Hogwarts Express

London King's Cross Station, Platform 9¾.

Beside the platform, a deep red steam train stood waiting, its sign reading: Hogwarts Express, Eleven O'Clock.

Today was the start of term at Hogwarts, and the station was especially lively, as boarding the Hogwarts Express was the only way for young wizards to reach the school.

Over the bustling crowd, a few owls occasionally flew past, and cats darted between feet from time to time.

Matthew felt a twinge of nostalgia. In his previous life, he had also taken a train to school.

He remembered his first train ride—he hadn't managed to get a seat, and those dozen or so hours had been agonizing.

By now, the first few carriages were already packed with students. Matthew, carrying Preserved Egg, found an empty compartment near the end of the train.

Matthew took a seat by the window, and Preserved Egg eagerly jumped down from his arms.

Matthew called out, "The train will leave soon. Don't get off, Preserved Egg!"

"Meow~" Preserved Egg replied and padded out of the compartment.

Matthew watched the crowd outside the window for a while but didn't spot anyone familiar. He pulled a copy of The Quibbler from his Undetectable Extension Charm Pocket. Luna had mentioned she'd published an article in it.

After searching for a bit, he found Luna's piece in the bottom right corner of the second page. It featured a very eye-catching magical photo—a moving image of feeding a Little Thunderbird. The article itself was much the same, documenting the process of feeding the Little Thunderbird earthworms.

Matthew frowned slightly. Publishing information about a Thunderbird in a magazine might attract the attention of the Magical Creatures protection department. But Luna knew Newt, so she could use that as an opportunity to talk to him later.

Before Matthew could dwell on it further, two red-haired Twin Brothers appeared at the compartment door.

"Hey~ Fred, look who it is~?"

Matthew turned his head to see George dancing in a strange way.

George twisted his body and pointed both hands at Fred.

Fred clutched his head with his right hand and his stomach with his left, bending over as he said, "Who~?"

George kept wiggling, swinging his hands back and forth below his waist: "The New King of Slytherin~"

Fred raised both arms, pointed two fingers at Matthew, half-squatted, and hopped backward while shouting:

"Matthew Black!"

Matthew felt like he could dig a whole building out of the floor with his toes right then and there.

He said helplessly, "What are you two up to again! Don't go sticking weird titles on me!"

Fred looked a bit surprised. "You don't know about it either? We didn't come up with that."

George said, "I heard it from Percy. He said you're famous among the upper years too!"

Matthew frowned. He sensed something was off. This title was practically putting him on a fire to roast, and it had started circulating among the older students first—someone was probably fanning the flames.

A few days ago at the Leaky Cauldron, Old Tom had also mentioned someone was keeping an eye on him...

But Matthew wasn't afraid. He'd actually kept a low profile. Though he'd done quite a few things under the alias Gehrman over the years, to the outside world, his real identity was just an outstanding top student in his year.

The information gap would leave anyone scheming against Matthew with a bloody nose.

Matthew took a Music Box from his pocket. "This Music Box can slightly disrupt a wizard's magical flow, but it's damaged. See if you can fix it."

George and Fred had loved making prank items since they were kids, and they had a real talent for it. The question was whether the repaired Music Box would still work the same way.

Fred tested the Music Box's effect and said excitedly, "I like this challenge!"

Fred put the Music Box away and asked, "The Daily Prophet says Harry Potter is enrolling this year. We're going to find him. Want to come see our Mr. Savior?"

Matthew shook his head. "I'll run into him at Hogwarts anyway."

After the twins left, Matthew pulled out a copy of The Daily Prophet from his pocket.

"Latest Report on the Gringotts Break-In..." That was the headline. The late-July Gringotts burglary was still dominating the news, with the entire article being Gringotts and the Auror Office passing the buck back and forth.

"Mr. Savior Enrolls at Hogwarts!..." This article took up most of the paper. The author clearly knew how to ride a trend, describing Harry Potter's battle with The Dark Lord in vivid detail. If you ignored the fact that Harry Potter was just a baby at the time, it was a decent piece.

He recalled the plot—Voldemort had possessed Professor Quirinus Quirrell. The Gringotts heist was probably their doing. Voldemort wanted to use the Philosopher's Stone to resurrect.

Voldemort would later use Quirrell's body to sneak into Hogwarts and steal the Philosopher's Stone. Matthew didn't plan to get involved. He trusted that Mr. Savior would handle it.

Matthew could sense that the crystal on the ring-shaped Metal Disc was almost fully charged. Soon, he'd be able to cross over to that other world again. Exploring that world was his top priority.

"So here you are, Matthew." A brown-haired boy with bright eyes stood at the door.

He walked into the compartment and sat directly across from Matthew.

"Hey, Jerry."

Jerry Abbott, a Slytherin student in Matthew's year and also his roommate.

Matthew put down The Daily Prophet and asked with some surprise, "Just you? Aren't you and the Bohan family both in Godric's Hollow? Why didn't you come together?"

"Bohan?" Jerry rolled his eyes. "That guy did come to the platform with me, but he said he had to go find his new girlfriend and told me to find you myself."

Geralt Bohan, Matthew's other roommate. He probably had a lot in common with some sorceress of the same name—his ex-girlfriends might outnumber the spells the younger students knew.

"New girlfriend? The Emma you met before the holiday?" Matthew rummaged through his pocket and pulled out two bottles of soda, handing one to Jerry.

Jerry took a gulp of soda, let out a long breath, and said, "Your info's outdated. He got another new girlfriend over the summer. Poor Amanda—she spent the whole break delivering letters for Geralt. I'm afraid she'll drop dead from overwork."

Amanda was Geralt's owl.

"Okay." Matthew twisted open the soda bottle cap, took a sip, and didn't offer much commentary on the other roommate's exploits—he was used to it by now.

Jerry, however, began to complain, grumbling, "At the rate Geralt swaps girlfriends, by the time we graduate, we'll probably run into nine of his exes just taking a stroll through the Ministry of Magic!"

A portion of Hogwarts students go on to work at the Ministry of Magic after graduation.

Jerry shifted gears, lowering his voice mysteriously. "I saw someone when I got on the train just now."

"Who?" Matthew played along with a grin.

"Mr. Savior himself—Harry Potter!" Jerry's tone was a bit dramatic.