"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Thundering crashes echoed one after another across the Quidditch pitch.
Two Bludgers were repeatedly smashed away by a metal bat, only to fly right back to Hannah under the influence of the Summoning Charm.
Watching the targets get destroyed one by one, the other players—aside from the two captains—secretly swallowed hard.
As the team healer, Hannah usually looked like a completely soft and cute girl. No one expected that Hannah, their little angel of healing, would have such a violent side.
Kyle called a halt to Hannah, who was still tirelessly striking the Bludgers.
"Hannah, I think you're completely qualified to be a Beater," a dangerous smirk played at the corners of Kyle's mouth. "How about it? Want to give it a shot on the pitch?"
Ever since Kyle became Hufflepuff's Beater, Quidditch at Hogwarts had grown increasingly dangerous.
Nowadays, Beaters from the other houses basically swung their bats with the sole intention of knocking people off their brooms.
This was especially true for the twins over in Gryffindor.
Having mastered high-end magic control techniques, even though Kyle hadn't taught them Magic-Enhanced Strength, it wouldn't be hard for them to figure it out on their own.
The principle behind Magic-Enhanced Strength wasn't complicated; to put it simply, it was just a special way of utilizing magic.
As long as one had high control over their magic, anyone could pull it off.
This resulted in modern Quidditch matches—especially those between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff—practically turning into Ace Combat.
Hufflepuff was at a bit of a disadvantage.
After all, they only had Kyle as a Beater, while Gryffindor boasted the perfectly synchronized twin stars.
Two fists were no match for four hands.
Without the help of another skilled Beater, it would be extremely difficult for Kyle to protect the rest of the Hufflepuff team against the twins.
The most likely outcome would be Kyle knocking down the opposing players while the twins knocked down his own teammates.
By the end of the match, only the twins would be left on the Gryffindor side, while Hufflepuff would just have Kyle and Cedric.
Hearing Kyle's words, a look of immense excitement flushed across Hannah's face.
Did she really have a chance to fight side-by-side with Kyle?
But remembering her awful flying skills, Hannah worried she might hold the team back.
At that thought, the excitement on Hannah's face turned into hesitation.
Seeing what was on Hannah's mind, Kyle patted her on the shoulder.
"If your flying isn't great, you can practice. Besides, as a Beater, you don't really need master-level flying skills. It's enough as long as you swing your bat fiercely and accurately."
Cedric grinned as well. "Yeah, Hannah. Just look at this guy Kyle; when he plays Quidditch, he always just goes straight back and forth, chasing after the Bludgers."
Kyle used this opportunity to roast their retired former captain once again.
"Jack's Quidditch skills were absolute garbage—he was always letting the balls right into the hoops—yet he still managed to stay on as Keeper for four years. You really have nothing to worry about."
Listening to Kyle and Cedric's encouragement, Hannah finally made up her mind and nodded vigorously.
Over the following period, the Father-Grievers returned to their usual routine.
For important classes, such as those taught by the Heads of Houses, they would attend.
As for the other classes, they skipped them whenever they could.
A small portion of their free time was spent designing the alchemy production line, while the rest was entirely dedicated to their respective research projects.
The twins were busy building mechas.
Meanwhile, Cedric poured his heart and soul into deeply researching the Hydra's bloodline.
This was a legendary creature of ancient times.
Although the Hydra bred by Tom Riddle was just a malnourished, premature baby, the grade of its bloodline hadn't degraded at all.
The Hydra's bloodline was a literal treasure trove.
Compared to before he fused the bloodline, the quality and quantity of Cedric's magic had increased significantly.
But this was only the most basic benefit.
Just as those with the Phoenix bloodline possessed a unique talent for controlling fire, the Hydra bloodline contained similar magical talents waiting for Cedric to unearth.
Due to a lack of documentation, aside from Parseltongue, the Father-Grievers didn't know what other abilities the Hydra bloodline had bestowed upon Cedric.
All of this could only be researched by Cedric himself.
As for Kyle, after studying alchemy for over two years and experimenting on various magical creatures, he was finally ready to make a move on his own eyes.
In Dumbledore's headmaster's office, his conscientiously hardworking tool of a father was silently standing guard by Kyle's side.
At this moment, one of Kyle's eye sockets was completely empty and pitch-black, looking exceptionally terrifying.
As for where that eyeball went...
...one look at what Kyle was holding in his hand would give it away.
The essence of human alchemy was to modify the human body as if it were an alchemical product. If it were merely engraving magical runes onto the skin, the difficulty would be relatively straightforward.
But taking action against the eyes was no easy task.
Kyle had thought of a way to lower the difficulty: much like the "hot-swappable eyeballs" in the Naruto world, he could pluck the eyeball out, modify it, and then pop it back in.
Having used magic to block his pain receptors in advance, gouging out an eyeball didn't cause him the slightest bit of pain.
It just looked a bit horrific.
A scalpel condensed from pure magic precisely severed the optic nerve, leaving no worries about whether it could be reattached.
With Dumbledore's Elder Wand right there, this was a trivial matter.
Driven by magic, the eyeball peeled from the socket slid right into Kyle's hand.
Invisible magic quickly isolated the eyeball from the outside world, while also preventing it from touching Kyle's palm to avoid any bacterial infection.
After quickly staunching the bleeding, Kyle carefully controlled his own magic to engrave magical runes that resembled black tadpoles onto it.
This was an extremely difficult task because the eyeball was a fragile object; one wrong move could crush it entirely.
Of course, it wouldn't even matter if he accidentally crushed it, as Kyle had cloned plenty of spare eyes for himself before starting.
However, he didn't lower his guard because of that; if possible, he still wanted to keep his original pair.
Fine, dense black magical runes soon covered the entire eyeball. As the final stroke was completed, under Kyle's control, the runes began to rotate, twist, and contract, quickly condensing into a black Tomoe.
With a soft pop, Kyle popped the eyeball back in.
Dumbledore raised the Elder Wand in his hand. A flash of a Healing Charm later, light instantly restored to Kyle's left eye.
Reaching randomly into the pile of Cockroach Clusters on his desk, Dumbledore grabbed one and tossed it into his mouth. Feeling the cockroach legs kicking around inside his mouth, he let out a deeply weary sigh.
Having a son like this was truly exhausting.
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