The train ride is pretty long, only lengthened by the fact that it has to stop occasionally to pick up students in Scotland. The food was pretty good, for Ciri, Snuffles and Luna atleast. Reima himself didn't have a sweet tooth like those gluttons and instead ordered a Pumpkin pasty, something he regrets deeply hours later as the disgusting taste still lingers in his mouth. The reason why wizards and witches have pumpkin in everything? Tradition apparently as they're extremely easy to grow with magic and didn't deform as much when you quicken their growth rate. Other than that the only reason he can think of is that every wizard is dropped on their heads at an early age...
He met Cho again as she was buying the same thing as him and they made small talk while she awkwardly tried to leave. It seems his presence alongside Ciri during the attack wasn't unnoticed, he wonders how this'll change Harry's interaction with Cho Chang in the future. To be honest, with how much the future has changed he probably wouldn't be attracted to her at all, or anyone for that matter.
As the journey is almost done they pull their school robes over their current clothing, they consist of a white shirt, black tie, grey vest and a plain black robe over them. As neither had entered a house yet, they remained plain when compared to Luna's blue and white Ravenclaw ones.
Eventually the train stops at it's final destination in Hogsmeade the sky already dark as it's around 8pm already, the group watches as students stream out of the train, most heading on their own elsewhere. Luna smiles at them and bids them a farewell before leaving, they attempt to follow to try and get on a carriage but a large figure appears behind them.
"Ar'ye them transfur students headmaster Dumbledore had told me about?" he asks in a gruff voice.
They turn around and see a huge man in a ragged coat holding a latern, his big bushy black beard covering the majority of his face apart from his rosy cheeks and cheesy smile.
Reima looks him in the eye and says "Yep, that's us."
Hagrid is slightly shocked when he sees two almost glowing Cat-like eyes staring back at him but remembers his interactions with Madam Hooch and calms himself.
"Aye, they call me Hagrid, I'm the professor for the care of magical creatures class, not to mention the grounds keeper. Now see ere, as we've not 'ad transfer students in a mighty long time you'll be comin' with me and the rest of the first years." he says, eyeing up Snuffles as if she was the greatest thing to ever walk the earth.
Reima shrugs and glances at ciri, "Err, okay... I'm Reima Ludvig, and this is Ciri. Nice to meet you Hagrid."
He walks next to them while calling for the first years to follow him before turning to them once again, "I hate to ask ye' but, I can't help noticin you've got there specie of rabbit I've never seen before."
Snuffles hearing this burrows herself deeper into Ciri's arm... "Er, yes... She's called Snuffles." she says trying to satisfy his curiosity.
Hagrid laughs, "Good name! Reminds me of a group of animals we'd recently saved... Shame really, how people hunt them for their uniqueness." he says but neither Reima or Ciri comment on it.
They are eventually led to a shoreline that has many, many boats floating above the water, ready for passengers. Hagrid decides to put them in a boat on their own since they both are holding rather unwieldy staves. After he's got all the first years into their respective boats he climbs into a vacant one and sails off, making sure Ciri and Reima's boat follows his closely... It's as if he's been asked to keep an eye on them, which wouldn't really surprise Reima at all, considering they have literally no traceable history aside from what they had told the Minister. Combine that with their recent actions at the terrorist attack and one might spot the problem.
They continue to travel along the dark lake when they hear the first years suddenly start gasping in awe at the scene before them, Hogwarts castle sits at the end of the lake, the many lights shining through the windows providing a magnificent sight to behold. Not only that, Reima knows that it's certainly more than meets the eye, as the room of requirement is likely one of a kind and the greatest achievement (In his opinion) of witches and wizards despite the fact that almost none of them know of it actually existing. He suspects that Merlin must have had a hand in creating it as from the movies alone the uses were almost endless, and indeed, he intended to make the most out of using it.
There are a few mishaps along the way, with one kid falling into the water only to be flung back out into the boat by what looks like a tentacle. What was funny and slightly unnerving is the fact that Hagrid didn't even notice... If that kid had disappeared they might have only found his bloated corpse on the shoreline, the squid is probably a preventative measure?
Eventually they reach Hogwarts, Hagrid tells the first years to follow the hallway and literally leaves us all to figure out where to go... Unfortunately as he and Ciri looked the oldest, all the kids turned to them and waiting for them to lead the way. Reima thinks to himself how funny it'd be to lead them into the dark forest but stifles the thought when considering how many would be left once they were found.
They start walking through the halls, the painting occasionally giving them directions to the great hall. This is probably to stall them in order to get the other students ready for their arrival, pretty pointless and annoying but it seems to have worked in order to awe the kids behind them. Eventually they reach a staircase with a dark figure standing at the end of it, looking down at them with a stern face.
In the movie I found it strange how Mcgonagall stands there while Draco Malfoy insults Ron Weasley and his entire family while indirectly making his support for Pure-bloods known... All this while trying to pressure Harry into becoming friends with him. Must just be an error with the movie though as this seems out of character ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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