Gus was one of the last people to get onto the Thestral-drawn carriages, having spent a good amount of time wrangling Charlie and trying to her back into her carrier for the time being. The cat had bolted as soon as the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station, and Gus had been forced to scour the vicinity for any sign of her. Thankfully, he'd been able to locate and recapture the long-haired calico before everyone had left without him.

When he actually managed to get to the carriages, most of them had left already. The only ones left were either empty or had tardy members of the school faculty in them. All Gus knew was that there was no way in hell he was riding with any of the professors. Especially not when he managed to miss out an entire month's worth of coursework due to his rather unfortunately timed injury the previous school year. Picking an empty carriage, it was soon time to take off. While he couldn't actually see the Thestrals pulling the carriages, Gus knew what they were. After all, they [i]did[/i] cover the topic of Thestrals in Care of Magical Creatures.

As the multiple carriages glided through the air, Gus could see Hogwarts slowly coming into view. Silhouetted against the backdrop of the night sky, the castle was slowly beginning to light up. Soon enough, they had arrived at their destination. Students began to pile out from the carriages onto the bridge leading to the school. The chattering of excited students filled the air as everyone began to crowd into Hogwarts. At the corner of his eye, he spotted some of his buddies from the Quidditch team. Grinning, Gus made his way over to them, expertly weaving through the crowd.

Within moments, Gus and his friends were engaged in a conversation about anything and everything under the sun. They hadn't seen each other since for a long while and had a lot to catch up on. Finding their seats at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, Gus spotted Grace; one of the prefects sitting at the head of the table. She was in the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, too. Giving her a little wave, he briefly turned his attention to the high table. The sorting ceremony was going to start soon, and he wondered which of the first-years would end up joining Hufflepuff.