Kyle had to admit that Fleur had excellent taste. Even though Kanna had never left Hogwarts, the dress robe looked as if it had been tailored just for her.
Whether it was the fit or the style, there wasn't a single flaw to be found.
And the robe reflected the typical fashion of French wizards—lavish, yet never overbearing.
So when Kanna arrived at the Longbottom residence on Christmas Day wearing that gown, she immediately drew quite a bit of attention.
"Blue really suits you, dear," Sykes said with a warm smile.
She had also been invited, though she hadn't traveled from Hogwarts with Kyle and Kanna.
"Thank you, Professor," Kanna replied with a smile.
At that moment, the Weasley family arrived.
"Arthur, Molly..." Frank Longbottom, who was in charge of greeting the guests, called out cheerfully and quickly made his way over to the couple at the front.
The two looked a little awkward at first, but soon were caught up in the joy of reunion.
Kyle glanced behind them but only saw Bill and Fleur.
"Looking for Fred and George?" Bill came over and asked.
"They love a good party. Didn't they come?"
"Oh, they're coming, just running a bit late." Bill raised an eyebrow and added meaningfully, "This year's Christmas dinner isn't at Hogwarts... you're expected to bring a date."
"Hm?" Kyle caught on right away. "Who is it?"
"Angelina Johnson... I think that's her name. She's not in England at the moment, so it'll take her a while to get here. Fred went to pick her up."
"Angelina... the Gryffindor Chaser?"
"That's the one." Bill nodded. "I heard she was his date for the Triwizard Tournament ball."
"That's right," Kyle said.
He remembered too—Fred had invited Angelina in the Great Hall, and she had agreed.
"But Fred never mentioned they kept in touch."
"He didn't say anything to me either," Bill said. "But one time I saw him coming out of the house carrying a thick stack of letters. I got a look—every single one was between him and Johnson. Fred just didn't want to admit it."
...
The two of them were chatting about Fred and Angelina, and it wasn't long before they drew the attention of others nearby. One by one, people gathered around to join the conversation.
There actually weren't that many guests—fewer than Kyle had expected.
Aside from the Longbottom family, nearly everyone else had once appeared at an Order of the Phoenix gathering.
The Weasleys, Cedric, Lupin, Tonks, Hagrid, Dedalus, Doge... all familiar faces.
Even Mundungus had received an invitation.
For all his cowardice and skittishness, the man had provided valuable intelligence to the Order over the years. To the Longbottoms, he still counted as one of their few remaining comrades.
Kyle also spotted a familiar trio in the crowd—Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Neville must have invited them.
Though it seemed Neville had forgotten to mention that this Christmas dinner was a little different from the ones held at school.
None of the three had brought a date, and they looked a little out of place standing in the middle of the room.
Sirius looked even more out of place, his situation all the more awkward.
In Frank Longbottom's memory, he was still the Death Eater who had betrayed the Potters.
Now, to suddenly find him on their side again—it would take some time to adjust.
And Sirius, who had forgotten about needing a date, was now sheepishly explaining things to Harry and the others.
It had been ages since he last attended a formal Christmas dinner—probably not since before he left school.
With all that time, and everything he'd gone through in Azkaban, forgetting something like this was understandable.
Still, he'd unintentionally dragged Harry and the others into his blunder.
So when Frank Longbottom came over to greet him, both men seemed a little uncomfortable.
Thankfully, the tension didn't last long. Fred and Angelina Johnson arrived just in time to pull Frank's attention away.
And the Christmas dinner soon got underway.
To be honest, the Longbottom house wasn't all that large—definitely smaller than Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
But with the help of the Undetectable Extension Charm, it was more than enough to host a proper Christmas gathering.
As the banquet began, the Longbottoms once again offered Kyle their heartfelt thanks...
"That's strange," Angelina suddenly said. "It's not what I read in The Daily Prophet. They said you just helped out St. Mungo's—but from the way Mr. Longbottom spoke, it sounds like the whole thing was thanks to you."
"Or... is the Ministry of Magic clashing with Hogwarts again?" She still remembered how, back when Voldemort returned, Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge had nearly ended up on opposite sides.
At the time, Fudge had even used the newspapers to smear Dumbledore's name.
"This time it really isn't like that," Kyle said, shaking his head.
In fact, Amelia Bones had sought him out as soon as the Longbottoms regained consciousness. The two had spent an entire afternoon discussing the matter in the headmaster's office.
For various reasons, Kyle couldn't publicly reveal the process. He'd only agreed to pass the method on to each future Director of St. Mungo's.
