Early the next morning, Grace, the new Quidditch team captain, excitedly found Kyle reading in the library.

"What's wrong? You look so happy." Kyle put the book in his hand aside. "Did the mysterious man get killed by Headmaster Dumbledore last night?"

"Ah?" Grace blinked in confusion, "Really?"

"I'm asking you." Kyle raised his head and glanced at her, "Didn't you say you had good news?"

"No, it's not..." Grace finally realized what Kyle meant and quickly shook her head: "The news I mentioned has nothing to do with the mysterious man, it's about the team."

"Oh." Kyle lost interest all of a sudden, but still asked politely, "What's wrong?"

"Do you know who we're playing against in our first game?" Grace asked.

"Gryffindor?" Kyle said casually.

"How do you know?" Grace asked in surprise, "Did Madam Hooch tell you?"

"No, I guessed," Kyle said.

"You guessed it right, Gryffindor." Grace lowered her voice, "I noticed that their goalkeeper, the Weasley, is in poor condition. Isn't this good news for us?"

"Very bad condition?" Kyle asked curiously, "What do you mean?"

"Mike and I secretly watched their training..." Grace said, "Don't get me wrong, this is a normal move to gather intelligence."

After noticing the change in Kyle's eyes, she shrugged and said, "Every team does this. Maybe you didn't notice that a month before the final last year, the Weasley twins often wandered around the stadium while we were training... They didn't come for a picnic."

"Okay." Kyle nodded, "Go on."

No wonder he always ran into Fred and George after training. Those two guys even lied to him that they were testing new joke props. Now everything made sense.

"Where was I just now?" Gray thought for a moment, "Oh, right, the goalkeeper...

"When we went to collect intelligence this time, we found that the goalkeeper Weasley was always absent-minded. He even missed some shots that I thought had no skills at all.

"Sure enough, Mikel is right. Not every Weasley is a Quidditch genius."

Grace looked a little excited.

"I remember that Ron Weasley. He seemed to be good friends with their captain, Harry Potter."

"Yes." Kyle nodded. "They are inseparable. They can wear the same robe."

"Wear a robe?" Grace was stunned again. "Although I heard that the Weasley family is not that rich, they can't afford even a robe... A second-hand robe costs less than one Galleon."

"No, it just describes their good relationship." Kyle waved his hand.

"Okay." Grace didn't care too much and continued, "I guess he stayed in the team because of his relationship with Potter. If it were me, he definitely wouldn't be able to be a goalkeeper with that kind of poor performance."

Kyle nodded. He quite agreed with Grace's statement.

Ron actually has quite good talent. When he played Quidditch at St. Catchpole's Village before, his performance was remarkable and even won Charlie's recognition.

But his mentality is not good. When it comes to critical moments, his strength will be greatly reduced, which was also reflected in last year's game.

Gryffindor had three matches in total, and Ron was sleepwalking during two of them, having no idea what he should be doing.

Logically speaking, players must be substituted in this situation, which is what former captain Angelina Johnson did.

But in order not to let him be sad, Harry called him back to the team after becoming captain and gave him opportunities again and again.

In Harry's own words... he knew Ron could do it, he was just too nervous.

He used this reason to convince himself that he was not abusing his power, and then infinitely magnified the shortcomings of Ron's competitors and used this to convince others.

…

"Porter made a big mistake. He abused his power as captain, but this is good news for us." Grace said excitedly:

"If Ron Weasley is still in this state on the day of the official competition, we will definitely win!"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, and her voice couldn't help but get louder.

"What are you doing? Noise is prohibited in the library!"

Madam Pince came over angrily and kicked both Kyle and Grace out.

"Yes, I'm sorry." Standing at the door of the library, Grace apologized again and again. "I didn't mean it."

"Forget it, it doesn't matter..." Kyle, who was implicated, said helplessly, "I'll just find someone to help borrow those books when the time comes."

"Will you participate in next week's game?" Grace looked at Kyle with burning eyes, "We have a good chance of winning."

Only then did Kyle finally understand her purpose.

Because at the beginning of the school year, Kyle took the initiative to find Ms. Huo Qi and adjusted himself from the main position to the substitute position.

So according to the rules, he must find Ms. Huo Qi in advance to adjust the team before he can go on stage.

Kyle hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go on stage."

