The little boy had come off the train in a rush, excitement buzzing through his limbs. He'd changed into his robes at some point along the journey, had marveled at the pockets that could comfortably hold a sleeping hedgehog, and then had waited, shooting like a lightning bolt out of the train's barely opened doors when it had finally come to a stop.

Sniffler squirmed in his pocket, clearly not impressed, and Jaemin patted the lump as he zoooooomed off after the voice calling for first years. Hello person! He was here! Ready to get to Hogwarts for really reals...

...where there was a lake full of wonderful awesomeness, just waiting. Could he start classes now?

Matt JUMPED out of the train. It was already evening, but he was FULL of energy STILL. He could run all the way up and down to Hogwarts about SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION TIMES and he would STILL be full of energy. RAAAHHH!!

Oh, and he still had his awesome stormtrooper helmet on, ALRIGHT? Yeah, cool.

Matt basically ran towards... wherever they were supposed to go. Following the groundskeeper, COOL! Matt rushed that way, but kept going back and forth, nearing his fellow first years and then walking away from the lot so he could take a better look at ALL the things around. 'Cool!' and 'Awesome!!' were just a few exclamations he would let out whenever he saw something interesting and/or boring too. It was all very NEW to him and Matt LOVED NEW!!

The 11 year-old froze, however, when he saw the boats. Wha- what did that mean? A lake? A MASSIVE, dark lake right in front of them. What?? They weren't RUNNING to Hogwarts?? They were... taking boats... over a lake...

If only he weren't wearing the helmet, his now very pale face would be easily noticeable even in the dark.

Katerina was bouncing everywhere. The tiny ball of excitement could see the castle from here. Kind of. She knew it was close enough. She continued bouncy as she got off the train. Where as she supposed to go? Did she have to find her trunk and things? Surely Phillip had explained all of this to her over the summer. But she just couldn't recall at the moment.

Recalling anything her second year brother had told her was near impossible with the excitement that was going on. She didn't know where her brother, Brady, Liv, the boy Cornelius was it, Benny or Tory was nor did she care at the moment. She just wanted to be inside Hogwarts. Hearing the first years being called over. Kat skipped as best as she could with the crowd toward the calling voice.

Hello first year reporting here.

The lake? That can to be the black lake. Even in the dark it looked just like Phillip had described to her. If they were at the black lake then that meant boats. Phillip told her about that.

The eleven year old stood there were they supposed to go ahead and get in the boats? Kat was just going to wait and see what the others did first. This was real. She was here tonight the big feast and finding out what house she would be in. Secretly hoping for Gryffindor, but any house would be acceptable mum said she was a nice bit of each house. Tomorrow, classes and exploring the castle!

There was no reason to wait to be instructed where to go. Cornelius knew exactly where. His mum had given him the run down of what he was supposed to do, where to go, what to board and what not to stick into his mouth. He was good at the memory thing so the moment first years were called toward the boats he was already on his way. Even if he'd lost Rosie somewhere on the train but she'd find him. She always did.

Coming to a stop at the dock, a huge smile crossed his face; green eyes glinting in excitement. This was IT. MORE than IT. This was the real deal. Was that the food he could smell?

"Can we board the boats now?" he asked the random kid next to him, lightly nudging him with his elbow. Had he listened to instructions because Cornelius certainly didn't. He was much too excited to pay attention.

Jaemin looked up... up... up... at the boy next to him.

"Dad said the boats were for first years only..." he murmured, tilting his head questioningly. Clearly this dude was much too tall to be a first year. Maybe an overgrown second year who didn't know he was supposed to go some other way? "Though he also said that old people weren't supposed to come on the train. There were old people everywhere on there, so I suppose he can be wrong about this too."

He looked out at the water and stretched a short leg out to try and nudge at a boat with his foot before looking at the man who had called for the first years before.

"I dunno," he added a moment later, by way of answer the question. Dad said to get permission before doing stuff." Something about the 'dangers' of Hogwarts and how students had a knack for getting hurt. He did not want to get hurt.

He lightly patted the front of his very dry robes. He didn't want to get all wet, either.

