By this time, King's Cross Station was in utter chaos.
Large numbers of young wizards and their parents were stranded under the strange gazes of Muggles because they couldn't enter Platform 9 3/4.
Several wizards, refusing to believe there was a problem with the platform despite repeated warnings from Ministry of Magic staff, stubbornly charged into the platform anyway, only to be taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for treatment.
The station was a scene of disaster.
Countless young wizards and their parents were complaining, especially the parents of Muggle-born young wizards, whose impression of Hogwarts and the wizarding world had hit a new low.
"Good heavens, the design of Platform 9 3/4 is utterly idiotic."
"Even more idiotic is that we have to run full tilt into it."
"Now the most idiotic thing has happened, it can actually fail. You can never be sure if you'll successfully run through or just get a big bump on your head."
"Is this what wizards are like? Honestly, I regret agreeing to let my child study magic. Is it too late to withdraw now?"
Some wizards were even more unfortunate, having experienced similar incidents twice in a row.
For example, the Hermione Granger family. The three of them were looking speechlessly at Platform 9 3/4, experiencing this familiar feeling.
Why familiar?
Because the last time they needed to enter Diagon Alley to buy things, the passage had a similar problem. They waited there for several hours before Ministry of Magic personnel finally repaired the entrance.
And now, just when they needed to catch the train, it happened again?
Hermione clenched her teeth tightly, stamping her foot in frustration.
She had seen Charle in the crowd earlier and had been thinking of going up to talk to him.
But Charle had just gone through shortly before, and then the passage broke, exactly like the time in Diagon Alley, making Hermione miss the chance to talk to Charle.
Hermione felt a wave of frustration.
I wanted to compare with Charle and see who knew more magic.
Although all previous competitions ended with Charle crushing me, it might not be the case with magic.
Hermione was quite optimistic. Since she started learning magic, she had been constantly practicing spells.
Charle's magical talent might not necessarily be stronger than hers.
Unfortunately, she had the chance to ride the train with Charle and compare notes, but now, because this damned passage was broken, that idea was completely ruined.
Thinking of this, Hermione became even more dissatisfied with the Ministry of Magic.
"Two similar incidents in a row, what does that show?"
"It shows that the Ministry of Magic is overstaffed and hasn't prepared properly at all. The money from the wizarding world's taxpayers is being used for who knows what."
"The Ministry of Magic is a shoddy operation. When I graduate, I'm going to run for Minister for Magic!"
...
Meanwhile, in the Minister for Magic's office, Fudge's face was ashen with rage.
The situation at King's Cross Station was undoubtedly another blow to the current Ministry of Magic government.
This blow might even be more severe than the dark wizard attack.
After all, not everyone would face a dark wizard attack, but on this day, thousands of young wizards and their parents were genuinely facing the problem of a failed passage.
In just this short time, complaints were flying into the Ministry of Magic like snowflakes, more than half of them accusing the Ministry of Magic of only knowing how to collect taxes and doing nothing else useful.
Fudge's hands were trembling with anger as he paced back and forth in his office, questioning his advisors.
"Has the funding for repairing Platform 9 3/4 been disbursed?"
The advisor stammered.
"Yes, it has."
Fudge's expression was cold.
"Was it disbursed in full?"
"You didn't take any?"
The advisor, sensing the risk of being made a scapegoat, became anxious.
"Of course we took some, everyone working here has to take a little something."
"But Minister, we inflated the budget quite a bit when we submitted it, and after layers of skimming, it cancels out. The remaining Galleons are still enough to maintain the platform properly, we calculated it clearly when we submitted the budget!"
Fudge stared intently at the advisor.
"Then tell me, since the money was in place, why did the passage still fail?"
The advisor was sweating profusely with anxiety, then as if he remembered something, he quickly said.
"Right, Minister, the money was in place, but because the Hogwarts Express is Hogwarts' asset, the money for repairing the platform was actually given to Hogwarts in the form of a subsidy."
"The actual repairs were handled by people hired by Hogwarts. If this happened, it's not the responsibility of our Ministry of Magic."
"It must be that Hogwarts didn't use the Galleons properly!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Fudge and the other advisors present suddenly understood, and in unison, they gritted their teeth and uttered a name.
