After dinner, everyone headed back to their common rooms. On the way, Cedric was still puzzling over the evening's events. "Why was Professor Snape so angry, I wonder," he muttered, rubbing his chin. "Could someone have broken into his storage room over the holidays?"
It was widely known at Hogwarts that Snape kept a private storage room stocked with extremely rare potion ingredients. Rumor had it that even the carpet was made of dragon skin and that just blindly grabbing anything from the shelves could earn a small fortune in Galleons at Diagon Alley. Judging by Snape's mood earlier, if his storage room really had been raided, he must have lost something significant.
"Don't overthink it," Kyle said, pulling out his wand and tapping a barrel near the common room door. "Maybe he just got a Christmas gift he didn't like."
Cedric gave him a sideways glance, eyebrows slightly raised. "That miser—never satisfied with anything he gets."
The passage opened, and they stepped into the Hufflepuff common room, which, despite being only a little past dinner, was already packed with people huddled over wooden tables, furiously working through their holiday assignments. Not only were the tables crowded, but the floor was practically covered with students, more arriving every few minutes. The entire room was overflowing, leaving barely any space to stand.
Kyle blinked in surprise. Was this some kind of Hufflepuff group tradition? Wouldn't it be odd if he didn't join in? But he'd already finished his homework ages ago, and he couldn't very well redo it.
"Don't look so surprised; it was like this last year, too," Cedric said, patting Kyle's arm. "Our prefect always tells us that holiday time is too precious to waste on homework."
Cedric's prefect, ironically, was himself among the "homework army," hunched over a desk in the corner, scribbling madly. He'd had a desk to himself earlier but had just relinquished it to a couple of desperate first-years.
Serves him right for being prefect, Kyle thought.
If the common room was this packed, the library must be absolutely bursting. Carefully sidestepping scattered parchments and inkpots on the floor, Kyle made his way toward the dormitory entrance. Just as he was about to push open the door, Cedric's voice stopped him.
"Kyle…" Cedric called, standing in front of the second-year dormitory door and looking at him from a distance. "I really liked the Christmas present you gave me."
"Yours was pretty great too!" Kyle replied, grinning.
The two exchanged a long look before breaking into matching polite, standard-issue fake smiles.
...
The first class after the holiday break was Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration. Unfortunately, Hufflepuff had already lost twenty points within the first five minutes. Clearly, their "one pen, one light, one night, one miracle" approach to last-minute homework had not paid off. Even Kyle had lost two points—thanks to lending his homework to Mikel and Ryan, who'd copied it word for word, including his name.
"If you lend them your homework again, I'll deduct twenty points from you!" Professor McGonagall glared at Kyle before returning to the podium.
"The holidays are over, so it's time to pull yourselves together," she said. "Today we'll be learning how to turn a mouse into a snuffbox. This is one of the most important skills you'll need this year, and I'll warn you now: it will definitely be on the final exam. Don't say I didn't tell you."
The mention of finals made everyone sit up straighter. Students leaned in, taking detailed notes. Grades were everything at Hogwarts, and some—like Fred and George—were allowed a full, carefree summer so long as they managed two "O"s on their report cards. For students from Muggle families, grades were even more critical since their parents only understood traditional report cards. A poor performance would be hard to explain.
After class, Professor McGonagall kept behind everyone who hadn't finished their homework, while the rest hurriedly left. They had homework to catch up on for other subjects, and time was tight. Kyle had wanted to go to the library before lunch, but when he arrived, it was packed. The common room wasn't any better, leaving him no choice but to settle in the Great Hall to wait for lunch.
For lunch, Kyle chose pancakes and pork chops, a combination he rather liked, but he'd barely taken a couple of bites when Mikel and Ryan appeared.
"Kyle, about your Charms homework…"
"No, no borrowing!" Kyle took another bite of his pancakes and shot them a look. "I don't want to be lectured by Professor Flitwick too."
"Come on, it won't happen again!" Mikel promised, raising a hand as if making an oath. "We were just really tired last night, but we'll revise it before handing it in today."
Kyle was doubtful. Last night, he'd lent them all his assignments, but they'd only managed to copy his Transfiguration homework. And when they'd come back to the dormitory, they'd been wide awake, playing Wizard's Chess with enthusiasm until Kyle eventually fell asleep. Given that, how could he trust them again? There was no way he was making the same mistake twice.
Besides, there were less than two hours until Charms class, and even if they copied it, they'd only have time to change their names. "Revising" likely meant nothing more than that.
After lunch, Mikel and Ryan still wouldn't give up and continued to shadow him. Finally, Kyle spotted an opportunity and cast a Disillusionment Charm, slipping away unseen. Watching his friends wander off in search of him, Kyle felt immense gratitude for mastering the spell. Forget Avada Kedavra or Expelliarmus—invisibility was truly the ultimate charm.
Once Mikel and Ryan turned the corner, Kyle considered his options. The dormitory was a no-go, so he made his way to the Charms classroom instead. After all, he only needed somewhere quiet to read, and any empty space would do. Plus, unlike other places, the Charms classroom was guaranteed to be safe. When there wasn't a lesson scheduled, Mikel and Ryan would never think to look there.