By design, the remainder of Julia’s train ride was uneventful. As the train unloaded its horde of students on the platform, she gave the page from her word-of-the-day one last look—exuberance—and followed after them. It wasn’t long, however, before she realized all of the first year students were being separated off. She supposed this made sense; her father had mentioned something about a sorting ceremony, and why not make absolutely sure the first years were overwhelmed by parading them in front of all the other students?

For the time being, however, there was still plenty of exuberance on display around her… perhaps a little too much, actually. She eyed the rushing boy with the helmet, deciding that it would be in everyone’s best interest to slow him down before he rushed right into the water. Around the time she reached him, however, he appeared frozen on the spot. How irritating.

Still, now that she was standing there she felt it would be awkward if she didn’t offer some sort of conversation. So she asked him, “Do you wear that on your head because you tend to collide with things? Or are you horrendously disfigured?”

Perhaps he had massively distended jaw bones. Thinking this, she linked her fingers behind her back and leaned over to see up into the helmet.

Boats boats BOOOOAAAAATTTSSSS

Tenacius sprinted for the docks, yelling at Sam and Mel and Ugo to hurry up. In the chaos of disembarking students he wasn’t really sure where they are either. For all he knows they could already be there.

He got to the shoreline and already there were kids milling around. He bounced into a boat and raised his fists in the air "All aboard the USS Enterprise!!" Ok so this was a tiiiny boat and nothing like a Galaxy class starship but hey this was his boat and he was Captain!

Everything was all itchy. Mel didn’t like these robes AT ALL. Running a hand through her hair she was all excited to get to the castle and well food. SHE WANTED FOO and to be sorted but mainly to be sorted, that was the most important thing ever really.

“ACE hi!” She smiled over to him and waved as she jumped into the boat behind him. THIS was going to be fun. “Should we race? Maybe?” She asked excitedly her eyes pleading with her friend.

Eeeep!!! This was it!!! Jay has finally arrived at Hogwarts!!! She was soooooo excited to be here! Big plans were made the instant the firstie step foot off that train! Hopefully her sister would be close behind her. This was a moment they would have to share together! Also, Jay needed some twin time with her sister because she didn't have personal one on one time with her in the train. Not that she didn't mind the other kid, Jasper, who joined them, or anything. Because technically, he did show up on the train before his sister did, so yea...

But anyways...

Eyes lit with excitement and glee, the girl couldn't help but stare at the beautiful castle. It was such a majestic sight to behold! And Jay wanted to explore all of it! Every nook and cranny...even if it meant she had to sneak around to certain places.

Sam was not very far behind this time. Nope, she was practically on Mel's heels. Her face lit up as she slid/jumped into the boat causing it to rock. "Did you say race?" She asked. "We should totally do that. Who we gonna wait for? and We are gonna wait for Torrance, right?" she said eyeing the empty seat in the boat. "Also, I think if we race, we should name it the Millennium Falcon. We'll make the Kessel run in less that fourteen parsecs." She said with a beamy face. "Though, I don't know what a parsec is, no one ever told me that."

Cornelius blinked at the little dude. Uh huuuh. Soooo...only first years, but like, HE was a first year. Sure he was tall and all, but his age said otherwise. Or maybe it was 'cause this guy was so tiny. Where'd he come from? A hobbit hole.

"I'm a first year," Cornelius nodded, bobbing his head up and down so his curls bounced off his forehead. "I'm tall, I know. Get that from me dad." True fact. He wasn't sure what the kid meant about older people on the train, though. He hadn't seen any, but whatever. He'd only hung out with a few people.

The boat the kid nudged wobbled lightly in the water. What was he doing? Did he need help? Cornelius could toss him in there if he wanted. He was sooo helpful.

Permission. Now that was a word Cornelius should be aware of, it wasn't his favorite so like most things it went in through one ear and came out the other. "I'm pretty sure we have permission. Come on."

Without another word he JUMPED onto the boat, waving his arms frantically as he almost lost balance. HE WAS GONNA DIE--oh hey. Therrre we go. Balancing himself and straightening his robes, he smiled at the other boy.

Come oooon.

Just as the train whistled it's incoming sight, Justin tucked away what was in his hand safely into one of his pockets. It was past sundown now as he made to turn on his lantern before hoisting it high as the train doors revealed a dumping ground for many students.

