~2~
"Pleased to meet you!" Seonghwa smiles at him, Hongjoong just nods as Seonghwa picks up his own luggage with ease, the other boy had also chosen for a modern suitcase, he dumps the suitcase in the luggage compartment and turns to Hongjoong, "Do you want me to put yours there as well?"
Hongjoong shrugs, the other boy takes his answer as a yes, and picks his luggage up too, to dump it in the compartment, "So what classes are you most excited for?" he asks.
Hongjoong hums, "I don't know, maybe transfiguration, it sounds interesting at least." The other boy nods, "That is true, but I am most excited about Herbology, I know the professor that teaches that, she is my dad's best friend from their Hogwarts days."
Hongjoong nods, "mmh, I only know the teacher for muggle studies, as she helped me get my school supplies." Seonghwa hums, "Yeah, she is the one that does that most often, but I heard that Professor Jackson also helps with that, as he is a muggle-born."
Hongjoong nods, "I don't really know, but that could be true." he answers the other boy.
The train makes a loud whistling noise and starts riding, Seonghwa quickly jumps in front of the window and waves at his parents who are waving at him from the platform, when the platform is out of sight, Seonghwa sits back down and turns to Hongjoong, "Why didn't you wave at someone? Did no one come to drop you off?" he asks.
Hongjoong slowly shakes his head, "No... he just dropped me off a few blocks away and then drove off", Seonghwa looks appalled at that, "But they aren't going to see you until December at least!" Hongjoong just shrugs.
Hongjoong quickly changes the subject, "So what house do you want to be in?" he asks.
Seonghwa looks suspicious but he lets it go as he goes on a tangent about which house he would love to be in, he is only eleven years old so he doesn't know any better. He says that a big part of his family was in Gryffindor, but how his favorite uncle was a Hufflepuff and that he would love to follow in his footsteps. When he asks Hongjoong what house he wants to be in, Hongjoong answers that he doesn't really know and that any house would be okay, as long as he gets sorted in a house he is okay.
They continue to chat and get to know each other for a while, "Since your birthday is November seventh, that means I am older!" Seonghwa says, Hongjoong rolls his eyes at the other boy, but nods, "You should call me Hyung." he continues.
Hongjoong shakes his head, "No way, it's only seven months difference." The slightly older boy giggles, "You will say it one day!"
Hongjoong looks out the window and sees that they're almost at Hogsmeade station, "Come on, we have to get dressed in our uniforms." the other boy nods and opens his luggage, he is tall enough to be able to reach his suitcase while standing on the ground, Hongjoong, on the other hand, has to stand on the bench to reach his.
They both pull out their uniforms, Seonghwa walks to the door and closes the blinds for some privacy to change. The uniforms are very different from what they used to be in the 90s. The wizarding world is modernizing, since the end of the wizarding war and more muggle-borns came to Hogwarts, and muggle studies were being thought again. At the school it is now possible to use electrical devices, which was discovered how to do in 2018, so a quite recent development.
The current uniform looks like any normal uniform from a muggle school, but the difference is the little bow sitting on the arm, which will change pattern depending on which house you will be in, the tie does the same. Most o the professors are also way less strict about the uniform, if they can see what house you belong to when in class, it's fine. But most students wear their uniforms, on most days anyways.
Hongjoong only has the tie left to put on, but he can't seem to tie it, he knows Seonghwa is already dressed, and he debates asking him for help, but the boy is faster than him, "Do you need help with your tie?" he asks.
Hongjoong nods, and Seonghwa stands up and walks to Hongjoong, he takes the tie in his hands and slowly ties it, and makes sure that Hongjoong is following along, "If you still can't get it in the future, just ask me for help, okay?" Hongjoong nods.
The train whistles again, pulling to a stop at the platform, Hongjoong reaches up to get his suitcase, but Seonghwa's hand on his arm stops him, "You don't have to take your luggage with you, House-elves will take care of it, and bring your luggage to your dorm." The shorter boy lets go of his suitcase and nods, "Okay, thank you."
Seonghwa lets go of his arm, and they both walk to the door of the compartment, Hongjoong slides the door open and they both walk to the exit of the train, a little line forms at the exit as they all slowly shuffle out of the train. After three minutes they finally take a step off the train. Hongjoong looks around, the place is beautiful.
"First years over here!" he hears a voice shout, both Seonghwa and him turn to the voice, it's a tall woman with short black hair held back by a hairband, "First years over here!" she shouts again. Slowly a mob of eleven and ten-year-olds surrounder her. Hongjoong and Seonghwa get pushed and pulled and they end up in the middle of the crowd.
"Please follow me! I am the gatekeeper at Hogwarts." She raises her voice slightly to be heard over the chatter of the children, "Watch out, the path is quite dark I don't want anyone being injured before we even make it onto the school grounds!"
After a walk of ten minutes, which consists of the nervous chattering of eleven-year-olds and a loud shriek when a boy spots a bat, but without any further trouble.
"Okay watch out, there will be a lake a little further out, there will be boats. I want everyone to get in a boat. Four people per both!" the tall woman says.
They reach the lake and Hongjoong and Seonghwa both enter the same both, two others join them, both girls and they look very similar, Hongjoong thinks that they are twins.
The boats suddenly start moving on their own, Hongjoong almost topples over out of the boat, and he would've if Seonghwa hadn't grabbed his arm in time, "Be careful, Hongjoong!" he says, checking him over, he looks almost concerned for him. Hongjoong nods his head, "Sure."
The boats continue their way to the castle, over a big lake, which is so deep that you cannot see the bottom of it, "Somewhere in the middle of the lake lives the giant squid, so when we enter the middle of the lake I want you all to be as still as possible!" Shouts the groundkeeper.
They keep going for a few more minutes when she says, "We are now in the middle of the lake, please be as quiet and still as possible." The murmuring of all the children dies down almost immediately.
Hongjoong, together with the others in his boat, leans over the edge of the boat in search of the giant squid. Hongjoong squints his eyes, and he thinks that he sees a big black blob swimming through the water, he taps Seonghwa on his arm and points it out, "Is that the squid?" he asks in a whisper.
Seonghwa looks at the blob, "It could be," he answers, "But it could also just be a really big fish."
After a few more minutes in the water, the boats trudging through the water slowly, they arrive at the other side of the lake. The two girls exit the boat first, the one who gets out first helps the other girl out. Seonghwa steps out of the boat after them, he turns around and offers his hand out to Hongjoong, who is standing upright in the wobbly boat, Hongjoong takes the offered hand and gets out of the boat.
When they're out of the boat, Hongjoong looks up and sees an enormous castle looming above them. With hundreds of towers, spandrels, and balconies. The castle looks like something straight out of a fantasy book. Next to him, he hears Seonghwa gasp, "I knew that it was beautiful, but..." and he can't help but agree with Seonghwa, he saw pictures of the castle, but the real thing is twenty times as grand.
The ground keeper shouts across the big field they are all standing on, "Please follow me inside!" she starts walking to the castle, and the big doors get thrown open, they all shuffle in behind the ground keeper. They stop in front of a big staircase.
"Sterling," Hongjoong looks at the top of the staircase, where a young man is standing, "I assume these are the new students?" he asks. He looks very stern and serious, with a billowy blouse, which looks to be made out of silk, in the color purple, and a wide-legged pair of pants. On his belt is a wand holder, with a long wand in it. He has a pair of glasses resting on his nose. When he walks down a few steps, his shoes make a clicking sound.
Mrs. Sterling nods, "Yes, Professor Fern, the first years." she answers.