A few days later, Kyle received a package from the elderly steward. Attached to the parcel was a letter from Grindelwald.
The contents of the letter could essentially be boiled down to a single sentence: You write to Alfred more often than you write to your own biological father—do you not love me anymore?
Although Grindelwald hadn't said it quite so bluntly, Kyle could still sense his old man's resentment simmering between the lines.
Jealousy was, after all, a long-standing tradition of the Grindelwald family.
Kyle scratched his head awkwardly. Over the past year or so, he really had written to Alfred more frequently than he had to Grindelwald. Every time he sent a letter home, it was either to Konan or to ask the "Steward Knight" to help him buy something. As for Grindelwald...
He was usually just an afterthought.
He really did feel a bit sorry for his old man.
Kyle immediately picked up his pen and dashed off a letter so sappy it would make anyone's skin crawl. Even the love letters Dumbledore had once written to Grindelwald hadn't reached this level of mushiness.
As for whether Grindelwald would drop dead from a heart attack after reading it, that wasn't Kyle's concern.
Once he had the package from the old steward in hand, Kyle grabbed Cedric and dived headfirst into the alchemy laboratory located within Akina Mountain Villa.
The two of them spent their time manically absorbing knowledge from books while simultaneously putting their ideas to the test through practice. In just over a week, they produced the first generation of the rocket-propelled broomstick.
Now sitting before them was a bizarre-looking broom. The broom head, which should have been made of hundreds of twigs, had been replaced by a cylindrical rocket engine. A bare broom handle was jammed into it, creating a sight that looked utterly ridiculous.
"Kyle, what do you think we should call it?" Cedric asked, rubbing his chin as he studied the broom.
Kyle rattled off a series of names without hesitation.
But after a moment of thought, he felt those weren't quite right. Those were "Instruments of the State"—this thing was just a broomstick stuck into a rocket engine. What kind of monstrosity was this supposed to be?
Looking at the bloated shape of the engine at the rear of the broom, Kyle immediately had his answer.
"Fat Bolt. Let's call it the Fat Bolt."
"It certainly is fat. Fine, let's go with that."
And so, the Fat Bolt was named in a rather haphazard fashion. Seeing the look of extreme distaste Cedric gave the broom's appearance, it was clear he didn't want to waste any more mental energy on the name.
Kyle scooped up the broom. "Let's go to the Quidditch pitch to test it out."
The "Quidditch pitch" he referred to wasn't Hufflepuff's private training ground. Given the Fat Bolt's specs on paper, neither Akina Mountain nor a standard Quidditch pitch was suitable for its maiden flight.
Thanks to the rocket engine, its acceleration would far outstrip every other model on the market. Once the Fat Bolt reached top speed, a ceiling only a few kilometers high would likely result in Kyle crashing into it and dying within seconds.
For safety's sake, it was better to play around at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
At the Quidditch pitch, Kyle ran into the Gryffindor team during their practice.
Hermione and Hannah, the best friends, were also there; Hannah had likely been dragged along by Hermione to keep her company. Ron sat all alone in the stands, looking quite pathetic with no one to talk to. His best friend was currently in the middle of training, and he didn't want to shamelessly intrude on the girls' private conversation.
Kyle, carrying the strange broom, immediately caught Ron's attention. Finally, someone had arrived to rescue him from this awkward atmosphere.
"Kyle! What's that in your hand?" Ron came scurrying down from the stands.
"A broomstick Cedric and I built ourselves. It's called the Fat Bolt," Kyle said, waving the broom.
"Slytherin has a Nimbus 2001 for every person on their team," Cedric added. "We have to have some way to counter that, right?"
Hearing Cedric's words, Ron was momentarily speechless. To counter Slytherin's total gear upgrade, they just... built their own broomsticks? What kind of absolute madmen were these two?
Then again, he wondered if Gryffindor could build their own. His two genius brothers' talent for alchemy was well-known to everyone.
Hannah and Hermione also ran down from the stands, eyeing the Fat Bolt in Kyle's hand with great interest.
"Is that... a rocket engine?"
Hermione's eyes and the corners of her mouth were twitching uncontrollably. What kind of alchemical "genius" would come up with such a design?
"Exactly," Kyle said as he straddled the Fat Bolt. "Everyone, stand back. The range of the tail flame might be quite large."
Hermione immediately grabbed Hannah and ran twenty meters away. Cedric and Ron retreated to a similar distance. Watching Kyle sitting atop the Fat Bolt, Hermione's face was a mask of disbelief.
Is this thing really reliable? Is it going to explode mid-air?
A continuous, thunderous roar erupted from the Fat Bolt's engine. A brilliant, scorching stream of fire blasted out from the nozzle at the rear. The exhaust instantly incinerated the grass beneath Kyle's feet. If Kyle hadn't used magic to protect his shoes and trousers, he would have been performing this maiden flight bare-assed.
The ground slightly further away wasn't charred black, but it shriveled and turned yellow under the intense heat.
Propelled by the searing jet of fire, Kyle shot toward the horizon like an arrow released from a bow.
The massive roar echoing from the Quidditch pitch could be heard throughout all of Hogwarts. Students and professors inside the castle were instantly drawn by the sound. They crowded curiously around the windows, casting searching glances toward the pitch.
They saw a brilliant flash of fire propelling a cylindrical object as it rose steadily, piercing through the clouds and into the heavens.
A few seconds later, the rising rocket began to tilt in mid-air. The gas exhausted by the engine condensed into a long, thick plume of smoke, looking like a white silk ribbon stretching across the vast sky.
Finally, against the boundless horizon, the rocket gradually dwindled into a tiny point of light before vanishing from sight. Only the roar of the rocket engine remained, seemingly echoing in the ears of every student and teacher at Hogwarts.
The Muggle-born students at Hogwarts all wore expressions of utter bewilderment.
???
Can someone please tell us why there is a rocket at Hogwarts? And it looks like it was a successful launch? Are they launching a nuclear strike on other wizarding schools? Or do they plan to build a Hogwarts Space Station in orbit? When does the Hogwarts Space School branch open?
From now on, are the admission letters and book lists going to be delivered by rocket?
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