Chapter 723: The Second Mole?
Chapter 723: The Second Mole?
By the time Kyle returned to Hogsmeade, dusk had settled in, and the shops along the streets were illuminated by varying degrees of warm light, lending a peaceful ambiance to the village. Unhurried by the fading light, Kyle decided to make a detour to the Three Broomsticks to purchase some beverages unavailable at Hogwarts.
His arms soon held a large bucket of butterbeer, a bottle of pumpkin fizz, and two bottles of cherry soda, a favorite of Connor's.
Having placed his order, Kyle waited patiently to the side.
Even though it wasn't a designated visiting day, the Three Broomsticks was bustling with patrons, leaving barely any empty seats in the bar.
Not far away, two wizards drank and grumbled about their current predicament.
From their conversation, it was clear that they had avoided the Leaky Cauldron lately, opting for the Three Broomsticks instead due to its closer proximity to Hogwarts.
It seemed that many shared the belief that Voldemort and his Death Eaters dared not venture near places where Dumbledore was present.
Indeed, this belief held some truth. Thus far, Kyle hadn't heard of any disappearances or killings by Death Eaters in the vicinity of Hogsmeade, so it was understandable that people chose to unwind and drink here.
"Here are your things..."
Before long, Madam Rosmerta returned, and most of the wizards in the bar shifted their gazes to follow her movements, occasionally letting out silly grins and downing their drinks in one go.
This was the second benefit of visiting the Three Broomsticks—admiring the charming and attractive Madam Rosmerta was far more pleasant than enduring the sight of old, ugly, hunchbacked Tom. Plus, the ambiance here made one feel they could drink two extra pints.
"Rosmerta, another pint of mead, please! Hurry up!" someone shouted.
"Just a moment!" Madam Rosmerta called out impatiently before turning to Kyle.
"Here are your things," she said, handing over several packaged bottles. "I wish the next Hogwarts visiting day would come sooner. Then, I won't have to deal with these boring folks."
"They're all customers..." Kyle said with a smile, "and here to pay with their galleons."
"Hmph, they're just a bunch of cowards too scared to face the Death Eaters, always looking for a way out," Madam Rosmerta scoffed, lowering her voice. "With the recent incident at the Ministry of Magic, no capable wizard would be wasting time drinking right now."
"Of course, I'm not referring to you," Madam Rosmerta added. "It takes courage to venture out of Hogwarts at a time like this, even though I personally don't encourage such behavior."
"What happened at the Ministry?" Kyle asked, feigning ignorance and ignoring the latter part of her statement.
"You'll find out tomorrow."
Madam Rosmerta seemed reluctant to divulge more, "By then, you'll be glad you stayed at Hogwarts, likely the safest place right now. With Dumbledore there, no Death Eater would dare intrude."
"Alright, off you go now," Madam Rosmerta said, raising her voice. "Hurry back to the castle before it gets too dark."
With that, she grabbed a bottle of mead and casually tossed it to the group of wizards who were still clamoring for her attention.
The bottle sailed through the air, and one of the wizards caught it deftly.
"Hey, that was my drink!"
"Finders, keepers. You can order another if you want it so badly," the wizard replied.
Noisy bickering filled the bar, but Kyle had already stepped out, returning to the streets of Hogsmeade.
He followed the winding path back to school, passing through the gate adorned with the Hogwarts crest and the writhing boar, and soon arrived at the castle grounds by the Black Lake.
It was almost dinnertime, and several playful first-year students were rushing into the castle.
As always, Filch stood guard at the entrance, wielding a strange-looking instrument to inspect each passing student.
The device was designed to detect Dark magic artifacts, and it would emit a piercing alarm if anyone carried something dangerous.
"Where have you been? It's late; why are you only returning now?" Filch interrogated Kyle with a scowl when it was his turn to pass through.
However, unlike with the other students, Filch didn't aggressively poke at Kyle with the instrument but merely circled it around him in a perfunctory manner.
In fact, every seventh-year student received this special treatment from Filch.
He wasn't foolish; he understood that these soon-to-be graduates were different from the rest. They feared little, and their respect for rules and professors was at an all-time low. If he angered them, there was a good chance he'd end up on the receiving end of a beating.
And Filch knew this from experience—more than once, too.
"I was at Hagrid's," Kyle replied calmly.
