One has to admit that Fred and George are very talented at emptying other people's wallets. At least when Harry walked out of Weasley's Joke Shop, there were only a few Galleons left in his wallet.

If it weren't for the expenses of staying in school, he might not even want to let go of the only remaining Galleon.

Mainly because the joke items are so interesting, and the things related to Defense Against the Dark Arts, each one looks very practical.

In addition, Harry hadn't been out for more than a month, so he subconsciously went shopping. Before he knew it, his wallet was empty and the jingling Galleons turned into all kinds of magical items.

Harry was quite happy about this.

During the last week of the holidays, he and Ron had been playing with the gadgets they had bought, and Hermione had once mistakenly used one of their mugs for a teacup, which had stained her teeth blue.

Hermione's front teeth were a little protruding to begin with, and they became even more noticeable after turning blue, which made her so angry that she didn't speak to Harry for several days.

It was not until Fred and George brought back the fading potion and Harry swore again and again that he really forgot to take it and did not leave it on the dining table on purpose that Hermione reluctantly forgave them.

But as a price, Hermione rejected their request for reference assignments.

"You better write quickly."

At the end of August, Kyle looked at Harry and Ron who were writing furiously and said with a smile: "School starts tomorrow. If you can't finish your homework tonight, don't even think about sleeping tomorrow night."

Harry and Ron didn't say anything. In fact, they had no time to do anything except their homework.

Who would have thought that they had been here for two months and hadn't done any homework at all.

"Don't make sarcastic remarks. Everyone has had to make up homework a few times in Hogwarts." Charlie at the side teased. Back then, he was also a member of the team that made up homework.

"But Kyle..." he said, "I don't think I've ever seen you do your homework. Did you finish it before you came here?"

"No." Kyle said calmly, "I didn't write it either."

Hearing this, Harry and Ron raised their heads almost at the same time, then moved aside tacitly to make room.

"You write your own work, don't worry about me." Kyle waved his hand. "I don't need to do any homework because I have to take care of the Ministry of Magic. The professor gave me special permission."

"You don't have to do homework?" Ron's eyes turned red with envy.

No one had told him that there were such benefits in joining the Ministry of Magic. If he had known this, he should have submitted an application.

…

The next morning, Harry and Ron got into the car with dark circles under their eyes, and they even took a nap in the car.

It wasn't until the car stopped at the entrance of King's Cross Station that Sirius shook them awake.

"Hurry up, there are too many people here. We have to get through the retaining wall as soon as possible." Sirius and Mr. Weasley stood on both sides of them with stern expressions.

From the look on his face, it looked as if Death Eaters were already lying in wait at the station, ready to kill Harry's Death Eaters at any moment.

But the fact is that they did not encounter any problems along the way and passed through the retaining wall smoothly and arrived at Platform 9.

There were still as many people here as ever, and the steam from the red Hogwarts Express was floating above the crowd.

A few seconds later, Kyle, Cedric, Fred and George came in.

"I really miss it." Cedric looked at the train in front of him, "It's a pity that I didn't bring my luggage this time."

"Only a fool like you would want to go to school." Fred also glanced at the train. "Now is the best time. No classes and no homework."

"It would be better if we didn't have to go to the Ministry of Magic." George said quietly beside him.

It had been clearly agreed before that by the end of August, they could quit their jobs and go back to running the joke shop.

But now Hogwarts has started, but they have to stay in the Ministry of Magic because they can't find anyone to take over their jobs.

Of course, the two also had their own plans, and after Kyle's words, they no longer insisted on resigning.

At this time, Qiu also came. When she passed through the retaining wall, Cedric immediately left Kyle and the others behind and walked over with a silly smile on his face.

"Qiu, long time no see, how was your vacation?"

"Tsk!" Fred looked unhappy and said sarcastically, "Look at his stupid look. If anyone sees him, I'm sure he has a tongue cramp."

"Sometimes I want to stuff his mouth full of sour popping candy," George said with a look of disgust.

"Oh, and you too." He looked at Kyle again, "I guess you must be waiting for Kanna, right."

"Since you guessed it, why are you asking me?" Kyle raised his eyebrows.

This action made the two of them angry again.

"Listen." Fred put his arm around Kyle's shoulders maliciously, "This Christmas, you will definitely receive a box full of sour popping candies."

"Do you think I will eat the food you give me?" Kyle glanced at him and said disdainfully.

"Then we'll go to Hogwarts..."

"Put candy in your mouth."

"I'll wait." Kyle didn't buy their tricks at all. "Just don't be afraid to come when the time comes."

Ten minutes later, Connor still hadn't shown up, and Fred and George looked somewhat gloating.

