“Maa, I want to send it quickly” was A’s response.

“Can I see it PLEASE?” Mummy was not in a mood to give up the chance of
being part of this exciting event.

Reluctantly, A handed over the letter to her. She read it quickly and smiled and
this time it spread from ear to ear. One could see that unlike A there was no
gap between her teeth. Besides, also unlike A, she had just finished brushing
her teeth. So even Hedwig was impressed by her smile! She rushed to A’s room
and took out a fresh envelope. Like all Moms, she knew what is kept where!
(Well, almost, more or less!! ) She used the string to tie the letter to
Hedwig’s leg and went towards the bathroom to open the window. As she
turned around to see if Hedwig was following her, she found the snow owl
sitting on A’s shoulder with A proudly caressing her!

As Hedwig flew out of the window into the moon-lit night, Mummy and A kept
standing there till they could not see Hedwig anymore. As the bird vanished
into the night, the two looked at the bright moon. They felt that the moon
winked and smiled at them and then jumped a bit with joy, as if it was on a
spring!!

At 11.30 pm the Flying Car landed next to A’s house. It could only be seen by A
and his family. After a lot of drama, A had managed to persuade his parents
and sister (Elder A, alias Stanza) to be part of this adventure. They did not have
a visa to go to UK. Since the travel instructions, did not mention visa, A was
pretty sure that they did not need one! After all it was an invitation from
Dumbledore himself. The Elder A, looked at the car in amazement but
somewhat suspiciously. She did not share the unconquered A’s enthusiasm for
Harry Potter! (We will henceforth call her AN to avoid confusion). Mummy,
Papa, AN, and A got into the car and were immediately covered by the magical
warm blanket and soon they were asleep. When they woke up, they were in
front of the Kings Cross station. It was 3 pm and A was standing between
platforms 9 and 10 with a small bag that carried his party clothes, night clothes
and a book to read on the train. No guesses on the name of the book. Of
course, it was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! Papa had issued it for him
from the library. Apart from a brush and toothpaste, the bag also contained a
piece of soap!

Mum insisted that A carry it with him. “Who knows if the wizards believe in the
use of soap”, she insisted. For her hygiene was as magical as anything else and her
instructions about washing hands several times were still ringing in A’s
head!

Initially, A was brimming with confidence as he stood at the platform. Once in
a while he touched his front pocket to check if the invitation letter was safe
inside. That was his most prized possession at the moment! Mummy and Papa,
however, were still not convinced about this adventure. Both of them had
come to London to see off A, but were not sure what to expect. After all, A was
travelling alone for the first time and to an unknown land – Hogwarts. They
stared at the wall from time to time with disbelief and amazement. AN was
also in a similar situation. She did not believe she was standing at the famous
Kings Cross station in London! A was keen to get on with his journey and go to
his platform but Mummy and Papa did not want him to break his head while
walking into the wall. They had not seen anybody go in as yet!

But soon it was 3.15 pm and A was getting restive and nervous. He had a habit
of chewing his nails and he did more of that when he was nervous. As his right
hand started to move towards his mouth, he told himself:

“Control, control or there will no nails left on your fingers”!!

Just when he was struggling with his thoughts ‘to chew or not to chew’, losing
his patience, and Mummy-Papa were planning to abandon the adventure and
go back home, a kid with long hair and horn-rimmed glasses casually walked
past them and went straight into the wall! A was thrilled and looked at his
parents and at his sister. It was not very clear if their faces showed signs of
relief, bewilderment or confusion. He had no time to analyse their expressions.
He quickly ran towards them and hugged them one by one!

“Time for me to go! And yes, Mumma, I did not chew my nails!” he said
proudly.

Before Mummy, Papa and AN could say anything, A picked up his bag and
vanished into the wall! Mum, Pa and AN stood there for some time with wide
eyes and mouths open. They then slowly trudged towards the flying car
outside which will take them to Diagon Alley.

