Driven by the suona and erhu, the Hogwarts school song—which was always sung in a scattered mess in previous years—finally drew to a close with a relatively synchronized tune this time.
"Ah, music! A magic beyond all we do here!"
After the music ended, Dumbledore wiped his eyes.
"And now, it is time for bed. Off you trot to your dormitories."
The first-year students of each house followed their respective prefects out of the Great Hall, heading toward their common rooms.
Upon leaving the Great Hall, George and Fred jumped up through the crowd, waving at Kyle and Cedric, who were squeezed into the line of little badgers.
"Tonight! Same time, same place!"
Kyle raised his hand and waved back, indicating he had heard them.
The entrance to the Hufflepuff common room and the Hogwarts kitchens were both located underground, and even situated in the same corridor.
Kyle had passed by here countless times, but he had never actually entered the common room before.
The entrance to the common room was a stack of large barrels placed in a shadowy stone recess. If one tapped the bottom of the second barrel from the bottom, middle of the second row, to the rhythm of "Helga Hufflepuff," the lid would swing open.
From there, one could enter the Hufflepuff common room.
If the wrong melody was tapped, or the wrong barrel selected, or the number of taps was incorrect, the lid of another barrel would burst open, drenching the intruder in vinegar.
Passing through the entrance tunnel, one would find that the Hufflepuff dormitory was a rather comfortable, cozy place.
The house common room was a rustic, round, large room.
Although the ceiling was low, it was sunny and bright on clear days, and through the round windows, one could see dandelions and swaying grass outside.
Waving goodbye to Hannah, Kyle passed through a large round door.
Although Dumbledore hadn't told him, Kyle could guess that the luggage he had left at Hogwarts when he departed two months ago had likely been moved to the Hufflepuff side by the castle's hard-working house-elves the moment the Sorting results were out.
Sure enough, Kyle saw that familiar nameplate on the door of a room.
Pushing the door open—fantastic! It was a single room again!
On the bird stand erected in the room, the crow Itachi saw Kyle, this heartless owner who had abandoned him for two whole months, and lunged at him with a flurry of "basic attacks."
"Alright, alright." Kyle poked Itachi's chubby face—which had obviously been fattened up over the last two months—to comfort him, then sent him back to the bird stand.
A piece of parchment lay quietly on his bedside table; it was their class schedule.
Kyle picked it up and took a look.
Oh, the first class tomorrow morning was Herbology with their Head of House, Professor Sprout.
That was fine then; he could go out and have some fun tonight.
The night grew darker, and the number of people in the common room gradually dwindled. After the last night owl returned to their room, two figures stealthily appeared in the deserted common room.
Two faint, hazy white lights lit up at the tips of their respective wands.
By the faint light of the Lighting Charm, Kyle and Cedric slipped lightly out of the common room and made their way familiarly to Classroom Eleven opposite the Great Hall.
This was one of the classrooms that was never used, feeling a bit like an unattended cupboard or storeroom.
When the two arrived, the figures of George and Fred materialized from the darkness; they had clearly been waiting there for some time.
Kyle placed his "Bag End" suitcase on the floor, and the group quickly climbed inside.
Arriving in the living room, Cedric immediately occupied a sofa and started pulling bottles of alcohol he had bought at the Leaky Cauldron out of his storage pouch, which had an Undetectable Extension Charm on it.
However, before Kyle could open a bottle, the twins stopped him.
"Um... Kyle, we have a favor to ask."
"Can you lend us some Muggle firearms?"
Ever since Kyle had let them play with firearms at Bag End back in February, the Weasley brothers had developed a huge interest in these Muggle weapons and planned to use alchemy to magically modify them.
However, they had been too embarrassed to ask for them at the time, so they planned to get some themselves in the Muggle world during the summer vacation.
But how could firearms, which were strictly controlled items, be obtained by two people unfamiliar with the Muggle world?
So now, their only choice was to ask Kyle.
They originally wanted to buy them, but buying them required having money.
"I won't lend them." The twins' faces fell.
"I'll give them to you." The twins looked incredulous.
"Thanks, moneybags!"
"Don't mention it," Kyle raised an eyebrow. "What models do you want?"
"We want heavy firepower."
"More is better, big is beautiful, and caliber is justice!"
Kyle crossed his arms, looking proud. "Then you've come to the right person."
During the summer vacation, he had just asked Alfred to help him get a batch of new weapons.
It had to be said, Butler-man's efficiency was just different.
Besides conventional firearms, he even got Kyle a functional King Tiger heavy tank.
However, due to its tonnage, it could only be parked in Grindelwald's Dark Lord castle and couldn't be brought along in the space-expanded suitcase like those firearms.
"Glock 17 pistol, semi-automatic, nine-millimeter caliber," Kyle slapped a magazine into the pistol with a snap, and the slide made a crisp click when pulled.
George and Fred looked at each other expressionlessly.
Didn't we say heavy firepower? Who are you trying to fool with a little pistol?
"Too weak? I agree." Kyle placed the pistol on the table next to him and took another gun down from the wall.
"SPAS-12 combat shotgun, dual-mode, magazine holds 8 rounds."
Kyle pulled the trigger, instantly turning the metal target in front of him into a sieve.
He glanced at the expressionless George and Fred.
"Forget it, you're not planning to take this thing hunting in the Forbidden Forest anyway. Skip this one."
He tossed the shotgun aside and picked up another gun.
"The famous Kalashnikov Model 1947 automatic rifle. Old-fashioned but not obsolete; the Russians have more than just vodka."
The AK-47 spat tongues of fire, tearing the target ahead into fragments.
Kyle looked at the twins' reaction. "It's got a kick, but I can see you still think the power isn't high enough."
"This is the Milkor MGL grenade launcher, 40mm caliber," Kyle hugged a grenade launcher with a revolver-style structure, "It can fire six rounds continuously."
Placing a grenade on the table in front of him, Kyle introduced it, "Kill radius over ten meters, maximum range three hundred and seventy-five meters, simple operation, massive power."
George leaned his hands on the table, while Fred stood with his hands behind his back; both stared at Kyle expressionlessly.
"You guys have high standards." Kyle sighed.
Little did he know, the two across from him were so shocked by the firearms brought out one after another that they were speechless.
When they played with firearms in Bag End before, there hadn't been this many models to play with.
Placing the grenade launcher on the side table, Kyle crossed his arms. "Let me tell you, size matters. Don't believe anyone who says it doesn't."
Then, he hugged a massive object out of the suitcase he hadn't had time to unpack yet.
Six pitch-black barrels gleamed with light, as if they would spit tongues of fire in the next second, annihilating everything in front of them with a metal storm.
"M134 Minigun. Six independent barrels. It can crush bones and scatter ashes in a second. In the Muggle world, it has the beautiful nickname of 'Dragon's Breath'..."
Kyle saw that they still wore those same faces. "Fine, your standards really are high."
He helplessly placed the heavy machine gun to the side.
He wondered if the stuff old Alfred had prepared for him could satisfy these extremely picky brothers.
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