Once his worries were behind him, Cedric became noticeably more cheerful. He stopped reading and took the initiative to strike up a conversation with Kyle. "Hi, can I call you Kyle?"
"Of course." Kyle nodded. "Actually, my father works at the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures too. He's colleagues with your dad."
"Your father?" Cedric was taken aback, then asked uncertainly, "Is he Mr. Chris Choba?"
"Yes," Kyle replied.
Cedric suddenly understood. "Your surname is Choba, and you know the Weasley twins... Oh, I should've guessed! We're neighbors, too!"
With that connection between them, the two quickly grew much more familiar with each other. They got along more naturally, like old friends who had known each other for a long time.
Even though they had never met before today.
"By the way, Kyle." Cedric seemed to remember something and asked curiously, "I remember going to look for you once, but you weren't home. Back then, my dad told me you'd been learning from Mr. Scamander since you were very young, and that you were sure to make something of yourself in the future.
"Is that true? Have you really been learning from Mr. Scamander all this time?"
Cedric was terribly curious. After all, it was Scamander.
There were plenty of famous people in the British Wizarding World, but most were only well-known in their own countries.
Take the authors of certain textbooks, or novelists who had received the Order of Merlin, Third Class. They might be well known at Hogwarts, but once they went somewhere else... say, Ilvermorny or Beauxbatons, nobody there would have any idea who they were.
There were only a handful of wizards who were renowned throughout the entire Wizarding World, and whose portraits had been printed on Chocolate Frog Cards while they were still alive.
Scamander was one of those few.
It was only natural that Cedric would be curious, being this close to a legendary figure for the first time.
Meanwhile, Kyle was looking at Cedric in disbelief.
He had gone looking for Kyle, and Kyle hadn't been home? What a coincidence.
And Mr. Diggory—wasn't he in the same office as Chris? Where had he heard such gossip? There was no way Kyle had spent all that time with Uncle Newt.
Kyle rubbed his forehead, at a loss for words. After a moment, he said, "First of all, it's true that I'm sure to make something of myself in the future. But my dad was Newt Scamander's student. I just went over to visit him."
Newt wasn't like Dumbledore. He had a severe social anxiety disorder. He'd been a little better when he was young. Although he wasn't much of a talker, he'd still made a few friends, fought the Dark Lord, and taken on a few students to teach them about Fantastic Beasts and the like.
But ever since Grindelwald had been imprisoned in Nurmengard Tower, Newt had rarely taken part in social activities. He devoted himself entirely to Fantastic Beasts.
For nearly thirty years in particular, he'd barely spoken to any strangers, and his social anxiety had only grown worse.
Did anyone really expect someone like Newt to give a young wizard lessons every day like a Hogwarts professor, then review the material and grade assignments?
Impossible.
Newt also knew that his personality didn't suit him to being a teacher. In his view, professors and teachers alike should be like Dumbledore.
So Chris had been his last student in any official sense.
Over the following decades, plenty of people had wanted him to take them on as students. Some had even asked Dumbledore to put in a good word for them, but Newt had turned them all down without exception.
Newt didn't want to mislead his students. Even if they didn't mind, he couldn't get past his own conscience.
Kyle had first gone to stay with him simply because Chris and Diana were too busy with work to look after him. As it happened, Newt's wife, Tina, had heard about it, so she volunteered to take Kyle in.
It gave Tina something to do while helping Chris out.
Then again, living with a husband who barely spoke and whose eyes were always fixed on Fantastic Beasts was more than enough. If Tina hadn't found something to keep herself busy, she probably would've gone stir-crazy long ago.
Besides, Kyle had just turned six at the time. In Tina's experience, that was the age when children were a handful. Maybe he could even help with Newt's social anxiety.
When their grandson had been that age, he'd driven Newt up the wall. Newt had said more in one day than he had in the entire month before.
And in that regard, Kyle hadn't let Tina down.
He wasn't a troublemaker, but he was curious. And since it was his first time seeing so many different Fantastic Beasts, he couldn't help asking questions about everything.
Perhaps because all his questions were about Fantastic Beasts, Newt would give him thoughtful answers whenever Kyle asked, even though he rarely spoke of his own accord.
As a result, he naturally ended up talking more, and he was quite happy to do so.
All in all, the three of them were pleased.
That was why Kyle still spent a little time there every year, even after Chris and Diana weren't as busy.
Of course, Kyle had no intention of telling Cedric all this. After all, someone had to help preserve Newt's image.
A legendary Fantastic Beasts expert who kept to himself sounded much better than an old man with social anxiety.
So after giving a brief explanation, Kyle decided not to continue the subject. If he said too much, he might give himself away. This was fine as it was.
"By the way, Cedric, what do you think of the Hogwarts professors? Are they easy to get along with?" Kyle glanced casually at the copy of Dark Arts: A Guide to Self-Protection beside Cedric. "You know I've never been to school before, so I don't know much about this stuff. What if I accidentally make one of the professors angry? Could I get expelled?"
"You don't need to worry about that at all."
Cedric didn't suspect a thing. Smiling, he said, "The professors are all very nice... Well, at least most of them are. And even the strictest professor wouldn't expel a student lightly.
"Unless you do something that seriously breaks the school rules."
When he said the last sentence, Cedric looked very serious. His lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know how to put it.
Seeing that, Kyle guessed what he was thinking and quickly waved a hand. "Don't worry. I'm not a Weasley, so I definitely won't break the school rules."
Only then did Cedric breathe a sigh of relief. "Sorry... I didn't mean it that way."
Kyle shook his head. "It's fine. I know."
Since they were talking about Hogwarts, Cedric got more enthusiastic. He spent the rest of their time together telling Kyle some more detailed things about the school.
For example, you could ignore the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who changed every year; the Transfiguration professor, who was obsessed with turning into a cat, was the most formidable... And most importantly, the Potions Professor, who never washed his hair, loved taking points off students.
Most of it was more or less what Kyle already knew. There wasn't much that was new.
Before you continue