Chapter 170: The Train Compartment

The compartment debate lasted until the countryside darkened.

Draco wanted the alliance to recruit before rumours about the tournament attracted every ambitious student in the school. Pansy wanted to wait until the rules were announced. Theodore wanted a written application.

Edward listened, then placed the charter between them.

"Recruitment is not a hunt for useful bloodlines," he said. "Anyone we approach must know the purpose, restrictions, and right to leave."

Daphne glanced at the corridor, where students from several houses passed. "Open invitations would expose us."

"Then we do not issue open invitations. We invite people to ordinary study and safety work first. Membership comes later, after they see how we operate."

"What do we screen for?" Blaise asked.

"Reliability, judgement, willingness to challenge the group, and relevant skill. Not house, family wealth, or whether they flatter us."

Draco tapped the ancestry clause with one finger. He had voted for it, but applying it meant abandoning the easiest Slytherin networks.

"People will join for access," he said.

"Then access cannot be the reward. No private artifacts, family favours, or protected status."

Pansy smiled. "You have designed the least glamorous secret society in Britain."

"Good."

They agreed on a small trial. Each member could invite one student to a public study session or emergency-planning exercise. No one would mention the alliance until the student had participated more than once and received a written explanation. Hermione would serve as an outside observer for admissions.

The train slowed near Hogsmeade before Draco could complain about Gryffindor oversight.

Rain met them on the platform. Hagrid directed first-years toward the boats while older students crowded into carriages. Edward shared one with Draco, Pansy, Theodore, and a wet second-year whose friends had boarded ahead.

No black ship waited on the lake. No foreign carriage crossed the sky. The Triwizard visitors were expected near the end of October, if the tournament survived its final review.

Hogwarts rose above the road, windows bright against the storm.

The Great Hall smelled of roast meat and damp wool. Edward took his place at the Slytherin table and confirmed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had arrived. Moody sat at the staff table beside Professor Snape.

The former Auror looked exactly as photographs described: scarred face, missing leg, one ordinary eye and one blue magical eye moving independently. His flask remained close to his hand.

Dumbledore had said he verified Moody through shared memories and several magical checks after the attempted break-in. Edward trusted the verification as far as it reached. A skilled infiltrator could steal a face. Shared memories made the task harder, not impossible.

Moody's blue eye paused on Edward, then rotated toward the doors.

The Sorting placed new students. The feast appeared. For half an hour, Hogwarts behaved like Hogwarts. Nearly Headless Nick argued with a Hufflepuff ghost about anniversary dates. Peeves dropped wet paper onto the staff table and fled before Filch arrived.

After dessert, Dumbledore stood.

He welcomed the students, repeated the restrictions on the Forbidden Forest, and introduced Moody as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Moody rose only far enough to grunt at the hall.

Then Dumbledore announced the Triwizard Tournament.

The room erupted before he finished the name.

He waited.

Hogwarts would host Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. One champion from each school would face three tasks. An independent panel from the participating Ministries and schools had reviewed the competition after the World Cup attack.

"Only students who are at least seventeen on the date of selection may enter," Dumbledore said. "The age restriction is final. Skill does not remove the duty adults have to avoid placing younger students under a binding magical contract."

Draco muttered something bitter.

Edward kept his seat.

The Goblet of Fire would accept names for twenty-four hours before Halloween. An age line and staff supervision would protect the entry area. No student could submit another person's name. Every eligible entrant would receive the known risk terms in writing before approaching the Goblet.

"The tasks remain secret because adaptability is part of the tournament," Dumbledore continued. "The categories of risk, withdrawal procedures, medical protections, and judging method will not be secret."

That change drew less applause than the prize money.

Questions followed. A seventh-year Ravenclaw asked whether a champion could withdraw after selection. Bartemius Crouch, absent from the feast, had supplied the formal answer: the Goblet created a binding obligation to participate, but a champion could forfeit a task and accept the scoring consequence rather than attempt an act they judged unsafe.

A Hufflepuff asked who decided whether the safeguards were adequate. The panel included healers and curse specialists with no school affiliation. Their written findings would be available in the library.

Fred and George asked whether being seventeen "in spirit" counted. Dumbledore said it did not.

Draco leaned toward Edward. "You could pass any test they give a seventh-year."

"That is not the issue."

"Last year you would have challenged him in front of the hall."

"Last year I would have confused surviving danger with being entitled to enter it."

Draco fell silent.

At the staff table, Moody drank from his flask. His magical eye remained fixed on the Slytherin section.

Dumbledore ended with another announcement. Because the visitors would arrive later, classes would begin on the ordinary schedule. Students could attend public demonstrations from the foreign schools, but no recruitment by political groups, businesses, or families would be permitted without staff approval.

Edward felt several Slytherins look toward him.

The rule was sensible. The alliance would not treat foreign students as prospects before treating them as guests.

After the feast, Prefect Graham led Slytherin toward the dungeons. Water pressed darkly against the common-room windows. The younger students surrounded Draco with tournament questions, assuming his father knew hidden details.

Draco admitted that he did not.

Edward waited until the room settled, then posted the first public study session. It covered travel safety, emergency communication, and how to distinguish observation from inference. Any house could attend. No alliance name appeared.

"That will attract Ravenclaws," Theodore said.

"And frighten everyone fun," Pansy added.

A third-year student read the notice and asked whether it would teach duelling.

"No," Edward said. "It may teach you when not to duel."

The student signed up anyway.

McGonagall approved the session room and required one prefect from a different house to attend. Edward accepted without treating supervision as an intrusion. The sign-up sheet collected no family names, political views, or magical specialties, only year, house, and emergency contact preference.

Pansy removed a question asking whether attendees supported the alliance's reforms. A safety class was not a covert loyalty test. Anyone who came would receive the promised lesson and nothing else.

In his dormitory, Edward unpacked the brass whistle, one healing potion, and his walnut wand. The emergency mirror went into a locked drawer.

Someone had used Harry's wand at the World Cup. Someone had tried to enter Moody's home. Peter and an unknown servant remained free.

The tournament might be unrelated to all of it.

Edward wrote that possibility first because it was the one fear would make easiest to ignore.

He sealed the page and sent his arrival confirmation through McGonagall. Kreacher's reply reached him before lights-out: message received, route complete, household safe.