Before long, loud shouting and clamoring from Kyle drifted over from beside the bonfire.
By this time, Kyle had passed the grilling duties over to the house-elves and seated himself at the senior table.
Joining the drinking match, Kyle raised a bottle of Butterbeer, shouting and hollering at Dumbledore with complete lack of deference: "Old man! Are you raising fish in there? Drink up!"
Hearing Kyle address him like that, Dumbledore's face darkened completely. He stood up and brought a heavy fist smashing right down onto Kyle's skull.
Suddenly struck by this heavy blow, Kyle—who was in the middle of chugging straight from the bottle—instantly sprayed out all the drink in his mouth.
Unable to keep a firm grip on the bottle, he spilled the liquid all over himself.
Seeing Kyle in such a disheveled state, Hermione found it rather amusing as she helped him up from the ground. "Stop drinking. Look at you—what state have you gotten yourself into?"
"This is nothing," Kyle waved his hand, completely unbothered. "You can't get drunk on Butterbeer."
It couldn't be helped; Dumbledore wouldn't allow him to drink any alcohol other than Butterbeer.
And the alcohol content of Butterbeer was so outrageously low it was practically criminal. Still, people who didn't usually drink much would eventually pass out drunk if they had too much of it.
For someone like Kyle, however—a veteran of the drinking scene—Butterbeer was no different from plain water in his eyes.
"Alright, that's enough," Hermione snatched the bottle from Kyle's hand without giving him a say. "You'd better go back and change into a new set of clothes."
She lowered her head to sniff at Kyle's clothes, her pretty eyebrows knitting slightly. "You stink of barbecue."
Kyle buried his head against her shoulder, his greasy mouth leaving a large stain right on her shoulder.
Taking a deep breath, he raised his head. "You don't smell any better yourself."
George, Fred, and the others had originally been enjoying watching Kyle get disciplined by Dumbledore, only for Kyle and Hermione—this young couple—to start showering them with PDA the very next moment.
They suddenly felt that the barbecue skewers in their hands weren't tasty anymore.
Even Fred, who already had a girlfriend, felt the same way—after all, Angelina wasn't here.
Among the younger generation, Cedric was the only one unaffected.
He turned his head and met Cho Chang's gaze.
The two looked at each other and smiled.
The surrounding single dogs instantly suffered ten thousand points of critical damage.
Harry's fragile heart received an extra heavy blow, the damage directly doubling.
Originally, even if his clothes were covered in the smell of barbecue or stained with grease, a single Scourgify would have solved the problem perfectly.
Yet Hermione insisted on taking Kyle back to change into fresh clothes before returning.
Kyle was somewhat clueless. Feeling a bit drowsy after eating too much, he didn't notice at all that as the two of them left the scene, an extremely subtle smile curled at the corners of the little beaver's mouth.
Before stepping into the tent, while Kyle wasn't paying attention, the little beaver turned her head to cast a glance at Konan in the distance—an expression that was equal parts provocative and ostentatious.
Once most of the outside noise was shut out by the tent, Kyle seemed to vaguely grasp the little beaver's intentions.
If something didn't happen by taking advantage of this opportunity, how could that be justified?
"Um... where is the bathroom?" Hermione's face felt somewhat hot, her voice dropping lower. "I want to take a bath."
Liquid courage emboldens the timid. Although Kyle was not even two percent drunk, he still got ahead of himself.
"I happen to want a bath too. Why don't we—"
"Bah!" Hermione threw a punch into Kyle's chest. "Pervert!"
"What are you thinking!"
Kyle gave Hermione's head a fierce rub, instantly messing up the hairstyle she had worked so hard to smooth out back into its original state.
"I meant that I'll go back to my room first to grab a change of clothes. That way, after I walk you over, I won't have to double back again."
A man's mouth is full of lies.
Hermione knew this guy in front of her was definitely not telling the truth. The pockets of the robe Kyle was wearing had been cast with an Undetectable Extension Charm; she absolutely didn't believe there weren't spare clothes inside.
However, since the words were already out, the act had to be played out to the end.
Soon enough, Kyle brought a set of clothes out from his room and escorted Hermione to the bathroom.
The dutiful and tireless house-elves had already filled the bathtub in the bathroom before Kyle and Hermione even set foot in the tent.
Suppressing her embarrassment, Hermione pushed Kyle—whose eyes held a faint glimmer of anticipation—out of the mist-shrouded bathroom.
With a heavy BANG, the bathroom door slammed shut in front of Kyle.
Standing outside, Kyle listened to the rustling sound of clothes rubbing together and water splashing from behind the door, his mind drifting into wild fantasies.
What Hermione didn't know was that for a taijutsu expert like Kyle, reconstructing the corresponding visuals based on the sounds captured by his ears was merely a baseline skill.
Therefore, whether the bathroom door was closed or open actually made little difference to Kyle.
Kyle silently rubbed his nose and glanced down at his fingers—thankfully, no blood was shed.
Immersing her entire body in the water, Hermione listened to the movements outside the door, her heart feeling somewhat nervous and uneasy.
Judging by the footsteps, Kyle was still standing outside the door without leaving. If he were to break down the door and burst in later, should she yield reluctantly, or yield reluctantly?
Hearing the noise inside the bathroom gradually die down, Kyle used Aguamenti to conjure a ball of water and washed his face with cold water.
He tried to calm himself down, but unfortunately, right now his mind was entirely consumed by thoughts of her; simply washing his face with cold water had no effect whatsoever.
No, no, I can't break down the door and burst in. If Konan comes back later, it'll be embarrassing.
Rubbing his cheeks vigorously, Kyle finally hardened his heart, turned around, and walked toward another bathroom inside the tent.
Listening to the footsteps outside the door gradually fading into the distance, Hermione let out a sigh, feeling a strange sense of disappointment in her heart.
Konan's appearance had once again sparked a strong sense of crisis in Hermione's heart. She had originally made up her mind to give her everything to Kyle, only for...
This blockhead—when given the chance, he just couldn't deliver!
Smacking the surface of the water in mild annoyance and embarrassment, Hermione scolded herself internally for being shameless.
In the other bathroom, Kyle stood under the showerhead, turned the knob, and let the icy stream of water pour over his head, washing down his body.
However, the cold water failed to extinguish the fire inside Kyle. On the contrary, as those visual images reconstructed from the sounds kept playing on a loop in his head, that fire burned even hotter.
Left with no choice, Kyle simply cast a spell on the pipe connected to the showerhead, covering it in a thick layer of frost.
Feeling the sharply dropping water temperature, Kyle finally felt a bit better, his mind gradually clearing up.
Right at that moment, the sound of footsteps in high heels came from outside the door, drawing closer step by step.
Kyle perked up his ears sharply. What is Konan coming back to the tent for at a time like this?
Just as he was still filled with confusion, the lock on the bathroom door suddenly made a clicking sound, and then was opened.
A delicate, slender hand met Kyle's eyes.
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