Divergence

Fred and George expressed strong dissatisfaction with Kyle's differential treatment, feeling that they were being looked down upon, and insisted on tasting the aged, Firewhisky.

Kyle still ignored them.

Several minutes later, seeing Bill lying on the ground fast asleep, the two shut up, then pretended nothing had happened and turned to drink their juice.

They witnessed Bill go from drinking to nodding, and finally, quite naturally, collapsing to the ground.

The whole process went incredibly smoothly, without even a moment's pause, as if Bill had come here just to sleep on Kyle's floor.

Charlie seems to be doing quite well.

As a dragon breeder, he had drunk quite a bit of strong liquor and was very experienced. He only took a small sip at first, unlike Bill who drank it all in one go.

"Does he think this is malt liquor?" Charlie looked at Bill lying on the ground with a mocking expression.

Just as Fred and George never missed an opportunity to mock Percy, so did he and Bill; it was a family tradition.

The only difference is that Bill isn't as tongue-tied as Percy, and he always finds an opportunity to retaliate.

But he's drunk now.

Charlie thoroughly enjoyed his craving for whiskey and took another small sip, feeling quite pleased with himself.

Kyle brought over some candy and snacks.

Among the gifts he received were many snacks, and a wide variety of them.

The group ate snacks and chatted casually.

At first, the conversation was fairly normal. Charlie told some interesting stories about the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, such as a group of guys who wanted to steal dragon eggs being scared out of their wits by the Dragon and eventually crying and seeking help from the dragon keepers, or which dragon had laid another nest of eggs.

These are things you can't learn in school, and they sound very interesting.

In return, Kyle told him about Hogwarts.

Charlie listened with equal fascination to the stories of the conman professor in third grade, the Basilisk, and the Dementor storming the Quidditch Pitch in fourth grade, and exclaimed that it was unfair.

Back when he was in school, Hogwarts had never been this exciting.

Especially the Basilisk; since becoming a dragon breeder, Charlie has become more and more like Hagrid, both developing a liking for those dangerous, large Fantastic Beasts.

"I really want to see the Basilisk," he said regretfully.

Fred and George quickly waved their hands, trying to dissuade him from the idea.

The Basilisk monster that kills anyone it glares at. When they first heard that Ron had been sent to the Hospital Wing, they were so scared their legs went weak. Luckily, it turned out to be a false alarm.

It's not worth risking your life for a little curiosity.

Fortunately, Charlie was just saying it casually, and besides, the Basilisk isn't something you can just see whenever you want.

He put down his cup, popped a large piece of fudge into his mouth, and then started talking about something else.

"Kyle, I heard from Fred that your Hufflepuff have won the Quidditch Cup for four consecutive years?"

"It was all just good luck. Everyone was giving me face, so I won. It's nothing to mention, really nothing to mention!" Kyle said modestly, waving his hand.

Fred and George both looked rather grim, their teeth grinding together.

If Kyle hadn't laughed so obviously when he said that, maybe they would have believed him.

Charlie looked at them, puzzled, and asked, "Didn't you say Harry got a Firebolt? And he lost too?"

Fred and George took a sip of juice, their expressions unusually determined. "We'll definitely win next year!"

"You Hufflepuff won't get five consecutive championships!"

"Then you guys better work hard. Winning the Quidditch Match next school year will be too difficult," Kyle said, raising an eyebrow and smiling.

Charlie opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he held back and changed the subject:

"Kyle, who do you think will win this year's Quidditch World Cup?"

"Ireland, of course," Kyle blurted out.

"No," Charlie shook his head. "I think it's Bulgaria. They've completed the last piece of their puzzle this year. Their genius Seeker, Viktor Krum, is definitely a contender for the championship."

"Ha, only you Seeker would support Bulgaria," Kyle said bluntly. "Quidditch is a seven-person sport. A talented Seeker is important, but the Chaser is the real core."

"Oh?" Charlie sat up straight. "How so?"

"It's very simple. You only saw that Bulgaria had Krum, but you didn't notice that they replaced a veteran Chaser."

The reason given in the Daily Quidditch is that he's too old to cooperate well with Krum, which is ridiculous. A Chaser's job is to score; do you expect him to use Quaffle to knock the Golden Snitch into Krum's hands?

Kyle scoffed, "Believe it or not, they'll get completely crushed in this year's tournament unless that Krum manages to catch the Golden Snitch before falling behind by 150 points. Only then will Bulgaria have any chance of winning."

Fred and George nodded in agreement.

Their thoughts were the same as Kyle's.

Especially after their previous match against Hufflepuff, they deeply understood the importance of the Chaser scoring.

If the score difference is too large, even if the player who catches the Seeker is very skilled, it won't help; at most, it can only delay the game for a while. But if the player's strength is insufficient, no matter how long the game is delayed, it won't make a difference.

"No, I still think Bulgaria will win." Charlie shook his head. "Ivanova is also a strong Chaser, and there's Dimitrov, who, although young, has already shown promise in international competitions. Like Krum, he's a talented player."

"You're not talking about Dimitrov, the one Moran stole the ball from three times in a row during the tour, are you?" Kyle said with a half-smile.

Charlie's face flushed slightly, but he stubbornly insisted that only the Bulgaria Team could win the final championship.

But because the disadvantage of being outnumbered three to one was too great, Charlie simply picked up the still-sleeping Bill and carried him back to the Burrow.

Bill's long ponytail trailed on the floor, and he even helped tidy up the room.

"That stupid Seeker." As Charlie left, Fred and George immediately broke into victorious smiles and high-fived each other.

They did not go back with Charlie.

The main problem is that Percy on vacation today, and he's been in his room since morning writing a report on the crucible leak, forbidding them from making even the slightest noise.

They've only been awake for a few hours, and they've already been complained about several times. It's much quieter here than they are now.