"Oh... kill Sirius Black... did someone say something to you?" Kasenhis looked at Sirius, who was pitifully lying by the side of the desk, then turned to look at Harry and asked.
"No one said anything to me. Sirius Black is going to come kill me, so if I kill him first, isn't that perfectly reasonable?" Harry said with a completely serious expression.
"Tell the truth," Kasenhis said flatly.
"Ehm.. Yesterday I wore the Invisibility Cloak and tried to sneak into the Three Broomsticks to buy some.. hot food," Harry admitted a little sheepishly.
Kasenhis rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. What was he supposed to say in a situation like this?
If it were any other secret, he could just lie his way through it. Or if that guy Karkaroff wasn't involved, Sirius and Harry would've already been sobbing in each other's arms by now.
But with the way things stood—he couldn't be honest, because they still needed to use Peter Pettigrew to lure Karkaroff out. And he couldn't lie either, because the story around Sirius was practically public knowledge.
If Harry just asked around, he'd learn the truth sooner or later.
"Looking for revenge?" Kasenhis asked.
Harry nodded seriously.
"Alright, I'll point you to some strong candidates. First, Severus Snape—master of dark magic, second only to Voldemort. If you don't count Voldemort, Dumbledore, or Grindelwald, he's the strongest in terms of combat IQ and killing efficiency."
"Professor McGonagall—transfiguration saint. If she wanted to, she could turn someone into a corpse with Transfiguration alone. It's practically a legal Killing Curse."
"Professor Flitwick—former dueling champion, fierce in a fight. Man knows a lot of Charms and Hexes that are as lethal as a killing curse without you landing in Azkaban."
"Or you could just go straight to the old bastar—I mean Dumbledore. He'd be more than happy to teach you."
Harry scratched his head awkwardly. "Then… Professor, what about you?"
Kasenhis stroked his chin. "I should be just a tiny bit stronger than Severus."
He made a pinching gesture with two fingers. "My magic attack stats are relatively high-end. But if we're talking about efficiency in killing enemies, he's definitely better than me."
"Then Professor, I think learning a couple of moves from you would be enough—I don't need to go to them," Harry said with a grin.
"It's not that I don't want to teach you… it's that you really can't learn my magic," Kasenhis said helplessly.
"Professor, just show me the basics, please? I want to see if I have the talent for it." As Harry finished, Neville, Hermione, and Ron all peeked their heads out from where they'd been pretending not to eavesdrop.
Kasenhis shrugged. "Alright, fine."
As he spoke, he casually waved his hand, and various elemental blocks flowed and rotated around his fingers. "This is my most basic talent. You can think of it as the foundational level of Alchemy."
After another wave of his hand dispersed the floating materials, he summoned various magical elements from Thaumcraft. "These are also elements. Some of them can be used to kill, others for defense—but again, you can't learn any of this. It belongs to advanced Alchemy, and it requires bodily modifications through alchemical means. So yeah, you little wizards can forget about it."
Finally, he pulled out his Arcane Art Magic Manual. "Here are a few spells I've put together. Let's see if you can cast even one."
Harry took the magic book and gave it a try...
"Not a single one worked."
"Exactly. You guys just can't learn this stuff. Otherwise, why would I be the Alchemy professor and not the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? You think I'm less reliable than Quirrell or Lockhart? Granted, my alchemy is ridiculously awesome," Kasenhis said with a proud face.
"Then, Professor, do you know any really powerful attack spells? I don't need anything complicated—just something simple," Harry asked.
"I don't know squat about spells," Kasenhis said, crossing his legs and spreading his hands.
"Huh?" Harry asked, confused.
"I really don't," Kasenhis said, casually shrugging.
"Don't believe me? Look, you three are practically my disciples at this point, so I won't hide it anymore—not from anyone. Have you ever seen me use even the simplest household spell? Like Scourgify or Reparo? Even for lighting I just use Eternal Radiance or glowstone."
"I don't know any Charms or Transfiguration. And as for Dark Arts? Forget it." Kasenhis explained helplessly.
"Then Professor, if I study Alchemy… how long before I can do your kind of… 'basic operations'?" Harry still refused to give up.
"That... I don't know. Mine's a natural-born talent—innate, from birth."
"Then doesn't that mean I can only go to Professor McGonagall? She'd never agree to it..." Harry muttered in despair.
"You can try asking someone else—Professor Flitwick?"
"I'd feel too embarrassed… I sleep through his Charms class all the time."
"Snape? No way, you'd never agree to that one. What about Dumbledore?" Kasenhis continued suggesting.
"That'd be too much trouble for Professor Dumbledore..." Harry said sheepishly.
"...This won't do, that won't do... Wait a second—what about Lupin?" Kasenhis suddenly suggested.
"Professor Lupin?"
"Yep. Lupin's definitely a master of the Dark Arts. Even if you can't learn everything from him, just picking up two or three moves would let you last a few rounds under Sirius's hands."
"You think Professor Lupin would agree?" Harry asked, doubtful.
"If you'd stayed a little longer at the Three Broomsticks yesterday, you'd know—Lupin was one of your dad's best friends back in the day."
Harry's previously dim eyes suddenly lit up like a lightbulb.
"Professor Lupin was my dad's good friend? Why didn't he ever tell me that before?" Harry asked.
Kasenhis coughed awkwardly a couple of times, but quickly found a way to patch it up: "Well… you're his friend's kid, after all. As a professor, of course he couldn't tell you. Otherwise, if he gave you good grades, people might think he was playing favorites or abusing his authority."
"Then why didn't I know before he became a professor either?" Harry pressed on.
"Back in your first year, he was still a werewolf. He was afraid of infecting you with lycanthropy, and also worried that once people saw you two together, there'd be rumors targeting you."
"But what about—"
"In second year, he'd gotten better, but still had a whole bunch of enemies he hadn't dealt with yet. He didn't dare come find you, afraid that if his enemies couldn't get to him, they'd go after you instead. Just like how Greyback acted during the holidays," Kasenhis explained.
"Oh… I see. Got it, Professor. Then let's go find Professor Lupin now?" Harry asked.
"Close the door behind you. And next time, bring me some fries from the kitchen," Kasenhis called after them, watching as Harry and the others left the office.
Then, without wasting a moment, he picked up Sirius, cast a spell, and launched him straight toward Lupin's office.
"Repeat the explanation I just gave to Lupin, word for word. Don't mess it up—if you slip, your weekend break is canceled!" Kasenhis shouted.
And Sirius, using his doggy paw, gave a very humanlike "OK" gesture in response.
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