"…Wasn't it you who asked Headmaster Dumbledore to put up the notice?"
Kasen rubbed his ear. "What the… when did I ever tell Dumbledore to put up a notice?"
The Weasley twins exchanged a glance. "You didn't know? About the notice saying you needed assistants for your end-of-term adventure?"
"...When did I ever…" Kasen started, but halfway through, the crystal ball on his desk lit up again.
"Professor, what's that?"
"Oh, it's the switch for my office door."
"Wait, hold on—!"
Before George could finish, Kasen had already pressed down on the crystal ball. The next second, with the office door swinging wide open, Lee Jordan and Angelina shot in on broomsticks at full speed, leading the charge.
Boom!
"Bloody hell… is that really what a Comet broom is supposed to do?" George stared, dumbfounded, at the white vapor trail streaming from the tail of Lee Jordan's broom.
"Isn't that… what Dad once told us about… a sonic boom?"
The very next moment, Angelina and Lee Jordan, moving in perfect sync, each grabbed one of the Weasley twins and hauled them straight into the air.
"Wow… upside-down dangling? Nice," Kasen remarked, looking up in awe.
"Hehe, Professor," a young wizard paddled a little boat over and stopped in front of him.
"…What is it?" Kasen asked, slightly bewildered.
"This is my résumé. Please have a look!" the young wizard said, handing it over.
Kasen politely accepted the résumé, then looked past the student to the line of young wizards already queued up behind him, and asked in confusion, "You're all here for this… assistant adventurer position?"
The young wizards all nodded in unison.
Kasen closed his eyes in understanding. "You've all been tricked by Dumbledore. I have no intention of recruiting adventure assistants. And even if I did plan to, I already have candidates in mind. After all, if I really took you lot along, first of all, there's your safety to consider…"
"And second, I honestly can't say who'd be taking care of whom."
"Ughhh~~~~"
"That isn't fair!~~~~"
"How can the Headmaster do this! I'm gonna tell my father!"
"I was so excited to go on a trip with Professor Kasen alone~ If we got lost in a forest, we could camp at night.. and maybe... maybe.. Uwwa~~ This isn't fair at all!!~~"
"Don't worry, Miss, you can go camping with me in the Forbidden forest—"
"Oh, shut up, you Gryffindor! My day is ruined!~~ Ugh~~"
A collective groan of disappointment filled the air as Kasen spoke. He even took a glance upward at the Weasley twins, still hanging upside down.
Now that Kasen had exposed this whole "adventure assistant" thing as a complete farce, Angelina and Lee Jordan also lost the motivation to keep the Weasley twins dangling.
They soon set the twins down, and as a final touch, Angelina used Transfiguration to conjure two red clown noses, pinching one onto each of George and Fred's faces.
The Weasley twins exchanged a glance. "Ugh.. Did we… just become the clowns of the show?"
"Barring any surprises… yeah."
Half an hour later, the last of the young wizards finally cleared out of the office. But before Kasen could even enjoy the quiet, two unexpected guests strolled right in.
"Dumbledore, I haven't even come after you yet, and here you are coming to me? And Grindelwald too, you old-timer—don't you have anything better to do?" Kasen said, practically radiating cold energy.
"You can't blame me for this. I really don't feel comfortable letting you go off alone," Dumbledore replied with a smile.
"I'm not some child. What's there to be so worried about?" Kasen rolled his eyes.
"Do you know the customs and quirks of those regions? Do you understand the sinister little tricks of the snakes hiding in the shadows there?"
"Do you even know the real market prices in those places?"
Kasen's mouth twitched. "It's that last part you really care about, isn't it? …But don't worry, I plan to bring Lupin with me."
"Lupin doesn't have time this holiday. He's going to look for Sirius Black," Dumbledore replied.
"Growl~" Upstairs, Sirius, curled up on the woolen mat, suddenly lifted his head… He was feeling a bit hungry.
"I think Hagrid probably doesn't have much going on this holiday, right?" Kasen suggested.
"So, even you admit you need an assistant," Dumbledore said with a gentle smile.
"So... you also think Hagrid would be a good choice?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "Minerva gave Hagrid strict orders—this holiday, he has to finish writing all the lesson plans for third through seventh years in advance. Unless something unexpected happens, he won't have the chance to go with you."
"Uh… how come I never had to write lesson plans back in my day?" Kasen crossed his arms, looking a bit exasperated.
"...She did push you to write them. But then, to avoid doing it, you blew yourself into the infirmary for most of the holiday. You don't remember?" Dumbledore said, his tone light but meaningful.
"...That was an accident," Kasen replied stiffly.
"Mhm, I believe you. Everything you say is right."
"...Fine, glad you believe me. Now, can you finally tell me what this is about?"
"I'm here to recommend an adventure assistant for you." Dumbledore clasped his hands behind his back, looking full of confidence.
"...You convinced Severus? No, wait… You don't mean…"
As Kasen spoke, his gaze shifted to Grindelwald, who was standing right next to Dumbledore.
"Uh… I seem to remember he's still technically a wanted criminal. And not just any wanted criminal, but wanted across all of Europe," Kasen said, his expression cracking a little.
Dumbledore glanced at Grindelwald, and the latter casually waved his wand.
"…What difference does that make?" Kasen asked, staring at Grindelwald's face, which looked exactly the same as it had a second ago.
"It's a large-scale Confundus Charm. You still see me as I am, but everyone else will see a random appearance—and they won't be able to recall what I look like," Grindelwald explained.
"Damn.." Kasen couldn't help but give him a thumbs up. "Gotta hand it to you, that's impressive."
Dumbledore looked at Grindelwald, then back at Kasen. "So, you're fine with this?"
Kasen shrugged and turned to Grindelwald. "Can you run fast?"
Grindelwald and Dumbledore exchanged a glance, both clearly confused by Kasen's question.
Dumbledore said nothing, but Grindelwald would probably figure out soon enough exactly what Kasen meant by that.
…
"Alright, my dear students, that was your final exam. You're free to leave now," Kasen said cheerfully as he collected the test papers at the end of term.
"Professor, will you be sad when we leave?" a young wizard named Barry asked halfway through turning in his exam.
"To be honest, I will feel a little sad," Kasen replied, "but not too much. The real heartbreak will come with the Weasley twins' year and Harry Potter's year."
"The former were the first batch of students I taught after coming to Hogwarts. We've had a full four years of lessons together."
"As for the latter… well, Harry's year and I both arrived at Hogwarts in the same year. We explored this magnificent and unfamiliar magical castle together. In a way, it felt like we were fellow freshmen."
"Wow, Professor, are you saying we're not your favorite year so bluntly?" Barry raised an eyebrow, teasing.
"In fact, my least favorite class of students is your year. Now, hurry up and get going, off you go," Kasen said, leading the charge to leave the classroom himself.
Students: "..."
"P-Professor, are you saying that just to spare our feelings?"
Kasen stopped in his tracks, turned back, and shrugged. "Not at all."
"What..? Really..?"
"If I'm lying, may my upcoming expedition to Africa end with me being chased by cannibals… but not really killed."
_________
(～￣▽￣)～Read 12 Chapters ahead:
Patreon: Dragonel