The Magic of Departure

"Boom! Well..."

Just as Mrs. Weasley was ordering the children to line up and enter platform 9, there was a loud noise in front of them, accompanied by a barely perceptible murmur of pain from a man.

Mrs. Weasley turned with curiosity and saw that at the junction of platforms 9 and 10, a man was holding his swollen forehead and slowly getting up from the ground, while clumsily feeling the hard brick wall with anxious and confused eyes.

At the train station, many passing tourists stopped curiously, observing a man exhibiting strange behavior, murmuring and pointing.

Not far away, the two guards dressed in Muggle uniforms evidently noticed the commotion that was happening for the first time, they took their baton from their waists, held it in a strange manner, pushed through the crowd, and began to walk towards that direction.

"Mum, what should we do now?"

The eldest of the red-haired children, Percy, stopped and turned to ask his mother's opinion. Obviously, under the gaze of so many Muggles, it was impossible for them to cross the platform one by one according to the original plan and reach platform 9.

Was she a young witch from a Muggle family? Seeing the confusion and Benitez's reaction, Mrs. Weasley reacted instantly, and what she had just said was obviously a good deal.

"Percy, take your brothers and sisters to wait for me at the spot, I'll help the gentleman with the problem first."

She looked at the two employees of the Ministry of Magic dressed in Muggle uniforms. Mrs. Weasley frowned and quickly stepped forward.

Due to her husband Arthur Weasley's work, she knows exactly what the emergency handling process of the Ministry of Magic is: the memory charm plus the Muggle repelling charm, which is simple and effective.

However, unless one is a master who masters the memory charm, in general, most wizards cannot accurately control the extent of erased memories.

In other words, it is very likely that the gentleman had lost some precious memories at that moment.

"I'm sorry, I borrowed it, thank you... sorry, let me handle it."

In front of the two employees of the Ministry of Magic, Mrs. Weasley made her way through the crowd, pulled out a small wand from her robes, and showed it to the "guards," while leading Benitez away from the platform in front of the brick wall.

"Ma'am, may I ask...?"

"I am Molly Weasley, and my husband, Arthur Weasley, also works at the Ministry. Today, I'm taking the children to school. I believe our goal is for the children to board the train smoothly, isn't it?"

Mrs. Weasley quickly explained, raising her chin towards the back of the "guards" and gesturing for them to look behind them.

Turning their heads, they saw the boys with owl cages in the carts and the surrounding tourists. The two "guards" looked at each other, nodded, put away the batons they had in their hands, and hung them back on their waists.

"So, thank you for your help. Don't worry, we can handle all of this quickly and it won't affect the children going to school."

Finally, the two turned around and began to disperse the onlookers like normal guards, allowing the stalled crowd to move again.

"I'm sorry, sir, I must apologize to you. I didn't expect it..."

Mrs. Weasley led Benitez to the side and, without waiting for him to speak, sincerely expressed her apology first.

"There's no need to apologize, I should have thought about it. In such a crowded place, without such a setup, everything would surely end in chaos. I'm just a little worried about Elena."

Benitez shook his head disapprovingly, a slight bitterness slipping across the corner of his mouth.

He had had some contact with a bit of magic from the wizarding world. When Mrs. Weasley appeared, he really wanted to understand that the invisible "door" obviously only opened for the wizards.

"Mrs. Are you a witch? Could I make a small request, if you go and see Elena, um, that silver-haired girl, could you help me keep an eye on her? I have some concerns right now, the child's suitcase may be too heavy."

Benny stopped and looked at the short and chubby witch with seriousness; as an ordinary person, he could only do that much.

"Don't worry."

Mrs. Weasley looked at the man and replied gently, waving to the boy behind him.

"Percy, George, Fred... When you reach the platform, don't linger chatting with your classmates and help the gentleman's daughter prepare her seat, okay?"

"Of course, mother."

"No problem, she might be a newcomer to our school."

"Anyway, she won't be Slytherin."

In response to their mother's instructions, the three boys nodded eagerly and accepted without hesitation.

Mrs. Weasley smiled and was about to say a few more words when suddenly the voice of a small, timid boy reached her ears, interrupting her.

"Excuse me..."

Molly Weasley turned her head and met a dark-haired boy with glasses.

The boy also pushed a large cart. A beautiful snowy owl gazed inquisitively in the cage in the cart.

Another lost wizard.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Weasley smiled softly and said empathetically, "It's your first time going to Hogwarts..."

...

At the same time, on the other side.

King's Cross Station, Platform 9?

Passing through the ticket barrier leading to 9?, Elena lifted her cart and looked astonished at the scene in front of her.

"I didn't expect to see a steam train in London, could this be the last one in service in the UK? Although the driving method is mostly modified by magic."

On the platform, the thick smoke from the steam locomotive lingered over the bustling crowd, and cats of various colors sought shelter under people's feet.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the crowd and the noise of dragging heavy luggage, the owl was also screeching loudly.

A dark red steam locomotive docked at the crowded platform, teeming with passengers.

Clear as day, the inscription "Hogwarts Express, departing at 11 o'clock" could be seen at the forefront of the carriage.

Theoretically, if we don't count Arthur Weasley's illegal speeding car, this should be one of the few successful cases of large-scale magical machinery implementation in the magical world, and possibly the only one at present.

However, as the birthplace of the first industrial revolution, Britain had already entered the era of internal combustion engines by 1952. Solely gazing at the shiny, vibrant red shell, it is difficult to imagine it being an old model that has been operational for fifty years.

Even this Hogwarts Express took two terms as Minister of Magic, including 167 memory mantras, setting the record for the largest hidden mantra in the history of Britain. Along the track between King's Cross platform and the village of Hogsmeade.

According to the records in "History of Magic," Elena can clearly sense that since 1945, with the rapid development of the entire non-magical world, all technological innovations in the magical world have stagnated.

"It seems if you want to take a great leap, you must first find a way to discover what happened that year."

Elena's long silver hair hung pensively over her shoulder.

If it's solely due to the "International Confederation of Wizards' Confidentiality Act" enacted in 1692, the pace of technological innovation in the magical world shouldn't have suffered such a severe stagnation.

Unable to discern the dark tide lurking behind everything, Elena has no intention of initiating the magical world's industrial revolution. After all, the last person who tried is still imprisoned in the Newmongard tower.

"However, those are all future problems. There's a more pressing issue now."

Standing in front of the Hogwarts compartment near the rear of the carriage, Elena helplessly gazed at the two enormous black trunks on the trolley. How should she move those two massive items inside the carriage?

There's no doubt Benítez absolutely exhausted every kind of method, filling two large cases with barely any remaining space; otherwise, they wouldn't be so heavy.

Somehow, a word suddenly crossed Elena's mind: paternal love.

She, root, move, not, move!

.....

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