"Wooo—!"
With a long whistle, the Hogwarts Express finally began to move. The little witches and wizards had all boarded, while parents stood outside the windows waving, calling last-minute reminders, and watching the scarlet train pull away from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
"The thought of sitting on this old steam train for six or seven hours straight already feels unbearable," Jamie said, leaning back in his seat as the scenery outside the window began to slide past. "Couldn't they make it move faster?"
"The Hogwarts Express is powered by magic," Tyler said from where he lay lazily across the compartment table. He had a Galleon in one hand and was using it to tease the Niffler he had bought from the pet shop. "If you can find the train's magical core or control point, you might be able to speed it up."
"That's not a bad idea," Jamie said, suddenly interested. "Maybe I can sense it with magic."
He lifted his wand and cast a Super-Sensory Charm on himself, a fairly obscure spell that heightened perception. After the charm settled over him, Jamie could clearly feel his awareness of nearby magic sharpen. He closed his eyes, leaned back against the seat, and slowly stretched his magic toward the structure of the Hogwarts Express.
"Hey! Tyler, Jamie, can we sit here?" Just then, the sliding compartment door opened, and Harry appeared in the doorway with a red-haired boy beside him. "The other compartments seem to be full."
"Of course," Tyler said, lifting one hand in greeting. "There's no one here except the two of us, and there's still plenty of room. Come in."
Harry did not stand on ceremony. He pulled the red-haired boy inside, and the two of them sat opposite Tyler and Jamie.
"Tyler, this is Ron Weasley, my new friend," Harry said, sounding far more cheerful than when they had first met at the station. "Ron, these are Tyler and Jamie. I met them before I met you."
"Hello, Ron," Tyler said, raising his right hand in a casual greeting. He smiled warmly enough that Ron's nervous expression eased a little.
"You… hello," Ron said, stumbling slightly over the words. "I'm Ron. Nice to meet you."
"Tyler, what's Jamie doing?" Harry asked after glancing at the blond boy sitting motionless beside the window. Jamie had his eyes closed and looked almost as if he had fallen asleep. "Is he sleeping?"
"Oh, leave him alone," Tyler said casually. "He's doing something interesting."
The compartment fell quiet for a moment. Outside, the train gathered speed, and London gradually gave way to stretches of countryside. Tyler was the first to start a conversation, and with a little effort, Harry and Ron soon relaxed enough to talk more naturally.
"Hey, Tyler," Ron said after a while, pointing at the small creature on the table. "If I'm not mistaken, that's a Niffler, right?"
"Yes, this Niffler is my pet." Tyler held the Galleon up between two fingers, and the Niffler's tiny black eyes followed it greedily. "This little fellow loves money more than anything. Nifflers like everything shiny, and they'll stuff gold coins, jewellery, mirrors, and anything glittering into their pouches."
He let go of the Galleon. The Niffler moved with startling speed, snatched the coin, and shoved it into its pouch before anyone could blink.
Even after stealing the coin, the Niffler was not satisfied. Its little eyes kept scanning Tyler from head to toe, as if trying to discover whether he had hidden more treasure somewhere on his body.
Ron stared at the Niffler with obvious envy. Because the Weasley family had always been short on money, he had barely ever handled Galleons of his own, and the sight of a pet casually swallowing one was both amazing and painful.
"My pet is nothing like that," Ron said with a blush. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fat grey rat that appeared to be sleeping deeply. "His name's Scabbers. He's useless and spends all day sleeping. Percy became a prefect, so Dad gave him an owl, and they couldn't afford another one, so I got the rat."
Ron looked embarrassed as he spoke, as if Scabbers had personally damaged his dignity. Tyler glanced at the grey rat with a meaningful look, his gaze lingering just a little too long.
That was no ordinary rat. It was an Animagus, and its true identity was Peter Pettigrew, a man the wizarding world believed to be dead.
No one would have guessed that Peter Pettigrew had never died at all. He had simply turned into a rat and hidden inside the Weasley household for years, living quietly under everyone's noses.
"Harry, did you learn anything about your parents from the Weasleys?" Tyler asked, shifting his attention away from Scabbers.
"Oh, yes," Harry said. His face brightened for a moment, then dimmed slightly. "The Weasleys are nice. They told me a little about my parents, but only a little."
He looked down at his hands as he spoke. Harry desperately wanted to know more about the parents who had died protecting him, but every answer he found only made him realise how much he still did not know.
"Harry, do you know where my home is?" Tyler asked. "Godric's Hollow—"
"Godric's Hollow!" Ron blurted out before Tyler could finish.
Harry and Tyler both turned to look at him. Ron immediately flushed, swallowed, and shifted awkwardly in his seat.
"Well, I mean, it's a famous place," Ron said quickly. "I heard the founder of Gryffindor House was born there. Lots of famous wizards lived there too."
"That's right," Tyler said. "It's a very famous village, and it was named after Godric Gryffindor himself. He was born there, so the place has a special meaning in wizarding history."
Ron leaned forward despite himself, clearly interested. Harry listened just as closely, though for a different reason. Anything connected to famous wizards still felt new to him, but anything connected to his parents mattered far more.
"In Godric's Hollow, there is also the old Dumbledore family home," Tyler continued. "They used to live there, though they later moved away after something happened. The old house still remains."
"Oh my God," Ron interrupted again. "Dumbledore lived in Godric's Hollow? This is the first time I've heard that."
He realised he had cut in a second time and immediately went red again, even his ears turning scarlet. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."
"It's fine," Tyler said. "Aside from the former Dumbledore residence, Harry, did you know that the Potter family's old home is also in Godric's Hollow?"
Harry froze.
"More accurately, you and your parents once lived there," Tyler said gently. "After your parents died protecting you, you were sent to live with your aunt. But the Potter family house is still there, and your parents' burial place is in the churchyard at Godric's Hollow."
Harry's face changed at once. He had known almost nothing about where he came from, and suddenly the place Tyler mentioned no longer sounded like some distant famous village from a history book. "Tyler, you mean… my parents' graves are in Godric's Hollow?"
.....
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