"Hagrid..." Filch snorted derisively.
He held Hagrid in contempt, viewing him as nothing more than a stupid oaf, and the feeling was mutual, as Hagrid often referred to Filch as "Old Filthy."
"Are you done checking?" Kyle prompted. "I'm off to dinner now."
Filch glanced at the silent instrument and then waved Kyle through. "Go on, but I'll be checking with Hagrid later. If I find out you're lying..." He left the threat hanging.
As it hadn't been touched in a long time, the notebook was covered in a layer of dust, but that was easily remedied with a simple cleaning spell.
By the time Kyle arrived at the Great Hall, dinner had already started, and the hall was filled with students chatting amongst themselves, none of them paying him any mind.
Kyle glanced towards the staff table and, as expected, Dumbledore wasn't there.
"Where did you go?" Connor asked as soon as Kyle sat down. "I heard from Hermione that you guys met Dumbledore's phoenix."
"Did the news spread that fast?" Kyle took a bite of a jam pie. "I thought they would keep it confidential."
"Hermione only told me," Connor said. "She seems curious about why Dumbledore sought you out, too."
"It's about Amelia Bones from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Kyle said in a lowered voice. "Dumbledore needed the Basilisk's unique petrifying ability to stabilize her injuries after she was attacked by Death Eaters."
"Bones..." Connor frowned in thought. "Does Susan know?"
"She probably doesn't yet," Kyle said. "But she'll likely find out tomorrow."
Susan Bones, a sixth-year Hufflepuff witch, was Amelia Bones' niece.
On the train ride to school, Slughorn had invited her to join as well, but she had mostly kept to herself in a corner without saying much.
Connor sighed. "First, Hannah, and now Susan, too... Who knows if she'll also leave Hogwarts."
Hannah, a fellow Hufflepuff, had been picked up by her family a few days ago and hadn't returned since.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Kyle reassured her, taking out the cherry soda he had just bought. "Here, this is for you."
"You went to the Three Broomsticks?"
"Yeah, I just passed by on my way back."
...
Half an hour later, dinner ended, and students began returning to their respective common rooms.
Kyle found Harry and Hermione by the entrance to the Great Hall, about to head upstairs.
"You're back so soon?" Harry was surprised to see Kyle there, and both he and Hermione had assumed that something major must have happened with the Order of the Phoenix for Kyle to return so quickly.
"Came back as soon as I was done," Kyle said without elaborating further. He handed the notebook over to them. "Here's the Advanced Potion-Making notes I mentioned."
"Is this the one from your previous school?"
"Yeah." Kyle nodded. "Feel free to take a look if you're interested. I found it pretty useful."
Harry curiously flipped through the notebook, with Hermione peering over his shoulder.
"Look, here's the Draught of Living Death, the very first thing we learned about." Harry perused the contents of the notebook. "It's so detailed... I wish I'd had this from the start."
"Wait, Harry, there's something odd about this notebook." Hermione halted Harry as he was about to turn the page.
"Look here..." She pointed to a line, "Squeeze the juice out of the Sopophorous Bean with the side of a silver knife... I remember it should be sliced, not squeezed."
"Really?" Harry blinked in confusion.
To be honest, he couldn't recall if the book said to slice or squeeze, but since it was Hermione saying it, it had to be correct. After all, she had practically memorized the entire book.
This was standard operating procedure for Hermione. At the start of each school year, she would memorize the new textbooks, and Harry and Ron were used to it by now.
"And here..." Hermione pointed out several other places.
"The book says to stir counterclockwise, but this says to stir counterclockwise seven times and then clockwise."
"The roots of the Bubotuber should be cut into evenly sized cubes, not strips, and there's no need to pre-bake them..."
Hermione frowned, finding more and more discrepancies as she read, to the point where the notebook seemed to be completely different from the textbook.
It was as if someone had slept through the class and then hastily scribbled down whatever they could in the last minute before the end of the lesson.
If it weren't for the fact that Kyle had brought it, she wouldn't have given it a second glance.
"As I mentioned before," Kyle waved his hand, "the content in this notebook differs from the textbook, but don't worry about it.
"I can assure you that following the steps in the notebook will work perfectly fine and might even be simpler and more convenient."
"But the book says something else," Hermione insisted.
