Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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Kyle was quite surprised to hear Dumbledore's words.
Only students who made significant contributions to Hogwarts received the Special Contribution Award, the highest personal honor for young wizards during their school years.
Fifty years ago, a certain infamous noseless wizard, the originator of the Defence Against the Dark Arts curse, Mr. Tom the Soul Splitter, received this award in his fifth year.
However, Kyle was only a first-year student, a full four years ahead of him.
From this perspective alone, Kyle could easily point at the other's nose… jawbone and say very frankly, "You're terrible."
As for what would happen afterward, that's another story.
"Thank you for your assessment, Headmaster," Kyle smiled.
He wasn't thanking Dumbledore for the Special Contribution Award, but rather for his words.
Especially the phrase "noble spirit"…
no wonder Dumbledore was the headmaster; he saw through his inner qualities at a glance.
He had to admit it.
"This is what you deserve, a well-deserved honor," Dumbledore blinked. "Few people have the courage to face two adult wizards alone in their first year, let alone defeat one.
The Board of Governors unanimously agrees that awarding you this Special Contribution Award is the best decision I've made this year."
Kyle thought to himself, "They're probably just trying to avoid trouble." He didn't think the Board of Governors would think that much.
Unlike Dumbledore, who was wholeheartedly devoted to the school, they were more concerned with their own interests.
If Kyle had really died in the Forbidden Forest, it wouldn't be long before the entire wizarding world knew that Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts professor killed students.
Even if Hogwarts didn't close down, it would still be in a lot of trouble, and the Board of Governors naturally didn't want that to happen.
Fortunately, Kyle was alright.
They probably wanted to use this Special Contribution Award to appease Chris and Diana.
Kyle didn't care what they thought; he was satisfied with the current outcome.
"Headmaster, there's something else."
"Go ahead and ask."
"What about Hagrid? I noticed he wasn't in the house."
"Actually, Hagrid was the first person attacked yesterday," Dumbledore said. "Oren tricked him into drinking undiluted winged demon venom, then hid him in the Forbidden Forest after Hagrid fell unconscious."
"And Hagrid now…"
"Don't worry, Kyle, Hagrid's health is better than most wizards; he's not in any danger,"
Dumbledore reassured him. "And I also got a way to neutralize the winged devil venom from Newt; he'll be back from St. Mungo's soon."
Kyle breathed a slight sigh of relief. He'd almost forgotten that Hagrid was a half-giant with high health and defense.
Besides, the winged devil venom was somewhat peculiar; drinking it was actually less harmful than getting it on your skin.
"Headmaster, I have one last question."
"Tell me."
"That witch…" Kyle began, "Why is she hiding near Kanna?"
"Ah, I've been wondering when you'd ask about this,"
Dumbledore said. "I'm sorry, Kyle, because this concerns the Prince family, I can't tell you much. I can only tell you that the witch is indeed ill-intentioned, and her goal is a key."
"A key?"
"That's right, the key to Gringotts Vault." Dumbledore said quietly, "Her identity is very special. Whoever gets the key to the vault can openly take all the inheritance left by the Prince family."
Kyle frowned; the word "inheritance" instantly made him think of something.
He looked at Dumbledore, but received no response.
Dumbledore didn't seem to intend to continue the topic. He placed the box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans on the bedside table and said with a smile, "Alright, enough questions. I suggest you start enjoying these candies. I also noticed some mint-flavored cockroaches in there... these are limited edition candies."
"If you like, I can give them to you," Kyle said sincerely.
This was no exaggeration; he genuinely wanted to give away those cockroaches.
However, Dumbledore refused.
He stood up and said, "Finally, I must ask for your forgiveness. Due to some matters, I wasn't at the castle yesterday, and thus failed to appear in time when you were in the most danger. This is my dereliction of duty as headmaster."
"It's alright, you don't need to worry about it."
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Kyle didn't stay in the school hospital for long. Shortly after Dumbledore left, Madam Pomfrey granted his request to be discharged.
Thanks to his usual good relationships, Kyle was surrounded by a group of people as soon as he returned to the Hufflepuff common room, and he had to respond to their concern one by one.
An hour later, in that familiar abandoned classroom...
"Kyle, I heard you killed an adult wizard?!"
Fred asked impatiently as soon as they met. "Is it true?!"
"Don't try to deny it," George said. "When the Aurors left the Forbidden Forest, someone overheard their conversation. The witch Professor McGonagall brought back was the one you beat up like that."
"..."
Are the Aurors so bad at keeping secrets? Why didn't they send an Auror for such an important mission?!
Kyle rubbed his forehead, relieved he hadn't bothered to hide it.
"Just lucky, the other person was too weak," Kyle said. "I bet she never went to Hogwarts."
"Come on, that's an adult wizard who uses dark magic! Don't make it sound so easy,"
Cedric joked. "It makes us look useless."
"Okay," Kyle readily agreed. "I actually went through a near-death experience before finally being rescued and surviving the dark wizard."
George nodded seriously. "That sounds much better."
"But I didn't realize Professor Oren was a dark wizard at all,"
Cedric exclaimed. "And his classes are really interesting, much better than last year."
"Watch out, Cedric," Fred warned. "Oren isn't a professor anymore; he almost killed Kyle."
"Sorry, I'm just used to it," Cedric quickly apologized.
"Nobody expected this," Qiu said from the side. "Even Davis couldn't believe it was true. He thought it was someone else impersonating Oren with Polyjuice Potion.
By the way, Davis is the boy who wanted to complain about Oren before. He almost got into a fight with you Gryffindors."
"I know him," Fred sighed. "He's right. We all misjudged him."
At the mention of Oren, the group fell silent. Even Fred and George, usually the most cheerful, became quiet.
They used to like Oren a lot and had hoped he could break the curse and stay at Hogwarts next year.
But now everything has changed. Oren was a dark wizard!
They would probably never again have a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor who was humorous and didn't check homework.
For a moment, the classroom fell silent. None of the five spoke.
That's right, only five people were there this time; the missing one was Kanna.
The matter of Pochi… or rather, the witch, had greatly affected her. She had locked herself in her dormitory for the past few days, only coming out to see Kyle when he was discharged from the hospital and returned to the common room.
However, the others didn't know this. Cedric and the others thought Kanna was frightened, which was why she had been hiding in the dormitory.
[End of the chapter]