Chapter 714: Conner without the train
Chapter 714 Kangna without taking the train
I have to admit that Fred and George are very talented at emptying other people's wallets. At least when Harry walked out of the Weasley Joke Shop, he only had a few things left in his wallet. Galleons.
If it weren't for the expenses left at school, he might not even want to let go of the remaining galleons.
Mainly because the joke items are so interesting, and the items related to Defense Against the Dark Arts, each of which looks very practical.
In addition, Harry hadn't gone out for more than a month, so he subconsciously just bought and bought. Before he knew it, his wallet was empty, and the jingling Galleons turned into various magical items. .
Harry was quite happy about this.
In the last week of the holiday, he and Ron had been playing with the gadgets they had bought. Hermione once didn't pay attention and mistakenly mistaken the cup they bought for a teacup. As a result, her teeth were dyed blue.
Hermione's front teeth were already a little prominent, but they became even more prominent after they turned blue. She was so angry that she didn't talk to Harry for several days.
It wasn't until Fred and George got the fading potion back and Harry swore repeatedly that he really forgot to take it and didn't put it on the table on purpose that Hermione reluctantly forgave them.
But as a price, Hermione refused their request to refer to the homework.
At this time, Qiu also came. When she passed through the retaining wall, Cedric immediately abandoned Kyle and the others and walked over with a silly smile on his face.
“Then let’s go to Hogwarts…”
There was a whistle from behind, almost everyone got on the train, and some people were already starting to close the doors.
“Hurry up, there are too many people here, we have to get through the wall as soon as possible.” Sirius and Mr. Weasley stood on either side of them with serious expressions.
A few seconds later, Kyle, Cedric, Fred and George came in.
No one had ever told him that joining the Ministry of Magic would provide such benefits. If he had known this was the case, he should have submitted an application in the first place.
“Tsk!” Fred’s face looked a little ugly, and he said in a sinister tone: “Looking at his stupid look, others may think it’s because his tongue is cramped.”
“Listen.” Fred put his arm around Kyle’s shoulders maliciously, “This Christmas, you will definitely receive a box full of sour exploding candies.”
“Stop making sarcastic remarks, who hasn’t done homework a few times at Hogwarts?” Charlie on the side teased, remembering that he was also a member of the homework team back then.
Another ten minutes passed, but Connor did not appear. Fred and George looked a little gloating.
“You’d better write quickly.”
"But Kyle..." he said, "I don't think you've ever done your homework. Did you finish it before you came here?"
Who would have thought that after they stayed here for two months, their homework was not done at all.
Hearing this, Harry and Ron raised their heads almost at the same time, and then moved aside in tacit agreement to make room.
“I really miss it.” Cedric looked at the train in front of him, “It’s a pity that I didn’t bring my luggage with me this time.”
"You don't have to do homework?" Ron's eyes turned red with envy.
"No." Kyle said calmly, "I didn't write it either."
Of course, the two of them also had their own little plans. After Kyle said this, they no longer insisted on resigning.
"Oh, by the way, and you too." He looked at Kyle again, "I guess you must be waiting for Kangna, right."
But in fact, they encountered no problems along the way and passed through the retaining wall smoothly and arrived at platform 9.
…
“That’s right.” Kyle nodded and quickly got on the train.
There are still as many people here as ever, and the steam from the red Hogwarts Express floats over the crowd.
“There are still three minutes, you have to hurry up.” Cedric glanced at the time, “Maybe you can go look for her in the car. Don’t forget, Kangna usually comes earlier than us.”
But now Hogwarts has started school, but they still have to stay in the Ministry of Magic because they can't find anyone to take over their jobs.
Until the car stopped at the entrance of King's Cross station, Sirius shook them awake.
"Since you guessed it, why do you still ask me?" Kyle raised his eyebrows.
"You write your own, don't worry about me." Kyle waved his hand, "Because I am busy with the Ministry of Magic, I don't need to do my homework. The professor has specially approved it."
"I'll wait." Kyle didn't agree with them at all, "Just don't dare to come when the time comes."
This move made the two of them angry again.
“Qiu, long time no see. How was your holiday?”
It was clearly agreed before that by the end of August, they could resign and go back to running the joke shop.
At the end of August, Kyle looked at Harry and Ron who were busy writing and said with a smile: "School starts tomorrow. If you can't finish writing tonight, don't even think about sleeping tomorrow night."
Harry and Ron didn't talk. In fact, they had no time to care about anything else except homework.
“Put candy in your mouth.”
“It would be better if you don’t have to go to the Ministry of Magic.” George said quietly beside him.
“Sometimes I want to stuff his mouth full of sour exploding candies,” George said with a look of disgust.
“Do you think I will eat the food you send?” Kyle glanced at him and said disdainfully.
