Percy, in the original story, had always been a low-tier ambitious sort—his ambitions higher than a space station, yet his fate thinner than toilet paper. In the end, he eventually realized that family meant more than anything else.
But that version no longer existed.
Now there was only Paige Weasley.
Paige's favorite foods were spaghetti and chocolate cake. She loved dressing up as a fairy princess, and her favorite drink was orange juice.
A real "cute little piggy girl," as some might say.
She had entered Hogwarts in 1987. That made her two years older than the Weasley twins, and four years older than Ted and the others. She was currently a fifth-year student.
Despite the changes, Paige Weasley had still become a Prefect, thanks to her excellent grades. But according to Ron, she wasn't an annoying authority-obsessed rule follower like Percy had been in the original story.
On the contrary—she treated Ron very well. The siblings had a surprisingly good relationship.
Had the butterfly effect flapped its wings again?
Well, Harry had turned into Hally, and she'd even been adopted by Sirius Black. The Boy Who Lived had become Neville.
Compared to that, Percy turning into Paige wasn't that hard to accept.
For some reason, a strange voice suddenly echoed in Ted Epiphany's mind:
"Hello, I'm Peppa. This is my little brother George, and Fred, and Ron!"
Ted nearly burst out laughing.
Honestly… that was pretty amusing.
About an hour later, the compartment door was knocked on. A sweetly smiling woman pushed a snack trolley inside.
"Children, would you like something to eat?"
Ron: Don't look at me. I've got sandwiches.
Jerry: Don't look at me. I brought bread and cheese.
Ted: I packed my own lunch.
Three poor blokes.
Hermione, however, was curious about magical snacks and went to take a look. But after examining the selection, she looked rather shocked.
"Why is everything candy?"
Wouldn't eating this much sugar cause cavities?
As the daughter of a dentist, she was naturally very cautious about sweets.
In the end, Hermione and Neville bought quite a lot of snacks and generously shared them with everyone.
Especially Neville.
Though shy, he certainly wasn't short on money. And he had a kind personality—he knew how to share.
Ted opened his own food bag and took out beef jerky, meat floss, and large sausages.
"Anyone want some?"
Fortunately, he had brought plenty of beef jerky. Otherwise there wouldn't have been enough to go around.
Ron was now even happier.
His sandwich had been tossed aside long ago—even Scabbers wasn't eating it anymore.
Scabbers was absolutely loving the sweets.
After all, he had lived with the Weasley family for eleven years—life hadn't exactly been luxurious.
Ron himself became increasingly cheerful, chatting nonstop while stuffing his mouth with food.
The five children ate and talked together, the atmosphere lively and warm.
At this age—especially right before starting school—making friends was incredibly easy.
With new friends around, Neville became noticeably more cheerful. He proudly introduced everyone to his toad.
"This is Trevor."
In the wizarding world, many witches and wizards kept pets. Over time, a subtle bond formed between master and animal.
These creatures were called magical familiars.
Often, they could assist wizards with magical study—or even in battle.
For example, Trevor the toad.
Based on the experience Ted had gained while browsing the Magical Pet Shop, wizards who chose toads usually did so because they were interested in Potions.
Toads had extremely strong resistance to magical concoctions and were often used to test potions.
Of course…
Given Neville's brewing skills, even a magical toad might end up in the ICU after drinking his potions.
Ron grabbed his plump, somewhat dazed rat—currently gnawing on a Chocolate Frog.
"This is my rat, Scabbers!"
Ted pointed to the raven beside him, which was happily tearing into a strip of beef jerky.
"This is Ansu, a talking raven."
"Caw! A pleasure to meet you!" Ansu immediately dropped the jerky at its feet and bowed politely when it heard Ted introducing it.
Everyone stared in amazement.
"It's so smart!"
Knowing that Ted, Hermione, and Jerry didn't know much about the wizarding world yet, Ron decided this was the perfect opportunity to show off a little and satisfy his pride.
"Ahem."
He raised his wand dramatically and pointed it at Scabbers.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow—turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"
No one knew whether the wand had startled Scabbers, but the rat suddenly spat out a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean straight into Ron's face.
Before anyone inside the compartment could even laugh—
A burst of loud, mocking laughter came from outside the door.
"Hahaha!"
Ron's little performance had been witnessed perfectly by a certain trio who had just arrived to meet Neville Longbottom.
The leader was none other than Draco Malfoy—flanked by his two loyal followers.
The dumb, chunky one was Crabbe.
The slow, heavyset one was Goyle.
Since Voldemort's mysterious downfall and the subsequent purge of Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy, who had narrowly escaped punishment, had been eager to build connections with the Longbottom family.
The Malfoys had always been experts at shifting with the political wind.
Unfortunately for them, Augusta Longbottom was famously strong-willed and had little patience for such behavior. She had publicly snubbed the Malfoys more than once.
Now that school had begun, Draco had come—under his father's instructions—to befriend Neville.
And by sheer bad luck, he had walked in at exactly this moment.
Having grown up hearing his father's contempt for the Weasley family, Draco immediately seized the opportunity to insult Ron.
