Hogwarts: Proficiency Panel Chapter 6: Arrival at Hogwarts

It was Sean's first ti seeing a Chocolate Frog card. For the other two first-years in Compartnt Two, it was a new experience as well, and the conversation naturally turned to their discoveries.

"Whoa! Derwent Shimpling!" Justin exclaid, holding up his card.

"Do you know who he is?" Hermione asked.

"No, but I have the deepest respect for what he did."

Hermione raised an eyebrow and took the card from Justin's hand to read it aloud.

"Derwent Shimpling: Famous for eating an entire Venomous Tentacula on a bet and surviving, though his skin remains purple to this day."

She finished reading, then turned to glare at Justin. "Idiot."

"Alright, you have a point," Justin conceded without argunt. Their attention then shifted to Hermione's card.

"Godric Gryffindor," she announced, her chin held high and a proud smile spreading across her face. "One of the founders of Hogwarts. An entire house is nad after him, you know."

"That's brilliant," Justin said with genuine admiration. "I read about him in Hogwarts: A History. The book said he left a sword hidden sowhere in the castle." Hermione bead, clearly pleased by his interest.

While they talked, the train had left London far behind and was now speeding through rolling green pastures dotted with sheep and cattle. For a few monts, they fell silent, simply watching the hills and fields fly past. Occasionally, they spotted people on horseback in white riding gear, looking like tiny flowers in a vast oil painting.

"You know," Hermione said quietly, "he's incredibly quiet."

She didn't need to say a na. Justin knew exactly who she ant.

"Not always," Justin replied with a grin, his dimples showing. He picked up a Pumpkin Pasty from the pile. "Sean, do a favour and help with this, will you?"

A slender hand shot out from behind a thick, brown textbook and took the pasty.

"Thanks."

The quiet reply ca a few seconds later. Justin's dimples deepened.

"My mother always told that the most capable people are often the quietest," he said, his gaze drifting to Sean's pilling robes and his intensely focused expression. "She said that even if a mountain were to collapse in front of them, they wouldn't be startled. But… they're often not very lucky in other ways."

He gestured vaguely at Sean. "Mother said I should always seek out friends like that. Her advice helped find my best mates at Sumr Fields, my old school. And she was right. I think we'll be friends for life. We all promised to write, even though we're at different schools now. I can show you their letters, if you like."

He opened his trunk, revealing a neatly stacked bundle of envelopes next to a scattering of photographs of him and his friends.

As Hermione was looking on with so surprise, a tearful voice ca from the corridor. "Trevor! Where are you!"

A round-faced boy stumbled into their compartnt. "Sorry," he asked timidly, "but have any of you seen a toad?"

The next ti Sean looked up, he was jolted from his concentration by the warm, yellow glow of the carriage lamps. He rubbed his eyes and realized he was the only one left in the compartnt. A glance outside revealed a dark, twilight sky. It was ti to change into his school robes.

As he closed his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, he found a small note tucked between the pages.

Sean, we've gone to help a boy nad Neville find his toad. If you want to join, we're in the corridors.

Sean thought for a mont, then turned the note over and scribbled a reply on the back.

Train's about to arrive. Rember to change your robes.

He then grabbed his own school robes and slid the compartnt door open.

The corridor was now a cacophony of noise, ten tis louder than before. It seed the students in every compartnt had beco fast friends, their voices rising in volu as their excitent grew. As Sean walked past one compartnt, he overheard a familiar argunt.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter llow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow," a young, uncertain male voice recited.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" a girl's voice asked skeptically. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and they've all worked for … Here, let show you. Oculus Reparo."

Sean knew exactly what was happening. He was about to move on when the door to that sa compartnt was flung open by a boy with platinum blond hair, flanked by two other boys who looked like his personal bodyguards. Sean didn't need to guess what would happen next.

Sure enough, a sneering voice soon drifted down the corridor.

"You'll soon find out so wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

Such a venomous tongue, Sean thought, continuing on his way to the changing rooms without a backward glance.

A mont later, he heard a loud yelp from the compartnt. He could guess what had happened: Scabbers must have bitten Goyle, creating a diversion for Harry.

That might be the only ti Peter Pettigrew ever actually helped Harry, he mused.

By the ti the trio was reunited in their compartnt, the roar of the scarlet steam engine was at its peak. The train slowly began to lose speed. Outside the windows, under a deep purple sky, they could see nothing but a vast expanse of mountains and forests.

Hermione and Justin were practically vibrating with excitent.

The three of them disembarked onto a tiny, dark platform. In the distance, they could see a giant of a man holding a lantern, looking for all the world like a man-eating ogre from a fairytale. The night air was bitingly cold, but for the first ti, Sean didn't shiver. He was no longer wearing donated, threadbare clothes. His new, plain Hogwarts robes were thick and warm.

They followed Hagrid through the woods, and when Hogwarts Castle finally ca into view, a collective, resounding gasp of awe ca from the first-years.

"WOOOOOW!"

Justin's cry was the loudest of all, earning him a playful glare from Hermione.

"Forgive , Hermione," he said, his voice full of wonder, "but Eton wasn't an easy thing to give up. I made the right decision, though. Just look at this castle! And the floating lights… and the moving statues… If my mother could see this, she… I think she'd be proud of ."

They crossed the great black lake in small boats, passed through a boathouse, and climbed a flight of stone steps carved into a cliff. Finally, the group of small witches and wizards ca to a stop before the grand entrance to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall was waiting to give her speech about the four houses and the Sorting Ceremony.