The screech of trains and the hum of distant voices filled the air as Harry, Luna, Daphne, and Valeria desded into the depths of the London Tube system. It was midday, and the station was buzzing with uters rushing to their destinations, making it easy to blend into the crowd. Daphook the lead, fidently guiding them through the maze of ptforms and signs, while Valeria, following her just as fident as a illusion hid her draic features.

  “Gloucester Road station’s on the District line,” Daphne expined as they passed a bustling group of tourists. “We’ll catch it from here, Green Park, and switch at Earl’s Court.”

  “Why did we just not teleport in line normal?” Valeria asks

  Daphne gave a small smile, as if she had anticipated the question. “All new guests must e through the standard railway for the first visit. It’s tradition,” she replied, stepping off the train with a grace that seemed almost out of p the busy Tube station.

  Luna’s eyes lit up with i as she followed closely behind, her dreamy expression never faltering. “There’s something poetic about traveling through these mundane pces. Like walking through two worlds at once.”

  Harry, for his part, was just relieved they were moving in the right dire. “This is our stht?” he asked, gng at the station’s signs.

  Daphne nodded as the doors of the carriage slid open. “Yes, this is our stop. We o ge lines here. Stay close,” she announced, leading them off the ptform and into the maze of underground tuhat made up the Tube system.

  Valeria sighed, gng around at the scurrying uters. “This pce is a byrinth. I don’t know how humans ma every day.”

  Harry chuckled, half-joking as he replied, “Magic would make it a lot easier.”

  “Maybe you will see if we go to Lilith but it most certainly does not.” Daphates========

  As the train rattled to a stop at what seemed to be an ordinary station, Daphioned for Harry, Luna, and Valeria to follow her toward a less-traveled corridor at the far end of the ptform. The cold, musty air of the London Tube system felt oppressive, but there was something else—a low, humming energy in the air that only grew strohe further they walked.

  “Stay close,” Daphne whispered, her tone more serious now as they approached an out-of-pce wrought-iron gate hidden in the shadows. The gate was marked by strange ruched along its frame, glowing faintly as they neared.

  “This is it,” Daphne announced quietly, pg her hand on the rune he gate’s tch. The moment her hand made tact, a ripple of magic washed over them, dist the space around the gate and causing the noise of the bustling station to fade into eerie silence.

  Harry exged a gh Luna, who smiled softly, clearly intrigued by the transition. Valeria, calm as ever, stood beside Daphne, waiting patiently for the move.

  The gate creaked open, revealing not arain ptform but a long, dimly lit passageway, its walls made of stohat looked a, worn by time and magic. Beyond, the air grew cooler, tinged with a faint sulfuric st, and the dim glow from the ented torches lining the walls cast eerie shadows across the group.

  “Wele to the entryway,” Daphne said, stepping through the gate. “From here, we desd into the Underworld.”

  “Did you devils copy from 9 and 3/4s?” Luna asks

  Daphne chuckled softly at Luna's question. "No, we’ve had this portal long before your wizarding world thought of Ptform 9 and 3/4. If anything, they might have copied from us. The Underworld has been ected to the human realm for turies, and many magical creatures pass betweewo unnoticed."

  Harry couldn't help but smirk at the thought of the Ministry unknowingly borrowing ideas from devils. “Wouldn’t surprise me if they did.”

  The two looked over to Luna who was staring off into the distance as her eyes were gssed over.

  “Lie, the train is a ret addition.” Luna states

  Daphne bli Luna’s statement, momentarily taken aback. “Excuse me?”

  Luna’s eyes refocused, her usual dreamy expression still present but with an edge of certainty. “The train system. It was added in the past tury or so, after your underworld rulers decided to moderhe transit system between realms. Something about effid venience, wasn’t it?”

  Daphne opened her mouth, clearly wanting tue, but then sighed, her shoulders dropping i. “Alright, fine. You’re right. It’s not a—at least not the train part. The portals, though? Those have been around forever.”

  Luna nodded sagely. “That’s what I thought.”

  “That is utter bullshit!” Valeria states.

  Luna gave a small shrug, her eyes drifting back to the shadowed walls of the passage. “I just use my eyes to see the world. It’s full of little secrets.”

  As they ventured deeper into the passageway, the air grew heavier, and the faint sound of meical grinding echoed through the stone walls. The group walked in silence for a few moments, the sulfuric st stronger now, almost tangible in the cool, damp air.

  Suddenly, a low, eerie whistle pierced the quiet. The grouh them trembled ever so slightly, and the stone walls oher side began to shimmer with a dark, ethereal glow. Ahead of them, the passage widened, and a strange mist swirled through the tunnel as if summoned by an unseen force.

  Daphne slowed her pace, gng over her shoulder. “Here it es.”

  The mist thied, swirling faster, and a faint light began to pulse through the fog, growing brighter with each passing sed. The rhythmiking of wheels on tracks reverberated through the tunnel, eg in their ears as the train finally emerged from the mist.

  It was unlike any train Harry had ever seen. The sleek, obsidian-botive appeared as if carved from the shadows themselves, its surface shimmering with faint runes glowing a deep red. The wheels, massive and orurned smoothly as they rolled along tracks that hadn’t been there moments before, appearing out of thin air as though summoned by the Underworld’s very will.

  Large, iron spikes adorhe front of the engine, giving the train a menag, almost predatory look. The windows were darkened, but faint, eerie lights flickered within, casting strange shapes that seemed to shift in and out of focus.

  Harry swallowed hard, feeling a strange familiar seo the doom fortress in his dreams. “That’s… different.”

  Luna, standing beside him, ractically beaming. “It’s magnifit, isn’t it? So much better than that dingey old boat.”

  “Okay, what the fuck is she!” Valieria shouts looking at Daphne.

  Daphne looks back at her rook with a teasing smile.

  “Well,” Daphne said, stepping forward with a grin, “our ride to the Underworld awaits. Shall we?”