"Red hair. No need to guess—you're from the disgraceful Weasley family."
He smirked arrogantly.
"My father says your family has so many children you can barely afford to feed them. Yet you're giving jelly beans to a rat?"
The expression of smug disdain on his face instantly angered everyone in the compartment.
Even Ansu and Scabbers seemed to dislike him.
Draco glanced at Ted and Ron's worn robes, then lifted his chin slightly and addressed Neville.
"Are you really planning to associate with people like this? Disgraces to pure-blood families? Poor little mudbloods?"
"My father always says one must choose friends carefully."
He extended his hand.
"Perhaps you'd prefer a friend of equal nobility, Longbottom?"
Neville shrank slightly under everyone's gaze, edging toward the corner of the compartment.
But he still managed to stammer out:
"I—I don't want to be friends with you… My grandmother says I'm not allowed to play with people from the Malfoy family!"
His expression practically said:
My mum says I'm not allowed to play with idiots.
Draco's face turned ugly instantly—pale with a hint of green.
He had never imagined he'd actually be rejected.
I finally opened my heart, and you reject me like this?!
"You—you… No wonder they call you the dim-witted Chosen One!"
He pulled his hand back and wiped it on his trousers as if the mere act of offering a handshake had dirtied him.
Just then, one of his bulky henchmen—either Crabbe or Goyle—reached out to grab some snacks from the table.
"OW!"
Scabbers bit him sharply.
The boy stumbled backward in panic and crashed into the other henchman, creating instant chaos.
Ted silently cheered.
Well done, Peter.
During the confusion, Ted discreetly flicked his wand.
Draco suddenly felt something trip his leg.
He lost his balance and fell backward, landing hard on his backside.
Before he could scramble to his feet, a face appeared above him, looking down with a faintly critical expression.
It was Hally Potter.
The wild girl who had beaten him up since childhood.
"Malfoy, do you enjoy lying on the floor that much?" she said coolly.
"Stop embarrassing yourself here. Or do you want another punch?"
She pushed up her black-rimmed glasses and waved her small fist threateningly in front of Draco's face.
Draco immediately panicked.
He scrambled to his feet and fled down the corridor with his two followers.
I'll be back!
Considering what Ted had witnessed earlier in Diagon Alley, Draco had probably received quite a few righteous punches from Hally before.
Hally noticed Ted's subtle wand movement and grinned wildly.
When she realized Neville was also here, she didn't bother returning to her own compartment.
Without even asking, she squeezed herself into the already crowded space.
A four-person compartment now contained six people.
Draco somewhere down the corridor probably thought:
You're throwing a party without inviting me? Just wait!
Now Hermione and her two "useless men" were finally together…
Well.
Not anymore.
As for Hally—aside from having black hair, green eyes, and glasses, she barely resembled the original Harry Potter.
She was practically a bandit queen.
Bold. Outgoing. Completely fearless.
Even though she had only just met Ted, Hermione, and Jerry, she chatted with them effortlessly.
She radiated the aura of a gang leader big sister.
The writer Maxim Gorky once said:
"Suffering is the best university in life."
Ted couldn't help wondering what path this free-spirited Hally would eventually walk.
Soon enough, Hally and Ron started playing Wizard's Chess.
Meanwhile, Neville and Jerry tried to get Ansu to talk.
Hermione sat beside Ted and brought up Voldemort.
"I read about Neville's story in a book," she said quietly.
"What was the Dark Lord's real name? Why won't anyone say it?"
Ted slowly rotated a small exercise ball in his hand.
"In the wizarding world, names can carry magical power," he said thoughtfully.
"I suspect the reason is related to that."
When the mysterious wizard was mentioned, Neville's expression grew serious.
It was as if an invisible burden had already settled onto his shoulders.
Everyone turned to look at him.
Neville spoke hesitantly.
"It's best… best not to say his name directly. My grandmother says he placed a spell on it. If someone says it, he can sense it."
Hermione looked a little nervous now.
"But what was his name? He's already dead… isn't he?"
Ted replied calmly.
"Voldemort. That's the name he used. Though I doubt it was his real one."
The moment the word Voldemort left Ted's mouth—
Neville, Ron, and Hally all inhaled sharply.
They probably contributed a noticeable amount to global warming with that gasp.
Voldemort had clearly enchanted his alias with something like a True Name Detection spell.
Not only could he sense when people spoke his name—he could also feed on the fear associated with it.
It was actually quite a sophisticated trick.
That was why no one in the wizarding world said his name.
Those who understood avoided it deliberately.
Those who didn't were simply terrified.
In truth, the method wasn't impossible to counter.
The problem was that wizarding thinking tended to be rigid.
If Ted were in charge, he'd simply create a huge scandal in the Muggle world and frame Voldemort for it—something big enough to appear on the news.
Within a few days, millions of people would be repeating the name.
How could Voldemort possibly process that much information?
The magical feedback alone might overwhelm him and turn him into an idiot.
At the very least, it would force him to remove the enchantment entirely.
At last, the main characters had basically gathered.
Time to celebrate.