The final exam was History of Magic with Professor Binns.
When Hogwarts' only ghost professor told them to put down their quills and turn in their answering parchments, every student couldn't help but cheer.
"It was much easier than I thought," Hermione said, breathing a massive sigh of relief. "I didn't actually need to memorize the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the details of the Elf Rebellion."
The "Little Beaver's" habit of revisiting exam content immediately after finishing was much like the top students Kyle remembered from his previous life's middle and high school days.
As a bottom-tier student in History of Magic, Kyle had no desire to compare answers with her.
"I'm heading to Hogsmeade. Do you guys want to come along?"
Kyle extended the invitation to the "Little Iron Girl" and the "Little Beaver." He could see the other three members of the "Father's Sorrow" squad waving at him from a distance.
"Hogsmeade... isn't that only for third-years and above?" The "Miniature Professor McGonagall" narrowed her eyes dangerously, detecting a scent of school rule violations.
Hannah patted Hermione's arm. "Don't be a spoilsport, Hermione."
"I've been running back and forth to Hogsmeade every few days since last March, before I even officially started school," Kyle said, shrugging nonchalantly. "I'm going to find Cedric and the others."
"Wait for me! I want to go too!" Hannah followed him happily.
Hermione was left standing there at a loss. She actually wanted to follow them, but the matter of the Sorcerer's Stone remained unresolved.
In the end, the Little Beaver gritted her teeth, stamped her foot, and turned to run and regroup with Harry and Ron.
Meanwhile, in the Headmaster's office.
Snape looked at the 1:1 scale model of Quirrell—molded from some kind of white clay—with a forehead full of black lines.
"Is this really feasible?"
Dumbledore drew the Elder Wand. "Trust me, Severus, they won't find out."
Snape opened his mouth; that wasn't actually what he wanted to ask.
What he wanted to ask was: You used the explosive clay created by those two Weasley bastards to mold Quirrell—are you sure you aren't trying to blow the Savior trio into the sky?
That was right; the Quirrell model was made from the explosive clay Dumbledore had requested from Kyle.
Nothing was more suitable for impersonating Quirrell.
The Elder Wand tapped the clay lightly. The clay Quirrell instantly came to life; no longer pale, it was now indistinguishable from the real Quirrell.
Dumbledore stroked his beard. "I'll leave it to you to guide them into the Forbidden Corridor next."
Snape left without a word.
Looking at the towering walls before her, Hannah the "Little Iron Girl" was dumbfounded.
"You guys go to Hogsmeade... by climbing the walls?"
Kyle gave Hannah a strange look. "What are you thinking? We stopped using such low-level methods of travel a long time ago."
While Dumbledore had sealed the secret passages leading from the castle to Hogsmeade, he had also placed extremely subtle detection magic on them. If there were signs of someone breaking the sealing charms on a passage entrance, he would know.
But who would have thought that Kyle and his crew hadn't tried to break the seals at all? Instead, they had found a different path.
For a long time, Dumbledore hadn't detected any signs of his magic being tampered with, which left him somewhat confused. After all, the members of "Father's Sorrow" weren't exactly the most obedient people.
This led the "Old Bee," who wanted everything under his control, to start investigating the four of them.
Eventually, he discovered their new method of travel: climbing the walls.
Dumbledore chose not to seal the entire perimeter wall of Hogwarts with a barrier. While he could do it, using a barrier to deal with a few wall-climbing brats... would be a bit of an overreaction.
Instead, he silently placed detection spells on the walls. At the very least, he needed to know when Kyle left Hogwarts.
Dumbledore thought his detection spells were well-hidden. However, the entire process of him laying the magic had been witnessed by Kyle, who was busy riding a Hippogriff above the Forbidden Forest.
So, they now had an even safer and more secretive way to travel.
The twins pushed aside a pile of bushes near the wall, revealing a hidden tunnel entrance.
Hannah: "???"
Before he had even formally studied magic, Kyle was capable of digging out a vast underground space beneath New York. Now, for the current Kyle, digging a tunnel from the Hogwarts perimeter straight to Hogsmeade was a piece of cake.
"Let's go." Kyle took the lead and ducked into the tunnel.
It was completely different from the claustrophobic, narrow, dark space Hannah had expected. The tunnel Kyle had dug was spacious enough that even Hagrid, who was nearly four meters tall, could walk through it standing upright.
Blazing torches were mounted on the walls, their bright flames illuminating the entire tunnel.
Hannah was so full of complaints she didn't know where to start.
Building a tunnel just for the sake of going out to play—this had to be a first in Hogwarts history.
If only this tunnel led to the Hufflepuff common room, little Hannah thought. That way, she could run off to Hogsmeade every few days without needing Kyle to lead the way.
The castle was quiet after nightfall. Five translucent figures, blending perfectly with their surroundings, emerged stealthily from the bushes by the wall.
At the entrance of the Great Hall, the five students from two different houses split up and headed back to their respective common rooms.
The three "Little Badgers" belonging to Hufflepuff descended the stairs near the Grand Staircase to the castle basement.
The moment they turned a corner, a powerful sense of crisis surged within Kyle.
This "Spider-Sense" style of crisis warning was something Kyle had honed while dodging the muzzles of American mobsters; it had saved his life several times.
Instantly entering a state of Cell Activation, Kyle instinctively ducked back, simultaneously pulling the Disillusioned Hannah and Cedric behind him.
A split second later, a bolt of green light tore through the space where the three of them had been standing, shattering the wall beside them into dust.
"Confringo!"
Without a second thought, Cedric threw a powerful Blasting Curse toward the direction the green light had come from.
Accompanied by a thunderous explosion, countless stones went flying, and a cloud of grey stone dust erupted in the underground corridor.
Hannah suddenly channeled her Chakra Enhanced Strength, smashing a massive boulder flying toward them into fine powder.
"Sectumsempra!"
Taking advantage of the enemy's vision being obscured by the stone dust, Kyle fired several invisible blades into the haze in an instant.
A sudden whirlwind rose in the corridor, blowing away the dust.
A ripple like a water wave appeared in the air, and a figure wrapped in ominous black mist manifested.
"Voldemort." Kyle's expression was grim.
Trouble.
Voldemort hadn't chosen to go into hiding as he and Dumbledore had speculated. Instead, he had executed a completely unexpected "parting shot," catching them off guard.
"Kyle Dumbledore, no one can save you this time," Voldemort's voice rasped.
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