Finished First Year Entrance 2022-2023

Erin's head flicked up from her book as she felt the train come to a halt. Looking outside her window, Erin marveled at the size of the castle across the lake as students began to pour out of the train car. Erin stumbled out of the car and jumped off the train, looking around stunned as she heard a loud voice yell, "First years, you’re with me! Leave your luggage behind, please!" "Well that's a relief," Erin thought to herself. "I don't think I'd be quite as curious to try and find my way alone to Hogwarts!" Erin quickly made her way to the source of the voice, joining alongside a jumble of other first-years that had also gathered around. Erin listened wide-eyed to who she learned was Miss Finley Greer, Caretaker at Hogwarts, speaking to the group of students before her. Erin watched as Miss Greer stepped aside to reveal wooden boats lined along the bank of the lake and grinned. This was exactly the type of adventure Erin had been hoping for! Walking up to the boats, Erin excitedly hopped into one closest to her.

Action: Enter Boat #7

"Right then, everyone ready? Forward!" Erin bounced to herself in her seat, excited to feel the boats begin to glide away from the shore. Erin turned her attention to the growing castle partially covered by the fog in front of her, but her awe was short-lived as she began to noticed the building storm clouds. "Great, rain," Erin thought to herself just as a bolt of lightening cracked above her and thunder rocked the water.

As the smell of the rain grew stronger and stronger, Erin sank slightly into the boat. She had never been a big fan of rain and the feeling of heavy, wet clothes clinging to her. "You alright over there?" Erin turned her head at the sound of Miss Greer's voice to see a girl in another boat straightening herself upright. "Don't want you doing somersaults into the water in this weather," Erin chuckled to herself at Miss Greer's warning. Miss Greer's warning sounded all-too-familiar to Erin as she thought back to the various warnings her mother had given her over the years. Erin's chuckle and mental flashback was interrupted though by a deafening CRACK as the sky lit up bright as daylight with a bolt of lightening and Erin's boat jolted from the noise. Erin grabbed the side of her seat forcefully, suddenly feeling slightly sick from the sudden jolt of movement. "I really hope we're at least close, I'd hate for my first owl back to Momma to be about how I heaved all over my brand-new school clothes," Erin thought with disgust.

Thunder continued to roll across the sky as Erin saw the fog begin to dissipate from the winds that had picked up across the lake. Erin instinctively looked up in awe at the full-view of the castle before her, looming over her. Erin turned her head slightly as Miss Greer asked the group if anyone had any questions, and began to think about questions to ask when suddenly another jolt of lightening crashed down and small drops of rain began to fall. Erin felt her boat rock ever so slightly harder with the swell of the wind across the lake, and silently willed herself not to heave from the motion sickness that had now fully set-in. Erin was relived slightly when she heard the cry of Miss Greer, "We're almost there, everyone! Just a bit farther, keep holding on!"

"I never thought I'd want off a boat so bad," Erin thought to herself as she turned her head back toward the castle.

Word Count: 608

After a long, tiresome, but exciting train journey, the castle appeared before their eyes at last. Even a quick glimpse at Hogwarts was enough to feel the magic surrounding it. It was more than an ordinary school to learn some spells - the castle, its stones, and its road were a perfect representation of embodied magic. Living through this jaw-dropping moment, Alexander was speechless. He was thinking, how many thousands of wizards and witches had gone down this road who felt the same way as he did? Many, for sure. Beyond measure, far beyond calculation... He suddenly felt quite lucky. He was amongst the newest students. Many would not relive this first moment, no matter how much they wanted to. Alexander was trying to get his mind to thoroughly experience this moment, like a stingy man who fears that a jewel in his palm will be stolen. These were his thoughts on the boat they boarded under the Caretaker's direction. Great Lake, by the way, was truly great. The light of the torch they held in their hands was rippling over the waters of the lake. Such an astounding scene this was!

Alexander was staring at the castle for a long time. Founded by four of the greatest wizards history has ever seen, this colossal structure would be his home for the time being. But strangely enough, Alexander had some strange feeling telling him that from now on, Hogwarts would be his home not for one term to other, but for good. Was this a sort of divination? Maybe, or maybe not. A diamond called insight was hidden in people's hearts, which often speaks more about one's future than tea leaves or crystal balls.

Once outside of the Hogwarts express, Kairi had half a mind to follow one of the many confident older years back into the castle, and so she picked an older student who she found particularly attractive and headed towards them, using as much strenth as she could muster to carry her baggage while keeping up a fast enough pace, to not lose sight of them.

It was then, fortunately, that the caretaker, in a rather attention-catching, yet not imposing voice called out to all the first years and told them that they were with them.

Kairi, naturally, quickly gave up on her quest to follow a student and headed towards the direction of the voice. She was eager to follow this person's instructions and to get to the castle for the time. It sounded excited and she couldn't wait.

