Chapter 20: Chapter 18: Evelyn Persephone Scamander

~ September 1st, 1988.~

~ King’s Cross Station, London, England, Great Britain.~

"Aurelius, are you sure you have everything?"

Aberforth asked Aurelius, looking at the latter intently. It was currently 10am, and He, Adrien, and Aurelius were walking towards platform 9 ¾.

It was a fine morning at King's Cross, characterized by the usual hordes of people moving about with haste.

As it was rush hour, everyone was trying to get to their respective destinations on time. For some people, it was their workplace, school, or airport…while for some select few, it was a majestic castle teeming with ghosts, moving staircases, and talking portraits…

"Yes, Father," Aurelius mumbled and raised the brown briefcase in his hands slightly, 

"Made sure to check whether it's all in here several times. Can't have myself forgetting anything this time, not when it's Hogwarts. Would be awfully embarrassing."  

He added, with a slight chuckle.

"At least you know." 

To his right, Adrien suddenly interjected, chuckling as well.

Aurelius laughed, "Yeah yeah, take your shots, big boy." he said with a slight smile.

Aberforth smiled, seeing their interaction, 'The beauty of youth,' he sighed and thought nostalgically.

Then, he replied to Aurelius, "Alright, that's good, Aurelius.", to which Aurelius just nodded and smiled.

Soon, the trio arrived between the iconic platforms 9 and 10 and stopped between them.

"This is platform 9 ¾?" Aurelius said, looking perplexed. He had imagined it would be a bit more...magical.

"Of course not." Adrien chuckled, "It's straight through that pillar." he said, pointing to the pillar opposite them.

"Ah, I see," Aurelius mumbled. Then, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Adrien, "Wait, How do you know?"

Adrien chuckled, "Take a guess." he said cryptically.

Aurelius thought for a moment before replying, "Hogwarts: A History?" he inquired, his eyebrows scrunched.

Adrien nodded slightly, "Right on the money. The platform's been in use since the mid-19th century. The ministry opted for it to make student travel safer and more coordinated. Works through Spatial magic and a powerful Fidelius Charm." 

"Indeed." Aberforth, who had been watching their interaction, smiled and spoke up as soon as Adrien finished his statement. 

He looked at Aurelius and added, "Your uncle and I used it when we went to Hogwarts. Your grandfather was even the head of the department of Magical Transportation at the time the bill was passed."

"Wow, I see. Didn't know that." Aurelius muttered, looking enlightened. Up until now, he had heard very little about his family since both Albus and Aberforth never really spoke about it, so it was slightly surprising to hear that his grandfather was directly involved with the construction of platform 9 ¾.

Though, with his intelligence, he knew that there was probably a reason for them not speaking much about it. A reason that surely must be grave.

After all, which father and uncle refrained from speaking about their family to their only younger descendant? It was unusual.

Nonetheless, Aurelius wasn't pressed about the fact that they hadn't told him about the family. He mused that it was probably for a good reason and thought they would inform him once he was of age.

After all, he was the heir to the House of Dumbledore...

"Right." Aberforth then said, clapping his hands. He switched his gaze from Aurelius to Adrien and said,

"Who wants to go first?"

"I'll go." Aurelius immediately responded.

Adrien was surprised to see that. He thought that Aurelius would have surely bickered with him for it.

"Alright." Aberforth smiled and hummed. He then crouched slightly below Aurelius's level, pointed to the pillar, and continued, still smiling, 

"Just run straight into the center of the pillar. Don't be nervous."

"Alright. Center of the pillar, got it." Aurelius nodded, his gaze firm.

Then, he rolled his shoulders and prepared to run toward the pillar.

"See you on the other side, mate." he turned to Adrien and said, giving him a military salute.

"Break a leg." Adrien just chuckled.

"Let's hope not."

Mumbling those words, Aurelius took off and phased through the pillar.

"Your turn." Aberforth then said to Adrien, to which he hummed.

'Can't believe I'm about to see platform 9 ¾ in the flesh.'

Thinking those words, Adrien ran towards the pillar and phased through it.

'Glorious...simply glorious...'

What greeted him was precisely his thoughts. He had finally seen it. The iconic symbol of Hogwarts in all its glory. The illustrious Hogwarts Express. 

It was a scarlet steam train with numerous carriages and a red sign on its front. On the sign, 'Hogwarts Express' was emblazoned in gold.

There were a lot of wizard families on the platform as well. Adrien saw students talking to each other and their parents/guardians.

'It's probably even more beautiful in his eyes.'

Adrien thought as he looked at Aurelius, who was standing a few feet away from him. He smiled and walked up to him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he said as he stopped to stand beside him.

"Overly."

Still looking at the train, Aurelius muttered with effervescent eyes. He had never seen a train as big as this one or this many people in all his life. He was incomparably excited and couldn't wait to get to school already.

"That we can all agree on." 

Behind the two, Aberforth suddenly said, a small smile visible on his face.

"Alright, boys, let's say our farewells and get you guys on the bus. It's almost about to leave." 

Abeforth added, glancing at the clock on the wall of one of the platforms. It was 10:54, 6 minutes before the train was scheduled to take off.

Aurelius hummed, turned around, and went to hug his dad, "I'll miss you, Father."

Aberforth smiled and ruffled his hair. He nudged Aurelius slightly off him and crouched to his face level.

"I'll miss you too, son. Make sure you take care of yourself, study hard, and have fun. Owl me if you have any problems, I'm always here for you."

Aberforth said gently, his hands placed on Aurelius's shoulders.

"Will do, Father." Aurelius smiled and hummed.

Aberforth then stood up and looked at Adrien, "The same goes for you, Adrien; if you have any issues, always feel free to contact me."

