Charles McKinnon

The two exchanged a glance and continued pressing against the window to watch the commotion.

"Do you think they'll actually fight?" Vivian asked Anduin, clearly hoping for some excitement.

"Probably not. Don't you see the Aurors already showing up to keep order?"

The crowd up ahead was quickly dispersed by Aurors who had arrived at the scene, and the two sides, who had been arguing and seemed ready to come to blows, were separated.

"Phew, I thought they'd at least throw a punch, but all they did was flap their gums. How boring." Vivian watched the dispersing crowd with a look of utter tedium.

Anduin looked at the girl and felt like he was seeing one of those gossiping aunties from his previous life, the kind who just sat back and enjoyed the show as long as the world's chaos didn't touch them.

"Which house do you think we'll get sorted into? The Bulstrode family's always been in Slytherin, so I'll probably end up there too," Vivian asked, sounding bored.

"I don't really mind, but Ravenclaw would be best. I heard they have their own private library." Anduin had done a bit of research on the houses; he just wanted to study in peace.

"Ha, looking at you, Ravenclaw definitely fits. The first thing I saw you doing was reading a book. I heard Ravenclaw students are all really smart."

"If you do end up in Slytherin, you'd better be careful. The magical world's so chaotic right now, and I've heard a lot of people who worship the Dark Lord are in Slytherin." Anduin looked at Vivian and offered a friendly warning.

"Not necessarily. Actually, a lot of families from Slytherin are neutral, like the Bulstrodes. Many of them don't think the Dark Lord will win in the end." Vivian shrugged it off.

"Because of Dumbledore? I heard he's the greatest wizard of our time." Anduin wasn't particularly interested in Slytherin's internal politics, since he was Muggle-born and would almost certainly never be sorted there.

"It's not just that. Our clan leader said the Dark Lord's pure-blood ideology is too extreme—he wants to get rid of all Muggle-born wizards. But you know, a lot of pure-blood families do business with Muggles, and besides..." Vivian leaned in mysteriously. "And besides, a lot of pure-blood families have intermarried with Muggles at some point, otherwise they wouldn't have lasted this many generations."

Anduin had thought about that before. Constant inbreeding would mean a lot of newborns with mental issues or physical defects.

"You'd better not say that in Slytherin, or they'll definitely give you trouble." Anduin was speechless at this girl's loose tongue.

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid."

Just then, their conversation was interrupted.

A boy was knocking at the compartment door.

"Hey, do you mind if I squeeze in here?" The boy scratched his head and smiled. "All the other compartments are full."

"Of course not, there's plenty of room. I'm Anduin Wilson, and this is Vivian Bulstrode." The compartment could seat six, so three people wouldn't feel cramped at all.

"Charles. I'm Charles McKinnon." Charles smiled a little shyly.

Charles was tall—maybe even taller than Anduin—but he looked a bit thin.

When Vivian heard the name, she started making exaggerated faces at Anduin, clearly signaling that this was the McKinnon family member she'd just been talking about.

Anduin shot Vivian a glance and helped Charles stow his luggage. As soon as Charles sat down, Vivian started chattering away with him.

Luckily, it was all small talk. Anduin was afraid Vivian would just blurt out, "Hey, was that your family almost throwing down out there?"—the atmosphere in the compartment would have been unbearably awkward for the whole ride.

"Hey, did you hear? Minister of Magic Harold Minchum is about to step down. Everyone says all he's done is put more Dementors around Azkaban, but he can't stop the Dark Lord from taking over. The Death Eaters are getting bolder—I heard they even attacked Sirius Black in Diagon Alley last month." Vivian pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet and showed it to them.

That was in Knockturn Alley, Anduin thought helplessly. He was starting to realize Vivian seemed to know a little bit about everything—her information network was way too good. She'd make a perfect gossip columnist someday.

"It's about time he was replaced. Just playing defense only causes more pointless casualties. Those damned Death Eaters stop at nothing." Charles seemed to hate the Death Eaters with a passion. The moment the topic came up, his shy demeanor vanished, replaced by anger.

"Don't worry, they won't be running wild for much longer." Anduin didn't remember much of the plot from Harry Potter, but he knew Voldemort would fall not long after Harry was born.

Charles McKinnon took Anduin's words as mere comfort and gave an awkward smile. "My family's been fighting the Dark Lord for years. Several of them joined the Aurors. Those Death Eaters attacked my uncle last time—broke his leg. He's still recovering at St. Mungo's. He's absolutely certain one of the Death Eaters who attacked him was Travers, but the Ministry didn't even investigate, let alone gather evidence. It's infuriating."

Charles McKinnon vented his grievances about the Ministry and the Death Eaters to Anduin and Vivian. From this, Anduin gathered that there were conflicting voices within the Ministry, preventing it from fully opposing Voldemort. The upcoming change in the Minister of Magic was probably related to that.

"That's terrible. Your uncle saw the Death Eaters in person and they still couldn't arrest him?" Vivian looked incredulous.

"A lot of Death Eaters wear masks when they act. Sometimes even if you recognize them, there's nothing you can do." Anduin explained to Vivian, since he had dealt with Death Eaters firsthand.

Charles McKinnon nodded at Anduin's words, but couldn't help wondering how Anduin knew so much.

Just as the three little brats were discussing matters of national importance, the train finally started moving.

"Finally, the train's moving. I heard it takes several hours to get there." Vivian started rambling again.

Several hours? Anduin didn't understand why the magical world, with all its convenient magic, would waste several hours on travel, and with such an outdated steam train at that. He turned to ask the other two.