The next morning, Kyle—having successfully tricked Snape into giving him the learning method for Sectumsempra—woke up with a blissful expression on his face.
With Madam Pomfrey's help, Kyle removed the bandages from his hand, which meant he could finally be discharged.
After leaving the hospital wing, Kyle ran toward the Great Hall. By this time, quite a few students were already having their meals there.
At the staff table at the head of the hall, Dumbledore and Snape were talking about something.
The moment Kyle saw this, he immediately had a bad feeling. Maybe I should just go to the kitchens for breakfast instead.
Unfortunately, it was too late—Dumbledore had already spotted him at the entrance to the Great Hall.
"Kyle Dumbledore!" Dumbledore's booming voice echoed throughout the entire hall.
Nearly every young wizard eating in the hall jumped at the sound of Dumbledore amplifying his voice. They could hear the suppressed anger in the old man's tone.
Hearing Dumbledore call him by his full name, Kyle didn't hesitate—he turned and bolted.
"Accio Kyle!" Dumbledore drew his wand and pointed forward.
As Kyle fled, he suddenly felt the hand of fate choking him—no, it was his clothes yanking him back. The collar of his shirt tightened perfectly around his neck.
Pulled by his own clothes, Kyle flew backward through the air, soaring over the heads of the students, straight toward Dumbledore—then landed precisely in the old man's clutches.
Kyle, now dangling like a chick in Dumbledore's grip, flashed him a placating smile.
Dumbledore's face darkened. "The notes Severus gave you."
Kyle scratched his head and pulled a thin booklet from his robes.
Dumbledore took the notes, his expression softening considerably. He released his hold on the back of Kyle's neck. "You are not allowed to study dark magic on your own. It's extremely dangerous behavior. Understood?"
Kyle nodded like a bobblehead.
Seeing Kyle instantly transform into the picture of obedience, Dumbledore rubbed his temple with a headache.
He didn't even need Legilimency to know this kid's act was completely fake.
If he had to guess, Kyle was handing over Snape's notes so readily—and not arguing with his orders—because he'd already memorized everything inside.
Chances were, he'd committed the Sectumsempra method to heart.
Fine, fine. Let him be.
For now, Kyle was only learning Sectumsempra, and among dark magic, its danger level was relatively low—there was a counter-curse to heal it, after all.
But if Kyle ever got his hands on the three Unforgivable Curses…
Dumbledore's eyes gradually turned dangerous. He considered whether to hit Kyle with an Obliviate and make him forget Sectumsempra entirely.
In the end, though, he abandoned the idea. Given Kyle's father's identity, there was no way he could prevent the boy from encountering dark magic in his future studies.
Kyle's eyes darted toward Professor Snape beside them. "So… do I still need to come to your office tonight?"
"No need," Dumbledore answered before Snape could speak. "Go eat your breakfast now."
Only after hearing Dumbledore's words did Kyle let out a sigh of relief and dash toward the Gryffindor table.
Once Kyle was gone, Snape finally glanced at Dumbledore and asked, knowingly, "Do I still have to be his teacher?"
Though Snape's tone was as cold and flat as ever, Dumbledore could still detect a hint of mockery in it.
Dumbledore's face darkened slightly. "Not for the time being."
At the Gryffindor table, George and Fred leaned in curiously. "What did you do to make Professor Dumbledore that angry?"
The corner of Kyle's mouth curved into a smile. "I tricked a spell out of Snape. That Sectumsempra curse we saw last night."
George was so shocked his fork clattered to the table. "Tricked it!?"
Fred's mouth twitched. He couldn't imagine the sheer mental fortitude required to con something out of Snape.
"Can you teach us?" George slung an arm around Kyle's shoulders.
Kyle spread his hands. "That spell was invented by Professor Snape. I don't even know if he'd allow me to teach it to anyone else. And… it's dark magic."
Snape's pretty chuunibyou, though. Last night, while reading the notes, Kyle had seen a nickname boldly written on the title page: "The Half-Blood Prince."
On the very last page, the person calling himself the Half-Blood Prince had even specifically noted that Sectumsempra was his own invention.
No need to guess—the Half-Blood Prince was obviously Professor Snape.
Kyle had no idea whether Snape came up with the nickname himself or someone else did. If it was the former… his chuunibyou level was off the charts.
Hearing Kyle's words, the twins looked disappointed.
"But what about the magic control techniques you promised us last night…?"
"No problem!" Kyle agreed readily. "But you guys have to teach me magic too. I don't understand a single spell from the Charms textbook."
Suddenly, a chaotic flurry of wings echoed from above. Hundreds of owls poured in through the windows on all sides of the hall, circling the ceiling before dropping letters and packages onto the chatting, eating crowd below.
Kyle reacted quickly, sliding his bowl of pumpkin porridge aside just in time to avoid it being smashed by a falling package.
Charlie Weasley picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet delivered by owl. The front page headline was none other than last night's battle in the Forbidden Forest.
After reading the article, he looked up in shock, staring at the twins and Kyle across from him. "You guys actually ran into that much danger in the Forbidden Forest last night!?"
His gaze swept over the three of them, as if checking whether any body parts were missing.
Kyle stirred his pumpkin porridge with a spoon. "It wasn't that dangerous."
The worst injury he'd suffered last night hadn't come from the werewolf or Professor Tom—it had been the burns he'd given himself by forcing out Chidori.
Probably because it was a rushed article, the paper only vaguely reported that Hagrid and the three young wizards had encountered a werewolf in the Forbidden Forest, along with the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's conspiracy.
It didn't describe the detailed battle at all.
On top of that, the article got a few things wrong.
For example, the truth was that Kyle and Snape had teamed up to take down Tom, but the paper claimed Snape had arrived just in time to save Hagrid and the three young wizards from Tom's clutches.
That was fine by Kyle—he had no intention of becoming too famous.
At the end of the article, it stated that Tom Hiddleston's trial would be held at the Ministry of Magic in one week.
Dumbledore stood and informed the students about their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor being arrested, as well as the new arrangements for the class.
With the original professor gone, the teaching duties for Defense Against the Dark Arts fell to Snape.
The moment they heard this, the Gryffindors felt like the sky was collapsing.
Though Professor Tom had been a criminal, that didn't change how lively and engaging his classes were.
According to Charlie, Professor Tom's Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons were the best he'd had out of the seven professors he'd seen in seven years.
"Wait, why does one class have seven professors in seven years?" Kyle voiced the question in his mind.
"You know about the Dark Lord, right?" Charlie lowered his voice.
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