After helping Cedric fuse with the Hydra bloodline, the members of the Father-Troublers returned to their usual daily routine.
This routine consisted of wreaking havoc individually throughout the castle from Monday to Thursday, leading the entire student body to cause chaos in the Forbidden Forest on Fridays, and heading to Hogsmeade for "team-building" destruction on the weekends.
With Hogwarts Castle as the epicenter, there wasn't a single spot within a ten-kilometer radius that they hadn't plagued.
However, aside from their daily mischief, Kyle and the others had other matters to attend to.
Starting last month, under the remote guidance of Gellert Grindelwald via the Two-Way Mirror, Kyle had begun helping Snape cultivate a girlf—... er, an arm.
By now, the arm was nearly fully grown.
As for Cedric, he had begun searching the Hogwarts sewer system every day for traces of the Basilisk. Due to the effects of the Bloodline Fusion Potion, Cedric was now a Parselmouth.
After Kyle had a bit of a "discussion" (which mostly involved acting like a spoiled brat) with Albus Dumbledore, the old headmaster finally agreed to hand over the rights to the Basilisk to him. Without hesitation, Kyle turned around and delegated the task of capturing the Basilisk to Cedric.
If Cedric, with his Parseltongue, could take the Basilisk for his own, it would be a massive boost to the combat power of the Father-Troublers.
Consequently, after hearing Kyle's suggestion, Cedric stopped spending time with his girlfriend and spent his days looking for snakes in the sewers instead.
The Weasley twins were the same as ever—one building mechas and the other building missiles. However, this time they weren't working separately; they were planning to collaborate on a massive, heavy-duty mecha.
The Hydra that attacked Hogwarts previously had made the twins realize their own profound shortcomings. The most significant point was that their firepower simply wasn't heavy enough.
The C.O. Patrick Star was currently the most powerful weapon Fred could produce, but its effectiveness remained limited against the thick-skinned, resilient Hydra. George wasn't faring much better; even after firing dozens of Ex-Wife Missiles, he hadn't even been able to break the Hydra's skin.
Thus, they finalized a grand plan for a win-win cooperation.
They planned to build a gargantuan, eighty-meter-tall mecha. George would be responsible for the main construction of the frame, while Fred would focus specifically on the weapon systems.
According to their vision, this mecha had to be capable of going toe-to-toe with a Hydra. They intended to spend the summer break plus half an academic year—from now until the next Christmas holiday—to build a twenty-meter-tall "validation model" mecha. Only then would they begin the project for the eighty-meter version.
They called this ambitious project: The Hunter Project.
Time quickly moved to Monday of the second week.
The arm Snape had "planted" was finally ready for harvest.
Emerging from his suitcase, Kyle held a large glass specimen jar in his left hand—containing Snape's "girlfriend." His right hand dragged a massive Black Cleaver that was nearly as tall as he was.
Accompanied by a blood-curdling screeching sound, the cold, sharp edge of the axe scraped against the floor, throwing off a shower of sparks.
Under the watchful eyes of the little badgers in the Hufflepuff common room, Kyle dragged the Black Cleaver out the door.
He walked through the entrance hall and turned into another corridor, eventually stopping at the door of the Potions classroom.
The sound of the "Old Bat's" fangs dripping with venom reached Kyle's ears clearly.
"Is your head constructed exactly like a mountain troll's?!"
"How can you fail such a simple set of instructions? A dog would look at your brewing process and shake its head in disappointment!"
A subtle curve appeared at the corner of Kyle's mouth, his two small canines glinting coldly under the torchlight.
He kicked the Potions classroom door open.
The two door panels flew inward with the force of a thunderbolt, hurtling straight toward the podium where Snape stood. If Snape hadn't dodged quickly, he would have been flattened against the wall behind the podium by the doors, physically "two-dimensionalized."
The fourth-year Gryffindors and Slytherins in the middle of class were startled by the sudden explosion of noise. Everyone instinctively turned toward the doorway.
Due to the Old Bat's personal preferences, the lighting in the dungeons was far dimmer than in the corridors outside. From their perspective, Kyle's silhouette was backlit, his face shrouded in shadow. They could only see the scarlet glow flickering in his eyes; with the giant axe on his shoulder, he looked like a demon god descending upon the world.
A few timid girls even let out terrified screams.
Snape, having dodged the door panels, finally poked his head out from behind the podium. Seeing Kyle's figure carrying the massive axe, Snape's heart felt as though it were being squeezed by the claws of a certain little demon king.
"Kyle Dumbledore!" Snape roared immediately after recovering. "Class is in session! Get out!"
Kyle set the large glass jar on the floor and hefted the heavy Black Cleaver with both hands. "Professor Snape, it's time for your treatment."
"Get out! I don't need treatment!"
As he said this, Snape's confidence was clearly lacking. If it weren't, he wouldn't have felt the need to draw his wand and point it at Kyle.
Kyle scratched the back of his head helplessly.
A month ago, when Snape was still lying like a corpse on a hospital bed, he had been vehemently resistant after hearing the proposed treatment plan. The "Hary and Harri" transaction that the two had maintained with great rapport had also been suspended.
Snape refused to meet with Kyle. On a normal day, he would take a detour if he saw him; if he couldn't avoid him, he'd find any excuse to flee. Even his office had been magically sealed with layer upon layer of enchantments. Unless Kyle used a Blasting Curse powerful enough to blow Snape up along with the office, it was impossible to breach the door.
Driven to desperation, Kyle had been forced to dig a tunnel directly into Snape's office from underground. Only by launching a midnight raid was he able to collect the body cells needed to clone the arm.
Since then, Snape's level of alertness toward Kyle had jumped up several notches. Kyle hadn't been able to get within ten meters of him. This time, if not for the necessity, he wouldn't have chosen to stage a surprise attack during class.
Kyle shot a glance at the "insiders"—the Weasley brothers—who already knew the treatment plan. The two caught the signal instantly.
Fred surreptitiously drew his wand, while George extended ten chakra threads to link up with the battle armor in his storage bag.
An Expelliarmus flew through the air. Snape, who was entirely focused on guarding against Kyle, never expected another student to be as audacious and reckless as Kyle.
His wand flew into Fred's hand.
A disassembled suit of alchemical iron armor, propelled by thrusters, streaked toward Snape and locked around him. Under the force of the thrusters, Snape was pinned against the wall behind the podium in a "spread-eagle" position. Simultaneously, a syringe installed inside the armor injected an anesthetic into Snape's body.
"It says it's ready to go!"
Kyle gave a wicked grin and raised the Black Cleaver.
"Professor Snape, don't hide! This is for your own good!"
Strode forward and leaping with an explosion of strength from his legs, Kyle's figure soared high into the air. Under the terrified gazes of every student, the Black Cleaver in his hands swung down, ruthlessly chopping off Snape's withered arm.
Before Snape's roar—one that likely questioned the ancestry of the entire Dumbledore family—could echo through the castle, a steel mask snapped onto his face, forcefully shoving the curses back down his throat.
Kyle crooked a finger, and the large glass jar containing the arm flew over immediately.
He swiftly replaced the black-magic-corroded arm with the new one. The fluorescent green glow of the Mystical Palm Technique lit up as muscle, nerves, and various tissues rapidly healed and reconnected.
"Sorry about that, Professor Snape. We're leaving now. Remember to give us a five-star review!"
Kyle quickly packed up his tools of the trade. Under Snape's murderous glare, he and his two accomplices bolted from the scene of the crime.
A long time later, the entire Hogwarts Castle heard Snape's roar erupting from the dungeons.
"KYLE DUMBLEDORE!"
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