Sirius, in all his swaggering generosity, dragged the whole group straight into Twilfitt and Tatting's, boldly declaring that all their expenses would be on him.
Hmm, hmm~~
While Kasen was looking at a mithril belt buckle, his ears twitched, and quite naturally he swapped it for a perkin belt buckle instead.
Sirius's mouth twitched at the sight. "Er, about that—" But before he could finish, Kasen quickly snatched up the buckle and set it down right in front of Sirius.
"Mhm. Time to check out."
"…o…k…"
Sirius stiffly paid the bill, then glanced over at the other young wizards. Compared to Kasen, they were far more endearing.
Ron picked the plainest and cheapest style, while the others only chose a modestly priced accessory or two. None of them went as over the top as Kasen…
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Comparisons really could kill a man.
Soon, the young wizards—mostly Ron—had finished buying what they needed. Sirius, as dashing as ever, settled the bill. Once they stepped outside, he pulled out his wand, subtly muttered a few words into it, then flicked it. A small string of information flew back into the shop.
"From here on, Ron, all you need to do is wait. They'll send the dress robes straight to Hogwarts, right before you need them."
Ron nodded gratefully, though he didn't say anything.
The group returned to Privet Drive, while Kasen used Ender Teleport to head straight back to Hogwarts.
Unlike Sirius, as a responsible professor, he still needed to prepare lesson plans for the coming term…
Well, truthfully, the reason was that when he'd gone back to Baker Street earlier, he'd seen a bloody dump truck plow straight into his living room.
Repairing it himself would've been easy—just a few hours' work—but that would've drawn way too much attention.
So once again, he had no choice but to leave the responsibility of looking after the house to Sherlock… his cohabiting… friend, Mr. Peanut.
"Yes, that lock—keep it safe for me. Reinstall it later. And don't let Sherlock open any weird little doors or anything like that…"
That was exactly what he'd told Peanut with tears in his eyes when saying goodbye to his house.
Back early again at Hogwarts… At this moment there were only three living souls in the entire castle: himself, Hagrid, and Filch. As for Dumbledore—until his office exploded, he always seemed to exist in a quantum superposition between being "at Hogwarts" and "on holiday," nearly impossible for anyone to pin down.
Worse still, Hagrid was currently holed up in his hut, cooking for himself… and Hagrid's culinary skills were nothing to boast about.
As for Filch, he could be considered a recluse. He always hid away in his office to eat.
And so, with no choice but to eat all three meals alone every day, Kasen let out that wretched, miserable sound.
"Hurry up and let school start already!"
Merlin seemed to have heard his prayers—or maybe not Merlin at all. Perhaps it was some other strange deity, maybe the Vishnu, maybe Azathoth… maybe even Omnissiah.
Anyway, under Kasen's prayers, the young wizards once again boarded the little train back to Hogwarts.
Choo choo choo…
The first batch of returning students pushed open the Great Hall doors—and immediately stepped into a massive pit, nearly tumbling headfirst.
Climbing up with difficulty, they didn't even have time to check the damned hole that had tripped them. Instead, they stared blankly up at the ceiling.
A gigantic gyroscope was spinning rapidly overhead, as if maintaining something.
"What the fuck? What is that?"
"Young wizard, no swearing! And please lift your foot a little." Kasen, wearing a safety helmet, crawled out of the hole with a rather gloomy look.
The student gawked at him. "Professor? What were you doing in that hole? And that soft, squishy thing I just stepped on…"
"Nothing. You stepped on nothing at all. Just hurry along and wait for dinner." Kasen brushed the few students off quickly, then leapt out of the hole himself, sealing it back up with stone slabs.
"Kasen… all I can say is, if you don't have every single pit patched before the feast starts… your pay will be docked. And I'm not joking." Professor McGonagall said fiercely.
"Oh, but this is all for the great cause of making Hogwarts stand tall! Can't you imagine it—one day if Hogwarts is under attack, you raising your wand high and shouting loudly, 'Hogwarts, advance!'" Kasen explained.
Professor McGonagall's expression wavered. "That may be so, but we still need to keep up appearances for the new students. Not that they'd mind—their seven years here will teach them Hogwarts' true excellence. The problem is that this term, Dumbledore has hired a foreign wizard as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
"Oh?"
"Apparently from Germany. If he were to see our Great Hall looking all pitted and uneven like this, Hogwarts would lose face!" Professor McGonagall said, clearly distressed.
"OK… OK…" A bead of cold sweat slid down Kasen's forehead—not because of the Great Hall's potholes, but because McGonagall genuinely didn't seem to know who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was. Dumbledore hadn't told her!
That made things very interesting.
Kasen could already picture McGonagall awkwardly trying to force a polite smile at some strange old man, only for Dumbledore to reveal the man's true name…
Maybe he'd get to see a full-scale duel between two masters of Transfiguration.
Whose side should he take then?
Hmm… Dumbledore had been the one to bring him into the wizarding world, given him plenty of good things, even helped him fight his legal battles with the Ministry, treating him almost like family… So whose side should he take?
Such a tough choice…
Alright, he'd side with Professor McGonagall!
After all, that other old coot surely had someone else to back him up.
Humming happily, Kasen continued repairing every nook and cranny inside and outside the castle. After all, it wasn't just McGonagall… he had his pride to maintain too.
_________
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