Watching the playful Fred and George, Mrs. Weasley gave their ears a light twist.
"If you two can earn the Special Award for Services to the School, I wouldn't mind even if you took the trophy to Diagon Alley."
Then she turned to Percy and said, "Alright, dear, have a great term, and send me a letter with an owl when you get to school."
She kissed Percy on the cheek, and he walked away.
"Now it's your turn." Mrs. Weasley looked at the twins, warning, "Behave yourselves this year, and don't lead Kael astray."
"Lead Kael astray?" Fred's tone suddenly rose.
"Mom, are you kidding?!"
"Of course not," Mrs. Weasley said.
A whistle sounded, and the train began to move slowly forward.
"Hurry on the train, and remember to take care of Ron."
"Don't worry, Mom, the little rascal Ron will be fine with us." Fred said, then hurriedly climbed onto the train with George and Ron.
Kael leaned out the window and waved to Mrs. Weasley.
"Goodbye, Mrs. Weasley!"
"Goodbye, dear," Mrs. Weasley shouted, "If they cause any trouble, write to me."
Choo choo choo—
The train started, and Ginny ran along with the train until it sped up, leaving her behind, still waving at them.
Houses flashed by outside the window, the train turned a corner, and she was out of sight.
Kael turned away, starting a game of Wizard Chess with Cedric.
Conna and Cho huddled together, engrossed in a magazine.
After a game, Cedric, curious, leaned over but was pushed away by Cho.
With no choice, he focused back on the chessboard.
After two more games, the twins returned.
They slid the door open, excitedly saying, "Hey guys, guess who I just ran into on the train?"
"Who could you run into on the train?" Cedric nonchalantly said, "It can't be Harry Potter."
"How did you know!" Fred eyed them widely, "Yes, it's Harry Potter."
Cedric paused with a chess piece in hand, surprised, "Are you sure?"
"I asked him, and I saw the scar—right there, like a lightning bolt."
"Now that you mention it... I remember," Cedric said, clapping his forehead, "By his age, he would indeed be starting this year.
Remember? You-Know-Who fell ten years ago, the timing matches."
"Let's not get into that now." George, curious, asked, "Do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"
"Probably not." Cedric replied, "He was just a baby then, can't possibly remember."
"That's true."
Kael laughed, "What, are you guys curious about You-Know-Who's appearance?"
"A bit." Fred leaned against the carriage wall, saying, "It's You-Know-Who, aren't you curious about what he looks like?"
"No!" Kael shook his head, "Just a powerful wizard, nothing to be curious about. For all we know, he might not even have a nose."
"Ha, that's impossible," Fred let out a strange laugh.
Typical Kael... You-Know-Who having no nose, that's the funniest joke he's heard all year.
The others reacted similarly, and no one believed such an absurd idea.
After a burst of laughter, Cedric rubbed his eyes and asked, "We're nearing Hogwarts, are we selling maps again this year?"
"Of course."
Fred nodded immediately, "It's a lucrative business of over ten Galleons, and we only get one chance a year, we can't miss it."
"Exactly." George glanced at Kael, jokingly saying, "As seniors, we can't bear to see those cute freshmen get lost."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
That was supposed to be his line, but George stole it.
"Do you guys have any plans?" Cedric suggested, "If not, why don't we just start making the maps here."
Since the train had just started, there were still several hours before reaching Hogwarts, enough time to produce a batch of maps.
Cho and Conna readily agreed; they had nothing else planned and didn't fancy playing Wizard Chess, so having something productive to do sounded appealing.
Fred and George thought for a moment and agreed as well.
Even though they had planned with Lee Jordan to wander in the Slytherin compartment with spiders, making some Galleons took precedence over minor adventures.
Thus, they all turned their attention to Kael.
"I don't have any objections either."
Kael shrugged, saying, "Since you've decided, let's tidy up the table. There's no room for parchment with all these snacks."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone hurried to clear the snacks from the table.
Seeing this, Kael turned around and took two stacks of parchment from the trunk.
The thicker stack was the most common parchment from Scrivenshaft's, ten sheets for a Sickle, with discounts for bulk purchases.
What Kael took out appeared to be about seventy or eighty sheets.
The other stack was much smaller, only a dozen or so sheets.
However, these were fine parchment, soft and clean, with special gold-embroidered patterns on the ends.
It was real gold, not the gold-colored paint they used last year.
Of course, this parchment was quite expensive, one sheet being a Galleon.
Kael placed both stacks of parchment, along with the original map, on the table.
"What are you waiting for, let's begin."
In unison, everyone reached for the common parchment, taking about a dozen sheets each.
Seeing their actions, Kael remarked with feigned annoyance, "You guys sure know how to make things easy for yourselves."
The Doubling Charm required for his parchment needed special embellishments and decorations.
These tasks were more complicated to accomplish.
He had just been polite, but they took it seriously, teaching him to choose first next time.
Kael sighed.
Who knew, under the influence of the Weasley Brothers, even Cedric and Conna learned to cut corners.
These two brothers are quite the troublemakers.
Kael sighed again, quietly taking out his wand and pointing it at the parchment.
"Doubling Charm."
The map's patterns began appearing on the blank parchment.
This time, Kael estimated the Doubling Charm's effects would last an entire term.
Soon, the cabin was bustling with energy.
The blank parchment dwindled, while the completed maps grew in number.
"Bang!"
But as everyone was engrossed in casting the Doubling Charm, a banging sound suddenly came from outside.
And the door being banged on was their compartment door.