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Chapter 725: Gifts and the Soul-Sucking Curse
Chapter 725: Gifts and the Soul-Sucking Curse
After breakfast, everyone gathered in the entrance hall.
Due to the tense atmosphere lately, it seemed like everyone had been cooped up in the castle, and an unusually large number of students were heading to Hogsmeade this time.
A long line formed in the entrance hall, and Filch stood at the oak front door as always, checking each student's name against the list of those permitted to visit Hogsmeade while waving his black magic detector around them.
"What a waste of time," Mikel grumbled. "So what if we take Dark artifacts out of school? You should be checking what we bring in instead."
"I don't need you to tell me how to do my job," Filch snapped, poking the detector at Mikel irritably.
Despite his words, he quickened the inspection and soon reached Kyle.
Outside, the wind howled fiercely, and to be honest, it was quite uncomfortable to walk to Hogsmeade village in such weather. Many students began shivering as soon as they stepped out of the castle, their ears and cheeks turning red from the cold.
However, no one wanted to stay in the castle, so they could only quicken their pace, eager to reach Hogsmeade and the warm comfort of the Three Broomsticks to enjoy a hot cup of butterbeer.
Of course, there were also students who were not in a hurry, like Kyle and Kona. They wore warming badges enchanted with water-repelling and moisture-resistant charms on their chests, unaffected by the harsh weather.
The two chatted leisurely as they strolled across the grounds and made their way to Hogsmeade along the path.
Apparently, word had gotten around, and for safety reasons, the visiting wizards from other places were nowhere to be seen. As far as the eye could see, only Hogwarts students filled the streets and shops.
"Oh, Kyle, look over there," Ryan suddenly said, pointing to a shop not far away. "Zonko's Joke Shop is closed."
Kyle turned to look.
Indeed, Zonko's, the shop closest to the village entrance, was closed tight, and several students were peering curiously through the cracks of the door.
"It really is closed, and there's no one inside..."
"What a bummer, I wanted to buy some Exploding Bees."
"Forget it, even if you buy them, you won't be able to take them back. Don't forget Filch is still checking everyone at the castle gate."
"Maybe I can find a place to hide them first..."
The group lingered at the door for a while before leaving one by one. Now that they had confirmed Zonko's was closed, there was no point in staying any longer. They might as well use this time to browse elsewhere.
...
Fortunately, the ever-popular Honeyduke's Sweetshop was still open for business.
The small shop was packed with students, all waving galleons and sweeping the shelves clean of candies like a swarm of locusts. In just a few minutes, half of the large barrel of Every Flavour Beans by the door had been emptied.
"Hey, save some for me!" Mikel exclaimed, unable to hold back any longer. He took off running towards the shop.
"Kyle, do you need us to get you anything?" Ryan asked, turning back after running a few steps. "How about Every Flavour Beans and Chocolate Frogs? Those are the most popular ones."
"No thanks," Kyle shook his head.
"Are you sure?" Ryan gave Kyle a look. "I guess we won't have many chances to come to Hogsmeade again after this, so it's best to stock up now..."
"That's true, but I really don't need any," Kyle said. "I still have a lot of candies left, as you all know. I don't need to buy more."
He didn't remember exactly when it started, but for several years now, Kyle hadn't set foot in Honeyduke's.
Mainly because every year during Christmas and his birthday, he would receive a lot of candies and chocolates. Even after using some of them for gift exchanges, he still had more than enough left and didn't need to buy any.
"We should change things up and try different flavors sometimes, and it's not nice for us to keep eating your candies," Ryan said before running off to join Mikel in Honeyduke's.
Kyle and Kona didn't linger either. Taking advantage of most students being occupied at Honeyduke's, they decided to head to the Three Broomsticks to secure a good spot.
Drinking a hot cup of butterbeer in this weather was an irresistible temptation.
As the two braved the howling wind and reached the door of the Three Broomsticks, they suddenly spotted a few familiar faces.
The distinctive red hair made them hard to miss.
"Fred? George?" Kyle asked tentatively.
Hearing their names being called, the twins immediately turned around.
"Haha, we were just talking about you and wondering if you'd show up," Fred said.
"Didn't expect you to come so soon after we mentioned it..." George waved and smiled, "Hey, Kona, how's seventh year treating you?"
"It's going well," Kona replied. "What about you two? Are you here for a drink?"
"To be honest, we don't really have time for leisure right now," Fred sighed. "We've got a ton of work at the Ministry, and we've tried to resign several times but never found the opportunity."
"Resigning is an option, but all the work would probably fall on Dad afterward," George said. "He's already swamped as it is, and he gets home very late every night."
"So, what brings you here then?"
"We're tracking down someone who's dealing in fake amulets," Fred explained. "You might know him too—Montague."
