Time seemed to lose its meaning until, finally, the train began to decelerate.
Maurise rubbed the back of his neck, which was stiff from the journey, and turned his gaze toward the window. The sky had been dyed the deep violet of twilight, and the distant mountains rolled against the horizon like the spine of a slumbering giant.
"We're almost there," Lee Jordan announced, stretching his arms high above his head. In the process, the back of his hand accidentally brushed against Tin, who was dozing peacefully on Maurise's lap.
"Whoa!"
Lee snatched his hand back with the speed of someone who had just touched a hot kettle.
"What's wrong?" Fred asked, his instincts sharp as ever.
"Nothing," Lee shook his head, though a strange sensation lingered in his chest.
What was that?
He had felt a bizarre, piercing chill.
It wasn't a normal coldness from a drafty window. It was a bone-deep freeze, the sensation of touching something that simply did not belong in the world of the living.
The feeling was disturbingly familiar. He racked his brain and finally placed it; it was exactly like the sensation of a Hogwarts ghost walking straight through your chest.
He instinctively looked at Maurise, but the boy was still staring out the window, seemingly oblivious to the incident.
Only the black cat had opened its eyes. It sat there, staring quietly at Lee.
Lee Jordan suppressed a shiver.
"You really okay, mate?" George leaned in, lowering his voice.
"Yeah. Fine," Lee composed himself.
Maurise Black. What a truly mysterious bloke.
Before the train had come to a complete halt, the corridor outside was already thundering with the sound of stampeding students.
"Let's move," Fred and George stood up in unison.
"Right. Coming."
Maurise picked up Tin and stood to follow the twins.
"Hey, Firstie," Fred glanced back, pointing at the cat in Maurise's arms and the trunk at his feet. "You don't need to haul that stuff. Leave the pets and luggage on the train. The House-elves will take them up to the dormitories. You know about House-elves, right?"
"Naturally," Maurise nodded. He had read extensively about the servants of the wizarding world in his books.
"Stay here and be good, you stupid cat. See you tonight."
Maurise deposited Tin onto his trunk. Although the cat looked reluctant, it sat down obediently, watching him go.
A bustling crowd surged out of the Hogwarts Express, carrying Maurise along with the tide.
Night had fully descended, and the evening wind carried a crisp, biting chill. He looked around, taking in the small, dark, and somewhat rustic platform.
Nearby, an old wooden sign hung askew. In the dim light, the words Hogsmeade Station were barely visible.
Further down the platform, a lantern bobbed in the darkness.
"Firs' years! Over here! All firs' years follow me! Harry? Is that you? You alrigh' there, Harry?"
A voice like grinding boulders boomed over the crowd.
Maurise followed the sound and saw a man of impossible proportions. He was so large that Maurise briefly considered the logistics of human magical creature hybridization.
However, the name the giant shouted was more interesting than his size.
Harry Potter. It was the only name in this world Maurise was intimately familiar with.
He tried to spot the famous boy in the sea of heads; in fact, every neck on the platform was craning to do the same thing. Everyone wanted a look at the Boy Who Lived.
Perhaps because Potter was swamped by the crowd, Maurise failed to catch a glimpse of the legend.
It didn't really matter. It wasn't as if they were friends.
"I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts," the giant's voice boomed again. "Right then, firs' years! Follow me! Watch yer step!"
Maurise bid farewell to Lee and the twins and merged into the gaggle of terrified first years.
He lingered at the very back of the line. The cool night breeze was comfortable, prompting him to narrow his eyes in satisfaction.
His life at Hogwarts was officially beginning.
As Hagrid's swinging lantern cast long, dancing shadows, the darkness near Maurise's feet seemed to squirm unnaturally.
A silhouette detached itself from the gloom. An owl leaped lightly onto his wrist.
In the pitch black of the night, the two clusters of ghostly blue fire burning in the owl's eye sockets were particularly conspicuous. Fortunately, since Maurise was tailing the group, no one witnessed this macabre reunion.
The owl let out a sound that wasn't quite a hoot, but a rhythmic vibration.
"You want to go introduce yourself to the local owls? Fine. Go ahead."
Maurise understood Cinder' intent and raised his arm slightly.
The flames in Cinder' eyes flickered before the bird spread its wings and melted silently into the night sky. Owls apparently had their own complex social hierarchies, and as a newcomer, Cinder felt the need to show his face among the local parliament.
Whether the living owls would accept a necromantic, undead bird was another question entirely.
Maurise watched Cinder vanish toward the castle, then quickened his pace to catch up with the group.
Hagrid led the stumbling students down a steep, narrow path lined with thick, encroaching forest. Eventually, the path opened up to reveal the edge of a massive, black lake.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid shouted, pointing to a fleet of little wooden skiffs bobbing in the water.
Because Maurise was last, he stumbled upon a stroke of luck; he secured a boat entirely to himself.
This suited him perfectly. He could lie back in the wooden hull and stare at the stars.
"Everyone in?" Hagrid shouted from his own boat at the front. "Right then... FORWARD!"
The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the glass-smooth lake.
Maurise leaned over the side and trailed his hand in the water. The tips of his fingers met a silky resistance, carrying the specific, bone-chilling temperature of a deep lake at night.
He cupped a handful of water, examining it under the moonlight. It was remarkably clear, devoid of mud or grime.
Driven by a sudden, peculiar scientific curiosity, he took a small sip.
It was crisp and cold. No strange aftertaste.
This would be a great place for a swim, Maurise thought idly.
It is a shame I don't know how to swim.
Just then, a massive shadow appeared silently beneath the surface, right next to his boat.
Clearly, something enormous lived down there.
The creature swam slowly, neither approaching nor retreating, as if it were an escort, or perhaps just evaluating the menu.
Maurise scooted slightly toward the center of his boat. He had no desire to test his buoyancy theories tonight.
When the boats reached the center of the lake, Maurise, having nothing else to do, returned his gaze to the sky.
Beyond the twinkling stars, shadows were moving against the moon. They didn't look like ordinary birds; they possessed the heft and structure of large beasts.
Maurise squinted, his vision piercing the gloom.
Suddenly, a black speck detached itself from the darkness directly behind him and swooped lower.
Closer... closer...
Finally, the details resolved into focus.
It was a skeletal, fleshless black horse, possessing leathery wings like a giant bat. Its head was reptilian, dragon-like, and it stared out at the world with pupilless, white eyes.
Beautiful.
That was Maurise's first thought.
It was the first time he had seen a magical creature of such haunting elegance.