"Kyle, are you sure this is okay?" As soon as Cho left, Cedric — who had been standing on the sidelines the whole time — came over and whispered, "I mean, will Ravenclaw first-years really pay for maps?"
"Who knows." Kyle shrugged, "Let's give it a try. We've got nothing better to do anyway."
Though he said that casually, he was actually quite confident.
Hogwarts had no signposts, and first-years had to find their way to each classroom on their own or ask older students for directions. Getting lost was a daily occurrence. In situations like these, a map would be invaluable.
Besides, at just ten Sickles — not even one Galleon — it was quite affordable.
{T/N: There were 17 Sickles in a Galleon, and 29 Knuts in a Sickle, meaning there were 493 Knuts in a Galleon. 1 Galleon = $6.64, 1 Sickle = $0.39 and 1 Knut = $0.01. All not values of today, but you can get the measure.}
A wizard from a Muggle family typically had about six Galleons left as pocket money after buying textbooks and other necessities for the year. Spending ten Sickles on a map showing most of the staircases' movement patterns seemed like a reasonable investment.
Of course, there would be exceptions, like a certain unnamed redheaded first-year next year.
"Oh right, here you go." On their way back to the dormitory, Kyle tossed the map to Cedric, "The supply task is yours from now on."
"I'm involved in this too?" He asked, puzzled.
"Obviously! Since this map came from you, you should get your share of the benefits. Cho gets half, and we split the other half." Kyle said matter-of-factly, "Besides, I just started school and I'm not that good at the Duplication Charm yet. We can't sell defective products — we'd get complaints. You're the best person for this task. After all, you wouldn't want people saying we Hufflepuffs are swindlers, right?"
"Well... alright." After thinking it over, Cedric saw the logic and didn't argue further.
"Good, that's settled then. I'll have Cho go directly to you. See you in the Great Hall this afternoon." Kyle gave him a meaningful look, then turned and went into his dormitory.
Cedric stood rooted to the spot, watching Kyle's retreating back with growing suspicion.
Cho would handle promotion, he would provide the maps... but what about Kyle? Besides these two tasks, there didn't seem to be anything else that needed doing.
And when he said "nothing better to do" earlier — was he referring to himself?
Cedric fell deep into thought...
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Meanwhile, Kyle returned to his dormitory and took a nice nap, arriving right on time at the Transfiguration classroom door before afternoon classes.
To save face for himself and Hufflepuff — and to prevent Cho from witnessing the same scene again — he deliberately brought Ryan along, even though the kid repeatedly insisted he wouldn't get lost anymore now that he had a map.
This Transfiguration class was again with Ravenclaw. Since they arrived early, only a few young wizards were scattered around the classroom. Kyle didn't even need to look to know they definitely weren't Hufflepuffs.
Additionally, there was a beautiful tabby cat sitting on the desk at the front.
He instinctively reached into his robe pocket and felt the package of dried fish he had prepared in advance.
Feeding Professor McGonagall dried fish was an achievement he had always wanted to unlock, and he had prepared the dried fish specifically for this purpose.
It was like moving the trash bins in Diagon Alley — though there was no reward, the feeling was incredibly satisfying and gave an inexplicable sense of accomplishment.
But while the trash bins could be moved anytime, the chance to feed Minerva would only come once, as she only demonstrated her Animagus form during first-years' first Transfiguration class.
And only then could Kyle, playing on his status as a new student, successfully get away with it afterward. After all, he was just an ignorant young wizard — how could he possibly have known that Professor McGonagall could turn into a cat?
As for carrying dried fish... that was prepared for Mrs. Norris, to thank her for helping him find the hospital wing yesterday.
Everything was perfect; he just needed the right moment.
There were still too few people in the classroom — if he went now, it would be too obvious and Minerva would likely see through him. Better to wait a bit longer.
To seize this one opportunity, he remained patient. He had Ryan go into the classroom first while he found an excuse to wait by the door.
As luck would have it, Cho appeared around the corridor corner just then, waving as she called out, "Kyle, I knew you'd be here!"
Seeing this, Ryan didn't think much of it and went into the classroom after saying he'd save Kyle a seat.
"Kyle, you won't believe how well things went!" Cho ran up to him, panting excitedly, "I showed them my copy of the map, and in just one hour, twelve first-years said they definitely want to buy one!"
Kyle wasn't surprised and calmly replied, "Well done, thanks for your hard work."
"It wasn't hard at all." Cho looked him up and down, "Did you bring the maps? I promised to get them their copies after class."
"Cedric has the maps — you know, the second-year student who was with me at lunch." Kyle said somewhat helplessly, "He was worried about quality control issues, so he volunteered to take over the map copying task. You can find him in the Great Hall after class. By the way, he's top of his year and really skilled at the Duplication Charm."
"Cedric?" Cho thought for a moment, "Didn't you say he was the one who gave you the map in the first place?"
Kyle nodded, "That's right."
"He really is such a nice person." She sighed, then seemed to realize something and furrowed her brow, "In that case, I shouldn't take half — we should split it three ways equally."
"If you insist, you can talk to him after class." Kyle shrugged, "I'm fine with it. I did tell him earlier we should split the remaining half, but Cedric refused, saying he was just helping out a little. I couldn't convince him, but maybe you can try."
"Okay!" Cho nodded firmly.
In her view, anyone who participated should be included, and it had to be split equally.
Kyle smiled, "Well, good luck with that."
Cho looked at his expression and frowned, "Why do I feel like your smile seems... strange?"
"Does it? Maybe I'm just looking forward to Transfiguration class." Kyle said seriously, "Never mind that — we should head into the classroom. It would be such a shame if we were late."
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