"The one from the Order of the Phoenix?"
"Who else could it be..." George said through gritted teeth. "Now I understand why Mom doesn't welcome him. Even though he always manages to get us what we need, he also causes us a lot of trouble."
"Have you found him?" Kyle asked. "Do you need any help?"
"No need, I reckon he's already gotten wind of it and run off," Fred said, pushing open the door of the Three Broomsticks. "Since we've met, how about a drink? It's on us."
As he spoke, he arched an eyebrow at Kyle, a clear act of provocation.
Kyle didn't back down. As soon as they entered the pub, he promptly ordered a glass of Ogden's Old Firewhisky, the most expensive drink on the menu, for Kona.
The price of ten galleons per glass made the twins' faces contort with pain.
"You're not having second thoughts, are you...?" Kyle said teasingly. "But it doesn't matter, I can pay."
"Ha! Not a chance!" George stiffened his neck and took out ten gold coins, placing them neatly on the bar, "We're having this, and I'm paying."
"Then I'll thank you on Kona's behalf," Kyle said with a grin, handing the golden honey liquor to Kona.
"Lucky us, someone's treating us to drinks," Kona said.
Seeing Kyle's smug expression and the Weasley brothers' exaggerated faces, Kona couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't pretend. You two earn double the salary, and you can't even afford ten galleons?." After they found a place to sit, Kyle brought over three glasses of butterbeer. "What's the situation outside now?"
"Not good." Fred sighed, "We're seeing the Dark Mark almost every day, causing panic among people."
"What about Aurors on the other side?"
"They've caught a few Death Eaters, but they're all small fries, not very useful." George said, "By the way, do you know Stan Sanpark?"
"The ticket inspector for the Knight Bus?" Kyle asked.
"That's him." Fred said, "He was also captured this morning on charges of participating in Death Eater activities."
"Wait, isn't that a mistake...?" Kona raised her head, "He's just a ticket inspector. How could he be a Death Eater?"
"We don't think it's possible either." George said, "But this is what Stan Sanpark admitted to."
"And it happened in a bar, in front of at least a dozen witches and wizards... The Aurors received several tip-offs."
"There's also Gula, a goblin, who has been found to have had multiple contacts with Death Eaters, but Gringotts insists that it's just a normal transaction process."
"But I don't think so. If it were a transaction, why would they choose to do it outside Gringotts instead of inside? I guess they're worried about goblins colluding with Death Eaters, which would affect Gringotts' reputation."
As they chatted and drank their butterbeer, Kyle noticed that they kept looking out the window as if they were looking for someone.
There was one more person doing the same, a brown-haired wizard sitting by the door.
It was only when Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked into the Three Broomsticks that they stopped turning their heads so frequently.
"By the way, are you still responsible for protecting Harry?" Kyle asked in a low voice.
"How did you know?" Fred was taken aback.
"Just a guess." Kyle shrugged.
"Well, there's no point in hiding it then." George said, "The Ministry is really short-staffed... Plus, we happened to be coming to Hogsmeade, so we're helping out."
"Then you dared to come for a drink just now."
"It's fine, there are Aurors here too. We're just helping out."
"The wizard sitting at the door?"
"You know about that too?" Fred was even more surprised, wondering if Kyle had been at the Ministry of Magic instead of Hogwarts these days.
"Is it that hard to guess?" Kyle said calmly, "Anyway, I've never seen a wizard with a beard who comes to a bar and only orders a glass of fruit soda."
"Well, that's Tonks." Fred said, "It's so obvious, no wonder Dad insisted we come over to help."
"Fred! George!"
At that moment, Ron, who had just entered, spotted the two of them.
"What are you two doing here!"
"We came to let you know that Hogwarts will be on holiday starting tomorrow." Fred said, "Mom asked us to come and take you home."
"What? Hogwarts is going on holiday?" Ron stood there, stunned. "But Professor McGonagall never mentioned it to us!"
"It's true." George patted Ron's shoulder, "Sometimes we really don't want to admit that you're our brother. This is truly a blot on our wisdom."
Ron immediately understood that Fred and George were just teasing him about the Hogwarts holiday.
He turned red with anger and glared at them furiously, but Fred and George didn't mind at all and continued chatting casually with Kyle.
Seeing this, Harry and his friends sat down at an empty table next to them.
To be honest, it felt quite peculiar to run into graduates in Hogsmeade.
About ten minutes later, the door opened again, and this time, it was Slughorn, wearing an enormous fluffy hat and a matching fluffy overcoat, looking like a giant sea elephant.
Fortunately, the door of the Three Broomsticks was wide enough for him to enter.
"It's so cold. Rosmerta, get me a glass of mead quickly."
