After the opening banquet, Dumbledore returned to give Harry his weekly recollection lesson.

But when Kyle received the message from the portrait and went there, he had already finished the course and left the school again. The only one left in the office was Harry, who had just finished watching a memory and had not yet fully recovered.

"Kyle, are you here to see Professor Dumbledore too?" Harry said, "He just received a message from the fireplace saying that a Dark Mark had appeared somewhere, so he rushed over."

"Ah, that's okay." Kyle said, "I don't have anything important to talk to him about anyway, so let's talk about it when we have time."

After running in vain twice, Kyle was not as concerned as he was at the beginning. Anyway, the time turner was in his hands, and Dumbledore would naturally come to him if he needed anything.

Then the two of them left the principal's office at the same time.

When they reached the corridor outside, Harry turned his head and looked at Kyle beside him, and the corners of his mouth twitched, "Kyle, you..."

But having said this, he suddenly shut his mouth again.

"What's wrong?" Kyle asked puzzledly.

"No, nothing." Harry shook his head.

Because Dumbledore had something urgent to do, he left early after reading the memory, so Harry had a lot of doubts, and he needed to find someone to talk to and share...

Kyle is indeed a good choice. He is smart, knows a lot, and is even personally involved in several secret plans.

But it was also for this reason that Harry found it difficult to treat him as a peer, and he would rather discuss these things with Ron or Hermione.

"It's like this..." In order not to arouse Kyle's suspicion, Harry quickly changed the subject and said, "I just want to ask you, is Apparition easy to learn? We can learn this magic on Saturday.

"Originally Sirius said he would teach us, but he left school not long after the term started, and he hasn't found the time until now."

"It's not that difficult." Kyle glanced at him and said, "And there's a little trick to this magic. If you can be revealed once with a follower before learning it, it will be much easier afterwards."

"Now that you know it, Professor Dumbledore did take me on a... um, follower apparition."

Harry said, "It was the night I went to see Professor Slughorn, but it was not a very pleasant experience. I felt like a stuffed toy in a washing machine."

"This is normal, you'll get used to it slowly," Kyle said. "Besides, if you've experienced something more exciting, you'll definitely find that being a stuffed toy isn't a bad thing."

"More exciting?" Harry asked in confusion. "What do you mean? Isn't everyone's Apparition different?"

"It's not a human, it's a phoenix." Kyle looked behind him with lingering fear.

He dared to say that everyone who had been carried by the Phoenix could easily master this magic when learning Apparition.

It's just that few people have this opportunity.

Harry had never had this experience either, so it was difficult for him to understand what Kyle meant.

The topic seemed to come to a standstill here, but fortunately they had already arrived near the Gryffindor common room.

Harry glanced at the huge portrait of the Fat Lady and breathed a sigh of relief.

"See you tomorrow, Kyle."

"See you tomorrow."

After Harry left, Kyle also went downstairs from the other direction.

…

The day after the holiday, there was a heavy snowfall at Hogwarts, and a thick layer of snow piled up on the grounds overnight, almost five inches thick.

A group of first-grade wizards had to walk forward with difficulty on the snow because they had to go to the greenhouse for the Herbology class.

The same goes for students taking Care of Magical Creatures.

At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid looked absent-minded. He got a group of moon monsters from the empty pumpkin patch.

The other party's unique appearance quickly captured the hearts of the students, and they all gathered around him.

"I can't believe it," Connor whispered. "Hagrid actually showed the Moon Beast to the seventh grade class instead of some other creature with fangs and claws."

"Yeah." Kyle nodded in agreement.

It was no secret at Hogwarts that Hagrid had a thing for less-than-friendly-looking creatures.

It was okay for students below fifth grade because of their age, so Hagrid could only find magical creatures below XXX level when teaching them. But it was different for students in sixth and seventh grades.

The scope of the NEWT exam is very wide, and there are not so many restrictions on the course content. Recently, they are almost turning the Care of Magical Creatures class into a "Compendium of Fierce Magical Animals".

Last time it was the scorpion-tailed monkey... and the one before that was the giant tusk... To be honest, even Kyle was curious about where Hagrid found all these, and at the same time he had to sigh that there were so many species in the Forbidden Forest.

Now Hagrid suddenly brought in a harmless creature like the Moon Beast, and Kyle was a little uncomfortable with it for a while.

