Breakfast the next morning brought with it the return of the two infamous troublemakers.
In the Great Hall, Hermione was engrossed in a copy of Voyages with Vampires, a steaming cup of black tea beside her. Kai Adler sat next to her, silently enjoying his breakfast, occasionally glancing at the cover of the book with visible disinterest.
When Harry and Ron finally arrived and sat across from them, Hermione looked up from her book and fixed them with a cold stare.
"Well, if it isn't the great Harry Potter and his fearless sidekick Ron Weasley," she said sharply, her voice laced with sarcasm. "Planning to steal another car today? Or maybe crash into the Whomping Willow again? Oh—silly me, you already wrecked it."
Harry flushed red with embarrassment. Ron looked equally sheepish.
"You could've just yelled at us like before," Harry muttered. "This is worse—you sound like Professor Snape."
Ron grumbled, "It's not like we had a choice. The barrier was sealed!"
Hermione's eyes widened. "So you thought the logical next step was to fly a car to school? In broad daylight? With Muggles watching?!"
She jabbed a finger at them. "What if you'd fallen? Or crashed harder? Ginny cried all night when she heard!"
Only then did the two boys notice Ginny sitting beside them, eyes puffy and red. The memory of how close Harry had come to tumbling from the sky sobered them instantly.
Ron reached into his bag and pulled out his wand—broken nearly in two, the fractured tip hanging on by a splinter.
"Look at this. My wand's ruined."
"You should be glad it wasn't your neck," Hermione snapped.
"Alright, alright." Kai finally spoke, his voice calm and even. "Don't be too hard on them, Hermione. You're just worried—right?"
He glanced at the two boys. "And she has a point. That was reckless."
His tone was light, but his words struck home. Hermione huffed and turned back to her book, cheeks flushed. Harry and Ron sat in awkward silence for a moment.
Then Harry noticed Kai properly for the first time.
"Wait—you're in Gryffindor too? That's brilliant!"
"I didn't expect you to be a Gryffindor," Ron added, eyeing Kai curiously. "You seem more like a Ravenclaw."
In truth, he wanted to say Slytherin. Kai was poised, elegant, and carried himself with the kind of quiet calculation Ron had come to associate with the darker house.
Kai gave him a look that made Ron squirm.
"Oh? Why Ravenclaw?"
"Um—because you seem really clever!" Ron stammered.
Kai offered a faint, knowing smile and returned to his toast.
Just then, a flurry of wings filled the air. Hundreds of owls swooped into the Great Hall, swooping and circling as they delivered their packages and letters. One particularly haggard-looking owl crashed straight into the milk jug in front of Hermione, spilling feathers and dairy across the table.
Kai instinctively pulled her back just in time.
"Good thing I wasn't drinking milk today," Hermione muttered.
Kai smirked, eyeing her now-soaked book. "Shame about Voyages with Vampires, though."
"Errol!" Ron gasped, pulling the drenched and unconscious owl from the jug. In its beak was a dripping red envelope.
Ron froze.
"No way…"
Hermione gently patted the bird. "He'll be alright."
"I'm not talking about the bird," Ron whispered. "I'm talking about this."
He held up the red envelope, trembling slightly. The Muggle-borns—Harry, Hermione, and Kai—looked at it with confusion, but Neville turned pale.
"That's a Howler," he said grimly. "You have to open it. If you don't, it'll explode on its own."
At that moment, smoke began to curl from the corners of the envelope.
"Open it quick," Neville urged. "Better to just get it over with."
Kai didn't like the way the letter pulsed with contained magic. He pulled Hermione closer again and silently cast a spell, blocking her ears with a soft layer of air and silencing charms.
She looked at him quizzically—until the Howler opened itself with a scream loud enough to shake the ceiling.
"RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED—"
The voice of Mrs. Weasley filled every inch of the Great Hall like an unleashed banshee. Every student stopped talking. Everyone stared. Ron turned a shade of crimson no magical creature could replicate.
The letter went on in full, painful detail, scolding Ron for the car, for the crash, for embarrassing the family, and for nearly dying.
When it finally burst into flames and crumbled to ash, Ron and Harry sat like statues, faces stunned. The silence around the table gradually gave way to stifled giggles and murmurs.
Kai removed the silencing charm from Hermione.
She blinked, slightly dazed. "That was terrifying."
"And that was with protection," Kai muttered, rubbing his ears.
Hermione glanced down—and gasped.
"My book!"
The drenched copy of Voyages with Vampires lay on the table, milk still dripping from its pages.
She looked at Kai pitifully. "Can you cast the Scouring Charm? I'm not that confident with it yet."
"Of course," Kai said smoothly, drawing his White Ash wand. He pointed it at the book.
"Scourgify."
The book exploded.
Pages fluttered to the floor in soggy, torn fragments. Hermione stared in disbelief.
"You did that on purpose!" she accused.
Kai looked completely unrepentant. "My apologies. My spellcasting seems to fluctuate in the mornings."
Hermione squinted at him. "You can cast a wordless shield across a corridor and Apparate halfway across the castle, but can't dry a book properly?"
Kai smiled.
She sighed, scooping up the remains of her ruined book. "You really hate Professor Lockhart, don't you?"
"'Hate' is a strong word," Kai replied, tone casual. "Let's just say I'm skeptical."
"He's a talented wizard," Hermione argued.
"Oh, he's talented, alright," Kai said with a mysterious glint in his eye. "You'll see how talented he is very soon."