The time finally came for Hogwarts to reopen.
As always, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was crowded with students, parents, trunks, owls, and pets as families said their farewells before the Hogwarts Express departed for another school year.
Sitting inside one of the compartments, Victor quietly watched the bustling platform. To everyone else this was simply another September.
To him it was likely the last peaceful one. If events followed the course he remembered, the wizarding world would soon be thrown into turmoil.
During the summer, Victor had placed Malfoy Manor under the Fidelius Charm. Lucius had opposed the idea at first — but after being defeated in a fair duel, he'd had little room to object. Reluctantly he accepted Victor becoming the Secret Keeper.
Narcissa's reaction had been different. She questioned the necessity of hiding the ancestral home of the Malfoy family, unable to understand why such precautions were needed.
Victor explained that the family needed to sever every remaining connection with the Death Eaters and leave the past behind before it consumed them as well.
Narcissa listened quietly without interrupting. Like always, she placed her family's safety above politics or ideology, and ultimately chose to trust her son.
She didn't press for every detail, nor did she challenge his decision once she understood he genuinely believed their lives were at risk.
As a result, Malfoy Manor was now protected by the Fidelius Charm. Only Lucius, Narcissa, Draco, and Victor knew its location, with Victor serving as Secret Keeper.
The manor's house-elf also knew the secret, but Victor wasn't concerned — house-elves were bound by extraordinary loyalty to the families they served, and betraying the manor's location simply wasn't something he believed one would ever do.
Victor's gaze drifted across the platform one last time. Students laughed, parents waved goodbye, and the Hogwarts Express released a cloud of steam.
The compartment door slid open, and Ron poked his head inside. "It's empty. Come on, you two," he called over his shoulder before stepping in with his trunk. Harry and Hermione followed, placing their luggage on the rack before taking their seats.
Hermione naturally settled beside Victor, while Harry took the seat opposite him. Ron dropped into the remaining seat with a satisfied sigh as the train slowly began pulling away from the platform.
"So, Victor," Hermione asked, "are you excited for this year?"
Victor looked out the window for a moment. "A little."
Ron leaned back. "I still can't stop thinking about what happened at the World Cup. Can you believe it? Someone actually flew without a broom."
"Ron, that's been the biggest topic in the entire wizarding world for weeks. The Ministry doesn't even know who the masked wizard was, so there's not much point in endlessly gossiping about someone whose identity nobody knows."
"Maybe, but it's still brilliant! A whole bunch of Death Eaters turn up to terrorize the World Cup, and then some mysterious guy comes along and terrifies the Death Eaters instead."
Harry couldn't help smiling. "I've got to admit, whoever that wizard was, he certainly wasn't ordinary."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "The Ministry still hasn't identified him, and every newspaper seems to have a different theory. Some people even think he was an Auror working undercover."
Ron snorted. "An Auror? No chance. Dad says even the Ministry hasn't got a clue who he was."
Victor simply listened without saying another word, turning his attention back to the passing countryside while the discussion continued around him.
Voldemort. Triwizard Tournament.
Victor silently pieced the events together in his mind. There was no point trying to stop his return. As much as he disliked the idea, Voldemort had to come back.
Harry still carried a fragment of his soul. When the Killing Curse rebounded at Godric's Hollow, Voldemort had unintentionally created a Horcrux inside the infant he had tried to murder.
He hadn't realized it at the time, but the accident had bound a piece of his soul to Harry.
That changed everything. As things stood, Harry couldn't truly be free while that fragment remained inside him. Only Voldemort himself could destroy it, by casting the Killing Curse on Harry — just as would happen in the Forbidden Forest years later.
It was a cruel irony. The one person responsible for creating the Horcrux was also the only one who could unknowingly destroy it, in the exact manner Victor remembered. Which meant Voldemort's return was unavoidable.
If the Dark Lord never returned, the soul fragment inside Harry would remain forever, and the threat would never truly end.
Victor slowly closed his eyes. So it has to happen.
His only hope was that the plan he had spent months preparing would unfold exactly as intended. If even one crucial step failed, the consequences would be catastrophic.
And if he miscalculated, he might not live long enough to see the end of the war. This wasn't a handful of Death Eaters he could overwhelm and send fleeing.
The opponent waiting for him was the Dark Lord himself — a wizard whose name alone had plunged the entire British wizarding world into fear for over a decade, brilliant enough to push magical knowledge to terrifying heights, ruthless enough to sacrifice anyone for his ambitions, and cruel enough to regard every human life except his own as expendable.
Victor had no intention of underestimating him. Arrogance had killed countless witches and wizards during the First Wizarding War. He refused to become another one of them.
*****
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