Caliber Is Justice

Led by the suona and erhu, the Hogwarts school song, which had always been sung in a complete mess in previous years, finally reached its end this time in a relatively synchronized tune.

"Music! A magic beyond all we do here!"

After the music ended, Dumbledore wiped his eyes.

"It is now time for bed. Everyone, return to your dormitories."

The first-year students of each House followed their prefects out of the dining hall and headed toward their common rooms.

As they left the Great Hall, George and Fred jumped up through the crowd and waved at Kyle and Cedric, who were squeezed into the little badgers' line.

"Same time tonight! Same place!"

Kyle raised a hand and waved, indicating that he had heard them.

The entrance to the Hufflepuff common room and the Hogwarts kitchens were both located underground, on the same corridor.

Kyle had passed through here countless times, but he had never entered the common room.

The entrance to the common room was a stack of large wooden barrels set in a shadowy stone recess. If one tapped the bottom of the second barrel in the middle of the second row to the rhythm of "Helga Hufflepuff," its lid would rotate open.

From there, one could enter the Hufflepuff common room.

If the rhythm was incorrect, the wrong barrel was tapped, or the number of knocks was wrong, another barrel's lid would burst open and drench the intruder in vinegar.

After passing through the entrance passage, one would find that the Hufflepuff dormitory was quite a comfortable, cozy place.

The House common room was a simple, large circular chamber.

Though the ceiling was low, on clear days the sunlight was bright, and through the round windows one could see dandelions and swaying grass outside.

After waving goodbye to Hannah, Kyle passed through a large round door.

Though Dumbledore had not told him, Kyle could guess that the luggage he had left at Hogwarts when he departed two months ago had probably been moved over to Hufflepuff by the castle's hardworking elves the moment the Sorting results came out.

Sure enough, Kyle saw that familiar nameplate outside one of the doors.

He pushed open the door. Fantastic! A single room again!

On the bird stand in the room, Idataqi spotted Kyle, his unscrupulous owner who had abandoned him for two whole months, and immediately pounced on him with a barrage of "Pudong Rooster."

"Alright, alright." Kyle poked Idataqi's chubby face, which had clearly gotten fatter over the past two months, in comfort before putting him back on the bird stand.

A sheet of parchment lay quietly on his bedside table. It was their class schedule.

Kyle picked it up and took a look.

Oh, their first class tomorrow morning was Herbology with their Head of House, Professor Sprout.

Then there was nothing to worry about. He could go have some fun tonight.

As night deepened, fewer and fewer people remained in the common room. Once even the last night owl had returned to their room, two furtive figures appeared in the empty common room.

Two faint, hazy white lights lit up at the tips of their wands.

Using the weak glow of Lumos, Kyle and Cedric quietly slipped out of the common room and made their way, with practiced ease, to Classroom Eleven opposite the Great Hall.

It was one of the classrooms that was never normally used, making it feel somewhat like an unattended cabinet or storeroom.

When the two arrived, George and Fred emerged from the darkness. They had clearly been waiting there for some time.

Kyle placed his Bag End suitcase on the floor, and the group quickly climbed inside.

Upon reaching the living room, Cedric immediately claimed a sofa and began pulling out the alcohol he had bought at the Leaky Cauldron from a storage bag enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm.

But before Kyle could open a bottle, the Weasley twins stopped him.

"Um... Kyle, we have a favor to ask."

"Could you lend us some Muggle firearms?"

Ever since Kyle had let them play with firearms in Bag End back in February, the Weasley brothers had developed a tremendous interest in these Muggle weapons and planned to modify them with alchemy.

They had been too embarrassed to ask for any back then, so they had intended to get some themselves in the Muggle world during the summer holiday.

But how could two people unfamiliar with the Muggle world possibly get their hands on such heavily regulated items as firearms?

So now, they could only ask Kyle for them.

They had originally wanted to buy them, but buying them required money.

"No borrowing." The twins' faces fell.

"I'll give them to you." The twins stared at him in disbelief.

"Thanks, big spender!"

"You're welcome." Kyle raised an eyebrow. "What kind of guns do you want?"

"We want heavy firepower."

"More is better, bigger is beautiful, and caliber is justice!"

Kyle crossed his arms proudly. "Then you've come to the right person."

During the summer holiday, he had asked Alfred to get him a new batch of weapons.

It had to be said, Butler Man's efficiency was on another level.

Besides the usual firearms, he had even gotten Kyle a Tiger II tank that could still run.

But because of its weight, it could only be kept in Grindelwald's Demon King's castle. It could not be packed into Kyle's expanded suitcase and brought along like the firearms.

"Glock 17 pistol, semi-automatic, nine-millimeter caliber." With a snap, Kyle shoved the magazine into the pistol. The pulled slide gave a crisp click.

George and Fred exchanged expressionless looks.

Hadn't they said they wanted heavy firepower? Who was he trying to fool with a little pistol?

"Too weak? I agree." Kyle set the pistol on the table beside him and took another gun from the wall.

"SPAS-12 multifunction shotgun, dual operating modes, with a magazine capacity of eight rounds."

Kyle pulled the trigger, instantly turning the metal target before him into a sieve.

He glanced at George and Fred's expressionless faces.

"Forget it. You're not planning to take this thing hunting in the Forbidden Forest anyway, so we'll skip this one."

He tossed the shotgun aside and picked up another firearm.

"The famous Kalashnikov 1947 automatic rifle. Old, but not outdated. The Russians have more than just vodka."

The AK-47 spat fire, tearing the target ahead into pieces.

Kyle looked at the Weasley twins' reactions. "Plenty of punch, but I can tell you still think it isn't powerful enough."

"This is a Milkor MGL grenade launcher, forty-millimeter caliber." Kyle brought out a revolver-style grenade launcher. "It can fire six rounds in succession."

Taking out a grenade and setting it on the table before them, Kyle introduced it, "Its lethal radius exceeds ten meters, its maximum range is three hundred and seventy-five meters, and it's simple to operate with tremendous power."

George braced both hands on the table, while Fred stood with his hands behind his back. The two stared at Kyle without expression.

"You two have high standards." Kyle sighed.

What he did not know was that the two across from him had been so stunned by the firearms he kept bringing out one after another that they could not say a word.

When they had played with firearms in Bag End before, there had not been nearly this many models for them to try.

Kyle set the grenade launcher on the table beside him and crossed his arms. "Let me tell you, size matters. Don't believe anyone who says it doesn't."

Then he pulled a big one from the suitcase he had not yet had time to unpack.

Six black barrels gleamed, as if they would spew fire the next second and obliterate everything before them in a storm of metal.

"M134 minigun. Six independent barrels. It can turn someone into minced meat and ash in a second. In the Muggle world, it is known as Dragon's Breath..."

Kyle saw that the two still wore the same expressions. "Alright, you really do have high standards."

Helplessly, he set the minigun aside.

He wondered whether the things old Alfred had prepared for him could satisfy these two absurdly picky brothers.