Arriving early at King's Cross Station, Alex pushed his trolley loaded with luggage to the barrier between Ptforms 9 and 10. There were Aurors stationed around the area, likely to prevent any Muggles from wandering through by mistake.

  After cheg that no one was watg him too closely, Alex took a deep breath and pushed his trolley through the barrier.

  Oher side, the Hogwarts Express sat waiting oform, its dark red steam engine ready to take students to school. The ptform wasn't crowded yet—it was only a little after 9 AM, and the train wouldn't depart until 11.

  Alex picked a random carriage, levitated his luggage ih a flick of his wand, aled into ay partment.

  He pced his owl, Tailwind, oable and watched as the sleepy bird tio doze in its cage. Shaking his head with a smile, Alex opened his book, 'Basic Transfiguration Guide,' to review the material.

  An hour passed quietly. The ptform outside grew busier as more students arrived with their families. Then, a knock came at the door of his partment.

  "Is ating here?" a young girl asked, pointing to the seat opposite Alex.

  She looked about his age, with long brown hair and light greehere was a hint of nervousness in her expression.

  "No, feel free to sit," Alex replied, her a kind smile.

  "I'm Alex Wilson. Need help with ygage?" he asked, notig that she was struggling with her heavy suitcase.

  The girl nodded gratefully. "I'm Vivienne Bulstrode, but just call me Vivian" she said as she stepped aside.

  With a wave of his hand, Alex levitated her suitcase into the luggage rack with ease.

  "Wow, that was cool! You didn't even use your wand!" Vivian excimed, clearly impressed. "Are you a senior? I'm a first-year, heading to Hogwarts for the first time."

  Alex chuckled. "Actually, I'm a first-year too. I've just had some practice with magic before starting school."

  Vivian's eyes widened. "You're really good! I thought only older students could cast spells like that. What family are you from? I don't reize the name Wilson."

  Alex shrugged. "I'm an orphan, raised in the Muggle world. No es to any pure-blood families."

  Vivian looked surprised. "Really? You don't seem like a Muggle-born at all with how well you use magic!"

  "My grandfather's a Squib," she tinued excitedly. "He was expelled from the Bulstrode family, but when I got my Hogwarts letter, we were weled back. He was so proud!"

  Alex raised an eyebrow. "Your family kicked yrandfather out, and now he's happy to go back? Doesn’t that bother you?"

  Vivian shrugged. "He's happy because he hates being a Squib. To him, being ba the Bulstrode family is a big deal. They're one of the Sacred Twe pure-blood families, after all."

  Alex didn't fully uand her pride iurning to a family that had cast out her grandfather, but he let it go. Everyone had their own views on family, after all.

  Just then, there was a otion oform outside. Alex leaoward the window. "What's going on out there?" he asked.

  Vivian poked her head out of the window to take a look. "Looks like an argument. I think it’s the Travers and Mon families. I've see family gatherings."

  When she pulled her head ba, her hair was wi and a bit messy.

  She grinned. "I heard that the Mon family thinks someone iravers family is a Death Eater. They’ve been at each other's throats ever sin Auror from the Mon family got hurt by one of the Travers Death Eaters."

  Alex blinked in surprise. "How do you know all this?"

  Vivian puffed out her chest, looking smug. "Since we rejoihe Bulstrode family, I've been to a lot of gatherings. You hear a lot of stories after dinner. Let me tell you, the pure-blood families have a lot of secrets!"

  Alex couldn't help but ugh inwardly. 'She likes to gossip.'

  The two tio watch the otion outside the train window.

  "Do you think they'll fight?" Vivian asked Alex, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

  "I doubt it," Alex replied, pointing to the Aurors who had already arrived. "They're here to maintain order. It'll probably get stopped before anything serious happens."

  Sure enough, the Aurors quickly intervened, separating the two groups who had been arguing and looked ready to e to blows.

  "Huh, I was hoping food fight. What a letdown," Vivian said with a disappointed sigh, leaning back from the window with a bored expression.

  Alex couldn't help but ugh inwardly. Watg her, he felt like he was seeing a person who enjoyed sitting back, eating pop, and watg other people's drama, pletely detached from the situation. 'She's like one of those people who just love to watch things unfold from the sidelines,' he thought.

  Vivian turo him, ging the subject. "Which house do you think we'll be sorted into? My family's always been in Slytherin, so I'm guessing I'll end up there too."

  "I don't really care, but I'd like to be in Ravencw. I heard they have their own library, and it seems like a good pce for quiet study," Alex replied. He'd done his homework about the Hogwarts houses and thought Ravencw suited him best.

  Vivian ughed. "Yeah, I figured you for a Ravencw. The moment I saw you, you were reading. I've heard Ravencw's full of smart students."

  Alex chuckled. "If you end up in Slytherin, just be careful. Things are pretty chaoti the magical world right now, and I've heard a lot of those who follow the Dark Lord are from Slytherin."

  Vivian waved her hand dismissively. "It's not that bad. Plenty of Slytherins are ral. Like my family—they don't think the Dark Lord actually win. They think his ideas are too extreme."

  "Is it because of Dumbledore?" Alex asked. "I've heard he's the greatest wizard of our time."

  Vivian shrugged. "That's part of it, but it's more about the Dark Lord's pure-blood obsession. He wants to get rid of wizards with Muggle blood, but a lot of pure-blood families have business dealings with Muggles, and… well," she leaned in and lowered her voice, "many pure-blood families have married into Muggle families at some point. If they didn't, the family line would die out."

  Alex houghtfully. He had sidered this before. It made sense—if pure-blood families only married each other, they would eventually run into problems with inbreeding, leading to health aal issues.

  "Just don't say that out loud if you end up in Slytherin. They might not like hearing it," Alex warned with a slight grin.

  "Don't worry, I'm not stupid," Vivian said with a smirk.

  Their versation was interrupted by a knock at the door of their partment.