Since the start of the summer holidays, Albus Dumbledore hadn't enjoyed a single day of peace.
He was constantly dealing with a certain "Husky-like" Third Dark Lord and a First Dark Lord who seemed perfectly content to sit on the sidelines and watch the chaos unfold.
It was only recently, thanks to Miss Granger's help in keeping that particular "Husky" in check, that Dumbledore managed to enjoy three days of blissful leisure—only to be interrupted by a letter from the British Ministry of Magic.
That savior-in-training he was so diligently cultivating, young Harry Potter, had gone and gotten himself into trouble. Again.
The letter didn't specify exactly why, but apparently, Harry's aunt had managed to make him exceptionally angry. Normally, at Harry's age, a wizard shouldn't be experiencing "accidental magic" outbursts like an untrained child.
And yet, it happened.
Under the influence of Harry's surging magic, his aunt had swelled up into a massive, round ball. She had floated several miles through the air before finally being rescued by members of the Ministry's Accidental Magic Reversal Squad.
In the aftermath, Harry had run away from home, hopped on the Knight Bus, and made a beeline for the Leaky Cauldron.
It was a reckless move, especially considering that Sirius Black had yet to be dragged back to Azkaban. Fortunately, Cornelius Fudge had actually managed to do something useful for once. He had stationed an Auror at the Leaky Cauldron specifically to ensure Harry's safety, and he had even visited the boy in person, giving him strict instructions to stay put for the final month of summer and not to venture beyond Diagon Alley.
After reading about Fudge's handling of the situation, Dumbledore finally felt he could breathe easy. At least he wouldn't have to make a special trip back to England.
Still, that little brat Harry was far too much of a handful.
If it were his own Kyle, things would never have played out this way. If it were Kyle, they would more than likely be seeing a report on a "Mysterious Murder Case" or a "Permanent Missing Persons" notice on the television a few days later.
As the days ticked by, the date the "Father-Troublers" had agreed to meet at the Leaky Cauldron drew near.
The group, having all been awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class, was scheduled to receive their medals at the Ministry of Magic at 10:00 AM on August 20th. They had agreed to meet at the Leaky Cauldron at 2:00 PM on the 19th.
Two weeks before the end of the holiday, Mr. and Mrs. Granger returned to New Nurmengard Castle to pick up Hermione. Looking at Mr. Granger's slightly hollowed cheeks and somewhat haggard appearance, it was clear he had been having a very wonderful time.
Perhaps by next June, when Hermione returned home for the holidays, there would be a new member of the family waiting for her.
Kyle had originally planned to return to England with the Grangers. However, the Grangers were traveling by plane. Since they had entered France using Muggle means, they needed to leave the same way to ensure their travel records remained consistent and avoid being flagged for illegal entry or overstaying.
As for Kyle... he was essentially a "ghost" in the Muggle world, possessing no legal identification whatsoever.
Short of using magic on airport staff or Apparating onto the plane after takeoff, he had no way to fly with the Grangers. It was far too much trouble, so he decided to wait a few days and use a Portkey to head back.
In Dorset, England, right next door to Newt Scamander's residence, two figures materialized inside a long-uninhabited house. After having lunch in France, Kyle had activated his Portkey to bring himself and Konan back to Britain.
The Portkey Grindelwald had crafted for him was keyed to two locations: their house next to the Scamanders, and New Nurmengard Castle in France. Though the house had been empty for nearly a year, the House-elves had kept it meticulously clean and tidy.
Kyle and Konan didn't linger. Moments later, accompanied by the roar of a powerful engine, a heavy, jet-black armored vehicle surged out of the garage.
Anyone who had seen Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy would have recognized it instantly as the Tumbler—the Batmobile. Kyle had built this thing from scratch in his garage during his spare time.
As the Dark Knight of London and New York, supported by his family's vast wealth, how could he live up to the name without a proper set of wheels?
Kyle floored the accelerator, even going so far as to engage the rocket boosters at the rear. Had he not enchanted the car with the same spatial-distortion charms used on the Knight Bus, he would have crashed and died within five seconds at these supersonic speeds.
When Kyle pulled the Batmobile up in front of the Leaky Cauldron, less than five minutes had passed since he left the garage. It was barely past noon—two hours earlier than their scheduled meeting time.
Yet, when Kyle pushed open the doors of the pub, he found the other three "Father-Troublers" already huddled around a table playing cards.
Wait... why is everyone here so early?
The letter from the Wizengamot had mentioned that each recipient could bring up to fourteen relatives or friends to the ceremony. Since Dumbledore was part of the Wizengamot delegation, he didn't count toward the quota. Grindelwald and Alfred, being the old hermits they were, weren't suited for such a public event.
Consequently, Kyle's fourteen slots were more than he knew what to do with. Aside from Konan and the Grangers, he still had ten spots left. He had extended invitations to Hannah's family, the four Hogwarts Heads of Houses, and Hagrid.
"Hey, guys! Why are you all here so early?"
At the sound of his voice, the three players—currently mid-game—froze and turned to look at him simultaneously.
"This is the Order of Merlin, Second Class!"
"How could we possibly contain our excitement?"
The twins spoke in their usual synchronized fashion, finishing each other's sentences. However, because they had begun their Animagus training, they each had a Mandrake leaf tucked under their tongues. This made their speech sound muffled and garbled; it took Kyle a moment of intense concentration to figure out what they were saying.
"The ceremony isn't until tomorrow," Kyle pointed out. "Being excited now isn't going to help much."
"We couldn't sleep a wink last night because of the adrenaline."
"So we just decided to head over first thing this morning."
Seeing Kyle's nonchalant attitude, Cedric couldn't help but chime in. "Are you really not bothered at all? This is the Order of Merlin, Second Class we're talking about!"
Kyle truly didn't care. He had played with Dumbledore's First Class medal before; a Second Class one wasn't exactly a thrill.
Instead, he was looking at Cedric's face with great interest. Previously, due to the integration of Hydra blood, Cedric had become incredibly pale—white as a freshly plastered wall—and his eyes had turned into reptilian vertical slits. But now, he looked exactly as he had before taking the Bloodline Integration Potion.
"Stop staring," Cedric said irritably, swatting away Kyle's hand as the latter tried to pinch his face to see if he was wearing a mask. "I used Human Transfiguration."
A look of realization dawned on Kyle's face.
Just then, Hannah Abbott—having heard Kyle's voice—ran out from behind the bar with an excited expression. But when she saw Konan standing behind him, she froze. Judging by their coordinated outfits, the relationship between these two was clearly anything but simple.
"Kyle... who is this?"
Kyle rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. Not another "Shura Field" scene...
Konan smiled gently. Stepping past Kyle, she approached Hannah and held out her hand with practiced grace.
"Hello. I am Catherine August."
Fortunately, Konan didn't pull any of that "I am Young Master Kyle's personal assistant" nonsense this time. Instead, she introduced herself as a steward of the family. Of course, she left out the full details of her close relationship with Kyle.
However, even as air-headed as Hannah could be sometimes, she could tell something was up just by looking at their matching attire.
Just a simple Master and Steward?
Only a fool would believe that.
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