From the expression on his face, it was as if Death Eaters had been ambushing the station, ready to kill Harry's Death Eaters at any moment.
The next morning, Harry and Ron got into the car with dark circles under their eyes, and they even slept in the car.
"Only a fool like you would want to go to school." Fred also glanced at the train, "Now is the best, no classes, no homework."
“Well, remember to come back for Christmas.” Fred said through the car window.
“If anything interesting happens in school, remember to write to us.”
“Oh, by the way, don’t break the school rules!”
While the two were joking, the train blew out bursts of smoke and began to speed up.
Kyle waved his hand, then turned around and went to the prefect's car.
Here, he met Malfoy again. Just like when he was in Diagon Alley, he still didn't dare to look at him and ran to another carriage as if running away.
Kyle had other things to do and didn’t care.
He walked back and forth in the prefect car, but did not find Kang Na.
Kyle then asked Qiu again, but she also didn't see Kangna.
"Don't worry." Qiu said, "Maybe Connor just didn't take the train, but went to school with Professor Snape."
“Perhaps,” Kyle said casually.
Although Qiu's words were not unreasonable, Kyle always felt that Snape would not take Connor to school this year.
With this thought in mind, Kyle looked at other carriages, but found nothing.
Kyle opened the last compartment door, and sitting inside were Luna, Ginny and Neville.
"Long time no see, Kyle." Neville held up his toad.
“Long time no see.” Kyle didn’t go back to the prefect’s car, but walked in and sat in an empty seat next to him.
“Do you mind?” he asked.
"Of course not." Neville said quickly: "In fact, five minutes ago, my grandma told me to spend more time with you."
"What?"
"Oh, she probably wants me to learn more from you." Neville said, "She read the newspaper and said that people from the Ministry of Magic would not be able to come up with that kind of reliable decision, nor would they be able to solve the soul-possession so quickly. Weird question, it must be your idea.
"She has praised you for two months. If you can be her grandson, she will give you anything in exchange."
"You're not bad either, Neville." Kyle said absently: "Oh, by the way, remember to thank Mrs. Longbottom for me."
"Thank you," Neville said sheepishly, "I will."
Because Kyle's mind was not on chatting, the atmosphere in the car seemed a bit dull.
"Kyle, you're caught by a bug." At this moment, Luna raised her head from the Quibbler and looked at Kyle through her big colorful glasses.
“Harassment...what?” Neville blinked, not understanding.
"Haunting flies... they're invisible and they mess with your mind," Luna said. "I just thought I had one buzzing around here."
She slapped the air with both hands, as if she was chasing away an invisible flying insect.
Neville didn't understand even more. He subconsciously moved to the window. Ginny next to him also felt that Luna's behavior was a bit strange. However, she had long been used to this kind of thing and just regarded it as something strange. Didn't see it.
“Ah, I am indeed a little worried.” Kyle said looking out the window.
"Do you need my help?" Luna asked, waving her hand next to Kyle again. "Thank you, I'm feeling better now," Kyle said.
After sitting here for a while, Kyle was ready to go elsewhere, but before he could get out of the box, Harry opened the door.
"Neville, you see...Oh Kyle, you are here." He said in surprise.
“Hmm.” Kyle turned sideways, ready to let Harry come in first.
"No need," Harry said. He took out two rolls of parchment with purple ribbons and his name on them.
"What's this?"
"The invitation," Harry said, "was sent by a third-year girl, but she couldn't find you, so I was wondering if I could help.
"Neville, this is yours." Harry handed over the other two rolls of parchment.
There is only a very brief sentence in the parchment:
Keir:
I would very much like you to have lunch with me in Box C.
Yours faithfully
Professor H.E.F Slughorn.
…
"Remember?" said Harry, "this is the man Dumbledore took us to visit, and he was on the train.
"It's rare... I mean, very few professors take the train to school, except for Lupin before... But this Professor Slughorn doesn't seem to be short of money, does he?"
"Lupine will be sad to hear that," said Kyle.
Harry was a little embarrassed, but it was a fact. For such a long time, only Lupin, who was short of money, would take the train to school.
“Are you going?” Harry asked.
To be honest, Kyle didn't want to go, but Slughorn was a professor after all, and he sent all the invitation letters, so it would be inappropriate not to go.
Kyle rubbed his forehead. If he had known that Connor was not on the train, he should have directly apparated to Hogsmeade.
“Forget it, just think of it as passing the time.” Kyle walked out of the car.
Neville followed suit.
“Who is Slughorn?” he asked.
"The new teacher," Harry said, "He used to work at Hogwarts, but then he retired. This time he is back to his old job."
There were many people in the aisle, including students waiting for meals to be delivered. When they arrived at Car No. C, Harry discovered that Slughorn not only invited them.
