Chapter 137: The Unexpected Door Slam
Chapter 137: The Unexpected Door Slam
Mrs. Weasley, witnessing Fred and George's antics, gave their ears a light twist.
"If you two manage to win the Special Contribution to the School, you can even walk down Diagon Alley with the trophy on your heads."
She then turned to Percy and said, "Alright, dear. Have a good term, and send me an owl when you get to school."
After kissing Percy's cheek, he walked away.
"Now it's your turn, you two," Mrs. Weasley said, looking at the twins with a warning, "This year, you two need to behave and not corrupt Kyle."
Fred's tone suddenly rose, "Mom, are you kidding me?!"
"Of course not," Mrs. Weasley replied.
The train's whistle sounded, and the train began to move forward slowly.
"Hurry up and get on the train, and take care of Ron," she said.
"Don't worry, Mom," Fred replied, "Ron's a little rascal, but he'll be fine with us." Fred and George climbed onto the train in a hurry, along with Ron.
Kyle waved to Mrs. Weasley from the window.
"Goodbye, Mrs. Weasley!"
"Goodbye, dear," Mrs. Weasley shouted, "Write to me if they cause any more trouble."
---
The train started moving, and Ginny ran alongside it for a while until it picked up speed, leaving her behind, still waving.
Houses flashed by the window, and as the train rounded a bend, she was out of sight.
Kyle turned his attention back to the Wizard's Chess game with Cedric.
Conna and Tina huddled together, curiously reading a magazine.
After the first game, Cedric, curious, leaned over, but Tina pushed him away with a slap.
Helpless, he could only keep his attention on the chessboard.
After two more games, the twins returned.
They opened the sliding door and said excitedly, "Hey, guys, guess who I just ran into on the train?"
"Who could you possibly meet on the train?" Cedric said casually, "It can't be Harry Potter."
"How do you know?!" Fred exclaimed, "Yes, it's Harry Potter."
Cedric paused, holding the chess piece, and exclaimed, "Are you sure?"
"I asked him, and I saw the scar, right there, like a lightning bolt."
"Now that you mention it..." Cedric tapped his forehead, "He should be starting school this year, considering the timing of the Dark Lord's fall ten years ago."
"Never mind that," George said curiously, "Do you think he'll remember what the Dark Lord looks like?"
"Probably not," Cedric replied, "He was just born back then, how could he remember?"
"That makes sense."
Kyle laughed, "What, are you curious about the Dark Lord's appearance?"
"A little," Fred leaned against the carriage and said, "He's the Dark Lord. Aren't you curious about what he looks like?"
"No!" Kyle shook his head, "Just a powerful wizard, nothing special. Maybe he doesn't even have a nose."
"Ha, that's impossible," Fred let out a strange laugh.
Kyle, as expected... The Dark Lord without a nose, that's the funniest joke he's heard all year.
The others reacted similarly, and none of them believed such an absurd notion.
After a burst of laughter, Cedric rubbed his eyes and asked, "We'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon. Are we selling maps this year?"
"Of course," Fred immediately nodded. "This is a big business opportunity, and we only get one chance every year. We can't miss it."
"That's right," George glanced at Kyle and said with a smile, "As seniors, how could we bear to watch those adorable freshmen get lost?"
Kyle raised his eyebrows.
This was clearly his line, but George had stolen it from him.
"Do you have anything planned for later?" Cedric suggested, "If not, let's just make the maps here."
The train had just departed, and it would be several hours before they arrived at Hogwarts, which was enough time for them to make a batch of maps.
Qiu and Conna readily agreed. They didn't have anything planned, and they didn't like playing Wizard's Chess, so it was good to have something productive to do.
Fred and George thought about it and agreed as well.
Although they had just promised Lee Jordan that they would go to the Slytherin carriage to chase spiders, compared to earning Galleons, these small matters could be easily overlooked.
So, everyone turned their attention to Kyle.
"I have no objections either," Kyle shrugged. "Since you've made up your minds, let's quickly tidy up the table. There's no room for parchment with all these snacks on the table."
The moment he finished speaking, everyone quickly cleared the snacks off the table.
Seeing this, Kyle turned around and took out two stacks of parchment from his trunk.
The thicker stack was the most common parchment, ten Sickles for ten sheets, with a discount if you bought more.
Kyle had taken out around seventy to eighty sheets.
The other stack was much smaller, with only about a dozen sheets.
But these were all high-quality parchment, with soft and clean surfaces and special patterns at both ends outlined in gold thread.
It was real gold, not the gold paint they had used last year.
Of course, the price of this high-quality parchment was naturally very expensive, one Galleon per sheet.
Kyle placed both stacks of parchment and the original map on the table.
"What are we waiting for? Let's begin."
Everyone reached for the common parchment without hesitation, each taking a dozen or so sheets.
Seeing their actions, Kyle said with annoyance, "You sure know how to make things easy for yourselves."
Although the duplication process was the same, the parchment Kyle was holding required some special embellishments and decorations.
These additions made the process more complicated.
He had only been being polite, but he didn't expect these people to be so impolite. If he had known, he would have chosen first.
Kyle sighed.
He hadn't expected that under the influence of the Weasley brothers, even Cedric and Conna had learned to be sneaky.
These two brothers were truly causing trouble.
Kyle sighed again and silently took out his wand, pointing it at the parchment.
"Duplicate in pairs."
The map's patterns slowly appeared on the blank parchment.
This time, Kyle estimated that the duration of the duplication charm could be extended to an entire semester.
Soon, the carriage became a bustling place of activity.
The blank parchment was quickly diminishing, and the finished maps were piling up.
"Boom!"
But just as everyone was concentrating on using the duplication charm, a loud banging sound suddenly came from outside.
And it was coming from their carriage door.
(End of Chapter)
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