CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

The moment Magnus broke through to the other end of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, he was hit by a wave of murmurs, cheerful goodbyes, and laughter.

"There he is."

His attention was immediately drawn to a small group, primarily made up of people with red hair.

"Magnus, over here!" Fred called, motioning for him to join them.

Magnus pushed his trunk forward, his eyes scanning the crowd—a swirling mix of emotions. The Hogwarts Express stood proudly in the middle of the platform, surrounded by students and families sharing their last moments before departure. Excited first-years grinned as they hugged their crying siblings, while others received last-minute instructions from overprotective parents.

At that moment, Magnus had never felt the absence of family as deeply as he did now. A knot formed in his stomach, but he forced himself to appear indifferent.

He mumbled greetings to several people as he weaved his way through the crowd toward the Weasleys. That was just the effect of staying at the Leaky Cauldron long enough—he had become a familiar face.

"We were starting to think you'd changed your mind," George said as Magnus reached them, greeting the family.

"Yeah, thought you decided to inherit the Leaky Cauldron instead," Fred added.

"Not that it would be a bad idea," George smirked. "You could charge an entry fee."

"Yeah, you'd be stinking rich in weeks," Fred agreed—until he caught his mother's stern gaze and immediately changed his tune. "But it's great to see money hasn't corrupted you, mate. Education is the key." He patted Magnus's shoulder with mock solemnity.

"Yeah, just be sure to create the lock while you're at it," George added with a grin.

Even Mrs. Weasley seemed to give up on trying to discipline the twins.

"It's wonderful to see you, Magnus. And I really think you boys should board now—it's almost eleven." She turned to her daughter. "Enough, Ginny, you can't go."

Magnus waited as the twins consoled their little sister and said their goodbyes before the four of them made their way toward the train. None of them had their trunks with them, so Magnus assumed they must have loaded them earlier.

They stopped briefly at one of the compartments to help a first-year lift his trunk inside. The boy mumbled a quick "thank you" before disappearing into the compartment.

"Blimey, do you know who we just helped?" Fred asked, looking flabbergasted.

"Harry Potter," Magnus replied, unconcerned. "Yeah, I served him and Hagrid last week."

"Yeah, but do you—do you really know who he is?" George pressed, clearly expecting a different reaction.

"If you mean his connection to Voldemort, then yes. I've read about it."

The twins stared at him as if he were missing the obvious.

"Dude, it's not just stories—it's all bloody true," Fred said in disbelief. "You saw the scar. The lightning scar."

Magnus nodded. It wasn't that he was downplaying Harry's significance in this world—he had thought about it a lot, including Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. But none of that was his immediate concern. This was a world seemingly designed to give him an edge, and he just hoped this version of Harry Potter had eliminated certain threats.

In any case, they were headed for Hogwarts, which meant he'd soon find out. If he heard anything about the Sorcerer's Stone or Professor Quirrell teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, then he'd start to worry. Right now, everyone believed Voldemort was destroyed. Hopefully, it stayed that way.

"I bet he'll be a Gryffindor," George said confidently.

"Of course he will. Can you imagine him in Slytherin?" Fred scoffed. "No chance."

Magnus, however, had something else on his mind.

"By the way, why didn't you guys tell me you have Pokémon?"

Even as he looked around at students boarding the Hogwarts Express, he could already see people carrying animals in small but well-secured baskets. He couldn't tell if all of them were Pokémon, but he had spotted several fox-like and cat-like creatures that he was willing to bet were. Exactly which types, he couldn't say. He'd have to take a closer look to identify them, but even then, he wasn't a walking Pokédex. There were limits.

"Oh, you mean our starter Pokémon?" Fred asked, looking utterly uninterested. "Mate, there's not much to say. Dumbledore won't allow us decent Pokémon. We're stuck with tiny, useless dogs, cats, and bats that we're supposed to train."

"Yeah, and teach them 'battling,'" George added with a scoff as they climbed into the train.

"Wait—students are allowed to battle?" Magnus asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Hey, hey, slow down, mate." George raised a hand as if to calm him down. "First of all, battling isn't mandatory. It's only for those who want to compete in the Inter-House Pokémon Competition." He noticed Magnus's eager expression and quickly added, "Hate to kill your excitement, but only second-years and up can participate."

"Pssh." Fred snorted. "Mate, you can't even call that battling. All they do is bark, snarl, stun, and grapple." He looked genuinely offended by the idea.

"You two make it sound like it's Dumbledore's fault we can't train our Pokémon well enough to beat the Slytherins," Lee, who had been quiet up until now, finally spoke up.

The twins shot him a scornful look.

"Snape cheated, and you know it, Lee," George said flatly.

"No, he didn't," Lee argued adamantly. "I'm not defending that git, but you can't call inviting a former Pokémon League Champion to train his team 'cheating.' If McGonagall wanted, she could've done the same."

On that point, Magnus could see the twins begrudgingly agree.

"Good luck getting her to copy Snape's tactics," Fred muttered gloomily.

"It's not even that," Lee continued, clearly frustrated. "I don't think she takes Pokémon battling seriously the way she does Quidditch. If you ask me, if she had any say, she'd scrap it entirely."

All the while, they squeezed through the crowded corridors, searching for their compartment. Magnus split his attention between listening to the ongoing complaints and scanning the various Pokémon students carried in their baskets.

"Too bad she lost both trophies," Fred suddenly said, stopping in front of a compartment door and pushing it open.

"Worse, she had to watch Snape lift both," George added. "I still remember the look on her face. Maybe this time, she'll take things seriously."

And with that, they entered their compartment just as the train's blaring horn signaled their departure. No one else was in the compartment, but it wasn't empty either. The luggage compartments above the seats were already stuffed with luggage.

"Let me," Fred said as he took his trunk and tucked it in the space beneath the seats.

"Thanks," Magnus mumbled absently.

His attention was on the three creatures inside the baskets that sat on top of the seats. Each of the three friends took one of the baskets and set it on their respective seat. Magnus sat adjacent to the door.

"Well, I guess introductions are in order," Lee said. "Magnus, meet Ruffy." He indicated the small brown puppy in his basket. "He is..."

"A Rockruff," Magnus finished for him. "And those two... those must be Eevees," he said, indicating the twins' brown fox-like Pokémon.

"'Course they are... but we call them Fweg and Goj. Can you guess which is which?" Fred asked gleefully.

Magnus had no intention of getting a headache.

"I would rather not," he said, his eyes still fixated on the three Pokémon. "But if you guys are third-years... how come your Pokémon are still in their base form? I mean, why have they not evolved?"

He might as well have been blubbering bloody Mandarin because the look they gave him was one of total confusion.

"They have not what?" George repeated stupidly.

***

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