Cedric looked on curiously as Kyle stood there, staring blankly at a thumb-sized bottle in his hand.
“Strange, there’s no label on it,” Cedric frowned, wondering aloud. “Could it be that someone from St. Mungo’s misplaced it by accident?”
“With eyesight like yours, it’s a wonder why you’re a Seeker,” Kyle teased, holding up his hand and pointing at the bottle. “Look closely, the label is right here… Hmm?”
Kyle’s words trailed off as he suddenly froze. He realized there was nothing where his finger pointed; the label he had clearly seen moments ago had vanished without a trace.
“There’s nothing here... You must have seen it wrong,” Cedric said, looking again. After confirming there truly was no label, he smiled. “By the way, the final Quidditch tryouts are in a few days, so you might want to stop wandering around at night. Otherwise, you’ll be too groggy to even throw the Quaffle through the Goalpost…”
With that, Cedric turned his attention to George, starting a new conversation.
“Strange…” Kyle muttered, gazing down at the bottle in his hands. He was certain that when he’d first picked it up, the words Veritaserum had been clearly written in golden block letters. But in the blink of an eye, the label had disappeared entirely.
I can’t be the only one seeing things... Never mind. I’ll study it in detail some other time, Kyle thought, shaking his head. He slipped the bottle back into his pocket and continued sorting through the potions in the box.
Compared to Veritaserum, the remaining potions were fairly ordinary. Some were quite costly but could generally be found in stores. Before long, only one potion remained, resting in the far corner of the box. Its bottle was even smaller than the Veritaserum’s.
When Kyle carefully took it out, there was an audible intake of breath around him.
“No way…” Cedric’s eyes widened in disbelief. “This is Felix Felicis?!”
The golden liquid in the bottle swayed gently with Kyle’s movement, and Cedric’s eyes tracked its shimmering motion.
“What? Felix Felicis!” Fred and George crowded closer, eyes widening with curiosity. “Is this the legendary luck potion?”
“It can’t be wrong,” Cedric replied, nodding seriously. “I’ve never seen a real Felix Felicis before, but I’ve read about it. This looks exactly as described. And look—there’s a label, right here.”
Cedric pointed to a tiny label on the bottle, no bigger than a grain of rice.
“It really is Felix Felicis!” Fred said, smacking his lips in amazement. Like Cedric, he’d never seen a real Felix Felicis before. Until now, it had felt more like the old, enchanted wands from storybooks—stuff of legend.
The three of them stared, entranced by the Felix Felicis in Kyle’s hand, unable to look away. They only tore themselves away reluctantly when there were five minutes left until class.
Kanna also took a curious look, though the longer she stared at the little bottle, the more familiar it seemed...
“Still can’t remember? You’ve probably already forgotten.” On their way to Charms class, Kyle took out the Felix Felicis bottle again and waved it in front of Kanna’s eyes.
“Just a hint: it was a Christmas gift last year.”
“Christmas...yes, I remember!” Kanna paused, looking slightly dazed. “I remember Professor Snape gave me a bottle of this potion back then. So this really is Felix Felicis.”
“Not cold medicine anymore?” Kyle’s tone drew out, clearly teasing her.
Realizing what Kyle meant, Kanna’s face flushed. She turned her head away, speaking softly in embarrassed explanation. At the time, she hadn’t known about Professor Snape’s connection to the Prince family, so it was natural she hadn’t believed it. After all, what professor would gift a student Felix Felicis? It sounded utterly ridiculous, no matter how you thought about it.
“Now you believe me, right?” Kyle asked with a smile.
Kanna was about to nod, but something seemed to occur to her. She looked up at him with a slightly annoyed expression. “Wait, back then you didn’t know Professor Snape knew me, did you? Have you been laughing at me this whole time?”
“You’re overthinking it; that’s not it at all,” Kyle replied, shaking his head. “I didn’t find out until a few days before the holidays.”
Kanna wrinkled her nose. “Then how were you so sure the potion he gave me was actually Felix Felicis?”
Kyle shrugged casually. “Because that’s what Felix Felicis looks like.”
“Of course…” Kyle chuckled. “But it also has to do with the professor’s personality. Professor Snape would never play a joke like that.”
Hogwarts professors each had their quirks. If the gift had come from Professor Flitwick, for example, it might actually have turned out to be cold medicine. He’d done something similar before. Trelawney had once mentioned that Professor Flitwick gave all the students staying at school for Christmas a “Ravenclaw's Diadem,” but the students soon discovered it was actually chocolate magically shaped to look like a Diadem.
“I see…” Kanna nodded thoughtfully. The more she considered it, the clearer it became. Professor Snape really wouldn’t bother with a meaningless prank.
“Oh, by the way, I’m returning this to you.” As they neared the Charms classroom, Kyle pulled a small bottle from his pocket and held it out. It was the Felix Felicis Snape had given to Kanna. He hadn’t dared leave it unattended and had kept it on him the entire time.
Kanna glanced at him but made no move to take it.
“Are you seriously giving it to me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“What do you mean? It’s yours.” Kyle chuckled. He’d only held onto it because Kanna used to lose things all the time. It hadn’t felt safe to leave Felix Felicis in her care back then. Now, with the “Rat” that used to swipe her things out of the picture, he figured it was finally safe to give it back.
Still, Kanna didn’t reach for it.
“What are you waiting for? Take it,” Kyle urged. “Class is about to start.”
“What?” Kyle blinked, thinking he’d misheard. This was Felix Felicis...
“I said, I don’t want it.”
Kanna suddenly grinned. Standing in the doorway of the Charms classroom, she crossed her arms. “Since I’m giving it to you, it’s yours now. I don’t want to turn into a Crup.”