"Dumbledore!"
"It's him again!"
Fudge waved his hand.
"Go, add another charge to the list of crimes we're preparing to try Dumbledore for: embezzlement and greed, causing congestion at King's Cross Station and severely affecting the travel of the wizarding community."
"Also, Dumbledore doing this at this critical juncture must be to lower our approval rating. What a vicious old busybody!"
Fudge clenched his fists, his eyes burning with rage.
"Dumbledore, I'm not done with you!"
Immediately, he turned to his advisors and said,
"Continue to add budget to Charle's reimbursement agreement. I want Dumbledore to reveal more of his flaws as soon as possible!"
...
At this moment, in the Hogwarts Headmaster's office, Dumbledore was also bewildered when he heard the news that King's Cross Station was completely blocked.
Such a thing had never happened in so many years.
This meant that the chance encounter he had planned for Charle, Harry Potter, and others at the station wouldn't happen.
But Dumbledore still maintained his composure.
"It's alright. Although it's a bit unexpected, the backup plan still works."
"Those who board first will be arranged seats in the carriages by the attendants. Afterwards, they will be reminded which carriage is empty for the remaining few young wizards and taken there. This way, they can still be brought together."
At this time, with the temporary repairs by the Ministry of Magic specialists and Hogwarts professors, Platform 9 3/4, which had become unusable due to insufficient magic, was finally repaired.
After a two-hour delay, the young wizards and parents still successfully entered the platform, enacting scenes of farewell.
And among the crowded people boarding the Hogwarts Express, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were brought together by chance, looking for an empty carriage.
Just then, the attendant guided them to the outside of Charle's carriage.
"This carriage only has one person. You can just make up a carriage."
Immediately, the carriage door opened.
Hermione saw Charle inside the carriage, bored and gnawing on a Quick-Quotes Quill.
She couldn't help but let out a surprised cry.
"Charle Evans?!"
But the next moment, Hermione looked at the seats in Charle's carriage, which were completely full, and a look of hesitation appeared in her eyes.
The remaining seats were all occupied by girls. At this time, as if they had been waiting for a long time, they had all covered their faces with hats and were asleep.
Charle said softly with a hint of apology,
"Sorry, the carriage is full. They're all asleep. Could you please close the door?"
Hermione looked at Charle surrounded by girls, gritted her teeth, but didn't know what to say. She could only close the carriage door and go with Harry and Ron to find another carriage.
The attendant at this time led them, looking back every few steps, her face full of confusion.
She clearly remembered that Charle's compartment was empty. When did it get full?
Could it be that people had just boarded for a while, she was too busy, and she was confused?
Never mind, there was nothing she could do. The attendant, with an apologetic look, guided Harry, Ron, and Hermione to a new carriage.
After they left, a strange look appeared on Charle's lips.
"They actually found me."
"The Savior Trio, they just happened to find my carriage, right on the dot. If you say Dumbledore didn't arrange this, I wouldn't believe it."
"Dumbledore is old and likes children, likes to play house with them. I don't."
"Surely no one actually wants to be in the same carriage with three eleven-year-olds on a green train, right? Please, I hated this kind of situation the most in my previous life. Luckily, I'm smart enough!"
"Dumbledore, huh? Old man, no matter how cunning you are, weren't you still single-handedly defended against by me?"
Immediately, Charle waved his wand, and the three girls on the seats next to him turned back into dolls.
Charle naturally locked the carriage door and even put up a sign outside that said "Someone is sleeping, please do not disturb". Then he casually cast a Silencing Charm, isolating the bursts of noise and screams from outside. Only then did he let out a long breath.
"The world is quiet. It's good."
Then, Charle's eyes deepened.
"It seems that old man Dumbledore is still the same as in the original story, he really likes to arrange things for others, likes to use people as pawns."
"This time going to Hogwarts, on Dumbledore's territory, safety comes first. I need to get Occlumency sorted out."
"I don't expect it to be incredibly powerful, and I certainly don't expect it to reach the point where I can become crazy enough to enter R'lyeh as I envisioned before. But at least it should be able to handle Dumbledore's usual probes and pass the Sorting Hat's test."
The next moment, Charle whispered in his mind.
"Deep Blue, deduce Occlumency for me!"
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