"First years, this way!"

It was like the Groundskeeper didn't even need to shout it as a number already went straight for the nearby boats. A few students even asking if it was okay, "Ai. You're alright to jump into the boat. We will be departing shortly as soon as everyone's on." There was no need to dwiddle outside any longer. "We will then be sailing to the castle where a hearty meal awaits you all." Along with many other surprises.

Last one on the boats is a rotten egg-flavored jelly bean!!!

Haha! Oh...wait. That kind of looked like that honor may go to her. Oops. She slowed down a little to try and look cool as she approached the boats and got ready to board. Just HOW had she ended up dead last to get on a boat?! She'd been on the front of the train, for Merlin's sake!

She was waaaay too excited to let that bother here, though. She walked down the length of the lake eyeing each of the docked boats. She was looking for one with a free spot, which she finally found a boat or two later. It was dark, and the only light was a nearby lantern. She could see the silhouette of a person or two in the boat, but she couldn't make out any faces.

"Hey! I'm Ariadne," she said, as she slid into her spot and situated herself in place.

HE was a first year? The pint-sized boy looked at him, squinting a bit and pushing up on his toes. Even then... he only barely brushed by his shoulder. Why was everyone here so... large?! At least he was willing to admit that he was abnormally so, but still... Jay had been the smallest in his previous classes, and it seemed he was likely to be the smallest here as well.

Bleh.

Sparing a glance around at the others that were assembling themselves, the boy caught sight of his Hedgehog Holder friend from the train, and he waved in her direction while still paying attention to the tall boy next to him.

What the what?!

"Wait-" He backpedaled when the boy launched himself into the boat, eyes widening a bit as he rocked back and forth and almost upset the boat and himself. Just when it seemed he would disappear over the other side, he seemed to find his balance, and Jay felt a weird mixture of relief and disappointment. If he'd fallen in, he might have come back out with lake stuff attached to him, and Jaemin would then have some idea about what was beneath the dark surface.

Just when he was about to say that he was pretty sure he had not yet been told it was safe (even though the boats now seemed safe enough, thanks to this tall boy and his giant jump), the Lantern Man gave them the permission he needed to board. Jay gave him a rather long look as well, before deciding that he did trust Lantern Man's judgement. He looked very adult-y, if not very official.

"Stay still... I don't wanna fall." It was fine if others did, but not him. The tiny eleven year old stuck one leg out and put his foot in the boat, then swung his little body forward to get the rest of himself inside.

The result of this being that he started falling, directly toward the other side of the boat. Nooooooo.

He had to separate from Char now, which was a little unnerving. It was not often that Callum did things completely independently from his family, but the thought was also kind of... exhilarating. He did wish that he knew some spells on how to keep a boat from sinking because he was so close to getting to Hogwarts, and it would have been an awful shame to die when he was so close to following in line with his family's legacy.

After bidding a slightly apprehensive farewell to his sister, Callum followed along with the others as the groundskeeper beckoned them over, and he squinted at the faces around him in the dark, trying to make out who was around him. There were a few kids his age he knew would be attending Hogwarts this term as a first year like him, but he could not find a familiar one as he searched his surroundings. No matter, though. He was fine on his own, and halfway down their voyage to the lake, he changed his mindset from searching for friends to examining their surroundings. The trees, the landscape at large, and... Merlin, the castle in the distance. Breathtaking, it was, and none of the photographs he had ever seen had done it justice.

Blinking out of his trance as the groundskeeper told them to go ahead and get inside a boat, Callum did not hesitate - he moved for the one furthest from everyone (that way, all his classmates who were causing all sorts of ruckus would get in the ones that were closest to the group, and hopefully he would get the ones who were more personable to embark on this journey with), and clambered inside. He got right into the very front of the boat so he would have the best view of the castle as they approached it and made himself comfortable, a small smile accompanying the delighted sparkle in his bright blue eyes.

He was almost there.

