Kyle easily spotted the nameplate with his own name on one of the doors.
Pushing it open and stepping inside, the first thing that caught his eye was the floor carpeted in gold and red tones, and a large bed with four posters draped in deep red velvet curtains.
In the center of the room sat a modest wooden table, atop which was a golden birdcage. Raven One through Seven stood quietly inside, calmly preening their feathers.
Three plush armchairs encircled the wooden table, matching the style of those in the common room outside.
A wide desk was placed against the right wall, with parchment, quills, and ink bottles all neatly arranged on the clean solid-wood surface.
All the textbooks he'd bought that morning in Diagon Alley were stacked tidily on a shelf above the desk.
On the opposite wall, flames danced continuously in the fireplace, providing a steady stream of warmth to the room.
"This is… a single room!"
"Professor Dumbledore is way too good to you! We're all in five-person dorms!"
"You have no idea how unbearable George's snoring is at night."
"Bullshit! As if you don't snore!"
The Weasley twins started bickering again.
Kyle noticed a brownish suitcase on the nightstand, with a piece of parchment attached. Written on it in elegant cursive was a single line.
"I think you'll like what's inside the suitcase."
As expected, it was Professor Dumbledore's handwriting.
The suitcase opened to reveal a long staircase, confirming Kyle's suspicion.
He set the suitcase on the floor and stepped inside.
Watching Kyle vanish into the suitcase, the twins exclaimed in unison: "Cool!"
At the bottom of the stairs sat a brand-new 1987 Buick GNX, and that all-too-familiar iron door proved Kyle's guess right.
This was his base—his pocket dimension!
Hold on!
Dumbledore had moved his base here—how was he supposed to drive the car out?
"Cool! Kyle! Is that a car?"
Before Kyle could answer, Fred continued: "Dad's been secretly saving up lately, hiding it from Mom to buy a secondhand Muggle car. Never thought I'd see one here with you!"
"I remember him saying he'd modify it with a broomstick's flight system," George said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
Buying a secondhand car to mod?
What a waste—why buy a used one?
After a moment's thought, Kyle offered a suggestion: "I recall there's a tank graveyard in Northumberland National Park, in the Otterburn Ranges in northern England."
A tank graveyard? What's that?
George and Fred exchanged glances, seeing nothing but question marks in each other's eyes.
"A tank is a vehicle used by Muggle armies… uh, think of it as a military version of a car. At the tank graveyard, you can pick up a lot of tank hulls.
Your dad just needs to buy an engine and install it, and it'll run. Oh, the engine for a car is like the flight system for a broomstick—this is way cheaper than buying a whole secondhand Muggle car."
Seeing their eyes still glued to his car, Kyle waved them over. "Enough about that—come in and sit. My place is pretty big. We can play video games, and when we're tired, we can just crash."
He pulled open the iron door and walked inside.
Fred and George followed into the living room and lost it the moment they saw the pile of Muggle appliances.
"Dad would go nuts if he saw all this Muggle stuff!"
"He loves Muggle things the most."
Seeing them gawking like they'd never left the wizarding world, Kyle felt a small surge of vanity.
He grabbed two cans of beer from the kitchen fridge and tossed them over: "Welcome to the Muggle world."
Half an hour later.
"Awesome! This is awesome!" A drunken George sprawled half across the sofa, waving his arms wildly.
Empty cans littered the floor around his feet—he'd clearly had quite a few.
Kyle pointed at the tipsy George and laughed: "Look at this guy—just a few cans and he's wasted. What a lightweight."
"This George is such a lightweight!" Fred chimed in.
"You're talking like you're some tough guy?"
"Are you kidding? I'm super tough—I can drink like a champ!"
Hearing that, Kyle slapped Fred's thigh. "Super tough, huh? Real brave!"
Suddenly remembering something, Kyle stood and said to Fred: "I've got some good stuff in my room. Wanna check it out?"
"Good stuff? What is it, Kyle? Like Wizard's Chess or something?"
"Way more exciting than Wizard's Chess. You'll see."
Fred struggled to his feet and followed Kyle into his room in the pocket dimension.
He saw a red-and-white Muggle machine on the table by the bed, connected to a square, weird-looking box.
On the other side of the room stood two huge upright cabinet machines—he had no idea what they were for.
Kyle sat on the bed, grabbed a cartridge, slotted it into the red-and-white console, and beckoned Fred over. "This is a Muggle game console," he said, shoving the second controller into Fred's hand. "I'll teach you how to play."
He'd bought all this stuff back in New York, but back then he was alone with no one to game with, so he'd only played once after getting the console.
Before this, playing on such an old-school machine took him back to his past life as a kid, messing around on a Little Tyrant learning console with his cousins.
Gotta say, Fred had real gaming talent.
Kyle just showed him the basics, and soon the two were blasting through Contra like pros, even on a decent difficulty.
After beating Contra, they dove into clearing Super Mario and other games.
Then there were the two arcade cabinets on the other side of the room.
One loaded with the fighting game Street Fighter, the other with the world's first driving sim, Motorcycle Rider.
They were having a blast.
Time slipped away unnoticed. After two hours of gaming, Kyle was starting to get bored.
These were 80s and 90s products, after all—they didn't have the replay value of later games like Gimme Love 5.
Fred, though, was hooked.
Kyle set down his controller and tilted his head at Fred. "Wanna see my secret stash?"
There's something even better than games?
Fred's eyes lit up.
Seeing Fred turn into a full-blown gaming addict in just two hours, Kyle genuinely worried the guy might fry his brain.
He wondered if Hogwarts had a Professor Yang—addiction like this had no cure here.
His worries were totally unnecessary, though. Electronics didn't work at Hogwarts.
The magnetic field wizards gave off—basically a force field from leaking magic—interfered with electronics and made them fail.
A single wizard might not affect them, but in a place like Hogwarts packed with wizards, electronics were doomed.
As for why the pocket dimension was unaffected—maybe it was just too deep underground.
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