He was a substitute only because he had to go to the Ministry of Magic on the weekend, but now that the fireplace leading to the Ministry of Magic was sealed, he suddenly had a lot more time, so there would be no problem for him to participate in the competition.

Grace ran away excitedly. She needed to find Madam Hooch as soon as possible to change the list of main players.

Kyle looked back at the library and Madam Pince, who was still angry.

It was obviously impossible to go back and read, so he could only turn around and walk towards the common room.

…

In the following days, Hogwarts enjoyed a rare period of peace, with no attacks and no dark magic.

Even the Daily Prophet rarely reported on who was attacked by Death Eaters...it seemed that the wizarding world had returned to the situation a few years ago.

But what exactly happened and whether the outside world was as calm as reported in the newspapers, Kyle, who had been staying in Hogwarts, had no way of knowing.

He could only find a few strange things about the school...like Malfoy.

Recently, he hardly saw Malfoy in school, and the only times they met were when they were having meals in the auditorium.

What's even stranger is that every time Kyle wanted to go up to him and say a few words to him and express his gratitude, Snape would appear nearby like a ghost and pull Malfoy away without saying anything.

"Really? When did Snape and Malfoy become so close?"

In a Herbology class, Kyle couldn't help complaining: "Snape cares so much about Malfoy, he might as well stick him to himself with a permanent sticking spell."

"What do you want to do with Malfoy?" Kanna asked from the side.

"Of course I have to thank him." Kyle blurted out, "After all, he helped me in Hogsmeade, so I have to show some appreciation, otherwise it would be too rude."

"If that's the case, you can go to his office." Kanna put on protective gloves, carefully pulled the blue mushroom out of the soil in front of her, and placed it on a wooden stake next to her.

Seven or eight small tentacles like tender sprouts extended from the root of the mushroom and clung firmly to the wooden stake. Then the wooden stake began to shrivele at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This is a special way of fertilizing the Hopra mushrooms, and it is also their task in this class.

After the Hopra mushrooms began to absorb the sap, Connor continued, "Malfoy has been in Professor Snape's office recently. I've seen him many times when I was in detention."

Connor's tailor-made detentions usually took place at night because she had to avoid Slughorn's dinner invitations.

"He should not be here." Connor thought for a moment and said, "That Malfoy seems to be in detention as well. Professor Snape will only send him back during curfew."

"Tsk, send it back..." Kyle curled his lips, "Is he afraid that Malfoy will get lost?"

Kanna didn't say anything, but just put the Hopra mushroom that fell off the wooden stake back into the soil.

After she had done all this, she suddenly asked, "Last time in Hogsmeade, it was Malfoy who used the Imperius Curse on Katie."

"Why do you say that?" Kyle asked.

"I guessed," Connor said. "Just like I was in detention to avoid Professor Slughorn, Malfoy must be trying to avoid someone."

"Then why do you think it was me?" Kyle raised his eyebrows.

"Because you're the only one looking for him," Kanna said, "After knowing this, the rest is obvious, isn't it?

The only time you two had any contact recently was in Hogsmeade. If Malfoy really helped you, there would be no need for him to hide, so there can only be another possibility... that Malfoy gave Katie the dark magic necklace and asked her to deal with you."

Kyle stopped what he was doing and couldn't help but say, "Kanna, you are really the smartest witch I have ever met."

"Thank you for the compliment..." Kanna looked at Kyle with a smile, "So I guessed right?"

"I guess so." Kyle said, "I can only confirm that the necklace is related to Malfoy, but I need to ask Malfoy himself for the details.

"Unfortunately, Snape never gave me a chance...well, I mean Snape, Professor."

"He must have some other reasons. I know him." Kanna whispered, "And I found that he has been acting strangely recently, as if he is doing something secretly."

Kyle put down the mushroom in his hand and looked at Kanna.

She continued, "For example, during this year's holiday, he seemed to not want me to stay in the UK. The assessment didn't start until August, but he sent me there the day after the holiday, and the same thing happened after the assessment."

"Maybe... he's just worried that you might meet a mysterious person." Kyle said.

"That's what I thought at first, but I always felt like something was wrong." Kanna frowned, staring blankly at the dry wooden stump in front of her.

