In the following days, Kael's life stayed the same as before—every morning, as soon as he got up, he would find a thick stack of books on the common room table.
These were brought over by others, as if they were determined to move the entire library in, tirelessly busying themselves.
Even the always strict Madam Pince loosened the borrowing rules for once; she no longer required people to return the previous book before borrowing a new one.
This resulted in the pile of books in Kael's dorm getting higher and higher, to the point where there wasn't enough space on the tables; he had to keep them all in a corner, planning to give them back after the Tournament was over.
Though it was a bit bothersome every day, it was everyone's kindness after all, so Kael didn't feel right complaining.
Only, this kindness really wasn't much help.
...What could he do? Never mind whether these books were actually useful or not—even if they were, there was no way Kael could finish reading thirty books in one day.
Let alone read them...he couldn't even flip through that many at once.
A week later, Rita Skeeter's article was finally published.
At breakfast, the owls arrived right on schedule, delivering the newspapers.
The Daily Prophet on Halloween had already reported on the Triwizard Tournament, with the front page showing a group photo of the Champions, the judging panel, and Fudge.
A small section of the lower right corner of the photo was specially left open, capturing the edge of the Gryffindor table...Harry was sitting right there, clapping excitedly.
Gotta say, the photographer Fudge brought along really knew their stuff; that photo was widely praised at the time, and many people cut it out from the paper to keep it.
Harry did the same; in his opinion...this counted as participating in the Tournament, too.
Ron was insanely jealous back then, mortified he didn't sit there himself.
But the last Daily Prophet was mostly about the history and origins of the Triwizard Tournament.
This time, the focus was on the Champions.
First up was the most famous, Viktor Krum, who took up more than half of the page—with a tenth detailing his career and various achievements, and the rest all gossip.
Including, but not limited to...frequently switching girlfriends, getting into fights with teammates backstage, forcing out the original captain to seize the position...
Basically, all the stuff everyone enjoyed reading; and the descriptions were so detailed you'd think Rita Skeeter had been there herself.
Fleur got the same treatment...probably because she wasn't well-known, her article wasn't long, and compared to Krum's explosive stories, hers were just average.
Not that it was particularly pleasant, either.
Though it didn't say so directly, the article repeatedly hinted at her being a Half-Veela, as well as what other Beauxbatons students thought of her...and naturally, with Rita Skeeter's own embellishments thrown in.
After reading, Fleur was so mad she couldn't eat breakfast.
"No wonder Ms.Maxime told me to stay away from her."
Fleur glared at one passage with gritted teeth...
(She seems to want to win everyone's heart—even some Hufflepuff girls have fallen into her web.)
"...Am I some evil Dark Wizard or something?" she said furiously.
"Oh, does this bit include me?" Conna leaned over for a look...clearly, among those so-called 'Hufflepuff girls,' Conna was definitely one of them.
"It's weird..." Conna picked up the newspaper tossed on the table and reread it.
"Kael, why are there so few articles about you?"
"Maybe she thinks I'm just average, nothing worth writing," Kael said.
Stuff about him was not just minimal—it was the equivalent of a buy-two-get-one-free bonus item, mentioned just once in the middle of the paper in an inconspicuous spot, totaling less than three lines.
The others noticed it too, and hurried to complain on Kael's behalf.
But Kael didn't mind—Rita Skeeter's articles...the less his name appeared, the better.
And anyway, this was Hogwarts; he hardly needed the Daily Prophet to boost his fame.
"Bang!"
At that moment, a loud crash came from the Slytherin table.
Krum seemed to have seen the newspaper; usually stone-faced and uninterested in anything, his expression finally changed for the first time.
He turned beet-red with rage, flipped over his plate, splashing soup all over Crabbe opposite, not wasting a drop.
Krum didn't apologize—in fact, so furious was he that he didn't even notice, muttered something in Bulgarian, and strode out of the Auditorium.
Though nobody present understood a word of what he said, Kael guessed...it was probably a compliment on Rita Skeeter's family tree.
This issue of the Daily Prophet also sparked everyone's excitement for the Tournament again—they could hardly wait to skip ahead to the thirtieth.
Of course, aside from the three Champions...Kael didn't know what Krum was thinking, but he could tell—ever since the last week began before the first event, Fleur had gotten more and more nervous.
At Maxime's request, she'd temporarily moved out of the Hufflepuff dorm and back to the Beauxbatons carriage, and no longer came to the castle to attend classes with the seventh-years.
Whenever Kael bumped into her, Fleur always seemed distracted.
And so it went until Friday...just two days left before the first task.
From the morning, the castle was buzzing with a tangible sense of anticipation and excitement.
"How are you feeling, nervous?" At breakfast, Cedric kept shoving plates of eggs and bacon toward Kael.
The others weren't stopping him—in fact, they all got up and helped move over more plates from farther away...
Soon, the plates in front of Kael were piled up like a mountain,
"I'm not nervous, but could you guys be a bit more normal?" Kael said. "The first task won't be about who can eat the most bacon..."
No one listened to him.
So Kael sped up his breakfast, wanting to escape this overly enthusiastic crowd as soon as possible.
Just then, the messenger arrived.
A swarm of owls swooped into the Auditorium, dropping letters and packages for every student.
Among them, six robust long-eared owls stood out—they carried a long package together, dropping it onto the Hufflepuff table.
"Kael, this one's for you!" Someone spotted his name on it and shouted loudly.
"For me?" Kael finished the last bit of his sandwich in a few bites and got up to take a look.
"What did you buy?" Cedric asked.
"I don't know," Kael said. "I haven't bought anything recently...but it looks like a broom."
The package was long, one end thick and one end thin—which was how the Quidditch Boutique always wrapped their products.
As he talked, Kael finally noticed a card attached to the outside of the package.
"Congratulations on becoming a Champion—what an amazing surprise! I wanted to get you a gift, but couldn't think of anything suitable, so after much thought, this seemed just right. Hope you like it.
...Sirius Black."