Chapter 995: Friends Who Are Too Enthusiastic
Chapter 995: Friends Who Are Too Enthusiastic
"Relax, Ginny, the N.E.W.T. isn't as scary as you imagine."
In the corridor between the stairs and the Great Hall, Kyle looked at Ginny, whose face had turned pale from tension, and said, "Just treat it as a regular exam, and it should be much easier."
"But we don't usually have exams in the Great Hall, and there aren't any examiners from the Wizarding Examinations Authority watching."
Ginny rubbed her face.
Previously, she hadn't thought there was anything scary about the N.E.W.T., and she couldn't understand why Hermione was so nervous that she couldn't sleep before the exam.
But now she understood.
Ever since last night, when the examiners from the Wizarding Examinations Authority arrived punctually in the Hogwarts Great Hall, she felt her heart start to race.
The last time she had felt this way was during the Quidditch final.
Just before the Slytherin Seeker caught the Golden Snitch, she had thrown a crucial Quaffle, winning the match by a narrow margin of ten points.
Her heart had been racing then, too.
"They're not as scary as they seem," Kyle said. "Professor Marchbanks just looks stern."
"I really don't understand..." Ginny took a deep breath. "Why wasn't Ron nervous at all last year, and I even heard him discussing what to have for lunch with Harry before the exam..."
"It's probably talent," Kyle said with a smile. "You and Hermione may never learn to be as relaxed as he is."
"You're right," Ginny said, trying to calm herself down, and looked around.
"Where's Conna?"
"She's still in the Potions classroom," Kyle replied. "She hasn't come out for almost a week now."
"Aren't you worried?" Ginny asked. "I heard that the more complex the potion, the more dangerous it becomes if the brewing order is incorrect... If I remember correctly, the explosion of a cauldron used for brewing Felix Felicis is more powerful than the Blasting Curse."
"I'm not worried about anything related to potions," Kyle blurted out.
"You two really trust each other," Ginny said.
Kyle raised an eyebrow but didn't speak.
After all, potions weren't his forte, so it was best to leave it to the experts.
Moreover, Professor Saxia was there, so he didn't need to worry.
"Speaking of which, when are you two getting married?"
Ginny couldn't help but ask. At some point, the tension on her face had turned into curiosity.
Kyle glanced at her but didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked, "What about you and Harry?"
Ginny's face turned red, like her hair, and she didn't ask any further questions. She turned and rushed into the Great Hall.
It became much quieter.
Kyle also headed upstairs, as he needed to attend another exam and wasn't staying there.
...
During exam week, Hogwarts became unusually quiet, and even Peeves stopped throwing balloons in the corridors.
Finally, when the exams were over, Hogwarts welcomed the long-awaited holiday for its students.
As the Hogwarts Express pulled into King's Cross Station and the students began to emerge from the platform, Mrs. Weasley, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed over, unable to contain her joy.
Her face was filled with unconcealed happiness.
"I'm so happy for you, Ginny..."
Ginny was the youngest child in the Weasley family, and now even she had graduated. For a moment, Mrs. Weasley couldn't decide whether she should be happy or sad.
She was happy inside, but tears were streaming down her face.
"Sorry, Kyle..." Mrs. Weasley wiped her face with her hands.
"But you came back, I always thought you didn't like the Hogwarts Express."
"I don't like it much," Kyle said. "So I Apparated here. I was still at Hogwarts a minute ago."
"Okay," Mrs. Weasley said, glancing behind Kyle. "Where's Conna? Didn't she come with you?"
Kyle sighed. "She has other things to do."
Conna had been keeping herself in the Potions classroom, so Kyle felt bored and decided to return with the train.
"It's fine. We can also discuss your wedding plans." Mrs. Weasley suddenly said.
As she spoke, her eyes even sparkled with excitement, completely forgetting the sadness of Ginny's graduation.
She had also ignored Kyle's opinion.
"I think we can rent a larger wedding tent."
On the way back to the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley seemed to have drunk a large bucket of strong Baruffio's Brain Elixir, constantly coming up with various ideas.
"The tent we used for Bill's wedding was also quite large, but the style was too old. This time, we must carefully inquire if there are any new models.
"Oh, and the invitations... Kyle, you don't have to worry about that. Sirius said he'd take care of it all, and he's been muttering about withdrawing a pile of Galleons lately."
All the way to the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley kept talking, while Mr. Weasley, who was driving, and another passenger, Ginny, not only didn't stop her but enthusiastically chimed in with suggestions and ideas.
And it seemed like they weren't even planning to consult Kyle's opinion on the matter. Kyle tried to interject several times, but he was mercilessly cut off each time.
But to be honest, Mrs. Weasley's words were truly frightening.
Take Sirius, for example, who was in charge of the invitations.
He's only proposing, and it seems a bit early to be preparing this now. And what's with withdrawing a pile of Galleons?
Given Kyle's understanding of Sirius's frugal values, it's not impossible that he wants to add gold to the invitations.
Isn't that just a waste? It's not that they can't afford it, but considering the people Kyle knows...
Cedric, Fred, George, Lee Jordan, Justin, Harry... Do they deserve to receive gold invitations?
Even plating them in gold would be a waste.
But it seemed like Mrs. Weasley wasn't planning to ask for Kyle's opinion.
Neither did Sirius.
As soon as Kyle arrived at the Burrow, he saw a small mountain of gold shining in the house.
"Molly, you're just in time. Come and see if there's enough gold."
This was probably the first time so much gold had appeared in the Burrow.
"It's too much, Sirius," Mrs. Weasley said with dissatisfaction. "Goodness, it's just an invitation!"
Thank goodness, Mrs. Weasley finally said something fair.
