Along the endless length of the track, the Hogwarts Express chugged forward, spewing plumes of white smoke as it traversed the vast countryside.
In a compartment situated toward the rear of the train, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were gathered together.
Kyle was not by Hermione's side. Not long after boarding, Hermione had been intercepted and dragged away from Kyle by Ginny.
Originally, Hermione was somewhat reluctant to leave Kyle's side. After all, Konan had hogged Kyle all to herself for the past week, and it had finally been her turn to have him to herself.
However, Ginny offered an irrefutable reason that she simply couldn't turn down: Ginny wanted to pursue Harry, and she needed Hermione to act as her strategist.
Ever since the summer holidays began, single-dog Harry's young, fragile heart had suffered one heavy blow after another.
First, he had excitedly invited Cho Chang to visit the Black Manor, only to suffer a blunt rejection.
If being rejected were all, it wouldn't have been so bad. But from a letter Cho sent him, he received even more heartbreaking news—Cedric was currently spending a wonderful summer by the seaside with the goddess of his dreams.
He had barely managed to recover from that when the Quidditch World Cup arrived.
At the campsite, the affectionate couple—Cho and Cedric—were never apart except when returning to their respective tents.
To others, their public display of affection was just a bit of couple's sweetness.
But in the eyes of Harry, whose heart burned with raging flames of jealousy, it wasn't sweet at all—it was a barrage of flying knives ruthlessly stabbing into his heart.
After the camp came under attack that night, Harry withdrew into his shell even further.
Faced with such a large number of Death Eaters, he and Sirius had to flee in utter panic.
During their escape, he, the dead weight, had nearly dragged Sirius down several times.
Cedric, however, was a completely different story. Harry had witnessed with his own eyes how Cedric single-handedly took out seven or eight Death Eaters, managing to shield Cho's family of three as they successfully broke through the siege and fled to Kyle's side.
Both were fleeing, yet one was a burden while the other was a god descending from the heavens.
Both were Hogwarts students, separated by merely two school years—how could the gap between them be so immense?
Never mind two years; Harry felt that even after another five years, he might still fail to reach Cedric's current level.
And so, Harry sank straight into depression.
Every night, he would hold an alchemy magic radio purchased from the Weasley twins, listening to a channel called NetEase Cloud Music, washing his face with tears.
Ginny saw Harry's state, her heart filled with anxious concern.
How could things go on like this?
Caring deeply about Harry, she devised a brilliant solution—as long as she won Harry over, Harry wouldn't be depressed over Cho anymore.
This maneuver was called "solving the problem at its root."
When it came to romance, however, Ginny—who had never even experienced a first love—was completely naive and innocent. Thus, she needed someone to help her, and among everyone she knew, Hermione was the most suitable choice.
Although Ron was the person who understood Harry best among everyone she knew, Ginny didn't think her perpetually single older brother could be of any help.
As for George and Fred, those two were fine at causing destruction, but if she went to them for advice, she wouldn't get anything useful beyond terrible ideas.
Without even thinking, Ginny knew what kind of methods they would suggest.
For instance, staging a kidnapping in front of Harry, letting Harry overcome all obstacles to rescue Ginny, and finally having sparks of love fly between them during the perilous ordeal...
Or, the brothers might directly haul out an Italian cannon, tie Harry to a wooden stake as a target, and threaten to fire if he didn't get together with Ginny...
Or even worse, George and Fred might stuff a bottle of Amortentia into her hands, telling her to slip it into Harry's food.
That was strictly the style of the "Father-Worrying Alliance."
All things considered, Hermione was far more reliable.
As a fellow girl, possessing emotional experience, and knowing Harry well enough...
She was simply the perfect wingwoman.
Therefore, even at the risk of interrupting the little Demon Lord and the little Beaver's time together, Ginny dragged Hermione along to serve as her wingwoman.
At this moment, following Hermione's guidance, Ginny was chatting pleasantly with Harry, who sat directly across from her.
Hermione held a book in her hands, leaning against the window seat.
Although her eyes flicked over the content of the book, her attention was actually focused entirely on the conversation between Ginny and Harry.
Under the effect of transmission magic, she offered Ginny pointers from time to time. With the low-level magic skills of those two rookies, Ron and Harry, they couldn't detect that Hermione and Ginny were secretly conversing at all.
Almost all of Britain was shrouded in dark clouds, rain pattering rhythmically against the windows of the Hogwarts Express.
As the train traveled northward, the rain outside grew heavier and fiercer.
The sky was pitch black, and the windows were coated in condensation, so even though it was daytime, the lights inside the carriage were turned on.
Accompanied by a rattling sound, the elderly lady selling snacks on the train pushed her cart filled with treats as she ambled past.
When the trolley passed the door of their compartment, Kyle bought a large mountain of snacks.
"Two Cauldron Cakes, please," a female voice called out from the side.
