Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For a while afterward, Kyle became increasingly interested in nighttime outings, a seemingly healthy activity. In recent weeks, he'd been going out every night, even more frequently than Fred and George.
This was likely related to the twins' recent misfortunes.
The pile of Moonbeast droppings they'd painstakingly brought back, unsurprisingly, was now useless.
Nobody in the junior wizarding schools wanted it.
The shops in Diagon Alley wouldn't take it either.
But the twins weren't willing to give up, and in some inexplicable moment, they went to the greenhouse, intending to sell their goods to Professor Sprout at a low price.
Unsurprisingly, their nighttime outing was discovered, and with very serious consequences.
Professor Sprout knew immediately where their stuff came from.
Such a large quantity could only have come from the Forbidden Forest.
And Professor Sprout naturally knew exactly when they'd collected the Moonbeast droppings.
Going to the Forbidden Forest was one thing, but daring to show off in front of a professor?
This blatant provocation was too much even for the mild-mannered Professor Sprout, who dragged them directly to Professor McGonagall's office.
Although the twins tried to explain that they had found the pumpkins near Hagrid's pumpkin patch, no one believed them.
Hagrid had been busy with other things and hadn't tended the pumpkin patch for a long time.
Professor McGonagall was both disappointed and angry, and punished them by making them clean the washrooms for a week.
Filch wished he could move his office right next to the Gryffindor tower so he could keep an eye on them constantly.
However, this made things convenient for Kyle.
After Mikel and Ryan fell asleep, Kyle quietly got out of bed and tiptoed out of the common room.
After putting on his silver-green scarf as usual, Kyle took out his wand and lightly touched his forehead.
"Disillusio."
A chilling sensation quickly spread from the top of his head, as if he had been doused with ice water.
Then, patterns of the same color as the wall behind him appeared on Kyle's body.
Disillusion Charm.
Since returning from the Forbidden Forest, Kyle had been studying the invisibility cloak. While convenient, it had its drawbacks; a moment's inattention or walking too fast could leave his feet exposed.
The Disillusionment Charm was far superior. However, the spell was a bit tricky; it had taken him three days to master it, and his body color wasn't yet perfectly fluid in changing with the environment.
Fortunately, Hogwarts Castle was pitch black at night, so this minor flaw didn't matter.
With everything prepared, Kyle easily found his way to the library on the second floor.
This was his current nighttime haunt.
He enjoyed reading, but some books weren't suitable for daytime reading; they were best enjoyed alone under the cover of darkness.
The library doors were tightly shut, secured by a large brass padlock.
Kyle took out his master key, easily unlocked the lock, and then carefully pushed it open a crack, squeezing sideways into the library.
The library was pitch black and eerily dark at night.
"Lumos."
Kyle, wand in hand, walked past rows of bookshelves until he reached the back of the library, stopping before a sign.
The words "Restricted Section" on the sign were incredibly enticing.
Kyle carefully stepped over the rope separating these books from the rest of the collection, using the light from his wand to read the titles.
To avoid being discovered or anything unexpected, Kyle was very particular about the books he selected.
No books with pictures on the cover (including but not limited to portraits, magical creatures, various symbols, etc.).
No books with no pictures on the cover.
No books that are too thick and large.
No books with strange marks. No books that look too old... This is mainly to prevent damage when flipping through the books, and it would be troublesome if they couldn't be restored later.
Kyle wandered through the forbidden section for a while, and only when he reached the sixth shelf did he pull out a black book with gold-embossed calligraphy.
The book was very thin, and much of the calligraphy on the cover had peeled off, so Kyle could only barely make out the meaning of the last two words.
"Exploration..."
That's it.
After choosing the book, Kyle sat down on the floor as he had done the previous times and began to read slowly.
Compared to ordinary books, the contents of the forbidden book section were generally much more obscure. When he encountered parts that he didn't understand or couldn't comprehend, Kyle would use the shorthand quill he carried to copy them down.
Although this method was much more troublesome than using the copying charm directly, it was more reliable.
Who knows if these books have any strange or unusual enchantments? To be on the safe side, it's best not to cast any spells on them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time Kyle left the library, two hours had passed.
On his way back, Kyle unexpectedly encountered Peeves, but thanks to the Disillusionment Charm, Peeves didn't notice him.
The next morning, Kyle, who had planned to sleep until 10:00, was dragged out of bed by his two roommates at 7:30.
"Wake up, Kyle, wake up!"
Ignoring Kyle's reaction, the two dragged him out of bed without a word, then each grabbed an arm and led him to the window.
"Look, it's snowing!"
Mikel opened the window, and without any warning, a gust of cold wind mixed with snowflakes hit Kyle's face directly.
"Hiss..."
Kyle shivered, instantly wide awake.
Kyle rubbed his face, feeling that this scene looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
"Let's go out and see!" Mikel exclaimed excitedly. "This is the first snow at Hogwarts!"
Kyle shook his head in refusal.
What was so interesting about snow? He'd rather take a nap. He'd gone to bed late last night, and it wasn't the weekend. What if he was sleepy in class?
But Mikel and Ryan didn't think so.
They kept urging Kyle to wash up and change, as if they wouldn't leave until he went.
"This is the first snow we've experienced since arriving at Hogwarts, it's very meaningful!"
Mikel said. "Sleeping now is a waste; we'll have plenty of time to catch up on sleep in the History of Magic class later."
"Yeah, the first class today is History of Magic."
Thinking of this, Kyle stopped insisting, changed his clothes, and went out of the dormitory with them.
In just one night, the snow on the ground had accumulated to more than a foot deep.
When they arrived at the open space outside Hogwarts Castle, there were already quite a few people there.
Kyle even saw Fred and George, who were building a snow lion with several Gryffindors in the open space…?
Okay, theoretically speaking, they should be building a lion, but it's a bit ugly; it looks more like a porcupine doing yoga.
[End of the chapter]