to remember his name.

"Um...David Jenson Shirey...I'm a first year."

Immediately, the window swung upwards to reveal his trunk, along with an upset looking eagle-owl, her feathers ruffled in annoyance.

"Oh, I'm sorry girl... here."

Jenson opened the cage and, carefully, held out his hand for Ezra to climb onto.  After glaring daggers at him for another moment, she tentatively climbed onto his finger.  Jenson moved her to his shoulder and opened his trunk.  

There, on the top of his folded clothes, lay his new wand.

Ten and three quarter inches long, made of beautifully polished Silver Lime with a unicorn hair at its core.  Mr. Ollivander, the strange little man who had sold him the wand, had commented on the oddity of the wand's makeup and had stared at Jenson until he left the store, muttering something about "seeing within."  Professor Flitwick had not accompanied Jenson to Diagon Alley to purchase his supplies, but had instead sent a rather sever looking man with a grey business suit and a poorly positioned toupee.  

Jenson stared at his wand for a moment and, on a whim, picked it up.  A familiar warmth, one he had only felt once before but seemed as if he had known his whole life, radiated from his hand into his core.  

"Whoa."

Jenson stored his wand in the inside pocket of his plaid, button-down shirt and, upon further introspection, untucked it from his jeans.

I gotta look...I don't know...look like I don't care or whatever. I've got to be smooth, cool...confident...

Sigh...

With Ezra on his shoulder, he pushed his bag back through the window and headed back down the hallway to look for a compartment to sit in for the ride.  

He didn't know what made him do it, but he happened to look into one of the car windows while looking for an empty compartment... well, emptyish anyway.  He locked eyes with a boy about his own age with a distinguished, hawk-like nose which gave him both a serious expression and an air of disinterest.  His messy hair was a most unremarkable shade of brown, while his eyes... like a emerald-speckled jar of dark honey... widened in surprise.  His compartment companion, a young girl in a mixture of questionable fashion choices, turned to see what he was looking at and also locked eyes with Jenson.  Her brown hair, which she appeared to be sitting on, was held back with a red headband and her eyes were as green as a shard of jade.  

The boy, who appeared to be considering what to do next, cautiously raised a hand and, with what appeared to take considerable effort, gave a brief, inviting smile.  The girl, looking back to him, turned back to Jenson with an even bigger smile and jumped up out of her seat, her hair swaying dangerously behind her as she yanked the door open with a frumph!

"Welcome to the coolest compartment on the train!"

Oh dear Lord... thought Jenson.

"Aren't y'all just so excited?!" Astrid asked, after a series of other questions and statements.

Teal smiled slightly and nodded his head. "I'm excited," he replied.

His two compartment companions continued their conversation as the train barreled on. Or they began it. Teal wasn't very sure. He wasn't really used to such interactions. Astrid talked quite a bit, while the new boy, Jenson, mostly listened and came back with responses every now and then.

Teal soon found himself lost in their conversation, just watching their movements and the way they kept eye contact for the most part when speaking directly to each other.

After a while a comfortable silence fell between them. Teal found his mind wandering back to the issue of his hands. The one boy in the aisle had walked away from them earlier, but Jenson had sat with him when he waved. This was so confusing to him. Had he misunderstood the concept of a wave? Surely not. There was a lot he didn't know about, but he wasn't daft.

"Do you like my hands?" he asked suddenly, turning to look at Jenson, who was sitting beside him.

He gave an answer, but Teal missed it. A sound in the back of the train had caught his ear instead. It sounded like someone speaking, but not a child. It sounded like a woman. An older woman, perhaps. He concentrated on the voice. It grew louder as it got closer, and he soon realized it was simply repeating itself every few seconds.

The voice definitely belonged to a woman. Teal stared at the door, completely curious as to what was going on. Finally, on the next call, he could understand the voice over the sound of the moving train.

"Candy from the trolley?"

It repeated itself a few more times before finally coming into view: an elderly woman, pushing a cart with various sorts of sweets on it. She stopped in front of their compartment and called out again.

