Evening, British Ministry of Magic.
Fred and George had just finished a day's work. They dragged their tired bodies, cursed Kyle in their hearts, and took the elevator to the lobby, ready to return to St. Catchpole Village.
"Mr. Weasley..." A slow voice came, making the two of them turn their heads subconsciously.
"Bob, what's up?" Fred asked. "Anything interesting you want to share with us?"
"Then we're all ears," said George.
This person is the receptionist in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic. He is responsible for leading wizards who come to the Ministry for the first time to find where they need to go. Because of his work, he always gets first-hand information on many things, so the two have always maintained a very friendly relationship with him.
"There's nothing interesting going on these days. I'm so bored that I want to change jobs." Bob sighed.
"Then why don't you come work for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?" Fred's eyes lit up and he said immediately, "We have connections and we guarantee that you will be able to switch over smoothly."
"Yeah," George said, "the salary here is much higher than that of a receptionist."
"Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?" Bob seemed to have thought of something and shuddered. "Forget it. I suddenly feel that being a little bored is good. At least I have time to do something I like. Unlike you guys, you are busy every day... Well, forget it. Let's not talk about these unhappy things."
Bob changed his tone and said, "This is a letter for you."
He pulled out a bulging envelope and placed it on the table.
"The letter was delivered by a foreign owl. You were not here at the time, so I helped to collect the letter."
"Our letter..."
"Or a foreign owl?"
Fred was stunned for a moment, "From where... who sent it."
"Austria," Bob said. "The sender is Kyle. To be honest, I also want to go to Austria. I heard that you can hear all kinds of different music in Diagon Alley there."
Bob spoke cheerfully, but Fred and George were confused.
A letter from Kell to them from Austria? How could that be possible?
He was clearly at home yesterday, so how could he suddenly run to Austria without saying a word and send them a letter?
Although they didn't believe it, Fred and George walked over and took the letter in their hands at Bob's urging. They thought it was just a prank to trick them into opening the envelope. Maybe there was a horror box or something else inside.
Until they saw the signature on the envelope.
It was indeed Kyle’s name, and his handwriting.
The two were even more confused.
"Kyle...really went to Austria?" Fred asked.
"We'll know when we go back and take a look," George said. "Go to Kyle's house and see if he's there. That means the person who sent this letter had ulterior motives."
"That's right."
The two immediately said goodbye to Bob and hurried back to St. Catchpole Village.
They first came to Kyle's door and knocked hard for a long time, but there was no movement from inside. There was only the impatient howling of the cat, which seemed to ask them to be quiet.
"Did he really go to Austria?"
"It's possible. Now that I think about it, there's a small mark on the envelope that only we know about. It shouldn't be a forgery."
"Then let's go back and take a look."
After that, the two returned to the Burrow.
"You're back just in time. It's time for dinner." Mrs. Weasley came out of the kitchen carrying a stew pot.
"Wait a moment, Mom."
Fred placed the envelope on the table.
"What is this?" asked Mrs. Weasley.
"I don't know," George said. "Kyle sent it from Austria."
"Kyle..." Mrs. Weasley was also stunned for a moment, "Isn't he at home?"
"We just went to check, and he's not home," George said, picking up the envelope.
The letter was sealed with magic and required a password to open it, but this obviously did not pose a problem for him.
"Speaking of passwords..." George smiled slightly, "Fred, what did you think of first?"
"Needless to say?" Fred also laughed, "Of course it's the one we are most familiar with."
"Yeah, I really miss it." George sighed, "It seems like we haven't used it for a long time."
"It's useless..."
"What are you talking about?" Charlie was a little confused and urged: "Since you know the password, open the letter quickly."
The twins ignored him and just looked at each other.
"Come together?"
"no problem."
They both took out their wands and placed them against the envelope.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The seal lit up and opened automatically.
Everyone leaned over curiously to see what was inside.
There was no parchment, only a box that had been shrunk several times...
Or perhaps someone had used the Invisible Stretching Charm on the envelope, so it just looked small. When the box was taken out, it immediately returned to its original size.
"This is Kyle's box." Fred blurted out: "Why is it here..."
Before he could finish his words, the lock of the box popped open automatically.
Then, as everyone looked confused, Kyle pushed the box open and jumped out.
"We're finally here. It's been so long." He stretched his arms and looked around. "Oh, Mrs. Weasley, Charlie, Bill... why do you all have these expressions?"
"Why don't you tell me why you are here first?" Fred looked at Kyle and then at the envelope. "What is going on?"
"As you can see, I found myself a ride." Kyle spread his hands and said, "It's a bit difficult to explain. To put it simply, someone sent me to Austria, but was not responsible for taking me back, so I had to find a way on my own."
"Is this what you came up with?" George raised his eyebrows.
