Gift

For the next few days, Kyle's life remained the same as before. Every morning, as soon as he got up, he would see a thick stack of books on the table in the common room.

These were all delivered by other people, who were busy with it as if they were moving the entire library in.

Even the usually strict Madam Pince unusually relaxed her borrowing standards, no longer requiring the previous book to be returned before she could borrow another.

This resulted in Kyle accumulating more and more books in his dorm room, to the point that there wasn't enough space on the desk. They had to be put in a corner and made to return them after the Triwizard Tournament.

Although it was a bit of a hassle every day, it was all out of good intentions, so Kyle didn't say much.

However, this kind of good intention is completely useless.

... There's no way around it. Putting aside whether these books are actually useful or not, even if they were, Kyle couldn't possibly read more than thirty books in a day.

Let alone reading them... he couldn't even flip through that many books.

A week later, Rita Skeeter's article was finally published.

The owls delivered the newspaper on time during breakfast.

The Daily Prophet also carried news about the Triwizard Tournament on Halloween, with a front-page photo of the Champion, the referees, and Fudge.

The bottom right corner of the photo even had a small space deliberately left out, capturing a corner of the Gryffindor table... Harry was sitting there, clapping his hands excitedly.

It must be said that the photographer Fudge brought over was quite talented; that photo received a lot of praise at the time, and many people cut it out of the newspaper and kept it separately.

Harry did the same thing; according to him... this also counts as participating in the Triwizard Tournament.

Ron was incredibly envious at the time, and extremely annoyed that he hadn't sat there.

However, the last issue of the Daily Prophet mainly focused on the history and origins of the Triwizard Tournament.

The focus this time, however, is on the Champion.

First and foremost is Viktor Krum, the most famous of them all. He alone occupies more than half of the page, with one-tenth of the content dedicated to his career and various achievements, and the rest to gossip.

Including but not limited to... frequently changing female companions, physically assaulting teammates backstage, forcing out the original captain and successfully taking over the position...

In short, it's all content that everyone enjoys talking about, and the descriptions are very detailed, as if Rita Skeeter were actually there.

The same goes for Phoebe... probably because she's not very famous, there aren't many articles about her, and the ones about her and Krum's juicy stuff are just so-so.

However, it's not exactly something to be happy about.

Although not explicitly stated, the article repeatedly hinted at her Half-Veela identity, as well as the opinions of other students at Beauxbatons regarding her... Of course, Rita Skeeter Skeeter's embellishments played a significant role in this.

After reading it, Phoebe was so angry that she couldn't even eat breakfast.

"No wonder Madame Maxime told me to stay away from her."

Phoebe stared at one of the passages through gritted teeth...

(She seemed intent on stealing everyone's hearts; even the Hufflepuff girls fell into her trap.)

"... Am I some kind of evil dark wizard?" she said indignantly.

"Oh, is there anything I have to do with this?" Kanna peeked out... Clearly, she must be one of those so-called "Hufflepuff girls".

"Strange..." Kanna picked up the newspaper that had been thrown on the table and looked at it again.

"Kyle, why are there so few articles about you?"

"I guess she thinks I'm just an ordinary person, and there's nothing worth writing about," Kyle said.

The amount of content related to him was not just scarce, it was practically like the free gift in a buy-two-get-one-free deal. He was only mentioned in an inconspicuous place in the middle of the newspaper, and the total length of the article was less than three lines.

Others also noticed this and spoke out in Kyle's defense.

However, Kyle didn't think so. Rita Skeeter's articles... naturally, the fewer they appear, the better.

Besides, this is Hogwarts; he doesn't need the Daily Prophet to promote himself and expand his fame.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, a loud crash came from Slytherin's desk.

Krum seemed to know what was in the newspaper. He had been expressionless and seemed uninterested in anything, but for the first time, his expression changed.

His face flushed with anger, he flipped the plate over, spilling all the soup onto Crabbe's head across from him, not wasting a drop.

Krum didn't apologize, or rather, he was too angry to notice, and after saying something in Bulgaria, he quickly left the Great Hall.

Although no one present understood the meaning of his words, Kyle guessed... he was most likely praising the genealogy of the Rita Skeeter.

This issue of the Daily Prophet has once again stirred up everyone's anticipation for the Triwizard Tournament, making everyone wish they could jump straight to the 30th.

Of course, aside from the three Champion... Kyle didn't know what Krum was thinking, but he could tell that Phoebe had become increasingly nervous since the countdown to the final week before the First Task.

At Olympe Maxime's request, she has temporarily moved out of Hufflepuff dormitory and returned to her carriage in Beauxbatons, and no longer comes to the castle to attend classes with the seventh-year students.

Even when they occasionally met, she was always distracted.

And so it went until Friday... with only two days left until the First Task started.

From the morning onwards, the castle was filled with a palpable sense of anticipation and excitement.

"How are you feeling, nervous?" While eating breakfast, Cedric kept dragging the plates of fried eggs and bacon around him toward Kyle.

Instead of stopping his impolite behavior, the others even got up to help bring over plates that were further away...

Soon, the plates in front of Kyle were piled up like a small mountain.

"I'm not nervous, but can you guys be a little more normal?" Kyle said. "The First Task isn't about who can eat the most bacon..."

But nobody listened to him.

Kyle could only speed up his eating, wanting to leave this overly enthusiastic place as soon as possible.

Just then, the messenger arrived.

A large flock of owls rushed into the Great Hall, dropping letters and packages to every student.

Among them, six robust, long-eared owls stood out the most, clutching a long bundle and tossing it onto the Hufflepuff table.

"Kyle, this is for you!" someone shouted after seeing the name written on it.

"For me?" Kyle finished the last bit of his sandwich in a few bites, stood up, and looked over.

"What did you buy?" Cedric asked.

"I don't know," Kyle said. "I haven't bought anything recently...but it looks like a broom."

The package was long and thick at one end and thin at the other, a common packaging method used by Quality Quidditch Supplies.

As they were talking, Kyle also noticed a card hanging on the outside of the package.

"Congratulations on becoming Champion! This is such a wonderful surprise. I wanted to prepare a gift for you, but I didn't know what to give. After thinking about it, this is the most suitable one. I hope you like it."

"... Sirius Black."