This time, before leaving, the four little Gryffindors even thoughtfully tidied up the teaware for him, which made Kasen sigh with emotion.
The kids are growing up.
About half an hour passed. Kasen was in the middle of grading homework when he suddenly, belatedly, thought of something terrifying.
He quickly pulled out the teaware that had already been cleaned by the house-elf.
The scene reminded him of his high school days in his past life—one night, a roommate had a late-night pig-out frenzy and devoured all his snacks. The next morning, when Kasen woke up, that same roommate had even gone and fetched him hot water for washing up.
Back then, Kasen had naively thought, Wow, my roommate's matured. Knows how to take care of his old man now.
Only to open his cabinet that evening while on the verge of starving to death and realize how the world worked...
That moment felt like the sky was falling.
He carefully inspected the teaware…
"Hmm, nothing chipped or scratched anywhere. Maybe they really have grown up,"
He muttered, breathing a sigh of relief and returning to his stack of homework.
But then, the crystal ball on his desk lit up once again.
"…Yeah, this one's not on me," Kasen said, tossing the homework aside and tapping the crystal ball with a light touch.
When someone interrupted him during his work hours, Kasen always greeted them with the gaze of someone looking at an angel.
"Professor Kasenhis, breaking news!" Professor McGonagall landed her broomstick right in front of his desk.
"What is it, Professor McGonagall?"
"Kettleburn's planning to retire next semester," she announced.
"Wow, the old man's finally willing to retire? Well, that's for the best. With the way he handles magical creatures, it really is safer for him to step down sooner rather than later. Honestly, I was always half-afraid he'd end up dying under the claws of some 5X-class beast. When it comes to magical creatures, he just doesn't take his own safety seriously enough."
Kasen thoughtfully stroked his chin—not because he was sad about Professor Kettleburn retiring. As he said, retirement was probably the best thing for the man.
No, what was troubling Kasen now was what kind of retirement gift to give him.
"Professor Kettleburn wrapped up his classes a bit early this term, so the farewell party is the day after tomorrow, in the Great Hall. Don't forget to attend. I haven't seen you eat a proper meal in the Great Hall all week," McGonagall reminded him.
"Of course. I won't forget."
"Ah—How long is your office!" Professor McGonagall huffed and puffed as she flew off on her broomstick, while Kasen casually headed toward his workbench. It wasn't that he didn't want to grade homework—it's just that the farewell party was near, and the homework was far.
Now, as for what to make…
He could almost hear a voice whispering from the void… Flesh is weak. Ascend through alchemy.
Alright, no, that was just his old gaming memories suddenly kicking in to mess with him.
Standing in front of his workbench, Kasen stroked his chin in thought for a moment.
Then he quickly got to work—using redstone wiring to craft a full set of prosthetic limbs!
Kasen was certain: the moment this gift was given, it was only a matter of time before the wizarding world's underground started whispering the name "Black-Hand Kettleburn."
After finishing the gift and packing it neatly into a box, he glanced at the pile of homework still waiting on his desk… Ugh..
The next second, his legs veered sharply off course—straight to the liquor cabinet.
Knowing Dumbledore's track record for giving jobs to his favorites, Kasen didn't even need to think twice to guess who'd be the next Care of Magical Creatures professor after Kettleburn's retirement.
"Hagrid! Drinks! Come on! Also—I've got good news!"
When Hagrid opened the door, his face lit up exactly as expected.
"Come in, come in, Kasen! Look, I made this seat cushion out of unicorn hair—Professor Kettleburn's gonna love it!"
"I'm sure he will. Oh, and by the way, Hagrid—congrats in advance. With Kettleburn retiring, odds are you're going to be next year's Magical Creatures professor." Kasen grinned as he spoke.
"Me? No way. I'm not even allowed to openly use a wand yet, let alone be a Hogwarts professor," Hagrid said, waving his hands dismissively.
"Huh? Oh… right… I need to go find Dumbledore. You come too. The true culprit behind Moaning Myrtle's death has already been found—they're in Severus's office right now. We need to bring in those Ministry idiots before the basilisk corpse gets turned into potion ingredients and finally clear your name!"
"I'll go find Dumbledore, you go to Severus—actually, forget it, I'll go to Severus myself. I'm faster."
The next moment, Kasenhis Ender teleported straight to the door of Snape's office.
Not long after he knocked, Snape opened the door.
"Severus, where's the basilisk specimen?" Kasen asked.
"Hello to you, too, Professor Kasenhis. I'm in the middle of preparing it," Snape replied.
"Nice, as long as it's still here. That basilisk is the true killer of Moaning Myrtle. But we need someone from the Ministry to come confirm that such a creature actually existed at Hogwarts," Kasen explained.
"Oh...…" Snape nodded. "You want to give Hagrid back his… justice."
Kasen scratched his head a bit awkwardly. "Thanks for the trouble."
Snape was silent for about two seconds. "It's no trouble. The basilisk corpse was an unexpected bonus. It's right here in my office—just bring a Ministry recorder over to take a look when the time comes."
"Thanks so much, Severus!" Kasen said before quickly Ender-teleporting into the Headmaster's office.
Credit where it's due—he had never seen Hagrid move so fast before. The two of them basically arrived at the same time.
"Oh… is something the matter?" In the Headmaster's office, only Dumbledore, Kasen, and Hagrid were present. Grindelwald was nowhere to be seen.
"I've been meaning to bring this up—the basilisk was the real culprit behind Moaning Myrtle's death all those years ago. Which means Hagrid was falsely accused."
"And now that we've proven the basilisk existed—its body's still in Snape's office—can we finally clear Hagrid's name?" Kasen said all in one breath.
Dumbledore quietly pulled a bookmark from his pocket and placed it inside the novel he hadn't finished, then set the book on the corner of his desk.
"This time, we'll go straight to Fudge's office. Fawkes," Dumbledore called softly, beckoning the phoenix. The source of this content ɪs 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹•𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒•𝙣𝙚𝙩
"Uh… isn't this a little rude? Just showing up in someone's office unannounced?" Hagrid asked, puzzled.
Dumbledore gave a strange look to Kasen, who was currently pretending to study the ceiling with great interest.
"He's no longer someone I feel the need to respect."