The duration of a single meal was clearly not enough for Kyle and Hermione to make a final decision regarding their course selections.
However, the two were in no hurry. In a few days, owls would deliver their start-of-term notices and textbook lists for the next academic year. These lists would specify the required books for both core and elective subjects. Providing the titles for the electives was intended to allow students to consider whether they wanted to take a particular course based on the curriculum's material.
They wouldn't truly have to finalize their elective choices until a few days before the term started, at which point they would submit their intentions to their respective Heads of House via owl. This meant they still had over a month to research and deliberate over their selections.
Inside the Charms Training Room, Kyle and Hermione stood like attentive students, listening to Dumbledore explain the key points of casting the Patronus Charm.
"The Patronus is a symbol of one's inner self—a manifestation of hope. When performing this magic, you must concentrate with all your might on your single most joyous memory."
Dumbledore flicked his wand lightly, tracing the incantation in the air with streaks of light...
Expecto Patronum.
Kyle raised his hand. "Dad, what happens if I use negative emotions to cast the Patronus Charm?"
The old man shot Kyle a look. When will my son ever stop having these death-defying ideas?
"If you use negative emotions, your wand will most likely backfire, conjuring a swarm of maggots that will consume you," Dumbledore replied. "This is precisely why the vast majority of Dark Wizards cannot use the Patronus Charm; the Dark Arts have already corrupted their hearts."
A thoughtful expression appeared on Kyle's face.
If I didn't use a wand and instead used my powerful magical control to force the Patronus Charm into existence, would I be able to avoid conjuring maggots?
Dumbledore didn't bother lecturing his son further. In any case, a backfiring Patronus Charm wasn't particularly dangerous—just extremely disgusting. Once the brat experienced it for himself, he wouldn't dare try it again.
With a graceful wave of his wand, a wisp of silver vapor drifted from the tip. It slowly coalesced in the air into a silvery-white phoenix, looking like a ghost amidst the mist.
Both Kyle and Hermione had seen Dumbledore perform this magic before, so they were quite familiar with it.
"Try it yourselves."
Hermione drew her wand, mimicking Dumbledore's wand movements from a moment ago. "Expecto Patronum!"
A faint silver glow shimmered at the tip of her wand. The vapor that drifted out was extremely thin; it was difficult enough to gather it into a fist-sized orb of light, let alone a complete corporeal Patronus.
"Miss Granger, you must focus all your thoughts on a particularly happy moment for the spell to work," Dumbledore reminded her.
Kyle didn't rush to cast the spell. Instead, he began sifting through the happy times in his life.
Uh... that time in New York when I unearthed my first bucket of gold in this life?
After all, becoming wealthy for the first time across two lifetimes should qualify as a "particularly happy moment."
Without chanting the incantation, Kyle gave his wand a direct flick. A silver orb of light, the size of a basketball and radiating a dazzling brilliance, drifted from the tip of his wand.
Dumbledore's lip twitched. "Why did you just cast a Wand-Lighting Charm?"
Hermione coughed softly, struggling to suppress a laugh.
Kyle shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't say the incantation. My hand slipped."
Gripping his wand properly, he revisited the happy fragments of his memory once more.
The enthusiastic American public gifting him firearms, allowing someone who lived in a gun-restricted country in his past life to touch a heat-based weapon for the first time?
Still not enough.
Being taken by Dumbledore to cross the Atlantic overnight to evade capture by MACUSA Aurors, then learning he would spend the next seven years as a wizard apprentice in a dreamlike magical castle?
Kyle flicked his wand. "Expecto Patronum."
Silver light flashed from the wand's tip, and the drifting silvery-white mist coalesced into the shape of a barrier.
Dumbledore was slightly surprised. The Patronus Charm was not as simple as the spells Kyle usually learned. To achieve this level on the very first attempt was a talent virtually non-existent among his peers.
Seeing that Kyle's Patronus Charm was already taking shape, Hermione refused to be left behind and waved her wand again. This time, the images surfacing in her mind were the little moments she had shared with Kyle and Hannah at Hogwarts.
After only four attempts, she was also able to condense the mist produced by the charm into a circular shield. The "Little Beaver" felt quite satisfied with her progress; she wasn't lagging too far behind Kyle.
But then she glanced at Kyle, and she nearly bristled.
Didn't Professor Dumbledore say this was an incredibly advanced piece of magic?
Why has Kyle already summoned a complete, corporeal Patronus?!
At that moment, Kyle was crouching on the floor, poking at a honey badger condensed from silvery-white light. The "Cape Crusader" didn't seem to appreciate Kyle's touch, as it bared its teeth and roared silently at him.
Sensing Hermione's resentful gaze, Kyle shrugged helplessly.
Is it my fault that I'm too talented and learn too fast?
Well, some people simply couldn't be compared to others.
Feeling a bit discouraged, the "Little Beaver" tossed her head, throwing her messy hair behind her shoulders before throwing herself back into her Patronus practice.
Still crouching, Kyle stared at the Patronus Charm with a pensive look. Seeing this, Dumbledore felt a surge of internal vigilance. He knew that whenever his son wore that expression, he was definitely brewing some bizarre new idea.
And when Kyle experimented with new ideas, it almost always led to severe consequences. Every single time, he and Grindelwald had to keep a close eye on him to ensure Kyle didn't accidentally kill himself with his own antics.
Kyle gradually increased the pressure of his finger against the honey badger. He had initially thought the mist-formed Patronus would be as fragile as tofu, but to his surprise, its defensive power was quite high. Even using half of his "Monstrous Strength," he couldn't poke a hole through its head.
Compared to the difficult-to-control and high-drain Protego Diabolica, could I use the more manageable Patronus Charm combined with the Shield Charm to create a Susanoo?
Under Kyle's intense mental control, the honey badger hopping on the ground began to deconstruct, gradually reverting into the original silvery-white mist of the Patronus Charm.
The mist did not dissipate. Instead, it swirled around Kyle's body, forming the shapes of ribs, a skull, arm bones, and hand bones.
Soon, a skeletal frame consisting only of an upper body, roughly ten meters tall, enveloped Kyle.
Kyle flicked his wand, and the barrier formed by the Shield Charm (Protego) draped over the surface of the skeleton. Finally, he layered it with a coating of the eerie blue Fiendfyre passed down from Grindelwald.
Susanoo: Stage One!
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