Kyle looked up, his eyes landing on a girl with dark hair and dark eyes.
"Cho, you came at just the right time. I have something to discuss with Cedric," Kyle said while paying. "Come over together in a moment."
Cho glanced into Kyle's compartment and saw that besides the twin brothers—those two core members of the Father-Worrying Alliance—Penelope Clearwater, a seventh-year Ravenclaw senior, was also there.
She couldn't help but feel curious about what Kyle wanted to discuss with her and Cedric.
Five minutes later, inside the compartment expanded by an Extension Charm, Kyle briefly explained the matter of the Triwizard Tournament to everyone.
"Word is that the method for selecting champions in the Triwizard Tournament will be through an artifact—the Goblet of Fire."
"As long as you throw a piece of paper with your name written on it into the Goblet of Fire, you're considered registered. The rest is just waiting for the Goblet of Fire to select the champions from among the applicants."
Reaching this point, Kyle paused, a subtle, mischievous smirk curling at the corner of his lips.
"The Goblet of Fire's selection isn't one hundred percent foolproof. A sufficiently powerful Confundus Charm is all it takes to tamper with the selection process."
"Which means I can make every single one of you a champion," Kyle said, crossing his legs casually as he lounged in the soft armchair. "So, are any of you interested in signing up?"
Originally, Kyle hadn't planned on having all these peak fighters among the Hogwarts student body compete.
His initial idea was to let his Hermione be the sole champion.
Otherwise, if Cedric and the twin brothers—those three Father-Worrying figures—took the stage, the chance for his Hermione to shine brilliantly on the field would be stolen away by these three guys.
However, unexpected events occurred.
Not long after parting with Hermione, Dumbledore had called him via a Two-Way Mirror to inform him about the Triwizard Tournament.
Dumbledore laid heavy emphasis on one particular detail over the Two-Way Mirror.
Namely, after learning about how Kyle had slaughtered two to three hundred Death Eaters at the Quidditch camp last week, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang strongly demanded that Kyle be barred from participating.
Otherwise, they would withdraw from the competition.
Although doing so risked offending both the Old and Young Demon Lords, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and push forward.
Those were over three hundred ruthless, bloodthirsty Death Eaters!
Even if it were three hundred pigs, letting a student still attending a magic school slaughter them would take an entire day.
Yet according to rumors leaked by the Ministry of Magic, less than five minutes had elapsed from the moment Kyle took action to when the Death Eaters abandoned nearly three hundred corpses and fled.
That was utterly terrifying.
Kyle participating = zero suspense.
Why bother holding a Triwizard Tournament? Why doesn't Hogwarts just take the championship trophy home directly?
To begin with, Kyle—who didn't particularly enjoy stomping on weaklings—had no intention of competing. As a rose of the battlefield, what he craved was an opponent evenly matched with him, not a bunch of ungraduated students.
However, choosing not to participate on his own terms versus being forcibly banned by others were two entirely different concepts.
So Kyle was displeased.
Extremely displeased.
Therefore, he decided to ruthlessly crush those two clueless magic schools on the field. What could be more satisfying than giving the opposition a complete, comprehensive beatdown right on the competition grounds?
Since he couldn't take the field himself, there were still others.
Kyle intended to break the traditional rule of the Triwizard Tournament that allowed only one champion per school. His ideal scenario was to get both the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang delegations onto the field.
However many students they sent, he would throw just as many up there.
And then let the others thoroughly thrash the opponent's entire delegation on his behalf.
Hogwarts' current overall strength was fiercely formidable.
Setting aside the four Father-Worrying figures, even if only Hermione, Cho, and Penelope took the field, they could smash the opposing delegation to pieces.
Cho had Cedric, her devoted admirer, giving her private tutoring.
And while Penelope lacked a boyfriend, as an honorary member of the Father-Worrying Alliance, she had received plenty of guidance from Kyle, making her strength no joke either.
Hermione went without saying—the collection of books from both the Dumbledore and Grindelwald families was fully open to her.
Whenever she ran into learning obstacles, she could consult Dumbledore—that Doctor of Ninjutsu... cough, Doctor of Magic—anytime, anywhere.
So her strength was by no means low; it was simply overshadowed by Kyle's brilliance on normal days.
Kyle had already mentioned the tournament to Hermione, and now he extended the invitation to everyone present.
Hearing Kyle's words, the twin brothers didn't even hesitate, raising their hands instantly.
"We're in!" "We're in!" the two answered in unison.
Cedric and Cho exchanged a glance. Cho gently nudged his arm. "It's enough that you participate. I won't mess around in the tournament—I wouldn't win against you guys anyway."
"Then... alright," Cedric nodded, accepting Kyle's invitation.
The only one left in the compartment who hadn't taken a stance was Penelope.
A smile bloomed across Penelope's face. "Count me in to join the fun, then."
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