King’s Cross Station was packed, the main hall teeming with people.
The air felt thick and heavy.
Evelyn pushed her luggage trolley, coming to a stop between Platforms Nine and Ten.
Stacked on the cart were an old leather trunk, three unopened sets of school robes, and a pile of textbooks bound together like bricks.
The trunk was orphan-asylum issue, one of its clasps broken and held together only by a makeshift twist of wire.
She stared at the stone pillar before her for three seconds.
[Main Quest Prompt: Pass through Platform Nine and Three-Quarters to reach the Hogwarts Express.]
[Friendly Reminder: Please proceed at normal speed to avoid drawing Muggle attention.]
Evelyn casually swiped the prompt away.
She looked down at the luggage trolley—four wheels, an iron frame—and felt like pushing it was akin to dragging a heavy coffin.
“Not gonna work!”
She squatted down and rummaged through the trunk’s side pocket.
Empty.
She checked her pockets next, finding only candy wrappers, a pencil stump, and bits of wand splinters she had picked up from Ollivander’s shop.
There was no usable propulsion device here whatsoever.
Standing straight, she opened her system panel.
[Current Mischief Points: 230.]
[Store Recommendation: Miniature Turbine Motor (Muggle Modified).]
[Cost: 50 Points.
Provides thirty seconds of high-speed boost once installed on a vehicle.
Side effect: Tailpipe blasts sparks, accompanied by the engine roar of a motorcycle.]
Evelyn stared at the words “blasts sparks” and “engine roar,” then decisively made the exchange!
A palm-sized metal cylinder appeared out of thin air, its surface etched with gear patterns.
Evelyn squatted down and snapped the motor onto the rear axle of the trolley.
The latch clicked into place with a crisp, firm bite.
She stood up and clapped her hands.
Beneath the trolley’s rear axle sat a metallic lump that clearly did not belong to this era.
Grasping the handles with both hands, Evelyn lowered her center of gravity and kicked her right foot back hard.
Lining herself up with the pillar, she counted down softly in her head: *Three, two…*
Before she could say “one,” the motor exploded into motion!
The trolley accelerated in an instant, its iron wheels screeching against the floor tiles with a sharp, ear-splitting whine.
Two jets of searing white sparks erupted from the rear, accompanied by the roar of a Harley-Davidson.
Evelyn was dragged forward at a breakneck sprint by the handles!
A wild wind blew all her hair back, her new boots leaving two charred skid marks across the stone tiles.
At forty miles per hour, the trolley blasted straight toward the stone pillar!
Before passing Muggle travelers could even register what was happening, Evelyn and her spark-spewing trolley had already vanished into the barrier.
…
The air on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters carried the warm scent of coal soot and steam.
A scarlet steam train rested on the tracks, its chimney spewing plumes of white steam.
The platform was crowded with witches and wizards; owls fluttered inside cages, and parents shouted their children’s names over the din.
Nobody noticed a spark-spitting luggage trolley hurtling onto the platform at a thoroughly unscientific speed!
Evelyn: (⊙ω⊙ )
*Where are the brakes?!*
She looked down at the motor—there was no brake button whatsoever!
[Store Note: This product does not include a braking device.
If a stop is required, please utilize external drag.]
“Damn it!”
The trolley blasted right past the hem of a red-haired woman’s robes.
“Watch out!” A boy holding a toad shrieked and leaped aside.
Evelyn dug her heels in with all her might, her boot soles skidding against the stone slabs with a deafening screech, leaving a trail of sparks five meters long.
Up ahead, two identical red-haired boys were crouching beside a trash bin.
They jerked their heads up, two pairs of brown eyes reflecting a fire-spouting luggage trolley!
The one on the left reacted with lightning speed, grabbing his companion by the collar as they rolled frantically to the side.
The trolley tore right across the spot where they had been crouching a second ago and crashed violently into the stone wall at the end of the platform!
*BANG!*
The leather trunk flew two meters into the air, somersaulted, and slammed heavily onto the ground.
Textbooks scattered everywhere, and the parcel of school robes rolled to the edge of the train tracks.
The motor let out one last whine, cut out completely, and dropped off the axle.
Still clutching the handles, Evelyn finally came to a halt.
She stood frozen in place, her hair as messy as a bird’s nest.
The platform went dead quiet for two seconds.
Then, applause broke out.
It came from the two red-haired boys.
