"Is everything settled?" Konan asked, watching Kyle approach with a nonchalant expression.
"Yeah," Kyle replied casually.
His gaze was currently fixed firmly on Scabbers, whose head was poking out of Ron's chest pocket. Scabbers had his front paws perched on the edge of the pocket, allowing Kyle to see clearly at a glance that the rat was missing a toe on one of its front paws.
To avoid alerting Peter Pettigrew that anything was amiss, Kyle quickly looked away.
For the rest of the day, Kyle accompanied Konan as they strolled through Diagon Alley.
This was Konan's first time visiting a British wizarding shopping street. Although the magical commercial districts in France were cleaner and more luxurious, she still found everything here quite novel.
Once Konan entered "shopping mode," she fully unleashed her innate talent. She moved from one shop to another throughout Diagon Alley without showing the slightest hint of fatigue.
In contrast, there was Kyle—a man who practiced Taijutsu year-round and could run a ten-kilometer cross-country trek without breaking a sweat or raising his heart rate. After just ten minutes of accompanying her, he wanted to plop down on the large steps outside Gringotts and never get up again.
The fatigue of shopping was a psychological weariness; it had very little to do with the physical body. A powerful physique offered no significant help in this regard. Even if Saitama-sensei were here—the man who could leap from the Earth to the Moon—he wouldn't be able to withstand this kind of mental exhaustion.
Kyle thought to himself: The world might as well just end. I'm exhausted.
Fortunately, the arrival of a certain individual liberated Kyle from this endless torment.
"Hagrid?" Kyle looked in surprise at the half-giant, who had cut his hair into a bowl cut and shaved off his bushy, tangled beard. "What on earth happened to you...?"
Hagrid grinned. "Hi, Kyle! Just got a new haircut. Looks alright, doesn't it?"
Er... how was he supposed to answer that?
Kyle really wanted to suggest that he apply some Hair-Raising Potion to grow it back to its original state. Right now, the look was an absolute eyesore. However, he obviously couldn't be that blunt.
Instead, Kyle quickly changed the subject. "What made you want to cut your hair like this?"
At Kyle's question, the three-and-a-half-meter-tall half-giant actually blushed, a look of bashfulness appearing on his face like a young girl in the throes of first love.
"Ahem, well... I met my soulmate."
Kyle nearly choked on his own spit, his confusion deepening. He remembered clearly that Hagrid was in his sixties; it was only his giant blood that made him look like a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties.
Meeting a soulmate at sixty...
Well, alright. Once love arrives, gender or even species isn't an issue, let alone age.
"She's so beautiful. It made me feel like my scruffy self wasn't good enough for her, so I decided to change my image." Hagrid pointed to his head. "The hair was the first step. Next comes the clothes."
Admittedly, Hagrid had a point. His usual unkempt, bearded appearance was indeed a bit too slovenly. It's just that his current look wasn't much of an improvement! He looked incredibly goofy.
But now was not the time to dwell on that.
"Who is she?" A thick sense of gossip appeared on Kyle's face.
"Olympe is the Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic..."
When Hagrid revealed her identity, Konan nearly burst out laughing. She knew it would be rude, so she tried her best to hold it in.
He continued, "She's also a member of the Wizengamot. She'll be attending your award ceremony tomorrow, so you'll be able to meet her officially then."
Konan's shoulders were shaking uncontrollably; she was struggling very hard to stifle her laughter. She knew that Olympe Maxime was also a half-giant, even though Madame Maxime consistently refused to admit it. She considered it a point of shame.
Although many people in the wizarding world shouted slogans against bloodline discrimination, it was usually just talk. Half-bloods born of Muggles and wizards faced discrimination, let alone cross-breeds between wizards and other humanoid species. The former were at least fully human, but giants, veela, werewolves, centaurs, merpeople... they were a far cry from humans, despite the lack of reproductive isolation between them.
Konan estimated Hagrid's height. From what she knew, Headmistress Maxime was even taller than Hagrid. Furthermore, Madame Maxime had a particular fondness for high heels, which pushed her height past the four-meter mark instantly.
The thought of two four-or-five-meter-tall half-giants cuddling up was a hilarious mental image.
Kyle smirked, feeling genuinely happy for Hagrid—a sixty-year-old bachelor—finally finding someone.
"Speaking of which, Hagrid, don't you think you owe me a drink? After all, you only met your soulmate because of my award ceremony."
Hagrid laughed loudly. "Of course, no problem! But would Professor Dumbledore agree to let you drink?"
Kyle shrugged. "Butterbeer will do. Old Tom won't sell me any other alcoholic beverage anyway."
"Alright then, let's go."
Kyle and Hagrid didn't stay in the Leaky Cauldron for long before the Abbotts, the Grangers, and the Weasleys all began to arrive one after another. The Leaky Cauldron had never been this lively since its opening days.
However, for Kyle, this liveliness was a form of extreme torture—because the Grangers and the Abbotts had run into each other.
For an average person, meeting the parents was stressful enough. But a scene like this, which felt like the public execution of a playboy, was truly terrifying. Although Kyle had met the Grangers before—and had even saved Mr. Granger's life—he still felt incredibly nervous.
He had no idea what the Grangers and the Abbotts were discussing. With his sharp hearing, Kyle heard his own name mentioned more than once. But the Leaky Cauldron was simply too noisy, and he couldn't catch the rest of their conversation. He could only sit restlessly in a corner like a prisoner awaiting trial, silently trying to minimize his presence to avoid another "battleground of love" scenario.
To make matters worse for Kyle's cold sweats, Konan—apparently thinking the situation wasn't lively enough—joined in the conversation between the two parties.
Also breaking into a cold sweat beside him were his two brothers-in-arms—Cedric and Fred.
Oh, and he had to add Harry to the list. Harry was watching the scene with gritted teeth, his heart consumed by a bitter envy he was helpless to act upon. He had liked Cho Chang for a long time, but because Cho and Cedric were already together, Harry was too timid to express his feelings. After all, doing so would make him a home-wrecker.
Cedric and Fred were in a similar predicament to Kyle, though theirs weren't romantic battlegrounds, but rather "meet the in-laws" scenarios. Currently, the parents of Cedric and Cho Chang, and the parents of Fred and Angelina Johnson, had all clustered together. Both sets of parents were chatting quite happily.
That's right—Fred was no longer single either. His partner was none other than the Chaser from the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Long ago, Fred and Angelina had been very close. In the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team, George was probably the only blockhead who didn't know what was going on.
Fred had given his three guest slots to Angelina's family. Between him and George, they had twenty-eight slots in total; even if they invited every aunt and uncle in the Weasley family, they would still have seven or eight left over. So, Fred had arranged the remaining spots as he pleased. Not only did he invite Angelina, but he also took the opportunity to confess his feelings to her.
And so, out of the four "Father-Fretters," only George remained a "single dog," utterly alone.
Seeing his three good friends had all unknowingly escaped the ranks of the single, George's face was full of confusion.
We agreed to be bros for life—why have you all betrayed me one by one?
However, when he saw his three friends huddled silently in the corner, trying their best to shrink into the background, George suddenly felt that he didn't envy them after all.
As expected, only a permanent alchemy doll—no, an alchemical puppet—was the best partner in life.
Art! It should be eternal!
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