Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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After the dinner, everyone returned to their respective common rooms.
On the way, Cedric was still thinking about what had just happened.
"Why was Professor Snape so angry?" He rubbed his chin and muttered to himself, "Could someone have stolen something from his storeroom during the Christmas holidays?"
Snape had a private storeroom, which was no secret at Hogwarts; many students knew about it.
There were even rumors that his storeroom contained extremely rare potion ingredients, and even the carpets were made of dragon hide. You could grab any item blindly and exchange it for a fortune in Diagon Alley.
Judging from Snape's behavior, if his anger was indeed related to that storeroom, then quite a lot must have been stolen.
"Don't think too much about it. Maybe he just received a Christmas present he didn't like," Kyle said, taking out his wand and tapping on the wooden barrel in front of the common room door.
"That petty guy, he's still not satisfied with gifts."
Cedric glanced at Kyle, his eyebrows slightly raised.
The passageway opened, and the two entered the common room together.
They had only returned a little late, but the common room was already packed with people, hunched over wooden tables, frantically finishing their holiday homework.
Not only the tables, but also many people were sprawled on the floor, and the number was constantly increasing.
In the huge common room, there wasn't even a place to put your feet.
Kyle was somewhat shocked.
Was this some kind of Hufflepuff group activity? Would it be a bit of an oddity if he didn't participate…
But he had already finished his homework, he couldn't possibly do it all over again, could he?
"Don't be surprised, it was like this last year."
Cedric patted Kyle's arm from behind and said, "Our prefect once said that holiday time is precious, and it's a waste to use it for homework."
The prefect Cedric mentioned was Harris, the Quidditch team captain, who was also among the homework-catching army, currently bent over in a corner, writing furiously.
He had a table he could use, but just now, he gave it to some freshmen.
No wonder he's a prefect.
Even the common room is like this; the library must be packed by now.
Kyle carefully avoided all the parchment and ink on the floor and cautiously approached the dormitory door.
Just as he was about to push the door open, Cedric suddenly called out to him.
"Kyle..." Cedric stood at the second-year dormitory door, looking at him from afar, and said, "I really like the Christmas present you gave me."
"Your present is wonderful too!" Kyle replied.
Then the two looked at each other and simultaneously gave a standard fake smile.
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The first class after the start of the semester was Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class.
Less than five minutes into the class, Hufflepuff had already lost twenty points.
Clearly, their "one pen, one lamp, one night, one miracle" operation last night hadn't succeeded.
Even Kyle had two points deducted.
The reason was that he lent his homework to Mikel and Ryan, but the two copied it verbatim, even including his name.
"If you lend your homework to them again next time... I'll deduct twenty points from your score!"
Professor McGonagall glared at Kyle before returning to the podium.
"The holidays are over, so get back to work.
Today we're going to learn how to turn mice into snuffboxes, which is the most important lesson this year. I can tell you in advance that it will definitely be on the final exam.
If you don't pass, don't blame me for not warning you..."
Hearing that it was related to the final exam, the students quickly became serious, each looking intently at Professor McGonagall and taking detailed notes.
Final grades at Hogwarts are very important. Take Fred and George, for example; they don't need much, just two "O"s on their report cards, and they can comfortably enjoy the entire summer vacation.
This is even more true for the young wizards from Muggle families; their parents don't understand magic, only grades.
If their final grades are too bad, they won't be able to explain themselves.
After class, those who hadn't finished their homework were all kept behind by Professor McGonagall, while the others quickly left the classroom.
They still had homework for other subjects to complete, and time was very tight.
Kyle only had one class in the morning, and he had planned to read for a while in the library before lunch. However, when he arrived, it was already packed, and the lounge was the same.
Reluctantly, Kyle could only make do in the auditorium for a short while, using it as a place to wait for lunch.
Lunch was scones and fried pork chops, a combination Kyle quite liked. However, he had only taken a couple of bites when Mikel and Ryan approached.
"Kyle, your Charms homework..."
"No, I won't lend it!" Kyle took a bite of his scones, glanced at them, and said, "I don't want to get called on by Professor Flitwick again."
"Don't worry, it definitely won't happen this time!"
Mikel raised his hand, confidently stating, "We were just too tired last night, we'll definitely revise it before handing it in today."
Kyle was highly skeptical of his words.
Last night, he had lent all his homework to Mikel and Ryan, but they had only copied the Transfiguration homework.
And when the two returned to their dorm, they were incredibly energetic, showing no signs of wanting to sleep.
Even before Kyle fell asleep, they were still enthusiastically playing wizard chess.
Having learned this lesson the hard way, Kyle wasn't about to trust them again; he didn't want to fall into the same trap twice.
Besides, there were less than two hours left before his Charms class, and even copying their moves would be rushed. He guessed that Mikel's "modifications" probably just meant changing the name.
After lunch, Mikel and Ryan still didn't give up, following Kyle closely. It wasn't until Kyle found an opportunity to cast a Disillusion Charm that he managed to shake them off.
Watching his roommates pass by, Kyle was incredibly grateful he'd learned the Disillusion Charm.
This spell was simply too useful, what Avada Kedavra, Expelliarmus, invisibility was the ultimate magic.
Praise be to the Disillusion Charm.
Soon, Mikel and Ryan disappeared around the corner of the corridor.
Going back to the dorm was out of the question, so Kyle thought for a moment and decided to head straight to the Charms classroom. He just wanted a place to study, so it didn't matter where he was.
Besides, the Charms classroom was undoubtedly much safer than other places.
Because when there was no class, Mikel and Ryan would never approach it.
[End of the chapter]