"And I also found that when we were at school, he also deliberately kept his distance from me. Whether in private or in other occasions, he required me to call him Professor Snape and absolutely not to use any other name.

"I feel like he's afraid of someone."

When she said the last sentence, Kanna's voice was very low, but her tone was very certain.

Kyle stared at Connor, not noticing that Professor Sprout was walking over there.

"Stop whispering." She looked at the remaining row of Hopra mushrooms in front of the two of them, "You are already far behind the others."

"Okay, professor, let's do it!" Kyle said.

Professor Sprout nodded and left.

For a while afterwards, neither of them spoke anymore, but focused on the tasks of this class.

Of course, it is also possible that they are not so focused because they have other things on their minds, so their movements will inevitably be slower.

It was not until ten minutes before the end of get out of class that they completed the task assigned by Professor Sprout.

Kyle stuffed the Hopra mushroom in his hand into the soil, turned to look at Kanna again, and seemed to have made a great decision.

He took out his wand and waved it gently. "Close your ears and listen!"

"Kanna..."

"Um..." Kanna turned her head, "What's wrong?"

"Do you want to know what Professor Snape is doing?" Kyle said softly, "I happen to know something."

"Oh, this." Kanna blinked and said lightly: "I don't want to."

"Ah?" Kyle didn't react for a moment.

"I said, I don't want to know." Connor repeated.

"Professor Snape has his reasons for not telling me." She smiled and said, "I can't help him at all now. The only thing I can do is to maintain the status quo so that he doesn't have to spend time and energy changing his original plan for me."

"Do you trust Professor Snape that much? What if he is..."

"Of course I trust him." Connor interrupted Kyle and said firmly, "Just like I trust you."

"Okay." Kyle took off his gloves and put them aside, then put on a pair of stronger dragon leather gloves. "But this doesn't make me happy... Give me the basin."

Kanna handed over a small basin filled with gray particles, which emitted a pungent smell.

This is the fertilizer that Professor Sprout mixed himself. It is a pure natural mixed fertilizer. It is very effective, but the taste is also unbearable.

If we don't put it farther away, I'm afraid we will have to go to class with the bubble head curse on our heads.

"Kyle, can you... um..." Kanna poured some gray particles into the soil, her face full of confusion, as if she didn't know how to say the next words.

"Okay, I understand what you mean." Kyle waved his hand, "I won't bother Malfoy for the time being."

"No, that's not what I meant." Kanna shook her head quickly. "He wanted to use dark magic items against you. This is absolutely unforgivable. What I mean is that I will help you find out if you believe me."

"Really." Kyle said with a smile, "It was actually Malfoy who saved himself, remember? He deliberately knocked over the package in the end so that I wouldn't touch it.

"If it weren't for this, let alone Professor Snape, it would be useless even if he hid in the headmaster's office."

Kyle also poured some fertilizer on the Hopra mushrooms in front of him, and then threw the pot far away.

"And I can probably guess the details of this matter. I went to Malfoy just to confirm it."

"Is that all?" Connor said, seeming relieved. "I thought you wanted... well, nothing."

"Wait." Kyle looked at him. "You don't think I want to kill him."

"No, isn't it?" Connor looked a little embarrassed. "I overheard their conversation before... Professor Snape said that this was the only way to save his life."

"Of course not!" Kyle couldn't help but raise his voice, "Slander, this is complete slander, killing my classmates over a disagreement, am I some kind of Dark Lord? "Even when Voldemort was in school, he wouldn't have gone this far, Snape is a professor, this behavior is too bad!"

To be honest, Kyle really didn't intend to kill Malfoy. After all, they were still students at Hogwarts, and Malfoy wasn't even an adult yet. So even if there hadn't been the final move, Kyle would at most have taught him a lesson. Killing him would have been too exaggerated.

"Hmm... maybe I heard it wrong." Kanna said in a low voice.

"Huh?" Kyle sneered and turned a deaf ear to him.

He took back the pot he had just thrown away, and casually turned a dead branch next to it into a bag, filling the bag with compound fertilizer.

Under Connor's shocked gaze, Kyle carefully put the bag away again.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm a very generous person and I don't care about Snape's slander against me." Kyle said calmly, "I only took these to fertilize the divaricate. I won't put them in Snape's lunch. I never thought of mixing compound fertilizer with rice."

(End of this chapter)