King's Cross Station was as crowded and noisy as ever. People with all kinds of expressions hurried through the station carrying all sorts of luggage, while the low hum of arriving trains and platform announcements echoed endlessly, creating an atmosphere of constant bustle.
Avada Kendavia was now one of the many people in the station. He held only a medium-sized suitcase in his hand, nothing more—unlike other wizarding students who carried cages of owls or other strange belongings that inevitably drew attention. He moved through the station with practiced ease, and within moments arrived at the gap between Platforms Nine and Ten.
After a full school year studying spatial magic and the Vanishing Cabinet, as well as researching Floo Powder during the summer holidays, the space magic hidden in the platform no longer felt completely incomprehensible to him. At the very least, he could now trace its patterns—unlike last year, when he hadn't understood the structure at all and had needed to poke it first before daring to walk through.
"I'm early. Didn't run into the Weasley family or Harry Potter."
He shook his head inwardly. It didn't really matter, but missing the chance to personally take part in a historical moment still felt a little regretful. With that thought, he took out his ticket, held it in his hand, and walked straight toward the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters—
"Ken!"
Two almost identical voices rang out at the same time, catching Avada off guard for a moment before he realized there were two people calling him.
"Yo—Fred, George? You're here too?"
He turned around and greeted the two identical redheads with a smile, only to see a whole group of equally red-haired people emerging behind them.
Over the course of the school year, Avada had maintained a pretty good relationship with the Weasley twins. Aside from the fact that they had somehow bestowed upon him the title of "Prankmagus," the main reason was that the two of them frequently missed dinner due to detentions and had to sneak into the kitchens before curfew to scrounge up food. Coincidentally, that was also the time when Avada was busiest, often returning to the common room right at curfew himself. As a result, he ran into the twins far more often than any other Gryffindor.
Of course, it also helped that every time Avada met the twins, he would tag along with them to the kitchens to grab something to eat—and if he had enough time and was in the mood, he would occasionally cook a meal for them himself. Little by little, they had grown quite close.
"Let me introduce you," Fred said, turning to his family and pointing solemnly at Avada. "This is 'the one whose name must not be spoken'—Ken!"
"Throughout all of Hogwarts, from Headmaster Dumbledore down to the first-year students, not a single person can say his true name. Even among students, what his real name is has always been a mystery. Rumor has it that Dumbledore personally ordered it to be kept secret!"
"Wow, that's so cool," someone in the Weasley family whispered in awe.
"And as thanks for taking care of our meals all last year—" Fred paused deliberately.
George immediately picked it up. "We prefer to call him the 'You-no-full'!"
"Pff—cough, cough, cough!"
Avada failed to hold it in and ended up choking on his own saliva, coughing for quite a while. How in the world did they come up with such a ridiculous nickname?!
"Don't call people that."
A short, plump woman smacked George on the back of the head, then turned to Avada with a warm smile. "It's lovely to meet you, Ken. I'm Molly Weasley, the mother of these two troublemakers… Thank you for looking after them last year."
"You're too kind, really…"
To pass the time while waiting for Harry Potter to arrive—and to avoid the Boy Who Lived being stuck outside the platform on his very first year—Avada struck up a conversation with the Weasley family outside the station.
"Percy Weasley, fifth year, Gryffindor prefect. Pleased to meet you."
A tall, red-haired wizard stepped forward and shook his hand. "If Fred and George ever bother you at school, just tell me. I'll deal with them!"
"Hey, how can that be called bothering someone? Do you have any idea how much effort we put into coming up with that title—"
Fred and George tried to protest, but under Mrs. Weasley's stern glare, they slowly shrank back.
"Ahem."
George straightened his expression and pulled another red-haired boy out of the crowd. "This is my brother, Ronald Weasley—just call him Ron. He's starting at Hogwarts this year."
"And this is Ginny, our youngest sister. She should be starting next year—"
He was about to continue when a hesitant voice suddenly interrupted from nearby.
"Um… excuse me?"
Everyone turned their heads at once, only to see Harry Potter standing there, looking anxious after failing to find the platform.
"You're here too?" Avada smiled at Harry. "Can't find the platform?"
"Ken? Ah—yes, I don't know how to get through…"
Seeing a familiar face, Harry froze for a moment before his expression brightened with relief.
"Perfect timing. We're just about to go in anyway, so we'll show you. Watch carefully—Mrs. Weasley, everyone, I'll head in first. See you inside."
With that, he took an elegant step forward and walked straight into the pillar, disappearing from sight in an instant.
"Just like that," Mrs. Weasley said kindly to Harry, then turned to her children. "Percy, you go next."
…
Whether Harry ended up running headlong into the platform like in the original timeline—only to crash painfully in his second year—or managed to walk through as gracefully as Avada, thus being slightly less miserable when Dobby blocked the barrier next term… in any case, Avada was already satisfied to have witnessed a milestone of history.
After greeting the Weasley family once they came through, he dragged his luggage onto the train and began looking for a compartment.
"Hey—Cedric?"
After walking along the train for a bit, Avada spotted Cedric sitting alone in a compartment reading and greeted him proactively.
"Long time no see, Ken."
Cedric looked up and smiled, nodding at him. "Looking for a compartment? Want to sit here?"
"If you don't mind."
Avada stepped inside, slightly surprised—he'd thought Cedric was waiting for Cho.
"How was your holiday?"
"Amazing! My dad took me to Bulgaria to watch their Quidditch league live. Merlin, you wouldn't believe it—there's a genius Seeker over there named Viktor Krum. They say he's still a student! He's absolutely the best Seeker I've ever seen. That Wronski Feint—honestly, it's unbelievable he's only a bit older than me…"
The moment Quidditch came up, Cedric became animated, talking nonstop. It took quite a while—and a drink of water—before he finally calmed down.
"Oh—sorry, I got carried away. How about you?"
"Not bad."
Seeing that Cedric was still reluctant to let go of that thrilling match, Avada went along with the topic, even though he wasn't particularly interested in Quidditch himself. "Thanks to Baron, I got to try out Nimbus Racing Broom Company's new product—the Nimbus 2000—ahead of time. I have to say, it's fast and incredibly comfortable. Not only that, I also happened to witness the birth of the next broom's concept—the Nimbus 2001…"
Cedric's eyes had already gone wide the moment he heard about the Nimbus 2000, though he held back from interrupting. Avada chuckled internally and quickly stopped, allowing Cedric to finally vent his excitement and envy.
"You talking about new brooms?"
Just as Cedric pressed Avada for details about how the Nimbus 2000 felt, the compartment door opened again. Baron Shafiq stood outside. "Mind if I join?"
"Not at all."
Cedric gestured for him to come in. After a year at Hogwarts, nearly everyone knew that Baron was an unusually easygoing Slytherin—someone who could hold a normal conversation with Gryffindors. Most people had a fairly good impression of him.
(End of Chapter)