Chapter 22: Choosing Friends Wisely

Chapter 22: Choosing Friends Wisely

Kyle looked up, following Cedric's finger, and saw Kanna sitting at the table to his left, dealing with a steak.

Except, every time she cut it, she looked up at Kyle, as if it wasn't the steak on the plate that she was interested in, but Kyle himself.

This sight made him cringe.

"Wait, why does her look seem unfriendly? She wasn't like that on the train." Cedric asked curiously, "I remember the new students were all together before Sorting. Did something happen between you two?"

"It's my fault." Kyle shrugged and briefly recounted what happened in the hut.

After hearing it, Cedric was stunned.

Sorting with the Killing Curse? How could a normal person think of that?

"She believed you?" Cedric asked cautiously.

"What else could she do?" Kyle said with a wry face, "If she didn't believe me, would she be looking at me like this?"

Well...

One person dared to say it, and the other dared to believe it.

Cedric twitched his lips. For a moment, he didn't know what to say. He could only look at Kanna with a speechless expression, then at Kyle, and then quietly gave a thumbs-up,

"Seriously, Kyle. You two are meant to be."

"She's only eleven, okay? Are you in such a hurry to go to Azkaban?" Kyle said impatiently, "And I advise you not to say that again. If Professor Snape hears you, you're done."

"She knows Professor Snape?" Cedric exclaimed.

Kyle nodded, "I'm not sure, but I think she does."

"..."

Cedric's face suddenly changed. He stared at Kyle with the look of a scumbag, "You're going too far. How could you play such a cruel joke on a new student? If I were a prefect, I'd definitely deduct your points."

Kyle looked at Cedric incredulously, as if he had just met him.

He immediately switched sides after hearing that Kanna knew Snape. This was too fast a change of face.

Was this the Cedric he knew?

However, in the face of Kyle's gaze, Cedric remained expressionless. He even moved his butt to the side, as if he wanted to distance himself from Kyle.

Kyle could only silently give him the middle finger.

Choosing friends unwisely. He didn't know who he learned from, how could he be so shameless after just a short time?

But in this situation, enjoying his meal peacefully was impossible.

Kyle simply put down his knife and fork, and looked up at Kanna as well.

The young witch didn't shy away. She met Kyle's gaze. Her round face puffed up and down, he didn't know if she was chewing the steak in her mouth, or if she was angry.

They both stared at each other as if they were engaged in a contest of who would give in first as if they were the only two people in the Great Hall.

Kyle and Kanna, naturally, didn't want to lose. In the beginning, they were both resolute, as if they were going to continue the contest until the end of time.

But Kanna overestimated herself.

Soon, her eyes started to wander. A flush of red appeared on her originally fair face.

After a few seconds… her eyes began to dodge, her breathing became faster, and her entire face turned red.

Finally, Kanna couldn't hold on any longer. She quickly lowered her head, her nose pressed against the steak as if she wanted to bury herself in the plate. She only exposed her two red ears.

...

Kanna's personality hadn't changed. She was still shy and socially anxious, as she had been before. Her previous behavior was just because she was angry after discovering she had been tricked.

It's like a normally quiet girl who would curse under her breath after being tricked in a game she liked.

It's the same principle.

Plus, Kyle had been avoiding her, so the anger she had pent up had nowhere to go. That's why it lasted until now.

When that anger subsided, she naturally returned to the shy and socially anxious young witch she had been before.

And for Kyle to meet her gaze was to give her an outlet. After all, eye contact is a form of output too, just less efficient.

It's just that Kyle hadn't expected her to get over it so quickly. It only took a few minutes for her to be fine. She was too kind.

Ginny Weasley, among the people Kyle knew, was already considered to have a good personality. But even when she was angry, she would still argue with Kyle face-to-face for at least half an hour.

In comparison, Kanna was too weak. This kind of personality wasn't good in the wizarding world.

It was fine at Hogwarts. Hufflepuff was famously honest and friendly. Nobody would have any bad intentions.

But if she was still like this after graduation, she probably wouldn't even know how she died.

Grognoch Stumps, a famous Minister of Magic, once said that Hogwarts was a fairytale of the wizarding world. Once you left this castle, you were only faced with a devouring abyss.

In the eyes of those Dark wizards who walked the edge of death, a shy and introverted pureblood witch was no different from a walking Galleon. They would swarm like hyenas until they devoured her, leaving nothing but bones.

This wasn't Kyle scaremongering. There were precedents like those vanished pureblood families.

After Voldemort fell, Death Eaters, having lost their leader, started to lose their composure and hide everywhere.

The entire pureblood wizarding world in Britain was thrown into chaos.

Those hyenas lurking in the shadows saw this opportunity. They all decided to take advantage of the pureblood families, who were in disarray.

They would kidnap and blackmail, or use the Cruciatus Curse to force out useful information. In short, any pureblood wizard caught alone was prey in their eyes.

And they wouldn't care how big your family was, how strong you were, or if you would retaliate later.

As long as there was something to gain, as long as the target's family didn't have a monster like Dumbledore or Voldemort, they would dare to pounce and bite off a piece.

It could be said that during that period, more pure-blood wizards died at their hands than Death Eaters caught by the Ministry of Magic. Many families declined as a result and gradually disappeared.

This situation lasted until the Death Eaters were basically all caught, and Aurors and Hit Wizards turned their attention to them.

It was the same then, and it's the same now.

Kyle looked at Kanna, who was playing ostrich, and after a moment of silence, calmly took the black pepper beside him, sprinkled it on the chopped potatoes, and put it in his mouth.

Forget it. It's only the first year. Graduation is still a long way off. What's the point of thinking about this? It's better to fill your stomach first.