Traitor Cedric

After leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, Kyle did not immediately return to the Hufflepuff common room. Instead, on the second floor, he turned a corner and entered an empty classroom.

"How about it..."

As soon as Kyle entered, he heard a series of urgent voices coming from the classroom.

Kanna walked over, followed by Cedric, Cho, Fred, and George.

"All done." Kyle gestured with his hand. "You can now rest assured and learn Defense Against the Dark Arts on your own. Just be careful not to get caught."

"Great!" Cedric exclaimed excitedly. "We've already agreed that, to prevent anyone from snitching, they must all sign a magical contract before they can get the location of the Room of Requirement."

"You're really something, Kyle," Fred said happily. "To fool Umbridge so easily, you truly deserve to be the youngest member of the Order of Merlin."

Kyle was speechless, not understanding what this had to do with the Order of Merlin.

"But..." George rubbed his eyes, "You went too far. If we don't go to the Hospital Wing, we'll have to wear this for at least a week."

"Honestly, this is incredibly embarrassing," Fred sighed.

"We're afraid to go to crowded places now..."

"And even during class, they have to cover their faces."

"Didn't you guys say that being a little injured would make you more convincing?" Kyle said with a smile. "As it turns out, you were right, because the way you look now, Umbridge has no doubt about what I said."

"We're talking about you," George muttered. "Think about it, doesn't the news you went through so much trouble, even getting injured, suddenly seem much more believable?"

"It's okay, the result is fine as it is."

Kyle said, "Besides, you guys got beaten like this in a three-on-one situation, can you blame me?"

"Honestly, if I were you, I would be too embarrassed to bring this up; it's too shameful."

"It's two against one!" George corrected earnestly. "Cedric just stood there watching, not helping at all... that traitor..."

"Huh?" Cedric scratched his head, not understanding how this had gotten to him. He was a Hufflepuff, after all; even if he was acting, he wouldn't help someone from another house.

Besides, even if he went up to help, it wouldn't necessarily make any difference. It would just be another person getting a bruised eye, so why bother?

It's better for two people to be injured than for all three to be wiped out, so things are fine as they are now.

However, Cedric knew that Fred and George were not in a good mood at the moment, so he wisely kept quiet.

Ignoring Fred and George's incessant chatter, Kyle turned and asked, "Have you set a time? When do you plan to start?"

"Wednesday night," Cedric said. "I was thinking of scheduling it for the weekend, but everyone seems to have more important things to do, Quidditch practice, or playing at their favorite clubs... Wednesday is the only time that can avoid all of that."

"Remember to split up," Kyle reminded him. "Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are fine, but it would be a bit strange if a large group of Hufflepuff students suddenly ran to the Seventh Floor."

"Or you could go to the kitchen and ask your House-elf for help."

"House-elf?"

"That's right," Kyle explained. "House-elf have special magic that allows them to Apparition at school, taking you directly from the kitchen to the Seventh Floor and then bringing you back."

"Oh right, House-elf can use magic at school, how could I forget that?" Cedric said happily. "I just don't know if they'll agree... I mean, almost no one has ever seen them use magic at school."

"It's okay, we'll see," Kyle said. "It's only once a week, not every day, so it should be fine."

"That makes sense," Cedric nodded.

After discussing these matters, the group left the classroom.

Kyle and Kanna prepared to return to the common room, while Cedric went upstairs with Fred and George.

While he still had some time, he planned to visit Hermione and Harry to discuss more details, such as the specific time, the content of the magic contract, and what to teach in class.

It was Cedric's first time being a professor... even if only in name, he was still very nervous, and the closer Wednesday got, the more pronounced this feeling became.

Even during Quidditch practice the next day, he seemed distracted.

Several times, Kyle saw the Golden Snitch fly past him, but Cedric didn't react at all, just staring blankly ahead, lost in thought.

Kyle maneuvered the Firebolt, turned nimbly, and caught the Golden Snitch in his hand.

Normally, a Chaser shouldn't be trying to steal the Golden Snitch, but the other teammates not only didn't object, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Because they had already been flying for two hours.

Training is inherently a tedious process, and with various tactics employed regularly, it's not particularly boring.

But today was different, because the captain couldn't catch the Golden Snitch. They didn't change their tactics from beginning to end, and in the end, they just casually threw the Quaffle into the goalposts like they were doing a history of History of Magic homework.

This kind of training is arguably meaningless.

"Oh, sorry Kyle, I was spacing out." Cedric scratched his head. "I just can't help thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow night."

"I don't know if I'm well-prepared enough, or if I can solve everyone's problems. Just thinking about this makes it hard for me to calm down."

Kyle put away his Firebolt and walked towards the castle with the others.

"Relax, it's just after-school tutoring, it's not that scary."

"I know the logic, but I can't help it." Cedric sighed. "Every time I have a moment of free time, I can't help but worry that I won't do a good job, that I'll make a mess of things, and then nobody will come next time."

"You should learn that from Harry; he doesn't seem nervous at all," Kyle said with a smile.

"As for whether they'll come again next time, you don't need to worry about that at all, unless you teach worse than Umbridge... Honestly, that's much harder than not making any mistakes."

"You have a point." Cedric finally managed a slight smile. "I've truly never seen a worse professor Umbridge ..."

By the time the two returned to the castle, it was almost curfew. Just then, Filch came downstairs, and his expression immediately turned ugly when he saw their attire.

"You..." He glanced at the ground, and seeing no muddy footprints, quickly changed his tune. "Still wandering around so late, are you planning a night stroll?"

"Mr. Filch, we just got back from training," Cedric said.

"That had to be for the best." Filch looked at them with a sneer. "If I catch you doing anything wrong, I'm sure Professor Umbridge wouldn't mind me taking you to the dungeon."

"After all these years, the school has finally got a reliable professor..."

Cedric frowned, and after crossing the Entrance Hall, whispered to Kyle:

"Filch has become annoying again."

"Yeah," Kyle said, "Because someone's got his back."

With the arrival of the rule-abiding Umbridge (at least on the surface), Filch finally found someone who shared his ideas.

This also led to Umbridge quickly replacing Snape in his heart.

In the past, when he scared students, he would always threaten to tell Professor Snape, and this tactic was particularly effective on Gryffindor students.

That is, until Umbridge became the new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Filch was surprised to find that this professor's ideas were remarkably similar to his own, and that the punishments were much more severe than those of the other professors.

More importantly, she has more power and can change school rules at any time.

Filch became arrogant and forgot about what had happened the previous year. He started to act the same as before, tirelessly patrolling the castle, eager to catch more students who had broken the rules.

He seemed to think that as long as enough people broke the school rules, there would be a reason to reopen the dungeon.

"That annoying guy..."

"And that annoying Umbridge..."

"Keep your voice down, don't let them hear you."

As soon as Filch left, people began to whisper among themselves.

They still preferred Filch when he first started school; at least he wasn't as annoying back then.