The day before the holidays, the grades finally came out, and Kael, with a perfect score, became the undisputed top student in his year.
This result surprised a lot of people, who all thought Kael hadn't done well on the exams.
Not only them—even Kael himself was shocked.
Snape actually gave him a perfect score again?
Kael had thought before, last year Snape gave him full marks probably because he saved Conna from Oren.
After all, they're family—a life-saving favor has to be acknowledged.
But why this year? Because he saved Harry?
But that doesn't add up—Harry doesn't have that much clout... If it were Harley, maybe there'd be a chance.
Kael just couldn't figure it out.
No way Snape suddenly grew a conscience and is now inspired to be an outstanding Wizard Professor, right?
That'd be total nonsense—Kael would sooner believe that Voldemort was an undercover Muggle Intelligence agent... at least that sounds a bit more likely.
But some people thought this kind of result was only normal.
Fred and George had made that clear in the common room before:
"That's the funniest joke I've heard all year."
"Honestly, I'd sooner believe our little brother Ron could become Prefect than believe Kael would mess up on an exam."
Conna was the same. She never believed Professor McGonagall shook her head because Kael did poorly—she was certain there was some other reason.
And it turned out she was right.
Some of the young wizards, too confused, couldn't help but go ask Professor McGonagall, and got a scolding for it.
Professor McGonagall said she shook her head only because the gap between Kael and everyone else was so huge, which disappointed her.
Of course, that's just the official story. No one really knows what Professor McGonagall was actually thinking.
But anyway, the school year was finally over.
The notification forbidding magic during holidays was distributed to everyone, and the students either took a carriage or a boat to leave Hogwarts and boarded the train back to King's Cross Station.
...
"Hermione, you really don't need to compare yourself to Kael. He's the youngest member of the Merlin Knight Order, after all."
In a carriage compartment, Harry looked at Hermione, who was fidgeting irritably, and tried to comfort her, "You did really well—you're still top of your year... "
"But I didn't get a perfect score!" Hermione said, frustrated, grabbing her messy hair.
"It's just you lost a few points in Magic Potion." Harry thought for a moment, then whispered: "But that's Snape... no matter how perfect your potion is, if you're not Slytherin, he'll find a way to dock points."
"But Kael isn't Slytherin either," Hermione frowned, "and yet he still got a perfect score. That means anyone could do it.
I must have made a mistake somewhere... Maybe I heated it for too long. The book says twenty seconds, but I forgot putting out the flame takes time, too.
And those Valerian sprigs—I think the ones I picked were both too long..."
Hermione kept replaying the steps of making the Forgetfulness Potion, and with each replay, she seemed to find a new mistake.
Harry and Ron's faces got more and more awkward—you could tell they didn't want to discuss the topic at all.
The holidays had just begun... and on such a fine day, the last thing they wanted to hear about was grades, exams, especially Magic Potion exams.
Ron was getting so fed up he couldn't take it. He turned and stared into the corridor, trying to distract himself.
Just then, Kael happened to pass by their compartment.
Having just received the Merlin Knight Order Medal, he had a whole troop of young wizards following him.
Everyone wanted to talk to Kael for a moment; the corridor was abuzz with excitement.
"So cool..." Ron muttered, "If I could get the Merlin Medal and a perfect score report at the same time, Mom would be... oh, no!"
Something occurred to Ron, and his face went pale in a second.
"What's wrong?" Harry, next to him, asked. "Are you hungry? I've still got some snacks here."
"No, Harry!"
Ron gave a long face: "Remember what I told you? My family are neighbors with Kael."
"Of course I remember."
Harry's voice held a hint of envy.
Wizard Village—neighbors who are Hogwarts classmates—that's the life he'd always dreamed of.
"Mom definitely knows by now..." Ron's voice was almost teary. "I'm doomed!"
He'd thought his own grades weren't half bad—at least he passed everything. But compared to Kael, his report card just looked pretty embarrassing.
Oh, right, and Percy...
His brother is top of fifth year, his neighbor is top of second year... Ron could already imagine what was coming for him.
Last summer, Fred and George's screams had scared off nearly half the gnomes.
He had even secretly given Fred and George a catchy group name at the time.
"The Gnome-Chasing Weasley Choir"
But this year, he might have to join them himself.
Watching Ron mumbling on and on, Harry silently patted his shoulder—the envy and jealousy in his eyes gone in a flash.
Having an overachieving neighbor clearly wasn't all good.
Luckily, he didn't have that problem.
The Dursleys couldn't care less about his grades. Even if he came home with a zero, he wouldn't have to worry about getting scolded.
Actually... if he really got a zero, his uncle and aunt might even be delighted and give him an extra piece of Dudley's unwanted dry bread at breakfast.
No need to compare himself to others, and no anxiety over bad grades—this was pretty much the Dursleys' only benefit.
Harry wanted to laugh, but his mouth felt glued shut and he just couldn't manage it.
Beside him, Hermione had given up replaying the exam in her head.
She looked at Ron, who was utterly dejected, opened her mouth as if to say something, but ended up saying nothing.
Honestly, she had a hard time understanding how Ron felt right now—she really didn't know how to comfort him.
"If only I could be like Kael..." Ron sighed wistfully.
...
Meanwhile, not far away in the compartment next door, Kael was anxiously saying, "Are you sure? No one followed us, right...?"
"All clear!"
Cedric poked his head out into the corridor, gave it a glance or two, then shut the compartment door and drew a curtain on it with his wand for good measure.
"Whew... We finally shook them off."
Kael tore off the Invisibility Cloak in one go, letting out a long breath of relief.
Who'd have thought—he hardly ever needed the Invisibility Cloak to sneak around inside the castle, but ended up using it on the train ride home.
Those people were just too enthusiastic; if it weren't for the Invisibility Cloak, he'd probably still be surrounded right now.