Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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If it were just adding a class, Professor McGonagall would probably agree, but changing classes… to be honest, Kyle felt it was unlikely.
However, seeing Fred and George's hopeful faces, he simply shrugged and said nothing.
Let them try; maybe Professor McGonagall would be in a good mood today and agree.
The first class this year was still Charms. After leaving the Great Hall, Kyle said goodbye to the Weasley brothers and Cedric and went to the third floor of the castle alone.
When he reached the second floor, Kyle suddenly saw two new students pacing back and forth on the stairs.
Harry and Ron.
They were circling the two fake staircases, anxiously pacing back and forth on the second floor.
Kyle watched for a while and couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing… exercising?"
Ron suddenly turned his head, as if seeing a savior, and pulled Harry over.
"We're going to the Transfiguration classroom, but we're lost," he asked breathlessly. "Can you tell us how to get there?"
"Follow me," Kyle said. "I'm going to the Third floor too."
"Thank goodness!" Ron looked relieved.
"Th-thank you," Harry said, glancing at Kyle somewhat awkwardly.
"It's nothing, we're just going that way."
Kyle led the two to the correct stairs and asked, somewhat puzzled, "Didn't you buy a Hogwarts map?"
Hearing this, Ron's face turned red, and he lowered his head without saying a word.
Harry also said somewhat embarrassedly, "Twenty Galleons is too expensive, I…we can't afford it."
Although he had piles of gold in his vault, he hadn't brought much with him to school this time. After deducting the money for wands and books, he had exactly twenty-odd Galleons left.
School had only just started, and there was still a long way to go. Harry naturally didn't want to spend all his money on maps.
"I wasn't talking about that," Kyle said, leading them around a corner. "There are two kinds of maps. Besides the twenty Galleons one, there's also a cheaper one for ten Sickles... What, didn't Fred and George tell you?"
Harry and Ron were both stunned.
Kyle's words reminded Harry of a flyer about maps posted on the common room door.
However, he and Ron had instinctively assumed it was the kind they'd seen on the train and hadn't looked at it closely.
Thinking of this, Harry's face scrunched up in regret.
If only he had looked carefully then; he could have afforded ten Sickles.
"We're here. The Transfiguration classroom is over there." Reaching the fourth floor, Kyle pointed in a direction and then took something from his pocket and handed it to Harry.
"Consider this a small gift."
Harry looked down and realized he had two maps and a bag of... dried fish?
"What's this?" Ron asked.
"Looks like cat food," Harry said. "Does Kyle have a cat?" Ron thought for a moment and said, "He does."
Harry quickly looked up and called out, "Kyle, you gave us an extra bag of cat food!"
"Here, take it too!"
Kyle seemed to be in a hurry to get to class and said without turning around, "I have plenty of that stuff. You can take it back and give it to the owl."
As he spoke, he turned a corner and disappeared at the end of the corridor.
This…
Harry stood there dumbfounded, holding the bag of dried fish.
"Hurry up, Harry, class is about to start,"
Ron suddenly tugged at him and said urgently, "It's Professor McGonagall's class. We'd better not be late."
"Okay, okay."
Coming to his senses, Harry put the dried fish in his pocket and ran off with Ron in the other direction.
Meanwhile, Kyle had already entered the Charms classroom.
For the first lesson of the new school year, Professor Flitwick didn't immediately teach new material, but instead led them through a review of the spells they had learned the previous year.
He spent half the class checking everyone's Levitation and Softening Charms, only returning to the platform of stacked books after confirming that most people could cast these spells proficiently.
"Today we'll learn the general counter-spell, which can neutralize the effects of ordinary spells… Watch my movements carefully, make sure your swing of the wand is firm, and your voice must be clear… Finite Incantatem!"
After Charms class, Kyle attended History of Magic class.
The afternoon consisted of two consecutive Potions classes taught by Snape.
Just like last year, Snape still didn't give Kyle a friendly look.
"Who told you to whisper while we were brewing potions?"
Snape stood next to Kyle, his face grim. "If you're not going to study, don't bother others. One point deducted from Hufflepuff."
He then looked at Kanna.
"The lionfish bone was handled well. One point added to Hufflepuff."
Kyle calmly looked at Snape.
He was already used to the professor's double standards, and compared to the previous five points, this year was not bad.
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The first day of the new school year passed just like that. Although some classes were not very pleasant, overall it was still fulfilling.
Night.
The library on the second floor of the castle was very quiet, without a sound. The tall bookshelves blocked the moonlight shining through the windows, making it seem much darker than other places.
"Creak..."
Suddenly, the door opened a crack, just wide enough for a person to walk in.
"Tap tap..."
After the door closed again, a clear footstep was heard in the library.
"Tsk, Filch is too dedicated."
Kyle dispelled the Disillusionment Charm and patted his chest with some lingering fear.
While on the stairs, Filch suddenly darted out from some corner, almost brushing past him.
Kyle also noticed that Mrs. Norris inexplicably stopped as she passed him, glancing suspiciously in his direction.
Kyle guessed she must have noticed something amiss, though she wasn't quite sure.
Fortunately, Filch seemed to be chasing someone, and at his urging, Mrs. Norris quickly left.
"Looks like using only the Disillusionment Charm for a nighttime stroll isn't very reliable. I need to find some time to look for a spell that can mask scents," Kyle mused, heading straight for the forbidden section.
He remembered the book that detailed Horcruxes, something like "The Secrets of the Darkest Art."
Kyle suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Although the forbidden section only occupied a small portion of the library, it still contained several thousand books.
Finding "The Secrets of the Darkest Art" precisely within it without magic wouldn't be an easy task.
"Hopefully I can find it tonight."
Kyle sighed, then lit his wand and walked into the rows of bookshelves.
[End of the chapter]