They climbed up from the ground covered in dust, but their expressions were wild with excitement!
Fred Weasley: (☆∀☆)
George Weasley: (✧≖‿≖✧)
“George, did you see that?”
“I saw it, Fred!”
“She fitted a thruster onto a luggage trolley!”
“A thruster that shoots fire!”
“And then she rode it straight onto the platform and nearly flattened us!”
“Bloody brilliant!” they chorused together.
Evelyn swept the hair out of her face and bent down to pick up her books.
“Sorry about that.
Brake failure.”
“Brake failure?” The boy on the left stepped over the trash bin and squatted down to help her gather her books.
“Did you even install brakes?”
“Nope,” Evelyn answered with complete honesty.
“Wicked!” The one on the right had already circled behind the cart, picking up the motor and turning it over in his hands.
“What on earth is this?
It’s not magic, is it?”
“Miniature turbine motor.”
“Muggle stuff?”
“Sort of.
Modified.”
“How much horsepower on the original?”
“No idea, but the original definitely doesn’t shoot fire.”
The boy raised his head, his eyes shining with intense excitement.
“Where’d you get it?”
“Bought it.”
“Where?”
“Secret.”
Both of them stood straight at the same time, looking at Evelyn as if examining a priceless treasure.
Fred & George: (ↀᴗↀ)
“Fred Weasley,” the one on the left said, extending a hand.
“George Weasley,” the one on the right added, extending his hand as well.
Evelyn shook both hands at once.
“Evelyn Valentine.”
“Valentine,” Fred nudged George with his elbow.
“First year?”
“Yep.”
“Muggle-born?”
Evelyn raised an eyebrow.
“That’s the second time someone’s asked me that today.”
“We’re not discriminating,” George waved his hands hastily.
“Just curious.
Pure-blood families don’t have the creativity to strap a flame-thrower to a luggage trolley.”
Evelyn stuffed her textbooks back into the trunk and used a rubber band to secure the broken clasp.
“What were you two shoving into that bin back there?”
The two shared a look.
“Just a little prototype,” Fred said.
“A timed Stink Bomb.
We’re trying to figure out how to extend the fuse to thirty seconds,” George added.
“Success rate is only forty percent right now.
The rest explode early.”
“Like that one just now.”
A pungent odor of rotten eggs drifted over from the direction of the trash bin.
Evelyn: (¬‿¬)
“How early?”
“About three seconds.”
“Then how is that any different from not extending it at all?”
The two exchanged another glance, subtle expressions of hit-a-sore-spot distress creeping over their faces.
Fred & George: (눈_눈)
“Which is precisely why we’re still researching it,” Fred cleared his throat.
“You need a slow-release mechanism,” Evelyn said, hauling her trunk toward the train carriage.
“Muggle timed explosives use delay fuses—adding a controllable burn channel between the trigger point and the charge.”
She gestured as she walked.
“If it’s magic-triggered, put an isolating medium between the spell and the reaction.
Like a slow-dissolving sugar coating—the thickness determines the delay length.”
The train whistle blew its first blast.
Fred and George froze in place, staring at Evelyn’s retreating back.
They grabbed each other by the collar, their expressions solemn.
“George, this girl…
we *have* to recruit her!”
“What if she refuses?”
“Then we follow her!”
Releasing their collars, they took off in pursuit.
Evelyn climbed up the carriage steps.
The corridor was packed with students looking for compartments.
She sidestepped a fluttering owl and walked a few steps inside.
“Valentine!” came a synchronized yell from behind.
Fred leaned into the doorway, holding onto the frame.
“Where are you sitting?
Let’s go together!”
George popped out from under his brother’s arm.
“We’ve got cool stuff to show you—the kind that shoots fire!”
Evelyn tilted her head slightly.
“How many Stink Bombs did you bring?”
“Seventeen.”
Evelyn’s eyes lit up.
Seventeen Stink Bombs, plus three packs of Pop Rocks in her pocket, plus that empty carriage at the end of the corridor…
[Ding!
Potential mischief allies detected.
Side Quest unlocked: Cause a carriage-wide state of chaos on the train.]
[Reward: Mischief Points +200.]
She grinned wide.
“Come on.
Let’s find a bigger compartment.”
Behind them, a girl with bushy brown hair was holding a stack of thick books, earnestly pushing open a compartment door.
“Excuse me, has anyone seen a toad?”