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After leaving the hidden base in the middle of nowhere, the two Apparated to a place with lush mountains and clear waters.
Dumbledore, the eccentric old man, had already started setting up for a picnic.
"Do you think the Prime Minister was telling the truth?" Kasenhis asked, completely baffled by the idea of having a picnic in the dead of winter. He could only set up a campfire on the ground, warming himself up as he spoke.
"He was." Dumbledore nodded. "He really didn't know about that experiment facility."
"That's better than I expected. At least it means this was the work of a handful of deranged lunatics, rather than the entire British Muggle government being in on it."
"Yes, better than expected... Now, let me think—who else should we invite to this little picnic? Remus is still at St. Mungo's?" A lightbulb seemed to switch on above Dumbledore's head.
"Yeah, unless something unexpected happened… though, knowing him, who knows? Maybe he ran off to go hunt down Greyback again."
"Let's hope nothing unexpected happened."
With that, Dumbledore disappeared with a pop, only to reappear moments later—now dragging Remus Lupin along with him.
"So, how did you resolve things?" Lupin asked, grabbing a piece of bread and sitting down.
"Took about two full crates of bullets at the firing range," Kasenhis replied.
"Bloody hell! Fudge actually went that hard this time?" Lupin looked genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, right. That guy just wanted to sweep everything under the rug. It was me and Dumbledore who went to Downing Street and confronted the Prime Minister ourselves. Oh, and guess what? Turns out the Prime Minister's assistant is actually one of my former students—can you believe that?"
Lupin awkwardly scratched his nose. "So... does that mean the British Prime Minister has secretly started recruiting wizards?"
"Not exactly." Dumbledore, now seated comfortably on the ground, calmly poured himself some tea as he explained, "Hogwarts graduates are free to choose whatever career paths they desire."
"Uh… I guess that makes sense."
"What about those poor wizards who were rescued?" Dumbledore asked, pouring Kasenhis a cup as well.
"Well, somehow, Lockhart showed up at St. Mungo's, and honestly, that guy's Memory Charms are pretty damn effective. At the very least, I'd say he's erased all their psychological trauma."
Kasenhis and Dumbledore exchanged glances.
"Well… I suppose he did something right for once," Kasenhis admitted.
"Mm… even though his books are questionable at best—I highly doubt any of those adventures actually happened—his Memory Charms are undeniably top-tier. Oh, by the way, Kasenhis, did you know? The Longbottoms are looking for you." Lupin said.
"I just found out that the Longbottoms were miraculously cured by Lockhart, and then, when I was at St. Mungo's dropping off the victims, I happened to see Neville Longbottom and his grandmother running around asking about your whereabouts."
"The nurse at the reception desk—probably another one of your former students—looked absolutely terrified, like she was about to be bullied into tears by Mrs. Longbottom."
"Ah… good thing I'm not at Hogwarts right now. Otherwise, I bet they'd drag me to Longbottom Manor by force," Kasenhis muttered, visibly relieved.
"Yeah, definitely… Wait—Kasenhis, MOVE!"
Lupin grabbed Kasenhis by the collar and, without thinking, kicked off the ground, yanking him behind him in the blink of an eye.
The spot where Kasenhis had just been sitting was instantly obliterated by a blinding red beam, leaving behind a gaping bottomless crater.
The Elder Wand was already in Dumbledore's hand.
With a single motion, he locked onto the source of the attack—a silhouetted figure standing high on the cliffs above them.
"Who the hell is that?" Kasenhis pulled out his wand, then fished out a spare monocle from his pocket and clipped it onto his eye socket, instantly scanning the two figures.
"...What the hell…" he murmured, bewildered, staring at the uncategorized information in disbelief.
The monocle that had never failed him couldn't analyze that shadowy figure's essence.
And then—Kasenhis saw something that made him start questioning the magical power levels of this entire world.
The mysterious figure lazily raised their wand, and within seconds—despite it being mid-December, when snow should be falling—the sky erupted with thunder and lightning—Crackle!
Raindrops the size of marbles pelted the ground without any regard for temperature.
The entire sky was suddenly covered with intricately layered, interlocking, gear-like golden-orange magic circles, each one folding into the next like a precision clockwork mechanism.
A column of pitch-black light shot down from the center of the spell formation, piercing straight through.
"GO!" Dumbledore roared.
A phoenix burst into existence above his head, golden-red flames engulfing all three of them.
The very next instant, they vanished.
By the time they disappeared, the small valley where they had just been planning to have a nice, quiet picnic had transformed into an apocalyptic crater of destruction.
"Remus was still down there! And so was Dumbledore! You said you were only going to kill that guy, Kasenhis!"
At the bottom of the valley, Sirius Black grabbed the masked man by the collar and roared in fury.
"They're not dead. The phoenix took them away." The masked man replied calmly.
"But if you had succeeded, they would be!" Sirius shouted, his voice still trembling from aftershock and fear.
"Then I would have taken their place in killing Voldemort. Compared to that bleak future… it's not a big deal." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒•𝙣𝙚𝙩
"Which… future exactly are you talking about?" Sirius demanded.
"Don't ask what you shouldn't. Just take this mission. Turn into a dog, 'accidentally' run into Kasenhis, and let him take you back to Hogwarts as a pet. Also—to make sure he doesn't see through your true identity, wear this."
The masked man tossed Sirius a small ring.
Sirius caught it but looked at him suspiciously.
"And what exactly does this thing do? And how can you be so sure that Kasenhis would even take me in as a pet?"
"This ring makes sure that when his monocle scans you, it only registers you as a 'beast'—nothing else. As for the second question? I'm very sure."
The masked man shrugged lazily.
"He's always had a thing for big black dogs. Just make sure you stay out of sight from Remus—he's going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor next year."
"Harry Potter runs to his office every other day."
"I'm taking this mission." Sirius Black agreed instantly.
"But… if Harry is always running to his office, won't he be in danger?"
The masked man shook his head.
"Kasenhis isn't exactly a bad guy… he's just an idiot."
"How much of an idiot?" Sirius asked.
"…As much of an idiot as one can possibly be."
After saying that, the masked man pressed a hand onto Sirius's shoulder.
With a loud humming sound, the two of them vanished from the spot, leaving behind only faint traces of glowing purple particles drifting in the air.
You guys! The plot thickens kekeke~ And no, that masked man isn't Johnny Silverhand (^_-)
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