Following the brawl between the two houses, the Hogwarts League of Fatherly Woes quieted down for a while.
This was mainly because Kyle was afraid of being hexed by Dumbledore, so he behaved himself considerably. As for the one hundred and eighty points Dumbledore had docked, Kyle managed to earn them all back in class within about a week, provided he didn't cause any more trouble.
Time quickly marched on into October. A damp chill spread across the grounds and seeped into the castle.
A wave of the flu suddenly became popular among the staff and students, and the hospital wing was once again overflowing, leaving Madam Pomfrey in a frantic state.
Even Lockhart—whose leg bones had finally finished regrowing, allowing him to be discharged—fell victim to the bug.
Upon hearing about the flu outbreak, he had been zealously campaigning in the hospital wing, claiming that the virus could be easily eliminated simply by injecting disinfectant into the body.
No one understood the flu better than him.
Furthermore, he refused to wear a mask when in contact with patients, which inevitably led to him catching it as well.
Judging by Snape's expression, he seemed more than happy to witness this development.
Originally, Madam Pomfrey intended to brew some potions for Lockhart, but Snape proactively took over the heavy responsibility of preparing the medicine.
"Come, Professor Lockhart. It's time for your medicine."
Lockhart completely failed to notice the sinister, ruthless glint in the corner of Snape's mouth.
After Lockhart drank the potion, his flu did indeed clear up, but he began to exhibit other symptoms.
During the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class after his recovery, a bizarre, pungent stench suddenly wafted through the classroom.
A Ravenclaw girl couldn't help but speak up bluntly: "Did he poop his pants?"
And just like that, the entire school was set ablaze by this explosive topic.
Snape once again secured the position of substitute professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
…
After learning that every member of the Slytherin Quidditch team had upgraded to the Nimbus 2001, Cedric began dragging the Hufflepuff players into grueling, "hell-style" training sessions every day.
Oh, right—it was worth mentioning that although their former captain, Jack Sparrow, hadn't graduated yet, he had stepped down early.
The current Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team was Cedric, with Kyle serving as Vice-Captain.
Aside from the brutal training, they didn't slack off on scouting Slytherin's intelligence either.
Near the edge of the Forbidden Forest by the Quidditch pitch, two "prone Voldemorts" dressed in ghillie suits were sneakily lying in a haystack, observing the Slytherin team's training in the distance.
"This is a bit tricky," Cedric said, lowering his binoculars. "Kyle, what do you think?"
"I'm looking at them with my eyes."
Cedric rolled his eyes. "Be serious."
Kyle rubbed his smooth chin. "Maybe I could secretly open the Second Gate of the Eight Inner Gates during the match and just knock them all out of the sky."
Cedric's eye-roll was so intense it almost looked like he was manifesting the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan.
"We can't use such underhand—I mean, violent methods for every single match."
"Were you about to say 'underhanded'?"
"I was not."
"You definitely wanted to use that word!" Kyle nudged Cedric in the ribs with his elbow.
Cedric poked him back, refusing to back down.
The two of them immediately began to wrestle in the grass.
The greenery rustled and shook violently.
After a brief but fierce scuffle, the two resumed their "prone camper" positions.
"How about I just buy a Nimbus 2001 for everyone on our team?" Kyle, the nouveau riche, suggested nonchalantly.
Buying six brooms was as easy for him as buying six wooden sticks.
This wasn't the first time Cedric had heard such wealthy talk from Kyle.
But in the end, he still refused.
"We can't be as despicable as the Slytherins, and we can't use your money. You've already helped us immensely by providing that Quidditch training ground."
"How is it despicable? As a member of the Hufflepuff team, is it wrong for me to sponsor an equipment upgrade?"
No matter how Kyle tried to persuade him, Cedric ultimately rejected the wonderful proposal that reeked of gold.
"Malfoy might have bought his way onto the team, but from the looks of it, his Quidditch talent isn't actually that bad."
"He's still a far cry from you as a Seeker," Kyle shook his head. "But a broomstick can compensate for technical gaps to a certain extent."
"I can overcome the performance gap on my own broom, but I'm afraid our other teammates might not have that level of skill."
Cedric sighed, his face full of worry.
The average skill level of the Slytherin team wasn't poor. Even with their own private Quidditch pitch allowing them to train day and night, Hufflepuff was only just holding their own.
If it weren't for the sudden emergence of a "cheat-code" Beater like Kyle, Cedric wouldn't have been able to carry the team on his own.
"Or maybe we could try making our own?"
Kyle hit upon another train of thought.
The biggest difference between the brooms used by the rest of their team and the Nimbus 2001s held by every Slytherin lay in the propulsion system.
The propulsion system was the core that determined a broomstick's performance.
Since the magical flight system couldn't keep up, why not do what Mr. Weasley did with his 'Centurion Star Destroyer' and install a Muggle propulsion system on it?
Kyle immediately explained his idea to Cedric.
"You mean… fitting a rocket engine onto a broomstick?" Cedric roughly grasped Kyle's concept.
"Broomsticks plus rockets—do you think that's got potential?"
For an alchemist, the preparation of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen could be achieved through magic. Not only was the process simpler than Muggle methods, but the cost was also extremely low.
Once they had the method of preparation, storage wasn't an issue either; magic could easily solve that as well.
As for high-strength, heat-resistant metals, by engraving magic runes onto ordinary metal, they could achieve performance equal to—or even exceeding—aerospace-grade alloys.
They didn't even need to stress over researching flight control systems or fuel control systems...
All of those things could be handled with magic.
The engine they needed to design was simple and crude.
Essentially, it would be a fuel tank enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm, paired with a heat-resistant combustion chamber.
Under magical manipulation, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen would be injected into the combustion chamber at a one-to-two ratio. They would then ignite, forming a high-heat exhaust stream that would blast out from the rear, providing thrust to the broomstick.
There was no need to worry about the engine overheating either; a single Freezing Rune could solve that.
None of the other complicated Muggle components were necessary.
Aside from the fuel tank and the combustion chamber, they might at most add a vector nozzle to the engine so the pilot could more easily control the broom's attitude.
As for the issue of the rocket-propelled broom's acceleration being too great and the resulting G-force being too high for the pilot, a simple Arresto Momentum charm could easily fix it.
The incantation for the slowing charm is Arresto Momentum.
The first word is derived from "arrest," meaning "to stop."
The second word means "momentum."
So, the essence of this magic is to reduce the momentum of the target and halt its movement. To a certain degree, it could alleviate the burden of G-force on the pilot.
Combined with the protective effect of magic on a wizard's body, even a 10g load wouldn't cause any major issues.
Problems that were difficult to solve with technology were instantly resolved in the face of magic.
So, how hard could building a rocket be for a wizard?
The only thing they had to worry about was if there was a collision between brooms during a match—igniting a fuel tank filled with tons of liquid hydrogen. They'd have a hell of a time trying to piece the players' bodies back together.
After hearing Kyle's idea, Cedric nodded like a woodpecker; he also felt it was highly viable.
He could hardly wait to go back to the Hufflepuff common room and start drawing design blueprints.
Even if the magical rocket engine they intended to design was simple and crude, it wouldn't be that easy to pull off.
They still had to wait for Kyle to ask the "All-Powerful Butler," old man Alfred, to buy them some books on rocket manufacturing from the Muggle world before they could start construction.
"Let's go," Kyle said, tossing off his ghillie suit. "To the Owlery. We're writing a letter to Alfred."
————
Supporting me on Pa-treon to gain early access to advanced chapters and enjoy expedited updates. Your support is greatly appreciated.
pat-reon .c-om/Dragonhair
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)