A Nice Guy Card (Please Collect and Recommend)

"Are you sure this is okay, Kyle?"

As soon as Qiu left, Cedric, who'd been standing around doing nothing the whole time, came over and said quietly, "I mean, will the Ravenclaw first-years really pay for a map?"

"Who knows?" Kyle shrugged. "We might as well give it a try. It's not like we have anything else to do."

Though he said that, Kyle didn't think there would be any problems.

There were no signs in Hogwarts, and first-years had to find the classrooms themselves or ask older students for directions. That meant getting lost was something they had to deal with every day.

At times like that, a map could often save them a lot of time.

Besides, it was only ten Sickles—not even a Galleon. It really wasn't expensive.

A young wizard from a Muggle family would have about six Galleons of pocket money left each year after buying necessities like textbooks. Kyle was sure many of them wouldn't turn down a map showing the patterns behind most of the moving staircases in exchange for ten Sickles.

Of course, there were exceptions—like a certain red-haired first-year next year who preferred to remain unnamed.

"Oh, right. Here."

On the way back to the dormitory, Kyle tossed the map in his hand to Cedric. "I'll leave the job of supplying them to you from now on."

Cedric looked puzzled. "I'm involved in this too?"

"Obviously. You gave me the map, so of course you deserve a share. Qiu gets half, and the other half is for the two of us."

Kyle said this as if it went without saying. "Besides, I've only just started school, and I'm not very good at the Gemino Curse yet. I can't exactly sell people a defective product, can I? They'd complain.

"So you're the best person for the job. After all, you wouldn't want people saying all Hufflepuffs are swindlers, would you?"

"Well... all right." Cedric thought it over and realized Kyle had a point, so he said no more.

"Good, then it's settled. I'll have Qiu come find you. See you in the Great Hall this afternoon." Kyle gave Cedric a meaningful look, then turned and walked into his dormitory.

Cedric stayed where he was, watching Kyle walk away. The more he thought about it, the more something seemed off.

Qiu was in charge of promotion, and he was in charge of supplying the maps... what about Kyle?

Aside from those two things, it seemed like there wasn't anything left for Kyle to do.

And when Kyle said, "It's not like we have anything else to do," could he have been talking about Cedric?

Cedric fell into deep thought...

Meanwhile, after returning to his dormitory, Kyle enjoyed a lovely afternoon nap. He arrived outside the Transfiguration classroom right on time, just before afternoon lessons began.

And to protect his own and Hufflepuff's reputation—and make sure the scene Qiu had witnessed didn't happen again—he'd specifically dragged Ryan along.

Ryan had repeatedly insisted that now he had a map, he wouldn't get lost again.

This Transfiguration class was with Ravenclaw again. Since they'd arrived early, only a few young witches and wizards were scattered around the room.

Kyle didn't even need to look. He could tell just by thinking about it that they definitely weren't Hufflepuffs.

Also, a very pretty tabby cat was perched on the desk at the front of the room.

Without thinking, Kyle slipped a hand into his robe pocket and felt the little bag of dried fish he'd prepared long ago.

Feeding Professor Meow-gonagall some dried fish was an achievement he'd wanted to unlock for ages. He'd even prepared the fish in advance.

It was like moving the trash cans in Diagon Alley. There wasn't much of a reward, but it felt great, and brought with it a strange sense of accomplishment.

The trash cans could be moved at any time, but he'd only get one chance to feed Professor Meow-gonagall.

After all, Professor McGonagall only showed off her Animagus form during the first Transfiguration lesson for first-years. And only then could Kyle use his first-year status as an excuse to get away with it afterward.

He was just an innocent, clueless young wizard. How could he possibly know Professor McGonagall could turn into a cat?

As for carrying dried fish around... those were for Mrs. Norris, to thank her for helping him find the Hospital Wing yesterday.

Everything was perfect. All he needed now was that final push.

There were still too few people in the classroom. If he went over now, it would be too obvious, and Professor McGonagall might see through him. He'd better wait a little longer.

Kyle was patient enough to make the most of this one chance. He sent Ryan into the classroom first, then made up an excuse to stay by the door.

As it happened, Qiu appeared at the corner of the corridor just then and waved at him. "Kyle, I knew you'd be here."

Ryan didn't think much of it. He just said, "I'll save you a seat," and went into the classroom.

"Kyle, you have no idea. Things went even more smoothly than I expected." Qiu ran up to him, panting, and said happily, "I showed them the map I copied, and in just one hour, twelve first-years said they definitely wanted to buy one."

Kyle wasn't surprised. He replied calmly, "That's great. Thanks for the effort."

"It was no trouble." Qiu looked him up and down, then continued, "Did you bring the maps? I promised them I'd bring them back after class."

"Cedric has the map. He's the second-year boy who was with me at lunch."

Kyle said helplessly, "He was worried we couldn't guarantee the maps' quality, so he volunteered to take over copying them for me. You can go straight to the Great Hall after class and find him.

"Oh, and he was top of his year as a second-year. He's really good at the Gemino Curse."

"Cedric?" Qiu thought for a moment, then asked, "I remember you saying he gave you the map too."

Kyle nodded. "That's right."

"Then he really is a nice guy," Qiu exclaimed. Then she seemed to think of something and suddenly frowned. "In that case, I can't take half. The three of us should split it evenly."

"If you insist, you can talk to him after class." Kyle spread his hands. "I have no problem with that. I already told him we'd split the other half, but Cedric wouldn't take any. He insisted he was only helping out a little.

"I can't talk him into it. Maybe you can try."

"Okay!" Qiu nodded earnestly.

In her view, if you took part, you were one of the group, and everything had to be split evenly.

Kyle smiled. "Then I hope everything goes smoothly for you."

Qiu looked at Kyle's expression and frowned. "Why do I feel like there's something... strange about your smile?"

"Does it look strange? Maybe I'm just looking forward to Transfiguration." Kyle straightened his expression. "Anyway, let's get into the classroom. It'd be awful if we were late."