"But why don't you tell him yourself?" Kasenhis asked.
"After I was imprisoned in Nurmengard, until the day I appeared at Hogwarts, we hadn't seen each other for… forty-seven years. Maybe forty-eight. He's been avoiding me. You get what I mean," Grindelwald explained.
"So that means… Dumbledore probably already suspects that Ariana's death had something to do with him. The reason he avoids you is because he doesn't want to hear confirmation from your mouth," Kasenhis said, nodding as the realization dawned on him.
"But I remember the portraits in the headmaster's office saying that every year at Christmas, Dumbledore goes out somewhere. I used to wonder what he was up to. After I found out about you, I thought he might be going to see you." Kasen added.
Grindelwald shook his head. "That man's got a heart of stone. No chance."
"…Then what about Aberforth?" Kasenhis asked.
"No one in the Dumbledore family is the type to run from responsibility. Aberforth may not be the brightest spark, but he's not so dull as to lay all the blame for what happened on Albus. Still… I've heard their relationship isn't exactly great these days."
"That's pretty normal. For Aberforth, the fact that he hasn't outright pointed at Albus and called him the one who killed their sister is already remarkably gentle."
Grindelwald leaned back on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other. The long chat had put him in a good mood — so much so that with a casual wave of his hand, a bottle of liquor floated over from the cabinet nearby.
"Mind if I take a little souvenir on my way out?"
Kasenhis blinked, then rubbed his chin in disbelief. "You mean to tell me you showed up here empty-handed… and now you want me to give you a parting gift?"
"It's an exchange," said Grindelwald. "In return for pointing out the security flaw in your office — like how it doesn't block Portkey teleportation." And with a buzz, he vanished.
Kasenhis twitched at the corner of his mouth and immediately opened the enchantment settings to disable ender pearl teleportation.
It was one thing when Dumbledore popped into his office — the man was the headmaster, after all, and had Hogwarts-level permissions that bypassed apparition wards not to mention he had a fucking living phoenix as his pet! That was understandable.
But then Grindelwald, that ancient menace, decided to just copy the idea and made his own Portkey to Kasenhis's office? That was some next-level ridiculous.
And what was so difficult about just telling him things directly? Why the dramatic disguise as Dumbledore? Kasenhis brooded on it for a long minute and finally concluded: this man clearly had too much free time.
He ought to toss Grindelwald into a mineshaft for two months of manual labor — maybe that would fix him.
Though, odds were higher that the whole mine — along with everyone in it — would be blown sky-high by some magical explosion caused by His Arcane Majesty.
"Sigh… All these old monsters of magic," Kasenhis muttered, pulling a bottle from the cabinet and pouring himself a drink.
Ding-dong...
The crystal orb on his desk lit up. Kasenhis leaned forward and tapped it.
It was the four Gryffindors again... though calling them "little wizards" might not be quite accurate anymore. Third year had arrived, and Harry and the gang were finally stretching out a bit.
Still, Kasenhis called seventh-years "little wizards" too, so he wasn't about to change his vocabulary now.
Soon, the four arrived by boat into the office area.
Only then did Kasenhis notice their interesting seating choice — Harry and Neville were squished in the middle, with Ron and Hermione on the ends.
They greeted everyone else with smiles, business as usual — but when Ron and Hermione looked at each other, it was clear. The kind of look that screamed mutual annoyance.
"Wow, what's up with Ron and Hermione?" Kasenhis asked.
"Uh… obviously, they've had a fight… Seems to be about Hermione's pet Crookshanks and Ron's pet Scabbers. One's a cat, one's a rat, so… yeah." Harry gave a helpless shrug.
Upstairs, Sirius — who'd been napping — suddenly opened his eyes. He hadn't heard a thing, but something told him he absolutely needed to go downstairs right now. Call it… instinct.
Harry watched as Sirius wagged his tail and made his way down the stairs.
He was just about to open his arms for a warm hug when Sirius walked right past him and straight to Ron, pressing his nose against him and sniffing left and right like a hound on a mission.
Harry: ...
"A cat and a rat — I have to say, your pet combo is quite the classic," Kasenhis said with an amused smile.
Sirius, now thoroughly inspecting whether Scabbers was hiding on Ron, doubled down on his enthusiastic sniffing.
"Right? Poor Scabbers is so scared of that dumb cat he won't even leave the dorm anymore! He just trembles in the matchbox I made for him. He's too scared to even go to the dining hall," Ron whined.
"He's a cat, Ron. Chasing mice is in his nature!" Hermione retorted.
"I know cats chase mice, but you're his owner — can't you at least control him a little? I was holding Scabbers in my hand and your cat still tried to pounce on us! If you don't want to put him in a crate, could you at least use a leash… OK?"
Ron blurted it all out in one breath, then cast a longing glance at the bottle of liquor on the coffee table.
He was thirteen now, right in the thick of puberty — that magical stage of life when human children are moody, dramatic, and love stirring up new chaos.
So…
"Wanna try it?" Kasenhis looked at Ron's eager expression and asked with a smile.
"Can I?"
"In your dreams, boy! For you underage little lot, I strongly advise against it." Kasenhis picked up his wine glass and moved it away, then turned to pour himself a cup of tea in a regular teacup.
"…Alright, Professor." Harry and Ron looked a bit disappointed. Judging from their faces, they were clearly curious about what alcohol tasted like.
After a harmonious teacher-student chat to warm things up, Harry, Neville, and Ron all subtly scooted aside, clearly yielding the floor for Hermione to take center stage.
And Hermione did not disappoint — she opened with zero frames of delay: "That Professor Trelawney is insane!"
Kasenhis, mid-sip of his tea, nearly snorted it out through his nose.
"Cough cough—Calm down, Hermione, calm down! Say what happened."
Hermione took a long, deep breath to compose herself. "Professor, I should've listened to your advice. I never should've stupidly gone and signed up for that cursed Divination class."
Kasenhis nodded. To be honest, he wasn't great at comforting people — but after teaching at Hogwarts for three years, he'd long since mastered how to handle emotionally overloaded little students.
Which was: don't say anything. Let them vent.
Also works great when listening to adult rants too.
Of course, if the person across from you is your enemy trying to insult you...
Personal advice: open with a zero-frame counterattack.
Verbally or physically — either one.
_________
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