Ever since the "hand-chopping incident," the Father-Grievers were nowhere to be found whenever Severus Snape was in the vicinity.
This state of mutual avoidance persisted right up until the arrival of the end-of-term exams.
Because he couldn't catch those three little bastards, Snape could only take his frustrations out on the two Houses they belonged to. During this period, the gemstone hourglasses for Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were never anything but empty.
Consequently, Ravenclaw suddenly became the biggest winner of the House Cup.
As for Slytherin, due to the massive brawl that had broken out on the Quidditch pitch earlier in the year, their points had only barely managed to crawl back to pre-fight levels by the time exams rolled around.
When the sky-blue banners of Ravenclaw fluttered in the Great Hall, Professor Flitwick's smile was so wide his face could hardly contain it.
Professor Sprout, on the other hand, propped her forehead in her hand, looking somewhat helpless.
Ninety percent of Hufflepuff's points had been earned by Kyle and Cedric. However, the relationship between the two was so close they practically shared the same pair of trousers. Since Kyle's wild antics had led to their points being docked to zero, as long as Cedric didn't have an issue with it, she found it difficult to reprimand Kyle.
Professor McGonagall's expression, however, was far from pleasant.
The low-pressure aura radiating from her was so intense that even the fearless Weasley twins began to tuck their tails and behave like model students.
On the day before they were set to leave school, the Hogwarts students received their grade reports.
Unsurprisingly, George and Fred's Potions grades were both a flat "T" for "Troll."
Kyle's final assessment in Potions, however, had been even more ridiculous.
Snape had simply placed a flask of half-finished Felix Felicis in front of him. His final exam task was to turn this semi-finished product into a completed potion.
Snape was making things difficult for him, plain and simple.
How could anyone possibly finish a brew that required months of simmering in a single sitting?
On the spot, Kyle had brandished the Black Cleaver—the very same weapon he had used to hack off Snape's arm.
Is the Old Bat getting cocky, or can I, Kyle, no longer swing an axe?
In response, he was promptly blasted out of the classroom, axe and all, by a Snape who had returned to full strength.
"Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west! Do not look down on a youth just because he is poor!"
Regardless of whether Snape could hear him or not, Kyle stood in the corridor outside the dungeons and shouted his bravado at the top of his lungs.
Because of the consistent one-on-one instruction he had received, Snape could truly be considered Kyle's teacher—a master in the truest sense, not just some temporary subject instructor.
And one must remember: "Respecting one's teacher" is a fine tradition among ninjas.
Kyle decided right then and there: once he had cultivated his own Six Paths of Pain, he would send them to give Snape a proper taste of "filial piety."
Snape was in trouble.
"What are your plans for the summer?" Kyle asked as he saw the other three Father-Grievers onto the Hogwarts Express.
Fred toyed with a piece of Explosive Clay in his hand. "If all goes well, I'll be working a summer job in London and starting my preparations for the Animagus transformation."
They all knew that the "summer job" Fred referred to meant heading to Knockturn Alley and the Muggle world to "grind mobs" for gold coins.
As for the Animagus preparation, it referred to the process of keeping a single leaf of a Mandrake in one's mouth for an entire month, from full moon to full moon. This was arguably the most difficult step of becoming an Animagus. If a practitioner accidentally swallowed the leaf, they had to start all over again.
At the next full moon, the leaf would be removed and put through several complicated processes to become a potion that assisted the wizard in their transformation.
"I'm going to start my Animagus prep too. What about you, Kyle?" Cedric asked.
Kyle shook his head. "I don't plan on learning the Animagus transformation. It's a waste of time with very little payoff."
Just thinking about keeping a Mandrake leaf in his mouth for a month, only to turn into some unknown animal with zero combat capability, made Kyle feel bored to death.
Whoever wanted to learn it could go right ahead, but he certainly wouldn't. Unless his Transfiguration reached a point where he didn't need the potion's help, he wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole.
His focus shifted to the twins' other activity.
"Are you out of money again?" Kyle asked curiously, recalling their mention of summer jobs.
Back during Christmas, the twins had spent a few measly Galleons and some clever alchemical items to "buy" the Gringotts gold-exchange quotas from the lower-year Gryffindor students. They had handed over their remaining British Pounds and gold to those Muggle-born students, asking them to stop by Gringotts while they were home for the holidays.
Once the students had converted the limit into Galleons, they brought the gold back to the twins upon returning to school.
