Professor Attacked

Despite Harry's repeated assurances that his arm was fine and he could be discharged, Madam Pomfrey insisted that he stay overnight at the Hospital Wing.

"Your arm is bent!" she said. "If you ever want to use a wand again... you must make sure it's completely working before you leave."

And so, Harry had no choice but to stay.

The Gryffindor team returned in the evening, bringing cakes, candies, and several bottles of Pumpkin Juice, seemingly wanting to have a fun party there.

Unsurprisingly, they were kicked out, the reason being that they were seriously disturbing other people's rest.

"I said ten minutes ago that you definitely had to come back."

In the Great Hall, Kyle looked at Fred and George, who had returned empty-handed, and laughed, "Even Professor Dumbledore would be kicked out of the Hospital Wing if you wanted to hold a celebration party there, let alone you two."

"We have to give it a try."

The two sat down at the long table in Hufflepuff and accepted the condiment dish Cedric offered them without any hesitation.

"Seriously..." Fred muttered under his breath as he peeled a potato, "If only laughing could wake Flint or Filch."

"Especially Filch ... he might even have to thank us." George winked.

Filch was also in the Hospital Wing, but he was completely hidden by thick curtains.

Early Sunday morning, Kyle planned to visit Hagrid.

He visited the cabin very few times this year, only once at the beginning of the school year, and hasn't been back since... mainly because he had too many things to do before, such as catching up on homework and learning Ancient Runes, and simply couldn't find the time.

Hagrid sent a letter on Friday saying he had prepared some new cured ham and wanted Kyle to try it.

Kyle agreed.

However, it has nothing to do with cured ham. He tried it once last year... and it was so salty it felt like eating a block of salt.

He even suspected for a moment that it was salt, only that Hagrid had turned it into the shape of ham.

After leaving the Great Hall, Kyle encountered Hermione and Ron rushing towards him in the lobby.

Are you guys going to see Harry?

"Yes...yes, we're on our way." Ron said nervously, clutching a bulging bag. "This is...a gift for him."

A pungent smell wafted from the bag, somewhat like Fluxweed.

Goodness, giving herbs as a gift... When did Harry become so fond of Potions?

However, Kyle didn't point it out, and after chatting casually for a couple more minutes, he left.

Hermione and Ron hurried upstairs, while Kyle left the castle and arrived at Hagrid's cabin.

"You've been busier than the professor lately, Kyle."

Hagrid removed his Dragonhide Gloves and feigned anger, saying, "If I don't write to you, are you not planning to come back?"

"Of course not, Hagrid," Kyle explained. "I have assignments for twelve courses and two clubs to attend..."

But then he saw Hagrid suddenly smile.

"I was just kidding." He picked up a copper kettle and poured some hot pine nut tea into the teacup in front of Kyle. "I know you're busy. Professor Kettleburn told me you've signed up for twelve courses and have a lot of homework every day... I thought you wouldn't be able to come today either."

"We need to relax a bit." Kyle picked up his glass and blew on it.

"It's great that you think that way," Hagrid laughed. "And Kyle, you're already excellent enough. I haven't heard of anyone joining multiple clubs at the same time since Bill graduated. You're the first."

As he spoke, he took out a ham sandwich that he had prepared in advance.

Kyle shook his head, making an excuse that he had just eaten breakfast, and declined.

Hagrid didn't pay any attention and picked up a piece from the plate and started eating.

"What about your friends, the Weasley brothers, Cedric and Kanna ..." he asked.

"They've gone to training," Kyle said. "Kanna and Cho are at the library working on their Ancient Runes assignments."

"Oh, that's good, it's all in crowded places." Hagrid finished the last piece of his sandwich and then downed a large cup of tea.

"You'd better go with them, Kyle, whether it's to class or something else, try to choose places with lots of people."

"Are you talking about Filch?"

Kyle put down his cup. "I'll be careful."

"Being careful isn't enough," Hagrid said seriously. "If it had happened yesterday, even the professor... oh, I shouldn't have said that."

"Professor?" Kyle frowned, asking with a puzzled look, "Did something happen last night?"

"Well...you'll find out sooner or later." Hagrid glanced in the direction of the castle and lowered his voice. "It was Charity Burbage. Dumbledore found her last night in an empty classroom. By then, she had become just like Filch."

Hagrid poured Kyle another cup of tea. "Although Charity has been studying Muggle life at the school and her abilities have declined somewhat... well, I mean, she's not as powerful as the other professors, but she's still an adult wizard."

Kyle's hand, holding the teacup, suddenly paused.

He hadn't expected the second person to be attacked to appear so quickly... and that they would be a professor.

Charity Burbage was, after all, a legitimate professor at Hogwarts, which was a completely different matter from the attack on Filch.

Even professors have been infected, so what about the students...? Who knows, Hogwarts might have to close down because of this.

Let's see how Dumbledore handles it.

Kyle stayed in Hagrid's Hut until noon before returning to the castle with a large piece of cured Tebo Warthog.

Hagrid insisted on giving it to him, and he didn't refuse again.

Norbert has been eating beef shank and pork chops from the kitchen lately, so this is a good opportunity to give him a change of pace.

As luck would have it, after entering the Entrance Hall, Kyle ran into Hermione and Ron again, but this time Harry was also there.

They had just come downstairs; it seemed they were heading to the Great Hall for dinner.

"I can't believe there's such a magical place at Hogwarts!" Ron exclaimed excitedly.

"That's incredible!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. "It has everything in there, even more than the Potions Classroom! It even has Self-Stirring Cauldron. That will save us a lot of time."

"It's a pity we don't have Potions ingredients... If they had Bicorn Horn and Boomslang Skin there, we wouldn't need to go to Sneaky..."

"Harry!"

Hermione suddenly raised her voice, "Dinner's almost ready, let's discuss the Potions Class homework later."

Harry paused for a moment.

Weren't they discussing Polyjuice Potion? When did they mention Potions Class?

However, at Hermione's prompting, he quickly noticed Kyle not far away.

"Oh, yeah, Hermione ..." Harry subconsciously raised his voice as well, "Those Potions assignments are really hard, I'm starving."

They then hurried down the stairs, greeting Kyle warmly as if they had just seen Kyle.

"... Kyle, I didn't even realize you were here."

Kyle's lips twitched at the sight of that clumsy acting.

Honestly, when the Niffler was trying to scam him for coins, his acting was way better than all three of them.

"I just got back from Hagrid's." Kyle gave him a standard smile. "He even gave me a piece of cured ham. Would you like some?"

"No need, no need."

Harry, the other two, all shook their heads.

Unless absolutely necessary, never eat anything Hagrid gives you... This is a lesson they learned last year.