Very few people had actually been driven insane by the Cruciatus Curse. In the past decade or so, it had only happened to the Longbottoms—so having the Director alone know the method was enough.
Of course, even that came with conditions.
To ensure the Horcrux Spell couldn't be used elsewhere, a magical contract was essential—one that Amelia Bones had prepared herself. It came directly from the Department of Mysteries and was far more secure than anything Sykes could've drawn up.
She never even asked why Kyle had such a method. Her only condition was that he agree to keep the entire matter secret.
And the reason was simple.
If people found out there was a reliable counter-curse for the Cruciatus Curse, it would likely be removed from the list of Unforgivable Curses.
Bones had no intention of letting that happen.
Wizarding law treated the Unforgivable Curses differently from other curses and dark magic.
Punishment for using dark magic varied—just look at Knockturn Alley.
Everyone knew the place was full of shops dealing in dark magic, but the Ministry and the Aurors mostly turned a blind eye.
Or take the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade—even the students knew it was a favorite haunt for dark wizards, and yet no Aurors ever showed up to arrest anyone.
There were just too many dark wizards to round up. As long as they didn't go too far, the Aurors generally didn't interfere.
But the Unforgivable Curses were a different matter.
If you cast one—whether at someone, into the air, or even just to test it—as long as you spoke the incantation and used your wand, you'd be sent straight to Azkaban to face the harshest punishment.
That was the difference.
Bones didn't want to see the Cruciatus Curse downgraded to the level of ordinary dark magic. It was a spell invented purely for torture—and every witch or wizard who used it deserved the severest punishment.
She also understood that if this spell was publicly removed, Kyle would lose at least half, if not all, of the recognition he was due.
The magical contract was her way of compensating him.
She also promised to do everything in her power to help Kyle secure the Order of Merlin, First Class.
The main hurdle was that Kyle's defeat of Voldemort only existed in Snape's memory—no one else had seen it. Otherwise, the First Class would have been guaranteed.
Still, Kyle agreed to her proposal.
In many ways, the two of them were perfectly aligned.
And that's how those newspaper reports came to be—the whole event was framed around St. Mungo's, with Kyle's role minimized.
But in truth, he hadn't lost anything. If anything, he'd gained.
The Horcrux Spell, unlike the Wolfsbane Potion, wasn't something that could easily be commercialized. Without revealing the details, he likely wouldn't have received formal recognition from the Order of Merlin anyway.
So it was basically the same outcome—but now, he had the gratitude of both St. Mungo's and the Ministry of Magic.
Oh, and there was Professor Sykes. She even offered to give Kyle all of her Felix Felicis as compensation.
But Kyle turned her down.
He didn't need Felix Felicis.
Kyle picked out a few key points and gave Angelina a quick explanation.
"…The Cruciatus Curse has to remain one of the Unforgivable Curses. I'm only telling you this because you're one of us, so don't let it slip," Kyle whispered.
Angelina's face flushed red, and she instinctively glanced at Fred beside her.
"He's right—you are one of us," Fred said cheerfully, slipping an arm around her shoulders.
"I really hope this dinner wraps up soon. I've been dying to ask you for a dance."
"Hold on a second." Kyle pulled him aside. "I've been meaning to ask—where's George? Why are you the only one here? Don't tell me he went to pick up a date too."
"Oh, no." Fred couldn't help but grin. "He said he wasn't interested in the party and would rather stay at the shop."
"I'll bet it's just because he doesn't have a date," Cedric's voice chimed in from nearby.
"Oh, clever Head Boy, this is when you should pretend you don't know anything," Fred said in an exaggerated tone, mouth wide. "Just because you have Cho doesn't mean you should go poking at his sore spot—that's not very nice."
"Don't tell me you didn't do the same," Cedric said, eyes narrowing.
Fred let out a vague, gurgling grunt in response.
Clearly, Cedric was a solid friend—he knew the twins far too well.
"I just didn't expect…" he murmured, "your friendship could fall apart so easily."
"Can't be helped." Fred shrugged. "He asked Jordan to the Triwizard Ball. Alicia, Katie… so many great girls, and he just had to pick Lee Jordan."
"Otherwise, he might've been here tonight too. Or, who knows, maybe if he'd been a bit braver, he could've asked Jordan again."
At that, Fred burst into laughter.
Kyle laughed along.
"I'm definitely telling George about all of this."
"I can pass it along for you," Fred offered with a raised eyebrow, clearly unbothered.
...
After the dinner came the part everyone had been looking forward to—the dance.
