Chapter 500 - 500: 500: I need a room for hiding things!

September...

Hogsmeade Station.

Kasenhis sat on a bench at the platform, watching the young wizards get off the train one by one.

Every time another student stepped down, he drew another tally mark in his notebook.

Only when the final count matched the number of Hogwarts students for the year did he finally close the notebook, one entire page covered in tally marks.

Grindelwald was on patrol duty for the start of term this year, so Kasenhis could relax for once.

"Should I go to the Three Broomsticks... or the Hog's Head?"

Kasenhis wondered as he stood up.

The former's drinks were a little too strong. One glass could knock Hagrid flat, which was still a bit much.

The latter was a little too filthy, and that old man with the goatee always looked kind of strange.

Forget it...

He'd just go to the Great Hall.

This year's opening feast was almost exactly the same as in previous years.

For Kasenhis, however, it felt a little different.

For a teacher, the two most important classes were probably the first class they ever taught and the last class they ever taught.

The former entered the new school together with the teacher.

The latter left the school together with the teacher.

But Kasenhis was a part-time elective professor who had joined halfway through.

His first batch of students hadn't entered this new school with him, and they had already graduated long ago.

The students who had actually arrived at Hogwarts alongside him were the current seventh-years.

Before a farewell, people always liked to imagine how sad it would be, how reluctant everyone would be to part, how emotional it would become.

But when the actual day of parting arrived, there was usually nothing.

People simply left the room one after another and went their separate ways.

So at first, Kasenhis had thought that when the Weasley twins and Cedric's year graduated, he would probably be sad for quite a while.

But in reality...

It had been just like that.

This year, though, would probably be different.

After all, these were students who had genuinely accompanied him through seven whole years.

Should he prepare some eyedrops in advance?

When the atmosphere became emotional enough, he could use the eyedrops to simulate tears and make himself, their professor, look a little more human.

Mm.

I really am a fucking genius.

"What are you standing there grinning to yourself about?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

Kasenhis came back to his senses.

"Nothing, nothing. I was just thinking about what alcohol I should drink later."

As he spoke, he even pulled out his little flask with Hufflepuff's Cup built into it.

"Don't drink too much. Tomorrow, we still need to search for Tom's Horcrux. We can't place all our hopes on the Room of Requirement. What if Tom didn't know about that room? Then we'll have quite a search ahead of us," Dumbledore said.

"The new students will be arriving soon. You could tell them that this year's forbidden rule is that they absolutely must not find Voldemort's Horcrux hidden in some obscure corner of Hogwarts."

Kasenhis offered the suggestion.

"I'd estimate that before Christmas, some young wizard would dig the Horcrux out from Merlin-knows-where and cause another godforsaken disaster at Hogwarts."

"I can't believe that idea came from you. Aren't you usually the one who cares most about the students' safety?" Dumbledore asked, staring at Kasenhis in surprise.

"Mm-hm... you can think of it as entrapment," Kasenhis explained.

Dumbledore reached up and touched the bridge of his nose, which had once been straight, then crooked, and by now was somehow straight again.

For some reason, it was starting to ache faintly.

"Besides the Horcrux issue."

"Hmm?" Kasenhis asked.

"The protective magic on Harry will expire this year," Dumbledore said.

"I thought it had already expired. Didn't that magic require blood relatives to be nearby?" Kasenhis scratched his head in confusion.

"Every holiday, I secretly use spatial magic to connect Black's old house with the Dursleys' home, so in spatial terms, they still count as living within the same household."

"And this year... Harry is about to come of age."

Dumbledore picked up a potato, peeled it, then mashed it.

"So you're telling me to be prepared because Voldemort might pull some huge counterattack this year," Kasenhis said with a shrug.

"More or less. We can leave the task of guarding against Voldemort to Severus. Your main responsibility is protecting Harry. Pay a little more attention to him," Dumbledore explained.

"Mm-hm."

The feast gradually came to an end as the two continued talking.

Slightly tipsy, Kasenhis returned to his office, washed up briefly, then went straight to bed.

...

The next day...

"As Headmaster of Hogwarts, don't you find this embarrassing?" Kasenhis asked helplessly as he watched Dumbledore repeatedly cast defensive spells on himself with the Elder Wand outside the Room of Requirement.

"That's the contradiction with people like you. When I went after the Resurrection Stone ring without any defences or cover, you accused me of not valuing my own life. Now that I'm being careful, you say I've lost all dignity," Dumbledore said, shaking his head helplessly.

In his eyes, Kasenhis's behaviour was exactly like the parents sabotaging his attempt to lose weight, cooking something delicious in a new way every day and constantly adding more obstacles to his path.

Kasenhis shrugged.

"What I mean is, you've got an insanely capable Alchemy professor standing right beside you now. You can afford to relax a little."

"The last person who relaxed like that was Severus, when Hagrid's three-headed dog nearly bit his lower leg off. What you just said is almost exactly what he said back then," Dumbledore said faintly.

"...."

Kasenhis abruptly stopped pacing in front of the Room of Requirement and turned toward Dumbledore.

"I remember that incident with Severus only involved the two of us. How do you know about it?"

"The portraits throughout Hogwarts are my eyes and ears. I was curious what kind of sparks would fly when a newly appointed Alchemy professor and the Potions professor collided."

"And in the end... well, at the very least, your wool bandages were quite impressive," Dumbledore said with extraordinarily high emotional intelligence.

Kasenhis stared at him through narrowed eyes.

"Heh... thanks... I'm terribly sorry I hadn't developed alchemical potions yet. I truly apologise for depriving Lord Dumbledore of some entertainment back then."

With that, he resumed pacing in front of the door.

"I need a room for hiding things."

"I need a room for hiding things."

"I need a room for hiding things."

The door opened.

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