Chapter 633: The Traitor, Cedric
Chapter 633: The Traitor, Cedric
After leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, Kyle didn't immediately return to the Hufflepuff Common Room. Instead, he took a detour on the second floor and entered an empty classroom.
"How is it..."
As Kyle entered, he heard an urgent voice coming from within.
Conna approached, followed by Cedric, Autumn, Fred, and George.
"It's done," Kyle gestured, "You can now study Defense Against the Dark Arts on your own. Just be careful and don't let anyone find out."
"That's great!" Cedric exclaimed excitedly, "We've agreed that to prevent any leaks, they must sign a magical contract in front of the Room of Requirement."
"You're brilliant, Kyle," Fred also praised happily, "You managed to deceive Umbridge so easily, truly worthy of being the youngest member of the Merlin Order."
Kyle was speechless, unsure how this related to the Merlin Order.
"But..." George touched his eyes, "You were a bit too harsh. If we don't go to the school hospital, we'll have to endure this for at least a week."
"Honestly, this is so embarrassing," Fred sighed.
"We don't dare go where there are many people..."
"And even during class, we have to cover our faces."
"Didn't you say that having some injuries would make it more convincing?" Kyle smiled, "As it turns out, you were right. Because of your current appearance, Umbridge completely believes my words."
"We were talking about you," George muttered, "Think about it. You braved dangers and obtained this information at the cost of injuries, doesn't it immediately seem more credible?"
"It doesn't matter. This result is fine as it is."
Kyle said, "Can I be blamed if you three were beaten up by one person? If I were you, I'd be too embarrassed to bring this up."
"It was two against one!" George corrected seriously, "That guy Cedric just stood there, not helping at all... That traitor..."
"Huh?" Cedric scratched his hair, unsure how this suddenly became about him. After all, he was a Hufflepuff, and even if it was an act, he wouldn't help other houses.
Besides, even if he had helped, it wouldn't have made much difference. It would just be one more person with a black eye. It's better to have two injured than three completely defeated."
However, Cedric also understood that Fred and George weren't in a good mood, so he wisely remained silent.
Kyle ignored Fred and George's ongoing complaints and turned to ask, "Have you set the time? When do you plan to start?"
"Wednesday evening," Cedric replied, "I originally wanted to schedule it for the weekend, but everyone seemed to have more important things, like Quidditch practice or club activities... Only Wednesday could accommodate everyone's schedules."
"Remember to go separately then," Kyle reminded, "There's no issue with Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but a large group of Hufflepuff students rushing to the eighth floor would be strange.
"Or you can go to the House Elves for help."
"House Elves?"
"That's right." Kyle explained, "With their unique magic, House Elves can use Apparition within the school to transport you from the House Elf quarters to the eighth floor and back."
"That's right, House Elves can use magic in the school, how could I have forgotten that?" Cedric said happily, "I just don't know if they'll agree... I mean, they almost never use magic in school."
"It's fine, we'll know if we try," Kyle said, "It's not like we're going every day, so there shouldn't be a problem."
"That makes sense," Cedric nodded.
After discussing these matters, the group left the classroom.
Kyle and Conna were ready to return to the Common Room, while Cedric followed Fred and George upstairs.
Taking advantage of the remaining time, he planned to visit Hermione and Harry to discuss more details, such as the specific time, the content of the magical contract, and the curriculum for the class.
...
For the first time as a professor, even just in name, Cedric still felt nervous, and this feeling intensified as Wednesday drew closer.
Even during the Quidditch training session the next day, Cedric seemed distracted.
On several occasions, Kyle saw the Golden Snitch fly by, but Cedric showed no reaction, staring blankly ahead, lost in thought.
Kyle, maneuvering the Firebolt Arrow, gracefully turned and caught the Golden Snitch in his hand.
Normally, as a Chaser, he shouldn't be going for the Snitch, but the other team members not only didn't object, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Because they had been flying for two hours.
Training was a tedious affair, and usually involved various tactics, so it wasn't particularly boring.
But today was different. Since the captain couldn't catch the Snitch, they didn't change their tactics at all, and in the end, everyone was as lackadaisical as doing History of Magic homework, lazily throwing the Quaffle into the goalposts.
This kind of training was pointless.
"Oh, sorry Kyle, I was daydreaming," Cedric said, rubbing his head. "I can't help but think about what's going to happen tomorrow night.
"I don't know if I'm prepared enough, or if I can solve everyone's problems. Every time I think about this, I can't calm down."
Kyle put away his Firebolt Arrow and walked towards the castle with the others.
"Relax, it's just an after-school tutoring session, it's not that scary."
"I know, but I can't help it," Cedric sighed. "Every time I have free time, I can't help but worry, afraid that I'll mess up and make a mess of things, and then no one will come next time."
This work is organized and uploaded by Liuxiu Book Bar~~
"You should learn from Harry, he doesn't seem nervous at all," Kyle said with a smile.
"As for whether they'll come next time, you don't need to worry. Unless you teach worse than Umbridge... Honestly, that's a lot harder than you not doing a good job."
"You're right," Cedric finally managed a smile. "I've never seen a worse professor than Umbridge..."
When the two returned to the castle, it was almost curfew time. At this moment, Filch came down from the floor above, and his expression turned sour when he saw their attire.
"You..." He first looked at the ground, noticing the absence of muddy footprints, then quickly changed his words: "Out so late, are you planning a night stroll?"
"Mr. Filch, we just finished training," Cedric said.
"I hope so," Filch smirked at them. "If I catch you doing something wrong, I'm sure Professor Umbridge won't mind me taking you to the dungeons.
"Finally, after so many years, we have a reliable professor..."
Cedric frowned and, after passing through the entrance hall, whispered to Kyle:
"Filch is becoming annoying again."
"Yeah," Kyle agreed. "Because someone is backing him up."
With the arrival of the rule-abiding Professor Umbridge (at least on the surface), Filch finally found someone who shared his mindset.
This also caused Snape's position in Filch's heart to be swiftly replaced by Umbridge.
In the past, when he intimidated students, he would always threaten to tell Professor Snape, especially for Gryffindor students, this was a very effective tactic.
Until Umbridge became the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Filch delightedly discovered that this professor's ideas were remarkably consistent with his own, and her punishments were much more severe than other professors.
More importantly, she had greater authority and could change school rules at any time.
Thus, Filch became inflated, forgetting what happened last year, and returning to his previous self, tirelessly patrolling the castle, eager to catch more rule-breaking students.
He seemed to believe that if there were enough rule-breakers, there would be a reason to reopen the dungeons.
"This annoying guy..."
"And annoying Umbridge..."
"Keep your voice down, don't let them hear."
As soon as Filch left, someone immediately started whispering.
They still preferred the Filch from the beginning of the school year, at least he wasn't as annoying as he is now.
...
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
