A Friend in Need

Kyle raised his head, following the direction of Cedric's finger, and only then did he notice Kanna sitting diagonally across from him, busy working on a steak.

However, with every cut she made, she would glance up at Kyle, as if the plate held not a steak, but Kyle himself.

The sight of this made his teeth ache.

"Wait, why do I get the feeling her gaze isn't exactly friendly? She definitely wasn't like this on the train," Cedric asked curiously. "I remember all the first-years were together before the Sorting, right? Did something happen between you two during that time?"

"That part is indeed my fault." Kyle shrugged and gave a brief account of what had happened in the boat shed.

After hearing it, Cedric was stunned into silence.

Using the Killing Curse to sort houses? Was that even something a normal person could come up with?

"She believed you?" Cedric asked cautiously.

"What else?" Kyle said with a bitter face. "If she didn't believe me, would she be looking at me like that?"

Uh...

That was truly a case of one daring to say it and the other daring to believe it.

Cedric's mouth twitched. For a moment, he didn't know what to say. He could only look at Kanna, then back at Kyle, with a speechless expression before silently giving a thumbs-up.

"Seriously, Kyle, you two are a match made in heaven."

"She's only eleven, alright? Are you in such a rush to go to Azkaban?" Kyle retorted irritably. "And I advise you not to say that again. If Professor Snape hears you, you're done for."

"She knows Professor Snape?" Cedric asked, surprised.

Kyle nodded. "It's not confirmed, but I think she does."

"..."

Cedric's expression shifted instantly. He stared at Kyle with the look one might reserve for a scumbag and said, "You've gone too far. How could you play such a malicious prank on a first-year? If I were a prefect, I'd definitely deduct points from you."

Kyle looked at Cedric in disbelief, as if he were seeing him for the first time.

To switch sides the moment he heard Kanna knew Snape—the speed of that about-face was just too fast.

Was this really the Cedric he knew?

Yet, facing Kyle's gaze, Cedric's expression remained unchanged. He even proactively scooted his chair to the side, looking as if he wanted to draw a clear line between them.

Kyle could only silently raise his middle finger.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? He really didn't know who Cedric had been learning from; how had he become so shameless in the short time they'd been apart?

But in the current situation, eating in peace was out of the question.

Kyle simply put down his knife and fork and looked back at Kanna.

The little witch didn't shy away either, meeting Kyle's gaze head-on. Her round cheeks puffed out, though it was unclear if she was chewing her steak or just angry.

Neither of them spoke, staring at each other in the middle of the opening feast as if no one else existed, like a contest to see who would blink first.

Naturally, neither Kyle nor Kanna wanted to admit defeat. At first, they were both resolute, as if they intended to keep this competition going until the end of time.

However, Kanna had clearly overestimated herself.

Soon, her gaze began to wander, and a flush of crimson appeared on her previously fair face.

A few seconds later... her eyes began to dart away, her breathing quickened, and her entire face turned bright red.

Finally, Kanna couldn't hold on any longer. She lowered her head rapidly, her nose brushing against the steak as if she wanted to bury herself in the plate, leaving only her two reddened ears visible.

Kanna's personality hadn't changed; she was still the same shy, socially anxious girl as before. Her earlier behavior was simply because she felt humiliated after realizing she'd been tricked.

It was like a quiet, gentle girl who, after being trolled in her favorite game, might start swearing while pounding on her keyboard.

Same principle.

Plus, because Kyle had been avoiding her, the frustration she'd been bottling up had nowhere to go, which was why it had lasted until now.

Once that frustration dissipated, she naturally reverted to the shy, socially anxious little witch she had been before.

And Kyle staring at her had simply provided her with a channel to vent. After all, eye contact was a form of output, too—it was just a bit less efficient.

It was just that Kyle hadn't expected her anger to fade so quickly; she was fine after only a few minutes. Her personality was truly a bit too soft.

Ginny Weasley's personality was already considered quite good among the people Kyle knew, but even when she was angry, she would at least argue with Kyle face-to-face for half an hour.

By comparison, Kanna was a bit too weak. A personality like hers wasn't a good thing in the Wizarding World.

It was fine at Hogwarts, where Hufflepuff was famous for being honest and friendly, and where, generally speaking, no one would harbor ill intentions.

But if she remained like this after graduation, she probably wouldn't even know how she died.

Grogan Stump, a famous Minister for Magic, once said that Hogwarts was a fairy tale of the Wizarding World; once you left this castle, nothing remained before you but a man-eating abyss.

In the eyes of those Dark Wizards walking the edge of death, a shy, introverted witch from a pure-blood family was no different from a walking pile of Galleons. They would swarm like hyenas until not even a bone fragment was left of her.

Kyle wasn't fear-mongering; there were precedents, such as those pure-blood families that had vanished.

After Voldemort fell, the Death Eaters, having lost their backing and facing pursuit by Ministry Aurors, began to struggle for their own survival, hiding wherever they could.

The entire pure-blood community of the British Wizarding World had been thrown into total chaos as a result.

Those hyenas lurking in the shadows seized this opportunity, unanimously turning their fangs toward these pure-blood families who had fallen into disarray.

Whether by blatant robbery or using the Cruciatus Curse to extort useful information, any pure-blood wizard caught alone became prey in their eyes.

Furthermore, they cared nothing for how large a family was, how formidable their strength, or whether they might seek revenge in the future.

As long as there was profit to be made, and as long as the target's household lacked monsters like Dumbledore or Voldemort, they dared to pounce and tear off a piece of flesh.

It could be said that during that period, the number of pure-blood wizards dying at their hands grew with each passing day, causing many families to decline and eventually vanish into obscurity.

This situation persisted until the Death Eaters had been largely rounded up, and the Aurors and Hit Wizards turned their sights toward them instead.

It was that way back then, and naturally, it is no exception now.

Kyle glanced at Kanna, who was currently playing the ostrich, and after a moment of silence, he calmly took the black pepper from the side, sprinkled it over the diced potatoes, and popped them into his mouth.

Forget it, she's only in her first year, graduation is still a long way off; why dwell on such things? Better to fill my stomach first.