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Chapter 93: The Final Revelry
Chapter 93: The Final Revelry
While Quidditch was the most popular sport at Hogwarts, not all young witches and wizards chose to attend the matches.
There were still some students lingering in each House's common room. The fewest were in Gryffindor, with perhaps five or six, while Ravenclaw had the most with over a dozen.
These students were mostly from the fifth and seventh years; the pressure of exams left them little enthusiasm for Quidditch.
Given the choice, they evidently preferred to spend their time in the library or the cozy comfort of their common rooms with a book.
Kyle directed his attention to the Hufflepuff common room.
The depiction of the dormitory area on the Marauder's Map was not as detailed as other locations, simply distinguishing between males and females.
All seven years shared the same space, separated from the adjacent common room by a thin ink line.
Kyle jotted down the names of everyone present in the Hufflepuff common room.
There weren't many, only six in total.
After finishing his task, Kyle intended to close the map and continue watching the game. However, influenced by a mysterious force, he found himself inexplicably drawn to the location of the basement classrooms, and subsequently located Snape's private storeroom nearby.
Kyle swore that he absolutely had no intention of going there to steal (crossed out)
... take things, at least not at this moment.
Undeniably, there were quite a few treasures in Snape's private storeroom, but for now, Kyle was more interested in charms. The potion ingredients didn't hold much appeal for him.
However, since he had already stumbled upon it, Kyle took the opportunity to memorize the route to the storeroom and the secret passage entrances nearby.
Pure curiosity, nothing more.
After all, he had nothing better to do at the moment.
"Look, Cedric's speeding up!"
Just then, a deafening cheer erupted from the surrounding stands.
Kyle quickly closed the Marauder's Map and tapped it with his wand once more.
"Prank's over."
The ink lines faded, and the map reverted to its appearance as ordinary parchment.
On the Quidditch pitch, Cedric was plunging downward from mid-air at a breathtaking speed.
"It's the Golden Snitch!"
The commentator shouted excitedly, "It's right next to the Slytherin goal post, less than twenty feet from the ground!"
"Higgs has spotted it too! He's speeding up!"
The two Seekers raced towards the Golden Snitch, one after the other, as the atmosphere in the stands grew tense. Every spectator watched with bated breath.
Seconds later...
"It's Cedric!"
The commentator bellowed, his voice hoarse, "Cedric Diggory, the youngest Seeker, has caught the Golden Snitch!"
The stands erupted in a frenzy, with a multitude of yellow flags and streamers filling the air.
"We won, we won!" The young badgers around him screamed in excitement, embracing each other.
"Thank you, Hufflepuff, for bringing us such an exciting Quidditch match."
...
An hour later, Cedric was carried back to the common room by a group of ecstatic Hufflepuffs—a hero's welcome, as was customary for Quidditch players.
However, to Kyle, he looked more like a pig being led to the slaughter.
A victory celebration was inevitable, and that evening, several upperclassmen fetched a plethora of delicacies from the kitchen. Soon, the common room was filled with an array of mouthwatering steaks and biscuits.
"Kyle, where did you go just now?" Connor approached with a large piece of bone-in steak in her hand and asked curiously, "I didn't see you when the game ended."
Kyle laughed and said, "Not at all, I came back just in time to see Cedric catch the Golden Snitch."
"That's good," Connor smiled and took a bite of her steak, her face lighting up with happiness.
Kyle looked at her in puzzlement and asked, "You're going to sleep soon, are you sure it's a good idea to eat so much?"
Connor's hand froze, and her expression turned stiff. She turned her head away and whispered, "I... I didn't eat much at dinner."
"Is that so?" Kyle frowned, "But I seem to remember that during dinner... Never mind, maybe I'm mistaken."
Connor breathed a sigh of relief. Without waiting for Kyle to say more, she quickly came up with an excuse and left.
Everyone was happy, but what they didn't know was that this feast would be their last revelry.
For the end-of-term exams were fast approaching.
The amount of homework assigned by the professors increased, leaving them with little time for a game of Wizard's Chess.
The Easter holidays were far less enjoyable than Christmas, and most students chose to stay at school.
There was just too much homework—stacks of blank parchment piled up like little mountains, forcing them to spend almost every day in the library, sighing and yawning their way through the tedious tasks.
In addition, they had to memorize the "must-know" content mentioned by the professors and practice their wand movements.
Even during the holidays, the corridors were always filled with the young witches and wizards' complaints.
"I can never remember this!" Midway through the break, Mikkel finally lost his temper, throwing his quill down and grumbling, "Who even discovered the twelve uses of dragon blood? This is too much, I can't keep it all in my head!"
"Dumbledore."
Kyle didn't even look up from his book as he replied, "Are you planning to challenge him to a duel? That's actually not a bad idea. If you could give him a good thrashing, Professor Snape would probably stop making you memorize all this stuff."
"......"
Mikkel froze for a moment, then reached for his quill, "What was the twelfth use of dragon blood again... Oh yes, it's used as a furnace cleaner.
It's not that hard to remember, I should've paid more attention earlier."
Kyle smiled but didn't say anything.
An hour later, he, too, put down his quill and closed his book, "A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi".
"Kyle, are you done with all your homework?"
Mikkel and Ryan looked up eagerly, like two Sniffers who had just caught the scent of a Galleon.
Kyle stretched his shoulders and nodded, "Yep, all done."
Mikkel's eyes lit up, and he asked hopefully, "Can we... borrow them for reference?"
"...... Alright."
This time, Kyle didn't reject them outright. He hesitated for a moment before pushing his work towards them.
After all, he knew that Mikkel and Ryan had already done a fair bit of their homework, perhaps a third of it.
With that, he didn't have to worry about them copying his work, so lending it to them wouldn't matter.
Besides, the Easter holiday homework was quite a lot.
But to be safe, Kyle reminded them, "Remember, no copying."
"Don't worry," Mikkel assured him, patting his chest, "We won't make the same mistake twice."
(End of Chapter)
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