There was a whistle behind me. Almost everyone was on the train and some people were starting to close the doors.

"There are still three minutes left. You have to hurry." Cedric glanced at the time. "Maybe you can go look for it in the car. Don't forget, Kanna usually comes earlier than us."

"That's true." Kyle nodded and quickly got on the train.

"Okay, remember to come back for Christmas," Fred said through the car window.

"If anything interesting happens at school, please write and let us know."

"Oh, and don't break the school rules!"

As the two men joked, the train puffed out smoke and began to speed up.

Kyle waved and turned to the prefects' carriage.

Here, he met Malfoy again. Just like when he was in Diagon Alley, the other party still didn't dare to look him in the eye and ran away to another carriage.

Kyle had other things to do and didn't care.

He walked back and forth in the prefect's compartment, but did not see Kanna.

Kyle then asked Qiu, but she also didn't see Connor.

"Don't worry." Qiu said, "Maybe Connor just didn't take the train, but went to school with Professor Snape."

"Maybe." Kyle said casually.

Although what Qiu said made sense, Kyle always felt that Snape would not take Connor to school this year.

With this thought in mind, Kyle looked at the other carriages, but found nothing again.

Kyle opened the door of the last carriage, and inside sat Luna, Ginny and Neville.

"Long time no see, Kyle." Neville held his toad.

"Long time no see." Kyle did not go back to the prefect's carriage. He walked in and sat in an empty seat next to it.

"Do you mind?" he asked.

"Of course not." Neville said quickly: "In fact, five minutes ago, my grandmother asked me to spend more time with you."

"What?"

"Oh, she probably wants me to learn more from you." Neville said, "She read the newspaper and said that it is impossible for the people in the Ministry of Magic to come up with such a reliable decision and solve the Dementor problem so quickly. It must be your idea.

"She's been praising you for two months. If you could be her grandson, she would be willing to give you anything in exchange."

"You're not bad either, Neville." Kyle said absentmindedly, "Oh, and remember to thank Mrs. Longbottom for me."

"Thank you," Neville said sheepishly, "I will."

Because Kyle's mind was not on the conversation, the atmosphere in the car seemed a bit dull.

"Kyle, you've been entangled by a nuisance fly." At this time, Luna looked up from the Quibbler and looked at Kyle through her large colorful glasses.

"Harassment...what?" Neville blinked, not understanding.

"Disturbance flies . . . they're invisible and mess with your brain," said Luna. "I thought I heard one buzzing around here just now."

She slapped the air with her hands as if trying to shoo away an invisible flying insect.

Neville was even more confused and he subconsciously moved closer to the window. Ginny beside him also thought that Luna's behavior was a little strange, but she was used to this kind of thing and just pretended not to see it.

"Ah, I do have something bothering me," Kyle said, looking out the window.

"Do you need my help?" Luna asked, waving her hand next to Kyle again.

After sitting here for a while, Kyle was ready to go somewhere else, but before he could leave the box, Harry opened the door.

"Neville, you see...Oh Kyle, you're here." He said in surprise.

"Yeah." Kyle turned sideways, ready to let Harry come in first.

"No," said Harry, and he pulled out two rolls of parchment with purple ribbons and his name on them.

"What's this?"

"The invitation," said Harry, "was from a third-year girl, but she couldn't find you, so I thought I could help.

"Neville, this is yours." Harry handed over the other two rolls of parchment.

There was only a very brief sentence in the parchment:

Kyle:

I would love for you to have lunch with me in Box C.

Yours faithfully, HEF Professor Slughorn.

…

"Remember?" said Harry, "this is the man Dumbledore took us to visit, he was on the train.

"This is not common... I mean, few professors would take the train to school, except for Lupin before... But Professor Slughorn doesn't look short of money, right?"

"Lupin will be sad to hear that," said Kell.

Harry felt a little embarrassed, but it was the truth. For so long, only the cash-strapped Lupin would take the train to school.

"Are you going?" Harry asked.

To be honest, Kyle was a little reluctant to go, but Slughorn was a professor after all, and he had sent the invitation letter, so it would be a bit inappropriate not to go.

Kyle rubbed his forehead. If he had known that Connor was not on the train, he should have Apparated directly to Hogsmeade.

"Forget it, let's just use it to kill time." Kyle walked out of the car.

Neville followed.

"Who is Slughorn?" he asked.

"A new teacher," said Harry. "He used to work at Hogwarts, but later retired. This time he's back to work."

The aisles were crowded with students waiting for their meals to be delivered. When they arrived at carriage C, Harry realized that Slughorn had invited more than just them.