"Candy from the trolley?"

Teal studied the trolley intently, forgetting for the moment that he had no money to spend. He could hear a croaking sound, but it wasn't coming from Edgar. It was coming from the trolley, and there was more than one. His eyes soon landed on the several boxes of dark-colored frogs, jumping around in an attempt to escape. How could they keep creatures captive, simply to be eaten? Especially in such tiny cages, with no room to move around?

Teal made a sharp intake of breath, much like a child who is attempting to stop crying, due to his surprise at the sight. He reached for his wand, barely thinking about his actions, and pulled it out from under his over-sized sweatshirt.

The wand was 13 3/4 inches, and made of Chestnut, with a Phoenix feather core. It tended to be very temperamental and hard to control, but Teal had used it with relative ease. The wand was shaped differently from most, however, not being completely straight, but having a handle that looked as if it was originally intended to be made into a slingshot. He held it with his pointer finger nestled in the crook of the handle, so that the wand pointed out between his two fingers like a cigarette.

Teal slung his wand in the direction of the frogs, acting almost purely on instinct. The lids of the boxes flew open suddenly, releasing all thirty or so of the frogs, which then took off in every direction. Teal dropped his wand and smiled. They were free now. He looked up at the woman behind the trolley. She wasn’t smiling.

“What are you doing?!”

Jenson was taken aback at the sudden chaos around him. A dark brown tree frog attached itself to his right cheek and quickly jumped off, ricocheting off of the nearby wall and landing with a thwump onto Astrid's head. Ezra, a natural predator of such things, quickly swooped off of Jenson's shoulder and caught one of the frogs with her foot, catching it swiftly and guzzling it down with a piercing cry of triumph.

Astrid jumped up from her seat and waved her wand around her head like a lasso, shouting, "Colligere Tenere!"

All at once, the frogs lifted from wherever they were and gathered into a ball in the middle of the room, floating at eye level.

The Trolley witch (at least, Jenson assumed that she was), gave her a grateful look and grabbed a bag-like net from the side of her trolley, swiping them out of the air and bundling them together. Ignoring the indignated croaks from the cocoa-colored amphibians, the witch pat Astrid on the head very kindly.

"Thank you dear for your help. And you..." she turned to Teal, giving him an evil eye, "you are lucky I don't report fool-headed first years to the headmaster."

With a sniff, she composed herself for a brief moment before offering a wide, if slightly strained, smile.

"Candy from the trolley?"

Astrid hopped up excitedly and, pushing a stray lock of hair back over her ear, stepped up to view the witch's wares. Jenson, glancing back at Teal to find him with a tight grimace plastered over his features, asked him, "Do you want anything?"

Teal, turned his attention from the trolley attendant back to Jenson, his expression turning from glowering to somber.

"I don't have any money...on me, I mean."

Jenson shrugged.

"I've got a little something left from my book supply money...my treat?"

Seeing Teal's hesitation, Jenson turned back to the trolley witch.

"What do you have, ma'am?"

Beaming brightly at his politeness, she replied, "Oh, the usual. Pumpkin Pasties, chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Brinkling's Licorice Wands, etc..."

Jenson stared at her with wide eyes before replying.

"Er...I'm new to all of this. I was raised a muggle."

Jenson didn't notice the gleam in Astrid's eye as his attention was fixed on the solicitor before him.

"Not to worry dear. There's nothing dangerous here at all...unless you are allergic to surprises. In that case, I'd recommend staying away from the Bertie Bott's beans."

"How many flavors are there, actually?"

The witch gave him a fond smile and reached into the trolley, grabbing a smallish, fist-sized bag. She handed it to Jenson.

"Since it is your first time and all, I wager I can get away with a little sample...but I warn you, when it says every flavor..."

"...it really means every flavor..." finished Astrid in a rush of excitement, a huge smile on her face.

The witch turned back to her cart and began to push it down the aisle once more, before turning back to Jenson.

"Oh, and by the way, love..." she brandished her wand and gave a light swish across his face, "you've a bit of chocolate on your cheek. Don't worry now, it's gone."

