Albus felt a shot of nervousness streak through his stomach as the train ground to a halt. But oddly, he wasn't as nervous as he had first thought he would be. He found that even being in Slytherin wouldn't be as scary as he had first imagined, if they were anything like Scorpius.

When they opened the compartment door they were soon caught in the current of students, swept along out onto a small dark platform, leaving Albus no time to mention his newfound optimism to his friends. The sun had already set, and Albus shivered in his new robes.

Soon he heard the familiar voice of Uncle Hagrid calling. "Firs'-years! Firs'-years! Firs'-years yer over here with me." Hagrid held a huge lamp and though slower than he used to be, he still moved with the same enthusiasm. Albus could see that the streaks of grey in his wild beard and hair were growing more numerous, but the kindly look of his eyes were still the same.

"All right there Al! And Rose! I've been wonderin' when I was gonna see you here." Hagrid smiled. Then to the whole group he called out "C'mon now, follow me. Mind yer step. Now, any more firs'-years. Stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed like a steep path. It was incredibly dark around them, the only light was the bobbing of Hagrid's lamp, shining before them.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts here in a sec, just a little farther here.

As they round a bend there was a collective gasp from the group. The narrow path had suddenly opened onto the edge of a massive lake, glittering from the light of the moon. On top of a high mountain on the other side sat a massive castle, with many turrets and towers. The windows were all lit up with candlelight.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a line of small boats by the shore. Scorpius, Rose, and Albus quickly got into one, with a small girl who looked like she was about to pass out.

"Everyone in?" called Hagrid again, as he settled into a boat by himself. "Right, FORWARD!" he shouted.

The small boats started gliding towards the other side of the lake, getting closer to the castle. The wind was starting to pick up and even the small protection of Albus' cloak wasn't helping. The little girl in his boat looked even more terrified then he felt, which was saying something because upon sight of the castle, Albus' nerves had returned.

They soon reached the cliff the castle stood upon, and Albus couldn't see a dock anywhere. The boats didn't seem to be slowing down and Albus began to panic, were they going to crash? Or maybe they were supposed to magic there way to safety. James had told him the merpeople would drag him down to their watery palace and eat him if they had the chance. And anyways, he couldn't really swim.

But he didn't need to worry, as the little boats reached the cliff, they carried them through a curtain of ivy which had hidden a wide opening in the cliff's face. Albus, relaxed as they clambered out of the boats. The little girl who was in their boat seemed terrified, and wouldn't get out of the boat.

Taking a deep breath, Albus turned towards her. 'A-are you coming?" he asked tentatively. She just looked at him with a terrified expression, like he had asked her to dive into the lake.

"I'm Albus. D-do you need help getting out of the boat?" he offered her his hand. Still looking terrified, the girl accepted his help, quickly clambering out of the boat.

"Thanks," she squeaked before quickly hurrying away. By this point Hagrid had already started to lead them up some stairs in the side of the cave and Albus had to hurry to catch up.

He was a little out of breath when they reached the gates to the castle grounds. They had all stopped just outside the gate, and Hagrid had disappeared. He quickly found Rose and Scorpius and asked why they had stopped.

"Hagrid just told us that there's been some "problem" up at the school and that we are going to have to wait here for a couple minutes." Rose informed him.

"I wonder what it could be, maybe a troll is loose in the castle!" Scorpius said.

"I don't think so, it's more likely Peeves, he's always up to something naughty." Said Rose.

"Yeah, that's probably it, I heard that last year Peeves actually tried to hide the Headmistress' wand right before dinner." Scorpius answered.

"Well I wish they would hurry up, because I'm hungry!" Rose complained.

Albus was silent, he had begun to get a feeling of unease. Something was wrong if there was something holding up the ceremony. His nerves were starting to get even worse, he didn't handle stress very well.

All of a sudden the gates swung open and a blue tabby cat appeared. It began to speak with a woman's voice, with a slight Scottish accent. "First years I do apologize on behalf of Hogwarts for this welcome, please come through into the grounds and I will be out to meet you shortly." The cat promptly disappeared.

They wandered through the gate, everyone around them wondering what was going on. They had begun to figure out that this was extremely abnormal and some were starting to panic. A boy with light brown hair looked like he was about to cry. "You don't think they're going to send us home, do you?" he was saying.

"Honestly, I don't know why everyone is so worried," Scorpius was saying, "we're at Hogwarts, it's the safest place in Britain! The house elves have probably just forgotten to make the feast or something. "

Albus shared a worried glance with Rose. "I don't know Scor, this feels weird." He said.

Soon they saw someone approaching from the direction of the castle. It was an old, well really ancient, witch in a bright emerald cloak. As she approached the whole group fell silent, al eyes on her.

"Hello and welcome to Hogwarts," the woman said with the same voice as the tabby cat had had. "Unfortunately there has been a slight issue with the start-of-term feast and we have had to postpone the Sorting Ceremony until tomorrow. I will take you too a guest wing of the castle, where rooms are being made up for you all. I'm Professor McGonagall by the way," she added as an afterthought. "If you will all follow me."

She began to lead them up towards the castle, surprisingly quickly for her age. As they reached the castle doors, she waved her wand and they swung open to admit them. Like before, there was a collective gasp as people moved into the Entrance Hall.