Hesitation, however, crept its way into her mind when she was asked to leave the luggage behind. She should have likely known better, but she didn't trust that. At all. So she waited, fidgeting with her coffer in hand and looking around in the hope that someone, anyone would notice her distress and let her keep her luggage.

As the other first years and the caretaker start to live, she makes some hard to describe little noises to showcase her uncertainty and, once they were starting to get some distance on her, but still before anyone would notice her failing to follow instructions, she lets go of her coffer and starts jogging towards the group she belonged to, trying to catch up.

Because of this she's one of the last who manages to find her way onto a boat and has no choice other than to enter the 8th one.

Action: Choosing Boat 8

She awkwardly greeted the other two people that were in the boat with her, but otherwise had no intention on starting conversation. If either of them did, she would naturally participate, however, if they also preferred to enjoy the trip in quietude, just as she did, then she would be more than glad to remain silent. Her heart was racing and she could hardly wait for the boats to finally start moving.

And soon enough they would, a fourth student had joined them, during this time too and now every single boat had been filled. That was almost surprising to Kairi, actually. Having grown up most of her life basically living like a muggle she did not expect so many wixes, especially not her age.

CRACK!!

Just like that, out of nowhere, a storm started brewing and Kairi couldn't hold back a high-pitched squeal. She wasn't one to fret this badly, especially not in public, but she was caught wholly by surprise and thus it became an instinctive reaction to just scream:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

After realizing that it was just thunder, however, a gentle shade of pink covered her cheeks as she blushed gently. She addresses her travelling companions:

"Sorry I did not mean to scream..."

And hoped for their understanding.
Even with the storm raging, they would be on the other side of the shore, soon.. And there was no way magical professors would allow any harm to come to them, so there was no need to panic!

All she needed to do now, was to have faith in them and wait until this was over. In spite of it all, the castle looked marvelous, and so she focused on that as thunder cracked, and the skies continued to rumble.

Ember walked slowly towards the boats after hearing the speech about how only 4 were allowed in a boat. The idea of being in a boat on the water didn't really delight her, let alone being in a boat with other first years. She really hoped these students knew how to propel a boat, because she surely did not know how, nor even planned to learn. . She wasn't really one for anything to do with deep water. She never did learn to swim which is something she probably should have done. Not to mention the water looked absolutely freezing. She stood back from the water's edge, looking at all the boats. Most of them had been filled by this point. Boats seven and eight weren't completely full but there were always 2 first years in each. That means she would have to talk to somebody if she would be getting into the boat.
She slowly walked towards boat 7, looking at the two students already in the boat. Nervousness filled her again as she came to the edge of the boat.
" Excuse me? Do you mind if I sit in here with you two? The other boats are already filled."

After passing the tiring Hogwarts express trip, Aveline finally arrived at the great lake, some of the staff held the lights for lighting. Aveline, who had just woken up, immediately tidied up her clothes and belongings, she put her book into a small bag and got off the train. Ave saw a dark lake, maybe because it was night. Ave was trying to listen to the notifications and was busy selecting a boat to get on. One boat is only for 4 people, while some boats are fully loaded. She tried to walk and saw another boat. Ta-da, she finally found the 8th boat and chose it.
Hopefully, she doesn't fall asleep on this boat trip.


Ave felt awkward and stiff while on the boat, he tried to look around in the dark. In this boat silence, have ventured to start a conversation.
"Hi everyone, my name is Aveline, call me Ave or Velin."

"Hi, ave." someone replied.

Ave continued listening to the instructions with occasional daydreams while enduring her thirst and sleepiness. Sometimes she looked around the dark lake, she hoped to meet other magical creatures such as mermaids or maybe kelpie like what he read about in books about magical creatures. Ave rubbed her hands together and pulled her robe tight, she was very cold that night, she looked at the passengers from the boat, and she noticed some of them were also feeling cold and her face turned pale. Until finally Ave and friends on the 8th boat made it to the Hogwarts yard

The boat creaked and moaned across the depths of the black lake. With only the moon and the lanterns they held to light the lake, Isabelle was vaguely reminded of a black hole (something her father loved to tell stories about, even though none of their telescopes could pick up on the phenomenon). The stars flecked and twinkled above them, and with this many stars in the sky Isabelle could barely make out any constellations. Then, just above the Astronomy tower, she could juuuust make out Orion, high above watching down on her. Sooner than she was ready, the full silhouette of Hogwarts Castle came into view. Isabelle sucked in a breath; it was incredible, more expansive than any drawing her father did, and it was massive, she could already believe the stories about first years getting lost on all 142 staircases for hours on end (she knew the number of staircases because she read it in 'Hogwarts; A History').
Many questions raced through Isabelle's head: Where were all the common rooms? Where would her common room be? She hoped it was somewhere high up. How did the enchantments work? Would they be able to tell when they entered the barrier, like a forcefield? It was all happening too fast. Isabelle calmed her mind, took in the view, and whispered I can't believe I'm here!