As A emerged out of the wall, he found several people on Platform 9 ¾. Most
of them seem to have come early. The crowd was not large and he found a
place to sit in one of the compartments. He chose a window seat. The trip to
Hogwarts was uneventful. The scenery outside changed dramatically from time
to time. All passengers were busy with their own thoughts and hardly any
conversation was happening. There were no vendors either as nobody had
Gringotts currency or wizard money – silver Sickles, gold Galleon, or
bronze Knuts! For some time, A thought about all the trips that Harry and his
friends had made on the Hogwarts Express. Then he started to read Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire! He was stuck with the book throughout the
journey except for a short break when he ate his sandwich. That was also not
really a break from reading as he continued to read while having his sandwich
or munching nuts or chips! While he ate and read, he thought about what
Mum and Pa would have said if he did the same at home. He just smiled and
brushed the thought away. As the train reached Hogwarts station, he had
already read more than one-thirds of the book!

The train slowed down and eventually stopped with a jerk. A put his book into
the bag along with the leftover chips and nuts. Suddenly he remembered
Mum’s instructions and took out the soap and used it to wash his hands in the
train itself. When he got out of the compartment, most people had already
alighted and he could see a giant standing at the other end of the platform,
waiving happily to everybody. It took A sometime to figure out that he was
staring at Rubeus Hagrid who had come to receive them!! A walked towards
Hagrid, trying to remember if his height was 11 feet or 9 feet. By the time he
came close to him, he realized that he did not even reach up to Hagrid’s knee!
He looked up as he heard the booming voice “WELCOME TO HOGWARTS” and
found the big warm and fuzzy face of Hagrid smiling broadly at him. Suddenly
he heard something that made his heart race:

“Heyyy, you can look like Harry Potter Jr! Need to change your glasses though!!
Ho, ho ho!”

Hagrid almost sounded like Santa and as A looked up again on hearing this, the
friendly giant winked at him! A wanted to ask if he can visit Hagrid’s cabin, but
could not muster enough courage to do so. He just smiled with a twinkle in his
eyes and walked past along with the others on the train. His chest pumped up,
he was feeling quite special already!

They all got into a flying bus and reached Hogwarts in a jiffy! It was already
dark and as they entered the big hall, A could see a well decorated and huge
Christmas tree in the middle of the hall, going through the high roof. Lights
floating in the air, Christmas carols were being sung by unseen people and
wafts of other music were also flowing in. All of a sudden it started to rain in
the hall. Except that there were no rain drops – colourful petals of different
flowers greeted all the guests. Hagrid’s voice echoed in the hall:

“Hi Folks! Welcome to Hogwarts again! You must be quite tired from the
journey and hungry. There are some snakes, I mean snacks, for you on
the tables on the far side. Please help yourselves and then you will be
taken to your rooms. You have these friendly elves around you who will
be at your service. I will see you guys tomorrow! Tomorrow is full of
exciting activities so sleep well. GOOD NIGHT!”

A was a bit disappointed as he expected to be a part of Christmas eve party
and meet all his favourite characters! But the expectation of exciting things
that will happen tomorrow kept him in good spirits. He looked at the tables
and found that it was all Muggle food! As he was picking a few things to eat
and his favourite juice, he remembered something and looked at all the elves
closely. And sure enough, the kind hearted and loyal, Dobby the house elf was
standing there proudly, surveying the guests milling around! A remembered
that Dobby was indebted to Harry for his freedom and wanted to go and talk
to the elf. But feeling shy he focused his attention on his food. The journey
and excitement had also made him very tired. As he nibbled at his food, he
thought if Mummy or Papa were there, he would have been ‘spoon-fed’!! 
That thought made him focus more on his food and he managed to finish most
of the food. Soon, they were in their rooms, accompanied by very cordial elves.
He did not see Dobby again. In no time, everybody was in their night clothes,
had brushed their teeth and was in bed. A was among the few who had
washed their hands and faces with soap as well! In the bathroom, if one said
soap, a soap bottle appeared and had the fragrance of your choice! All guests
were fast asleep very soon, with no fear of dementors etc. Their dreams were
to come true tomorrow!

When A got up next morning, the sun was peeping through the window. He
was about to call for Mummy but suddenly realized that he was not in his
bedroom; did not have Mummy to cuddle up to or Papa to get him ready! But
it was Christmas day, he was at Hogwarts and probably the most exciting day
of his life had just begun! He was still a bit sleepy but did not wish to miss out
on anything. So got up, went to the loo and started to brush his teeth. While
he was focusing on the lower molars, few owls flew in and dropped pieces of
paper on all the beds in his dorm. He quickly finished brushing, ran to his bed
and picked up the paper. It was the programme of Christmas day festivities.