A flight of weathered stone steps led to a massive oak door. Ogg knocked. Before he could knock a second time the door swung open.

At first, June thought the door had opened of its own volition, but then the tip of a hat appeared over Ogg’s shoulder, and a witch seated on a carpet hovered into view. She surveyed the shivering first years with a smile as warm as the yellow of her robes.

Ogg wordlessly tipped his cap at the witch, then glanced over his shoulder toward the now empty boats.

“Thank you, Ogg. I shall take them from here,” the witch said, and the groundskeeper stomped off without another word to anyone.

The witch turned her attention back to the waiting students. “Welcome to Hogwarts. I’m Professor Glazer. Follow me, if you please, right through here.” There was a collective intake of breath as the students followed Professor Glazer into the cavernous Entrance Hall. Doors and corridors lead off in every direction, and or a moment June imagined she was an ant in her colony.

Unlike home or even Granny Beetle’s cottage, the Entrance Hall wasn’t lit by gas lamps, but instead by hundreds of flickering torches. Even the children who had grown up in the wizarding world peered about the Entrance Hall with unabashed wonder and excitement, only half-paying attention as they walked across the floor after their witch guide.

June almost didn’t notice the soft fwump of a small, soft object hitting the floor behind her. She idly reached into her pocket to pat Nugget, and her fingers brushed against the fabric of her robe.

Nugget had escaped.

Something glittered out of the corner of her eye. She slowly pivoted until she was facing the door from which they had just entered. Framing the entryway towered four hourglasses, each spanning from the floor to the ceiling and each brimming with a different brightly colored jewel - sapphire, ruby, emerald, and diamond. And there, ambling across the floor with eyes firmly fixed on the hourglass full of diamonds, was Nugget.