Her train ride had been boring - travelling alone did that, but at least she also stayed away from the troublemakers and got to practise WAND WORK - so when they finally arrived at the station, she was actually glad. She wore her robes long ago. Although she absolutely didn't want to leave her trunk behind, she had to follow the orders and thus, she got off the train with only her wand on her, her pocket-size diary, ID and a little money (you never knew what would happen). She heard the groundskeeper, so obediently followed him to the boats. Yeah, she knew this was coming. She had read 720 books about Hogwarts, so it wasn't as surp -

Gasp.

The view... THE VIEW. Now, none of the books could EVER have prepared her for THAT. It was beautiful, breathtaking, and nothing like she had ever seen. She allowed herself to linger to just look at it, and take in the rest: the huge lake that almost looked endless, the boats, the trees, earth, and - of course, the noisy children.

Her face took upon an expression of disapproval, but it was dark and no one would see her clearly. She then evaluated her options quickly, and of course she picked the only boat that made sense: the one with one boy who looked as calm as her and was busy with the charm of the castle in the far distance. THAT was going to be her boat. He was lucky, SHE knew some spells on how to keep a boat from sinking (or at least she could levitate her quill on the train) and she was the most personable person he could ever find. Yeah, before anyone else could have a chance, she got on HIS boat and smiled for if he turned to look.

"Hi." They wouldn't shake the boat to test its limits now, right?

Callum knew that someone would join him sooner rather than later, and as he felt the weight of someone stepping in shift the boat, he let them choose their seat before giving them his attention.

Oh, a new face. He did not recognize her from Diagon Alley, nor from the train, nor from any of the other usual places he made his friends with Char - but she was pretty, her eyes were sincere and sparkly, and she was friendly, smiling away at him. He returned the smile and replied simply, "Hi." There was a pause in which he was looking at her carefully, taking in her aesthetically pleasing features with a gentle expression of his own, but in the next moment he was looking back at the castle, taking it all in once more.

"How long do you think it will take us to get across?" Callum asked her curiously. He did not expect her to know, but he trusted her judgment from what he had already deduced about the girl's intelligence. With her one word and the way she carried herself, he had decided that she was bright, so he wanted to hear what she had to say. "Reckon it depends on how fast the boat goes, but hopefully they won't be prolonging us from joining everyone else again for too long."

They had places to go and people to meet. He had no patience for this to be a leisurely float across the lake.

And her chosen seat was the one across and sliiiiightly diagonal to him. They were the first ones on the boat, so of course they would get the best view. And he returned the greeting, so Katherine mentally relaxed. She didn't want to spend the entire journey seething because of not being acknowledged. While he examined her face, she examined his. Normally, she would be highly uncomfortable when she got stares, but there was nothing malicious about him. He was just curious like she was, which gave her the freedom of noting the details about him - like the colour of his eyes (albeit it was dark, she made a guess) and the life in them and how gentle he looked. She turned to the castle when he did too, and didn't answer right away. She didn't want to rush only to give a wrong answer, after all. She was smart and she wanted to impress him, because that was how you made friends... or so she thought.

"Thestrals pull the carriages, and I guess they want to give the Hall a chance to settle down before we are introduced. But they also wouldn't want to keep us too long on the water in case someone tries to be funny," at that moment, she glanced at the other boats and the NOISY children disapprovingly, "so... half an hour? Or maybe even twenty minutes." Speed could be set by magic, so she thought it depended on those factors.

Normally, this was the moment she introduced herself, but she was curious about his guess, so she stayed silent to hear it.

See THAT guy said the magic phrase: hearty meal. Tenacius didn’t know who he was but he was his favorite dude already. Meets them with boats and promises a good meal at the end of that? Guy knows his way to a little boy's heart.

It wasn’t long before Mel and Sam pounced into his boat. Crew almost complete. "Ey Ugo hurry up!" the curly top hollered into the crowd. But then Sam said something that was just utterly brilliant "Of course the Millennium Falcon! Perfect for a dingy like this one." he laughed.

When EVERYONE has gotten on board they pushed off from the shore, Tenacius seated at the bow, looking ahead by the light of the lanterns. He could see the outline of the castle with its glowing windows. And for a moment, he fell silent, a rarity when he wasn’t asleep. "Wow it really is purtee, " he whispered under his breath. There was an overwhelming feeling of awe that welled up within. He cant wait to get there!.......

