Chapter 93: The Last Hurrah

Although Quidditch was the most popular sport at Hogwarts, not every student chose to watch the matches.

Some people remained in each house's common room. Gryffindor had the fewest, about five or six, while Ravenclaw had the most, with over a dozen.

These were primarily fifth or seventh-year students, burdened by exam pressure and unable to care about Quidditch.

They'd rather spend their time in the library or the cozy common room, reading a book.

Kyle shifted his gaze to the Hufflepuff common room on the map.

The Marauder's Map didn't depict the dormitory areas as meticulously as other locations, merely distinguishing between male and female.

All seven years were clustered together, separated from the adjacent common room by a thin ink line.

Kyle jotted down the names of everyone in the Hufflepuff common room.

There weren't many, only six.

Afterward, Kyle intended to close the map and resume watching the game. But, as if compelled by a mysterious force, he found himself glancing towards the underground classrooms, where he spotted Snape's private storeroom.

Kyle swore he had absolutely no intention of stealing (strikethrough) ...taking anything from there, at least not currently.

Admittedly, Snape's private storeroom did contain quite a few treasures, but at present, Kyle was more captivated by charms; potion ingredients held less allure for him.

However, since he'd already seen it, Kyle casually noted the route to the storeroom and the locations of nearby secret passage entrances.

Pure curiosity, nothing else.

He had nothing better to do, after all.

"Look, Cedric's speeding up!"

Suddenly, a deafening cheer erupted from the crowd around him.

Kyle swiftly folded the Marauder's Map and tapped it with his wand.

"Mischief Managed."

The ink lines faded, and the Marauder's Map reverted to its ordinary parchment form.

On the Quidditch pitch, Cedric was plummeting from mid-air at an incredible speed.

"It's the Snitch!"

The commentator shouted excitedly, "It's right next to the Slytherin goal post, less than twenty feet off the ground!"

"Higgs has seen it too! He's accelerating!"

The two Seekers, one after the other, hurtled towards the Snitch. The atmosphere in the stands grew intensely quiet as everyone anxiously watched them.

Seconds later...

"It's Cedric!"

The commentator roared at the top of his lungs, "Cedric Diggory, the youngest Seeker, has caught the Snitch!"

The stands erupted. A sea of yellow flags and banners soared into the air.

"We won, we won!" The surrounding badgers screamed with joy, embracing each other.

"Thank you, Hufflepuff, for this fantastic Quidditch match."

…

An hour later, Cedric was carried back to the common room by a group of ecstatic Hufflepuffs. In the words of the Quidditch players, this was a hero's welcome.

To Kyle, however, he looked more like a prize pig about to be roasted.

A celebratory feast after a victory was essential. That night, several upperclassmen went to the kitchen and brought back a mountain of food. Soon, the common room was filled with all sorts of delicious steaks and cookies.

"Kyle, where did you go?" Kanna came over, holding a large, bone-in steak, and asked with confusion, "I didn't see you when the match ended."

"I went to the bathroom." Kyle said.

"That's a pity." Kanna whispered, "You missed the most exciting part."

Kyle smiled, "Not really. I came back just in time to see Cedric catch the Snitch."

"That's good." Kanna took a bite of steak with a smile, her face radiating happiness.

Looking at her, Kyle asked in confusion, "It's almost bedtime. Isn't it bad for you to eat so much now?"

Kanna's hand suddenly stopped. Her expression turned stiff. She looked away and mumbled, "I… I didn't eat much at dinner."

"Is that so?" Kyle frowned. "But I thought I remembered that at dinner… Forget it, maybe I remember wrong."

Kanna sighed in relief and quickly found an excuse to leave before Kyle could say anything else.

Everyone was happy, but little did they know, this feast could be considered their last hurrah.

Because the final exams were fast approaching.

The professors assigned more and more homework. They barely even had time for a game of Wizard's Chess.

The Easter holidays were far less enjoyable than Christmas. Most students chose to stay at school.

There was so much homework. The piles of blank parchment looked like small mountains. They spent almost every day in the library, sighing, yawning, and desperately trying to finish their heavy workload.

In addition, they had to memorize the "must-test content" mentioned by the professors and practice their wand movements.

Even though it was a holiday, the hallways were constantly filled with the students' complaints.

"I'll never remember this!" Halfway through the holidays, Mickel finally snapped. He threw down his quill and said angrily, "Who in the world discovered the twelve uses of dragon blood? It's too much! I can't remember it!"

"Dumbledore."

Sitting opposite him, Kyle said without looking up, "Do you want to duel him? That's actually a good idea. If you could punch him, Professor Snape would definitely stop making you memorize these things."

"..."

Mickel stared blankly for a moment before reaching out to pick up his quill, "What was the twelfth use of dragon blood… Right, for oven cleaner.

It's not that hard to remember. I should have been more serious earlier."

Kyle chuckled and didn't say anything.

An hour later, he put down his quill and closed "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi."

"Kyle, have you finished all your homework?"

Mickel and Ryan looked up abruptly, like two Nifflers who had discovered Galleons.

Kyle stretched his shoulders and nodded, "Hmm, finished."

Mickel's eyes lit up. He asked with anticipation, "Could we… borrow them for reference?"

"...Okay."

This time, Kyle didn't refuse directly. He hesitated for a moment and then pushed his homework towards them.

He remembered that Mickel and Ryan had already written a fair amount of their homework. Although not much, they had done at least a third.

This meant they wouldn't need to copy his work verbatim. It wouldn't matter if he lent it to them.

Besides, there really was a lot of homework for the Easter holidays.

But, to be safe, Kyle still reminded them, "Remember, don't copy it word for word."

"Don't worry." Mickel patted his chest decisively, "We won't make the same mistake twice."

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