"Oh, no..." When Harry saw Slughorn, he immediately lowered his head, trying to hide under the table.
It was a good idea, but he was still spotted by Slughorn.
"Harry, my boy." Slughorn strode over, and upon noticing Kyle and Kona, he looked even happier. "You've missed several of my small dinner parties. That won't do. You must come and see. Miss Granger loves these parties.
'I... I...' Harry stammered, frantically searching for an excuse to decline the invitation.
Ever since he was surrounded by seven or eight people while doing homework, Harry had been avoiding Slughorn. He would rather deal with a bucket of Filibuster's Fireseed Flies than attend one of those dinner parties.
'I'm sorry, Professor,' Kyle said calmly, 'There's just too much work at the Ministry.'
He pointed to Fred and George, 'Look, even when I come to Hogsmeade on the weekend, they still track me down for work reports.'
'Are you employees of the Ministry?' Slughorn asked, turning to the Weasley brothers.
Although they didn't know what Kyle meant, Fred and George immediately caught on and nodded in agreement.
Slughorn's attitude changed instantly, and he greeted the two warmly, though that was the extent of it.
'I'm afraid I can't make it either,' Kona said. 'Professor Snape gave me... a one-month detention, so I can't go anywhere during this time.'
'What?' Slughorn exclaimed, almost jumping up in shock. 'How could Severus do this? Doesn't he know how gifted you are in Potions? A one-month detention, for heaven's sake... I must go and talk to him about this.'
Without even touching his freshly poured mead, Slughorn rushed out of the Three Broomsticks in a hurry.
'What's going on?' Fred asked curiously, having heard about the staff changes at Hogwarts this year. 'Is that the new Potions Master?'
'Yes, Horace Slughorn,' Kyle introduced briefly, explaining what he knew about the professor and his famous Slug Club.
This left the twins in shock, never expecting the professor to be so... unique.
'By the way, doesn't he know about Kona's relationship with Snape?'
'Apparently not,' Kyle said. 'But this works out well for Kona, saving her from those boring dinner parties.'
If Kona didn't want to go, she could be in detention for the entire semester, and not even Dumbledore could override it, let alone Slughorn.
'Ron...' George turned and said meaningfully, 'I noticed he didn't invite you just now. Was it a coincidence, or did he simply forget about you?'
Ron's face turned red again.
In fact, Slughorn had never paid any attention to him, and whenever they crossed paths, he only spoke to Harry as if Ron were an insignificant decoration.
'I'm actually envious of Ron,' Harry interjected, trying to ease the tension. 'Those parties of his are a real torture.'
'Yes,' Hermione nodded in agreement. 'It's really not a pleasant experience.'
Ron's expression softened a little, and he mumbled something under his breath that no one could quite catch.
After chatting for a while longer, Kyle and Kona finished their butterbeer and prepared to head back.
Harry and his friends shared the same idea.
With the weather outside worsening, it was more comfortable to stay in the warm common room than to brave the elements.
As they got up to leave, two Gryffindor girls at a nearby table also stood up.
'Wait, Kyle,' they called out as they approached the group.
'Yes?' Kyle turned to face them.
He recognized one of them as Katie Bell, a member of the Quidditch team.
'This is for you,' Katie said, holding out a package.
Kyle was a little puzzled, as he didn't recall having any particular relationship with her.
However, as his gaze fell on the package, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
Fred and George, who were standing beside him, mirrored his reaction.
Having worked in the department dedicated to tracking down Dark artifacts and counterfeits for so long, they immediately noticed something amiss with the package.
The signs of Dark magic were too obvious, and there was no attempt to conceal it. They knew without a doubt that something deadly lay within.
Just as they were about to say something, Kyle stopped them with a subtle shake of his head.
He slowly reached for the package, his eyes narrowing.
'Who's it from?' he asked.
Katie didn't respond, merely nodding stiffly, her movements awkward and unnatural.
'The Soul-Sucking Curse!' Fred's mind raced with a terrifying thought.
Someone had used the Soul-Sucking Curse on a Hogwarts student!
At the same time, after a moment's hesitation, Kyle began to slowly reach for the package.
Fred's heart leaped into his throat, and he wanted to warn Kyle, but he quickly realized it wasn't necessary. Instead, he rushed over to Tonks, who had been following them at a distance.
George remained where he was, his eyes fixed on the package, his hand already in his pocket, ready to draw his wand at any moment.
However, just as Kyle's fingers were about to touch the package, a gloomy voice suddenly rang out from behind them.
'Get out of the way, you filthy Mudblood!'
It was Malfoy, surprisingly without his usual entourage, and he rudely shoved Hermione, who was standing in front of him.
Caught off guard, Hermione stumbled and collided with Katie, causing the package in her hand to fall to the ground.
...
(End of Chapter)
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