.......................

..............

.......



"Aint this thing gonna go any faster??"

Torrance already there. Already in the Boat when Tenacious yelled at him to hurry it up. "I'M HERE ALREADY ACE!!" See yeah he was sitting at the front of the boat raring to go a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. He looked back all three of them, Ace, Sam, and Mel. "Millennium Falcon?" Wasn't that the name of the ship from that Movie where the Old Guy flies around with Big Foot? Tory's thoughts suddenly went back to his time in Diagon Alley over the Summer...

Han...Han...Star Wars...pew pews and the Wilhelm Scream...hehe heh. That was a weird scream....Solo!! Matt Solo that Crazy kid from before where the hell was he!? He was hilarious.

He turned his head back when Ace spoke up about Purtiness. "It's purtee Epic looking if you ask me." He responded to his best mate.

Mel just laughed when she felt the boat rocking – it made a fun swooooshy wooshy feeling and the sound. She liked the sound of the water on the edge of the boat it was kind of funny. “Right…we should wait for Torrance” Mel said her tone as smooth as it was earlier the little huff wasn’t really noticeable. No, she wasn’t jealous that her best friend had another best friend…well, another best friend that wasn’t pre-approved like Sam. Because Sam was her best friend’s family and that meant she was important.

“Really? The Mil-millennnnium falcon?” the word wasn’t easy to slip over her tongue as she said it. “….that sounds like a bad word” Mel muttered and frowned at the water for a moment. “A dingy? I’ve never been in a dingy before really” Mel admitted with a grin. “Dingy now that’s a cool word” yep, she was going to keep saying that as long as she could.

“Purteeeee isn’t a word Ace, India told me that it made me sound ‘un…ent-elligable?” She frowned that wasn’t it. She wasn’t an ent. Ents were tree people…”no…not that unintel-able?...un…unintelligent?” Which she wasn’t. She just, hadn’t spent that much time paying attention to the words India threw at her.

Sitting in the little boat she couldn’t help but think…what’s a millennium falcon…and then it hit her. “THAT’S THE THING FROM THE MOVIE I WATCHED OVER SUMMER” she practically yelled….”and I don’t think it goes any faster…we can try paddling with our hands or maybe someone can get out and swim and push it to shore…or…or do we have paddles?” She asked excitedly.

Genny was late. She forgot to say bye to Daxie and David and Char so she spent some time at the station before she had to tumble!run down the path to the boat. "Wait for meeeeeeeeee," she shouted and waved her arm in the air, the pigtails she wore were messy from the nap she accidentally took half the way over to Hogsmede missing all the fun with the hag witch and the food trolley yummies.

Once she was at the boat, Genny lifted her leg to gracefully get in but her shoe's small heel got caught on the edge and she was flipped in body horizontal falling on the students already seated there with a move that had nothing to do with gracefulness whatsoever. "I'm fine!" Her muffled voice came from underneath as she tried to collect herself and sit upright once the boat stilled once again.

Lex followed the group of students as they left the train. He stared at the castle in the distance with wonderment, eyes dancing over the flickering lights in the windows, the tall towers and spires, the magical feel of the place.
So enthralled was he that he was positively caught off balance by the sudden, masculine call of "First years, this way!" right next to him. He stumbled, his new shoes sliding on the slick surface of the dock, and made as if to fall over the edge into the dark waters.

The girl jumped startled at the sound of Torrance's voice. He had zoomed up on them. But grin retuning to her face she yelled out a big "Yeah," and fist pumped the air violently.

Sam nodded when the others were talking about their ship-boat. "She's the fastest ship Ev-er!" She quited down a bit though, when the castle came more into view, just like the others. "Its amazing." she whispered to herself, mesmerized by the enormity and beauty of the thing. When she heard the others talking though, it pulled her out of her thoughts about how pretty it was, and about all the things they could find in castles. "Mhmm, it is going kinda slow, isn't it?" She looked on the side, and between them. "I don't see any ores, but yeah, I think we can paddle with our hands." She pulled her sleeve up, and started trying to make them go faster, not doing much good on her own, mostly splashing water on the others. "Come on, everyone try."