"The last revision of Advanced Potion-Making was thirty years ago." Kyle looked at Hermione. "You can't expect everyone to stick to the same old steps from thirty years ago without any innovation, can you? That's impossible.
"If you don't believe me, you can ask Professor Slughorn. I guarantee that when he brews potions, he doesn't follow the textbook to the letter."
"Yeah, Hermione," Harry chimed in quietly. "Remember how you pointed out two mistakes in Professor Slughorn's lecture? Yet, as a Master of Potions, how could he possibly get something as basic as the number of stirs wrong?
But Hermione merely turned and glared at Harry, effectively silencing him. After all, he still relied on her to complete his homework on time, so he dared not offend her.
However, Kyle didn't have this concern.
"Hermione, believe that the content in the book is correct, but it's just a reference."
"Remembering what's in the book might get you an 'O' on the exam, but if you want to go further, you must have your own understanding."
Hermione remained silent.
"Look here, about the way the roots are handled... Connor found this." Kyle pointed to a passage in the notes.
"The benefit of doing this is that it saves ten minutes because the roots react more easily with the potion after roasting, and it's also more stable, reducing the chances of making a mistake... At least my roommate, Mikkel, hasn't made a mistake at this step since learning this little trick.
"Also, this discovery earned her quite a few extra points on the Extraordinary Potion-makers Association assessment."
Hermione lowered her head, deep in thought.
Kyle knew that this was just her personality, and it had been this way for over a decade. It wasn't something that could be changed with a word or two from him, so he didn't explain further.
"Okay, I've lent you the notes, and whether or not you want to refer to them is up to you."
With that, Kyle turned and left.
Harry sneaked a glance at Hermione, then discreetly tucked the notes into his pocket, his intuition telling him that they would be useful.
After all, he couldn't quite follow the instructions in the book, so why not give this alternative method a try?
On the other hand, Kyle, who had returned to the common room, soon forgot about this matter. He had only given the notes to Harry on a whim, as he already knew the content and had no further use for them.
In the common room, Susan Bones sat silently in an armchair, tears streaming down her face. She had clearly received some distressing news from home.
However, the fact that she remained in the common room suggested that the Bones family didn't intend to pull her out of school.
This made sense, considering Amelia Bones' position in the Ministry of Magic and the protection provided by numerous Aurors. It was safer here than anywhere else.
Aside from Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were also renowned figures in the wizarding world. Even if the Death Eaters showed up in force, they could trust these professors to safeguard the students.
Currently, countless people were likely trying to get into Hogwarts, as evidenced by the bustling Hogsmeade Village. And this was just the beginning; more people would undoubtedly flock to the school soon.
It probably wouldn't be long, perhaps after the news of Amelia Bones' condition was reported in the Prophet.
By then, the students who had previously withdrawn from school would likely return, as long as their parents weren't complete idiots.
Of course, those who chose to lie low in other countries were a different matter, like sixth-year student Midgen, whose father had withdrawn her from school a few days ago. They had left for France that very evening.
Midgen was probably at Beauxbatons by now.
To be fair, this was also a sensible choice, as it ensured the family's safety.
However, most people didn't want to leave.
At that moment, Connor and a few other girls were comforting Susan, sitting beside her.
As Kyle watched them, hesitating about whether to say something, his thoughts suddenly turned to Amelia and a comment Dumbledore had made.
The Headmaster had said that he had received news of the Death Eaters' plans regarding the Ministry, which was why he had rushed over.
Kyle hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, but now he wondered, who had sent that message?
The only Death Eater informant he knew of within the Order of the Phoenix was Snape.
But recently, Snape had been teaching at the school and had no knowledge of Voldemort and the Death Eaters' plans. It was unlikely that Voldemort would specially write to inform him.
If that were the case, there had to be a second informant.
And that person must hold some influence to be privy to such crucial plans against the Ministry.
But who could it be?
...Malfoy?
Possible, but not very likely.
The ever-cautious Malfoy, even if he harbored thoughts of betraying Voldemort, wouldn't dare take any actual action, much less secretly pass information to Dumbledore.
They would only switch sides once the tide of battle turned.
But if it wasn't Malfoy, then who?
Kyle racked his brain, trying to think of a Death Eater who fit the bill, but none came to mind.
Unless... Bellatrix?
No, that was absurd. If that were true, he'd eat this armchair with orange jam on it.
(End of Chapter)
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