Then, with a final withering glance at Teal, she pushed her cart back down the aisle.

"Candy from the trolley?"

Jenson turned back to his compartment mates and, shutting the door behind, moved back to his seat across from Astrid, beside Teal. He had barely sat down before Astrid began her interrogation.

"Wow, so you were raised completely by muggles? Like, no magic at all?"

"Uh, yeah. Just my muggle mom, my muggle brother and me..."

Teal just watched the goings on with apparent interest.

"Well, what about your dad?"

A coldness filled the compartment air. Jenson's stomach soured slightly at the mention and his anger must have been apparent on his expression because both Astrid and Teal seemed taken aback by his sudden change in countenance. It was several long seconds before Jenson answered.

"He was a muggle too...among other things..."

After several awkward moments of near silence (only broken by the occasional croak from Edgar or hoot from Ezra), Jenson shook himself out of his mood. His change in demeanor must have been obvious because his two compartment mates seemed relieved by the return of this more amiable Jenson.

"Anyone want a bean?" he asked with a smile, opening the bag carefully and reaching in, fishing out a brownish, amber colored jelly-bean. Well, at least it appeared to be a jelly bean. Teal extended a hand and carefully reached in to pull one out for himself...a blue one with black speckles.

Astrid, her eyes bright with excitement, said, "Yes please!" and reached in, fishing out for a...purple and spotted-green one.

Popping his into his mouth, Jenson chewed thoughtfully before concluding..."Mmmm...butterscotch!"

Astrid, already chewing hers, swallowed with a smile.

"Amethyst...or maybe...smiles? Definitely...happy eggplant!"

Jenson blanched. What?

Teal, stopped chewing his and looked slightly pained for a moment before swallowing his. At Astrid's and Jenson's respective curious and concerned expressions, he managed to croak out, "Blueberry and black pepper."

Jenson gave him a look of sympathy while Astrid turned back to Jenson.

"Again?"

Eagerly, Jenson nodded and, reluctantly, Teal also agreed to continue the game.

Over the next few hours or so, between bouts of conversation, the three new friends experimented with Bertie Bott's flavors, trying to label each one and, through a terrible twist of fate, Teal seemed to be attracting many of the more bizarre flavors, including River Trout, Cucumber, Spicy Pizza, Bangers and Mash, and even, he suspected, Old Metal Ship.

"Sorry man," Jenson said with a laugh. He was pretty impressed with Teal's tenacity, especially after the River Trout.

Teal shrugged, mumbling, "It wasn't your fault."

Jenson was about to fish out his last bean when he saw Astrid pop up out of her seat and sprint three feet to the compartment window.

"There it is!"

Jenson and Teal craned their necks to see around her hair. Rising in the distance, past a low mountain range, was a castle tower, draped in a crimson banner.

"We'd better put our robes on," Teal said quietly.

Jenson's heart lept in his chest. This was it.

Even after speaking, Teal continued to stare out of the window just a little while longer. He was happy for his height at that moment, able to see over the heads of his two companions. Hogwarts was like something out of a fairy tale. It was amazing! He had seen pictures of it during his godmother’s lessons, but none of them were half as beautiful is it was in person.

A voice pulled him from his thoughts then as it 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.”

Teal stepped back from the window at this, taking his own advice and grabbing his robes to slip them on. Astrid did the same, looking down to see how well they fit. Jenson had been wearing his robes since they met him.

“This doesn’t really feel like my style,” Astrid said aloud, contemplatively.

Teal looked over to see what she was talking about. The robes almost completely covered up their clothes.

“I think you look nice,” Teal assured her, honestly.

“Thanks!” Astrid chirped, looking up at him and smiling. Her eyes lowered then to his own robes and her expression fell, as if to say that Teal wasn’t the best judge of fashion. He didn’t even know what fashion was, really. He knew it meant what clothes were most popular, but that was about it. He couldn’t tell you what was in style or outdated if his life depended on it.

