Even though Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and Platform Seven and a Half were disguised, Muggles sometimes still stumbled into the two platforms by accident.
They were astonished when they saw the steam trains still puffing smoke, as if they had wandered into a museum.
At times like that, rude wizards would stuff them back onto the Muggle platform the way they would throw children who had wandered into a pub back out, without erasing their memories.
So Muggles developed an urban legend: there was a secret staircase at King's Cross Station that led to a space where old locomotives were stored. But few people took an interest in the tale.
Whenever people rode trains or the Underground, the carriages were filled with men and women reading newspapers. Trying to chat with someone on the train was a disaster, and even the naughtiest children were told not to make too much noise.
If someone suggested, "Hey, let's go look for that secret staircase," people would look at them as though they were insane. In fact, the British Psychological Society had even classified "train enthusiasts" as a form of autism and given it a name: Asperger syndrome.
The pure-blood wizards were troubled by this and hoped they would no longer have to share platforms with Muggles. The Ministry of Magic gave the same response as always: either go to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters to catch the train, or don't fucking go to school!
And so the whole world fell silent.
Before Britain's values had been completely overturned, there had been an unspoken elegance to the country. No matter what people were like in private, everyone understood restraint in public life, behaving with humility and dignity, as though contributing something to that refined custom.
Society had been full of care and goodwill then.