Hermione recalled that during their first Charms class, someone had asked Professor Flitwick if it was possible to change the color of the Wand-Lighting Charm to produce a red light.
Professor Flitwick had answered negatively, explaining that such a change would alter the essence of the spell. Even if possible, he said, it would require a completely different incantation — essentially making it an entirely different spell.
Hermione found it difficult to believe that Kyle could create new spells as a second-year student.
She glanced toward the Hufflepuff table, where he was chatting and laughing with friends.
"Could the gap between wizards really be this large?" She sighed dejectedly.
The feast began shortly after. So preoccupied was she with these thoughts that she barely noticed what she was eating.
At one point, she nearly put a floating candle into her mouth, but Harry fortunately noticed in time and stopped her.
✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭
After the sumptuous dinner, everyone packed their luggage early the next morning and prepared to take the train to King's Cross Station.
Michael and Ryan had gone home as well. During this Christmas break, Kyle was once again the only one left in the dormitory. Having grown accustomed to noisy mornings, he found the sudden quiet uncomfortable.
With so few people around, he didn't bother going to the Great Hall for breakfast. Instead, he went to the kitchen for some food and had a simple meal in the common room.
When Kanna arrived at the common room, she found Kyle studying a stone.
"What are you doing here so early in the morning?" She leaned in curiously for a closer look.
Kyle was holding his wand, carefully directing it at a white pebble on the table. With each precise movement, tiny fragments fell away from the stone.
"Are you carving the stone?" Kanna asked, watching with confusion.
"Something like that." Kyle replied, his eyes fixed on the pebble as he worked.
Kanna observed for a while but couldn't make sense of what he was creating. The object was irregular — larger at one end, tapering at the other — with no clear pattern. It looked like nothing more than a random piece of stone.
Had he really spent all this time to create something so unremarkable?
She felt a flutter of satisfaction at finally discovering something Kyle wasn't good at. With a consoling pat on his shoulder, she left the common room, struggling to contain her laughter.
Though tempted to stay and witness his apparent failure, she needed to finish her homework. The second-year workload far exceeded last year's, and completing it within three days would be challenging enough.
Meanwhile, Kyle remained so focused on the stone that he didn't notice Kanna's departure.
Working from memory, he meticulously removed the final excess bits before lifting the stone with satisfaction, examining it in the sunlight.
"Perfect! Mission accomplished!" He brushed away the stone dust, then lightly tapped the pebble with his wand.
In an instant, the pebble transformed into a translucent red gem, glittering brilliantly in the sunlight like a ruby.
Kyle stood up from the sofa, rubbing his wrist as he smiled, "How's that? Beautiful, isn't it... Wait, where is everyone?"
Only then did he realize that Kanna was no longer in the common room.
"Already gone to do homework this early?" Kyle shook his head and returned to the dormitory to retrieve his leather case.
When he opened it a crack, a fluffy black shadow suddenly darted out and disappeared in an instant. He hadn't deliberately locked the passage door inside the last time he exited the case.
Kyle wasn't worried at all. He calmly took out the ruby he had just made and waved it around, silently counting in his head.
"One... two..."
In less than two seconds, he felt a weight on his arm. A small, fluffy creature was clinging there, staring fixedly at the ruby.
It was Jerry, the Niffler he had brought from Newt. Concerned about causing a large-scale theft at Hogwarts, Kyle had kept it locked in his case all this time. Now during the Christmas break, with fewer people in the castle, he could let it out to play for a while.
After several months, Jerry had grown much larger than before. Its fur had completely turned black, making it look like a moving Bludger — though this "Bludger" had a polished appearance.
Kyle plucked it off his arm with his other hand, but even so, it kept its eyes fixed on the ruby, desperately waving its short legs in mid-air.
"You're quite fast, no wonder Newt has to look for you all the time." Kyle scratched its chin and smiled, "Well, do you like it?"
Jerry nodded repeatedly, pointing at the ruby while looking at him with longing eyes.
"You have good taste. You can look at it all you want."
After Kyle said this, the Niffler in his hand went strangely quiet for a moment, then began struggling more violently, making pitiful whimpering sounds.
The sounds were heartbreaking to hear.
"Don't try to manipulate me. When did I ever say I'd give it to you?" Kyle raised an eyebrow, "Young but crafty. This is a magic stone, and I still need it. Looking is all you get."
...A stone created by magic, abbreviated as "magic stone" — perfectly logical terminology.
But the Niffler couldn't care less about semantics; it only knew this was the shiniest treasure it had ever seen.
It reached into its pouch and quickly pulled out a handful of prized possessions: a button, a piece of broken glass, some shiny candy wrappers, several Sickles, and a... Galleon.
"I was wondering where that Galleon from my pocket went. So you took it." Kyle said, rubbing the little creature's head.
He had visited a few days ago but hadn't noticed when the sneaky fellow had snatched his Galleon. The theft had been completely imperceptible.
And that button... it matched exactly what he'd asked the house-elves to use for the troll's clothes. How had this little creature managed to remove it?
Jerry struggled for a moment before reluctantly handing everything over with a pained expression.
Kyle smiled, "Are you trying to trade with me?"
Jerry nodded eagerly.
"Sorry, I refuse. This stone is very precious. Even all your treasures together aren't enough for it."
Jerry struggled again and let out dissatisfied squeals, but Kyle firmly shook his head and casually tossed the creature away.
A moment later, it scurried back and pounced on his arm. He threw it again, and back it came...
Eventually, Kyle tied a string to the stone and began playing a game of "fishing for a Niffler" in the dormitory.
He had to admit, it was much more fun than actual fishing.
✭✭✭
T/N: Hey! Liked what you read? Support your friendly neighborhood translator on Patreon! Think of it as buying me a coffee... or ten!
For just $1.50 (that's less than your daily meme budget), get extra chapters! Want more? $2 gets you bonus content, $5 unlocks premium stories, and $10 makes you my hero (and gets you everything I have, including earlier acess to new books)! You can have access to almost 15 books!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1305453