"Isn't he being controlled by the Imperius Curse?" Ryan muttered to the side, obviously thinking the same thing as them.

"Although I thought so too, it shouldn't be the case." Kyle said, "To control Hagrid, it would only be possible if the You-Know-Who cast the Imperius Curse himself."

"Then why did he suddenly become so strange?"

"I don't know... maybe it would be more convenient to prepare the Moon Beast." Kyle said.

They walked through the thick snow to the pumpkin patch, and when they got closer he noticed that Hagrid looked absent-minded and not as enthusiastic as he had been in class before.

After seeing that everyone was present, he simply said a few words, gave each person a cabbage, and asked the students to try to feed the Moon Beast themselves.

But no one felt dissatisfied. Instead, everyone was very happy, especially the girls. They wanted to do this from the first moment they saw the Moon Crazy Beast.

Hagrid's unusual behavior actually made him more popular among the students.

"Kyle, do you have time now?" Just as Kyle was about to take the cabbage from the basket, Hagrid suddenly came over and said in a low voice.

"You're the professor of this class, Hagrid." Kyle shrugged. "If you think I have time, it's fine."

"Look..." Hagrid took Kyle further away and said in a low voice, "Do you still have the spider tonic you gave me earlier?"

"What?" Kyle didn't realize what Hagrid said for a moment, until he repeated it again, he finally remembered.

He had indeed brewed spider tonic before, and he had even gotten a large bottle of Acromantula venom from Hagrid... well, in exchange.

"I gave it all to you," Kyle said. "But it's not that complicated, I can always get more bottles if you need them."

"That's great." Hagrid breathed a sigh of relief, "Just... can you be faster? Aragog is too old. I should have come to you earlier.

"Oh, by the way, I can pay you for it, and I can give you the venom you need this afternoon."

Because he was so nervous, Hagrid didn't even realize that he had let the cat out of the bag. When he asked Kyle for spider tonic before, he used the excuse of giving it to a friend, but now he directly called out Aragog's name.

This is a giant eight-eyed spider that he kept in the Forbidden Forest. It has been around for almost sixty years.

Kyle had dealt with it before. It was a very easy-to-talk-to spider and they got along very well with it...at least that was what Kyle felt.

“Forget about the reward.” Kyle waved his hand and said, “We didn’t use up all the spider venom last time, so there’s no need to take any more.”

Things are different now. Thanks to Aragog's generosity, he had long since achieved freedom of spider venom, and there are still several bottles in the box, all of them large pint bottles.

I originally wanted to sell it for some Galleons, but I never found the opportunity. Now I can use it.

"Forget it." Kyle glanced at the students gathered in the pumpkin patch. "There's still some time before the get out of class ends. If I start now, I should be able to give it to you when the get out of class ends. I'll go find a place first..."

"No need to look for it." Hagrid stopped Kyle, "Just go to my cabin. It's warm there and no one can disturb you."

"Okay." Kyle nodded, turned and walked into the wooden house next door.

The fire in the room was burning brightly. As soon as I opened the door, a wave of heat rushed towards me.

But such a hot furnace definitely could not be used, so Kyle could only change a smaller heating furnace next to it and place the crucible on it.

And Hagrid stood at the door, guarding it and peeking in through the window from time to time.

This went on until thirty minutes later, when the get out of class was over and Kyle just happened to come out of the cabin and handed him a large bottle of blue tonic.

"These should be enough for three months."

"Thank you, Kyle," said Hagrid happily, taking the bottle and running into the Forbidden Forest.

"What's wrong with him?" Kanna came over and asked curiously, "What did you give him, a potion?"

"It's spider tonic," said Kyle. "Hagrid keeps a colony of giant acromantulae in the Forbidden Forest."

When Kanna heard the name of the eight-eyed giant spider, her expression changed suddenly... Even Kyle couldn't accept that spider as big as a car, let alone Kanna, a witch.

"You can also make a tonic for spiders?" She looked at Kyle in disbelief.

"There's nothing we can do about it. Their venom is very valuable." Kyle shrugged. "Don't tell Professor Snape, or I won't get any of that venom."

"Isn't that Hagrid's?" Connor asked.

"This is not a conflict." Kyle put away the empty crucible and walked out of the cabin. "If the spiders gave it to me voluntarily, I can't refuse it."

Kanna curled her lips and didn't believe a word Kyle said.

