The Weasley Family

King's Cross Station was as crowded and noisy as ever. People with all sorts of expressions carried all kinds of things through the station, while the rumble of arriving trains and platform announcements rang out now and then, adding to the din.

Avada Kedavra was now one of the station's many travelers. He carried only a modest suitcase; he had nothing else with him, unlike the other wizarding students, who carried cages of owls or other strange things that drew attention. He moved through the station with practiced ease, reaching the space between Platforms Nine and Ten in no time.

After a school year of studying Spatial Magic and the Vanishing Cabinet, followed by a summer spent researching Floo Powder, the Spatial Magic at the station was no longer completely incomprehensible to him. At least, he could follow its traces—at this point last year, he hadn't been able to make sense of the magical structure at all, and had needed to poke it before daring to walk through.

I'm early. I haven't run into the Weasley family or Harry Potter.

He shook his head to himself. It didn't really matter, but he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that he hadn't gotten to take part in a moment of history firsthand. So he took out his ticket, held it in his hand, and headed straight for the entrance to Platform 9 3/4...

"Ken!"

Two nearly identical voices rang out at once, leaving Avada momentarily unsure whether two people were calling to him.

"Well, Fred, George? You're here too?"

He turned around and greeted the two identical redheads, then spotted a whole crowd of people with the same red hair behind them.

Throughout the school year, Avada and the Weasley Twins had gotten along well. Aside from the fact that, thanks to him, they had earned the nickname "Prank Magus," the main reason was that the two of them often missed dinner because they'd been kept in detention, and could only sneak into the kitchens for a bite before curfew. That also happened to be Avada's busiest time. He often returned to the common room right before curfew, so he ran into the twins quite frequently—far more often than any other Gryffindor...

Of course, it also helped that whenever Avada ran into the twins, he would tag along with them to the kitchens for a bite to eat. When he had the time and was in the mood, he would even cook for them himself. Before long, they had become close.

"Let me introduce you."

Fred turned to face his family, pointed at Avada, and announced in a solemn tone, "This is the one whose name must not be spoken—Ken!"

"Throughout all of Hogwarts, from Headmaster Dumbledore to the first-years, not a single person can say his real name. Even among the students, what his real name is remains a secret. They say Dumbledore himself ordered it kept hidden!"

"Wow, that's so cool."

A few murmurs of admiration came from the Weasley family.

"And to thank him for looking after our meals all last year..."

Fred paused, and George immediately picked up where he left off. "We prefer to call him You no full!" (Note)

"Pfft! Cough, cough..."

Avada couldn't hold it in and choked on his own saliva, coughing for quite a while. How had they even come up with such an outrageous nickname?!

"You can't call people things like that."

A short, plump woman gave George a disapproving smack on the back of the head, then smiled at Avada. "It's lovely to meet you, Ken. I'm Molly Weasley, the boys' mother... Thank you for looking out for them last year."

"Think nothing of it..."

To kill time while waiting for Harry Potter to arrive, and keep the Chosen One from getting stuck outside the station in his first year, Avada struck up a conversation with the Weasley family outside the station.

"Percy Weasley, fifth year, Gryffindor Prefect. It's a pleasure to meet you."

A tall, red-haired wizard stepped forward and shook his hand. "If Fred and George ever give you trouble at school, just tell me. I'll sort them out!"

"Hey, how can you call that giving him trouble? You have no idea how much effort we put into coming up with that nickname..."

Fred and George tried to protest, but slowly fell silent beneath Mrs. Weasley's warning look.

"Ahem."

George straightened up and pulled another red-haired boy out of the crowd. "This is my younger brother, Ronald Weasley. You can call him Ron—he's just starting at Hogwarts this year."

"And this is Ginny, the youngest in our family. She should be starting next year..."

He pointed to a little girl and was just about to continue when a voice from the side interrupted him. "Excuse me?"

Everyone turned together and spotted Harry Potter, looking nervous as he searched for the platform.

"You're here too?"

Avada smiled at Harry. "Can't find the platform?"

"Ken? Oh, yes. I don't know how to get there..."

Harry froze when he saw a familiar face, then broke into a delighted smile.

"Perfect. We're just about to go in, so we can show you. Watch closely—Mrs. Weasley, everyone, I'll go in first. See you in a bit."

With that, he strode elegantly forward and stepped through the barrier with ease, vanishing from view.

"That's how it's done," Mrs. Weasley said kindly to Harry. Then she turned to her children. "Percy, you go too."

Whether Harry would run at the barrier as he had originally, then crash into it hard the following term, or walk through as elegantly as Avada and be a little less helpless when Dobby blocked the entrance next term was beside the point. Avada had already witnessed a historic milestone to his heart's content. So, after waiting for the Weasley family to come through and greeting them, he took his luggage onto the train and went looking for a compartment.

"Well, Cedric?"

After walking along the train for a while, Avada spotted Cedric sitting alone in a compartment, reading a book, and went over to greet him.

"Long time no see, Ken."

Cedric looked up and nodded at him with a smile. "Are you looking for a compartment? Want to sit here?"

"If you don't mind."

Avada entered the compartment, a little surprised. He'd thought Cedric was waiting for Cho.

"How was your holiday?"

"Fantastic! My dad took me to Bulgaria to watch their Quidditch league in person. You have no idea—they've got a brilliant Seeker there named Viktor Krum. I heard he's still a student. He's absolutely the best Seeker I've ever seen! You should have seen that incredible Wronski Feint. Merlin, it's hard to believe he's only a little older than me..."

As soon as Quidditch came up, Cedric launched into an excited stream of chatter. It took him a while to rein in his enthusiasm, and he even took a drink of water to settle himself.

"Oh, sorry. I got carried away. How about you?"

"Not bad."

Seeing that Cedric still seemed reluctant to leave that amazing match behind, Avada went along with the Quidditch talk, even though he wasn't particularly interested in it. "Thanks to Baron, I got to try out the Nimbus Racing Broom Company's new model, the Nimbus 2000, ahead of time. I have to say, it really is fast and comfortable. And that's not all—I also happened to witness the plans for their next broom, the Nimbus 2001, taking shape..."

Cedric's eyes had already widened when Avada mentioned trying the Nimbus 2000, though he'd held back from interrupting. Avada found it amusing and quickly stopped there, giving Cedric a chance to express his excitement and envy.

"Are you two talking about new brooms?"

Just as Cedric was pressing Avada about how the Nimbus 2000 felt, the compartment door opened again. Baron Shafiq stood outside. "Mind if I join you?"

"By all means."

Cedric gestured for him to come in. After getting to know Baron during the previous school year, almost everyone knew he was a fairly easygoing Slytherin who could even talk normally with Gryffindors. They all had a good impression of him.

Note: "You-Know-Who" and "You no full" are Chinese-English homophones.