Fred was the first to pull Angelina into the courtyard dance floor. Just as he'd said, he couldn't wait any longer to have a dance with her.
Next, Kyle turned to Kanna and extended his hand.
"My lady, may I have this dance?"
"Of course." Kanna placed her hand gently into his.
"My honor," Kyle said, leading her to the center of the dance floor.
The Longbottoms hadn't brought in the Weird Sisters like Dumbledore once had, but they'd come up with something just as unique—a Centaur band. And the result was surprisingly good.
...
Kyle and Kanna danced three songs together before finally returning to their seats, still a little reluctant to stop.
Dancing, Kyle had to admit, wasn't as easy as it looked. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and took the pumpkin juice Harry handed him, downing a big gulp.
"Thanks," he said, giving Harry a glance.
Beside him, Hermione handed a glass of pumpkin juice to Kanna as well.
"Where's Ron?"
"Oh, he wandered off to the other side," Harry said. "I think he found a cake over there that he really likes."
"Eating cake at the Yule Ball…" Kyle opened his mouth, then decided not to comment.
"Anyway, why are you still sitting here?"
The casual question made Harry visibly uncomfortable.
"I… I didn't bring a date. I thought it was just a dinner—like at Hogwarts."
"I figured," Kyle said. "But why didn't you ask Hermione?"
"Hermione?" Harry blinked, caught off guard.
Not just him—Hermione, sitting beside him, also looked momentarily stunned.
It was as if the two had just now realized the other was a girl—or a boy.
"You're not seriously planning to just sit here the whole time, are you?" Kanna asked, unable to resist.
Harry and Hermione fell silent.
At that moment, Kanna realized she'd guessed right.
They really had been sitting there the entire evening.
"Okay." Kyle set down his pumpkin juice. "Let me just remind you, Harry—you've already graduated from Hogwarts. And so has Hermione."
"A ball doesn't mean you have to dance, but sitting off to the side the whole time isn't exactly ideal either."
"Sure, most people here are friends, so no one's going to care tonight. But in the future, you'll be attending other dinners, other dances."
"Sometimes, dancing with a good friend can be a smart move. At the very least, it helps you turn down the invitations you don't want."
Harry was quick on the uptake. As soon as Kyle said that, he turned and asked Hermione to dance.
Once the two of them left, only Kyle and Kanna remained at the table.
Cedric and Cho were nowhere to be seen—probably off on the other side of the courtyard—but Fred and Angelina were still dancing.
"It's kind of unbelievable," Kanna said, resting her chin on her hand. "I never realized they kept writing letters to each other for years after graduation." She glanced at Kyle, curiosity in her eyes. "When do you think they'll announce their wedding?"
"No idea," Kyle said after thinking a moment. "But if it's Fred… honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he announced it tomorrow."
"You're right," Kanna said with a nod. "That's exactly the kind of thing Fred and George would do—always full of surprises."
"Kanna…" Kyle looked at her profile and suddenly asked, "If I proposed to you right now… would you say yes?"
Kanna's hand froze mid-air. It felt like something had blocked her ears—all she could hear was a dull buzzing.
"What?"
"Well," Kyle said, turning toward the dance floor, "I was just thinking… if Fred really did announce tomorrow that he's marrying Angelina, what would happen?"
"What would happen?" Kanna echoed.
"The Weasleys would throw another wedding," Kyle said. "And not long after, Cedric and Cho would probably get married too."
"And then I'd realize it's time for me to propose to you."
He smiled. "But since I already realize it—why wait?"
He took a deep breath.
"So… Miss Kanna Prince, will you marry me?"
The quiet night sky, the lively dance, the music—whether soft or loud—seemed to vanish in that instant.
But the next moment, everything returned. The world regained its color. The sounds came rushing back.
The Centaur band, sensing the lull in energy, launched into a more spirited tune.
With magical amplification, the music filled the entire courtyard. A few fireworks exploded above, transforming into soaring fire dragons that danced through the sky.
It was unmistakably Fred's handiwork—he was always eager to showcase Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-Bangs at any celebratory event.
And to be fair, the effect was excellent.
Compared to traditional Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks, these interactive, lifelike creations were far more favored among wizards.
The surrounding guests were even more excited now. Some who had been thinking of taking a break were swept up in the renewed energy and returned to the dance floor.
Amid the deafening cheers, Kanna's lips moved slightly.
Then Kyle smiled and naturally reached out his hand. The two embraced under the shimmering fireworks.
Kyle wrapped his arms around Kanna's shoulders, and she leaned in and kissed him.
The music was a bit loud—but if you listened closely, it wasn't bad at all.