The Magic World is Full of Treachery

In the following days, Fred and George would still come over frequently to refine the first product in their Skiving Snackboxes series— Ton-Tongue Toffee.

However, Kyle found the process too tedious, so he didn't join them and instead chose to stay in his room reading.

This behavior left Fred and George speechless, because they saw Percy's shadow in Kyle.

But neither of them could say anything.

There was no other way; Kyle was now their landlord and an important partner, and only here could they feel safe and confident in researching their inventions.

Of course, they wouldn't really remain completely silent.

After being rejected once, George said in a drawn-out tone, "Fred, I think we should order a batch of Filibuster's Fireworks right now to celebrate Kyle becoming Prefect ahead of time."

"Then we should celebrate for four years," Fred said in the same tone. "After all, at Hogwarts, you have to be Prefect in your fifth year, and he's only a second this year."

"Oh, right, it could also be six years." George raised an eyebrow. "Don't forget about the student council president."

"Yes, that's right... tsk tsk, six years of Filibuster's Fireworks, that must have been a huge expense."

The two of them spoke in perfect harmony, their tone and expressions exactly like a certain Potions Class professor; anyone who didn't know better would think there were two Snape standing at the door.

Kyle didn't say anything, silently gave them the middle finger, and then continued to look at his desk.

There was a stack of parchment covered with writing.

The contents of the parchment were copied from the Restricted Section.

Kyle remembered it as a book about alchemy, titled <Magical Products: Alteration and Fusion>.

He wasn't particularly interested in the book initially; after copying it, he just left it there and didn't look at it again for a long time.

But things are different now.

Helping the Weasley brothers research Skiving Snackboxes was just a bit of entertainment after finishing his homework; what he really wanted to know about right now was Horcrux.

Kyle flipped through the parchment page by page, paying particular attention to the section on incorporating magic into ordinary objects.

After all, this was the only information he could find that was somewhat related to Horcrux.

Although this connection is a bit far-fetched, and Kyle doesn't know if Horcrux are related to alchemy, it's never a bad thing to know more.

Since they're all related to integration anyway, what if there's some overlap between them?

Although there's a significant difference between souls and magic, it's not impossible.

I didn't think much of it at first, but when Kyle started reading it seriously, he found the book to be very obscure.

In order to fully understand these things, Kyle ordered many books on alchemy from Diagon Alley mail order and taught himself the subject from scratch.

That's why they say alchemy is an expensive hoarder. Even the most basic books cost no less than ten Galleon, making it even more expensive than Lockhart's. Kyle spent a huge amount of Galleon on this alone.

I watched it like that for almost a month.

One evening a month later, Kyle sat at his desk as usual, but this time, he didn't look at anything. Instead, he took out a wand and tried to control the toffee in front of him, making it slowly float up.

Ottery St. Catchpole is a wizarding village, where magic is practically useless if the Trace are used, and the Ministry of Magic would have a hard time tracing its origins.

However, for safety reasons, Kyle only takes out his wand at night, when the Ministry of Magic is closed and it's the busiest time of day.

Furthermore, he wasn't using his own wand, but rather the rat witch's.

When he found the wand, he put it directly into his robe pocket and did not hand it over to Professor McGonagall or anyone from the Ministry of Magic.

Although the Hit Wizard had asked him about the wand, it was more like a formality; Kyle simply said he hadn't seen it, and they left.

Perhaps in their eyes, the Forbidden Forest is so vast that losing a wand is perfectly normal; maybe some small animal just snatched it away.

In the end, the wand became Kyle's trophy.

It's not very convenient to use; there's an indescribable awkwardness to it, like eating noodles with a spoon.

But you can't expect too much from something you find for free.

Under Kyle's control, the toffee began to peel away layer by layer. After about five minutes, the whole candy turned into pieces of paper-thin "candy wrappers".

The candy wrappers are very thin; if you look closely, you'll see that each one has a different pattern.

Kyle took out another small bottle containing a light blue Swelling Solution and waved his wand once more.

Two drops of medicine floated out of the bottle, spreading and splitting in mid-air, turning into countless thin but imperceptible lines that perfectly aligned with the texture of the candy wrappers.

Then, the new candy wrapper began to come together in the middle, and it became a complete toffee again.

This is what Kyle has gained in the past month: changing the form of matter and then merging them together.

It's somewhat like the enchanting process in a game.

However, unlike traditional alchemy which directly embeds enchanted gems into weapons, Kyle's method involves crushing the gems and recasting them into the weapon.

Its complexity increases exponentially, so it's no wonder it was placed in the Restricted Section.

Kyle picked up the toffee and examined it closely under the light... It looked just like any other candy, with no difference whatsoever.

After breaking it open, it was fine; it seemed to be just an ordinary toffee.

"Should we find someone to test the effect?" Kyle muttered to himself.

This was the first time he'd ever done something like this, and he was really unsure of himself. He didn't know if it was a success or not, so the best way was to find someone else to try it out.

Kyle was mentally considering who would be chosen for the drug trial.

Fred and George were the most suitable candidates, and they should be happy to try, but Kyle was the first to rule them out.

He didn't learn this to improve the product for the twins.

Moreover, if they found out that I could perfectly blend toffee and Swelling Solution, I wouldn't be able to do anything else this summer.

Ron is a good candidate... obedient, easy to fool, easy to coax, and convenient for shifting blame.

Harry Potter, the Chosen One who enrolled this year, is also quite good. He has been staying in his comfort zone for many years and is unaware of how treacherous people in the Wizarding World can be. This is a good opportunity to teach him a lesson, which shows Kyle's good intentions.

Both of them are a good match, but who should I choose?

Kyle was a little conflicted.