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Dumbledore, who had been experimenting with juicing a golden apple, was so startled by the explosion that he almost hurled the fruit straight into Lupin's face.
Well, almost—but in the end, the result was the same.
He had been planning to juice the apple to wake Lupin up, but the explosion scaring him awake worked just as well.
Wrong route, correct result!
Dumbledore and Lupin exchanged a glance. The latter asked, "What just happened?"
The former sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. "I don't even need to check. I already know who's responsible for that explosion."
With that, he took another bite of his apple and resigned himself to heading out. Lupin, of course, immediately followed.
The two of them arrived at the southern side of Hogwarts, where the Alchemy Professor's office was supposed to be.
As they opened the door and stepped inside, they both froze.
For a moment, it felt as if they had just walked into a massive open plaza.
Just by surface area alone, this office now seemed to rival the size of the Black Lake.
Dumbledore was so thrown off that he immediately Apparated outside the castle to take a look.
Slowly but surely, he began to relax.
Kasenhis had not, in a fit of madness, caused a massive bulge to appear on the southern wall of Hogwarts.
No, the expansion had been painstakingly detailed, seamlessly integrated from the basement up to the ground, first, second, and… third floor?
Whatever the case, it looked just like the rest of the castle—dark stone walls, Gothic structure, perfectly matching Hogwarts' original design.
Satisfied, he Apparated back inside, finding that the ground floor of Kasenhis' new addition was completely empty.
The 1st floor, however, had been fully renovated into an enormous classroom, complete with a brand-new sign already in place: Alchemy Classroom.
Beside the podium, there was a staircase leading up to the second floor, which, unsurprisingly, was the Alchemy Professor's office.
Dumbledore, astounded by Kasenhis' civil engineering expertise, then proceeded up to the third floor…
Well, at least this one wasn't completely insane.
Compared to the second floor, the third floor was much smaller, designed as a simple living space rather than another massive expansion.
Lupin, who had followed him up, also looked around in surprise—this layout was almost identical to Kasenhis' apartment at 222 Baker Street.
A living room, bathroom, study, bedroom—all fully equipped. There was even a kitchen and a huge terrace.
"Ah… when it comes to living in comfort, I must admit, I pale in comparison," Dumbledore remarked with a sigh.
Meanwhile, down on the second floor, Kasenhis knocked out an entire wall, replacing it with a massive floor-to-ceiling window that offered a perfect view of the inky black waters of the Great Lake.
"Haah~ And now the last part.. and done!"
He then set up various light fixtures, and with that, the office was complete.
"So? You two finished touring my brand-new office yet? Yet? Yet?"
Dumbledore chuckled, shaking his head. "This office is so big, it even has an echo. echo. echo.."
"It's not bad, right? I'll be building a lot more things in here in the future," Kasenhis said.
"… It does look impressive," Dumbledore admitted. "However, you still haven't done anything about my Headmaster's Office."
There was even a hint of grievance in his tone.
"Next time, for sure. Next time, for sure."
"I mean it! You have to trust me!"
"Mhm, I believe you. I'm heading to bed. Remus, you'll be staying at Hogwarts for a while—at least until the full moon."
Dumbledore wobbled his way out of the Alchemy Office.
"Me? Where am I supposed to stay?" Lupin looked utterly lost, glancing from Dumbledore's retreating figure to Kasenhis.
The latter simply pointed upstairs toward the living quarters. "Same layout as 222 Baker Street. Find yourself a spot."
"Thanks." Lupin had a dangerous look in his eyes.
"Hey! Why are you looking at me ? Hey—!"
Lupin walked over and pulled Kasenhis into a big hug.
Come to think of it, this was probably the first time in a long while he'd done something .
"Ok. Now enough with the hug. It's nothing. You could've just gone to the hospital wing and crashed there too."
"It's not just about this," Luping said with tears coming out of his eyes.
"Alright, alright, no need to get sentimental! Now go and check that room of yours or I'll change my mind."
After shooing Lupin upstairs, Kasenhis stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the moon hanging in the night sky.
[Waxing gibbous, three-fourths full.]
His monocle effortlessly scanned the lunar phase, shoving yet another random piece of knowledge into his already overflowing brain.
"Shame I can't scan the moon for elemental properties."
Muttering to himself, he turned away from the window, pulled out a structure workbench and some redstone components, and got to work on building a fully automated deconstruction machine.
The next morning, Lupin groggily stumbled downstairs from the third floor—only to be met with an absolute monstrosity of a gigantic machine.
Even though it was completely enclosed within a meter-thick glass panel, he could still feel the sheer, overwhelming presence emanating from within.
Meanwhile, Kasenhis was slumped in a boss chair in the corner of the office, fast asleep.
Lupin pulled out his wand, gave it a little flick, and Kasenhis floated up into the air, obediently drifting after him to his bedroom.
After depositing him in the bedroom, Lupin headed off to find some food.
Kasenhis slept straight through to the evening.
"Ugh… my sleep schedule is ruined. No more all-nighters tonight—gotta chug a bottle of Invigoration Draught."
Still in a daze, he shuffled downstairs, gazing fondly at the fully operational automated deconstruction machine, which was now steadily cranking out elemental components.
"All that time watching redstone tutorials wasn't wasted after all."
This was the true power of redstone automation.
He wandered toward the floor-to-ceiling window, turning his gaze eastward to where a bright white disk was slowly rising into the sky.
"Hmm… guess I won't be sleeping just yet."
Leaving the castle, he headed down to Black Lake—where he found Lupin out for a jog.
"Today's the full moon," Kasenhis remarked.
Lupin turned back to look at him, his expression a little tense.
Which was understandable.
It was like that moment right before getting an exam paper back—where top students wondered if they got 100 or 99, average students debated between 80 or 60, and failing students just hoped their score had two digits instead of one.
No matter what kind of student you were, everyone felt that same looming sense of fear before the result was revealed.
The only difference was what exactly they feared.
"I thought it was still a few days away… kinda lost track," Lupin admitted, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
"Because we were in Brazil before. Now we're in England. The full moon's earlier here," Kasenhis explained, taking a seat beside him, both of them staring out over the dark waters of the Black Lake. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝓷𝓮𝓽
"Yeah… it's close now… any moment..." Lupin exhaled. Then suddenly, "Oh, right—Kasen, maybe you should back up a bit. Just in case… I mean, it's not that I don't trust you, but if there's even a chance the werewolf curse wasn't completely removed, I'd rather not accidentally hurt you."
"No need for that. I have 100% confidence in my craftsmanship," Kasenhis replied firmly.
Lupin wasn't convinced.
Without saying a word, he shifted slightly further away, and—in a very subtle, yet very telling move—sat on his own hands.
This way, if he did start transforming into a werewolf, his instinctive reaction would throw him off balance—at the very least, giving Kasenhis enough time to draw his wand.
Soon, the sun completely set, and the silver-white full moon hung high in the sky.
Lupin tilted his head back, staring blankly at the glowing orb above.
At some point—without even realizing it—a single tear slipped from the corner of his eye.
o(*￣▽￣*)ブ Read two weeks ahead: