After leaving the Defence Against the Dark Arts office, Kael didn't go straight back to the Hufflepuff common room. Instead, when he reached the second floor, he turned a corner and slipped into an empty classroom.
"How did it go…"
Kael had barely stepped inside when he heard an anxious voice from within the classroom.
Conna came over, followed by Cedric, Cho, Fred, and George.
"All done." Kael gestured with his hand. "You can safely study Defence Against the Dark Arts on your own now. Just be careful and make sure nobody finds out."
"That's great!" Cedric said excitedly. "We've already decided that, to prevent anyone from tattling, they all have to sign a magic contract before they're given the location of the Room of Requirement."
"Nice one, Kael," Fred said happily too. "You actually managed to fool that Umbridge so easily. No wonder you're the youngest member of the Merlin Knight Order."
Kael felt a bit speechless. He didn't see what this had to do with the Merlin Knight Order.
"But…" George rubbed his eyes, "weren't you a bit too harsh? If we don't go to the Hospital Wing, we'll have to stick with these for at least a week."
"Honestly, this is just embarrassing," Fred sighed.
"We don't even dare go anywhere with a lot of people now…"
"And even in class, we have to keep our faces covered."
"Weren't you the ones who said a few injuries would make it look more convincing?" Kael laughed. "Turns out you were right, because seeing you guys like this, Umbridge totally believed what I said."
"We meant you," George muttered. "Think about it—if you went to all that trouble and got hurt to bring back this information, doesn't it just seem way more believable?"
"Doesn't matter, this turned out pretty well anyway."
Kael said, "Besides, the three of you versus one and you still ended up like this—can you really blame me?
Honestly, if I were you, I'd be too embarrassed to bring it up. So humiliating."
"It was two against one!" George corrected him seriously. "Cedric was just standing there watching—didn't help at all… Traitor…"
"Huh?" Cedric scratched his head, not sure why he was suddenly being blamed. He was a Hufflepuff after all—no way he'd help out students from other houses, even if it was just an act.
Besides, even if he'd jumped in to help, he would have just ended up with a black eye too, so what would be the point?
Two people getting hurt is better than all three being wiped out. This way was fine.
Still, Cedric knew Fred and George weren't in a great mood, so he sensibly kept quiet.
Kael ignored Fred and George's racket and turned to ask, "Have you set the time yet? When do you plan to start?"
"Wednesday night," Cedric said. "I originally wanted to make it the weekend, but everyone seemed to have something more important—Quidditch training, or clubs they're into… Only Wednesday works for everyone."
"Remember to go separately," Kael reminded them. "It's fine for Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, but if a whole bunch of Hufflepuffs suddenly rush upstairs to the eighth floor, it'll look suspicious.
Or you could head down to the kitchens and ask the House-elves for help."
"House-elves?"
"That's right," Kael explained. "House-elves have special magic that lets them use Apparition in the school. They can take you straight from the kitchens to the eighth floor—and then bring you back again."
"Oh right, House-elves can use magic inside the school," Cedric said happily. "Can't believe I forgot that. But I wonder if they'll agree… I mean, hardly anyone's ever seen them use magic here."
"Doesn't matter, just try it and see," Kael said. "Once a week isn't a big deal. It's not like you're asking every day. Should be fine."
"True enough," Cedric nodded.
After sorting all that out, the group left the classroom.
Kael and Conna headed back to the common room, while Cedric went upstairs with Fred and George.
Since he still had some time, he planned to find Hermione and Harry to talk over a few more details—things like the exact time, the content of the magic contract, and what to teach in class.
...
First time teaching… Even if it's just in name, Cedric was still really nervous, and the closer it got to Wednesday, the worse it got.
He was even out of it during Quidditch training the next day.
Kael saw the Golden Snitch fly right by him several times, but Cedric just stared blankly ahead, totally lost in thought.
Kael maneuvered his Firebolt, turned nimbly, and caught the Golden Snitch in his hand.
Normally, as a Chaser, he shouldn't be going after the Golden Snitch, but no one else seemed to mind—in fact, they all let out a sigh of relief.
They'd already been flying for two hours.
Training is usually tedious anyway. At least there are different tactics most of the time to keep it from getting too boring.
But today was different. Since the captain couldn't catch the Snitch, they hadn't changed tactics at all, and in the end everyone just lazily lobbed the Quaffle through the hoops like they were doing their Magic History homework.
This kind of training was basically pointless.
"Oh, sorry, Kael, I zoned out," Cedric scratched his head. "I just keep thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow night.
I keep wondering if I'm well enough prepared or if I'll actually be able to help everyone. Once I start thinking about it, I just can't relax."
Kael put away his Firebolt and walked back to the castle with the others.
"Relax, it's just a study group after school, not a big deal."
"I know, but I can't help it," Cedric sighed. "Every time I have a moment to myself, I start worrying I'll mess it up, ruin everything, and no one will come back next time."
"That's something you ought to learn from Harry," Kael said smiling. "He never looks nervous at all."
"And you definitely don't have to worry about people not coming back, unless you teach worse than Umbridge… and honestly, that's way harder than just not making any mistakes."
"You have a point," Cedric finally managed a smile. "I really haven't seen a worse professor than Umbridge…"
When the two of them got back to the castle, it was nearly curfew. Just then, Filch came down the stairs, and the moment he saw their outfits, his expression darkened.
"You two…" He glanced at the floor first, found no muddy footprints, and quickly changed his tune: "Out wandering around so late—thinking about sneaking out at night, are you?"
"Mr. Filch, we just got back from practice," Cedric replied.
"You'd better be telling the truth," Filch sneered at them. "If I ever catch you breaking the rules, I'm sure Professor Umbridge won't mind if I march you down to the dungeons.
After all these years, we finally have a decent professor at this school…"
Cedric frowned, and after they'd crossed the entrance hall, he muttered quietly to Kael:
"Filch is getting annoying again."
"Yeah," Kael said, "he's got someone on his side now."
With Umbridge now at the school (at least on the surface, following all the rules), Filch had finally found someone who thought just like he did.
That made Snape's status in Filch's eyes get replaced almost overnight by Umbridge.
Before, when he wanted to scare students, he'd always threaten to tell Professor Snape, especially with Gryffindors—it worked really well.
That was until Umbridge became the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
Filch was delighted to find that this professor's way of thinking was exactly the same as his, and her punishments were far more severe than the other professors.
More importantly, she had more authority and could change the school rules whenever she liked.
So Filch got a little full of himself—he even forgot everything that happened last year and was back to his old ways, patrolling the castle with gusto, dead set on catching more rule-breakers.
He seemed to think that if enough people broke the rules, he'd have a good excuse to reopen the dungeons.
"That annoying guy…"
"And that annoying Umbridge…"
"Keep your voice down—you don't want anyone to hear."
Once Filch left, people immediately began whispering in low voices.
They all preferred the Filch at the start of term—at least back then, he wasn't as unbearable as he is now.
...