Although she didn't like the eight-eyed giant spider, she had learned a little about it because of the potion. The creature was ferocious and extremely aggressive towards wizards.

Professor Snape also specifically reminded her that for some special potion materials, she could just buy them directly and never think about saving money.

The venom of the giant spider is one of them.

But Kyle just smiled mysteriously and didn't explain.

Of course he has his own little tricks, but this method is not suitable for Kanna, so he can do it himself.

After leaving the cabin, the two followed a long line of footprints on the grounds and returned to Hogwarts Castle.

When they arrived at the hallway, they happened to meet Hermione, Harry and Ron walking side by side from the direction of the stairs. The three seemed to be arguing.

"No one asks you to stay and help." Hermione looked at Ron with a hint of impatience in her tone, "But could you please not give me any bad advice?"

"Bad idea?"

Ron screamed, "Wasn't what I said right? Harry is Slughorn's little prince of potions. As long as Harry asks, he will definitely not refuse."

"Don't you think Professor Slughorn can't see that this isn't Harry's true level?" Hermione became even more impatient, "And even Dumbledore couldn't get it, he must be determined to hide the truth, how could he tell a student.

"Horcruxes... Horcruxes... I have never heard of them. They must be very advanced magic. I think it will be difficult to get this information. I must come up with a plan."

"Why is there any need to go through so much trouble? You just think too much!"

"It's better than you not thinking about anything." Hermione was immediately furious.

"Why didn't I think about it..." Ron was also angry.

While the two were arguing, Harry stood by and watched them helplessly. It was obvious that he was used to this kind of quarrel.

Whenever he wanted to ask for some advice, the two of them would quarrel because of their different opinions.

However, the three of them soon noticed Kyle and Connor who were walking towards them. Whether out of confidentiality or for some other reason, they tacitly changed the subject.

"Ron, this is the key to the Potions homework." Hermione's tone changed, and she said a little stiffly, "Remember to finish it quickly. Professor Slughorn will check it in the next class. You can't deduct points from Gryffindor because of this."

"Yeah, that's right," said Ron just as stiffly. "But if you could lend me your homework..."

"Don't even think about it!"

Kyle listened to their words and shook his head slightly. He had to admit that their ability to change the subject was really poor.

Horcruxes as the focus of Potions homework? How could they say something like that?

This is no longer a Potions class, but a remedial class run by Voldemort.

But in order not to embarrass them, Kyle did not expose it. He walked over and greeted them as if he had not heard anything, then turned around and walked into the auditorium.

"Hermione, you don't have to be like this." After Kyle walked away, Harry whispered, "Kyle also knows about the Horcruxes. He was there when Dumbledore showed me that memory last time."

"What? Why didn't you say it earlier?" Hermione glared at Harry. She thought she had changed the subject perfectly just now, but now it turned out to be a joke.

"You didn't even give me the chance." Harry whispered.

It was when Hermione suddenly changed the subject that he noticed Kyle was right across from him. He had no time to remind Hermione.

However, Harry's explanation obviously did not satisfy Hermione. Her face turned a little red and she glared at him again in annoyance.

"Wait, Harry." At this time, Ron thought of something and said, "Since Kyle also knows about Horcruxes, why don't you ask him? He must know something."

"I, I can't say it." Harry shook his head and whispered, "I don't know what's going on... When facing Kyle, I always feel like I'm in front of a professor. Of course, this is just a feeling."

"Really?" Ron blinked. "I don't think so."

"Maybe it's because I've seen him in the principal's office more often." Harry thought for a moment, "You know, very few students can go there, right?

"But Kyle has been there many times, and even the previous principals know him."

"That makes it even easier," said Ron. "You don't need to ask. Just ask Kyle to go ask Slughorn about the Horcrux. That way, the chances of success will be even greater."

Harry just shook his head and said nothing.

Reason told him that Ron was right. If he had Kyle's help, he probably wouldn't have to worry about this matter. Kyle must have a way to get Slughorn's real memory.

But deep down he didn't want to do this, and Harry couldn't explain why. Maybe it was because this was the first time Dumbledore gave him a task, and he wanted to complete it himself.

We can try Ron's method first...

Harry thought to himself.

Maybe he could just ask Slughorn directly after the next Potions class. After all, he couldn't think of any better idea than this.

…

(End of this chapter)