-excerpt
from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
"C'mon, follow
me- any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'
years follow me!" called Hagrid the Gamekeeper.
Slipping and stumbling,
you follow Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It
was so dark on either side of you that you figure it must be thick
with trees. Nobody spoke much.
"Ye'll get
yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over
his sholder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud
"Ooooh!"
The narrow path
had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched
atop a high montain on the other side, its windows sparkling in
the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more'n
four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little
boats sitting in the water by the shore. You climb
in with three fellow first years.
"Everyone
in?" shouted Hagrid, who has a boat to himself. "Right
then- FORWARD!"
And the fleet
of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake,
which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent,
staring up at the great castle overhead. It towers
over you as you sail nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it
stands.
"Heads down!"
yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; you all bend
your heads and the little boats carry you through a curtain of
ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. You
are carried along a dark tunnel, which seems to be taking you
right underneath the castle, until you reach a kind of underground
harbor, where you clamber out onto rocks and pebbles.
Hagrid was checking
the boats as people climbed out. Then you clamber up
a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last
onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.
You walk up a
flight of stone steps and crowd around the huge, oak front door.
"Everyone
here?"
Hagrid raised
a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