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Adrien chuckled, "Got it. Thanks, Ab." he said affably.

"Right, you boys best be off then. I'll see you around." 

Aberforth stood up and gestured for them to go the train.

"Goodbye, Father" Aurelius smiled and waved at Aberforth once more.

"Take care, Ab. I'll see you around as well." Adrien also added, to which Aberforth just hummed.

With that, the two boys immediately set off for the entrance to the train. Because both of them had spatial briefcases, they didn't need to go to the luggage storage carriage before entering the train.

"Still can't believe I'm finally going to Hogwarts. Been waiting all my life for this."

Aurelius said as they started walking down the corridors of the train. As he walked, he wandlessly cast a levitation charm on his briefcase and made it follow him.

"All your life?" Adrien inquired, raising his eyebrows. Like Aurelius, he made his briefcase levitate and follow him.

"Well, to be precise, as soon as I learned of its existence." Aurelius chuckled.

"Mmm," Adrien just hummed.

"Do you want to sit in an empty compartment?" he asked.

"Yeah, that-" 

Aurelius was responding when he noticed the girls in one of the compartments they were passing were giggling and staring in his and Adrien's direction.

 He immediately stopped talking and smacked Adrien's shoulder gently,

"What?" Adrien turned to look at him,

"Mate, look, I think these girls are feeling us. Why don't we sit in there? It'll be fun," he said with a smirk, tilting his head toward the compartments. 

Adrien chuckled and looked toward the direction Aurelius was gesturing to. The girls Aurelius was referring to looked around 13 and were smiling and waving at them. 

He couldn't recognize any canon characters among them, so he immediately lost interest.

"Nah, let's sit in an empty compartment. I prefer that. Got to revise The Magic Series Codex anyways. Fewer people mean less noise."

He said nonchalantly and continued walking. He was already used to getting attention due to his looks, as he was pretty handsome in his previous life, so their reaction didn't surprise him, especially since they were kids. 

"Alright. I'm fine with that." 

Aurelius chuckled and continued walking as well. 

Soon, the duo found an empty compartment and entered it. Aurelius placed his briefcase on the overhead luggage rack and sat beside the window.

Adrien sat by the window, placed his briefcase on his lap, and brought out The Magic Series Codex and Aella. 

Aella immediately flapped her wings and perched on Adrien's shoulders, causing him to smile slightly. Aella didn't like staying in the briefcase, so he usually brought her out whenever he had the chance.

Thunderbirds, like Phoenixes, were incredibly intelligent and docile beasts, so it was safe to have her out. 

"By the way, how's The Magic Series Codex progressing." Aurelius suddenly asked, seeing Adrien open it.

Adrien had told him about it when he asked in the past, so he knew what it was roughly about. Though, he didn't understand the specifics or possible applications, he just knew it was about numbers and Arithmancy.

Adrien smiled, hearing his question, "Actually, I'm nearly done with the first section of it. Should be completed by Christmas, hopefully."

"Ah, I see." Aurelius hummed, "So, what exactly is the first section about? How can it be applied?" he asked curiously, intending to understand it better.

"Well, to put it simply, the first part is about quantif-" 

"Is THAT a Thunderbird?!" 

A euphonious voice that seemed to originate from the corridors exclaimed.

In unison, Adrien and Aurelius turned to face the source of the shout.

It appeared to be from a light pink-haired girl with blue eyes and freckles across her cheeks. She was standing outside the compartment door with her mouth agape.

The girl immediately opened the compartment doors, walked up to Aella, and tried to touch her.

Seeing that, Aurelius frowned, 'How rude.' he thought.

"And who might you be?" He asked calmly, raising his eyebrows.

Evelyn immediately realized how unruly she had just been. She blushed embarrassedly before replying,

"Ah, Sorry. I'm Evelyn…Evelyn Scamander." 

'Scamander? Well, that's certainly interesting…' Adrien, who had been watching the girl amusedly, thought as soon as he heard her introduce himself.

"Yes, it is, in fact, a Thunderbird….Fantastic beasts, aren't they?" He said with a smirk.

Aurelius immediately gave Adrien a knowing, "Clever…" he said, to which Adrien winked.

Evelyn immediately understood Adrien's wordplay and chuckled, 

"Indeed they are. Who might you guys be?" She asked interestedly, taking a seat beside Adrien subconsciously.

"Adrien Flamel."

"Aurelius Dumbledore II at your service."

Adrien and Aurelius said in unison. It took Evelyn a few moments to internalize their introductions, and her eyes widened in shock once she did.

"F-Flamel?! D-Dumbledore?!" She stuttered, looking bewildered.

"Yeah… I'm surprised you've heard of the name Flamel. You seem to know it." Adrien replied, intrigued.

Not many people in Britain knew of his father compared to France, so it was surprising to see that she knew who he was upon hearing his name.

"Wish I could say the same." Aurelius tittered. "Though, Unfortunately, everyone knows the name Dumbledore."

It was then Evelyn finally finished processing what the two of them said,

"Yeah, I've heard of the name Flamel from my grandfather. He always talked about how he adored Nicolas Flamel and Albus Dumbledore, especially Dumbledore. That's how I know."

She happily said, looking at the two of them.

Adrien's interest was instantly piqued when he heard the word 'grandfather.' and 'Dumbledore.' 

'Could she be Newt Scamander's granddaughter? or Theseus's? How interesting. She was definitely not in the canon. New people are really popping out left, right, and center. First Aurelius, now her.'

"Who's your grandfather?" Adrien inquired curiously, wanting to confirm his thoughts.

Evelyn looked at him, "I thought you already figured it out when you referenced 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.'" she chuckled and started.

"My grandfather is the author of that book...Newton Scamander."

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