Brawl in the School

For a period of time afterward, Harry seemed to become a very dangerous person, attracting many complicated looks wherever he went.

Hermione and Ron also benefited from this, becoming the kind of people everyone avoided.

Gradually, those gazes turned into mockery.

In the final days before the holiday began, some people seemed to find a new kind of fun in mocking Harry.

After all, Dumbledore only said they couldn't ask questions, not that they couldn't do anything else.

For example, Malfoy and his two henchmen would always deliberately go near Harry and discuss the contents of the newspaper in loud voices.

Harry would argue and explain at first, but after several days of this going on, he decided to stop wasting his time and instead just throw a book at Malfoy's face.

Harry has been feeling quite depressed these past few days.

First, he was taken away by the Death Eaters without warning, then he witnessed and participated in Voldemort's resurrection, and then there was the newspaper coverage. With so many things piling up, Harry had been wanting to find an opportunity to vent his frustration.

Malfoy's recent behavior provided him with a ready-made opportunity.

As if they had planned it, Ron and Hermione joined the battle without hesitation, targeting Crabbe and Goyle.

Caught completely off guard, Malfoy and his two companions were utterly stunned.

But this was just the beginning. As more and more people passed by, the news quickly spread, and then a huge battle broke out between the two academies.

In the narrow corridor, everyone tacitly refrained from using magic, opting instead for a more direct approach: fists.

The Hospital Wing was packed with people that day. Madam Pomfrey practically puffed out smoke with her wand before she could conjure up enough beds and brewed three large pots of healing medicine overnight.

Because there were too many people, Filch, who was originally scheduled to receive treatment for a few more days, had to be discharged early in order to make room for others.

The consequence of this incident was that Gryffindor and Slytherin both lost 500 points, which is arguably the most points deducted in recent decades.

But nobody cared about that.

Although 500 points sounds exaggerated, they still need to have that many points. Thanks to Snape and Sirius's efforts, their two schools' scores were already at the bottom.

Let alone five hundred, even a hundred would be a stretch.

But none of this affected Kyle.

He probably wasn't involved in the confrontation with Fudge that day, because his name wasn't mentioned in the Daily Prophet.

Furthermore, Dumbledore didn't say, so apart from a few close friends, no one else knew where he went during the time he disappeared in the maze.

"What are you thinking?"

In Hufflepuff's common room, Kyle glanced at Fred and George, who were sitting there grinning, and casually tossed them a bottle of Essence of Dittany.

"Is there even a question? It's obviously to fight against the You-Know-Who's power."

Fred took the Essence of Dittany, rolled up his sleeve, and applied some to his arm.

"I dare say that among the Death Eaters of the You-Know-Who, there must be some from Slytherin." George also smeared some Essence of Dittany on his face. "At least Malfoy is definitely among them."

"That's not what I meant," Kyle said. "I meant why you didn't go to the Hospital Wing when you were injured, but instead came to me. I've only ever treated Fantastic Beasts before."

"There are too many people at the Hospital Wing," Fred said nonchalantly.

"Besides, our injuries are minor, there's no need for us to go there..."

"You didn't see what Madam Pomfrey looked like; she was absolutely terrifying," George said, still shaken.

"With so many people injured, it would be strange if she looked well..." Kyle muttered.

He glanced at the two men; their injuries weren't serious, mostly just bruises from bumps and scrapes.

For this kind of injury, the essence of Essence of Dittany is not very effective, but the problem is that he doesn't have any suitable healing potions here, so he'll just have to make do for now.

"Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle ..." George continued, "These three names were on the trial list more than a decade ago."

"You must have seen it that day too, right?" Fred asked.

"Probably, but the Death Eaters were all wearing masks back then, so I didn't see what they looked like."

Kyle shrugged. "I got there a bit late and missed a lot. Harry probably knows that."

"Ah, that's right." George shook his head. "But Headmaster Dumbledore won't let us ask him."

"And Dad wrote in too, telling us to stop bothering Harry."

"What do you think about asking him on the train tomorrow?" Fred suddenly thought of something and said excitedly, "By then school's out for break, it'll definitely be fine, right?"

Cedric, standing nearby, gave them a somewhat speechless look... So they can't ask while at school, and wait until vacation?

However, there does seem to be some truth to that.

On his last night before leaving school, Kyle and the others went to the Great Hall for a banquet.

At the door, he bumped into Harry, whose arm was wrapped in bandages.

As the main character in this fight, Harry was only just now allowed to leave the Hospital Wing.

However, judging from his expression, he didn't seem sad at all; on the contrary, he seemed quite happy. This was probably because Malfoy, who was not far away, was dressed the same way.

As always, this year's banquet was adorned with Hufflepuff flags.

Kyle won the Triwizard Tournament, and in addition to the prize money of 1,000 Galleon, Dumbledore gave him an extra 200 points.

This made Hufflepuff the undisputed number one, and her fifth House Cup win, tying the previous Slytherin record.

Sirius and Professor Moody, who had been missing for many days, were sitting in the classroom, talking to Dumbledore. Snape was also sitting next to Professor McGonagall with a gloomy expression.

And Madame Maxime, she's back too, sitting there quietly discussing something with Hagrid.

It must be about the Giant, since the Ministry of Magic certainly wouldn't send an envoy to contact them, but Dumbledore had to do it.

As for the candidates, only Hagrid and Madame Maxime, these two Half-blood- Giant, are the most suitable, and they should take action during this holiday.

As Kyle was pondering this, Dumbledore suddenly stood up from the High Table, and the Great Hall fell silent.

"Another year has passed," Dumbledore said, looking at everyone. "Tonight, I have something very important to tell you all."

"The Ministry of Magic has repeatedly asked me to keep this matter confidential, but I believe I should tell you the truth."

All eyes were on him.

"Haven't you all been wondering why Mr. Filch, our doorman, is in the Hospital Wing?"

"That's because he was attacked by a crazed Death Eaters."

"Death Eaters?"

Everyone was talking about it.

"How is this possible..."

"Why do they dare to show up at the school?"

"..."

Dumbledore held out his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.

"And the contents of the Daily Prophet, I can tell you, are all true, not Harry's imagination."

"That Death Eaters, disguised as Filch, took Harry Potter out of the school and brought him to his master, Voldemort!"

The Great Hall erupted in chaos. Everyone stared at Dumbledore in horror and disbelief, thinking they had misheard.

He was just Death Eaters a moment ago, how did he suddenly become Voldemort?

Dumbledore had to use magic to amplify his voice just to barely drown out the continuous buzzing below.

"And I must tell you, Voldemort has returned!" he shouted.

"I know many of you are unwilling to believe it, or are shocked by what I'm saying, but this is what I saw with my own eyes."

"I can't convince myself to hide this truth from you, because simply running away won't solve anything. You can doubt me, or you can scoff at what I'm saying, but remember, you must always be prepared."

Everyone in the Great Hall looked at Dumbledore, their faces filled with shock and fear.

They couldn't believe it was true.

At the Hufflepuff table, Cedric and Kanna, who already knew about it, remained silent, but most of the others wore complex expressions.

Some believed in Dumbledore, while others did not.

For example, Mikel completely leans towards Dumbledore. As a Muggle-born wizard, he has only heard of Voldemort and doesn't have much fear of him, so he is more willing to believe the headmaster.

But Ryan seemed to struggle. He had heard about Voldemort's deeds and knew how terrible the war was more than a decade ago, so he subconsciously resisted the news of Voldemort's resurrection.

But he also trusted the principal, and in this situation, Ryan was momentarily conflicted and didn't know what to do.

He didn't say a word until the banquet ended.