Chapter 47: The Physical and Mental Health of Young Wizards

The news about the Defense Against the Dark Arts class spread like wildfire, but no one was particularly interested in it.

A new student accidentally injuring a professor might be a big deal in other classes.

For example, in the Charms class on the first day of school, people were still talking about it.

But if it was Defense Against the Dark Arts… it wasn't that interesting.

Let's just say, their previous professor was a Dark Wizard in deep cover. He was discovered by someone, and the Aurors took him away during class.

The professor before that was a potion enthusiast, who liked to research strange potion recipes. One day in class, he showed his students his latest achievement, the All-Knowing Potion. He claimed it could rival Felix Felicis. One sip and all your worries would be solved.

Then… there was no then.

He drank a sip to prove the potion's effectiveness. Now he was lying in St. Mungo's.

In comparison, Professor Oren's little incident was hardly even gossip.

And so, the first weekend at Hogwarts arrived quietly.

Kyle slept until almost nine. He was only woken up by Cedric knocking on the door.

"What do you want, waking me up so early?"

Kyle, who had just finished washing, threw himself onto the sofa in the common room and stretched comfortably.

"Early? It's almost lunchtime!" Cedric looked at Kyle with a speechless expression and handed him a pie he had just brought from the kitchen.

It was potato and beef filling, with onions, and it tasted pretty good.

While Kyle ate the pie, Cedric continued, "Quidditch tryouts start today. I'm going to give it a go later. What about you? Want to come? We'll win the Quidditch Cup this year if we're both on the team."

"I'll pass." Kyle shook his head, "First-year wizards aren't allowed to join the team. That's the rule."

Since yesterday's Flying class, Kyle had already given up on the idea of joining the Quidditch team.

Diana had strictly prohibited him from buying a broom in his first year. So, if he joined the team now, he would only be able to use the… old junk that the school provided. This was unacceptable to Kyle.

Those broomsticks were ancient. They didn't even have many of the essential features. The most important one was the Hover Charm engraved on the broom handle.

This feature appeared after 1930. The Quidditch World Cup final that year lasted seven days. In the end, there were a total of eleven players from the two teams that participated in the final who retired for the same reason.

So, since then, the Hover Charm has become a standard feature of brooms.

And the brooms at the school were already in existence before 1930.

Those old junkers were fine for riding occasionally, but if you rode them for too long, it could affect a teenage wizard's mental and physical health.

Kyle couldn't accept it. As for Cedric...

Kyle patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly, "If you make it, I suggest you save up and buy a new broom."

Cedric nodded, "You're right. The school brooms are too slow. But if I make it, my dad will probably get me a Comet Two Sixty."

"Then no problem." Kyle nodded.

The Comet Two Sixty, although it was a model from ten years ago, had all the necessary features. It was enough for the team.

"Oh, one more thing." Cedric took out two maps, "I've already made the maps for Gryffindor and Slytherin. What should we do next? Should we advertise ourselves? Or should we find someone else to cooperate?"

"Let's find someone to cooperate." Kyle thought for a moment, "It would be too much of a waste of time if we did it ourselves. Besides, it's not very efficient."

"Yeah, I think so too." Cedric nodded, "We can ask the Weasley brothers to help with Gryffindor. They should agree. But what about Slytherin? Do you know anyone?"

Kyle shook his head.

It just so happened that out of the four houses at Hogwarts, Slytherin was the one he was least familiar with. It was mainly because they didn't have much interaction.

"That's a problem." Cedric sighed, "I don't know anyone either."

After making his first pot of money, Cedric was at his most excited. He didn't want to give up on Slytherin, the biggest market.

He even took the time to make some changes to the Slytherin map. He used the best parchment. Besides, he even added a golden border.

The style perfectly matched their taste.

Of course, the price would also be slightly higher. You get what you pay for. It's normal.

The only problem now was how to sell these maps. If it was just the two of them, Hufflepuffs, I'm sure not many Slytherins would buy from them.

Besides, if Snape found out, it would be a problem. With his personality, he would likely directly confiscate the map and then deduct twenty points from Hufflepuff.

After thinking about it, they still had to find a middleman.

They talked for a while longer, but still had no good solutions.

Cedric wanted to ask the Weasley brothers if they knew any Slytherins.

Kyle didn't think it was likely, but there was no better way right now. They could only try.

It was almost ten o'clock. The two of them left the Hufflepuff common room together.

Cedric was going to the Quidditch pitch for tryouts. Kyle was going to the library to return a book.

They parted ways near the Great Hall since they weren't going in the same direction.

Kyle smiled and said, "Good luck with the Quidditch tryouts."

"Don't worry!" Cedric confidently gave him a thumbs-up, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

They then went their separate ways.

...

In the library, Madam Pince took the book Kyle handed her. She examined it, confirmed it was in good condition, and handed Kyle the other book he wanted:

"Same rules. You know."

"Of course, no damaging books." Kyle smiled, "I know."

"Good."

After receiving the book he wanted, Kyle didn't go directly back to the dorm. He found a seat in the library and started reading.

"A Guide to Magical Plants of Asia"

This was a book about Herbology. Kyle skimmed through it, page by page, and quickly found what he needed.

"ZG Bitey Cabbage, an extremely dangerous, aggressive plant, first discovered in…"

Kyle took out a piece of parchment he had prepared beforehand, used the Copying Charm to copy all the content, and then left the library.

But he didn't return the book immediately. He planned to take it home and finish reading it. Maybe Professor Sprout would introduce some new plants next time.

It would be such a hassle to borrow it again.