"Very convenient, isn't it?" Kyle smiled. "Although owls are not particularly fast, they will not be tracked down by the Ministry of Magic and will have a smooth journey. In the absence of illegal portkeys, there is no better way than this."
Kyle said cheerfully.
All you need is a box and an envelope with a Traceless Extension Charm to travel safely, quickly, conveniently and worry-free. If Newt had thought of this at the beginning, he might not have needed to buy illegal door keys everywhere.
"Then how did you get yourself into the envelope?" Percy asked curiously.
"This is easy. Just let the owls help push it. They are quite smart and can do the job perfectly."
Kyle gently pushed a plate on the table. Although it was much larger than the envelope, it was easily put into the envelope because of the traceless extension spell.
"What about the sealing work?"
“It can be done from the inside.”
Percy smacked his lips and muttered to himself, "I didn't expect the Traceless Extension Charm could be used this way. This is a loophole that could be exploited by someone with ulterior motives."
"Of course, I'm not talking about you." He seemed to have thought of something and quickly looked at Kyle to explain.
"It's okay." Kyle waved his hand and didn't care.
"In fact, it's not that easy to complete this operation." Bill said thoughtfully, "I guess not many wizards can use the traceless extension spell on the fragile envelope... In addition, they need a box that is large enough to support them staying in the envelope for a long enough time."
"Let's not talk about this for now." George stared at Kyle, "Why did you suddenly go to Austria?"
yes……
After being reminded by him, the others also reacted and looked at Kyle.
"Is it not possible now?" Fred was still unwilling to give up. "I'm really too curious. If I don't know, I might not be able to sleep at night..."
"Fred, if you feel too idle, go and help your father with some work!" Mrs. Weasley's voice came from behind. She served Kyle a large bowl of stew and smiled, "Dear, would you like some toast?"
"Thank you..." Kyle said, "Oh, I almost forgot, I brought you gifts too."
He took out a bunch of things from the box... color-blocked patterned robes, Muggle accordions, screaming harmonicas, Airem horn glasses, local wine... all kinds of things filled the table. They were all bought by Kyle when he was looking for the Owl Post Office. They were unique to Austria.
"It's too expensive," said Mrs. Weasley, but she immediately fell in love with the robes of a completely different style, and even Charlie was drooling at the sight of the wine.
"No, these things are very cheap here." Kyle took a big bite of stew and said with a smile, "It's just that it's more expensive to ship it here. Now people don't want to send things to the UK..."
"There's nothing we can do about it, it's all the Death Eaters' fault..." said Charlie.
The originally lively atmosphere suddenly became much quieter.
"Well...what are they doing now?" Kyle asked.
"No." Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "This is also our biggest concern. According to Arthur, there is a lot of evidence that they have been trying to recruit more Death Eaters, but they have done nothing openly. Even if there are occasional conflicts, they are only small-scale conflicts. I am very worried that they are planning a bigger conspiracy.
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"If so many Death Eaters attack together, how are we going to deal with them..."
"Don't worry, Mrs. Weasley, maybe we're just overthinking it." Kyle comforted her, "We are evenly matched now. Not everyone will join You-Know-Who. Isn't the Ministry of Magic also expanding the number of Aurors and Striker? If we really compete in numbers, we may not lose to the Death Eaters."
"Yeah mom, don't worry."
“We still have the advantage.”
Bill and Charlie also comforted her.
Mrs. Weasley then managed a smile and gave each of them two more sausages.
Especially Kyle, who hadn't eaten properly all day, had obviously more food in front of him than others. Even the dinner left for Mr. Weasley went into his plate.
After dinner, Kyle left the Burrow, holding on to the wall, and returned to his home.
Although he had slept for a while in the box before, he didn't dare to completely relax in that situation. He could only close his eyes and rest.
Now that he was finally back home, the exhaustion from being chased by Wenda Rozier and the others all night suddenly came flooding back to him, and he fell directly onto the bed and fell asleep without even changing his clothes.
Kyle slept until noon and was woken up by being pecked.
He waved his hand irritably to drive away the owl beside his pillow.
"Stop it, Raton... The food is in the cupboard, you know where it is."
But the owl Laton still pecked at the back of his hand relentlessly, and at the same time stretched out its claws and slapped an envelope on Kyle's face.
Kyle finally woke up. He rubbed his eyes, opened the envelope, and took out the parchment inside...
Then Kyle jumped out of bed.
"Come to Hogwarts now, You-Know-Who has shown up to attack Gringotts, and Minister of Magic Amelia Bones insists on seeing Dumbledore.
...Minerva McGonagall."
"Why at this time?" Kyle frowned and subconsciously reached out to take the polyjuice potion he had placed on him in advance.
But his hand grabbed nothing. Kyle searched back and forth three times before he was sure that the Polyjuice Potion and Dumbledore's hair that he had placed in the deformed lizard skin bag were all gone.
"Could it have fallen when we were in the forest before?" Kyle frowned.
