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Chapter 652: The Referee
🕑 Added 2025-03-23 14:01:33 +0000 UTCUmbridge’s search mission began that evening.
At precisely 8:30 p.m., Kyle sent Malfoy and Crabbe off on patrol before making his way to the eighth floor. The moment he stepped off the stairs, a head poked out from behind a tapestry on the same floor, moving with a cautious twitch.
“What’s the situation…?” Fred whispered.
“Relax. I’m the only one on the eighth floor,” Kyle replied, signaling with his hand to confirm the coast was clear.
Fred emerged confidently, brushing dust off his robes. “Alright, give me the details.”
“Malfoy and Crabbe are on the sixth floor. Montague is on the fifth. There are people patrolling the third and second floors as well,” Kyle explained. “If you’re heading back, I’d recommend avoiding the stairs for now—or at least waiting a bit.”
“No time to wait,” George said, considering their options. “The curfew’s starting soon. If we get caught, it’ll be even worse. What about the tower? Isn’t there a secret passage there that leads straight to the first floor?”
“That could work,” Kyle nodded. “They won’t have enough time to cover that area. Just make sure you take the Marauder’s Map with you.”
“Don’t worry,” Fred assured him with a grin. He ducked back behind the tapestry to gather the others.
Kyle, after a moment’s thought, cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and moved to a shadowy corner by the stairs. Not long after, a door materialized on the opposite wall, and students began filing out one by one—members of the DA who had just finished their gathering.
Fred quickly organized the group, dividing them into three well-practiced teams. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students followed Fred toward the tower, where the secret passage would help them get back to their respective common rooms. Gryffindors, whose common room was conveniently located on the eighth floor, slipped away around the corner without needing much instruction.
Once the corridor was empty, Kyle approached the Room of Requirement and stepped inside.
The few students still lingering in the room spun around at the sound of the door opening. They relaxed visibly when they saw it was him.
“Kyle, is it true what they’re saying?” Hermione asked immediately, her voice tinged with worry. “Did Umbridge really find out about us teaching ourselves Defence Against the Dark Arts?”
“Yes,” Kyle confirmed with a nod.
“But how?” Hermione pressed, frowning. “We enchanted the member list. Whoever’s name is on it should be unable to reveal anything. How could she have found out?”
“No magical contract is flawless,” Kyle replied evenly. “Not even the strongest ones, except maybe the Unbreakable Vow. The magical bond between DA members isn’t that rigid. A careless comment during a conversation could let something slip.”
He paused briefly before adding, “Or someone could have lost their fake Galleon. If the person who found it noticed the numbers changing, they might have pieced together what it’s for.”
“It must’ve been Neville…” Ron muttered. “He’s always losing things.”
“No, Ron,” Hermione interjected, shaking her head. “Neville’s never missed a single meeting. If he’d lost his Galleon, how would he know when to show up?”
“Maybe… someone told him,” Ron mumbled defensively, though his suspicion lingered.
“By the way,” Harry said, suddenly struck by a thought. “Kyle, how did you know they were trying to catch us in the castle today?”
Hermione and Ron turned their attention to Kyle, though Cedric and Cho, standing nearby, appeared unbothered.
Kyle’s expression remained calm. “It’s simple,” he said. “Because the person responsible for capturing you is me.”
The room fell into an icy silence.
Harry's eyes widened as though he had just seen hundreds of trolls soaring past on broomsticks and then swooped down, hugged Ron, and performed a spirited tap dance on a broomstick.
Ron, for his part, looked as though someone had hit him with a Confundus Charm. His face shifted between bewilderment and disbelief, his brain seemingly on the verge of shutting down.
Hermione fared slightly better than the other two, but even she was too stunned to immediately form a response.
“You see, I told you I wasn’t the only one,” Cedric said with a laugh. “You mocked me for being too emotional, but now you know—we’re all the same.”
He chuckled, remembering his own reaction when he first heard the news. He hadn’t fared any better than the trio in front of him. He’d been so shocked that he’d spilled ink all over his Potions homework and had to rewrite it from scratch.
Cedric’s laughter seemed to snap the others out of their stupor.
“You… you’re here to arrest us?” Ron shouted, stumbling back a few steps. “Harry, Hermione, run!”
Loyal to the core, Ron’s first instinct was to protect his friends, even if his logic hadn’t quite caught up with the situation.
Hermione glanced between Kyle and Cedric, who were smirking, and then at Ron, who was still yelling. She couldn’t help but twitch her mouth in exasperation as her face flushed slightly.
This is mortifying. If she had known this was going to happen, she would never have let Ron stay. For that matter, Harry—who was standing nearby, hesitating—was no better. They were clearly better suited to sitting by the common room fireplace, debating which homework assignment to tackle first.
“Ron, use your brain!” Hermione snapped. “If Kyle wanted to capture us, why would he go through all this trouble? He could’ve just brought Umbridge here!”
“Huh?” Ron froze mid-step, his face quickly turning as red as his hair.
“Exactly,” Harry said, waving a hand. “And how could Kyle capture us when Cedric’s here?”
Hermione sighed, too drained to deal with the two of them any longer. She turned instead to Kyle and Cedric. “So, was this your plan? Fighting the Weasley twins to gain Umbridge’s trust?”
“Sort of,” Kyle admitted with a small smile.
Glancing at the time, he added, “Well, curfew is about to start. I can’t stay here too long—you’d better head back as well. Just a reminder, though: there are patrols on every floor right now. Don’t get caught.”
“Don’t worry,” Cedric said, exchanging a glance with Cho. “We’ve got the Disillusionment Charm.”
“I’ve got the Cloak of Invisibility too,” Harry said. Although it was getting harder to hide all three of them under the cloak now that they’d grown taller, the Gryffindor common room was right next door, so it wouldn’t be much of an issue. Besides, with Kyle in charge, using the cloak felt more like a formality than a necessity.
“Alright,” Kyle said, nodding as he moved toward the door. Just before stepping out, he turned back and added, “Oh, and let me know the time of the next meeting in advance.”
“No problem,” Cedric replied.
As the door closed behind Kyle, Harry blinked, as though waking from a strange dream. The whole encounter felt almost unreal.
“Umbridge would never guess that Kyle’s on our side,” Harry said, rubbing his face as he processed everything. Then, grinning, he added, “I can’t wait to see her face when she finds out the truth. It’s going to be priceless.”
His laughter was infectious, and soon Ron, Hermione, Cedric, and Cho joined in.
It felt just like a Quidditch match.
In a game, there were many ways to secure victory—exceptional players, rigorous training, and clever tactics all played a role. But there was one guaranteed way to win: having the referee on your side.
Right now, Kyle was that referee.
With Kyle on the field, they didn’t have to worry about being discovered by Umbridge at all.
And the feeling? It was absolutely wonderful.