As the train grew closer to Hogwarts Teal began to feel very hot. The combination of his robes and the heavy sweatshirt were beginning to be too much. Hopefully it would be cooler outside than in this tiny room on the train.

A crowd of students was forming out in the corridor. Teal wasn’t sure whether or not they should join them, but when Astrid opened the door and marched out in a gung-ho fashion, Teal decided it was best to follow her. After all, out of the three of them, she seemed to know the most about Hogwarts and the wizarding world in general. Teal knew some things, definitely more than Jenson did, but not a whole lot.

The train finally slowed to a stop and the students all shuffled out onto a small, dark platform. It was night time and there was a chill in the air. As the first gust of wind hit him, Teal was instantly thankful for his heavy clothing. They huddled into a giant mass and Teal wasn’t sure where they were supposed to go next, until a booming voice rang out.

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here!”

They followed the crowd of eleven year olds towards the source of the voice.

“C’mon, follow me -- any more firs’ years? Mind yer step, now! Firs’ years follow me!”

Teal’s eyes grew huge as he spotted the man to whom the voice belonged. He was gigantic! He must have been almost as tall as Jenson, Teal and Astrid standing on each other’s shoulders, and as wide as five of the kids in their year. Teal had learned about giants, but he had never actually seen one, and he had no idea they worked at Hogwarts.

“Who’s that?” he heard Jenson ask.

“Oh! That must be Hagrid!” Astrid answered cheerfully. “At least, I guess that’s him. He’s the only giant my dads ever told me about here. He’s the groundskeeper at Hogwarts. He takes care of the beasts and stuff like that.”

They followed him down a steep, unkept path. Teal didn’t know about everyone else, as he was too busy trying to find the route in front of him, but he seemed to trip over something every few seconds. The trip was relatively quiet until Hagrid spoke again.

“Yeh’ll get yer first’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec, jus’ round this bend here.”

He must not have realized that some of them had already seen it from the train. Maybe he just meant their first close up view. Besides, being night time, the closer they were, the easier it was to make out detail. Teal looked to his side then and noticed, for the first time, a great black lake. He looked back over his shoulder. It appeared the lake had just begun there. He looked back across the lake and that was when he saw it. A series of exclamations sounded from the students as they all got a good look at the giant, stone castle.

“No more’n four to a boat!” Hagrid instructed as they neared a group of tiny boats floating close to the shore. Teal, Jenson and Astrid all piled into the same boat, followed by a girl with blond pigtails.

“Hi! I’m Astrid! What’s your name?” the lively first year asked the new girl.

“Um, Hannah,” the blond girl replied.

“Well, um Hannah, it’s nice to meet you!” Astrid retorted quickly. Teal couldn’t tell whether or not she actually believed that to be the girl's name, which made him uncertain in turn.

“Everyone in?” Hagrid shouted a few seconds later. He took up a whole boat with his massive body and Teal almost felt sorry for the wooden flotation device. “Right then -- FORWARD!”

The boats all suddenly began to move forward at the same time, headed straight for Hogwarts. Teal closed his eyes and smiled, enjoying the cool night air. After a moment he began to alternate between doing this and admiring the view of the school. The boats finally reached the cliff and Hagrid yelled for them to duck. The students did as they were ordered and the boats made their way through a curtain of ivy hiding an opening in the face of the cliff. They continued down a dark tunnel until they came to some sort of harbor.

They students all began to climb out of their boats as Hagrid shouted something about a toad. Teal checked his shoulder quickly, worried that Hagrid was referring to Edgar, but he was still there. He had been very quiet since they left the train. Teal stroked his head again and both the frog and his boy smiled.

Hagrid turned and ambled up a path, lamp first, and they all followed closely behind. Before they knew it the ground had changed from rocks and pebbles to a soft grass. They headed up a long flight of steps which led to an oak door. Teal looked at it in wonder. He had thought Hagrid was huge, but this door was almost as large as half of the side of his house.

“Everyone here?” the giant asked, looking over the kids. He asked the one student about his toad again, then turned and lifted one huge fist and knocked three times.