Chapter 123: The Wizarding World Is Full of Treachery
In the following days, Fred and George continued to come over occasionally, focused on perfecting the first product in their Skiving Snackbox line—the Fat-Tongued Toffee. Kyle, however, found the process unbearably tedious and opted not to join them, choosing instead to stay in his room and read.
Fred and George were speechless; they couldn't help but see a budding Percy in Kyle. But they couldn't say much—Kyle was, after all, their landlord and a valuable partner. It was also the only place where they could experiment freely and openly with their inventions.
Of course, this didn't mean they stayed entirely silent about his absence.
After one of their invitations was declined, George drawled dramatically, "Fred, I think it's time we put in an order for some fireworks to celebrate Kyle's early promotion to prefect."
"We'd be celebrating for four years, then," Fred replied in the same mocking tone. "After all, Hogwarts doesn't make students prefects until fifth year, and he's only in second year."
"True, it could even be six years." George raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Let's not forget about the position of Head Boy."
"Yes... goodness, six years' worth of celebratory fireworks. That's a fortune," Fred agreed, their exaggerated tone and demeanor perfectly mimicking a certain Potions professor's. If someone had overheard, they might've thought there were two Snapes standing outside Kyle's door.
Kyle simply responded by flipping them off without a word, then turned back to his desk.
There, a stack of parchment filled with careful writing awaited him. The text was a transcription he'd copied from a book in the Restricted Section titled Magical Products: Alterations and Combinations, a work on alchemy. Though Kyle hadn't been particularly interested at the time, he'd decided to transcribe the information anyway and had left it untouched for ages.