Carriage C is second only to Carriage B where the prefects are seated. It is reserved for teachers and is very spacious, almost as big as three ordinary carriages.
But at this time, the place was full of people.
"Harry, Kyle." Slughorn jumped up as they opened the door.
He seemed to have dressed up specially today, with a neat silver beard that, like the gold buttons on his vest, sparkled in the sun.
“It’s a huge surprise that you all came together!
“This is Mr. Neville Longbottom, hello.”
Neville nodded stiffly. He still didn't understand what was going on. He just followed Kyle's example and sat on the nearest empty seat.
I don’t know why, but since Kyle came in, the atmosphere here has become a little strange, or maybe some Slytherin students have behaved a little strangely.
They either lowered their heads or gathered together to whisper, but when Kyle looked over, they would immediately pretend as if nothing happened.
In fact, this is a normal thing. Since Kyle gave Montaign a small lesson last school year, most Slytherins would choose to keep a distance from him.
Especially during this holiday season, Kyle has caused a lot of trouble for most of their parents.
"Everyone is here." Slughorn said happily, "Let me introduce to you. This is Brace Sabine."
He casually pointed to a boy next to him, "You must know Harry, you are in the same grade."
Both Harry and Shabini acted as if they had not heard anything and had no reaction: Generally speaking, Gryffindor and Slytherin hate each other, and wherever they are, they will always Full of gunpowder smell.
It would be polite not to start a fight right now.
Slughorn continued to introduce the others.
“This is Cormac McLagan, Kyle, he is in the same grade as you…”
“Kyle, nice to see you here.” Michaela raised his hand and greeted him formally.
Kyle nodded.
“Marcus Belby, also in seventh grade…”
Different from the tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Hufflepuff is still quite popular...at least when Slughorn introduced others to Kyle, everyone was very enthusiastic.
“Well, that’s delightful…”
After the tedious introduction, Slughorn said with satisfaction, "An opportunity to get to know you better. Everyone, take a napkin and try this."
He waved his magic wand, and a plate of pheasant meat was immediately placed in front of everyone.
Pheasant, a magical animal unique to the Appalachian Mountains. It has no special abilities except running fast, but its meat is delicious.
Kyle is not surprised that Slughorn can get this thing...but it should not be cooked by the house elf, but by himself.
How do you describe the taste... It's like throwing a flat, round stone directly into the water, and it doesn't even float.
Slughorn should apologize to Pheasant.
Moreover, while everyone was eating, Slughorn was still asking various questions.
“Marcos, have you seen your uncle Damocles recently? I had the honor of teaching him back then.”
“Cormac, I happen to know that you often see your uncle Tiberus, and he has mentioned you to me before…”
“Shabini, how is your mother? It’s been two years since we last met, but I still can’t forget the orange pie she made.”
It was said to be a chat, but Slughorn's tone was more like an interrogation, and everyone was frightened.
And Kell also noticed that Slughorn lost interest in Belby when he accidentally revealed that his relationship with his uncle was not good.
Even when dividing the pie, he was left out intentionally or unintentionally.
But instead of being angry, Belby was much more relaxed. After noticing Kyle's gaze, he blinked, showing an expression of relief.
“Have you noticed?” Harry leaned next to Kyle and whispered: “This Slughorn always mentions one of their relatives.”
"What you said is wrong." Kyle shook his head slightly, "It should be said that it is because of these relatives that they were invited."
"This is not..." Harry opened his mouth, but still did not say the word 'snobbish'.
“Just like you thought,” Kyle said.
Harry glanced again at Slughorn, who was handing out diners, and his impression of him dropped a bit.
Of course, he didn’t like him, but he was still a professor after all. Harry didn’t show it, but deep down he wanted to end the lunch as soon as possible.
Instead of wasting time here, he would rather chat with Ron or make up another homework.
The same goes for Neville. Slughorn always mentions his parents, which makes Neville feel anxious.
"Now…"
Twenty minutes later, Slughorn stood up and said solemnly: "Let me introduce two other people to you.
"Harry Potter, people now call him the 'Savior Star'. Yes, after that terrible night more than ten years ago, this title has accompanied him... Some people say that you must have supernormal power..."
There was a vague snort coming from the box.
Harry felt as if someone had slapped him hard twice, and his face must have turned red.
Fortunately, Slughorn quickly changed his target.
"And Kyle..." Slughorn placed the largest piece of pudding in front of Kyle.
“Your father and I are good friends. When I was teaching him, I already predicted that he would do something great in the future. This was indeed the case. He became the youngest Director of the Ministry of Magic.
“But what I didn’t expect was that his son was actually even better than him.”
“Thank you for the compliment, Professor.” Kyle said calmly. He now wanted to apparate to Hogsmeade even more.
…
(End of this chapter)