When Dumbledore announced the winners of this year's Hogwarts Quidditch Cup, George and Fred's mouths twisted into broad, ecstatic grins.
Kyle's dominance on the Quidditch pitch was practically like national table tennis facing off against a Japanese player; to defeat a Dark Lord-tier existence like him allowed Gryffindor to finally vent a massive sigh of relief.
On the way back to the castle from the Quidditch pitch, Kyle couldn't stand their smug, flaunting behavior and curled his lip in disdain.
"You may have won the Quidditch Cup, but the House Cup for this school year still belongs to us, Hufflepuff."
After a moment's thought, Kyle added another jab: "Counting this year, you lot haven't won the House Cup in nine straight years."
Before Kyle entered Hogwarts, Slytherin had held a six-year winning streak for the House Cup.
Kyle broke Slytherin's winning streak in June 1992.
Then, the following school year, because the Father-Troublers chopped off the Old Bat's arm, Snape spent the rest of the year docking points from the lions and badgers with relentless fury.
Add to that the massive brawl on the Quidditch pitch—even though neighboring Ravenclaw finished dead last in the Quidditch Cup, their total house points were the highest, allowing them to luckily snatch the House Cup that year.
This school year, the Father-Troublers were extremely busy and had no time to cause chaos.
Thus, their behavior was relatively well-behaved compared to previous years, without stirring up any major trouble.
The house point hour-glasses for both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were filled to the brim with gems, just like usual.
However, the little badgers were clearly better at farming points than the little lions. So even though Gryffindor claimed the Quidditch Cup, they failed to close the point gap between the two houses.
Barring any unforeseen accidents, this year's House Cup was once again taken home by Hufflepuff.
Kyle's single sentence was like a sharp dagger, stabbing precisely into the hearts of every little lion present.
Uh, that included the hearts of old lions Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore as well.
Professor McGonagall instantly snapped out of her joy over the Quidditch Cup victory. Her face turned thoroughly dark, her daggers-like gaze sweeping toward Kyle's old father.
Look at the wonderful son you raised!
If looks could kill, this little Dark Lord would have died more times than anyone could count.
After the end-of-term exams concluded, Hogwarts released the students' exam results on the very last day of the term.
Unsurprisingly, every single one of the Father-Troublers' grades was a top-tier "O" (Outstanding).
However, the Father-Troublers had long ceased caring about things like exam scores.
For practical magic courses like Transfiguration and Charms, their learning progress was more than sufficient to take the N.E.W.T.s or even the Auror examinations.
As for Potions, they could even brew a bloodline fusion potion whose complexity nearly rivaled Felix Felicis—did they really need to worry about passing Snape's Potions exam?
It was only pure memorization courses like History of Magic that gave them a slight headache.
However, this year, they had the custom rings Kyle had tailored specifically for the Akatsuki organization. With the help of the Body Lantern Technique (Lanthorn Projection), they could easily exchange information and answers right in the exam hall, without a trace of fear in their hearts.
Even for the same subject, exam times differed across different year levels.
When Kyle was taking his History of Magic exam, the other three Father-Troublers could easily feed him the answers from outside the exam room via the Body Lantern Technique.
And vice versa.
On the evening before leaving school, the students of Hogwarts welcomed their end-of-term feast.
The Great Hall was decorated early with yellow and black banners representing Hufflepuff House. All the little badgers were utterly thrilled, not caring in the least about their house's earlier defeat in the Quidditch match.
After all, the Quidditch Cup was merely an appetizer; the House Cup was the ultimate grand prize.
The Hufflepuff table was exceptionally lively, with everyone celebrating.
Human joy and sorrow are not shared equally; after experiencing Kyle's verbal dagger the other day, the little lions now simply found the little badgers noisy.
Early the next morning, Hogsmeade Station was packed with students preparing to board the Hogwarts Express for home.
"Any plans for the summer holiday?" Kyle looked toward his companions.
Cedric shook his head. "No real plans. Aside from going to watch the Quidditch World Cup when the time comes, I'll probably spend the rest of my time squatted at home studying magic."
A standard magic-nerd response.
Kyle turned his gaze toward the twin brothers. "Do you two still plan to go farming creeps in Knockturn Alley?"
The two shook their heads as well. They had already made a fortune from their standard Gringotts gig a while back—why would they need to go to Knockturn Alley for summer work experience?
Seeing that none of them had any concrete plans for the holidays other than watching the Quidditch World Cup, Kyle clapped his hands together heavily.
"Since nobody has a clear goal, how about considering going to Nurmengard for a summer internship?"
Hermione, who happened to walk over beside them, caught Kyle's very last sentence, her forehead instantly covered in black lines.
Nurmengard... summer internship?!
Are you lot planning to go murder and set fires?!
Although the official Anti-Grindelwald Alliance, spearheaded by the International Confederation of Wizards, failed to form successfully under Grindelwald's surprise attack, that didn't mean no one was causing trouble for Grindelwald.
Among the civilian magical populace across various countries, those who had been harmed by Grindelwald in the past—especially those with deep, bitter vendettas—were risking their lives to seek revenge against him.
They couldn't find the Acolytes' secret bases, but could they really not find the public assets of the Auguste family?
Right now, the European continent could be described as an absolute chaotic mess; the French magical world was fishing out several wizard corpses from the Rhine almost every single day.
If this continued, the cleanliness of the Rhine would soon rival that of the Ganges.
At the thought of this, Hermione reached out and tugged at Kyle's robes.
Kyle turned around and immediately met Hermione's eyes, which were filled with stern warning.
After an awkward laugh, Kyle practically coaxed and tricked Hermione into getting onto the Hogwarts Express.
Watching Hermione's back disappear inside the train door, Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could finally have a proper chat with the other three Father-Troublers about the summer internship.
"I found traces of Voldemort in a forest in Albania, so I plan to go check it out during the break."
Kyle extended an invitation to the others: "Do you want to come along?"
At the mention of the name Voldemort, the eyes of the other three Father-Troublers lit up simultaneously.
If Voldemort had not yet reconstructed his body and remained merely a remnant soul, then even if he had gathered a group of Dark wizards as subordinates, the Father-Troublers wouldn't feel an ounce of fear.
"Count me in, obviously," George agreed without a second thought.
Fred's response came half a second slower than his brother's: "Me too!"
Cedric nodded as well.
After agreeing, a thoughtful look appeared on his face. "Speaking of Voldemort... do we have any leads on the next Horcrux?"
"No," Kyle shook his head. "The only thing we currently know is that at least Slytherin's locket is still out there somewhere."
He spread his hands. "Before setting off for Albania, I plan to accept Harry's invitation to visit the old Black house to see if we can find any clues about the next Horcrux."
Harry and Sirius had invited Kyle to visit their home during the break—a fact all the Father-Troublers were well aware of.
After all, Kyle had helped clear Sirius's name, making him a massive savior to both father and son.
Ever since Harry and Sirius reunited, Sirius had been constantly insisting that Kyle come over to his home as a guest.
Furthermore, Kyle still had to return the money from the Black family's vault in Gringotts back to Sirius.
Cedric patted Kyle on the shoulder. "Then best of luck to you."
Kyle smiled slightly. "Alright, the train is about to depart. You guys better get on board."
After watching the Hogwarts Express disappear down the end of the tracks, Kyle pulled a locket out from his pocket. Accompanied by a faint crack, Kyle's figure vanished from the spot.
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