It was also what Kyle was thinking.
"Well then..." Sirius looked a bit disappointed but took back half of the gold. "I'll keep these for when Harry gets married."
As he said this, Sirius glanced at Ginny, seemingly intentionally.
The relationship between Ginny and Harry was no longer a secret, and with the three loudmouths in the Burrow, everyone knew what they should and shouldn't know.
Not to mention Sirius's popularity during his school days; he could guess Harry's thoughts with just a glance.
What he needed to consider was when Harry would officially speak about it, just like Kyle had.
Now, it wasn't just Kyle who felt embarrassed; Ginny's face turned red as well.
Fortunately, everyone's attention was on the small pile of gold, and the Burrow's lighting was dim, so Mrs. Weasley didn't notice Ginny's unusual reaction.
If there was anyone in the house who didn't know about Ginny and Harry's relationship, it was probably just her.
Very tactfully, everyone, including Fred and George, was keeping it from her.
"What, you haven't told Mrs. Weasley yet?" Kyle walked over and asked quietly.
Ginny shook her head.
She had originally planned to tell Mrs. Weasley after graduation, but when the time came, she didn't know how to bring it up.
"Forget it, you guys handle it." Kyle said.
"Can you help me with something?" Ginny suddenly asked.
"Help you with what? Tell Mrs. Weasley the truth?" He turned to look at Ginny.
"I don't think you need to hesitate. Considering how much Mrs. Weasley loves Harry, she definitely won't object."
"No, it's Sirius!" Ginny shook her head and said, "Using gold for invitations is just... too extravagant."
She struggled for a while before stammering, "Can you persuade Sirius to give up this idea, at least not for my... um, Harry's wedding."
"That's exactly what I was thinking," Kyle agreed.
So, when their fiery enthusiasm cooled down a bit, Kyle took the initiative to find Sirius.
"Fred looked at Kyle with a puzzled expression, 'When did this happen, and why didn't you ever tell us?'"
"Yeah," George said, his face tense. "I thought we were good friends, but you even kept something as important as your marriage a secret."
"And we only found out about it from Mum."
"Actually..." Kyle interrupted the two of them. "I didn't know about this any earlier than you. Before that, I didn't even realize we needed to prepare invitations."
"Wait a minute," George paused, "What do you mean?"
"It's the simplest literal meaning," Kyle shrugged, "Conna and I haven't discussed this yet."
"Impossible," Fred didn't believe it, "You proposed at Christmas, and Hogwarts is already on holiday!"
"I know," Kyle said, "But I had to attend classes, and Conna was busy with something more important, so we didn't discuss it."
"Well..." Fred nodded, not too surprised.
After all, Kyle and Conna were definitely going to be together, so there was no need to rush.
"I remember now, no wonder your dad hasn't been in a hurry lately," George said, running his hand through his hair.
"That's strange," Fred frowned, "If you two haven't discussed it, why is Mum already preparing the wedding venue?"
"Sirius has been busy lately, too."
"Is there another wedding?"
"Who knows," Kyle said, "Maybe he's just a bit too enthusiastic."
"Forget it, never mind," Fred said, "We'll just have to wait and see."
"A golden invitation..." George sighed with longing.
Kyle wasn't sure why they were so keen on a so-called golden invitation, as their shop had already expanded to Hogsmeade.
Seemingly understanding Kyle's confusion, Fred didn't explain but pretended to be profound and said, "You wouldn't understand."
Kyle truly didn't understand what they were thinking.
And for the overly enthusiastic Weasley family, Kyle didn't have a good solution either. Fortunately, after a few days, he gradually got used to it.
Some time later, Kyle received a letter.
It was a letter from Hogwarts.
Hagrid told him that Conna had finally left the Potions classroom.
After reading the letter, Kyle immediately Apparated to Hogsmeade and returned to the school.
When Kyle found Conna, she was carefully holding a bottle that was only slightly larger than her thumb, containing a drop of potion that was hard to identify its color.
Yes, just one drop.
The color was close to pink, but when viewed from another angle, it turned blue, and then red from yet another angle.
"This is... um, the so-called love potion?"
"To be precise, its real name should be the Amplifying Elixir."
"Are you serious...?"
Kyle clicked his tongue, "I don't know why, but it feels like the level has suddenly dropped."
"There's no other way," Professor Saxia came out from the back room, "The wizard who invented this potion is more practical, and he has the absolute right to name it... Oh, do you want to take a closer look at it?"
"Can I?"
"Of course."
After receiving Professor Saxia's affirmative answer, Kyle took the bottle from Conna.
He didn't notice that Professor Saxia's expression suddenly became tense, and her hand holding the wand behind her back tightened.
But nothing happened.
Kyle held the bottle, watching the drop of potion dancing happily inside.
The potion suddenly jumped up, as if dancing.
It was magical.
This was the first time Kyle had seen a potion so active after leaving the cauldron. Even Felix Felicis only bubbled and danced in the cauldron when it was just formed.
However, Kyle wasn't too surprised. After all, a potion brewed for such a long time should have something special about it.
Later, he returned the bottle to Conna.
At some point, perhaps during Kyle and Conna's conversation, Professor Saxia had left, and no one knew where she went.
Kyle walked with Conna in the empty castle, listening to her recount some small incidents that happened while brewing the potion, and he also shared many recent events with her.
Among them, of course, were Sirius, who was enthusiastic to the point of being a bit overbearing, and Mrs. Weasley.
As expected, Conna was also shocked by Sirius's simple and crude values, and she blurted out, "Do Fred and George really deserve a golden invitation?"
"They are quite looking forward to it," Kyle laughed.
...
(End of Chapter)
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