Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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The next morning, Kyle, sporting faint dark circles under his eyes and yawning, walked into the Great Hall.
Still half-asleep, he even went to the wrong table, almost sitting at the Slytherin table, but was thankfully stopped by Mikel, who was with him.
"Kyle, what's wrong?"
Cedric handed him a glass of milk. "Didn't you sleep well last night?"
Kyle sighed.
He hadn't slept well at all; he hadn't slept at all.
Good heavens, he had searched the forbidden section all night, but he hadn't found anything about Horcruxes, let alone *The Secrets of the Darkest Art*.
Only one book, *Let the Soul Boil*, vaguely mentioned Horcruxes, and only in a short sentence:
"Only by finding the vessel that holds the soul can one grasp the key to immortality."
That was it.
What a load of rubbish about the forbidden section!
Pshaw, false advertising!
Of course, it was impossible for Kyle to search the entire forbidden section in just one night, but he didn't want to search anymore.
Clearly, Dumbledore had taken away all the books about Horcruxes; the remaining ones contained only a few fragmentary notes, practically useless.
Kyle looked up at his friends' concerned expressions, then shook his head, forcing a smile, and said, "It's nothing, I just had a strange dream all night, I'm just a little disoriented."
"A strange dream?"
Cedric frowned. "I remember there's a Divination class at Hufflepuff today, do you need me to ask Professor Sprout for you?"
Encouraged by Fred and George, Cedric had also chosen Divination.
"No need," Kyle yawned again, saying, "I just dreamt about reading all night. I guess it's just the start of the semester, I'm a little too excited. Maybe I'll be fine tomorrow."
Um…
After hearing Kyle's words, everyone except Cedric turned their heads away, no longer looking at him.
He even spent the whole night dreaming about books… Is this what the top student in the year is like?
Unapproachable, unapproachable.
Even Cedric couldn't help but twitch his lips, saying nothing more.
"I have something interesting to tell you."
Suddenly, Mikel leaned over and said mysteriously, "Last night I heard from the first-year students that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley from Gryffindor actually fed Professor McGonagall dried fish during their Transfiguration class."
"Feed Professor McGonagall?" Cedric immediately became interested, incredulously asking, "Really?"
He knew Professor McGonagall had a habit of displaying her Animagus form in the first class, but he didn't expect anyone to dare deliberately provoke her.
Yes, in Cedric's eyes, they did it on purpose. After all, who would bring dried fish to class for no reason? They must have known beforehand that Professor McGonagall would transform into a cat, and prepared in advance. One can only say that he truly deserves the title of Savior; his courage is simply unmatched.
"Of course it's true."
Mikel said, barely suppressing a laugh. "It's practically the talk of the school. That first year named Justin Fletchley even said they were throwing dried fish across half the classroom like they were feeding stray cats.
Professor McGonagall was furious and punished him… oops… made them stand for the entire class."
At this point, Mikel finally couldn't hold back anymore, clutching his stomach and collapsing onto the dining table laughing.
Cedric also couldn't help but chuckle, though not as much as Mikel.
Kyle instinctively turned his head towards the Gryffindor dining table.
There, Harry and Ron huddled in a corner, too afraid to look up, while Fred and George stood beside them, laughing and patting their shoulders vigorously.
In their eyes, their younger brother and junior had undoubtedly done something truly noble, so noble that even they couldn't help but feel deep respect.
"These first years these days are really bold," Kyle remarked, turning back to his seat. He calmly picked up a piece of toast and popped it into his mouth, then grabbed a few slices of fried egg and some fried ham.
After eating his fill, he tapped the table with his finger and said softly,
"Could I have a cup of black tea?"
No sooner had he spoken than a steaming cup of black tea appeared before Kyle, along with a small jar of sugar cubes.
Kyle picked up the cup, tested the temperature to find it perfect, and then downed the tea in one gulp.
"Another cup, please."
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After drinking two cups of black tea, Kyle finally felt less sleepy, but just to be on the safe side, he ordered a third.
Today's first period was Transfiguration; if he fell asleep in class, his fate would be even worse than Harry's.
After leaving the Great Hall, the group said goodbye to Cedric and headed to the Transfiguration classroom on the fourth floor.
Perhaps because of yesterday's incident, Professor McGonagall seemed much more serious than usual.
And unlike Professor Flitwick, she didn't give the students time to review last year's lessons in the first class of the new school year, but instead started with new material.
Turning a beetle into a button was much more difficult than last year.
Because the beetle could move, and it was quite fast.
Mikel waved his wand, and after a lot of effort, he had only managed to give the beetle a little exercise.
Ryan was smarter; he simply held the beetle in his hand, so he didn't have to worry about misclicking.
But just as he raised his wand, Professor McGonagall appeared beside him, sternly saying, "Didn't I just tell you? No touching the beetles with your hands! Didn't you hear me? Or do you think your left hand is superfluous?"
The beetles weren't large, and they seemed even smaller if you held them in your hand. One wrong move, and a spell could land on your hand.
If you were lucky, nothing would happen, but if you were unlucky… well, who knew what might happen?
Something like that had happened last year, and the young wizard's fingers had fused together on the spot, requiring two full days in the school hospital to recover.
Ryan shuddered, stammering, "Professor McGonagall, I… I forgot."
"Hufflepuff, deduct three points."
Professor McGonagall glared at him and turned to leave.
After her lesson, the others dared not try to be clever anymore, obediently chasing the beetles around the table randomly.
However, their results were mostly unsatisfactory.
The beetles were too agile, and many gradually lost patience, swinging their wands with increasing force.
A series of crackling sounds gradually filled the classroom, accompanied by occasional bursts of sparks flying everywhere.
The beetle mortality rate began to rise sharply; some were flattened by wands, while others were blasted away, which made Professor McGonagall's expression even more grim.
[End of the chapter]