Aftermath

Chapter 3: The Sorting

“He doesn’t like them,” Adam explained to me.I nodded again, and opened my chocolate frog packet. the frog inside peered up at me.

“Quick, grab it!” Oscar urged, as the frog made a bid for freedom. I caught it and bit off its head, ending the enchantment. The chocolate was delicious, although it didn’t come close to beating Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. I could just see the corner of a card poking out of the frog’s neck. I pulled at it.

The card showed a picture of a young man, whose hair was black and scruffy, and eyes bright green. Round glasses sat on his nose. I could just see the tip of a scar on his forehead. The caption read, “Harry Potter”. Oscar peered at my card curiously.

“Wow! You got Harry!” he exclaimed. “They only released his card this year!” I tried and failed, yet again, to understand the significance of this.

“You’re so lucky,” Adam groaned. “I’ve been trying to get it for months!” That I could understand. it made me feel special. The Harry in the picture looked at me and waved cheerily. I dropped the card, screaming.

“What is it?” Oscar asked me worriedly. “Are you hurt?” I shook my head.

“No - I’m fine - but the pic- the picture - it moved!” I shouted, scrambling away from it. Adam and Oscar started laughing yet again at my over the top reaction.

“Pictures tend to do that,” Adam grinned. I shook my head vigorously.

“Not in Hackney they don’t! Or anywhere else in London!” I protested.

“You’re not in London anymore,” Kaitlyn pointed out, announcing her return. She glanced at the sweets on her seat, obviously displeased with the fact that she now owed us something. “Thanks,” she muttered, disgruntled, as she bit into her cauldron cake, trying to hide her obvious love of the flavour. The rest of us fell silent and continued eating our sweets. I had to hide my disdain for the way Kaitlyn ruined the mood whenever she entered the room.

“Urgh!” Adam choked, spitting and coughing. “That wasn’t a chocolate bean!” Everyone laughed at that. Even Kaitlyn couldn’t hide a smile.

“Be more careful next time,” Oscar spluttered, patting his brother on the back.

The next hours passed by faster than any one of us could have guessed, and before long, it was growing dark outside, and Adam and Oscar realised they still had to get changed. With a quick word of goodbye, they rushed off to join the growing queues outside the toilets, leaving me alone with Kaitlyn.

Several minutes later, a loud, booming voice emitted from somewhere behind Adam’s trunk, making us jump in surprise.

“We will be arriving at Hogwarts in approximately five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be brought to the school separately.” Kaitlyn and I stared at each other, both thinking the same thing.

“Adam and Oscar,” I said, turning towards the door. I was relieved to see them just entering the compartment again, each breathing heavily from running back from the toilets.

“Shall we go?” Kaitlyn suggested, placing Midnight back in her cage. I nodded, and we all joined the growing crowds in the corridor, making our way to the nearest exit.

The darkness was lit by many lanterns as we emerged, shivering, onto the platform. Everyone seemed to know where they were going, but the other first years - well, I assumed they were first years - stood to the edge of the platform, looking around. It was then that I saw a huge lantern making its way towards us, above the heads of the other students. Carrying it was an even larger man. I stared at him, shocked at his massive size.