London, King's Cross Station – Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
Beside the platform stood a deep red steam locomotive. A sign on its side read:
[Hogwarts Express – 11:00]
Today was the start of term at Hogwarts, and the station was unusually lively. After all, the Hogwarts Express was the only way for young witches and wizards to reach the school.
Owls occasionally swooped overhead, while cats darted between people's feet.
Matthew couldn't help feeling a little nostalgic. In his previous life, he had also taken trains to school.
He remembered his first train journey—he hadn't even managed to get a seat. Those long hours had been unbearable.
The front carriages were already packed with students. Carrying Pidan in his arms, Matthew found an empty compartment near the rear of the train.
He took a seat by the window. Pidan immediately leapt out of his arms.
"The train's about to leave—don't get off, Pidan!" Matthew called.
"Meow~"
Pidan responded and trotted out of the compartment anyway.
Matthew glanced out the window for a while but didn't spot anyone familiar. He then reached into his Extension Charm pouch and pulled out a copy of The Quibbler. Luna had mentioned that she'd had an article published in it.
After flipping through, he found it in the lower right corner of the second page.
There was a rather eye-catching magical photograph attached—a moving image of Luna feeding the baby Thunderbird. The article itself was fairly simple, mostly documenting the process of feeding it worms.
Matthew frowned slightly.
Publishing information about a Thunderbird in a magazine might attract the attention of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Still, since Luna knew Newt Scamander, they could probably use that connection if needed.
Before he could think further, the compartment door slid open.
Two red-haired twins walked in.
"Hey~ Fred, look who it is~?" George said.
Matthew turned to see George dancing in a rather ridiculous manner.
George twisted his body and pointed both hands toward Fred.
Fred clutched his head with one hand and his stomach with the other, bending over dramatically.
"Who could it be~?"
George continued wriggling, swinging his hands back and forth near his hips.
"The new King of Slytherin~"
Fred suddenly straightened, pointing both index fingers at Matthew while crouching low, hopping backward as he shouted:
"Matthew Black!"
Matthew felt like he could dig a building out of the floor with his toes from sheer embarrassment.
"What are you two doing now? Don't go giving me weird titles!"
Fred looked surprised. "You didn't know? We didn't come up with it."
George added, "I heard it from Percy. He said you're pretty famous even among the upper years!"
Matthew frowned slightly.
Something felt off.
This title was practically putting him on display—and if it had already spread among the older students, someone was clearly pushing it behind the scenes.
A few days ago, Old Tom had also warned him that someone was watching him…
Still, Matthew remained unconcerned.
He had kept his identity well hidden. Although he had done quite a few things under the alias "German," to outsiders he was nothing more than a top student in his year.
That information gap would ensure that anyone targeting him would pay a heavy price.
Matthew took out the music box from his pocket.
"This music box can slightly interfere with a wizard's magical flow, but it's damaged. See if you can repair it."
Fred and George had always enjoyed inventing prank items—they were quite talented in that regard. Whether the repaired box would retain its original effect, however, remained to be seen.
Fred tested it briefly and grinned.
"I like this challenge!"
He pocketed the music box and asked, "The Daily Prophet says Harry Potter is starting school this year. We're going to find him—want to come meet our famous Savior?"
Matthew shook his head. "I'll run into him at Hogwarts sooner or later."
After the twins left, Matthew pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet.
"Latest Report on the Gringotts Break-In…"
That was the headline. Even though the robbery had occurred at the end of July, it still frequently dominated the news. The article was filled with mutual blame between Gringotts and the Auror Office.
"The Savior Enters Hogwarts!…"
This article took up most of the paper. The writer clearly knew how to capitalize on hype, vividly recounting Harry Potter's battle with You-Know-Who—though conveniently ignoring the fact that Harry had only been an infant at the time.
Matthew recalled the storyline.
Voldemort had possessed Professor Quirinus Quirrell. The Gringotts break-in was likely their doing—Voldemort was trying to obtain the Philosopher's Stone to restore himself.
Later, he would infiltrate Hogwarts through Quirrell's body to steal the Stone.
Matthew had no intention of getting involved.
He trusted that the so-called Savior would handle it.
He could already sense that the crystal in the metal disc was nearly fully charged. It wouldn't be long before he could travel to the other world again.
Exploring that world was his priority.
"So this is where you were, Matthew."
A brown-haired boy with bright eyes stood at the compartment door.
He stepped inside and sat down directly across from Matthew.
"Hah, Jerry."
Jerry Abbott, a fellow Slytherin in Matthew's year, and also his dormmate.
Matthew set down the Daily Prophet and asked in surprise, "Just you? Don't you and Geralt both live in Godric's Hollow? Why didn't you come together?"
"Geralt?" Jerry rolled his eyes. "He did come to the station with me, but then he said he was going off to find his new girlfriend and told me to come find you on my own."
Geralt Bohan—Matthew's other dormmate. He probably had quite a lot in common with a certain similarly named witcher. His number of ex-girlfriends might rival the number of spells first-year students knew.
"New girlfriend? The one from before the holidays—Emma?" Matthew asked, pulling two bottles of soda from his pocket and handing one to Jerry.
Jerry took a long swig and let out a satisfied breath.
"You're out of date. He got another new girlfriend over the holidays. Poor Amanda—she spent the entire summer delivering letters for him. I'm honestly worried she'll drop dead from exhaustion."
Amanda was Geralt's owl.
"I see." Matthew opened his own bottle and took a sip, offering no further comment. He was already used to it.
Jerry, however, couldn't stop complaining.
"At the rate Geralt changes girlfriends, by the time we graduate, we could walk through the Ministry of Magic and run into nine of his exes!"
Some Hogwarts graduates did indeed go on to work at the Ministry.
Then Jerry suddenly lowered his voice, adopting a mysterious tone.
"I saw someone when I boarded the train."
"Who?" Matthew asked with a faint smile, playing along.
"The Savior himself, Harry Potter!" Jerry declared dramatically.
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