Time slipped quietly away as Kyle immersed himself in research, and Halloween Eve arrived in the blink of an eye.
During this period, many interesting things happened.
Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff played a Quidditch match.
Thanks to an outstanding performance by their Seeker, Hufflepuff secured a flawless victory.
When Ravenclaw had scored only four goals, Cedric Diggory caught the Golden Snitch, bringing the game to an end.
The final score was 170 to 40, a crushing victory for Hufflepuff.
Supposedly, Hufflepuff held a grand victory feast in their common room that night, with quite a few Gryffindor lions joining in.
Apart from that, Potter and Malfoy had several more clashes, engaging in friendly exchanges that included but were not limited to arguing, standoffs, shoving, and brawling.
Kyle’s only regret was that since neither side used magic, no one was given detention.
In the afternoon after class, as Kyle passed by the Great Hall, he noticed the professors were already decorating it.
Professor Flitwick used charms to transform the ceiling into a stormy sky with dark clouds, thunder, and lightning.
Professor McGonagall used Transfiguration to turn wall decorations into skulls, spiderwebs, and other festive ornaments.
Most extreme was Hagrid, who brought several human-sized jack-o’-lanterns and stacked them in a corner.
Densely covering the walls and ceiling were over a thousand live bats, continuously circling.
Other bats swooped up and down, their fluttering wings causing the candlelight to flicker.
A swarm of bats even swooped onto the tables, looking like a massive dark cloud from afar.
Clearly, the arrival of the holiday put the professors in high spirits.
The naturally expressive Professor Flitwick chatted with students while casting spells, taking their requests.
And McGonagall—Kyle almost thought he misheard—was actually humming a little tune!
After resting in his dormitory for a while, Kyle changed into a new robe and headed to the Great Hall.
Headmaster Dumbledore, McGonagall, and several other professors were already seated at the high table waiting for the banquet to start.
As in every year, Professor Snape was not among them yet.
Considering the professor’s off-putting demeanor, it was normal for him to dislike such occasions.
In previous years, Snape usually arrived last and left early after a quick meal.
This year, however, another professor shared Snape’s habit of not showing up early: Quirinus Quirrell, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Speaking of this Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, he had already become a laughingstock at school.
Stuttering, timid, unable to look people in the eye, eyes darting nervously.
In class, he read straight from the textbook, looking as though he intended to spend the whole school year reading the book aloud.
Combined with the overpowering smell of garlic clinging to him, this Ravenclaw alumnus had an abysmal reputation.
Kyle, however, viewed Professor Quirrell somewhat differently.
Right at the start of term, Kyle had braved the garlic stench to ask him a few questions.
After all, anyone who could become a Hogwarts professor was bound to have some skill.
Poor classroom performance only proved he was bad at teaching, not that his magical competence was lacking.
The result of the probing was unexpected, though.
When Kyle asked about defensive charms, Quirrell merely recited the textbook explanation without offering any insights of his own, and his recitation was jumbled and incoherent.
Yet when Kyle probed by asking about Dark Magic, Quirrell casually offered a few explanations.
Although still timid and shifting topics after two or three sentences, Kyle caught in those few lines that Quirrell possessed unique insights into the spell.
Afterward, Kyle asked several more questions related to Dark Magic—not strictly forbidden knowledge, but gray-area topics.
Unfortunately, he received no further useful guidance.
It was as though the previous explanation had merely been a momentary flash of brilliance.
After that, Kyle began his own research and stopped pursuing the matter.
Soon, Dumbledore announced the start of the feast.
Professor Snape entered the Great Hall a few minutes before it began.
A stern face, impatient eyes—everything signaled his distaste for the banquet.
He was clearly annoyed that such useless fluff was interrupting his potion brewing.
Kyle amusedly poked fun at his Head of House in his thoughts while picking up a pumpkin pasty.
Before he could take a bite, Professor Quirrell burst into the hall, stumbling.
His usual large purple turban was sitting crooked on his head.
Terror covered his pale, emaciated face.
Everyone watched as he ran up to Headmaster Dumbledore, grabbed the table to support himself, and gasped frantically: “Troll—in the dungeons—thought you ought to know.” Then he collapsed face-first onto the floor, unconscious.
His voice wasn’t loud, but the entire hall erupted.
Students were thrown into chaos; some even screamed and surged toward the doors, crowding to get out.
“Silence!” Dumbledore stood up calmly, firing sparks from his wand.
Everyone quieted down and turned to look at him.
“Prefects, lead the students of your houses back to the dormitories immediately!” “Follow me, Hufflepuffs, stay together!” The prefects began organizing the evacuation, and the chaotic crowd gradually became orderly.
Surprisingly, Hufflepuff was the first to react.
Kyle walked toward the dungeons with Slytherin, thinking about the farce that had just taken place.
Yes, a farce.
How could a brainless troll break in?
Since when were Hogwarts’ protections so weak?
There was clearly something at play here that Kyle didn’t know about.
And Professor Quirrell—whether it was his occasional slip in front of Kyle or the rumors that he had braved the Dark Forest near the Albanian border before the school year—seemed to suggest this professor was far from ordinary.
How could someone like that be scared out of his wits by a single troll?
“Oh, no.
Hermione!” “What?” “Hermione!
She’s still crying in the girls’ bathroom near the dungeons!
She doesn’t know about the troll!” Kyle overheard this conversation, and then two kids bumped past him.
It was the Savior, Potter, and the little redhead beside him.
Instead of following their prefect toward the common room, they slipped off toward the dungeons in the confusion.
The reckless Gryffindors didn’t notice that half of Slytherin saw them dash toward the dungeons.
The cold little snakes didn’t care about other people’s lives anyway, let alone the Savior, Gryffindor’s golden boy.
The Slytherins were more than happy to let the troll test the Savior’s mettle.
Kyle took in the scene and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
He reached into his pocket, gave his prefect a quick nod, turned around, and walked in the direction Potter had gone.