What the hell was that?
After getting off the train, Harry was about to board a carriage bound for the Castle when he casually glanced up and got a fright.
This was Harry's second time taking a carriage to Hogwarts Castle. He had ridden in one last school year.
By Hogwarts tradition, the new first-years traveled to the Castle by boat, just as the school's four Founders had when they first came here together.
Students in their second year and above went to the Castle by carriage instead. It was much faster than rowing.
In his second year, Harry and Ron had come speeding in by car, so they had missed the carriages. But he had ridden in one last year. At the time, Harry had wondered how the carriage could have no horses yet still go so incredibly fast.
It really was incredibly fast.
The boats carrying the first-years were magically powered and very quick, and they took a straight route across the lake.
By comparison, the carriages actually took a long way around, yet the older students arrived much earlier than the new ones. That showed just how fast the carriages were.
Before now, Harry had simply assumed they were powered by some special magic. That made perfect sense. They were in the magical world, after all, so magically powered carriages were only natural.
But just now, when he had casually glanced over, he had seen two creatures in front of the carriage...
For a moment, he had no idea how to describe those things.
They looked a little like horses, but also very much like certain reptiles. If he had not seen the slight rise and fall of their bellies and chests, Harry would definitely have suspected they were some kind of zombie creature.
There was almost