The train pulled into a small station, Hogsmeade, and shuddered to a halt. Students immediately began pouring out onto the platform, calling to each other, retrieving trunks.
A voice boomed across the chaos: "FIRS' YEARS! FIRS' YEARS OVER HERE!"
Rowan followed the sound and found himself face-to-face with the source. A tall, broad man with a stern, weathered face and sharp eyes that missed nothing. He wore practical work robes and carried himself with the no-nonsense air of someone who'd spent decades managing unruly students.
"I'm Gladwin Moon, caretaker of Hogwarts School," the man announced in a gravelly voice that carried authority. "Firs' years, and only firs' years, follow me. Leave your trunks; they'll be brought up to the castle separately. Keep your wands in your pockets and your mouths shut unless spoken to. Move along now!"
He set off at a brisk pace down a steep, narrow path. The first years scrambled to follow, Rowan among them. The path wound through dense trees, getting steeper with each step.
"Watch your footing!" Moon barked without looking back. "Path's tricky in low light. Anyone falls in the lake, you're swimming the rest of the way. I'm not fishing you out."
The trees opened suddenly, and Rowan stopped breathing.
The lake stretched before them, dark and glassy. And beyond it, rising from the rocky shore like something from a dream, stood Hogwarts Castle.
Turrets and towers reached toward the darkening sky. Windows glowed with warm light. The castle sat massive and magnificent, its reflection shimmering on the water's surface.
It was the most beautiful thing Rowan had ever seen.
"Quit gawking and get in the boats," Moon said, gesturing to a collection of small wooden boats pulled up on the shore. "Four to a boat. And I mean four. Not five, not three. Four. Can any of you count?"
Rowan climbed into a boat with Celeste, Iris, and Edmund. The boat rocked alarmingly as they settled.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Moon called out one final time as the last students boarded. Then, once everyone was seated: "Forward!"
The boats moved of their own accord, gliding smoothly across the dark water toward the castle. Rowan gripped the sides, watching Hogwarts grow larger with each moment. The castle seemed to rise from the lake itself, ancient and powerful and permanent.
"Keep your heads down," Moon called as they approached a curtain of ivy covering the cliff face. The boats carried them through a hidden opening and into an underground harbor, where they bumped gently against a dock.
"Out you get. Mind the step. It's higher than it looks." Moon helped the first few students up, then stood back with his arms crossed as the rest climbed out on their own. "Single file now. Follow me and keep up. Hogwarts has been here for nine hundred years. It'll be here nine hundred more. But if you wander off and get lost in the dungeons, don't expect anyone to come looking until morning."
He led them up a passageway that brought them out onto damp grass in the shadow of the castle. They climbed stone steps to enormous oak doors.
Moon pushed the doors open with one hand. "Welcome to Hogwarts," he said, his gruff voice carrying a note of unmistakable pride. "Through here. Great Hall's straight ahead. Professor Weasley will take charge of you for the Sorting. Try not to embarrass yourselves."
They stepped into the entrance hall. Enormous, with torches lining the walls and a grand marble staircase rising ahead. Portraits watched from the walls, and Rowan caught glimpses of movement in the paintings.
Professor Weasley was waiting, her expression warm but formal.
"First years! Listen carefully. In a few moments, you will walk through those doors"—she pointed to enormous double doors leading to the Great Hall—"and you will be sorted into your houses. There are four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Your house will be like your family while you're at Hogwarts. You'll attend classes with your housemates, sleep in your house dormitory, and earn or lose house points based on your actions."
She paused, letting that sink in.
"The Sorting Hat will determine your house. It will be placed on your head, and it will examine your qualities. Your values, your strengths, your potential. Answer honestly. The Hat is never wrong."
A nervous murmur rippled through the crowd.
"Form a line. When your name is called, you will approach the stool and be sorted. Now follow me."
The doors opened.
Rowan had expected the Great Hall to be impressive. He hadn't expected it to be breathtaking.
The ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky. Stars and moon clearly visible despite the fact that it was barely past sunset. Four long tables stretched the length of the hall, hundreds of students already seated, watching the first years with interest. At the head of the hall, the staff table sat on a raised platform.
And before the staff table, on a three-legged stool, sat a patched, frayed, pointed wizard's hat.
It looked like it should be in the rubbish bin, not determining the fate of children.
Professor Weasley positioned them in alphabetical order. Rowan found himself near the front. Ashcroft, Rowan. Surrounded by students whose surnames started with A or B.
The Sorting Hat stirred on its stool, then opened wide and began to sing. The song spoke of the four houses and their qualities, of seeking where you belong and finding where you're meant to be. Rowan caught verses about proving worth through action rather than birth, and a final warning that new foundations require time to settle before they can bear true weight.
When the song ended, applause echoed through the hall.
Professor Weasley called the first name.
"Abbott, Eleanor!"
A small girl with blonde hair approached the stool nervously and sat. The hat was placed on her head, and after a moment of consideration, it shouted: "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The Hufflepuff table erupted in cheers.
"Ashcroft, Rowan!"