He was being chased too quickly at that time, so maybe he brought it out when he was taking something out.
But it didn't matter, there was a spare in the principal's office, so as long as he hurried over there he should be in time. Kyle didn't have time to think about it, so he Apparated directly to the familiar Hog's Head Bar, ready to repeat his old trick and turn into an owl to fly back to school.
"etc."
A hand suddenly appeared and stopped Kyle.
"Mr. Aberforth..." Kyle looked at the person who came, "There is no time to explain. I must rush back to Hogwarts now."
"I know," Aberforth said calmly, "Now Hogwarts is full of experienced Aurors. If you use Transfiguration again, you will most likely be discovered... Just go through that way."
He pointed to a huge portrait on the wall.
Ariana's portrait, but at this time the portrait has been opened like a door, revealing a passage behind it.
"Wait, didn't you say before that this was a one-way secret passage?"
"Yes." Aberforth said calmly, "But just a minute ago, it was opened from the inside. Maybe someone knew you were going back to Hogwarts, so they opened it from the inside.
"Okay, stop talking nonsense and hurry over, otherwise the passage will be closed and you will have to figure out a way out on your own."
"Okay." Kyle nodded and jumped in.
The passage was long and wide. Even though Kyle hurried, it took him nearly ten minutes to reach the exit of the Room of Requirement.
The Room of Requirement was on the eighth floor, and the principal's office was also on the eighth floor. It wasn't far away, but as soon as Kyle came outside, he heard Amelia's cold voice.
"Minerva, where is Dumbledore? I must see him today!"
"I'm sorry, Minister Bones, the headmaster has more important things to do." This was Professor McGonagall's voice.
"More important things?" Bones' voice suddenly rose. "Is there anything more important than the attack on Gringotts? When more than a hundred Death Eaters, Aurors and strikers were desperately protecting the wizards in Gringotts, where was Dumbledore? Do you know how many we sacrificed? "I must see him today. I need to know his attitude. If Dumbledore is unwilling to cooperate with the Ministry of Magic to fight against You-Know-Who, we must withdraw all protection and information exchanges with Hogwarts as soon as possible."
"You misunderstood, Amelia. We at Hogwarts will always stand against the Death Eaters," said Professor McGonagall.
"Then let Dumbledore come to see me!"
Kyle walked forward a few steps and saw Amelia Bones and Professor McGonagall standing at the corner.
Fortunately, there were only the two of them, and no other Aurors or students around.
Amelia had lost her patience at this point. "Don't lie to me with that lame excuse. I've inquired around, and there's no news about Dumbledore in any country in the wizarding world. Or just tell me directly whether he's still alive!"
"Of course, I assure you of that." Professor McGonagall said seriously.
Amelia's expression softened a little, and she seemed relieved.
At the same time, Professor McGonagall also saw Kyle acting sneaky, and she subconsciously moved a little, and Amelia's gaze also turned, completely leaving the corridor.
Kyle took the opportunity to tiptoe over.
Amelia seemed to hear some noise and subconsciously wanted to turn her head.
"In fact..." Professor McGonagall suddenly raised her voice, regaining her attention, "I have already informed Headmaster Dumbledore, and he will be back soon."
"Then I'll wait here."
Listening to the conversation between the two, Kyle, who had just run over, suddenly felt his legs go weak.
He roughly understood what was going on. The Death Eaters attacked Gringotts, the Ministry of Magic fought hard, but Dumbledore never showed up... The Minister came to call for punishment.
How can I make an excuse for this?
Kyle's mind was in a mess. If things went wrong, Hogwarts might break up with the Ministry of Magic. How could such a heavy responsibility fall on him?
With mixed feelings, Kyle walked through the gargoyles and followed the spiral staircase to the principal's office.
No matter what, Dumbledore will definitely show up. As for what excuse he can use to fool people, he'll have to improvise. Perhaps Professor McGonagall can help him.
Kyle pushed open the oak door at the top of the stairs and prepared to get the Polyjuice Potion and hair from the drawer, but to his surprise, someone was already in the principal's office.
Kyle was startled, but then he was relieved when he saw who the man was.
"Nico?"
"Ah, I knew you would find a way to come back by yourself." Nico said with a smile.
Speaking of this, Kyle couldn't help but twitch his lips.
If he hadn't come up with the idea of the owl, it might have taken more than ten hours to fly. How could he have the nerve to bring it up?
But now is not the time to talk about this. Kyle walked quickly to the table, opened the drawer, and looked for the Polyjuice Potion inside. He said, "Nico, why are you here? But I may not have time now. Can we talk about it later?"
"It's okay, I just came to give you something."
Nico smiled and reached into his pocket, pulling out an exquisite golden pocket watch and placing it on the table, "I told you that the Time Converter would be repaired after you return from Nurmengard. Look, it's just in time now."
(End of this chapter)