George and Fred weren't worried about anyone stealing the money—not unless those students wanted to experience the precision strike of a guided "Lightning" F-35 Firebolt.
George let out a helpless sigh.
"I'm not a wealthy tycoon like a certain someone. Scouring enough Galleons to complete the puppets needed for the Performance of a Hundred Puppets is an astronomical figure for me."
The "wealthy tycoon" Kyle silently rubbed his nose and kept his mouth shut.
Fred picked up where his brother left off. "Plus, we need to set aside some money to help out the family." He gestured toward his sister, Ginny, who was chatting with Hermione in the distance. "Otherwise, with my father's meager salary, Ginny will have to use second-hand textbooks again next term."
Ron appeared out of nowhere, his voice dripping with jealousy.
"Why does Ginny get your sponsorship while I can't even get a single copper Nut?"
George and Fred looked at him with utter disdain and shoved him toward the carriage of the Hogwarts Express.
"None of your business! Go earn your own money if you're so capable!"
"Competing with your sister for everything all day long... have you no shame?"
Kyle, silently stifling a laugh nearby, felt a pang of pity for Ron's tragic status within the Weasley family—but only a pang.
The train's whistle blew, urging passengers to board.
"Alright, alright. I'll see you all on August 20th for the Order of Merlin ceremony. I have to head back to France for the summer."
After the Battle of Hogwarts, Dumbledore had written to the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and the Wizengamot. He had successfully secured the Order of Merlin, Second Class, for the four Father-Grievers.
Considering they were still students and it wasn't convenient for them to leave school, the Wizengamot had thoughtfully scheduled the award ceremony for the summer holidays.
Each of them had received a letter after the battle, sealed with wax and embossed with a delicate silver "W." It was the correspondence from the Wizengamot, informing them of the date and the protocol they needed to follow.
Kyle waved goodbye to the trio. "George, Fred, I'm looking forward to seeing your giant mecha."
George and Fred winked at Cedric. "Next time, we're definitely going to smash that Transfigured giant of yours."
Cedric smirked dismissively. "Don't forget, I still have Garaga."
After two months of searching the sewers, Cedric had finally found the pet Tom Riddle had left behind—the Basilisk, now named Garaga—within the complex network of Hogwarts' underground caverns.
The process of taming the Basilisk hadn't been particularly perilous. Cedric had simply demonstrated his Parseltongue abilities and promised to keep Garaga well-fed and pampered. The snake had been easily swindled.
The real trouble was what to do with it after it was tamed.
It wasn't a worry about the Basilisk's gaze being fatal—snakes don't have eyelids, but they have a transparent spectacle (a layer of scales) over their eyes. With that barrier in place, the gaze wouldn't kill or even petrify anyone. The real issue was the Basilisk's massive size, which made it impossible to integrate into Cedric's daily life.
With the help of a certain exhausted, white-bearded old man who preferred to remain anonymous, Cedric had mastered a specialized Shrinking Charm for magical creatures.
Now, Garaga could coil around Cedric's arm like a common pet snake.
Kyle was extremely interested in the shrunken Basilisk and had wanted to pet it. However, Garaga still remembered the culprit who had blinded one of its eyes. If Cedric hadn't held it back, the snake would have retracted its transparent scales on the spot to give Kyle a "Death Stare."
Cedric could stop the death gaze, but he couldn't stop Garaga from trying to chase Kyle down and bite him.
As he watched the Hogwarts Express disappear into the distance, Kyle pulled a pendant shaped like the Deathly Hallows from inside his collar.
This was a reusable Portkey specially crafted for him by Grindelwald after Kyle had made several trips between Nurmengard Castle in France and Hogwarts in Britain. This way, he didn't have to bother Dumbledore to make a "smuggled" Portkey every time he wanted to go home.
Kyle channeled a bit of magic into the pendant. That familiar sensation—like being hooked by Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab—instantly traveled from his navel to his brain.
By the time he came to his senses, his location had shifted from the Hogsmeade train station to the front of Nurmengard Castle.
No matter how many times he used a Portkey, Kyle always felt the travel experience was a massive pain. Perhaps next time he should try flying across the English Channel on an F-35 Lightning Broom; after all, that thing had been designed with intercontinental ballistic missiles as a reference.
Kyle looked up at the distant castle. Konan stood by the entrance with a faint smile, while the young maid, Ajisai, waited a step behind her. Clearly, they were there to welcome him back.
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