Carriage C is second only to carriage B where the class monitor is located. It is reserved for teachers. It is very spacious, about the size of three ordinary carriages.

But at this time the place was full of people.

"Harry, Kyle." Slughorn jumped up as they pushed the door open.

He seemed to have dressed up specially today. His neatly trimmed silver beard shone in the sun, just like the gold buttons on his vest.

“It’s a huge surprise that you guys came together!

"This must be Mr. Neville Longbottom, hello."

Neville nodded stiffly. He still didn't understand what was going on. He just followed Kyle's example and sat in the nearest empty seat.

I don't know why, but since Kyle came in, the atmosphere here has become a little strange, or rather, some Slytherin students have been behaving a little strangely.

They either lowered their heads or huddled together whispering, but when Kyle looked over, they immediately pretended nothing had happened.

In fact, this is a very normal thing. Ever since Kyle taught Montague a lesson last school year, most Slytherins choose to keep their distance from him.

Especially during this holiday season, Kyle had caused a lot of trouble for most of their parents.

"Everyone is here," Slughorn said happily. "Let me introduce you to Blaise Zabini."

He casually pointed at a boy next to him, "Harry, you must know him, you are in the same grade."

Both Harry and Zabini acted as if they didn't hear anything and had no reaction: Generally speaking, Gryffindor and Slytherin hate each other, and wherever they are, there is always tension.

It was already polite of us not to fight on the spot.

Slughorn continued introducing the others.

"This is Cormac McLaggen, Kyle, he's in your grade..."

"Kyle, nice to see you here." Michaela raised her hand and greeted him formally.

Kyle nodded.

"Marcos Belby, also in the seventh grade..."

Unlike the tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Hufflepuff was quite popular... at least when Slughorn introduced the others to Kyle, everyone was very enthusiastic.

"Well, that's delightful..."

After the tedious introductions, Slughorn said with satisfaction, "An opportunity to get to know you better. Everyone, take a napkin and try this."

He waved his wand, and immediately a plate of pheasant appeared in front of everyone.

The pheasant is a magical animal unique to the Appalachian Mountains. It has no special abilities except running fast, but its meat is delicious.

Kyle wasn't surprised that Slughorn could get this thing...but it shouldn't have been cooked by the house-elf, but by him.

How can I describe the taste... It's like throwing a flat, round stone directly into the water, and it doesn't even splash.

Slughorn should apologize to the pheasant.

And while everyone was eating, Slughorn kept asking all sorts of questions.

"Marcos, have you seen your uncle Damocles recently? I had the honor of teaching him in my time."

"Cormac, I happen to know that you often see your uncle Tiberus, and he mentioned you to me before..."

"Zabini, how is your mother? It's been two years since we last met, but I still miss the orange pie she made."

It was called a chat, but Slughorn's tone was more like an interrogation. Everyone was frightened, and Kyle also noticed that when Belby inadvertently said that his relationship with his uncle was not good, Slughorn lost interest in him.

Even when the pie was being divided, he was left out intentionally or unintentionally.

But Belby was not angry. Instead, he relaxed a lot. After noticing Kyle's gaze, he blinked and showed a relieved expression.

"Have you noticed?" Harry leaned over to Kyle and whispered, "This Slughorn always mentions one of their relatives."

"You're not right." Kyle shook his head slightly. "It should be said that they were invited because of these relatives."

"This is not..." Harry opened his mouth, but still didn't say the word "snob".

“Just as you thought,” Kyle said.

Harry glanced at Slughorn, who was distributing the cakes, and his impression of him dropped even further.

Of course, even though he didn't like it, the other party was still a professor after all. Harry didn't show it, but deep down he wanted to end the lunch as soon as possible.

Instead of wasting time here, he would rather chat with Ron or do another homework.

The same goes for Neville. Slughorn always mentions his parents, which makes Neville feel uncomfortable.

"Now……"

Twenty minutes later, Slughorn stood up and said solemnly, "Let me introduce you to two other people.

"Harry Potter, people now call him the 'Savior'. Yes, after that terrible night more than ten years ago, this title has been with him... Some people say that you must have extraordinary powers..."

A faint cold snort came from the box.

Harry felt as if someone had slapped him twice, and his face must have turned red.

Fortunately, Slughorn quickly changed his target.

"And Kyle..." Slughorn placed the largest piece of pudding in front of Kyle.

"Your father and I are good friends. When I was teaching him, I had already predicted that he would achieve something in the future, and that is exactly what happened. He became the youngest director of the Ministry of Magic.

"But what I didn't expect was that his son was even better than him."

"Thank you for the compliment, Professor," Kyle said calmly. He now wanted to Apparate to Hogsmeade even more.

…

(End of this chapter)