"The best homework this time goes to… Draco Malfoy! Let's all give Draco a round of applause!"
At the end of the class, Kasenhis read out the name of the little wizard who had completed the assignment the best, and took the lead in clapping.
And from this homework, Kasenhis also discovered another talent Draco had besides Quidditch.
The kid's talent for alchemy seemed pretty solid.
Not to mention the usual overachievers like Hermione and the encyclopedic Ravenclaws—even Neville, who had taken half a semester of alchemy in advance, didn't do as well as Draco.
His alchemy level was practically approaching that of fourth-year beginners.
The classroom was quickly filled with half-hearted, sluggish applause. Kasenhis raised both hands in the air and gave a downward motion.
The applause stopped instantly, and Kasenhis rubbed his fingers together. From his position on the podium, he had seen that round of applause very clearly.
Slytherin? All clapped. As expected.
Hufflepuff and the inoffensive Ravenclaws? Also clapped decently. Still within reason.
But Gryffindor?
No ambiguity needed. They didn't. Not a single one.
With a bit of helplessness, he clapped his hands and called out, "Alright, little students, let's try to be a bit more rational. This isn't the House Cup, and it's not the Great Hall either. So I'm asking—can you please put aside your inter-house prejudices for a moment… and take off your house robes?"
The little wizards looked at each other, then back again, until finally a few Hufflepuffs and four of the smaller Gryffindors took the lead in removing their house robes.
"Alright, what about the rest of you? Is it freezing over here or something?"
Soon enough, the remaining little wizards also began to take off their house robes, one after another.
"See? Now this is what it really looks like to be a united group. Now, I want you all to applaud again. Clap for Draco—not for 'Malfoy,' not for 'Slytherin,' not for so-called 'pure-blood' lineage. Just for a promising student with the best homework. Applaud." Kasenhis said, knocking his knuckles heavily on the surface of the golden lectern.
This time, the applause in the classroom finally matched the number of people present.
Kasenhis nodded, paused silently for five full seconds, then raised his arm quickly and clenched his fist.
"That's it!"
The little wizards still stared at him blankly. He just shrugged and said, "Do what you're supposed to do."
The little wizards promptly began putting their house robes back on.
"Honestly, just now, that was the first time you really looked like a united Hogwarts." Kasenhis clicked his tongue in admiration.
The little wizards still stared at Kasenhis like broken auto-locks that hadn't shut properly—just wide-eyed and unmoving—which made him feel a bit creeped out. He rolled his eyes, quickly waved his hand, and motioned for them all to hurry up and clear out.
Normally, it would be the four little Gryffindors who stayed behind to chat with Kasenhis for a bit. But today was different. Today, someone else stayed.
"Hmm… Draco, is something the matter?" Kasenhis tapped the bundle of materials in his hand against the podium a few times, like an editor finishing up a submission, and asked.
"It's nothing. I just heard that you went on a rampage at Wizengamot, Professor?" Draco clearly wasn't getting to the point and instead tossed out a casual topic.
"All credit goes to the other professors and my friends at the Alchemy Association. Honestly, if they had to choose between a powerless professor and the Ministry of Magic, I don't know how things would've turned out."
Kasenhis gave a humble reply.
"..."
"...."
A full minute passed in awkward silence. Neither said anything.
Kasenhis had his stack of papers to keep thumping on the lectern, but if Draco didn't start talking soon, he'd have stayed behind for nothing and officially become… a pure-blood clown.
"Professor, should I… say thank you?"
Kasenhis shrugged. "Exactly what I was thinking. Your family is full of love, and that's made you very… natural."
"Professor, what does that mean?" Draco asked, confused.
Kasenhis pointed to the nearby desk. "Why are you standing? Find a place and sit down."
Draco thought for a moment, then simply sat right on top of the desk.
"Professor, what did you mean by 'natural'?"
"Lucius or your mother must dote on you quite a bit, right?"
Draco nodded, then quickly realized something. "Professor, are you saying I lack manners? Or that our conversation earlier was awkward because of me?"
"I'm not blaming you. On the contrary, I'm happy to see you like this. Right now, you're a real thirteen-year-old rebellious boy, not some ridiculous little kid cosplaying as a forty-year-old head of a noble house."
Draco blinked in confusion and nodded anyway. He didn't fully understand what Kasenhis meant, but in moments like this, nodding always seemed safe.
"You didn't understand, did you?"
"..."
"Alright, I get it. You definitely didn't." Kasenhis, abandoning all pretense of image, hopped up and sat directly on the lectern.
"Professor, I really don't get what you mean."
Kasenhis didn't answer that. Instead, he asked, "Why did you want to thank me?"
"Because you helped me out? Isn't that just… the right thing to do?" Draco replied, completely puzzled.
"And how exactly did I help you out?" Kasenhis continued questioning.
"You said… to make them stop seeing me as a Slytherin, as a Malfoy, as a pure-blood. To only see me as Draco, a student who did well?" Draco answered tentatively.
"And that's it? That's the reason you wanted to thank me?" Kasenhis asked with a smiling squint.
Draco nodded blankly. "Professor, is there something else I should be thanking you for?"
Now, whether Kasenhis actually had more questions—absolutely not!
Back when he was teaching the upper years, there had also been a Slytherin student who received top marks on his assignment. His name was Finks. Kasenhis had similarly stood up for him in class. But afterward, Finks came to him privately.
Finks had ranted for quite a while—his main point being that he was extremely dissatisfied with Kasenhis for stripping away the labels he held dear: being a Slytherin, being a pure-blood, and bearing his family name.
They ended up having a very serious discussion for half an hour.
And what could Kasenhis do in that situation? Of course, he chose to respect him.
Dumbledore had said it well—he did have a bad habit of making decisions for others, and that was a deeper form of arrogance.
From that moment on, he decided to fix that arrogant tendency.
Take Finks, for example: he genuinely embraced his family name, his pure-blood identity, and his Slytherin label as being core to his sense of self, and he was perfectly happy with it.
So Kasenhis had no right to forcibly take those labels away from him.
Just like Dumbledore had told him back then—not everyone loves magic, and likewise, not everyone wants to reveal their true self.
_________
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