The journey of the first years

Let it be known that every first year student at Hogwarts is required upon arrival at the school's train station, must exit and gather together under the supervision and direction of their assigned caretaker, most recently Hagrid the gameskeeper. From there, they are to follow him down a path to a river where they will find a collection of boats that they must enter, four students to one boat. Once aboard, Hagrid gives the call,"Forward!" and the boats seem to magically advance silently across the water. Eventually they sail to a great black lake where the students can then view the school atop a high mountain on the other side of the lake. As they approached the cliff upon where the school stood, they had to duck their heads to go through a ivy curtain that hid a wide opening which took the along a dark tunnel leading to an underground harbor underneath the castle. From there, they disembark and follow Hagrid up a passageway to a smooth path of grass in the shadow of the castle. There after knocking on the door, are they let in to be gathered into a room while waiting to be sorted into houses during the sorting ceremony.