Chapter 169: Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

King's Cross was crowded with families who had read the Prophet and decided not to show fear.

Edward noticed the differences anyway. More parents accompanied children to the barrier. Ministry wizards watched the concourse in Muggle clothes. Owls travelled in covered cages instead of calling across the station.

Padfoot walked beside Edward's trolley until they reached a service corridor near Platforms Nine and Ten. Kreacher had come by a separate route and waited under a Disillusionment Charm.

Sirius transformed behind the locked door.

"Last review," he said.

"Find the nearest staff member, use the whistle only for the group, contact you or Dumbledore if the danger exceeds school discipline, and do not investigate Moody because he looks suspicious."

"I said report concerns. His face always looks suspicious."

Kreacher adjusted Edward's collar. "Master Edward eats meals, sleeps at night, and does not enter forests after voices."

"That rule is unusually specific."

"It became necessary."

Sirius handed him the emergency mirror and a folded copy of the family contact plan. "You are allowed to have a school year in between crises."

"Is Hogwarts aware?"

The train whistle sounded beyond the wall.

They waited until a family crossed ahead, then Edward pushed the trolley through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Steam rolled across the scarlet engine. Students leaned from windows, calling to friends.

Draco stood near the first-class carriages with Narcissa and Lucius. Pansy, Theodore, and Blaise waited nearby. Each wore the small brass alliance whistle beneath ordinary robes.

Lucius inclined his head toward Edward. "Your guardian?"

"Close."

Sirius could not appear publicly, but Lucius's eyes moved once toward the barrier as if he knew.

Narcissa asked Edward about his hands. The bandages were gone, leaving two pale marks from the Albanian sap.

"Healed," Edward said.

"That was not the entire question."

"The training restrictions remain. I am following them."

She accepted that and kissed Draco's forehead despite his attempt to escape.

Harry arrived with the Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley counted trunks, children, and pets twice. Arthur looked exhausted from the World Cup inquiry but confirmed that the Muggle family had left medical care and received compensation.

"Not enough," he said. "But not nothing."

Hermione joined them with her parents. Her father watched a tawny owl carry a parcel and asked whether the bird had a maximum safe load. Hermione began explaining while pulling her trunk toward the train.

For several minutes, house boundaries lost importance beneath luggage.

Edward helped lift Neville's trunk after its wheel jammed. Draco opened a compartment for Pansy. Ron retrieved Crookshanks before the cat disappeared under the engine.

The ordinary cooperation ended when seats became scarce.

Draco claimed a compartment and invited Edward. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had space farther down. Edward chose Draco's group because the alliance needed to discuss the tournament rumour before the feast, but he promised Hermione a copy of any decisions.

"No votes without observers on safety questions," she reminded him.

"Recorded."

Before boarding, Edward looked back toward the barrier. A large black dog sat between two luggage trolleys. Padfoot scratched his left ear, their signal for route clear and no immediate concern.

A Ministry watcher noticed the dog and began moving toward him. Edward did not improvise a distraction. He pointed the watcher out to Narcissa, who asked a porter an elaborate question in the man's path while Padfoot slipped behind the barrier. The action created no spell, accusation, or scene.

Minutes later, Edward's mirror warmed with the agreed confirmation. Sirius and Kreacher had reached the safe point.

Edward recorded the separation time on the travel card. If he failed to send his own arrival message from Hogwarts, Kreacher would notify McGonagall and the solicitor. The process seemed excessive until Edward remembered how long no one had known where Bertha was.

Narcissa watched him close the card. She added Draco's expected arrival time beside it and kept a copy. Lucius had not proposed the measure, but he would receive it with the rest of the family itinerary.

Edward raised one hand.

Then he boarded.

The compartment filled quickly. Daphne and Astoria joined before the doors closed, leaving Samuel to find a seat with older students. The train pulled away under a burst of steam.

Draco produced a paper listing possible Triwizard tasks. Dragons occupied three of the five lines. The other two involved sea monsters and duelling foreign champions.

"Source?" Theodore asked.

"My imagination."

Pansy took the paper and tore it in half.

They began with known facts. The tournament would involve Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. The proposed age line excluded anyone under seventeen. The Goblet of Fire traditionally selected one champion from each school. Safety measures had been discussed but not announced.

"We do not know that the final rules match tradition," Edward said.

"We also do not know whether the tournament is happening," Astoria added.

Draco looked offended by uncertainty.

They agreed not to encourage younger students to seek loopholes. If the event was announced, the alliance would evaluate its actual terms. Members old enough to enter could seek advice, but the group would not pressure anyone to represent Slytherin or carry alliance obligations into the tasks.

"Why not?" Daphne asked. "A champion could demonstrate what we stand for."

"A person in a dangerous competition has enough demands," Edward said. "Our reputation does not get to claim their risk."

That principle passed narrowly. Draco abstained.

The trolley witch arrived. Edward bought pumpkin pasties and remembered Kreacher's meal rule before sweets became lunch. Pansy noticed and said nothing.

Conversation shifted to the World Cup. Draco described Krum's dive in exact detail and avoided the riot until Blaise asked about Lucius.

"My father is cooperating with Bones," Draco said. "Within limits."

"Whose limits?" Theodore asked.

Draco looked out the window. "That is the problem."

Edward did not rescue him from the answer.

They reviewed the warning letter sent to their families. Three had received dismissive replies. Two had prompted new visitor checks. One parent wanted to know who had written the original wording.

No member disclosed another's name.

The alliance was already testing the difference between inherited loyalty and chosen responsibility. Edward had once imagined reform as a hierarchy led by the right families. Albania and the Cup had shown how quickly rank protected itself from consequences.

His revised aim was harder: institutions in which competence could be tested, decisions could be challenged, and rights did not depend on blood.

Pure-blood families still held knowledge and influence worth using. They did not own the future by birth.

Outside, London gave way to fields. The train's rhythm settled beneath the compartment voices.

Edward touched the brass whistle once to confirm it remained there, then left it alone. His wand stayed holstered. The emergency mirror rested inside his trunk.

Fourth year waited at the end of the line with a tournament, a new professor, and an enemy moving behind incomplete evidence.

For the moment, Edward listened while Draco and Ron shouted rival Quidditch arguments through the corridor.

A school year, Sirius had said.

Edward intended to keep as much of one as he could.

The train carried that small network north: guardians expecting messages, students sharing routes, and adults named in advance. Protection existed between people, not inside one secret object.