As expected, once the werewolf was out of mortal danger, the Ministry of Magic took him away.
Pegasus didn't intervene. After the Ministry departed, she escorted the healer, Hippocrates, back to her office.
In the St. Mungo's Head office, she calmly asked, "How did it go?"
"Very smoothly." Hippocrates said, "During the treatment, I managed to get them out of the way for about five minutes."
"How much Veritaserum did you use...?"
"Three drops. With a werewolf's recovery ability, the Ministry officials won't detect it." Hippocrates said, "Also, I asked all the questions you requested. That werewolf had been following Fenrir Greyback, but a month ago someone took him to Knockturn Alley..."
While Pegasus and Healer Hippocrates were talking, Dumbledore was escorting Kyle home.
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"This is far enough, Kyle." In St. Catchpole village, Dumbledore said, "I need to meet a friend in France. I hope he'll forgive my tardiness."
By the time Kyle recovered from the discomfort of Apparition, Dumbledore had vanished. He noticed that the old man had brought him near the Burrow.
"Is the Headmaster directionally challenged? Never heard that before." Kyle scratched his head, dismissing the thought.
Shortly after he arrived home, his parents rushed in.
"We received a letter from Dumbledore." Chris anxiously pulled him close, examining him carefully before asking, "You encountered a werewolf at St. Mungo's?!"
"Yes." Kyle had already prepared his explanation and said with a straight face, "But Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn were with me, and they quickly handled the werewolf."
"But Dumbledore's letter says you were the one who handled the werewolf." Diana said, drawing out her words, "Was he lying?"
"Well... I felt I shouldn't just stand there, so I helped a tiny bit." Kyle held up his pinky finger for emphasis and said, "Really, just a tiny bit."
His mother raised an eyebrow and said, "If it was just helping, then why is Sathia applying for a Second Class Order of Merlin for you?"
"Maybe because Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn don't need that sort of thing... so they gave it to me."
Diana clearly didn't believe her son's explanation.
She narrowed her eyes and said, "First you were taken to the Forbidden Forest by Oren, who was disguised as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and just a few days later, you encounter a werewolf at St. Mungo's. Perhaps Hogwarts isn't suitable for you. How about transferring to Beauxbatons? I know Madame Maxime — she would take good care of you for me."
"Ilvermorny is also an option." Chris added, "Newt Scamander and his wife are professors there, and I remember they were quite fond of you when you were little."
"Um... there's no need to transfer." Kyle said nervously, "That would be too much trouble."
"It's not trouble at all." Diana said, "And at least there, you won't encounter such dangerous situations."
"These were all accidents — they could happen anywhere." Kyle said quietly, "Besides, the St. Mungo's incident has nothing to do with Hogwarts, right?"
Diana calmly replied, "How is it not related? Hagrid is Hogwarts' gamekeeper, and Kettleburn is the Care of Magical Creatures professor."
"That counts?" Kyle was momentarily speechless, but soon his eyes lit up as he thought of something, "I think it's because of Hagrid... both incidents involved him. He must be unlucky, and that affected me too. I promise to stay far away from him when school starts again, then nothing will happen."
No matter what, better to shift the blame first.
The tactic proved somewhat effective, as his mother and father stopped discussing the transfer.
However, they insisted Kyle have adult supervision whenever he went out, even for trips to Diagon Alley. Since he hadn't planned on going anywhere anyway, he readily agreed.
To ease his parents' concerns, Kyle spent the following days quietly in his room working on homework.
With exams just finished, the Hogwarts professors had assigned a moderate amount of summer work — similar to the Easter break workload. Despite Fred and George's frequent interruptions, he completed everything within a week.
The brothers had practically claimed his attic as their secret base, visiting almost daily. While Kyle worked on his assignments, they busied themselves experimenting with strange candies, using up nearly all their pre-holiday Hogsmeade purchases.
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After finishing his final History of Magic essay, Kyle climbed up to the attic and overheard voices through the door.
"Fred, the diluted Swelling Solution only made the tongue a bit thicker, not at all what we wanted."
"Mmm... mmm mmm..."
"Yeah, this was the closest we've gotten to success. If we don't dilute it, even the smallest amount will make the whole mouth swell up."
"..."
Kyle pushed open the door, and when he saw the two of them, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Pfft..."
George appeared normal, showing no signs of change.
Fred, however, was a different story — his face had swollen dramatically, as if he'd stuffed a whole pineapple in his mouth. At first glance, one might think he'd had an unfortunate encounter with a swarm of hornets.
Suppressing his laughter and averting his eyes from Fred's face, Kyle asked, "What exactly are you guys making?"
"Something to help young wizards escape their troubles." George said with a wink, "We're calling it Skiving Snackboxes."
Fred: "Mmm... abba abba..."
{T/N: Dancing Queen?}
Unable to decipher Fred's muffled speech, Kyle looked to George for interpretation.
"Fred says this series will definitely be a huge hit." After translating, George explained further, "We're trying to create a candy that enlarges only the tongue, but we can't seem to control the Swelling Solution's dosage — it affects the entire mouth instead."
While swelling the whole head or mouth would still serve the purpose of skiving off, it lacked the element of fun the Weasley twins were aiming for.
"Have you considered using Shrivelfigs?" Kyle suggested after a moment's thought, "They can neutralize the Swelling Solution's effects. That might work better than dilution."
"Oh right, how could I forget that..."
George slapped his leg, accidentally hitting Fred's instead, making him wince in pain.
"Sorry Fred, I didn't realize that was your leg." George said, then jumped up and dashed toward the door, "I'm heading to Diagon Alley, be right back!"
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